By: Rishabh Shah

Photographer: Romuel Cuevas for all photos

Hi readers, this is the 4th edition of Titan’s Tycoon; a series focusing on the promotion of student entrepreneurship and business. 

If you attend St. Augustine CHS, you may have seen that some of your friends follow an account titled, “Barbersharps.” Well, this account is run by Romuel Cuevas, a 1st year TMU Business Management student and a St. Augustine CHS graduate. He loves to snowboard, play video games, and cut hair (Obviously). 

Romuel is an employee at a barbershop named Squareblock Studios. However, he wasn’t just employed out of the blue. Romuel’s haircutting days started when he saw the absence of barbers during quarantine for COVID-19. He realized that this could be his way of doing good for his family, friends, and of course, the community. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Romuel. Romuel picked up cutting hair as a hobby and focused his time on raising his skill level. He started with close friends and family members and offered his service free of charge. Slowly but surely, his skill level got better and better. He started charging for his services only when he felt his skill level was worthy of money. I think it is a great skill to know your value, you should know what is a rip-off to your worth and what is unfair to the customer.

Romuel’s journey follows a similar route as other entrepreneurs I have interviewed. Romuel strongly agrees that it is 100% okay to make mistakes, as long as you use those mistakes as learning experiences. His service eventually grew through word-of-mouth. With changing trends and fashions, Romuel continuously puts effort to keep up with what customers may want. After all, the barber is expected to play the role of a consultant and to build a friend-like bond with the client.

During my interview with Romuel, he agreed with this statement, ”I approach building and maintaining relationships with my clients to ensure repeat business by treating them as a friend, rather than another person in my chair.”

When asked about any possible concerns for the future of barbers, he brought up a great point. He said that fades have been trending for a while, but some barbers have started to primarily practice these fades. These exact shops could suffer when fades inevitably – like any other style – move out of the spotlight. 

Like any growing business, Romuel faced mishaps. Unhappy customers may stop re-booking with him. This is par for the course, and aspiring barbers should not be scared off by it. Nevertheless, he kept practicing and working toward his final goal. Fast-forward to today, both Squareblock Studios and Romuel are thriving in the barbering industry.

I learned a lot about the company and Romuel from this interview, but after seeing his photos and social media content, I see that Barbersharps can truly give a great haircut.

That does it for this edition of Titan’s Tycoon. To ask Romuel questions, visit Barbersharps on Instagram and @barbersharps on Tiktok. To book your appointment with Squareblock Studios, visit https://www.squareblockstudio.ca/. Stay tuned for the next article, and stay curious…

Work Cited

Cuevas, Romuel. Interview. Conducted by Rishabh Shah. January 22nd, 2024