ALL EYES ON HIM

Joel Brown Runs His Barber Shop With A Passion For The Business

First thing’s first: Joel Brown did not name his barber shop after 2Pac’s fourth album. In his home of Baytown, Texas, there was always a shop named All Eyes on Me. So, Joel thought it’d be catchy and he could bring a little part of where he’s from to New Mexico.

Way back when, probably when 2Pac was still a backup dancer for Digital Underground, Joel wasn’t into school much. So, he came to visit his cousin, Isaac Hart, here in Burque. Isaac went out late the night before, spent all his money, and asked Joel to sport him for breakfast because he was short. Joel didn’t sweat his cousin and Isaac reassured him he’d work at his barber shop that afternoon and they’d be able to go out that evening. Sure enough, hours later, Isaac came back with a wad of cash from his cuts that day that blew Joel’s wig. He wondered if Isaac was selling and when his cousin said no, Joel knew what he wanted to do for money from then on.

Second thing’s second: When Joel went to barber school, he immediately knew he wanted to be the boss of his own shop. “Once I learned the business of it, that was the thing that really drove me.” Especially when we’re talking about financial literacy, Joel had that savviness from the jump. He learned how to cut but always saw the entrepreneurial side as more of his “avenue.” In fact, he had to learn the business real quick when he started because the owner of the shop he’d just gotten a chair at went to jail for two years. Joel studied every cut, tended the store, and recruited a team to help.

Third thing’s last: Joel is a Renaissance man and proudly notes, “I’m a powerlifter,” and he didn’t even start until his early 40s. “I used to be real overweight and I had a great trainer, a client named Abu.” Abu has since passed of cancer but Joel kept on his regimen and has won a gang of medals the last decade or so.

Joel has been managing his financial and physical health smartly for years now. It’s that kind of passion that he’s concerned the younger generation doesn’t foster. “A lot of new kids ask me about barbering. I always say it needs to be a passion. It shouldn’t be a easy alternative to have a job where you don’t have rules.” Joel’s shop has rules. Joel says some think they can get rich quick, but “If you think it’s easy, you’re not gonna make it. Ask a barber how long it took him to make money, get that reputation, and get people coming to you.” As seen from Joel’s story above, it takes time, passion, and personal investment.

ALL EYES ON ME

600 Central Ave. SW, Suite 107 505.261.9019

When Frank Willis started delivering chicken and waffles out his sister’s kitchen in 2012, he had only $150 in his pocket. Just over a decade later, Frank’s Famous Chicken & Waffles has become an Albuquerque favorite with multigenerational appeal.

Willis was inspired by his love for the Los Angeles soul food chain, Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. “There was a void of the concept out here at the time,” he says. After a trip to the West Coast, he told his friends, “When we get back to Albuquerque, I’m going to open a chicken and waffles restaurant.” And he did.

Frank’s moved to its current location barely three months before the