 Today's guest launched a business that makes haircuts more convenient and accessible. Arthur Alayev joins us to talk about founding Get Cuts, and how he helps barbers to work smarter, not harder. This is School of Hustle, the show where we find advice and inspiration from people who are making their own way. I'm Shannon, the VP of Social Hierarch Go Daddy, and I live and breathe the hustle of business. Today we're filming from the hustle of it all at the WeWork Times Square in New York City. Hey everybody, let's give Arthur a big welcome to the show. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Well, I couldn't not have you because Jonathan on my team, Noodle's master, master? Noodle's master, Jonathan, loves your business. His hair always looks fantastic, but I want to talk about Get Cuts because it's not your typical salon or barbershop. Tell us how Get Cuts works. Get Cuts is mainly business to business. We bring our barbers, our stylists, our groomers to corporate locations, to office places, and to many different workplaces and be able to provide a service that today in New York City is very hard to come across by because people are always so busy, so we bring the service into their office and we provide all these haircut, shaves, stylists and also makeup artists, all that fun stuff. Well, it's fantastic because you have a partnership with WeWork where we're filming today and it's that accessibility and convenience and people love that, especially in New York. Exactly. WeWork, right, is like the perfect example. They have so many different vast majority of businesses here, right? Yeah. Small business, big businesses, and people are always busy in the rush and they don't necessarily have that time to go downstairs and get a cleanup, get a haircut, so we bring the services to them. It's a really cool model. I know your clients love it. You used to work in a barbershop and you made a transition into launching this business that brings the convenience into the workplace. How did you make that transition? I pretty much worked with my father when I was 15 years old. Even younger, he used to bring me into his barbershop in Long Island and it was more disciplinary and he would have me sweep up the floors, wash the mirrors, take care of the cash register and slowly but surely I started picking up the trade. What happened was about after I finished college, I went down to the city on 23rd Street and 7th Avenue and worked for a friend of mine, Sam Shalpaev, who owns Maidman Barbershop on 23rd and 7th. Fantastic business. We worked with him for about four years until starting this and the transition was a little bit, it was a little rough because the hours were extremely long. I used to get out of my house at 7am and come back home at 9pm, five days a week more or less. Wow. Yeah, exhausting days, exhausting. Yeah, and on your feet for most of it. On your feet for most of the time, yes for sure. That was one of the biggest reasons why I had to kind of change up the industry and leave that space and look for a different model of business. My next question, maybe you've just spoken to it a little bit, but why was it important to you to launch your own company and be your own boss? So the main reason why I had to leave from 8am to 8pm job was because I had my second child on the way. I wasn't home for my first kid many of the time. So that was my biggest, biggest priority, was to leave, find a more work-life balance and be able to make what I make work in a full-day schedule half that time. The service and the idea is really important and necessary. Everybody loves this, but I can imagine to start breaking ground and getting an incredible client list like you have hotels, you have sports clubs, you have weed work, you have office buildings. How do you go about growing that client list? With our line of work we have usually the client sitting in the chair for 20 to 30 minutes and not only are we developing a friendship but we're also developing networking and we build a pretty solid friendship and we build a network together and say, hey, you're from weed work, okay cool. How about you bring us in, try us out. They have us over and they try our services, they love it and it becomes a reoccurring service for the company. I've heard from friends who I respect say that those loose ties sometimes can have a very big impact on you. You talk to everybody and it does have an advantage and I know that's how you're even on the show because Jonathan came down and you met him in the chair, right? Yes, exactly. And you have a gift to do that, to connect with people and then kind of see where that relationship can go. Exactly. How do you go about vetting people to work for you because to your point that time in the chair and that relationship is so important so you have to implicitly trust who you hire to stand by you and your brand of your company and make you proud and do a great job. So how do you think about finding people to work for you? So quality control is one of the most important aspects of our business. It is hard, but at the same time we look at character and we see their values and their character and if they're more easily wanting to be worked with and working on your team, not just like a drag type of day, but training is always easy, but character is hard to give over. Pretty much if you have a great character and you know how to use the clippers and the scissors pretty decently, you have a position with get cuts. I know that you mentioned earlier that hair is in your DNA. Your father had a shop, you said, and I believe, don't you come from three generations of barbers? Yeah. And how is growing up in a family of barbers like influencing you today? So my grandfather back in Russia, he used to be a barber. He taught my father, his son, and my father kind of gave it over to me. It was really, really interesting. I mean, for me it was kind of normal to grow up in a family like my uncle's a barber and then my grandfather's a barber. My brother knows how to cut hair, but my brother, he went into accounting. He's an accountant. Now my cousins are in pharmacy school finishing up to become pharmacists and we have lawyers and doctors in the family now. But I kind of wanted to pursue that, you know, the whole barber industry because at the same time you're making people look good and you're giving people the, you know, they feel good about themselves. Yeah, when I get my hair done I walk out feeling super confident. Exactly. Absolutely. You pass over the confidence. It's what people love. Yeah. You know, I think it's a great thing. It's a great trait to know. You know, I give my kids their haircuts. And to your point earlier, when someone's in your chair for 30 minutes people like to talk. Yeah. And I know for myself, people who have done my hair have become a mostotherapist. Yeah. Like right, there's a relationship to the person who gets your hair and that time is also very important to people, let alone the outcome, which is the great haircut, right? Exactly. So it's an experience for everybody overall. It is. And you, I imagine, will be expanding perhaps? How will you be growing your business? Yes. So right now we're trying to, we don't want to grow too fast where we can hurt ourselves. We had offers from different investors, various different investors and friends of mine. But we're not really sure if we still want to take that path. Okay. We had people approaches to go nationwide to different states. But right now what we're planning to do is just build our partnerships with our, you know, sports clubs, hotels and continue building that reputation. So in a matter of maybe six months to a year, we'll think about expanding in California, in Boston, in Chicago. Have you ever thought about becoming like an app and being more of a non-demand for like just a person as opposed to a business? So I'm not sure if you're going to ask what's next, but that's what's next. We're coming out with an app soon. Are you serious? Yeah. Okay. I know we will do that. That's cool. There's really lots of ways to answer this. I'd love to know what do you love most about what you do? I think people look good. Well, thank you very much for sharing all of that with us. You're welcome. It's time to speed things up a bit and play hustle time. I'm going to ask for 60 seconds on the clock. Large dogs or lap dogs? Large dogs. Chardonnay, yay or nay? Chardonnay. Fireplace or fire pit? Fireplace. What's the first app you open in the morning? Weather. Someone is currently stuck in your head. My wife. Aliens factor fiction? Aliens. Factor fiction? Fact. Great. You have to lose access forever. Do you pick search engines or social media? Search engines. One thing you'd want in a desert island with you? Water. Favorite pastime music or movies? Music. Music or podcasts? Podcasts. Three things in your closet right now? My bomb. My closet. My pants. My dress shoes. My suit. Dream dinner guest. Dream dinner guest. Dream dinner guest. Jennifer Aniston. Best place you've traveled? Best place. I have to be Israel. When I dance, I look like... What do you think? Finish the sentence. When I dance, I look like... Stevie Wonder. Oh! Okay, let's see what we have again. We did one, two, three, four, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Part of your day. Morning. Best piece of advice you've ever gotten? You can either live to succeed in your own life or you can be used as a resource to help someone else be successful. So you are not living as a resource. You are living and it's not interesting. On the flip side, what piece of advice is the worst piece of advice? Don't do it, stop. It's too hard. Too hard, don't do it. No thanks. How do you use your career to inspire others? Be strong, I guess, and keep persisting, keep going. Ever felt like walking away? Yeah. One thing you still need to learn. How to cook a great steak for my wife. What do you want people to learn from you? That I don't give up. What's next for you? We're reeling out an app soon. Is the app going to be for businesses or like personally for your house? It'll be pretty much for everybody. Wow. It's huge. Yeah, it's a big move. It's a big move. Who inspires you? My father. Who challenges you? My wife. Well, this last piece of advice is from our favorite entrepreneur, Noodle. Have you met Noodle? You've met Noodle. I think I've met Noodle. But you have not cut his hair yet? Not yet. Not yet. I'm trying to persuade his father. As long as I don't get one of his hair. Okay. So Noodle is inspired by how fast GetCuts is growing and wants to get his own business off the ground. What advice would you have for someone who wants to pursue a brand new venture? Don't stop, I guess. Keep going. Don't be scared. Don't be scared, Noodle. Don't be scared. Try to go for it. You'll succeed. You'll succeed. Do your due diligence and do your research. And yeah, you'll be good, man. You look like a tough cookie. He really is. He is. A tough cookie. A tough loaf of bread. A whole cookie. A whole roll of cookie dough. A little bit of roll, yeah. A whole potato. We'll run away with that effect. Exactly. Well, we're going to close with a final thought. So I'm going to read three quotes and ask you to pick the quote that resonates the most with you and why. Okay? Sure. Number one. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Number two. When you can't change the direction of the wind, just adjust your sales. Number three. Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions. I'd have to go with one. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Yeah. And that's kind of what you just told Noodle. Yeah. Yeah. Just keep going and you'll find your way. I would love for you to share with everybody watching how they can follow you. You can find us on social, ad get cuts, Instagram. Also, you can find us online, get cuts.com. You can call us at 212-301-0580. You got it. Noodle's saying, people call. How about text? Can they text that number? Yeah, yeah. Text that number, too. Sure. Yeah. I really, I really enjoyed listening to your story. What you have built is so fascinating. The expansion into the app space, I can't even. I'm so excited for you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. I can't wait. It'll be fun. I really hope that everyone enjoyed this conversation. I'm sure everybody did. So I have to ask to follow GoDaddy as well. Not just get cuts, but follow GoDaddy across social because we are bringing very interesting and inspirational entrepreneurs every week across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. So follow GoDaddy and stay tuned because we have more coming every week. See you soon.