In our view, far too many ideas die at the imagination stage. It’s not because people are lazy, we think the primary reason is because many people don’t know where or how to start. So, we connected with some sharp and generous entrepreneurs who’ve agreed to share their stories of how they went from idea to execution.

Laurie Bishop

I am a big fan of excellence in craft and education. So my first step after making the decision to start my photography business was to research any educational, hands-on or online, courses to understand how photography business models run and what I should do to become excellent at it – both the business side and artistic side. Read more>>

Michelle Johnson

I was working as a director of marketing in Corporate America since I graduated college and got to the point where I was suffering serious burnout. I knew there had to be more than just the 9 to 5 (let’s be real more like 7 to 7). I also felt like my expertise and experience was being pigeon hold and no longer felt personal growth in my career. Read more>>

Gabe Stark

During the COVID pandemic, I found myself with extra time and wanted to get my marketing company back up and running. My marketing philosophy has always been not to wait on people’s approval and to just go create the things you want to see. In that ideation process, I came up with rebranding an iconic team that had never rebranded before and landed on the New York Knicks. Read more>>

Crissy Faison

There is nothing like having a plan and then watching it fall apart. That’s what happened, when I graduated from high school, travelled all the way from Chicago Heights, Il to North Carolina to attend North Carolina A&T. I graduated with a Bachelors in Mass Communications concentrating in Pubic Relations and just knew I was definitely going to work in my field. That did not happen. I ended up working with in call centers to get my bills paid and maintain some sort of a life but at a certain point I realized I was just existing and not living. Read more>>

Jeanne Rice

Artist Network Agency was an idea formulated decades ago. I had a very creative, entrepreneurial brain that was constantly coming up with business ideas, & inventions, in addition to songs and musings. I knew I wanted to serve creatives and the plan was a big concept. 16 years ago I pulled the domains. My old boyfriend worked in this modern industrial area and I fell in love with the exposed high ceilings and the polished concrete floors. This is when I began to envision what the space would look like. Read more>>

Suki Liu

Signed By Suki began in 2019 by me practicing lettering and calligraphy regularly on whatever I could get my hands on – notebooks, take out boxes, gift bags, receipt paper, etc., and posting my work on social media, which then allowed friends and acquaintances to inquire about a number of various projects, whether that be wedding name tags, a wedding brochure/pamphlet, or even a tattoo. I started lettering and I haven’t stopped since. I had to figure out who I wanted to cater to, which started with weddings. Read more>>

ShaQuanta McCleary

I like to eat so I had to learn to cook at an early age. I love cooking for others so I would join community bake sales and volunteer to cook for church groups. One day I was laying in the bed and just started creating menus and envisioning me with my own business or small cafe so I just said “Ok, I want to start my own business”. At that moment I started my plan on how I would set up my business. My grandmother had passed a few years prior and I learned a lot of my cooking experience, skills and recipes from her so it only felt right to incorporate her in the name of the company. Read more>>

Taylor Langley

I have always loved to bake since I was young. In that, when I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said I wanted to be a baker. So, 5 years ago while my husband was in Graduate school, I was working at his university in marketing and I was talking to him about other ways we could bring in income since I was the only one working at the time. Of course at this time I was baking all the time, per usual, and he was like you need to sell your cakes. I laughed and he said no seriously, so that night he was the one who pushed me to make my first post on my “business account” and from there it blew up. Read more>>

Lakisha McMillian

I have always been a candle lover. I enjoy good smells and my go to has always been to light a candle. Candles do more than just provide fragrant aromas. They bring back memories, change the way you are feeling and can set a mood. There are various reasons why one can love candles and I definitely agree with the saying – You can never have too many candles. Read more>>

Melissa Gunn

I was working for a small studio and was killing it. Full schedule, high pace work day, and great clients. I was ready to take the risk and open my own studio. This was always my dream. I knew I didn’t want any debt. I worked hard and saved up and started looking for a studio I could make my own. I finally decided on a 1000-square-foot space in the heart of Studio City right on Ventura Blvd. Read more>>

Marcy Lambert-Pellegrino

The idea was bopping around in my mind ever since my first and second Labrador retrievers had passed away of cancer, which left my family heart broken. After some time had passed, my family and I adopted Barkley, our Silver Lab. Barkley has environmental/food allergies and a sensitive stomach. We made a concerted effort to feed him hypoallergenic food/treats with top notch ingredients. I knew that I could not be the only person that pondered what was healthy and all natural for our pups’ to eat. Read more>>

LeTeisha Gordon

1999 me and my brother drove to West Virginia to pick up our Father after he was released from Federal Prison. We left Richmond 4am in the morning to arrive there 4 hours later through the foggy highway and mountains. We missed picking him up from the first pickup. The guards gave us the next location. We were United with our father after 11 1/2 years. 8 of those years we did not see him, only talked to him over the phone when we were able to catch the call. Back then all we had was land line phones. Read more>>

Holli Clark

Jeremiah 1:5 was in the making for years before we officially started the non-profit. Katie, the founder, talked about it back in college. When the pandemic hit, it was just time to actively begin building. Once it was decided, steps just fell into place. We were blessed with a handful of volunteers that helped to get us launched. They helped with the legal matters, the general mission and vision statements, and acted as sounding boards for the plethora of ideas we had for the organization. Read more>>

Shantae Menendez

My story starts out as a 30 year old Entrepreneur From Jersey who was an event planner and vendors I used I sourced them out through Instagram and promoted my business on there. As years went on From 2012-2018 I lost my place of business called Kids Rule Parties in Hackensack NJ due to a fire and I had the Instagram page still active and I decided to make a platform to give Entrepreneurs like me a shot to give their business eyes and help them create a network where they can use it to collaborate and connect with others in their lane or outside. I wanted to Create a network of talented individuals and create a team Read more>>

Katy Griffin

An Unexpected Beginning In 2013 Dr’s Mick and Elaine Lebens and their children Ryan, Jessa, and Nathan take a missions trip to Arua, Uganda. All of them are astounded by the poverty they see and the resilience of Pastor JP, a local pastor who has served the community for years. Upon returning home, the three Lebens children take the initiative to establish a non-profit. Read more>>

Moon Mane

So, there were four punks from Little Rock Arkansas. They had little in common besides their abilities to play music and their disdain for authority. A crisp Easter night drove our four boys out into the dark seeking a little fresh air. Each was savagely stabbed to death and dragged away to an unmarked basement somewhere south of the Interstate. Read more>>

Kashish Juneja

From growing up in Cupertino’s boba bubble to attending UC Berkeley surrounded by boba shops on every corner, the caffeine from classic milk tea and pleasure from chewing those boba balls fueled and continues to fuel my very existence. Boba’s mood-boosting capabilities helped me get through those awkward first dates, social gatherings, and gruesome college all-nighters. However, like any addiction, this one had its own flaws: Read more>>

Layla Todd

I started my blog back in 2018 as a place to share my writing with the online literary community and envisioned it as a place to post my work and interact with likeminded writers. About a year into blogging, however, I started running into people who were making a full-time living from their blogs and I began to wonder if I could turn my blog into a side hustle. Read more>>

Karie Engels

Ideas can happen anywhere and inspiration is everywhere. In about 2011, I decided to jump into the just emerging and growing Facebook Foodie arena and talk about entertaining at home. The platform quickly grew too small for the ideas I was jotting down, and as I was approached by Connoisseur Magazine, CBS Seattle and Comcast Xfinity to contribute to their budding online platforms, I knew I couldn’t keep writing about recipes and how to entertain at home. Read more>>

Darius Thomas

The process of producing musical theatre is not something I was taught how to do. Every step of the way I had to test things out to find my path. The journey from idea to execution took 3 years from my senior year of high school Feb 2016 – to the summer before my senior year of college July 2019. Read more>>

Rosanna Diogini

My travel industry career started post- summer 2020 when I designed my first website promoting FindYourSail@, my signature women-only, chartered sailing retreat. Right at the beginning of the pandemic, I found myself sailing with 4 girlfriends through the Ionian Greek Islands, and that time away from land gave me real moments of solitude and self reflection. Read more>>

Cole Kubisiak

I first had the idea of creating this brand after reading an article in a GQ magazine saying that nail polish was poised to become a men’s grooming trend. This was during peak pandemic so I quickly ordered some nail polish for myself to give it a try and honestly didn’t have the best experience finding a brand that I really identified with. A lot of the brands out there are very female focused, especially when it comes to the name of the colors which is one of the most fun parts of nail polish. Read more>>

Kristy DeGina

The idea for my small business came from a personal experience. I was living in Los Angeles and downsizing my home. I moved into significantly less space than I was used to, but as an interior designer I was up for the challenge! After quickly realizing that most of my furniture would need to be replaced, I was then faced with one challenge after another. It wasn’t easy and it was far from fabulous, but I finally created a functional small space that I lived and thrived in for the next several years. Read more>>

Shinika Crawley

“It was all a dream” like Biggie said I always saw myself as this boss woman helping people do something great. It wasn’t until college I realized that my brilliance was helping people Make money in their businesses was my thing. Like I am the Beyonce of Business Growth Strategy! Yes, I said it. Read more>>

Shadan Kishi Price

The idea of Leila’s originally started as a plan for a brick and mortar restaurant. I had been wanting to do it for a while so when I was in one of my hospitality management classes and we needed to write a sample business plan…I knew exactly what business I would choose…my own! Since then it morphed from an imaginary restaurant to a real life food truck to what it is now…a consumer packaged item in the freezer aisle. Read more>>

Melanie Carr

Taking a business idea like Dish Dish, an online family cookbook, from idea to reality was quite the journey – full of learning curves and lessons. Both my husband and myself are from large families that cook and, at times, have been spread all the way around the world. We wanted to create a way for families separated by miles to be able to quickly and easily share favorite recipes online. When my sister-in-law was halfway around the world, even with email, it could take 2-3 days or more to hear back from her if I was looking for one of her recipes for a family get-together. Read more>>

Jodi Colella

I feel it makes sense to give the full explanation of my journey from the beginning so forgive me for the lengthly answer. From 2006 to 2012, I founded a multi-service wedding business doing wedding planning and coordination, DJ services, and wedding invitations/designs. In 2012, I decided to focus on being a mom to my then 3 year old. Little did I know that the wedding industry wasn’t done with me. Read more>>