Today we’d like to introduce you to Clark Williams Jr.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Clark. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
RookieFresh started as a small, in-house, friends only, hair cutting experience. My father was in the Air Force, and we traveled all over the country eventually ending up in the small town of Mountain Home, Idaho where he retired. Idaho is not a place known for its diversity. As a matter of fact, the area I grew up in was predominantly white. With that being true, there was rarely a time when a local black barber existed. Actually, there was a lack of skilled barbers, period. This caused me to grow my own hair out for about 6 years before I finally decided to make the big chop.
I started cutting my own hair a few months after I met Kenny who came to Mountain Home Air Force Base after being stationed in Germany. He was an actual barber who critiqued my skills (or lack thereof) and made fun of me mercilessly! We became good friends, and he eventually took me under his wings. One day he invited me over to show me a few tips of the trade. He even invited some of his regular clients for my practice on, and as I practiced, Kenny coached me through it. During this time, I learned fading techniques and developed skills needed to deal with different textures of hair and different styles.
With Mountain Home being a military town due to the location of the base, it did not take long to build clientele. Word to spread that there were some black barbers in town that were skilled in cutting black hair. And while black hair was my primary focus, I didn’t want to limit myself to having only black customers. So I practiced more and more. I began to cut hair in dorms, my office at work, at the homes of my clients, and even in my home bathroom. The demand was so high, that I cut hair whenever and where ever I could. One particular client was so satisfied with my work that he told me even though I was a rookie at cutting hair, my line-ups were the freshest. It was at that point that he declared that he would call me RookieFresh. And this is how the name was born.
Over time I was able to set up a shop in my garage. Once I did, business skyrocketed! I cut hair on the weekends at this point, but it brought in steady cash flow. I then realized that I made enough money to sustain my family financially, so I ended up quitting the regular job I had for the job that I had become passionate about. I wanted to hone my skills even more, so I enrolled in Barber School. There was only one school in Idaho, and it was an hour away, only open from 9 – 5. Yet, I leaped a faith and toughed it out. I did school throughout the day, and cut hair in the evenings, applying all that I was learning.
Fast forward a year ahead, I graduated barber school and things were great. But then my son was about to go through a life-threatening health experience. Born with Sickle-cell Anemia, he began to show serious signs of illness. He had a splenic crisis which meant his spleen was on the verge of rupturing because of the sickle-cells building up inside it. The medical professionals helped my wife and I decide to get a bone marrow transplant for our son. The difficulty with this decision was that the only place near enough to have it done was in Salt Lake City, Utah. So with my family in tow, our bags packed, we made the four hour drive to Utah. Fortunately, we were able to live in the Ronald McDonald House. We didn’t know it would end up being six months of living there. We still had our mortgage and regular bills to pay back in Idaho, so every weekend, I would drive back home to cut hair to ensure our bills were paid.
My son’s operation went well and after six months of being in Utah, we received a clean bill of health and were able to come back home. At this point, I was ready to dive deep into my passion for barbering. So much so, that I signed a lease to open up a new shop. Exactly five days before the grand opening, the landlord had the HVAC removed from the building which caused the building to cease being up to code. I ended up having to forfeit the lease, and move on. Still determined to go as far as this barbering journey would take me, my wife and I decided to sell our home and move from Mountain Home to Boise.
I began to work in a local barbershop and experience what life was like living in a bigger city. There were more diversity and opportunity in Boise. I enjoyed where I worked and who I worked with, but I knew the journey would not end there. Still wanting to own a barber business myself, I took to opportunity to watch and learn how the owner successfully ran this shop. I studied to see what the clients liked and disliked. I watched to see what motivated my co-workers. I learned the advantage of yielding to the atmosphere without compromising my integrity or my art.
Being a man of faith, I prayed with my wife about our next step. After some time passed, we started looking into living and working in Phoenix. We conversed and prayed, and prayed and conversed until finally, we were Arizona bound. We had no job offers, we had no place to call our own, but we believed that God had something great in store for us.
Initially, I tried working in other shops in Phoenix, but nothing I found fit what I was looking for nor the needs of my family. Not to be daunted by the fruitlessness I experienced, I decided to start looking for buildings to purchase. It wasn’t long before I stumbled across what we now know as the RookieFresh Barbershop. We aim to be as fresh as any rookie starting in their new career. Every big named star that we know had a beginning. From Michael Jordan to Tom Cruise, they were all known well before they hit their prime, and even in their rookie year, many wanted to be like them. This is what we stand for and aim to produce. Our goal is to promote within our clientele a feeling of “freshness”, confidence that they can be the best they can be.
We opened our doors in January 2019, and after 11 short months, we are still growing, and the word is spreading. The fact that word is spreading is something that we are overwhelmingly grateful for because it means recommendations and that means even more clients! We get people from all over, with all different backgrounds, looks, styles and hair textures. From students to military members, to minor league players, from folks coming as far as Scottsdale and Gilbert, and across the Valle. They come to have the RookieFresh experience. We have a great team, a positive and chill atmosphere, where all are welcome no matter what your differences are.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
A smooth road? Not so much. My pathway to success has had a few setbacks. As a full time barber student, I didn’t have any other source of income to support my family save for cutting hair in the evenings and on the weekend. So while I was trying to support my family, I also sacrificed a lot of quality time with them during that period. As eager as I was to move to a bigger city, it was well out of my comfort zone which brought about its own set of challenges. Then we went from living in a bigger city to an entirely new state. With that move came the loss the entire clientele I had been blessed to build up. That felt like a shot to the heart. And even worse still, looking for employment at local barbershops was challenging too. It was extremely difficult for me to wrap my head around splitting my earnings at 60/40. There was no way that I could see that being profitable for me and my family. However, I am truly grateful for all of that because it pushed me to make the move to start up my shop. And while these things were all difficult, the most challenging thing I’ve had to endure on this journey so far was the health crisis we went through with my son. It was hard to care for him, to care for my wife while she cared for him, while still driving home 4 hours every weekend to work just enough to be able to put food on the table and a roof over our head.
Please tell us more about your business.
Ever thought of how it would feel to be like Tom Cruise? Remember when everyone wanted to “be like Mike”? Cruise and Jordan were both known well before they reached their prime. Even in their rookie year, people wanted to be like them. The initial thrill of being chased by paparazzi, being recognized by people they’ve never met. This is the feeling we hope to produce in our clients. Our goal is to promote within them both a look and feel of freshness…that newness, and excitement that rookies feel when they first step up to the set, plate, court, or field. It’s a feeling they’ve never had, and they are completely high from it. When we finish a cut, and our clients look in the mirror, I want them to look and feel like bright eyed rookie ready to take on the world!
We accomplish this goal by doing a few things. First, we specialize in cutting all hair types, therefore ALL are welcome. The detail is just like attitude: it’s everything. At RookieFresh we meet detail with finesse and precision to give our clients an experience like no other. The formula is simple: we get the client’s input and vision and add to it our skill and expertise. We offer a variety of styles and services from high tops and fades, to designs and afros, we do it all. We even shave, and we do so by using the straight razor and hot shave creams along with a hot towel. This is one of my favorites because it’s nostalgic. It’s almost like paying homage to the old school barbershop doing it just the way that they did.
I would say that we are most known for precision line-ups, crisp brush cuts, and fades. That is something that has always been important to me. I never want our customers to feel like they just got their hair cut by someone who didn’t care, who rushed to finish, or who didn’t listen to their needs. I don’t believe any of our customers can honestly say this is how we do business at RookieFresh. Precision is key!
I am most proud of the growth and development we’ve experienced as a business and a team. Somehow we have managed to become the talk of the town in multiple cities and we’ve not even been in operation a full year yet. That speaks volumes to the amazing talent within this team and just how blessed we are.
I think what sets us apart from other barbershops in the work environment we have and our staff, of course. We have heard on several occasions from our customers that they appreciate the non-toxic atmosphere. One of the things we think helps with setting this atmosphere is the music we play. It’s always either something smooth like jazz or neo-soul instrumentals. But on some days when we want to crank things up a bit, we play alternative rock or Christian rap which tends to grab listeners’ attention and inevitable inquiring about artists and songs to add to their own playlist. Parents especially enjoy this because they have no fear that their children will be exposed to any vulgarities in the music. To add to that, people must know that any person is welcome in our shop, no matter their age, color, or if they are male or female. Every one of them is welcome!
Our barbers are skilled professionals and their talents are on display daily, bringing our customers back for more. But more than that, they embody the importance of customer input and customer care. They are consistent in engaging clients so that they will know and understand what the client wants. Their customer’s happiness means everything. And to ensure the staff continues to hone their abilities, we provide extra training for both skill and personal development. We do this because we to foster an atmosphere of growing together. I think it is the cure to the “every man for himself” mentality. By doing business this way, we have been successful.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
My long term goal is to make RookieFresh Barbershop the gold standard. Getting a haircut is something that is so personal and this contributes to the struggle with finding the “right place”. Being a military brat and moving from place to place has given me experience with this struggle more times than I’d like to remember. That said, my dream is to be able to franchise this model worldwide! But for now, the focus is to continue to grow our headquarters sot to be self-sustaining. I’d like to open another shop locally and continue with that until the long term goal is realized.
Pricing:
- regular haircuts are $20
- skin or razor fades are $25
- kids cuts are $15
- shaves start at $25 and vary depending on what area we are shaving
Contact Info:
- Address: Rookiefresh Barbershop
10540 w indianshool Rd
phoenix az 85395 - Website: Rookiefreshbarbershop.com
- Phone: 208 599-1569
- Email: rookiefreshbarber@gmail.com
- Instagram: @Rookie_Fresh
- Facebook: Rookiefreshbarbershop
- Yelp: Rookiefresh barbershop
Image Credit:
Angel Hernandez, Rome Robadan
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