Today we’d like to introduce you to Jarius Johnson.
Hi Jarius, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Jarius Johnson and I was born in the small town of Roanoke, Virginia, and raised in Martinsville, VA. My parents’ names are James and Sandra Johnson. I was an only child but grew up with a close-knit family and spent whatever time I could, with my cousins. We didn’t live in an underprivileged area but the “struggle was real”.
The area I was raised in struggled heavily with maintaining job opportunities as we were factory heavy. A lot of the factories struggled to maintain funding and were forced to shut down and lay off many people. When I was old enough to start working, I found this to initially be the most difficult task to accomplish as I was not credentialed enough nor had the network to attain certain positions. Basketball was everything to me growing up as I started in the 3rd grade all past college. This was the one thing I relied on to provide a sense of peace and hope from my early journey to make it out of the area and succeed.
Once I graduated from Bassett High School in 2007, I went to a local community college by the name of Patrick Henry Community College. This was my only choice as I did not receive any scholarships nor did my family have the funds to support me to go to a larger university. From there, I was still unsure what I wanted to do but all I could do was just continue playing basketball and figure out my direction. In my final year, I decided that I wanted to pursue an engineering degree at a 4-year college.
I was asked to join the college basketball team with an opportunity to transfer to a four-year school with an opportunity to play further. Due to the focus and course load of the major I wanted to pursue, I passed on the opportunity to strictly focus on Engineering. I graduated from Patrick Henry Community College with two associate’s degrees, one with a focus on general studies and one in science in the spring of 2010.
In the fall of 2010, I transferred out to Norfolk, VA and attended Old Dominion University, and pursued a major in Civil Engineering Technology. During my time there, I found this as a culture shock as for my entire 20 years of living, this was something different. I met quite a few driven and aspiring people while I attended this university and started pursuing a singing career with a focus on R&B.
I participated in a few live performances and collaborations of local and state-wide rappers/singers. This was my new wave of hope. During my time span, I met an amazing woman, Candace, who dedicated a lot of focus and time towards me which helped me mature. I graduated from the university in the fall of 2013 and stayed local to attained a job as a soil and concrete tester.
After working in Norfolk for three months, I transferred from the area down to Fayetteville, NC. I never really considered joining the military even though I was in JROTC in High school, but after working my current job for another three months, I gave that up, joined the army, and started basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in October of 2014.
This was a difficult task as this was something completely new to someone from a background that has no immediate military members and as an only child. Prior to being sent to my first duty station, I then married my college girlfriend, Candace. My first duty station after finishing all required schools was South Korea. I was introduced to a lot of first-time opportunities which quickly forced me to adjust to all environments and diversify my entire mindset. I then moved to Maryland for 3 years, went to school in Arizona for a couple of months, and moved to San Antonio, TX, I decided to separate from the military, 7 years later from 2014.
I learned so much, gained so much experience as a leader, learned a lot of new traits, made so many connections and networks, and deeply matured. In the fall of 2019, I attained my Master’s in Information Assurance and gained industry-certified credentials such as CompTia, Security Plus. Within my last couple years of serving, I noticed an issue that I wanted to address as a lot of negative influence, racial injustice, and lack of equality was starting to become more exposed within the nation even though it has been an issue for many years!
I came up with the concept of the Black-Owned Market Movement (BOMM) initially as a project. During the fall of 2020, the pandemic brought upon a multitude of downtime as the world shut down many processes. I began working on concepts and self-teaching myself new traits such as mobile application and website development. I also started conducting additional research on how I can make a difference in bridging the socioeconomic gap between the black community and the nation. The increased desire of wanting to address one of the biggest issues I had while serving was seeking SPECIFIC places such as a barbershop as it was difficult to find from being stationed at quite a few locations.
I wanted to place a notice on the fact that black-owned businesses aren’t as advertised or populated as we should be unless I stumble upon one. I created a platform that serves all of these purposes while seeking a focus on collaboration over competition along with empowering entrepreneurs to have a one-stop-shop for all business and event ventures. As of January of 2021, I was officially in business and by August of 2021, my business processes were live.
My processes are simple yet direct as I seek to discuss with as many black-owned business owners as possible to establish a genuine approach, to explain what we offer, and how we are working to get to the overall goal. I also approach and reach out to interested parties who seek change and want to support our local black entrepreneurs not just during eccentrically black holidays, but year-round.
As of the present time, I have gained over 60,000 website views since August 1st, 2021, and established over 7 partnerships with local businesses and organizations who all align with our overall mission of bridging equality and promoting collaboration efforts. I have spoken with over 200 local and nationwide business owners and have learned a lot about them as people over businesses.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. Some of the biggest issues we face deal with lack of funding, lack of support, and difficulty with learning curves. We have had many who absolutely love the concept and act then not later but we have also had some who don’t put the effort in to support.
We have also run into some questionable business practices and owners. We strive to promote and advertise but we also hold black entrepreneurs accountable to a higher standard as we already have negative criticism and persona as an overall community. Too many others are striving for competition as this is something that has been taught to some which cause the issues to not be resolved.
These are daily challenges but this is what keeps the business interesting.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The black-owned market movement is a company that promotes and advertises black entrepreneurs nationwide on a digital platform. We offer subscription packages for our members to partake in which offer advertisement and standard business transactions of services, upcoming events, etc. We offer backend SEO capabilities along with capabilities that separate us from your basic directory sites.
We have been called “The Black Google” and “The Black Yelp”. Our site also links most-to-all any business owner’s means of social media to ONE page along with high-quality image/video placement. We offer capabilities to advertise for hiring opportunities along with displaying any business certifications you may have for potential contract seekers.
We establish relationships within the community as a vetted platform for any and everyone to use that may be seeking a business, a business partner, a career, or a new client. We offer opportunities for additional exposure which can generate additional revenue.
As the CEO of the company, I strive to strategize in order to seek out partnerships that align with our vision/mission. I strive to be inclusive within social media platforms to project our name out more to the community. I strive to reach out to businesses who conduct similar processes to bridge ALL black entrepreneurs to one platform instead of individual ones. I strive to actively engage community functions and events, no matter the race, to seek support and networks.
Brand wise, I am proud that the name is out there and many have trusted me on this journey. They see me as the face of BOMM and respect is mutually shared. We are growing slowly and more people are becoming interested in what we do.
We offer subscription-based packages that not only provide you opportunities for advertisement, exposure, and collaborative knowledge but also contribute to the local community as well. This enhances and fosters positive business relationships and allows others to realize that you will treat ALL others fairly. It’s just not about business, it’s about character and personality.
We offer opportunities for local events to gain additional exposure via partnered events. We are still growing our team which will offer even more opportunities in the future. We partner with local universities for upcoming events and internship opportunities. We are not static but expanding.
What do you think about luck?
Luck has played a very small part in my life in business. I believe that God places the right people in your path for a reason whether good or bad. All experiences are positive as you learn from negative experiences and prosper from positive ones.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://blkomm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blkownedmarketmovement/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Blkomm
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlkOwnMarket
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkGlYSHy7QKPZf9pRFYIY_w
