MISTER MOTIVATOR

Mike Taylor may be juggling lots of things, but a passion for education is at the heart of everything he does

Mike Taylor started barbering straight after leaving school and has dedicated his life to raising standards and mentoring the next generation in men’s hairdressing. He originally enrolled on a hairdressing course as there was no barbering qualification available, but it was men’s hairdressing he was really interested in. Now, 30 years later, Mike is not only at the top of his game as a barber, but is a much sought-after educator and business leader with a multitude of awards to his name.

“I still enjoy what I do every day,” explains Mike. “I have spent most of my life in a barbershop; at the age of 20 I opened my first barbershop and in 2004 I started teaching. I needed staff for my business, so I was one of the first barber teachers to teach the new qualifications. I was teaching way before social media was invented, you couldn’t call yourself a barber by watching a few videos!”

Mike believes men’s grooming habits have changed the face of barbering. “The barbershop has really come into its own in the last 10 years. Most high streets and villages have at least one barbershop. A midlife crisis in the 90s was about buying a fast car; now it’s about looking 10 years younger, so I think men’s grooming will always be on the rise amongst style-concious men.”

Mike may have started training to obtain and train staff for his own barbershop, but he soon branched out and now has an industry-leading educational programme. “I think teaching is a massive privilege. I’ve been teaching for 18 years now, so I’ve taught people that have been on stage and people that have multiple barbershops. I’ve been around so long that people recommend me because they’ve been taught by me and my company,” he states.

AWARD WINNER

Mike Taylor Education has worked hard to establish its own app and online presence, as well as a standardised approach to teaching the barbering qualification. “I think that’s what people don’t realise - teaching isn’t about how good you are, it’s about how you can standardise it. You need a method so people have a way of getting from one place to another, then you need a standardised method, so that everyone is teaching and saying the same thing. I know in barbering it’s very artistic and there’s a million different ways to do anything, but when you are teaching someone there is only one way or the learner gets confused. At Mike Taylor Education we have developed a standardised way to develop students at the gateway and get them to their first job.”

In 2021, Mike scooped two awards at the Modern Barber awards, scoring a hat trick for Best Training (three years in a row), and picking up his first award for Business Leader.

“Business Leader was a complete shock to me. I thought I’d go for it and enter as I’ve been in business a long time, and the people that work with me have worked with me for a long time, so obviously what I do gets results,” he explains “I thought I’d write the entry and I would be amazed if I got to the finals, but to be amongst the finalists was great. People see me as solely education and don’t realise I actually own multiple barbershops and I am a business leader, so it was amazing to be recognised for this.”

“I’M STRIVING TO GET BARBERS TO FEEL THEIR WORTH, KNOW THEIR WORTH AND MAKE A GOOD LIVING OUT OF THEIR SHOPS.”

Through all of his successes, he maintains that he does this for his students. It speaks for itself, not needing to use Google Adwords or sponsor posts on social media, his past students do the talking for him and keep bringing friends to his door to experience his standard setting education.

So what keeps Mike pushing to be the best he can be? “If I’m not busy I’m not happy. I have to have new goals, I have to keep things fresh. I want to continue to evolve my training, my barbershops and everything in it. When I’m not working, I am at home playing football, horse riding and doing family stuff. I’m always busy and up to something.”

As we head for the halfway mark of 2022, Mike looks forward to streamlining his education and introducing further online courses to ensure barber education continues moving forward. Mike also wants to mentor industry peers to earn their worth.

“Covid was a massive chance for barbering as a business and I don’t feel that we took that opportunity. We went straight back to how we were. I’m striving to get barbers to feel their worth, know their worth and make a good living out of their shops. Some barbers earn less than minimum wage and that should not happen. We have to look at this as a business, and I want to push barbers to see their potential and to make their businesses more lucrative.”