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Comment by sandworm101 | Hacker News Reader

Barbar /= "Barbershop owner".

I am really sick of reading about "carpenters" and "plumbers" in these articles. These are people who own and operate small businesses, with employees. We have a local billionaire (Jim Paterson) who people jokingly call a "used car salesman". He didn't make his millions selling cars. He made billions by owning the car dealerships where other people sold cars for him. Wealth comes now from operating a business but from owning it.

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I hear what you are saying, but how many of these people were able to start as a barber, carpenter, or plumber, and build up there business from there? If a barber starts their shop, and off the back of their effort, are able to bring others in to work for them, isn't this effectively the barber earning that?

The barber, using their skills, were able to start a small business that hired others. It's not merely a case of some non-barber just buying a small business that happened to be cutting people's hair. So while they didn't start at 180k, they ended up there because of barbering.

You're right, except for the fact that it wasn't the skillset obtained by being a barber that helped build the business - it was the person's business acumen.

You can be great at cutting hair, but abysmal at leading individuals, much less operating a business.

Good point. But I wonder if they would be just as successful in another business. e.g. If the barber suddenly opened up a restaurant. The important point is, it's the fact that this person with this set of skills that include being a barber and their business acumen that allows them to succeed. Remove one, I don't think they'd be as successful in starting a new business.

Business acumen, access to credit, a market niche, decent regulatory environment... and a bunch of other stuff. Mobile barbershops might not even be legal in many places. It is a very regulated area. More training to cut hair than be an EMT.

Are you talking about Jimmy Pattison?

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