Ask Wednesday: Shannon Long on Beyond Measuring

Mr. Long in his office at BMB Institute

It’s about helping the community

Interview by Morris Dean

My wife and I moved to Mebane, North Carolina in July 2008. At the time, for simplicity and thrift, I was cutting my own hair with the electric shears my wife had bought to try to do our poodle’s grooming. That didn’t work out, but it worked for me because I have less hair than a poodle and I didn’t mind my hair all being the same length—something that would of course never do for a poodle familiar with French styling.
    But by 2010 I was looking for a change and noticed an ad for $5 haircuts. Beyond Measure Barbering Institute (BMB) had opened in March—the first such institute in Mebane. One of its founders, Shannon Long, was and is a neighbor of ours. He and his business associate, Curtis Bass, planned to offer three things: training for barbers, job placement, and community outreach.

Mssrs. Bass & Long open for educating barbers

    Shannon agreed to answer some questions [in italics]:

Shannon, my hair has been cut many times now at BMB, by many different trainees, who often consulted with you, their trainer, before proceeding to the next step. How many graduates have you trained?
    Approximately 40.

How important to their training are customers like me?
    Extremely important, because it allows students a chance to get to know their clients as well as the clients’ lifestyles. Knowledge of the clients helps student barbers to determine the type of service best suited to each client.

How many of your graduates have gone on to work as barbers? And how many of those availed themselves of your placement services?
    Our outcome rates are as follows:

1. Job placement 93%
2. Licensure rate 92%
3. Completion rate 88%

I guess “completion rate” refers to the proportion of students beginning BMB’s curriculum who successfully finish, right? What do you mean by “licensure rate”? Does a graduate have to obtain a license to work as a barber? How can the licensure rate be less than the placement rate—unless they can start at a job while their application for license is being processed?
    Yes, a graduate will receive what is called “a privilege to work” certificate from the North Carolina Board of Barber Examiners. The privilege to work will allow a student to work right out of school with a test date approximately 2-3 months out. Some students fail to bring the proper model for the practical examination. A model is a live person whom the student must give a haircut and a 14-stage shave. The model must meet the board requirements that students are made acquainted with prior to graduation.

    If the student passes both the written and practical examination, then he or she will receive their apprentice license and be considered licensed by the State Board of Barber Examiners. The apprentice barber must test for his or her registered/master license anywhere from 12-36 months from becoming an official apprentice barber. If the apprentice does not test within 36 months, then his or her apprentice license will be revoked. So that’s how the rates can differ because a student can be placed and not licensed.

How does placement work?
    The student makes the decision to work at the barber shop of choice. After the shop owner agrees to employ the student, the student will send the information to the state. The state either approves the student to work or denies the student according to his/her school records of pass/fail and satisfaction of all financial obligations having been met.

Have any of your graduates gone into “grooming services” not necessarily thought of as “barbering?” “Beauty shops,” for example?
    An apprentice barber can work in a barber shop or a salon under a registered barber’s tutelage. So, if he or she goes to work in a salon, there must be a registered barber present and employed. Once he or she has been officially licensed as a registered barber, then he or she may work in barber shop or salon with no supervision.

Mr. Long at his passion

I once heard you say, “Hair is my passion.” How did that come to be?
    I started cutting hair at age eleven (1991). I realized that I had a gift. I had the ability to change someone’s inward and outward image of themselves. Making people feel good about themselves is a gift even in spite of my own hardships. It makes me smile when I know that I’ve invested in someone else’s life, career, family, finances, children. Believe it or not, a good haircut has the ability to change a person’s life in every aspect.

I never thought about that. Do you have a particularly notable example you can share with us, of how a haircut made a huge difference to a person?
    Well, if you think about it, men get there hair cut prior to every big event: wedding, job interview, date, TV guest, funeral [laughs out loud]—they get a haircut even if they are the deceased. Some people come into the school feeling depressed and with low self-esteem until they receive their haircut. That service changes their appearance, and their appearance changes the way they feel about themselves.

You lent me the textbook your students use. I was struck that it included a fair amount of history and a great deal of science, including anatomy and hygiene. What about barbering’s history—it’s relationship with surgery, for example—do you personally find most fascinating?
    I find it fascinating that barbers were considered surgeons back in that day, and now some folks can’t believe that an individual has to go to school for barbering.

How challenging does your typical student find the curriculum?
    I would say that approximately 95% of the students handle the curriculum pretty well. We have a small percentage who struggle due to lack of comprehension skills as it relates to reading, etc.

How difficult was it for you and Curtis to gain a license and become accredited?
    The license was the easy task. The accreditation, on the other hand, was a tough task for Mr. Bass and me. (We encourage all of our students to address all clients, students, and staff as Mister or Miss.) The time frame for the approval was really the toughest due to our basically having to be fully operational for three years before we could actually receive an approval. The accreditation deals with school policies that have to be changed to fit within the confines of the National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts and Sciences (NACCAS) and the Department of Education (DOE). We had to make sure that our student/staff policies were in accordance with their regulations. The process of accreditation took the school’s standards to a higher level.

Please give me two examples of policies that you were challenged to upgrade to meet the standards.
    1. Academic policies had to be upgraded to meet the standards of NACCAS. The upgrade consisted of BMB having to change from regular testing to having the student test in different stages. A student has four intervals (practical and written intervals) during the duration of their schooling. The four intervals consist of academics and attendance. The academics consist of practical and written tests that have to be maintained at a minimum accumulative rate of 70% to be considered passing. The attendance rate has to be maintained at 80%. These two scores will determine whether the student is eligible for financial aid and whether the student can continue receiving financial aid after approval. These scores have to be maintained throughout the student’s tenure. Prior to these standards, we only tracked students’ written test scores and attendance, with no cumulative ratings/percentages.
    2. In-house policies such as instructors’ continuing education courses, infrastructure changes such as making sure we have the proper exit/escape routes, adequate parking, staff policy manual, and financial composite scores, which help to determine whether the institution is staying on track prior to accreditation and DOE funding.

Community outreach sounds to me like something unique in the field of barbering. Is it? How did outreach come to be a part of your and Mr. Bass’s vision?
   First off, we are men of faith, and the Bible teaches us that we are to love our neighbors and be cheerful givers.
    Outreach also speaks to us as business owners: Regardless of our customers’ skin color, financial status, religion, or gender, we want to serve them with excellence. We believe that in any business that offers a service to the public, it is imperative to offer something that will enrich the community. So our philosophy is to reach out and change the community with love, grooming services, clothing, food, mentorship. The list goes on. Mr. Bass and I have a heart for the people of the community, and this prompts us to extend a haircut to families that cannot afford a five-dollar haircut.
    We believe that you will reap what you sew. So, to say the least, if we continue to always give back, we will always be successful.

Please say more about what’s on that list for enriching your community. What other things do you do?
    We help local kids build their self-esteem by speaking to them about maintaining good grades, appearance, and self-esteem. We also mentor students at local schools ranging from ages 6-10 years of age. I just finished a class at South Mebane Elementary, where I taught them how to tie a necktie and stay cool while wearing it.

That sounds wonderful! I can picture you doing that! What personal experiences or people you have known influenced you to go into barbering?
    I cut hair throughout my school years, and that helped and honed my craft. Some haircuts were good and some were bad [laughed out loud], but cutting hair helped me become who I am today. I’ve always had a passion for running my own business and being an entrepreneur. The idea of owning a business is not so that we can boast and be called a boss (I really dislike that word). It is really to show people that you can own and run a business without it being called a “plantation.” Then one day I realized that I could be successful by doing something that I loved to do. “If you are going to be successful, it will most likely be your gift/hobby.” (That's from a book I can’t remember the author of, but it rang true.)

What mentors influenced you in the “giving back” philosophy? And is that anything like “paying it forward”?
    Well, I would have to say that no one really influenced me personally but it really makes me feel good to give.

What do you mean not wanting to have a business “called a ‘plantation’”?
    I too often hear people saying about going to work, “it‘s time to go to the plantation.” I want our employees to feel free on their way to work. I want them to feel good when they come to work. I would say that having happy employees means increased quality and production.

Every week in the Mebane Enterprise, I see Beyond Measure Ministries listed under “Community, Gospel, Non-denominational” churches, at the same building address. Is BMM a part of BMB’s community outreach?

    They are separate entities, but they work off one another. The outreach here at BMB coincides with the outreach of the ministry (BMM). We believe in giving back! We provide free haircuts to families in need as well as to any customer who lets us know they are low on funds. Mr. Bass has been working with various shelters in this area to provide services such as food, clothing, and haircuts, as well as words of encouragement on the 3rd Sunday of every month at the Chapel Hill Men’s shelter.

Is giving words of encouragement part of the shelter’s church service? How “religious” do you get? Are you and Mr. Bass ordained ministers?

Pastor Long

   Yes, the words of encouragement are given during a church service, and Mr. Bass and I are ordained ministers.
    I started out in 2004, when my wife and I joined Victorious Praise Fellowship Church. It was there that I started training under Pastor Wil Nichols to become the minister that I felt that God had called me to be. I preached my first sermon in January 2005. I was licensed as a minister at Victorious Praise Fellowship. This organization was affiliated with the parent organization, Church of God in Christ (COGIC), which has a pentecostal foundation and is known world-wide.

Pastor Bass

    I later started a two-year program that would lead me to become an elder in the organization. Months into the program, I dropped out and resumed studies on my own. I later left that organization and sought ordination through the Reformed Freewill Baptist Church. After being officially ordained there, I started an independent church that was non-denominational, for people from all backgrounds, named Beyond Measure Ministries, Inc. Our organization has a separate entity known as the Beyond Measure Community Development Corporation, Inc. The CDC was established house day-care centers, summer camps, before & after schools, book stores, and other businesses to help fund the church when tithes and offerings are down so that the ministry can still support the community services that we offer (shelter, hot meals, clothing, etc.).

Are there any questions you wish I had asked but didn’t? Anything that you’d really like to talk about that we haven’t touched on so far? I just have a feeling that there’s more, and I would hate to let this opportunity go by. I mean, Mr. Long, you are one of the most remarkable men I have ever met.
    I would just like to ask you something. You've told me that you attended a divinity school in Scotland for a while. What made you go there, and what made you leave? Are you a believer of Jesus?

Oh, that's a story for another time, don't you think? I will say that I believe in love, but just not the love which passeth all understanding. Today, it's your spotlight!
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Copyright © 2014 by Morris Dean

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