Along the way they have faced some serious setbacks.
In 2011 George came to Australia as a refugee.
“In Iran I worked as a barber so I was able to find work in Melbourne,” George said.
George did not speak English and he relied on his boss to translate for him, which was not an ideal situation.
Sometimes he cut hair too short. Sometimes it was too long and occasionally he cut the wrong style.
Over time George started to dream about owning his own business.
In 2017 he enrolled at Melbourne Polytechnic in Epping to study English. Lawan was also doing the same course.
“Do you remember the first words you spoke to her?” I asked.
“Can I borrow a pen?” George replied.
“Okay, that’s not what I expected. Where did you go on your first date?”
“We walked to a petrol station for coffee,” George said.
“It was good coffee,” Lawan added.
George and Lawan looked at several sites around Melbourne and eventually settled on Seymour.
The location and price were right and the town had a growing population.
They opened for business on Wednesday, February 19, 2020.
Their first customer was a soldier from Puckapunyal and by the end of the day they had served a further seven customers.
Three months later that number had grown to 30 a day.
“Just when everything was wonderful we got hit by the pandemic,” George said.
The business closed on seven different occasions.
Unfortunately, the owners did not qualify for government assistance.
On October 14, 2022, 260 properties in Seymour were flooded.
The Seymour Barber shop was inundated with four feet of water.
Like many others, the couple had no flood insurance. It cost them $30,000 to replace everything, down to the wiring.
Lawan and George have overcome these setbacks to build a life in Seymour.
The business now serves 50 customer a day.
Recently they married and built a house together, and a baby is due at Christmas which will add to their blended family.
I told George, I think this is a story about resilience.
“What does that mean?” George said.
I told him it means you got knocked down but you didn’t get knocked out.
“I like that,” he said with a smile.
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