The uncertainty of entrepreneurship causes many entrepreneurs to put off starting their business. For others, losing a job or other economic hardships push them starting their businesses earlier than expected. In our conversations with thousands of entrepreneurs we’ve seen so much variety in when, how and why people started their business and so we wanted to share a wide variety of views and reflections on the question of whether these folks wished they had started sooner or waited longer before starting their businesses.

Sophie Anne Charlotte Doumont

Ce n’est pas MOI qui ai cherché à créer mon entreprise. C’est l’entreprise qui est venue à moi ! En réalité, lorsque tout a commencé, je venais d’entrer dans une période de burn-out professionnel. Etant employée dans la plus grande chaine de supermarché de Belgique depuis plus de huit ans, je me lassais de mon travail et éprouvait quelques difficultés à faire face à certains différents entre mes collègues, souvent changés tous les X mois, et moi-même. Read more>>

Leslee Hackett

I firmly believe that every event in life has a purpose, and I am deeply passionate about both my work and the reasons driving it. Despite the risks involved in starting my own business, I have no regrets and thoroughly enjoy every moment of the journey. Read more>>

Ashley Cothern

It’s tough to say if starting the business sooner or later would’ve been better. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have waited a bit longer and saved up more money for it, but I’ve also lived my life fully believing that if you wait until you’re ready, you’ll never go for it because you’ll never be 100% sure if you’re ready. My business partner, Isaac, and I opened up Purrfect Tea in October 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic. Read more>>

Amari Paff

I wish I would have started my business sooner and believed in myself/ had the confidence to get out on my own! I officially started my business in 2022 and I think I would’ve started a year earlier when I first thought about it and when I first knew I would be able to make it happen. I think I would’ve learned the lessons I’ve already and gotten more of a head start for the plane I have for the future! Read more>>

Brittany Sterling

I started photography in 2012, but I didn’t officially go full time with it until recently this year. I 100% wish I would’ve put my all into this before now, because I would be even bigger than I am in this moment. However; I wouldn’t change the process of how I got here because I think it would’ve changed a lot of things if I had. Read more>>

Brittany & Megan

We do often find ourselves wishing that we had ventured into the creative space that we created with our social media platforms sooner, based off of the fact that it makes us happy and we absolutely love what we do in that realm. However, we also think that had we started at any other time, we might not have seen the same level of success, so we really do think that the idea and the execution came exactly when it was meant to. Read more>>

Amanda Griffith

Honestly no, I wouldn’t have wanted to start my business any sooner than I have. I have become in time this curious grower and flower designer because my taste has developed and my window to focus on flowers is now wide open. My children are older and I can work uninterrupted for hours and hours and not feel like I am neglecting them. Read more>>

Gracie Hill

Honestly, I feel that I started this business at the right time! Studiobygracie was a project that had begun when I was still in high school, but it really started to emerge my freshman year of college. I knew that I wanted to start a business that allowed me to use my creative abilities, but I didn’t know what area or category that would be. Read more>>

Ian Kersey

In retrospect, I wish I had an earlier start in my business and creative career. Specifically with the boom of social media in 2020 and the start of the pandemic. I am grateful for the time that I had started creating on social media; specifically within my niche. Read more>>

Kim Stewart

I started my business in 2014. I had felt the call (or thought I did) to write a book about my journey as a special needs mom. I attended my first writing conference and soaked up everything I could, but never wrote that book. Read more>>

Detra Harrell

Actually, if I could go back in time, I would have started my business at the same exact time that I started it. When I decided to start my business, I felt like the timing was right. I had friends and colleagues who would encourage me to start my business way sooner than I did, but I didn’t feel like it was the right time. Read more>>

Sophia Hobley

While there are moments when I find myself wishing I could have launched my business at an earlier age, but I believe I embarked on this entrepreneurial journey at the right moment. The experiences I accumulated and the confidence I gained during the years leading up to my business’s inception provided me with the ideal foundation to take the plunge. Read more>>

Alex Noll

The question lingers: “Do you wish you had done XXXX instead?” Hindsight is 20/20, and I’m sure all of us could relate to how a decision (or lack thereof) could’ve changed your path in life. Read more>>

Kelcie Jones

I started my business in the beginning of 2022. At the time I was an esthetician still, working at a corporate business waxing. I was feeling unfulfilled; Covid had effected how business was and my husband was getting a promotion that would require a longer commute to work. Read more>>

Amy Tripp

I wish I started my business sooner, but I didn’t because I needed to gain business experience and did not know where to start. I wasn’t confident I could make astrology a full-time job. My business started as a side hustle, like it does for many others. At the time, I worked a miserable 9-5 job and would come home at night to do astrology consultations and create social media content. Read more>>

Carmen Capiro

I started when I felt the time was right. I was raising my daughters and i have a daughter with special needs that has always needed me. By the time my youngest daughter had started college that’s when I decided I wanted to make a business for myself doing something I was truly passionate about and that I could also have my daughter do it with me. Read more>>