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.

Christine Trimmer

Having the idea was the easy part. We both knew exactly what we wanted to do, but making it become a reality was the next, more fun and also difficult part. We didn’t need a lot of money to get started, so we got to focus on creating a beautiful brand that would attract the type of client we knew we wanted to work with. We worked at all hours of the day and had infinite energy for our little budding business. In the beginning, we chose our name and bought our domain. Then we went to Instagram and set up our account for the future. We set up trades of services with anyone we knew that could help us create our brand for the first year. Read more>>

Courtney Hughes

The Will King Foundation was born out of deep hurt. On December 1, 2017 I gave birth to my and my husband’s third and fourth children, twins named Caroline and Will. They were healthy babies but at their one week check up our pediatrician was worried about their body temperature and levels of jaundice, so she sent us to the ER at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Through a series of tests and exams, they ended up in the pediatric ICU with septic shock and multi-system organ failure, meaning every organ in their body was shutting down. Read more>>

Joan Walker

Dogs Are Life I literally cannot envision life without dogs; dogs ARE life. So, for me to be able to combine my two greatest loves – dogs and art – with a pet photography studio has been an amazing and rewarding journey for me. How I got started in this whole dogcentric business is unique as I didn’t begin as pet photographer per se: I started my career as a freelance writer. Because of my extensive experience with dogs, dog handling and dog training, I was immediately recognized by magazine editors and book publishers as a dog expert. As a dog expert who could write, I received hundreds of newspaper and magazine feature article assignments and book contracts. Read more>>

Tyler Gill

This is really an interesting question. I started my journey immediately after college graduation in the Spring of 2018. Unbeknownst to most people, I actually aspired to be the face of a news network or television show host. My hosting skills and passion came to fruition during my time in college by launching a YouTube channel “Tyler Gill Show” – strongly practicing for my future as a professional host or anchor. The many different guests I interviewed on my YouTube channel truly inspired me that there’s so many relevant stories out there that need to be heard and told. Read more>>

Sheri Oneal

Canvas Interview Going From Idea To Execution In 2020 when the Pandemic hit my initial response was not worry or fear. I was booked up through March with commercial photo assignments shooting product for my clients alone in my studio. I remember talking with another photographer on the phone a few weeks after the lock down about how many of the top photo pro’s in Nashvile were signing up for unemployment early worried about the months ahead. Read more>>

Sarai Shivana

The concept and idea of PLATINUM PowHERs stemmed from many experiences and different business ventures. I had to come up with an umbrella to house everything that I was interested in and wanted to pursue and create an outlet for others to do the same! For majority of my life I have always networked and been fortunate to know different types of people personally and professionally, having had my hand in many hats – I have been able to connect great people to great opportunities and really bridge that gap for others – so we wanted this to be a collaborative business culture. Read more>>

Fannie Gibson

I came up with the idea in 2009 and we open up in 2018. I used to cook from home and post online to get feedback and build my audience while I was working on getting a location. It took me a long time to get a location because of my credit. I had no credit at the time so I couldn’t get any building nor could I get a loan from the bank. They all said no! But I didn’t let the no stop me. I was determined to bring the culture to Kansas City since there wasn’t any west African restaurant at the time. So I found a partner that had credit and capital, but we couldn’t agree to disagree, we parted ways. Read more>>

Brittany Raymond

I have always loved the beauty industry. Whether it was hair, nails, or makeup, it has always intrigued me. So when I was 20 I decided to pursue my passion! I went into cosmetology school and graduated in December of 2020. It is not all rainbows and butterflies though. After graduation I moved into a different town and started taking clients. It was… hard. School doesn’t necessarily paint life for after school to be easy, but it doesn’t prepare you for the real world. Not even a year after graduating I decided to step away from the chair and re-center myself and think about why I chose this industry. Read more>>

Leah Forney

As a creative and business owner coming up with ideas are never a problem. The problem often times lies in determining whether or not this idea is needed in the marketplace and whether or not my audience actually wants it. One of the biggest issues I have faced as a business owner is falling into what I like to call the “creative trap” The creative trap is when you are constantly creating but without a plan of execution. Read more>>

Trey Chaney

I was actually incarcerated, and for 5 years I worked on my plain… The word of God says we are to write it down and make it plain… so thats what I did… I got my license to train,… when I got out I trained for one complete year then opened my first gym. … Now we are in the process of building our new gym Read more>>

Chante Wiggins & Monifah Cook

Back in college, Monifah and I had a couple Public Relations classes together and one day we started talking about having our PR agencies in the future. Fast forward to 2020, Monifah reached out to me through Instagram to see if having my own agency is something I was still interested in and if I want to go into business together. I figured it was time I start fulfilling a dream I’ve always had and I couldn’t think of a better person to start this journey with. Read more>>

Jasmine Ohen.

Okay, this question is so perfectly timed. For about 2 years I was coaching informally but at the top of the year, I officially launched my formal consulting business. At the time I was only offering 1 service- nonprofit startup coaching. I really enjoyed it! Helping community leaders nationally launch their purposeful nonprofits felt like a dream come true. Within 6 months of me walking deeper in my purpose, the demand grew. More women began coming to me for coaching. Read more>>

Chris Brencans

I opened up a SEO and website design consultancy with my relative and good friend, Kaspars Milbers (now the CTO of the company I lead). I got to know about the digital marketing industry itself from him. Soon enough, I realized entrepreneurship is hard. But that didn’t deter me from continuing on the journey. We didn’t continue with that venture. But based on that experience, I joined On The Map Marketing seven years ago as a SEO project manager. I kept solving internal company problems to get promoted to the CMO, and ultimately the CEO of the company (and get sweet perks such as equity). Read more>>

Keith Norval

I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A. in illustration and I was only finding a couple different venues for illustration work. My wife Anna was showing at Sizl Gallery in Carrboro and was selling work and developing a following. I decided to start making more oil paintings and go that direction with my work because I could start showing in galleries around the triangle. Read more>>

Giovanna Geathers

My story of execution was more of a flying leap of faith! I had been working as a non-profit executive for the past nine years when everything began shifting and not in a positive direction. I was feeling underappreciated, undervalued and I became very unhappy and dissatisfied. So, a year before actually leaving, I began putting things into place to make my exit. I paid off as many of my expenses as I could. I started buying office furniture and supplies. I registered for my LLC and completed all required paperwork; Read more>>

Jessica & Caleb Walston

As a husband and wife owned business we started with a simple little mistake building a barn door for our own home. We learned and grew from it and started selling different door styles, colors, sizes, etc. all out of the comfort of our garage. We quickly outgrew the garage and moved into about an 1800 sq foot shop in the west bottoms. After about 18 months we moved on to our current location in North Kansas City with another 1800 sq feet. Recently, we expanded into a total of 3,820 sq feet of combined shop and showroom space and are looking forward to serving the KC area with our new storefront showroom! Read more>>

April & Channez Bird & Dancy

The way that we started our business was simple, we were two friends who sat next to each at work and in the midst of our many conversations we discovered that we both have a love for wine. While living Northeast Ohio (NEO) we knew that were many wineries that we wanted to visit but we wanted the luxury of not having to drive ourselves. We noticed that NEO was lacking a successful wine tour business. Read more>>

Kountry Scentz

My wife and I began our journey to become business ownersin October of 2020 with aspirations of becoming debt-free. We researched different opportunities but none were the proper fit for us. We didn’t simply want copycat other avenues. Instead we looked into what we could do. Ally had been making body butters and hair products for herself for over 10 years; so there was our answer. We began blending fragrances and creating names and concepts to match. Our next move was to learn how to make soap. There were MANY failures yet we pushed through. Read more>>

Ed and Ysante McDowell

It was a normal June day in 2015 at the McDowell home. Ed sat at the kitchen table and began to experiment with herbs and spices. He started creating a blend and called his wife into the kitchen to taste what he created. His wife, after tasting Ed’s creation, immediately knew that they had something of value and needed to go into stores. It was challenging to come up with a name for the seasoning. Ed never wanted his name on it. But his wife’s persistency caused Ed’s All Purpose Seasoning to manifest. The first and original Ed’s All Purpose Seasoning was born. Read more>>

Yolanda Smith

Its the year 2012-2013, I am mid-career sitting at a conference listening to speakers talk about the importance of having mentors, coaches and sponsors to guide you and help you navigate through your career to help you achieve your goals. I am feeling dumbfounded, having spent most of my career at that point in sales, and realizing I have never had any of the three, or at least not formally and I’m struggling to fully understand what they are talking about because this was foreign to me. Read more>>

Danielle Galvin

I have been a herbalist for years. I started using teas for meditation and yoga, setting intentions before certain activities. I quickly fell in love and started experimenting and studying, making things for my friends and family, and developing my own herbal regimen. I wanted to build a business out of it and share my knowledge, but I didn’t have the extra income at the time. Years later, my husband and I were discussing our future and how I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom when we had kids (I was working retail at the time). He was the one to say “well why don’t you start your own herbal business?”. From that one conversation, everything changed. Read more>>

Victoria Baum

Well it all started when I lost my job as a collision production manager. It was during the Covid crisis and while I thought of applying elsewhere my heart & sole were tired. It’s a tough business and when I started I was a strong and positive person but the happiness was being drawn out of me. I thought to myself is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life ? Hearing from many others, in my industry, who had how wished they’d pursed another path sooner but stayed because they had invested so many years. I was at an advantage , Read more>>

Jerolyn & Erik Hamer

For years I have always wanted to start my own business. Being a creative and good at so many things made it confusing for me when it came down to what I wanted to do as an entrepreneur. I always through great parties and events so it made since to be an event planner. The problem with that was I did not like the stress that came with being an event planner and I really loved it as a hobby and did not feel like it was what I wanted to do with my time. Read more>>

Monica Tookes

Ever since I can remember I loved nails. Seeing my mom and other women in my family get their nails done was so fascinating to me. Of course my mom wouldn’t let me get my nails professionally done at one point in my life she felt I was too young, but she let me play with press on’s. When I got a little older and my sister took interest in actually doing nails my mom would let her do mine. It was the best time of my life watching my sister Nikita do my nails and do what she wanted to them lol. Throughout my life I always kept my nails done it was a must in my world. Read more>>

Gerald Bass

I started back in 2015 hosting a call every week called “The Rise Of The 1%.”, where I interviewed successful entrepreneurs who were on their way into rising into the top 1% of what they did or where already in the top 1% of what they did and I Iet the public hop on and listen to the interviews every week. At the time I was also currently learning and implementing online marketing strategies to grow a home based business i had at the time in the travel and direct sales industry. Read more>>

Samantha Jax

It’s interesting how the whole idea for our new fleet of beauty vending kiosk came about. As you know from our previous interview in Voyage ATL and Shout Out Atlanta, Seven Lips and Lashes LLC had already been thriving in business with wholesale mink eyelashes. We had thought of expanding to vending briefly but the idea never stuck. I had take a trip to Georgia the early part of 2022 and stayed in a hotel for about six days give or take. During that stay I must have made trips to the beauty supply and other stores for additional personal and beauty products more than 8 times.”Very inconvenient I thought.” Read more>>

Christion Elijah Sangster

The Rise of DEMS athleisure started off as a creative outlet for me. Since a Child I’ve always enjoyed the freedom that fashion brings, their is absolutely no limit. which in all honesty, is the exact thought that keeps me going. After months of journaling and self reflection, I’ve decided that I wanted to do things a little differently than the people before me. . .Though in family’s traditions, fashion seemed to be more of a birthright than it was an option, I’ve always dared myself to think outside of the box. Read more>>

Marquita Sutton

Versatile Management/ Versatile Music Group was birthed through a vision and a dream at the age of 8. Ever since I was 8 years old I always had the desire the passion the drive to be a business owner, especially in the entertainment business. One day at the age of 10 it was spiritually given to me about the name of my business. I never let go of the vision I never let go of the dream. So as I got older trials and tribulations came, along with hard times, ups, downs, turn arounds, good, bad and all that you can think of. But during this particular time or rough patch I should say in my life, the birth of the vision that God gave me, came to life!! Read more>>

Sharlrita Deloatch

As a Book Publisher, it is very important for me to do what I do best and that’s publish. One day while having a conversation with my husband he stated “why aren’t you publishing multi-author books” I’m very familiar with these types of books and I’ve always been turned off from these types of projects. so I ignored it. Me and Anthony attended a conference in Feb 2022 & I remember the speaker stating he conducted some interviews and transcribe those interviews into books. Read more>>