One of the challenges we’ve seen to true equality of opportunity is that schools and books often can’t (or choose not) offer access to one of the most equalizing resources – first hand stories of how successful entrepreneurs made their ideas a reality. If you grew up in a family or community that had many successful entrepreneurs you may have been lucky to hear many conversations and stories about starting and executing on an idea, but there are millions of people across the country who haven’t had the same advantage and so our hope here is to create a space where those stories can be told in a more public forum for the benefit of any and every aspiring entrepreneur.

Elizabeth Fiegle

From the first time I feasibly dreamed up opening my own coffee and popsicle shop to the reality of opening the doors of my own shop, it was 4 years in between. The process wasn’t straight forward, and involved a good amount of luck and help from my friends and family, but the dream became a reality on June 15th, 2019. I first wrote in my journal about my idea for a coffee and popsicle shop in Brevard County, FL in August of 2015, I wrote down the loose idea of what I wanted it to look like and then began testing popsicle recipes on my family and friends over the next 6 months. Read more>>

Deborah Slobin

After working for nearly 25 years in the food distribution industry in Florida, I moved back to Michigan to be closer to my aging parents. I was burnt out from the food industry and was seeking a career change when a friend of mine proposed a crazy idea. I met Julie as a waitress at one of my favorite restaurants where she had been working for years, and was also burnt out from the work she was doing. She called me out of the blue to tell me that a really cool 3,000 square foot commercial building by her home had recently gone up for lease, and she wanted to go into business with me, lease the building, and open a consignment store. I thought, we’ve got no experience in the industry, no money saved, let’s do it! Read more>>

Bobby Hicks

During the lockdown in NYC around March 2020, my girlfriend and I had a lot of time to think about ways to stay creative, while not leaving our place. I really struggled with the lockdown because I’ve always been a creative person in nature and finding the right location, so thinking differently was initially a challenge. We came with the idea to make silly recipe videos, but I wanted to take it further and dress in vintage clothing and film the series to look/sound like it came from some 1950s tutorial video. Read more>>

Lauren Glasco

I currently work in Human Resources, the Talent Acquisition space more specifically, and I review hundreds of resumes a day. I realized that this is the area most people need help with when job searching and applying for jobs. When a person gets rejected after applying to a position, most times it’s due to a poorly written resume. Most of the time it’s not because that person isn’t qualified (which could be the case), but I’ve realized that some people have a difficult time translating their background and experience into concise words. Once that thought clicked for me, I wanted to be able to help more people and reach a larger audience – that’s when Legendary Resumes & Career Services was born! Read more>>

Larmani

I always loved singing. As a kid I used to always sing in church or in my home on a karaoke machine. When I got kicked out of church for being gay, I remember being hurt, devastated, and lost. Somewhere along that dark journey something sparked in me, I realized that those horrible people did not give me my voice, my gifts, they did not make me, and they do not define me. I picked myself up and started to pave a path that I could be myself, unapologetically. Read more>>

June Guz

Started off small for sure as anyone would when they’re establishing their name/business. I was always a creative person when it came to a camera, whether it was a photos or videos from my GoPro. February 2018, I was feeling so creative. I was inspired by social media and everything I saw. I wanted to be apart of that community of creators especially the creators that didn’t just take basic photos. I was sitting there and with the assistance of my wife, I thought why don’t I make a business out of it. Read more>>

Kevin Peterson

The process of going from making scents as a hobby to becoming a professional perfumer went in baby steps. After leaving the culinary world to go back to school, I became interested in making my own fragrances as a way to keep my knowledge of flavors sharp. I made scents for myself, along with friends and family, for several years. At some point, my wife Jane Larson, who has an art/design background, offered to create some packaging and put a website together for the scents. Read more>>

Jazmin Anderson

I started my business idea venture in February, 2015. The idea came to me while I was working for other well established companies like ESPN Radio, Yahoo Sports Radio to name a few. I wasn’t getting the positions I felt my contributions and skills warranted and that I felt qualified for. I was in Seattle with my friend Davies Chirwa who is the owner of Channel ATV. I had done some reporting and work for his business also. I was discussing the situation and ideas with him. Read more>>

Nicolas Quintanilla

I remember that night vividly, I was in my room reading an article about the Latino Youth Vote, I read that Young voters can make a difference but they don’t vote. I began thinking in my head, What can I do to get the Latino Youth involved? I then came up with the idea of Starting Young Latino Democrats of Dallas, a couple days after that night I met with Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Carol Donovan, I pitched this idea to her she helped and I executed. Read more>>

Kenesha Cook

Going from idea to execution can be tough if you never get started. The best business advice I received is to just start the business. I think that’s the hard part for people including myself. I knew I had to come up with a plan and just go for it. I started my business during Covid. During this time it allowed me to truly figure out what I really wanted to do with the next phase of my life. I was already making lip glosses and body scrubs for my friends as gifts. Read more>>

Edgar Cortez

It’s all about reinvesting into you or your company. All the money I would make through my “side” gig was reinvested into more equipment. Most people who get into videography or photography only invest into basic things and call it good. I would buy more equipment with profits, take a variety of classes to help me improve, take criticism and improve on them. A huge thing in content creating is learning and practicing to get better. There are too many people who want to skip this part and it shows in their work. Read more>>

Isaac Padilla

Roman and I (co-founders and owners of Que Rico T-Shirt Co.) grew up together in Abilene, Texas. We became close friends in high school and were even Co-Editors-in-Chiefs of our school’s yearbook. From a very young age, we always talked about starting a business together but at the time we didn’t know what we wanted to do. We are both very creative and it wasn’t until 2013 that we decided what we wanted to create: a men’s accessory fashion line that included lapels, pocket squares, and cuff links. Read more>>

Ashton Dundas

I had a vision. A vision to begin the new era of cinema, but first I had to prove what I was capable of, so that would allow me to not only gain the experience I needed but to also have the “key” to opening new doors within the movie industry. I decided it was now or never, so I dropped down to part-time at my “day job”, and started bringing in fellow professionals to help bring everything to life, from the story, music, and also figuring out where, and how I was going to film this with such a small budget of my own money. Read more>>

WALKELLIA MILLEDGE

Well I like to think of myself as a Serial-Prenuer, simlpy because I do various ventures. I always start anything I do with writing down my idea first. This makes it plan and clear to me. I believe anything that I can write down, see, and is tangible can be done. My theory is always plan, implement, then execute! I only want to do things that I absolutely love and that no only makes my clients happy but me as well. My Party Rental business kinda came from my first love which is children. Read more>>

Heath Martin

Back when I was a freshman in High School in my hometown of Knoxville, TN, I was always the athlete who carried a relentless mentality to improve myself. As a soccer player growing up, I can remember days when I would skip school to train extra, take extra sports-related classes just to improve myself physically during school hours, and surround myself with other like-minded individuals that would help me to progress forward. Read more>>

Felicia Linnen

Having very little funding, I decided to launch my business in a shared kitchen. Afterwards, I focused on festivals and farmers markets to have more interaction with my supporters. Read more>>

Montravious Williams

In complete honesty my business evolved on a whim. I was always very intelligent so I would get asked to perform different tasks. Often times they were things I hadn’t done before but I’m resourceful and a quick learner so it always seemed to pan out in my favor. The more things I touched the bigger my figurative and literal portfolio became. I began to get offers to provide things ranging from education assistance, to business & marketing consulting, to career development. Read more>>

Victoria Lane

It took me sometime to actually walk in my purpose! I like to refer to my businesses as my purpose, because that’s exactly what they are. I had to isolate myself from my daily habits because anxiety was kicking my butt! I had to figure out what was the root cause! I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t doing the things that I wanted to do in life. I was surviving but not actually living up to my fullest potential. I found a mentor who I looked up to and who was living the lifestyle I saw for myself. Read more>>

Le’Quae Mister

My start was just like anyone else. I wanted to find a hobby that would turn into a passion and then a lifestyle. Growing up I always had the basic knowledge or art as well as the talent. Most people in my family are able to draw or do graphic design as well. Because of that, it was fairly easy for me to understand, where they was coming from, both as an creative and as a business owner. Everyone starts off wondering what they should do and eventually come up with a name, which is sometimes the hardest part. Once you have that done, Read more>>

Claudia Mason

The idea of executing a dream, desire, wish, idea into manifestation is an important topic to discuss. These days it seems like so many people are re-inventing themselves in either their business or personal lives. The times we are living in are ripe with opportunities for humanity to make a paradigm shift in consciousness which will hopefully lead us all to living in a much more conscious, loving, fraternal and collectively supportive way. Read more>>

Sophia Grimes

I knew my purpose. My purpose is to encourage and push others to reach their goals and live out their dreams. God has been good to me. I was in deep poverty that I knew only way out is to break the cycle. I knew the pain at first hand. I studied and educated myself on how to lay foundation and reaching personal goal such as savings, restoring my credit, building assets for my business. Read more>>

Jennifer Revello

I grew up in Uruguay in a hard working family so for a long time success for me was defined by reaching as high as possible on the corporate ladder. I was taught to work hard and follow the rules, to strive for the security and the comfort of working in the corporate world and all the benefits that come with that. I never thought I would become an entrepreneur. In 2007 I met the father of my child and he saw something in me that I didn’t even know existed and he encouraged me to start my own business. He saw how hard I was working in my corporate position and gave me that extra push I needed to see myself as an entrepreneur. Read more>>

Tiffany Millen.

When my son started Kindergarten, I knew I needed something that would fill my days. I had been a stay at home mother for him since he was born, having my own small business making decorative wooden blanket ladders several years before but it had since been closed due to us moving, but I wanted something for ME again. I started with small handmade projects and listed them on Etsy, where I’d sold my ladders, but something felt much different than when I was operating my business. Read more>>

Toni Porter

I became an official business owner after being laid off from my job. I was also in college at the same time, in need of extra money. The economy wasn’t the greatest and lots of layoffs were occurring across MI. I’ve always burned candles to relax but was having difficulty finding a good brand that actually smelled good. My god mom started making them as a hobby and I loved them. So, I started selling them at the local hospital that I worked for. When I got laid off, I asked my godmother if she wanted to go into business together. Read more>>

Margaret South

I decided to launch my company a few winters ago. Why not? I’d had a successful career in the movie business, then left to raise my kids. I took care of aging parents, but they were gone now. I could have retired, but I still had an awful lot to say. I rented some space in a nearby church. I incorporated. I purchased insurance. A few customers rolled in. Success? No. The pandemic hit and the church closed its doors. Read more>>

Jason Glaser

This business was owned by my dad , Jay Glaser. For years, I would to help him out around his shop whenever he needed. We had a lot of fun coming up with new ideas, gaining more clientele, and repeat customers. I started building up the retail side of the business last year when, unexpectedly, my father passed away. I wasn’t prepared to take over the business so soon. There was so much more that I needed to learn from him, but I decided it was worth the risk to keep the business going and carry on his legacy. Read more>>

Chrissy Torrence

ChrissyAssistance started amongst a conversation between friends, I always loved solving problems because I detested conflict. I worked in Customer Service for credit and the food industry for years, So learning how to appease people with limited options was a skill I had mastered. I was tired for working for corporate businesses that didn’t fit my schedule needs as a single mother. I was modeling for a couple of years, as much as I enjoyed being in front of the camera, I loved the prep work to getting to the camera. My first client was from ATL, “playworld_visions. Read more>>

Enyermy Dominguez

In difficult times, we have two options, cry over our face or bend our knees and pray. I decided to pray, and God gave me the craziest idea, for a hair stylist who grow in a poor family with cero opportunity to growth. At the beginning of the pandemic, my hair studio was closed for two months. At that time i was recently moved to Orlando. The struggle was real. While the salon was closed i believe on the promises that God has gave me on 1 Reyes 6:12. I started studying about chemical hair compounds and how hair products work in the cosmetic area. Read more>>

Kaley Hartpence

Owning my own catering business was always just a distant dream in the back of my mind, one that never seemed to get to the point of being “the right time or place” to execute. That is, until Covid 19 hit. Prior to the pandemic, I was the event coordinator and catering director for a major restaurant group in the Tampa Bay Area. In April of 2020, I was laid off due to the pandemic, and like many others, I was left to pick up the pieces and decide where I wanted to take my career from there. Read more>>

Tiny Baker

Idea to reality – What a journey and adventure! There isn’t much better than family and food, especially together! We have always been a very close family and have always done so much together – everything from traveling and vacations down to cooking and baking. Tiny Baker, LLC, is a family-owned and operated small business bakery. We opened doors officially February 12, 2018, on First St. in Union City, Tennessee. There were only 3 of us when we first opened, but quickly added another family member to the business – Tom and Cindy McWilliams (Dad and Mom), Ana Edmaiston, and Jane Minnick. Dad, by career was a C.P.A., Mom our baker, Ana – our very incredibly talented cake decorator, and Jane our business manager. Read more>>