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.

Shawn Zardouz

I would recommend to take risks. I joined a group pain management practice after completing my fellowship training. This was the final year of 13 years of training after high school. While I learned how a private practice is run and the intricacies involved, I did not see myself happy in the long term. Taking care of patients was my mission all along, and I saw several shortcomings that did not align with this mission. Read more>>

Jannine Krause

When I started my practice in 2007 I was hung up on making my office and practice function much like the doctor’s offices that I was used to seeing the conventional medical space because I thought I’d be considered odd to have a non-traditional doctor’s office. I spent almost 15 years trying to fit an integrative medical practice into the conventional medicine model of practice. I burnt myself out, trashed my health, pushed myself to the brink of a mental breakdown and wanted to quit when I realized what I was looking for all along was a practice that was fun, relaxing and I enjoyed going to each day. Read more>>

Kate West

I’ve always wanted to help people be the best they can be. In fact, I distinctly remember telling people in my earlier years that being the best version of myself was my greatest passion. Read more>>

Shandra Crymes

Becoming a manifestation coach just kind of fell in my lap . My journey as a manifestation coach started when one of my makeup artistry clients reached out to me while I was living in Japan in 2010. She was seeking some guidance, similar to the advice she used to receive in my makeup chair. If asked , I basically would share my thoughts about life and philosophies with her and others while doing their makeup . Read more>>

Marcus Stanback

As a full time entrepreneur I had started a marketing business to pay my bills with the skills had learned from my corporate sales job. As business developed, I used my flexible schedule to ensure that yoga made its way into my daily routine. It was like as long as I kept my mat in sight and listened to that inner voice when it said “time to practice” my days were golden. Read more>>

Rachel Lang

“You can make a living doing that?” People used to ask this question when I first started my business as an astrological consultant in 2006. This was before astrology was as popular as it is today. Some well-intentioned family members expressed concerns that I had gone to “the dark side.” It took courage to leave a stable day job and embark on a career far from the mainstream. Read more>>

Tiffany Stair

I became vegan in 2017. At the time, I assumed all vegans were activists and/or fighting for animal rights. I quickly learned that is not the case. I had a realization- if vegans represent less than 1% of the population, an even smaller fraction of those people are activists. I knew that where I needed to focus my energy. Revolution Philadelphia was then born. Read more>>

Stormie Anderson

Education about cosmetic surgery is very limited. There are numerous misconceptions and false news about the proper after-care procedures and I learned this rather quickly when it came to my surgery.After months of dedication to my own progress, House of Contour was born. We started off in a single room offering services in lymphatic drainage, body contouring and educating women on the post-op process and how they can get their desired results. Read more>>

Victoria Simon

The decision to establish Contourology happened during the pandemic and it was not one I took lightly. I had a significant background in the medical beauty and health industry but had temporarily stepped away due to maternity leave and concerns about the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. I was apprehensive about re-entering the field, given the unpredictability of lockdowns and the challenges many businesses in the beauty industry were facing. Read more>>

Trey Miller

On Ma5 5th of 2020 I opened my General Dentistry practice in Harrisburg, North Carolina (a Charlotte, NC suburb). To overshadow the myriad of typical complications associated with opening any business, the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 made this event ever so slightly more complicated. Heightened CDC and OSHA protocols, reduced or mere non-existent workforce, patient reluctance and hesitancy for treatment and economic uncertainties to name a few added constraints. Read more>>

Noemi Fernandez

Before I get into the steps I took, I want to start at the beginning. One of my long-term goals in graduate school was to eventually start my own private practice. At the time, it seemed like a goal that was far into the future because I still needed to finish years of graduate courses, complete the 3,200 clinical hours post-graduate school, pass two rigorous ethical and clinical exams, to obtain my license. Read more>>

Alex Shearer

I felt from a young age that I wanted to start my own practice but getting the courage and education necessary to do so was challenging. I’m grateful I started my practice at a time when young entrepreneurs were being celebrated and that I have an incredible support system that encouraged me to do so. Read more>>

Umi Pl

Umi Pl, licensed injector at Burhani Laser Med Spa, a well established premier med spa located in Townelake, Cypress, Tx. We are well established here in the North around cypress, bear creek, highway 6 north, 1960. Patient satisfaction for me was always number one. I always wanted to be in the med spa skincare industry. Read more>>

Samantha Breslin

Powerful Women’s Health has been a project in the making, long before our idea of a practice together bloomed. It was and is the convergence of the steadfast helpers in us, passionate about empowering underserved populations, particularly women, and our two separate careers revealing the reality of overall wellness to us—the indistinguishable mind-body connection, and deep, lasting self-work needing to be about the whole-self, not siloed goals within separate specialties. Read more>>

Diana Beck, LMFT, LPCC, C-DBT

Opening a private psychotherapy practice was so much more than simply hanging out my shingle. Just like I had to learn how to be a therapist, I had to educate myself on becoming a business woman. The biggest hurdle was that I had to develop and build an entirely new skill set outside of my formal education. Read more>>

Antonia Hall

Beginning my own Public Relations (PR) / Communications business was a product of necessity. The job market was terrible at the time, and stringing freelance writing gigs together wasn’t keeping the bills paid. I was competing with many overqualified candidates, extending my job search farther from home each week. Faced with commuting to a moderately paying job that wasn’t manifesting, I decided to start my own business. Read more>>