Entrepreneurs Find Success in Okaloosa County, FL

Two business models are better than one for local entrepreneurs.

By Rebecca Deurlein on January 8, 2024

Christie Meresse Photography

Dynamic duos aren’t just the stuff of movies. In Okaloosa County, FL, entrepreneurs have created businesses that bring two customer favorites together under one roof for twice the enjoyment and twice the business. 

A Salon, a Spa, and a Sip

Jackie Williamson worked as a hair stylist for 16 years when she decided to overcome her fears and become a business owner. 

“The way I look at it,” Williamson says, “is that you miss every opportunity that you don’t take. I don’t want to regret the things I didn’t do.” 

After losing her 10-year-old daughter, Skyla, to a tragic accident, Williamson and her husband, Brandon, named their new salon in her honor and opened Skyla’s Beauty and Barber Lounge in January 2023. The location not only had great foot traffic, it matched both owners’ lifestyles. 

Williamson was born and raised in Okaloosa County and wanted to be close to home, and her husband, who coaches Little League, wanted the business to sponsor a team and be involved in their local community. 

Williamson’s loyal customers followed her to her new salon, which has five chairs and a full menu of services, an aesthetician room where clients can get spa treatments like facials, lashes and chemical peels, and, in a creative twist, a full coffee bar run by Brandon Williamson. 

The concept was born out of a logistical need – all of the available business spaces were too large for the salon they envisioned, so a 17-foot coffee bar complete with TVs and seating would fill the space. But then it became a business model – and a successful one at that. 

“It started with a cup of coffee during a haircut or while under the dryer, then husbands started coming in and hanging out, then kids came in for hot chocolate and sweet tea,” Brandon says. “Some come in for coffee, then end up booking appointments.” 

With a long list of clients that come through referrals and the new coffee bar concept, Skyla’s has become the neighborhood place to be pampered. 

Ron Ward

A Smoke and a Story

When an entrepreneur sees a need, he fills it. For Ron Ward, that need was a space for late night camaraderie, entertainment and a good cigar. His four other business locations were doing well, so Fort Walton Beach became his fifth when he opened The Library Cigar Lounge in January 2023. 

The concept for a combination cigar lounge and library came from Ward’s own interests. 

“I was always reading books and leaving them at other lounges, so why not? Now, we have over 300 books that people can check out, printed library card and all.” 

Customers purchase a hand-rolled stogie and settle in with a good book, and as Ward says, if anyone at home asks where they’re going, they can honestly answer, “The Library.” 

Seasonal tourism has been a boon to the business. 

“I call it the gift that keeps on giving,” Ward says. “Tourists purchase from us and because we have an online business, they order our products when they get back home.” 

The colors, fabrics and library decor make the lounge less of a man cave, so women feel comfortable settling in with a book or joining their husbands when the lounge hosts live music. Since the cigars are custom rolled, the Library Cigar Lounge got innovative and started cigar rolling classes that have attracted even more clientele. 

Ward says he’s received support from the Greater Fort Walton Chamber of Commerce, the county’s Tourism Development Department and the Small Business Development Center, all of which helped him set up a business in a city that was relatively new to him. He also hosted events with the Emerald Coast Food & Wine Association as a way to meet community members. 

“My advice for entrepreneurs thinking of opening a business here is to get in now,” Ward says. “This is a growing area with lots of opportunity, but you have to go after it. If you go all in, it will pay off.”