Overwhelmingly, media coverage of team building, hiring, training, etc. is often geared towards the issues faced by HR at Fortune 500 sized companies. Even when it’s positioned as advice for small business owners it is often coming from an executive or consultant working primarily with giant corporations. We think it’s far more relevant to hear from small and medium business owners who have successfully grown their businesses – and so we asked some very talented folks to tell us the stories of their initial hires and the struggles and lessons they can share.

Hussein Abdel Latif

Graduating from the University of Cardiff with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering was an achievement in itself. However, what I came to realize during my 3-year course of study was that my heart truly lies in the field of Computer Science. That being said, I was in a difficult position, where I was not entirely aware of what to do in terms of next steps, nevertheless I was determined to do what it takes to get to the point where I believed I needed to be. Read more>>

Deveney Wells-Gibson

Life is filled with the good, the bad, the ugly, the ups, and the downs. Same goes with running a business; it’s not all flowers and roses. I set out on a journey to become known as The Prenup Queen, because as a Divorce Attorney, I see the financial, mental, and emotional impact it has on my client, the other spouse, their respective parents, and if children are involved, the kiddos. Read more>>

Chandler Elliott

What was the craziest thing that’s happened to you/your business (positive or negative)? Give us the backstory, paint the picture for us so we can really understand what it must have felt like, what the circumstances and context were and the emotions you must have been going through Back in January of 2021 I was traveling to Georgia to stay at an INCREDIBLE Airbnb property with a yurt, airstream RV, and a tiny house. Read more>>

Anne Thies

The crazy days outnumber the ordinary days for me at work. The nature of our business, Thies Farm and Greenhouses, means that each season is something completely different from the last. We go from growers in the winter to a garden center in the spring, homegrown produce and pick your own activities during the summer, a pumpkin patch in october and then christmas trees and poinsettias after that. Read more>>

Miranda Lamb

We were moving in one month and still had no water to our new farmhouse and cattle business! In 2017, after a major health scare, I decided to finally start writing as becoming a writer was a lifelong dream of mine. So I created The Reluctant Cowgirl, a blog that eventually focused on parenting tips for moms of tweens and teens. Meanwhile, my husband, a country boy through and through started buying more cows! Read more>>

Zach Scott

The first craziest thing that has happened to me was opening up an email from a customer in regards to one of our coins. The email asked if we had updated the spelling for our Mount Bierstadt coin. As my hands started sweating I typed in our web address www.mountainfreedomcoins.co and went to the shop. I selected Mount Bierstadt and was relieved to notice that the spelling was correct. Read more>>

Sugeidy Scott

Back in October of 2022, I got a call from someone in LA asking if I’d be interested in planning a celebrity birthday weekend. At the time I was at Home Depot shopping with my husband for something we needed to fix in the house and once I heard the date and I knew was going to be in NY that weekend I declined. I mentioned that I could recommend places, vendors, etc and I would be happy to help in any way that I could. Read more>>

Vicki and Mark Severson and Leffingwell

The craziest thing that happened to us, so far, was also the start of creating Oddvark Media. We met on a dating app. Hit it off right away talking about what we both did as a living. Vicki ran a small marketing firm and I was a freelance marking photographer. We enjoyed talking about how much we loved what we did for work and almost forgot to go on our first date. During our first date, we felt that something special was in the works. By the third date, we knew this was something special. Read more>>

Matt Kennedy

Let me tell you about one of the craziest events that ever happened in my career. One afternoon I was hanging out at the studio doing some office work and taking calls. The phone rings and on the other end of the line is a representative from the record label Prospect Park. First they inquire if a time and date is available, I reply yes, then they said they would like to go forward with scheduling for that time for KORN. Read more>>

Leigh Spencer

There is a time of year that is typically slower in terms of inquiries, and we always have to be careful not to take a job that doesn’t seem quite right, even if I am concerned about gaps in the production schedule. This was late in 2021. We had a lot of work in queue, but I was still concerned about a Q1 slow down in 2022. Read more>>

Heidi Scheurmann

The craziest story related to my business is a negative one with a positive outcome. One time I was referred to a newly engaged couple about making a cake for their upcoming wedding. They were the sweetest couple, so nice and easy to work with. The entire process – cake tasting, consultation, design, etc went smoothly. The wedding cake was a small three tier cake, iced in a textured buttercream and fresh floral. Easy peasy! Read more>>

Idicula Mathew

The beginnings of Hera Health Solutions merely were a biomedical engineering research project at Georgia Tech. I helped develop the core technology behind the company as my senior design capstone. It’s sort of an understatement to say I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started. I had a passion for biomedical engineering and healthcare innovation, but I had no real experience in navigating the startup industry. Read more>>