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.
Lisa Rivera
When I decided to start my own firm, I was a team leader for another firm, and had just built a successful team over the last year. There were some things going on at the firm that had me and my team in an uproar. Two of my team members left the team which prompted me to ultimately make the decision to leave and start my own firm. Read more>>
Benna Hunter
I was 12 years into my career, and had no plans of seeking self-employment. I was comfortable working for someone else and not having the fear of overhead. Then in December 2020, the week before Christmas, my boss told me that we were not reopening after the holiday. I had appointments on my books for the new year. In a panic I called a friend with a spa and asked if I could rent her spare room for a month to get myself together. I’ve been there ever since; and that was 3 years ago. Read more>>
Dr. Selena Smith
Living Legacy Inc. wants to spread our message of hope and compassion. Living Legacy Inc. name was derived from a simple concept. We serve a living God who commissioned us to fulfill his legacy as it relates to Hebrews 13-16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. We believe that a single action can make a difference in the community and that collective action can greatly impact the world. Through advocacy and outreach activities, our team works tirelessly each day to contribute their part to the greater good. Living Legacy offers individual and family counseling, substance abuse evaluations, and other prevention services. Living Legacy recognizes that the issue of Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Homelessness is a Reality. It is a reality not only for adults but for children and adolescents as well. The organization offers a range of services in the areas of support groups, workshops/training, counseling, housing, and community referrals. Our goal is to offer a Christ-centered approach as well as form solid community partnerships with faith-based organizations, area churches, and other community-based initiatives. By forming these partnerships and offering the services that are needed, men and women will be equipped to enter back into society with sustainability. Read more>>
Laiz Ricci
Starting my own clinical practice was a very easy task at the beginning. I’ve found, with years of practice, that most people have trouble when they start. Well, for me it was the other way around 😂. When I graduated it was so clear for me that I wanted to work with children, so I specialized in that area. Not many people choose that, so i didn’t have much trouble finding clients since I was one of the few that worked in that area. Years have passed, and I realized with my practice that I had to work with parents too, if I wanted better results. And so I did. But then, I started to help them with their grown up problems, so they could feel better and have more energy to help their children. And without noticing, my field started to change from kids, to anxiety, relationships and self steem problems. It was a change that I didn’t notice happening, specially when I got in to hypnosis, but it made me feel so realized. But it was crazy because I still saw myself as a children psychologist, and promoted myself that way, but that was not what was happening inside my office anymore. Only when I hired a marketing team so I could start developing my own hypnosis training, I noticed that I didn’t know what kind of professional I was anymore. And then my problems started. I felt lost professionally. And that feeling stated to make me feel like I was a recent graduated professional, not one with already 10 years of experience and great results. I had my clients, I had my practice happening, but the problem was more like life purpose than practical problems. Read more>>
Kari Mullen
I have been a personal trainer for 11 years now. I love what I do and have learned and grown so much through the many challenges that I have faced. When I started training, I had a 2 and 4 year old and could only train during the hours they were in bed. So, I trained from 5-7am, then again from 7-10pm and on weekends when they were with their dad. I started my own llc and did my own advertising, billing, marketing, and building referrals. I loved all the people I had an opportunity to work with and created a lot of amazing relationships and learned from every client. As my kids got older and were in school, I could expand my working hours. I also expanded my roles and ended up teaching group classes. Next, I was given the opportunity to direct all of the adult classes and trainers at Impact Sports. I took on this role just a year before covid hit and the next few years were pretty tough. In Boulder county, the mask mandates and the fear of covid made training and group classes really tricky. Even though we were trying to build people’s immunity and get them healthy, gyms and fitness centers were closed for a long time and continued to have restrictions for 2 years. The county gave us a lot of citations and fines and we lost over half of our members. It was a hard time to be a small business owner as all of our expenses and overhead remained the same and the revenue dropped in half. No matter how many PPP loans or grants we applied for, we accumulated a lot of debt and didn’t know if we would have to shut our doors. As the world began to come out of the pandemic, I lost two business partners who couldn’t stay in the fitness world with the restrictions and debt we had. One month after the mask mandate was lifted and we were starting to build and get people in the doors, our facility was hit with the Marshall fires. We had to close down for another 2 months while we underwent smoke mitigation and heavy cleaning. Over 25 of our members lost their homes to the fire and almost half of them had to relocate for a time why their homes were cleaned from smoke and ash. We lost a lot of great trainers and staff during this time and those of us that remained had to roll up our sleeves, work lots of extra hours and get creative. We started a virtual school at the facility and took in kids who needed a place to do their online learning. I spent my mornings training and my afternoons teaching 4th graders. After the fires, we spent two weeks wearing N95 masks and safety goggles and we helped to deep clean the facility and scrub all of the ash and smoke away so we could re-open. We have faced a ton of challenges that left us feeling exhausted and defeated at times. However, each obstacle we encountered gave us an opportunity to roll up our sleeves, pull together and create solutions. Those of us who are still standing are very close and have learned a ton. We have kept our lenses focused on the possibilities that we may have in the future if we don’t throw in the towel now. Read more>>
Dr Hardeep Kataria
After 12 years of practicing as an associate, I decided to open my own advanced dry eye center/medical practice from ground-up. Throughout my career, I focused on positioning myself with the top-doctors in my area, learning and growing with them, managing complex cases and broadening my clinical acumen. When I decided to open my own practice, I knew that clinical care would be the easy part; managing a business and medical practice would be the challenge. And it has been. Read more>>
Dr. Mojisola Edu
Establishing Love Energy Services, LLC was a natural choice for me, given my background as a serial entrepreneur with previous successes in launching and assisting start-ups. Drawing from my experience, I emphasize the importance of grit and determination for business owners. The entrepreneurial journey involves sleepless nights and sacrifices, but the payoff is significant. Read more>>
Sara Povey
The early days at Empower Marriage and Family Therapy were a combination of magic and madness. Moving from solo private practice to a group practice was a big jump in responsibility, liability, and creative energy. Becoming a group practice owner taught me so much about myself. Read more>>
Kaeley Wynsma
Transform Fitness came about 8 years ago. I was working as personal trainer at a big box gym and was frustrated by the red tape that kept me from helping my clients in the way I knew would get them the best results. Me and my business partner at the time started Transform with the focus for helping our members by giving them personalized strength based training, nutrition tips and guidance while building a supportive community Read more>>