VALDOSTA — A wide array of new businesses opened last year in Valdosta and Lowndes County, from boutiques to barbecue restaurants, and behind each enterprise is an entrepreneur, somebody striking out on their own, sometimes for the first time.

It’s worth looking back on the year, how they came to open their businesses and what they learned along the way.

 “I had to come up in business in a man’s world. It wasn’t easy back then, working with the mobile home manufacturers, all men. I had to push my way in so I wasn’t run over. I had to hold my ground and figure out how to work with a man’s world to make it all work.”

– Dale Hodges, Old Hodges Auto Sales

“I fell in love with the art of cutting hair and wanted to learn how to do it myself. Everybody was telling me that’s the only way to get better, to pick up the clippers and go to work. I started cutting everybody in the neighborhood. I kept working at it, working at it nonstop. If I wasn’t at school, I was cutting hair.”

– Isaiah Mangham, Hollywood Cuts

“You never know market to market what’s going to sell. You don’t know what size, what brands. Some of the big brands are going to sell, obviously, but you’ve got to find out what sells in your area.”

– Tim Harris, Stogies Downtown

“I love children, but my heart belongs in retail. I would have been happy teaching, but I love coming to work and getting new stuff in and when people get excited about a product they bought. That’s what makes me happy.”

– Maggie Vallotton, Belle Coton

“We wanted to open a family-friendly seafood restaurant where you could come get a nice meal in a real casual atmosphere. We’re family-friendly at Friends, but it’s more kind of a date-night place. We wanted a place that was casual where you could bring your kids.”

– Justin Stephens, The Salty Snapper

“When they got in here, some of the ladies said this was an impossible task … (but) they just continued to come in, day by day, and continued to work on it. All the credit really goes to these ladies.”

– Sharon Wagner, Restored Treasures

“When I went in front of the military board, they gave me a choice to be a cook, a cook or a cook. So, of course, I picked cook.”

— Wayne Barette, Cheesecakes and More

“I believe that what makes you successful is finding something that you love and then offering it to others.”

– Pam Reimers, Franklin American Mortgage Company

“I ended up getting my paycheck and giving it right back to the company. I fell in love with the concept and knew this was my dream job.”

– Naiz Bolin, fab’rik

“Her dad (John Folsom) gave me a chance. I had always worked on cars and I had a lot of mechanical knowledge, but no one would give me a chance to prove what I could do. Her dad gave me a chance to actually be a mechanic.”

– Joseph Henkels, Azalea City Auto Sales and Service

“I wanted to take a different direction in life. I was doing telecommunications … (and) I started thinking about what I loved. The first thing that came to mind was beer.”

– Edd Jones, Craft on Draft

“My dad is from Mississippi. He cooked from scratch: soul food, Cajun. He had all kinds of good stuff. He could do everything. I kinda got that passion to cook.”

– Nick Harden, Big Nick’s

“I wanted to do something personal, something that reflected my family.”

– Debbie Fountain, Cowboys Firepit Grill & Bar

“These flavors are like my children. Every flavor is a piece of me.”

– Eric Ball, Venum Vapur

“I fell in love with it: the music, the rhythm and the way you connect with people you’ve never met before, instantly.”

– DiVonte Brown, Bailando Dance Studio

“My joy in life and in what I do is helping give other people a good place to work. I felt like there was a need for stylists having a place of their own.”

– Anthony Rowe, Blown Away Salon

“I was very transparent. I let everyone know we were thinking of doing one in Valdosta. The airsoft community, I have to say, are wonderful. Airsoft Barracks took us through the retail side, and 904 Tactical in Jacksonville, they taught us everything we needed to know about how to set up the field.”

– Julian Vigay, Spartan Airsoft

“I’ve always been a part-time musician. It was an opportunity to do what we enjoyed doing. And I figured it was time for me to do something I wanted to do.”

– Chuck Westbrook, String Theory Music

 “It really became a ministry to us. Sometimes a move to a new community is traumatic for a family. This was a way we could recruit the community to help support the families as they moved in.”

– Patti Minton, South Georgia Connections

“I loved everything about it. Helping women transform for their dreams into reality, the glitz, the love, the fairy tale aspect, the fashion.”

– Tania Benjamin, Something New Bridal and Formal Wear

“Technology is fine, but at the same time I think people miss that kinetic and social aspect of playing — of being a part of something. Younger people are interested in that, but they just don’t know it. They haven’t been introduced to it.”

– David Schmidt, Funertia

“I’ve wanted to do something different for a long time. Not a gas station or convenience store or liquor store. Everybody opens a liquor store, a convenience store, a gas station, whatever. But I never see a beer store.”

– Raju Patel, Southern Growlers

“A lot of people might think this came together overnight. But I’ve been putting (money) back for years, doing this piece by piece”

– James McClain, Flames of Flavor BBQ