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The only haircuts Jamie Morgan and Barkley Robinson have ever given were to themselves. So why would two guys with perfectly good jobs dream of opening a hair-styling shop in Steamboat Springs?

To begin with, they haven't quit their day jobs. Second, they saw an opportunity in the underserved market for drop-in men's haircuts in the city.

"All of our friends said, 'You guys are crazy,'" Morgan admitted. But the two are confident they know what they are doing, even though they don't cut hair and haven't even spent much time in a barber's chair.

Before August, when they opened Mountain Cuts in Sundance at Fish Creek shopping center, both men had been giving themselves buzz cuts for at least a decade. Not to worry, when customers walk through the door, they won't be greeted by Morgan and Robinson with clippers in hand. Instead, their manager, Shirley McCarthy, has hired a crew of professional stylists to staff the shop seven days a week.

Morgan, an insurance agent, and Robinson, a structural engineer, are aware that there are plenty of Steamboat guys who are happy with the haircuts they get in women's hair salons or at a traditional barbershop. But after studying the market, they also were convinced that a large number of guys would love to get a last-minute haircut without an appointment in an environment not predominantly feminine.

"We want guys to be able to feel like this is their place," Morgan said. "We wanted to establish a clear alternative for guys who are currently making appointments and getting their hair cut at salons. We realized we're up against about 25 salons."

Not that there are any male barbers at Mountain Cuts -- apparently guys don't mind female attention, it's the ambience that makes the difference. Accordingly, the interior of Mountain Cuts was designed by Michael Buccino of Steamboat Interiors to evoke masculinity. That means black concrete floors, plaster walls painted in red and old wooden skis hung on the walls. The storage cabinets on the sides of the mirror at each hair cutting station are school lockers.

And what says, "It's a guy's place," better than Sports-Center.

In addition to the big screen television in the waiting area, there are smaller screens at every styling station. And they aren't tuned to Oprah.

Mountain Cuts has been averaging 100 new customers a week this month, and on a Wednesday morning before the holiday, the shop was popular among moms with boys in tow.

The moms are welcome to get their hair cut and styled, too -- but house rules say no perms and no tints. Guys don't like the aroma.

Morgan first came upon the idea of owning a hair-cutting salon that targets men almost by accident. The owners of the Sundance at Fish Creek shopping center are insurance clients of his at Brown and Brown Insurance. During a casual conversation with Bob Larson, Morgan suggested they think about leasing a storefront to a franchise bakery that's popular in Montana.

"Are you interested in franchising?" Larson shot back.

Morgan explained that he had been casually researching franchising opportunities but wasn't ready to do anything. Larson replied that

he was interested in placing a no-appointment hair cutting franchise in the center and urged him to take a close look at several brands.

Morgan followed through, but after consulting with Scott Ford at the Colorado Mountain College Small Business Devel-opment Center, he decided the franchise models didn't return enough for what they asked in return. True, Morgan said, the franchise hair-cutting businesses offered turn-key business plans, but he was deterred by requirements that he return 6 percent of his gross to the franchiser and pay $15,000 annually for advertising outside the local market. Still, Morgan learned enough to become intrigued and decided instead to establish an independent shop with a sports theme. However, instead of reflecting major league sports, its walls would be hung with pictures of mountain sports.

Morgan invited Robinson to invest in the business, and they wrote a business plan and formed an S corporation. The two men share a passion for bicycle racing. Now, they have entered a new competitive arena.

Going in, they knew that guys in Steamboat don't get their hair trimmed as often as guys outside the mountain towns. The national average is about once every six weeks for a men's haircut, Robinson said. In Steamboat, men often wait eight or even 10 weeks between haircuts.

One of the most astute choices they made was to hire McCarthy as their store manager. A former cosmetology instructor at Colorado Northwestern Community Col--lege in Craig, she had the contacts and experience to hire the initial staff. Morgan said she found talented stylists who had dropped out of the business because they weren't happy or successful in the typical business model that calls for individual stylists to rent their chairs at a salon and work as independent contractors.

To ensure they can dependably offer walk-in haircuts on a short wait, they employ their staff on an hourly basis. Right now, Robinson said, they are deliberately overstaffed with two to three stylists at all times.

They expect that a stylist will typically be able to handle two haircuts an hour, or as many as 16 a day. With two to three stylists on duty, they can work with as many as 32 to 48 customers a day at $16 a haircut (women's cuts are $25, older children's are $12 and younger children's are $8).

Robinson and Morgan oversee operations but leave the details to McCarthy; they do all of the books themselves and handle the marketing.

"Our costs are fixed except for our employees," Morgan said. "It's our job to make sure they have enough business. If they don't, we apologize to them."

The two said they planned to lose money for the first six months and thought they were a little ahead of pace for breaking even and then recovering their investment by year two.

Morgan said that last week they tracked 38 percent to 40 percent repeat business on top of 100 new customers.

They remodeled to allow room for six chairs, up from three.

The key to their success will be gauging the volume of new customers against repeat business and how often those loyal customers return.

Those numbers will tell them when it's time to hire more stylists and grow the business.

If all goes as planned, Robin-son and Morgan would like to open a second shop in another mountain town and build toward four or five shops.

"We've got a list of where we'd like to expand," Morgan said with a sly grin. "We won't go anywhere we don't already like to visit."

If you're thinking these two guys are plotting excuses to make business trips to their favorite cycling destinations, you've got the picture.

-- To reach Tom Ross, call 871-4205 or e-mail tross@steamboatpilot.com