January BIG Entrepreneur Spotlight

January 30, 2015

This month’s BIG Entrepreneur is Paul Johnson, Owner of Kingdom Cuts in Downtown Statesboro. Paul started Kingdom Cuts in December of 2013 after working in the industry for just over thirteen years. He became unhappy with a change in pay structure at the shop he was working for at about the same time the perfect opportunity for a space presented itself.

Paul is also the Pastor of the Spirit and Truth Worship Center located on East Main Street. The church had some store frontage space that was not being utilized to it’s full capabilities. The partnership was meant to be so Paul started Kingdom Cuts and the church started making rent off of a space that was making nothing.

When asked about his first year he said, “It has been very prosperous, especially for my own chair as a barber.” As most beginning entrepreneurs know, “The hours are long.” Paul knows the importance of keeping consistent store hours. He is there to open in the morning and close at night.

“Growth can be good, but you have to be ready to handle it,” says Paul. He said it can be stressful having more clients than barbers to take care of them. He wants to grow the business but still be respectful of the clients’ time, so he’s making sure he has the right team of stylists to take care of the work load. Paul has experienced tremendous growth in his own clientele. He has added one other full-time and three part-time employees to the business as well.

He started working with the Georgia Southern Innovation Incubator in February 2014. One of the first tasks he asked for help with was doing a market analysis of his clientele. The research helped him determine that his marketing efforts may not need to be focused on Georgia Southern students, but rather on families as they made up a larger part of demographics closest to him. When asked about working with the incubator program at BIG, Paul said “I have found the incubator to be pivotal in in helping my business by giving me expert advice and guidance to help me be successful. I feel like I’m not in it alone. Like there are other people who want to see my business succeed.” Paul even mentioned that Dean Amason is one of his best clients.

The Business Innovation Group has enjoyed watching him grow and congratulates him on a very prosperous first year! We hope our January BIG entrepreneur has many more to come.