SCORE Mentors Help Army Veteran Secure Barber Gig

What does an analytical chemist and a barber have in common?

If you ask Edward Wheat, who’s successfully tried his hands in both fields, the answer is “the preciseness on both fronts.”

“Working as a chemist, it was tight ropes, a lot of strict parameters. We had to produce a pretty stringent standard,” Wheat said, adding that the same is true of cutting hair. “Barbering is so specific. You have to almost cut it to a T.”

Wheat, of McCordsville, first picked up his father’s clippers at age 12 or 13. Other than the six years he worked as a chemist and the eight years he served in the Army, 43-year-old Wheat has had clippers and other barber tools in hand ever since and has been licensed and professionally cutting hair for 18 years.

When his chemistry job moved overseas, Wheat regained his love of barbering and set his sights on running a barber shop.

In the fall of 2020, Wheat began mentoring with Dennis Dunlap and Steve Click of SCORE Indianapolis. Together, they collaborated on a business plan and later assisted Wheat in creating an in-depth proposal to serve as a barber at Fort Benjamin Harrison military base in Lawrence. With his mentors’ help, Wheat secured the five-year contract and began providing barbering services for the estimated 10,000 soldiers in August 2022.

“They were walking with me,” Wheat said of his SCORE mentors. “They kept me focused on building my business. It allowed me to be successful by keeping my foot on the pedal, helping to steer me in the right direction, not really letting me get too far off track. In my lifetime I’ve never had someone offering their time this consistently.”

Dunlap, also a military veteran, helped Wheat navigate the process of working with the military.

“He’s positioned very well to go after the contracts at other military bases,” Click said. “Dennis and I both enjoy working with him. He’s really grown as a businessperson. His success in the business of being a barbershop vendor for the U.S. military is indicative of that.”

In addition to his barbering work at the military base, Wheat runs a barber supply business under his Focus Integrated Business Experts LLC. The supply side gig provides fairly cyclical delivery of barber shop goods to Indianapolis-area shops. The ultimate goal is to own an all-encompassing brick-and-mortar location with a barber shop, supplies and ability for customers to have “fast lane” service all under one roof.

Wheat credits his SCORE mentors with his success so far and said he will seek their guidance for future endeavors.

“The amount of time that they have poured into me, I have to say it’s been life-changing,” he said. “They instilled those cornerstones or basic principles to even allow me to be at this point. Steve and Dennis helped me build my business, the whole business.”

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped 11 million entrepreneurs start or grow a business. SCORE's 10,000 volunteers provide free mentoring, workshops, and educational services to 1,500+ communities nationwide. With more than 70 members throughout the Indianapolis area, SCORE Indianapolis provides nearly 3,000 mentoring services annually to local small business owners through one-on-one counseling and small business workshops. For more information about starting or operating a small business, or finding a mentor, visit SCORE Indianapolis at www.score.org/indianapolis.