Meet Gerald Bloodworth | Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gerald Bloodworth and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gerald, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
Staying consistent Promoting
Constantly trying to creative better product than the last

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a professional barber. Have been for the last 5 years. Many people ask me “What made you want to be a barber?” Ironically, hair cut prices is what led me to becoming a barber. In my hometown of Natchitoches, LA around 2009, hair cut prices went from $12 to $15 and i was paying the increase. I laugh about that from time to time. But anyways, i proceeded to be my own barber from then own. Eventually i started cutting my friends hair and also some students i went to college with. After dropping out of college and losing my job at Burger King, i decided i wanted to enter barber school. Only one problem, there was no barber school in my hometown. To pursue barber school i would have to move away from home and that was pretty frightening at the time. After getting fired from another job and having to move back in with my mother at 27 years old i was ready to take the leap and move away go to barber school. A few months after moving in with my mother i ended up finding a job and barber school in Shreveport, LA. Living in Shreveport was totally new to me. I mean coming from a town of about 17,000 to a city of 200,000 was a bit of a culture shock at first but i got use to it. My overall experience there was a good but there were some ups and downs. After about 6 months, the company i worked for went out of business. I was down about it at first but i think it was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to caught up on hours at barber school that i was behind on due to the job itself. As my time in barber school was winding down, literally 2 weeks before i was about to finish barber school, the worst obstacle of my life thus far occurred. My mother passes away. I always wondering how i would react to it. If i was lose it, if i would be come combative or closed off. I wanted so bad for her to witness me accomplish something for myself being that she sacrificed so much for me. Initially, i wanted to give up. I didnt have kids at the time so she was my motivating factor. There were things i wanted to do with and for her once i was able to financially. Thankfully, i came to my senses and she remained my motivating factor. I decided i was on a mission to make her proud by putting my all into anything to i would do going forward. After a successful first year of barbering in Shreveport, i moved to Arlington, Texas to pursue my career long term. Three weeks into me being in Texas, the Covid 19 shut down happened. This was a crazy time for everybody but even crazier for because i had no clients and we were out of work for 2 months. As crazy as those times were, 2 good things came out of them: i got to properly mourn my mother and i was able to cultivate “Rich Dreamzz Apparel”. For the prior 4-5 years i wanted to start a clothing brand but wanted to make sure i had the funds invest into it. 2020 made me realize it was time. I started with 24 dads as a trial run and only told my clients/friends about them. In a short amount of time i nearly sold all of them. That let me know i was on to something so i decided to make a bulk order of 100 t shirts to finally launched the brand. I was exciting, nervous and anxious all at the same time. It took about 2 months for the order to come and when it did it was all wrong. The shirts fitted horrible, not how imagined at all. $2,000 wasted and my initial thoughts were to scrap the brand. But of course, i thought of my motivating factor and keep pushing. Eventually i order more shirts and hats and launched the brand November 2021. I actually cried that day thinking about all i had been through up to that point. I also thought about my mom and how i wished she were there to see what her baby boy had accomplished up to that point in my life. For the next couple of years we through ups and downs, learning curves and dry spells but we never gave up. After almost 3 years i think we starting to see the fruit of our labor and we’re not stopping here. We’re going to take the brand as far as we can take it. Some lessons that i have learned from building a clothing brand is to never give up, always strive to get better, stay positive and believe in yourself. Thats my story.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would take them downtown Dallas area to hang out. To eat and drink i would take them to Pangea in Garland , Texas. Extra stuff to do would be Sandbox Vr, Deep Ellum bar hopping and Main Event.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to thank my business partner/brother, Rodney Haynes, for joining me on this journey and always being in support of the brand. Also want to thank my girlfriend and mother of our child, Zaharias Soileau, for always giving me positive energy to push forward and supporting the brand in any way that she can. Last but definitely not least, big thanks to everyone who has shopped, shared/liked a post, left reviews(good or bad) and anyone who has given us useful advice. THANK YOU ALL!

Website: http://www.etsy.com/shop/RichDreamzz

Instagram: richdreamzz_apparel

Image Credits
Jarrell Johnson Joyce Mac