Turning Passion into Profit

Megan Martin and Charlotte Mendez both know how difficult it can be to find work you love and have time for your kids. As Gainesville business owners, they’re turning their passions into profits and championing workforce cultures they believe in. With help from regional workforce board CareerSource North Central Florida (NCFL), they’re growing, giving back, and encouraging entrepreneurs like themselves.

Growing up, Megan remembers her frustration at her adopted mother’s inability to style her hair. She dreamed of owning a salon that could style as many hair types and textures as her siblings had. As an adult, she attended three cosmetology schools to earn the multicultural hair education she wanted. She worked in several east coast salons until returning home to Gainesville, where she jumped at the opportunity for more family time and control over her work.

Megan enrolled in CareerSource NCFL’s Portfolios of Income and Small Business Workshop to learn business basics including finance, budgeting, branding, sales, and marketing. Capitalizing on her skills and passion for beauty, Megan opened Salon 50 and 2, a multicultural salon that caters to all hair types and textures. She credits the salon’s success to a passion for lifelong learning and is eager to use her experience to empower others. The salon is closed on Saturdays because Megan doesn’t want her employees to miss weekends with their kids like she did.

Megan is excited to grow her business and train new team members who are eager to join the beauty industry. “I didn’t think that I was at the point where I thought I could employ more people, but CareerSource helps business owners,” she says, referring to her plan to soon bring on administration and social media interns. Through the CareerSource NCFL Internship and On-theJob-Training programs, eligible businesses can offer workbased learning experience to job seekers while also offsetting training and hiring costs. “As an entrepreneur, being around other people who have that spark keeps your fire going,” adds Megan.

Megan also helps aspiring entrepreneurs find their spark, mentoring at programs similar to the one that inspired her. According to Megan, “success is couture,” and the first step to starting a business is to do what makes you feel happy and successful.

When Charlotte Mendez left social work she knew she still wanted to make a living helping others. Growing up in a family of housekeepers, she knew a cleaning venture could be successful but realized the model needed improvement.

“My mom was a cleaning service provider all her life and the only thing she wanted was to get her GED,” says Charlotte. Inspired by her mother’s story, she started Cleaning Genie. The company offers job seekers with barriers to employment a place to grow their skills, while still maintaining time for other important areas of their lives, like family and education.

Charlotte says many of her employees have faced difficulty getting hired because of their age, or are homemakers who need schedules that allow them to be with their children. Her mission is to hire the ‘hard to hires’ and offer them a chance to be successful. She frequently uses the CareerSource NCFL career centers’ skills testing programs, which help her evaluate her employees’ skill sets. If they have difficulty reading or using technology, for instance, she creates a work plan that helps the individual overcome those challenges.

Charlotte’s commitment to helping her employees grow has helped her business grow, and in turn, requires more staff. She loves that CareerSource NCFL provides access to tools and resources that many small business owners lack. CareerSource, who works hand-in-hand with the Greater Gainesville Chamber and the North Florida Regional Chamber of Commerce, provides concierge recruitment services and customized career fairs at no cost to the employer.

For Charlotte, that means reduced time looking for employees. After struggling to learn to run a business by herself, Charlotte enjoys volunteering with Startup Quest® Bootcamp, an eight-week entrepreneurial program based on the nationally-recognized Startup Quest® curriculum. She tells attendees that “learning doesn’t stop when you start a company, it begins,” and believes anyone can benefit from the business mindset. “Employees sometimes don’t understand what’s going on behind the scenes,” she says.

Charlotte’s message for women like her: “I should take my own advice! Do not doubt yourself. It’s hard as a woman. It’s hard as a minority. You have to not doubt what you want to do, and dream big."