Local entrepreneur gets a clean start this time around
Ex-offender Ira Brownlow, 31, did not let his past of drugs, poverty and violence dictate his future. In 2002, while serving a four-year prison term for gun possession, Brownlow sat in his cell at Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown, Md., and filled out papers to register his cleaning company — Shyyning Path.
“Other inmates would talk about it but never really did it,” Brownlow said about starting a company. “They had ideas such as clothing stores, barbershops, car washes and children’s books. If you don’t have help–and a lot of inmates don’t–on the outside to assist your vision, it’s extremely hard.”
Brownlow’s monther was the outside person who handled the details for starting Shyyning Path, a residential and commercial buildings cleaning business with 15 clients a month and annual revenue of $30,000.
Brownlow began getting into trouble with the law after his father died in 1987. He was 14 and soon was lured into the fast money lifestyle of the streets. “I wanted nice clothes, cars, jewelry and other luxuries of life,” he said. He began peddling drugs.
On January 1, 1994 at 18, Brownlow started serving his first prison sentence. He was convicted of assault and attempted murder and served five years. He was released in 1998, but he immediately reverted to selling drugs.
In 2000, Brownlow was at a friend’s house preparing for a trip to New Jersey to buy drugs when the police raided his friend’s truck and found cocaine and a gun. Shortly after, they busted into Brownlow’s house in Capitol Heights and charged him with possessing fire arms and attempted drug distribution.
He served 4.5 years. In 2004, his younger cousin was shot and killed. The clear and present danger of his lifestyle compelled him to turn his life around.
When he was released in 2005, he searched for a job for four months; nobody wanted to hire an ex-con. He decided to venture into the field of self-employment. After seeing a group of rebels named Shyyning Path on television protesting their government, Brownlow decided to name his business after the group.
“I realized people needed housecleaning and things cleaned on a daily basis; they don’t have time to do so,” Brownlow said. “That’s where I come in and take the skills I learned in prison and do it in the real world.”
He attributes his success to the drug-selling tactics and street wits he acquired as a youth.
“I figured if I could manage to sell drugs, I could be an upright business man,” he said. “But this time I decided to surround myself with positive people. I began going to church and reading the Bible.”
Since his escape from the street life, Brownlow lives by the motto “Freedom ain’t free.” The father of two says, “You have responsibilities in society you have to take care of and you can’t violate the laws of the land.”
He started out with only 3-4 clients and he still remembers his first sell. “My first client was a lady and her mother who found out about my business from my website,” he said. “We performed a move out cleaning in Northwest Washington and I made $700.”
He also recalls the old beat up van he worked out of in the first years of his business. “People would say, ‘They aren’t bound to do a good job.’ But that’s when we go in and prove them wrong, and they see that we do an excellent job.”
Brownlow upgraded into a 1995 Pontiac Transport that looks a lot nicer. But what helps his image, says Brownlow, is his appearance: a dark blue printed T-shirt, a clean shave and a conservative haircut.
Brownlow says he is a living testament for young people who continue to transform their lives from drugs and crime to becoming upstanding citizens.
“Don’t waste your life. A lot of kids don’t see their future in sight, but there is hope. Persevere, struggle and push,” Brownlow advised.