Starting a business or creative project is scary for many reasons, but one that is often overlooked is the anxiety related to whether this is really “the one.” To some, this isn’t a valid consideration while to others this is the only consideration. Some argue that what you work on, along with who you work with are the two most pivotal decisions you’ll make and so we’ve asked folks to tell us about how they came up with their ideas and how they knew this idea was the one.

Meigan Hufft

Since beginning in the photography field, it has long been my goal to be an emotive photographer focusing on motherhood journeys. Mothers are typically overlooked in documenting day to day life as we are usually the ones behind the pictures posted and shared. I knew that I wanted to essentially freeze time for women to look back on and be able to feel that exact moment for years to come, but do so in an artistic and creative way while showcasing their raw and real love. Read more>>

Shauntis Woulard

I was looking back at pictures from my 29th birthday and I immediately became upset at how much weight I had gained over the years. Being a mom, the stress of school and everyday life I had completely lost myself. I told myself I was going to get back to ME! And losing weight was the first thing on my list of things to do. I joined the gym and started portion controlling, but it still wasn’t enough because the scale was just going up and down. I knew I needed something to help me gain confidence and still lose weight at the same time. I got online and the first thing that popped up on Google we’re Waistbeads! Read more>>

Dawn Barry

It’s always good to remember that ideas are everywhere, and execution is everything when you’re building a business. Execution takes a solid team shaping an idea together. I appreciate the Luna team for our alignment on a mission while being fully adaptable in term of how we achieve it. The idea of diverse and inclusive research, and community-driven discovery, was the centerpiece of my October 2016 TEDxSanDiego talk. Throughout my career, Read more>>

Jacob Keyes

When I was a kid my dad taught me to home brew. As I got older I got a job bartending and later managing at a brewery in Norman, OK called Coaches. My dad used to come in after work and we’d drink a beer and talk about how cool it would be to open a brewery one day. Fast forward many years….I ended up running casinos for my tribe in Oklahoma. While my career in gaming was progressing, my dad became sick. The next thing I knew, he was in a nursing home. Read more>>

Sarah Denmark

Hi my name is Sarah Denmark, and like so many other women and men I have tried everything in the stores in reference to skincare and nothing seemed to work for me. So, I decided to start my own skincare line for a few great reasons and I’ll give you my top two. One I would know exactly what’s in the products and two provide the importance of healthy skin. Read more>>

Jeramy Purley

I came up with the idea of my Business, because I was a party promoter & I needed a name and logo created.It took me two weeks to figure it out because the names I came up with,I had to make sure nobody else had it and would try suing me.So after many headaches and frustration I said I’ll use my own name can’t nobody take that from me. I knew it would work because ima hard worker on anything I’m involved in & my work speaks volumes. I started in 2013 just me no team & it’s 2022,I’ve made it a lot farther and it’s still just Me going all I know is to stay consistent.many things are paying off for me. Read more>>

Jessica Brown

Hello charmed babes! I’m Jessica the CEO of Jessymariecharms. a business located in Atlanta ,Ga started Since 2020. Here’s some quick facts about me: I’m from New Orleans, La a city of rich culture, creativity, art, jazz, spiritual traditions, proud people, and historic neighborhoods. I have been interested in working with materials of all kinds. It started as a hobby when I was an kid that turned into passion, and then blossomed into a career of crafting and creating custom items/ bracelets for customers. Read more>>

Drew Garrison

I am a barber by trade and co-own an apparel business with my friend Steve. Being a barber brings many unique people into my life. One day we were sitting in the shop and a gentleman said that he saw Sasquatch in Oklahoma. I asked him to show me on a map where he saw Sasquatch and he pointed to a town called Honobia. he said it was only about an hour and a half from where we were, so myself along with 5 other barbers decided to take a trip to this town to go look. Read more>>

Kedric Barrett

Hype Seasonings is my small business and I craft gourmet seasoning blends. The concept for me was an easy one. I’ve always been a person who loves to cook and I have a passion for it. Blending seasonings was something I did to enhance the flavors of the dishes that I was crafting. My first blend, Memphis City Blues started out as a French fry seasoning for my sons. I started testing it out on other foods like chicken and fish and it was a hit. It became my all purpose seasoning. Read more>>

Moni Barrette

Creators, Assemble! Inc. (CA!) was an idea forged from the passion of nerds: Our network of professionals-teachers, librarians, indie creators and the like-basically make their livings exploring their love of nerdy pop culture, comics, cosplay, gaming, etc. There are many barriers to making a living in these spaces, not only in finding the opportunities but also the stigma and bureaucracy that still exists when discussing the merit of popular arts in education. Read more>>

Randy Nunoo

My Older sister and I came to the United States from Ghana in 1985 ; and returned back to Ghana for the first time in 2019. When we arrived in Ghana our dad threw a small family gathering , there was family that we hadn’t seen in over 35 years. While just sitting around speaking to one of my cousins (who is like an older brother) that I’ve kept in contact throughout the years, I mentioned about designing a few outfits and we joked about me making that into a business. Never thought anything about it until a year later when I turned to my Girlfriend and told her I would like to start a clothing brand. Truly with her support we started. Read more>>

Matt Beckmann

The inspiration for launching Ascent Consultants and Ascent Yoga (the Ascent Companies) came from the philosophy that great leaders make people’s lives and jobs easier. Our focus at the Ascent Companies is to make the job of leadership easier. We do this by helping clients focus on and design systems and routines to maximize both performance and well-being, and by using our unique methodology which we’ve applied successfully to both businesses and individuals. Read more>>

Lindsey Velotta

Well, its hard to describe how I got my love of photography. I was visiting my sister and brother in law out in Oregon with one of my best friends. He and I wanted to go hike in the back country and get some killer views of Mount Hood. What felt like for hours driving, we made it to our first trail. We had the usual snacks, water, phones that didn’t have cell service. What I didn’t know was that he brought his DSLR camera to take photos and to document our adventures. At that time I had no idea how to use a camera except the film style. Read more>>

Marcos H. N. Rossi

Since I was young, I felt I had good communication skills. Talking, speaking, teaching, and writing, all came naturally. Ideas and thoughts would just flow from my head to paper (or later, to a computer). But it was only later in my life, that I would feel the calling of writing my thoughts and stories and publish them. So today, I have to manage my time and efforts in a way that I’m able to take care of my regular work and family related duties, and still find a space to write. Read more>>

Debra Heslin

I was working as the General Manager of JFK airport for a major airline (JetBlue Airways) where at that time I was under a tremendous amount of pressure and personally felt depressed, overwhelmed and anxious most of the time. My role in corporate America involved a lot of time, energy, and emotional strength to get through each day. In order to “cope” better at that time I started going to yoga every day. I have always been physically fit and into exercise and nutrition, having done a triathlon, extensive long distance bicycle riding including the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to L.A. Read more>>

Kimberly Fung-Richberg

Kim here and I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself to you. I am a wife and mother of two amazing boys who bring such purpose and happiness to my life. I have spent the past fifteen years working in the financial industry with small business owners. While I’ve been working in this capacity I’ve always been inspired by small business owners to one day start my own business and in 2018 thats exactly what I did. Read more>>

Zulma Brito

Picture this, you get tired of paying for nails at the nail salon spending so much money for nails to not only come out ugly, but also not shaped right or even the design being super off. You want to save your money, so you buy some press on nails from the big franchises and then they turn out to be weak, breakable, and pop off easily. That’s why I came up with my type of press on nails. These aren’t just any press on nails, they are DURABLE, HARD TO BREAK, and LONG LASTING! Read more>>

Billy Fanshawe

Lytos was inspired in 2010 when I was mixing vodka with sports drinks such as Gatorade or Pedialyte. Adding electrolytes to vodka seemed like a no brainer, and I was surprised no one had ever done it. At the time, I had class very early in the morning, then a landscaping job throughout the day, so something such as a sports drink mixed with vodka made sense. Fast forward to the top of 2019 I broke ground and began developing the formula. The formula took about one month. Read more>>

Helena Paschal

The first thing people do is search for your name online to see your reputation. What they see determines if they will connect with you, interview you, or hire you. The problem is most people are struggling to stand out. Potential clients said they couldn’t find me on LinkedIn. I admit, I was not consistent on the platform but I didn’t understand what my presence on LinkedIn had to do with anything. Read more>>

Fernando Alvarado

Originally my fiancé and I started selling flower pots at the Spring Valley Swapmeet that my family makes in Mexico. During that time as swapmeet vendors we would occasionally take our own home made lunches or would need to buy food there on the occasions that we did not take lunch. We quickly got tired of the food at the swapmeet and kept taking our own food which was usually home made burritos I would make and they were always different kinds. Read more>>

Sharmene Smith

In September 2012, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I had never heard of it before my diagnosis so I began to research more about it. That search lead me to the PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association based in Atlanta, GA. As I started to get involved with attending PCOS events and races, I found that my fellow PCOS community members were having difficulty finding nice teal and PCOS related apparel and gifts, so I made it my mission to solve this issue. The PCOS Gift Shop was added to BGT Gifts as a collection of clothing and gifts that promote advocacy and awareness. Read more>>

Geoff Cole

I was awarded a contract feeded detainees at the boarder and needed a kitchen to produce the meals for my Admirals Experience company. In the process, I was able to secure a great deal on a kitchen space in Gaslamp which I personal knew the owners that made things even easier. My main focus was to utilize the kitchen during the day to manufacture the meals that were being delivered daily. However, I wanted to utilize the liquor license and have a place that myself and others like myself would hang out and have a good time. I didn’t want to focus on the kitchen, Read more>>

Matt Bramlette

The idea for our gift shop Mid Coast Modern my need for a new job. I was a Graphic Designer / Art Director for many years and got burned out on the industry. There was a lot of “forced” creativity where people were complaining and didn’t really like what they were doing. I knew I wanted to stay with something creative so rather than brainstorming traditional careers, I made a list of things I liked to do. Travel was definitely on top and one of the things I like to do when visiting a new city is find unique local shops to check out. Those shops are filled with cool, creative, independently designed and sometimes handmade goods. Read more>>

Ashleigh Pandora Montford

Black Woman Made, Corporation, is that not a powerful name in itself when you think about it? Late 2021 I was literally laying in my bed, scrolling on social media and listening to a podcast – then I began to question the people that happened to appear on my timeline I followed. I asked myself that as an already established business owner, how I had no one to really talk business with in my close circle, and I even inquired within down to how there was a lack of support for women of color in business compared to our counterparts. Read more>>

Randy Hill

I’ve been a graphic designer most of my work life. I have also been in love with photography since I was a teenager. When my wife and I sold our home in Oregon after 15 years to move back to Austin, our realtor sent over a photographer to take photos of our home. I watched the photographer work (and asked a few questions) because the thought of real estate photography being a “thing” never occurred to me. The more I looked into this line of work, the more I thought, “I can do this.” After our house sold, we moved back to Austin and I immediately started getting serious about real estate photography. There was a lot more to it than I anticipated, Read more>>

Ijeoma Bennett

My story starts one Christmas many years ago. It had been a rough year for our parents, so me and my siblings had resigned to our fates, that we would get no gifts, or clothes that year…it was fine (we hoped), there was always next year. On Christmas morning, we woke up to new clothes; our mom had stayed up all night to make clothes for us, my siblings and I. We were over the moon with joy and I was the happiest girl that day as I walked up and down the hallway in those new well-fitted clothes, feeling beautiful, confident and knowing I was seen. Read more>>

Alonso Navarro

I started baking to find some kind of relief for my anxiety. I realized that baking was more than a “fun activity” for me but more therapeutic. Every time I walked into my kitchen I started grabbing every ingredient I saw and throwing them into a bowl and mixing them up. My mind was so preoccupied with what I was making that it helped me forget about everything else and my anxiety subsided. Personally, baking is one of the ways I can express my feelings since I am not very good at expressing myself. It’s a way for me to say thank you, or show you appreciation or sympathy through baked goods. Read more>>

Dashaun Bryant

I came up with the idea for Roof Hustlers after watching a few Grant Cardone Videos and he was stating how every industry has a Gap in it and if you can feel the gap you’ll make a lot of money and i saw the gap with training in the roofing industry so i decided to fill it.. Read more>>

Ernesto Gutierrez

I was born and raised in Managua, Nicaragua, and as a kid in our local channels I used to watch anime in the afternoons after coming back from kindergarten. I remember growing up watching classic animes such as Dragon Ball, Samurai X and Yuyu Hakusho and my love for it just grew with time. As I got older and turned 14 I stumbled across an Anime Exclusive Channel named “Animax” and discovered what anime really was and all the shows that existed! Since then I’ve grown a massive appreciation for the culture and the work that goes behind each and every one anime. However, in my country there was no place to go shop for figures, posters or anything in particular, it just wasn’t mainstream or known at the time and place. Read more>>

Francisca Makela

Omorphia originally started off as a hair line, selling wings and bundles. I always had trouble finding quality bundles for my hair so I decided to sell my own. Shortly after launching I began researching hair butters and decided to create my own and sell it as well. This gave me the idea to start looking into more natural products. I’ve always struggled with excessive sweat so I began researching all natural products for women and that’s when I realized I really wanted to get into the health and wellness industry. Read more>>

Eveay Tatman

2020, what a year! I found myself sitting at home and trying to keep it all together. I frequently pushed my business ideas aside because it was never the perfect time to start them. During the lockdown, I thought this is a huge opportunity to finally start what I have been pushing aside for so long and focus on something creative and excited during a very challenging time. I grew up in Turkey. I decided to start my business with traditional Anthep shoes because I know the product. It’s %100 leather inside and out footwear that is crafted with care, instantly comfortable so we could travel around the world and still look stylish. Read more>>

Tatyanna Thomas

This all goes back to when I was younger and my love for art. I truly had no idea what I wanted to be in life even when it came down to choosing a major. I knew I wanted to impact people. I knew I loved art and I knew I had a passion for teaching people so, obviously I chose education. And look where I am now. *Insert laughter* I never thought in a million years I would be owning my own art business. Teaching the past years has really taught me how to grow people. Teaching also taught me how to recognize the spark in understanding. Read more>>

Justin and Krystal Tordella

Hi! We are Justin and Krystal, a husband and wife duo that makes up Justin Ryan Books. Justin handles everything involving design and the creative process. If you like how our notebooks look, you can thank him! He’s been a graphic designer for almost 20 years. Having grown up on the east coast it’s very easy to acquire a love for pizza with a new mom and pop place on every corner. In addition to our love for all things pizza, we have been notebook collectors for years, especially pocket sized notebooks. Read more>>

Lysz Flo

At first I had a lost my time and had no idea what I was going to do with my time and for income. However, I’ve always wanted to be a crystal lady. I love to travel and visit shops and I’ve done so over the years but I never saw anyone Prior to 2020 looks like me in these wellness spaces. Read more>>

Ashlee Patterson

In March of 2020 right before spring break I was ready for a week off from teaching and taking my oldest son to muttin bust in the Houston Rodeo, little did I know life would have very different plans. We went from quiet rumblings of coronavirus to the whole world being shut down. We were supposed to muttin bust the day the world shut down. From March to May we hunkered down in our house like many others. During this time I taught my students virtually while being at home with 3 young children. Read more>>

Shamara Slaton

Growing up I always loved shoes! In high school I would wear high heels to school, because I was super girly! I had such a huge shoe collection I just didn’t know what to do with them anymore, so I would give them away. My favorite shoe store to get my high heels used to be a place called Bakers. When they closed their doors for business I was stuck like dang where can I get shoes from now?! By this time my husband was sick of my massive shoe collection so he suggested to me to sell my old shoes instead of giving them away. Then an idea came to me, Read more>>

Tina Browne

Natural Products by TMB Refill Shop was born in June of 2019, while watching Youtube. I have always wanted to do videos on Youtube. I still haven’t. But while watching, I started watching my favorite content creators RefilleryLA and I loved the concept of mobile deliveries. It wasn’t so much of the refill aspect but the convenience of delivering to customers. I started to really research and think about how I would implement this concept into my business model and get my products into the hands of my customers without them coming out to the shop. Read more>>

Carmen Yip

Everything started with the COVID lockdown. We were living in NYC and decided to go to Virginia for what it was supposed to be only a few months. Being in Virginia is very different than being in NYC, back there you can find Venezuelan food pretty much everywhere, that wasn’t the case in Virginia. During the few weeks we were in lockdown in NYC we ordered Venezuelan food for take pretty much everyday, specially tequeños; there was only one problem, they never tasted like the ones I used to eat back in Venezuela. Read more>>

Dr. Victoria Sheffield

I am proud to let the world know that after a lot of tears and sweat, I am a 32 year entrepreneur. My life as a CEO has had many ups as well as downs but it has all been worth it. I can’t go any further without mentioning that I was born into entrepreneurship. My mother, the late Nellie Lockett, CEO of Nell Jackson Designs, who passed away in 2021, was a 40 year entrepreneur. She was my first business coach, the one who not only taught me about business but set a professional example for me. Read more>>