“Honestly, I’m always a person [who expects] a feast and famine type situation. Where things are going well, it’s not that I expect the worst, but when the harvest is good, [I think you should] prepare yourself at some capacity [for when it’s not]. I’m a firm believer in that. “
Q: What got you started as a barber, and where did the passion come from for your business?
[I got started] probably at about 14...but I got into barbering out of necessity as a young man. You know, due to financial constraints, I didn’t have the money to afford a haircut. So, I just learned to cut hair on my own. Hair has always been something that my family’s done, just at home and around the table or places like that. So it started out as a necessity, but then I turned it into a business.
I got really serious, like professionally, at maybe about 18. I was cutting hair, and then I started to transition into business and make it a career. It wasn’t my initial thought, it was just something I was good at. But as I started to hone in on my craft, I had really great mentors to...tell me to take it to the next level and treat it like a business. [Cutting hair] is a billion dollar industry, so that’s what I started to do.
Q: Before the coronavirus hit, nobody could have predicted that the whole world could essentially get shut down. As a small business owner, were you prepared at all?
So when it hit, even in the beginning...I just had a little inkling [that it might become more serious]. When you look at the location [where the virus started spreading], it’s an international business spot. For me, being an economic person, that just makes sense. You have people traveling back and forth from Beijing and having exposure to New York and California, and even in Reno. So I just knew that eventually it was going to happen, but I didn’t know the magnitude to be honest.
Q: When things started getting worse in the United States and we eventually got the order in Reno to shut down businesses, how did that feel? What was your reaction when you realized the business you’ve worked so hard to build and that provides for you would have to be closed?
When it hit us, and when the mayor and the governor told us we have to shut down, the mental aspect of it was really hard. I mean, mentally and emotionally it was the hardest for me, all the anxiety, the anger, the frustration, the depression, the worry...I can even say my blood pressure probably went up just because I have a family. I have two kids and four grandkids.
And I’m talking to my wife saying ‘Honey, what are we going to do?’ You know? The bills don’t stop at the shop or in my personal life. I still have bills I gotta take care of, and you’re telling me that I’m not essential. So, what are we going to do? What’s the next step? [The city is] telling me to shut down but you haven’t given me an alternative...and [if I keep doing business] then I’m threatened with sanctions of getting my business taken away or shut down in Nevada because I’m violating a code.
I don’t want my business to close, because I do feel it’s a very important business to the community because of all the relationships built in the barbershop, all the families and generations and traditions of men and women bringing their kids in. Outside of [kids] and marriage, the longest relationship you probably have is to your barber, so I feel like I was essential.
So I dealt with all different emotions and feelings and anxieties that I had to get a grip on because it was really starting to affect me.
(Above a video done by another Reynolds School of Journalism student Maryan Montgomery during busier times.)
Q: Do you feel like you’ve been given enough assistance as a small business?
I’m still frustrated with how things are with the stimulus package, which I thought was just kind of a joke. It didn’t trickle down to us, which is kind of how our economy is too in the way that it was structured. It’s not a surprise, but you see these mega companies that make tens or millions of dollars a year and they’re able to [get assistance]. But the backbone of our communities, businesses like mine, or mom and pop shops that keep the community going, we don’t really get any assistance. And that hurts.
I don’t get unemployment. We requested a grant of $10,000 from the Small Business Administration online, they said we would receive an answer in one to three days, it’s been five weeks. We tried payroll protection, but the banks are using that like they’re trying to do regular credit and it wasn’t supposed to be that way. It’s supposed to be ‘What’s your business? What’s your expenses? Do you have your tax return?’ and two or three questions like that. And I’ve crossed off all those boxes but come to find out, ‘Oh well we don’t have any money for you.’ And that’s really hard.
The other part of this is, we have to pay for our own insurances and everything out of our own pockets, but if we don’t have the finances to do that, then everything ellipses. Insurance is elapsed. Health coverage is elapsed if you have it. The majority of us, I’d say about 80 - 85% of the barbers or people in our industry don’t even have health insurance, they’re just paying out of pocket. So we don’t really have a stimulus plan for people like us that are independent contractors or business owners. They don’t have a plan and we don’t have financial assistance. We gotta beg for it.
One of McKnight’s customers after a haircut at Tabu of Reno’s Barber Lounge. Photo courtesy of Tabu McKnight.
Q: Have you been able to find any ways to generate extra income while this is going on? Independent appointments or anything like that?
I’ll make some house calls or do something like that, individual appointments...but I battle Crohn's Disease. I’ve had 11 surgeries and I have [a compromised] immune system. So it came to the point where I was like, I’m not going to do anything, because I’m not 100% sure of what I’m walking into. So it became that progression of wanting to do it and needing to do it to...am I putting my family at risk? Because if I brought something home and gave it to my wife or my grandkids or my kids, I don’t know how I would forgive myself. So I kind of had to shut everything down.
And the other thing is people don’t want to pay you for what you’re worth. They look at it as just a haircut, but it’s more. I have to pack up all my equipment, pack it in my car, leave my family, my house, and my safety to come wherever you are whether you are whether you’re in Lemon Valley or the south end of town or Truckee. It’s not just the cost of a regular haircut.
Q: When your business is shut down and you can’t get enough financial assistance or make income on your own without risking your health or your family’s, where does that leave you? What are you able to do?
The only thing I can do is beg and plead to go into debt, just go to my banks or credit unions and take out loans and get into debt and use that to help me stay afloat. And it may seem crazy, but it’s well worth it. I consider that good debt if I can still provide and do what I need to do [for my family]. Because I can make that money back, it’ll be a struggle but I can make it back. And if this continues then I’m okay with that, I just have to figure out different avenues in order for me to have some income come in.
I don’t want to get into a situation where I just throw caution to the wind like some people are doing, or how some people saying [the virus] isn’t that serious. This is real. And it’s really a life and death decision for me to be around groups and crowds of people and find myself in the hospital, having my immune system try to fight a virus that we have no answer for at the present time. So if it goes on, I just have to go into debt. Whatever I have to do, I just have to do it in order for my family to survive...I’m not worried about my credit score. If my credit drops to zero, I can get that back up. That’s better than letting my family starve.
Tabu’s has gotten high marks and praise in the community. Barbers from the shop have also often volunteered at community meals and gatherings for those without shelter.
Q: With how uncertain everything is, what are your thoughts about the future, how we can deal with this, and where we go from here?
I would say that trouble does not last always, and that’s a true fact. It never lasts always. So we can be assured of that. Another thing is take the time to love the people that are around you and embrace the time we have now, because [the virus has shown] that we’re not promised tomorrow even though we live like that. Because in a matter of seconds or a matter of weeks we find out that people and things don’t always last too long.
Another thing is that, if you’re a business owner, make your business better, rebrand yourself, take the time we have [during the shutdown] to fix the holes and deficiencies that we let slip through the cracks, because as business owners we spend a lot of time working in our business but not necessarily becoming better at business.
I’m not going to worry about frivolous things at this point in time. I’ll take care of my house, take care of my family, and keep God first. And we’re going to make it through because it’s not going to last always.
So I would say to take this time to be better at business and better overall as a person, take advantage that there’s time that we have to sit down and reflect, and regroup, and we energize. And I know we’re all struggling in a sense, and some of us are doing a little better or worse than others. But if we have the opportunity to help somebody else, then let’s help somebody else.