Name: Jacob Meltzer
Age: 30
Title: Co-Owner “Keep It Cut”, men’s hair salon offering Unlimited Haircut Memberships
Married/Single: Available 😉
Kids: Not yet. Currently working on Best Uncle Award.
City you live in: Phoenix
I was born…
in Grand Coulee, WA home to the Grand Coulee Dam. Fun fact: The dam contains enough concrete you could build a sidewalk four feet wide and four inches thick and wrap it twice around the equator (50,000 miles).
My favorite thing about Arizona…
is a hike, east of Sedona, to a swimming hole called “The Crack”. Rich red canyon walls, prickly pear cactus blooming along the way and a crystal blue water hole at the end surrounded by small cliffs for jumping. My moment of zen.
I’m listening to…
NPR’s tiny desk concerts. They bring the artists into their office to hold a mini 15 min concert and then record it for their website. Check on the one by Macklemore and Ryan. Great little show.
My family…
is amazing. I am the youngest of four. A “pleasant surprise” as my mom so kindly puts it. We are spread throughout the country from Washington State to Louisiana, but remain thick as thieves. They have been a huge support throughout my life.
If I could have dinner with anyone, it would be…
any President of the United States. I find presidents awe inspiring. The amount of mental fortitude they need to process and make decisions in the political environment is beyond my scope of understanding. I may not always agree with their decisions, but I 100% respect the challenges they face when making them.
One thing I cannot live without…
is cool fresh air. The hardest time of year for me in Phoenix is the summer when it is so hot outside. Being from Washington State I start to wither when the temps peak above 100 and I avoid going outside at all costs. I take a lot of trips north on summer weekends to get out of dodge and camp in the cooler climate.
When I was younger, I wanted to be…
a doctor. Then I gave blood for my first time in college and I passed out when they did the finger prick test to check my blood levels before donating. I passed out so hard all the nurses ended up coming over and had to use the smelling salts to wake me up! Thought again about my choice of profession after that.
I’m inspired by…
people who follow their passions with 100% abandon. It doesn’t matter what they are doing, only that they are full bore ahead and chomping at the bit to do what they love or desire.
The one person who motivates me is…
my father. His leadership has never been for the title, the power, or the prestige. In fact, most of the time it isn’t even a conscious decision. It just is who he is because he has lived his life with such purposeful integrity and care for others that it has become his every day, his every action. Each day I aim to emulate my father’s leadership with the hope that I can be that kind of man as well professionally and personally.
If I could change anything in the world, it would be…
self-interest. If there was a way to eliminate that it would be the cure all of all other problems that exist. Poverty, homelessness, gender/race inequalities…poof…gone. My sole goal in business is to be successful enough to give back to societal issues 100% of my time.
The perfect day would be…
a backpack trip into a remote area with mountains, trees, and a lake to swim in. I just hiked into Havasupai Falls a few weeks back and didn’t want to come home.
My first job was…
picking dandelion heads in the backyard before they bloomed. I was in elementary school and asked my parents how I could make money around the house. They paid me 1 cent for every dandelion head I picked before it bloomed so they wouldn’t spread their seed throughout the lawn. I made a killing. $3 if I remember right.
My favorite escape…
is to travel. Near or far I love taking adventures. It could be wine tasting in Cottonwood, AZ or New Years in Paris. I just love getting out and experiencing something new.
My life…
is nowhere near what I expected it would be, but I am loving it. Ask me ten years ago where I thought I would be today and I would have told you teaching high school Biology in Washington State. Now I live in Phoenix, manage a 300 unit student apartment in Tempe, and own two businesses; a men’s haircut shop and an income tax preparation office. Didn’t see this in the cards.
I’m currently working on…
honing in the marketing plan for the men’s haircut shop, Keep It Cut. We offer unlimited haircut memberships and are continuing to find ways to share this idea with the market. Once people hear about it they LOVE it. It’s just getting the word out that takes time.
Always…
live with integrity and with the goal of bettering yourself and the world around you. This is living.
Never…
disrespect others. If you want good out of the world put good in the world. Negative energy only broods more of itself.
Favorite Quote…
African Proverb“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
Biggest Dream…
to make my businesses successful so I can work 100% on philanthropy work.
My Pet Peeve(s)…
using the same knife for the peanut butter container and the jelly jar.
