Business owner benefits from entrepreneur program

Fareed Johnson was selling hair extensions and beauty products from a van two years ago. The van eventually broke down and, with it, his business model. Despite the loss, he kept working toward the dream of owning his own business.

Today, he has a store at 530 N. Main St. in Gainesville.

“It started out as a side hustle, and it grew into a business,” Johnson said. “Fortunately back in January, business began to skyrocket, and I was able to go brick-and-mortar in March.”

The 25-year-old owner of Blush Hair Extensions was one of more than 10 local entrepreneurs at a networking event hosted by the Gainesville Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program at the Gainesville Technology Entrepreneurship Center on Monday night.

The program was launched by the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center at the Warrington College of Business Administration and the City of Gainesville in 2016. It helps disadvantaged people start businesses and grow existing ones.

“We’ve done a very deliberate job of targeting people who might otherwise face adversity and not have the connections or knowledge that these sorts of resources and people exist,” said Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe.

The program offers opportunities such as a six-week entrepreneurship boot camp, mentoring and consulting. The boot camp costs $600, but many applicants receive scholarships to help pay for it, said the center’s director Jamie Kraft.

Poe said the program was designed to reach people that wouldn’t normally attend the Warrington School of Business.

“They trim the fat off of a business degree and give you the meat of what you really need to know to run your business,” Johnson said.

After leaving the U.S. Air Force in 2013, he started working odd jobs around Gainesville. A friend suggested that he look into the hair extension business, and he started researching the industry.

Johnson started out by selling hair extensions by word-of-mouth and delivering them to customers. Then, using the money he earned from his initial sales and his work as a truck driver, a job he still holds, he bought a van, which allowed him to expand into selling beauty products too.

When the van broke down, it was a major setback to Johnson’s dream. The program helped to change things for him.

Johnson said the program taught him “the (business) vocab, the nuts and bolts of the business plan, do’s and don’ts of being in business and the process of starting a business.”

Blush now has five part-time employees and is open every day of the week. The store has made $13,000 in sales since it opened on March 25.

“Maybe one day we’ll go to franchise and locate ourselves in different cities and regions of the country.”

Fareed Johnson stands inside of his store, Blush Hair Extensions, on North Main Street.