Establishing your own firm or practice is an incredibly daunting task. From myriad of legal and regulatory hurdles to the financial and career related risks, professionals who choose to start their own firm have to overcome so much and so we wanted to reach out to those who’ve done it successfully for advice, insight and stories.

Jacob Denson

I started my legal career at the Pulaski County Public Defender’s Office in Little Rock, Arkansas. This was very important experience. I was able to see all types of cases from traffic tickets to homicides, and everything in between. This gave me a great deal of confidence and competence. Read more>>

Ofir Barashy

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to build my own company. That was always the end goal, even before I stepped into commercial real estate. What I also knew, however, was that I didn’t yet have the knowledge or experience to do it on day one. Read more>>

Deborah Rinehart

When I was in school for acupuncture, one of my teachers told us that we might not be successful or turn a profit until our fifth year. That initially scared me, but I knew that if I was going to start this, I needed to be in it for the long haul. Read more>>

Justin Sundgot-Smith

Since the inception of Sundgot-Smith Counseling, I’ve always known I wanted to channel my voice and vision into something that reflected my deeper values and that I could call my own. Before opening my practice, I spent many years working in various mental health settings. Read more>>

Beth Owen

When I moved back to Elgin, TX, I wasn’t sure I wanted to open a massage practice. I’d been burned out from working in a franchise, and for a while, I drove into Austin for in-office chair massage jobs, but the commute quickly wore me down. What changed everything was having a good friend who had been massaging locally for years. Read more>>

Kristin Bailey

I opened my own practice in 2023, and while it was incredibly exciting, it definitely came with its challenges. Before that, I had worked in both an agency and a group practice, where my main responsibilities were showing up, seeing clients, and completing clinical documentation. Overnight, I went from therapist to practice owner—suddenly wearing the hats of admin assistant, billing specialist, marketing manager, and more. Read more>>

Milica Krstic

The beginning of my journey was not planned. It was born out of tragedy. In 2020 I lost two close friends to suicide. Those moments shook me to the core and forced me to ask what I could do to prevent others from experiencing the same kind of loss. Out of that pain came the idea of Safe Space. Read more>>

Dr. Sheena Horsford

I started my own practice in 2019 as a newly licensed clinician. I started part time seeing a few clients weekly. As a new practice owner, since I had a full time job, I was not focused on the management of a business. I was excited to see clients independently and make whatever anyone was willing to pay me at the time. Read more>>

Rebecca Ross

The Founding Journey of Inspiration Wellness The Story of Our Beginnings The idea for Inspiration Wellness was born from a distinct observation within the mental health community. I saw a landscape filled with talented, passionate clinicians at the start of their careers who faced a significant gap: the bridge between academic training and successful, independent practice. Read more>>

Tanya Patron

When I first decided to start my own practice, it was both exciting and terrifying. I had already been working in aesthetics for 10 years, but I always knew I wanted to build something that reflected my vision: a space where patients could feel cared for, not just treated. The early days were filled with research, late nights, and a lot of trial and error. Read more>>

Brandy Valentine LeBlanc

I started with 1 room in an old building full of empty rooms. I had a wheeled cart with chart notes that I wheeled out into the hallway after placing patient needles, and I did their chart note sitting out in the hall until their treatment was finished. Read more>>

Zaria Francis

i started guided fit mama out of a very real need i lived through myself. after a tough pregnancy with hyperemesis and preeclampsia, i came out of the fourth trimester feeling like the typical “bounce back” advice just didn’t fit. i knew moms needed a different roadmap, one that honored healing, strength and real life. not the ‘clean’ aesthetic plastered all over social media. Read more>>

Jill Bissonnette

When my twin sister and I decided to start Snow Moon Twins, it wasn’t just about creating a business; it was about building a space for community, creativity, and magic. The early days were full of brainstorming, designing our aesthetic, and figuring out how to turn our rituals, artwork, and spiritual practice into something shareable and sustainable. Read more>>

Susan Allison-Dean

This year, 2025, The Nature Nurse, PLLC has achieved its ten-year milestone. I can proudly say that it has been impactful for many who are looking to expand their awareness of holistic, healthy lifestyle practices and add tools that they themselves have identified as effective through experiential learning at one of our workshops. We recently underwent a rebranding, and our primary target audience is now women aged 35 and older. Read more>>