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.

Tiffany Jones

When I first decided to get into “Tall” fashion, I searched all over for wholesalers who might have had Tall. I had no luck at all. I then went on the hunt searching for the places that made Tall on a large scale. I thought that I could buy from them. After 2 years of searching , I started sewing my own items and then hired other seamstresses to help me out. Read more>> 

Ivonne Salais

I am a romantic of creation, I have always loved taking pictures of all the things I see and do, especially when my daughters were born I started taking pictures of them with the iPhone, I did not achieve the effect but I had the intention. Buying a professional camera was really very difficult for me. They are very expensive and it was not a priority in my life or in my family. Read more>>

Kayla Borgen

It’s hard to believe that when I first met my husband I was drinking Barefoot wine (no judgement to those who still enjoy it!) Robert, my husband, had studied wine at UC Davis before going on to to make wine in California and New Zealand only to find himself back in his home state of Michigan making hard cider at the same cidery where I would begin working as a graphic designer and brand manager. Read more>>

Jeannie Charles

When I started Jewels by charles it was simply a hobby that begin with me picking out gorgeous pieces for family and friends. The moment I realized that I would be able to bring the same joy and even tears to my brides faces when they saw their final reveal before walking down the aisle brings joy to my heart. When I begin to realize that a passion that I had as a child would be able to become the ultimate dream job. Read more>>

Natalia Lopez

I went thru mental, emotional and financial crises back in 2018. At this time, I decided I needed to heal and search for support in order to break free from all the chaos. After going thru Therapy mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The idea clicked in my heart and Mind to create an organization where we had all areas to offer support. Read more>>

Melinda Davis

After a early retirement from a senior position in local government I decided to go into the private sector with a focus on media. While working in the government sector I was the spokesperson for media interviews related to senior issues and services. I appeared on local news and major national networks. However, there was a disturbing slant to all of my appearances the “focus” was always negative I was responding to a problem or incident. Read more>>

Ashley Ruffer

From a very young age heat seeker Ashley Ruffer would explore different sauces at a local restaurant in her hometown of Ann Arbor, Mi. Fast forward 20 years later and the pandemic hit. Ashley and her husband Errin wanted to give back to small businesses across the country and decided after ordering several sauces that it was time for them to open up their own retail store. Read more>>

Donte Douglas

It all started because I was being rejected. I realized I had to stop depending on the approval of other people. Instead of waiting around to see if my work would be published, I just decided to do my own thing. Work for myself. So for two weeks, nothing could stop me. All day. Everyday. I worked on my craft. Day and night. I aim for balance in the work I was producing. Read more>>

Darielle Phillips

This past February, I was looking for ways that I could make extra money aside from my main business and it still be something that I enjoy doing. As we all know, Valentine’s Day is in February, and only two weeks before I decided to dive into room decoration. I teamed with a few local small businesses to create packages that would include decorations, soul food, and love treats. Within that two weeks, I purchased lots of decorations to have on hand and created promotional flyers to hand out. Read more>>

Nicole Conway

I founded Conway Marketing Group after working in healthcare marketing on the client side, mostly focusing on B2B, for my entire career. Even when I first started in marketing, I always knew that I wanted to start my own agency, but I knew that I had to have the experience and network first to be able to do so successfully. I had fantastic mentors throughout my career who knew that this was my ultimate goal, but it took some hard work, learning, time and life changes for me to finally take the leap. Read more>>

Diamond Moore

Lots of Lists. From the beginning I had an idea of what I wanted to do, as far as, creating my own website, figuring out all the financial requirements and etc. There can be so much information that for months all I made were lists: Things to get done on the website, products and their costs, planning marketing. Read more>>

Giselle Sanchez

I am an all in or nothing kind of person. I realized I really liked photography when I started to think “I wish I took pictures like that” and kept falling in love with so many photographers work. Whether it was of landscape or a destination wedding. I researched everything about the camera and how to take pictures, because its not just pointing and pushing a button. There is so much to think about before taking a picture and it coming out decent. Read more>>

Meisha Mayo

In 2017, toward the end of my final course in UC Berkeley’s extension program, the “what’s next” conversations were trending on the discussion boards. Several classmates began conversing about their plans to continue schooling to develop more technical skills that would increase their marketability and visibility as editors. Read more>>

Samuel Jenkins

It all started my sophomore year at Hahnville High School in Boutte, Louisiana. I attended an elective class called TV Productions, and this class taught me the art of dialogue and storytelling. I really enjoyed being behind the camera capturing all the stunning angles and all the clips we needed to put together a well organized short film. Read more>>

Chantal Clarke

I started this business in the peak of the pandemic in Jamaica, I was both skeptical and confident at the same time because my idea was sleep and lounger wear capitalizing of the shift globally that most people would be now mostly at home working from home etc and needed the extra comfort. So the idea came in march 2020 I started to plan and get the right people in April and May 25th 2020 I launched my first line of robes in 5 colours Read more>>

Kim Guevara

I thought I’d tell the story of Crisis Athlete(TM) and how that came into being. It started as a conversation about how our two main focus areas in the business (organizational development and emergency management/business continuity) could better support and leverage each other in 2015 to address challenges we were seeing. We were seeing burnout, stress, and organizational challenges for crisis leaders. Read more>>

Anita Bennett

My concept and business plan was simple. Everyone absolutely loved my family’s homemade toffee so I decided that I would start a little company to make and sell this delicious buttercrunch candy. I had no capital so Sunset Bay Candy would start by selling at farmers markets. Then, as we built sales and profit, the business would transition to online and wholesale. Read more>>

Ebonique Boyd

I had a job that became antithetical to everything I was and I was very stressed about it. All my favorite mentors left the industry and suddenly I was getting more senior-level jobs at the same time. My husband said that my problem was that I didn’t have hobbies outside of my job. Everything I was doing was work-related and this caused me to be more stressed than I needed to be. He told me I needed a hobby. Read more>>