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Meet Dewayne Johnson

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I experienced major technical difficulties while completing this assignment. I did not realize my computer stopped recording after 13 minutes but I was able to get the key points. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Dewayne Johnson. His father was also an entrepreneur and taught him a few things while growing up. While his father and Mr. Johnson’s brothers still run their furniture business, Mr. Johnson decided to branch off on his own. He started a tow truck business while he resided in New York. That was a one man company which he worked after his shift at a sanitation company. He later moved to North Carolina for a slower paced life, where he met his wife, Kimberly Boykin-Johnson. She is also his business partner and the mother of his twins. While still working another sanitation job, he opened his own dry cleaners.

With the first business being just himself, the dry cleaners was a different experience for Mr. Johnson. He hired about five employees to run handle the store, while he still worked a full time job. The only issue here was that employees were showing up late, and not putting forth the necessary work in his absence. From this experience he learned to be more hands on when running a business to make it successful. The final push for Mr. Johnson to become a full time entrepreneur came when his car broke down. He scheduled for work at 2am so when he told his manager the situation, he was warned that if he did not make it to work there was no need to ever come back. Forced to make it there, his wife drove him there with his one month old twins. He was then determined to retire after nineteen years and find another way to bring in the income.

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ENT 630: SME Interview with Tiffany Blacknall by Kari McInnis

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Tiffany Blacknall, owner and a stylist at Everyday Hair. Her salon has recently relocated from Washington D.C. to the Charleston, SC area. I was in particularly interested in interviewing Tiffany because she has had to regrow her business due to relocation. I asked her questions dealing with the differences in growth and business strategies in the two markets, and how she has managed to transition from one market to the next. She had some great advice for tapping into a new market. Listen to the interview to learn more.

 

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Interview With Jonathan Wilson, Aviation Services Manager at KPG, Inc. (ENT 630)

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My name is Jose F. Saavedra and I recently had the opportunity to interview Jonathan Wilson. He is the Aviation Services Manager at KPG, Inc., a multidisciplinary consulting firm specialized in providing design services to public entities in and around the Seattle area. Jonathan Wilson is also an author and his most recent book “Future Leader” will be available December 1st.

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