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.

Samí Haiman-Marrero

I started URBANDER as a solopreneur when I was laid off during the 2008 Recession, a fate experienced by many millions of Americans whose livelihoods were at stake as a result of predatory lending and corporate greed. Read more>>

Tracy Nguyen

We started off so fast that we didn’t get a chance to get anyone to work with us. It was just my husband as the receptionist, and I was the only Technician. Read more>>

A Girl Name K

From day one my business was running with just one employee: MYSELF! I decided in the 2nd grade that singing was going to be MY LIFE! I cultivated it right then and there with singing in the lunch line. No fans, no cheerleaders just myself. Read more>>

Kwame Egerton II

The Black Currency consisted of two people at the start, my Co-Founder Ackeem and I. We both studied at Syracuse University and met on the first day on campus. Read more>>

Viviana Gago

A few years ago, I began nurturing the aspiration to establish a yoga studio. One of my primary concerns about yoga studios pertains to the limited diversity observed not only among clients but also among instructors. Read more>>