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.

Nakendra Harris-Mason

I actually started my business by my own experience which was self taught. I took what I’ve learned and did what worked for me and used that to execute my business. Sometimes what works for you might not work for other people but I knew I had something to bring to the table and people would begin to take an initiative to what it was that I had to offer. Read more>>

CiNava Photography

While in school, Angel needed a guinea pig for a project he was working on or a second shooter. If he picked up a wedding gig, help with lighting, holding bounce cards, etc. Steve was there to help. Essentially, Steve became free labor. However, it was such a great experience working together, CiNava (a fusion of both last names) was born. Read more>>

Olivia Johnson

For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to have a career in fashion. When I was a little girl, I would sketch clothing all the time and I dreamed of being a fashion designer. In high school though, I took a summer course at the Fashion Institute in Boston on design and I realized I had more of an eye for fashion, so I wanted to learn more about the merchandising and business side of the industry. Read more>>

Cindy Hwang

By the end of the pandemic; our family had created so many memories by being out and about in Chicagoland. So many of our family and friends wanted to learn more information about the vacations we took, the sights we saw, and the activities we enjoyed. One day in the beginning of 2022, I just decided to create an Instagram page to document your family adventures and share them with others. Read more>>

Aaron Gipson

Lately, quotes relating to starting something before you’re ready have become popular. They couldn’t be more true! When I began this entrepreneurial journey I wasn’t ready in the slightest way. I didn’t know 90% of the things that I do now, and I would have never known these things unless I actually got started! Crazy enough, Royal Clothing Brand started off as a drawing on a piece of paper that I made when I was bored. Read more>>

Dawn Myers Robin White

Robin and I met in 2019 when we worked at a Professional Employer Organization as Strategic HR Consultants. We each supported over 80 small business owners and leaders with the goal of helping them develop workforce strategies, policies, and procedures. Read more>>

Jesse Chavez

Firstly I’d like to say that I never pictured myself having a business or let alone a business that would grow to be this size it is today. My story really starts like most, I was being undervalued by my employer at the time. I have always had a huge mind with tons of out of the box ideas. But I had never chosen to act on those dreams because of my financial background growing up and lack of support from my family. Read more>>

Keisha Cameron

I have always been criticized as being good at the English Language or the writing Discipline and so one day a friend of mine encouraged me to start a small business in resume writing and I call my small business Dr Docs (short for documents). I also, have always wanted to write a Children’s Book, but the idea of what to write never presented itself. Read more>>

Jarrius Carter

Forming Delinquent USA was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. We came up with Delinquent USA in the midst of the pandemic. It was a response to current fashion trends and institutionalized thinking that our parents gave us. As you can see going to school and getting a good job doesn’t take you far. I was often criticized for going against the principals that worked back then. Read more>>

Collette

Back in January 2020, I decided that I should sit down and figure out streaming on Twitch. I bought a PC, mic, and Webcam, watched countless videos to understand OBS, suffered way too many mic issues, but I eventually got it right. I never could have expected what it spiraled into, because it all began as an effort to find new people to connect with. Read more>>

Barbara Baez Robinson

It began by taking photos of my husband’s band at all his shows. Other bands began to notice my work, and wanted to hire me to take photos for them as well. After a couple of years, I realized that photography has a lot of business potential. That is when I decided to do this full-time. While I was still working as a medical biller, I began to lay the foundation for my business. I trademarked my name BabarazziPhotos and filed for my DBA. To continue my studies in my career, I am working on my Bachelors in Fine Arts & Digital Photography. Read more>>

Riley Kidder

Hive To Home Candle Co started from a dream my mother and aunt who had. Stemming from an idea but wasn’t able to reach success and fizzled out. It wasn’t until months after operations stopped from the initial launch I realized I truly believed in the idea they came up with, saw a great potential, and wasn’t willing to passively watch it fade. I was in my Freshman year of my Bachelors in General Business from Davenport University and believed in the company they hoped for. Read more>>

Annie Pertes

I used to be a teacher, but with a passion for summer veggie gardens. People would be blown away when they peaked out at my fire escape in Brooklyn to overflowing tomatoes, herbs, kale. I even grew snow peas once! One day a friend of mine approached me- she was starting a floral and landscape design business and wondered if I would be the grower. A few months in she needed help with a few floral installations. Read more>>

Chelsea Johnston

I’ve been in early childhood education since before I graduates with my bachelors degree. I took a job in a preschool by chance and fell in love with working with young children. I didn’t discover my love for working in nature until far later. While working at a large childcare company, I had worked my way up to becoming the curriculum director and the owners approached me about the ideas of more natural playgrounds. Read more>>

Carrie Palmore

I’ve been in real estate for 17 years. In 2021, I decided to put a team back together. I had a team in the past, but I wanted to try a different model. I brought in two new agents who I personally knew outside of real estate. I became their mentor, their coach, their team leader. After they had been in the business for about 6 months, we sat down to identify our mission, our core values and our goals. Then it was time to get to work. Read more>>

Keeyoung Kim

My business partner and I started dreaming of owning our own restaurant concept in 2014 while I was living in the DC area. The idea came up in the same way many great ideas (or terrible ideas) come up, over lots of food and lots of drink. After a quick discussion, we started meeting to continue talking about the dream. To be honest, I don’t think we ever thought this could be a reality but it was an excuse for us to hang out and get excited about the potential of opening a restaurant. Read more>>

Kiana Malekzadeh

It was a long time dream of mine to open up a yarn store and needlepoint shop. I had fantasized about it for years. More importantly, I had fantasized about having the shop in the space we are in now, since I live above the shop! The timing was never correct, or financially it hadn’t made sense in the past. This is my absolute silver lining covid story. The rent prices, dropped, the space was empty and I knew the opportunity was never going to come along again. Read more>>

Natasha Nurse

The process of going from idea to execution for developing the podcast WokeNFree.com was a thorough and intricate one that involved a lot of planning, brainstorming, collaboration, and research. The idea for the podcast stemmed from a desire to create a platform for open and honest discussions about topics that are often considered taboo or uncomfortable from the perspective of a millennial black couple. Read more>>

Jalen Thomas

When I started ShineTV, I had no idea that it would one day turn into a full-fledged video production company. It all started with a simple idea: to film my little brother playing sports so I could then upload it to YouTube. But as ShineTV grew, we began to attract corporate clients who saw the value in strategic video production. And now, Fort Lauderdale is our home base where we help businesses of all sizes grow through the power of video. Read more>>

Katie Vogt

I know this will sound odd, but the story of how my business got where it is today started when I broke my knee in a skiing accident back in 2017. I had been working as a structural engineer for about a year when it happened, and knew I was extremely unhappy but I had never quit something before – it just was never an option that I have ever considered. I had minored in Interior Design in college so I knew I had interest there and also dreamed of pursuing it someday, but didn’t really have an idea as to how that would work out. Read more>>

Josh Wilhelm

JW Creates as a business was officially started late 2019, but its origins date all the way back to 2015. In 2015 I was 4 years into a job I hated, and honestly I had no idea what I really wanted to do. I was stuck in the comfort zone of the familiar, but too scared to admit that I might be talented enough to do what I wanted to do…create! Read more>>

Ruby Newell-Legner

After coaching swimming for 20 years, I developed an allergic reaction to the pool air. They called it Hypersensitivity pneumonitis. HP for short. The doctors told me if I wanted to get healthy, I needed to get out of that environment. So, I decided if I couldn’t coach on the pool deck, perhaps I could coach somewhere else. Read more>>

Ross and Brock Hardisty

While there is a long and nuanced history of how the idea came about, the challenge was always going to be executing the idea. We knew at the beginning that we wanted to manufacture a high-end carry knife that competed with the best products on the market, using the best materials known to modern engineers. We had a simple philosophy, that Ross spoke aloud often – the difference between those who have great ideas, Read more>>

Andre Hill

Well it all started out with modeling, before I wanted to be behind the camera. I worked with a mentor for years before I decided to pick up a camera myself. I was trained with dealing with lightening, and angles, as well as location. I also was trained with editing styles to get the exact look I wanted. Even though I received a lot of backlash in the beginning for my photography I still persued it. I just kept my faith and as I continued to study my craft my improvements were obvious. All the way to the point I was creating my own projects in studios. Read more>>

Ann (AC) Sloan

I used to work in the marketing department of a television network here in LA. I was in a meeting where we were tasked with brainstorming ideas to create buzz for the finale of a show I was promoting at the time (Scandal). Lots of ideas were bandied about in the session — some good, some bad, some outrageous — a typical brainstorm meeting. In the middle of that session, a story idea popped in my head: what would happen if a network’s marketing stunt went off the rails? Read more>>

Bronze Green

I think this part is the hardest. People like starting out without being completely ready. Most people go with Just Start The Business motto and Talbots not always the way to go. You should be fully prepared when starting a serious business. When you aren’t it could look sloppy on your end and deter potential clients. You need to do proper research for everything that deals with your business. Read more>>

Alix Greenberg

I had an 8 year career in the fine art world in New York before launching ArtSugar in 2017. With an MA from Christie’s and a BFA from Cornell, I began my professional career at Christie’s and held positions with artist Peter Tunney and at Skarstedt Gallery before founding ArtSugar. While I was working at the art galleries and museums, I realized there wasn’t a great platform for artists who were growing their businesses on Instagram. Read more>>