Chop chop: Batemans Bay teen Joel Verdouw kickstarts TikTok barbershop in parents’ garage

For some, getting fired from a job is the worst thing in the world – but for one south coast teen, getting the chop presented an new opportunity (literally) to start his own business at just 18.

Joel Verdouw started the 'Jolie the Barber' business when he was fired from an apprenticeship earlier this year. Picture: Tom McGann.

For some, getting fired from a job is the worst thing in the world – but for one south coast teen, getting the chop presented a new opportunity (literally) to start his own business at just 18.

Young barber Joel Verdouw has been running ‘Jolie the Barber’ out of his parents’ Batemans Bay garage ever since he was fired from a barber apprenticeship earlier this year.

“I lost the apprenticeship due to unfortunate, unforeseen circumstances and instead of continuing an apprenticeship elsewhere, I decided I was going to try and start my own thing,” Mr Verdouw said.

But it wasn’t always the young barber’s intention to start a business straight out of the apprenticeship, with Mr Verdouw saying his friends urged him to make the change.

“I started cutting friends’ hair and they really liked the way I did it, so they started telling their friends and then they wanted haircuts, and they were saying I should really start my own business,” he said.

Mr Verdouw – who first became interested in cutting hair in year 10 at high school – now cuts anywhere between six to 16 peoples’ hair a week. Currently, the teen barber only has male clients.

The busy schedule sees the young entrepreneur making upwards of $230 a week, which he said goes straight back into the business.

Some examples of Joel Verdouw's haircuts. Pictures: @joliethebarber on Instagram.

“I don’t pocket anything,” Mr Verdouw said.

“100 per cent goes back into improving my tools, the set up – it all goes back into making it better.”

‘Jolie the Barber’ has plenty of competition in the Batemans Bay area, however, but Mr Verdouw believes his small business is achieving something his competition is failing to do – mastering social media.

“TikTok is amazing,” he said.

Joel Verdouw transformed his parents' garage into his barbershop studio. Picture: Tom McGann.

“It’s ridiculous, it can get your content out so fast and it spreads so far.

“It’s free advertising.”

The ‘Jolie the Barber’ TikTok account now has more than 1000 followers and 25k likes.

Mr Verdouw’s content primarily features him cutting clients’ hair, showcasing the before and after and highlighting his skills.

“I used to upload once every day, but I’ve cut back to favour quality over quantity,” he said.

@joeliethebarber

A Haircut if you have really straight hair. #straighthair#midtaper#middlepart#foryou#xyzbca#joeliethebarber#fyp

♬ i love you h0e - ✿

His videos have been spreading far, with Mr Verdouw mentioning he has had viewers in Goulburn – nearly 150km away from Batemans Bay – mention they had seen his videos.

But like any young entrepreneur, Mr Verdouw has larger ambitions for the future and while he said he was “incredibly thankful” for his parents’ support, allowing him to run the business from their garage, he hoped to one day run his own storefront.

“That’s the goal,” he said.

“I hope one day to build the ‘Jolie the Barber’ brand strong enough that I can have my own store front which people book, they come in, I have that clientele and I really think one day it will happen.

“And I want to make sure I keep growing the social media side of things alongside the business. Growing like that really is the goal.”