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.

Victoria Sueiro.

Back in 2020, I found myself in a stage most of us faced upon the changing reality in the entire globe, a pandemic that enclosed all of us and froze time for the first time in history. That allowed our creative imagination to have a chance to spark something, an opportunity to begin what was so difficult before… our first ever and maybe only real break from social routine… a chance to do something different. Our only real chance for time freedom. Read more>>

Monté HArris

Prior to starting my brand, I knew that I wanted to design art to uplift others as well as promote self-love. Not only will you look good, but you will also feel good! In 2019, I started designing and creating fonts during my junior year in college. I really wasn’t sure what to design as in art or words until one day I was doodling with the word “Hope” using various software. My brother walked by and said that design was pretty dope so that motivated me to design other motivational words such as Purpose, Love, Live and the list goes on. Read more>>

Emily Thomas & Maria Karagiannis

We are both eco-minded wedding planners, so when we met, we found ourselves discussing our wishes for a more sustainable wedding industry. We both acknowledged how wedding planners can influence an event’s environmental impact, and how we wished there were more awareness and education about that in the industry. We also wished for something that would bring eco-conscious wedding pros together in community. And so it was there in that coffee shop that The Green Wedding Guild was born! Read more>>

Joseph Luckett

My journey to understand networking began in June of 2010 when I was invited to a meeting by a friend. I never knew something like this existed and it totally blew me away. When this group shared how much income they earned the week prior from one another’s referrals, I began compartmentalizing how all of this worked. how I could fit into networking and bring even more value to people. I paid close attention to each person as they shared their success,
but I was puzzled why some people had a ton of financial success while others didn’t have much at all. Read more>>

Annika Van Nest

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 Read more>>

Shelley Vinson-Bullock

First and foremost I love to write and I’ve always dreamed of writing my own books! I have always loved to write stories, skits, poems and songs. Growing up as a young child I would always write my feelings instead of actually saying them. I was bullied a lot in school and it was very rough on me being the only person of color in my class. There were only 3 black children in my entire grade and I was one of them. I didn’t see very many black authors displayed at the book fairs and stores around where I lived. Read more>>

Denny Krahe

I started a podcast as part of my first entrepreneurial venture (personal training) in early 2014, and I decided to start a podcast where I’d talk with runners about running, life, and everything in between in my spare time. Over the next couple of months, I realized I was enjoying the running podcast much more than the general health podcast I was producing, so I decided to shut down the first show and focus on the running podcast solely. Read more>>

Aaron Schilb.

I started my business, Nashville Tour Stop, by accident actually. In 2018 I was performing in a band at a bar in the southern part of Nashville, Tennessee and the owners, fans of the band, asked us to book a weekly ‘opening act’ for each performance but wanted it to be a “show” of some variety. After brainstorming names, we settled on Nashville Tour Stop, since it sounded just generic enough to be able to work with anyone without relying on a single performer or band as the opening act. Read more>>

Kendall Duffie

It’s funny how we can find so many avenues of opportunity and business in the simple every day things we do and love. 10 years ago I was diagnosed with high cholesterol, my Dr. told me she could put me on meds or I can go vegan. She informed me that the bad cholesterol in our body comes from animals or animal by products. It was an easy choice for me as an on again off again chef. I wasn’t about to get on meds so going vegan it was! I quickly discovered there’s over 80,000 edible plants and flowers in the world so started experimenting. Read more>>

Steve Ramos

There’s a critical idea that drives my business and creative decisions. I call the concept a “Creative Shift,” meaning to step to the left of what you usually do and aspire to do something different. My work as a journalist reporting on culture, design, and technology introduced me to numerous innovators and thought leaders. I crafted the idea of a “Creative Shift” after reporting on filmmaker Joss Whedon experiencing burnout while directing The Avengers. Read more>>

Sarah Hilton

My husband, Keith and his father, Don used to bond over the grill and making up their own rubs. The past few years Keith had been perfecting his rubs and sauces and I thought it was selfish for us to not share them with everyone. I have a background in marketing and Keith in sales so it seemed like a no-brainer. When we were discussing what the name should be it seemed fitting to have it be a tribute to Don, naming our first rub after him and calling the business Big Head Barbeque. My in-laws all have big heads, which is where the name came from. Read more>>

Lauren Oland

One of my favorite childhood television shows was Reading Rainbow. When I was around four years old, they presented a story about a little girl who makes a quilt with her grandmother from pieces of various clothing items that represent special family memories. The book was called The Patchwork Quilt, by Valerie Flournoy. Something about that book really spoke to me. After seeing that, I had to try to create like that too! By late high school, my studio art teacher helped me get special permission to walk to a local yarn shop so that I could learn as much as possible. I went to college, soon after, to study apparel and textiles. Read more>>

Deidra Craig

After I completed my undergraduate studies, I immediately went job hunting. Most places weren’t hiring at the time and I spent a lot of time “upskilling”. In other words, I was learning new skills to make my resume more desirable. I thought it would be nice to really work on my writing and keep things fresh, so I started a blog. Blogs were such a big thing back then and it was one of the easiest ways to share helpful resources and life experiences. Read more>>

Kimberly Freeman

Okella (my grandmother) was known for her keen sense of humor, unmatched work ethic and an incredible ability to enjoy and appreciate life. She was one of the strongest women I’ve ever known and I wanted to do something to preserve just a piece of her legacy. She was a figure of strength, resilience, and care, so I created the Okella brand. Read more>>

Colin Miles

Miles came by his passion for hot dogs and other specialty meats while attending culinary school in the early 2000s. “I excelled in sausage-making, charcuterie, and butchering,” he says. As his career progressed with stints at such acclaimed Atlanta destinations as Pura Vida, Leon’s Full Service, and Heirloom Market BBQ, his interest in crafting his own meats grew. Read more>>

Shanna Lund

Several years ago I started working on my own genealogy. At first, my heritage seemed super boring, being primarily from the Nordics. However, I soon learned to love the heritage I was given. What started out as a hobby soon became an obsession until finally I was able to trace my ancestors’ roots back to Norway, Sweden, and Finland! I was able to find out exactly what date they left, who they traveled with, where they had stopovers, and how many weeks it took to get to the United States. Read more>>

Kimberly McDowell

ButterFlyWerks is the result of family love, lifetime friendships, encouragement, dedication and the tenacity to succeed. ButterFlyWerks was founded in 2017, with the intent of producing a documentary about CJ Wiley and his recovery journey after a near death, ten-hour brain surgery that entailed multiple subsequent operations. Prior to CJ’s diagnosis of Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), he was a successful master barber and tattoo artist with deep clientele. Read more>>

Megan Arnotti

The concept for my business began years ago while I was still in my previous position at a different company. I managed the personal training teams at big box gyms, and was in charge of contracting, training, and managing teams of personal trainers. In addition to that I managed all scheduling and the client experience. Although many of our clients were female I noticed that the gym environment wasn’t totally conducive to their positive experience. Many women would come work out but feel frustrated being surround by mirrors and “motivational statements” and the dreaded scale. Read more>>

Daniel Powell , Sr.

I have been in ministry for over 30 years, and I serve as an Overseer and Prophet. I am the founder of Faith & Works Outreach Ministries, Heaven to Earth Worship Center (HEWC), and Open Heaven Academy alongside my lovely wife, Prophetess Esther Powell. I am also the visionary and conference host of Broken Men On the Altar (BMOA), an annual men’s conference that is held in Tampa, FL. What sets me apart from others is that I am an author of the book titled “How to Live as Citizens of Heaven” and a teleconference host. Read more>>

Adriana Catano

After being in show business for over 25 years and trying all type of skin care brands from the luxury brands, Doctor owned skin care brands and even drug store brands I became frustrated that none of them really delivered the results they promised. I took matters into my own hands and started researching and learning all about skin care. Read more>>

Tamara Boyd

I had come up with the idea for developing a company that specializes in providing fashion design services based on my professional experience in working for a small business apparel manufacturer. Through my experience I was given an opportunity to utilize my knowledge and skill for design in various ways which included not only designing garments and patternmaking but also handling administrative responsibilities through garment specifications and tech packets. Unlike larger companies where most employees find themselves working exclusively within one department, employees within small business apparel manufacturers can easily find themselves working within multiple departments as needed to bring a product to life. Read more>>

Arianna Leonarte

Well, the first time I had a camera in my hands feel like: Can I take pictures and see after? It was a surprise to me because I had 6 years old and my cousin Maria Elena was the guilty (in the good words) because she let me used her cameras for the long of my life and since the beggining feelt a good vibe. I thought about dedicating myself to this thanks to the sudden migration that I had in 2016. That year I left my university career, my family and some friends to start from scratch here in Jacksonville, a city from which I have not moved since then. Read more>>

Shani Walker

I actually came up with the idea for Coined Cuisine – without knowing it – all the way back in 2016. I had just moved to Atlanta to attend grad school at CAU. I was staying in my first apartment over on the West End, and I was a typical grad student without a lot of money. I made a promise to myself that although I didn’t have a big budget for groceries, I wouldn’t fill up on cheap, non-nutritious stuff like noodles or bread. After all, I didn’t even have time to work out since I was getting my CPA! Read more>>

Erin Hopkins

My story starts around 2009. I had just graduated from college and was having difficulty finding a wardrobe that was suitable for the post-collegiate, professional world. I’m petite and almost 15 years ago there weren’t very many stylish clothing options for my body type. I would jokingly tell my friends and family that one day I’d open a boutique and sell clothes for my fellow petite ladies. I’ve always enjoyed shopping and fashion and after grad school, family and friends would ask me to style them for events. Read more>>

Beatriz Vera

Arepitas Mami arises at a very significant moment in my life since my mother passed away in 2015 leaving with us all her memories. Among those memories are the delicious Arepitas Mami or (corn tortitas as they are called in Puerto Rico). In 2020 my family and I decided move to Orlando FL, the pandemic touched us like many around the world, As a result of this feeling of loneliness I needed to have my mother close and the only way to have her close was by doing the arepitas while I was preparing them I was talking to my husband that it was a good idea to share this memory with our family and friends. Read more>>

Larry Sickmann

In 2018, family and I were on the North Shore of Lake Superior which is famous for Split Rock Lighthouse, waterfalls, hiking trails and so much more. We had so much fun and I wanted a unique shirt to commemorate our trip. As a designer, I felt that all of the shirts felt cookie-cutter and struggled to find one that I’d be proud to wear. I finally conceded and chose one that had ‘North Shore’ on it, but when I returned to work after our trip, I noticed that a co-worker had a shirt with the same design only with a ‘Madeline Island’ imprinted on it. Read more>>

Jon Barnes

My business around personal brand coaching came directly out of my Marketing and Strategy trainings I had been running for years. Essentially, no matter who I was helping or what they were doing, we’d always come back to the fact that they were the face of the brand and had messenging, activities, and channels that were distinct-yet-related to the bigger brand of the organization. I took the practical and messenging side of brand building and marketing and simply shone it through the strategic prism so it all was aligned to personal branding and not branding for the organization. Read more>>

Jarkeshia McGahee

To be honest, I never thought about being a business owner, it did not cross my mind. Originally my business was not even a business it was just a blog to share encouraging thoughts and relatable experiences. Then, one day I was sharing a post on Facebook during the time my husband was recovering from his stroke and my uncle made the comment that you are good at this and could get paid for it. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should pursue this as a business, but was not sure how. Read more>>

Kareem Dasilva

We were young, ambitious app developers and loved going to food trucks on our lunch breaks. However, we were sick of waiting in lines and thought it would be cool to build an app that solves this. Edesia is where food trucks meet technology. We utilize technology to connect food truck owners seamlessly with customers by clicking communities with quality cuisine. We understand the difficulties of operating a food truck and the struggles of people finding and quickly ordering from them. Edesia is a platform that will make it easy for our vendors to make delicious cuisines for their happy customers. Read more>>

Ashley Martin

Growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio I did not have an immediate interest in fashion, I mostly put on what was comfortable and walked out the door, but one thing I did make sure of was that I had a purse in my hand. Every year on Christmas my aunt would purchase my sister and I the most fashionable handbags in which we loved and looked forward to! I would be so excited to wear them to school because to me it was my statement piece to whatever outfit I pieced together. Read more>>

Justin Wright.

I started Bibbelbubs to solve a problem in my own life. My kids are great, but there were two areas that were always a struggle. Every night when it came for bath time and bible story time it was always a battle. They simply didn’t want to take a bath so I would spend a ton of energy just getting them into the tub. After working all day and then trying to wrestle them into the bath, I just didn’t have the energy to sit down and read a bible story with them. All I wanted to do was get them in bed so I could relax for a few minutes before going to sleep and doing the same thing all over again the next day. Read more>>

Olutobi Adeyeri

Inspired by the very real and devastating issue of rising childhood illiteracy paired with a lack of digital skills facing students at my former elementary school and elementary schools across the United States, I created Type-Along, a company offering an online platform that provides elementary school kids with literacy and typing activities themed around their interests to help them develop reading skills and a love of reading simultaneously.​ Years of volunteering at my former elementary school have put me face to face with a growing number of kids who view reading as a difficult, boring waste of time. In these kids, I see my old friends. Read more>>

Cristina Soriano

I’ve dabbled in different job fields over the last 20 years. From banking, to waitressing to sales. I would quickly get bored and look for something that I could use my creativity in. The two professions that I would find myself loving, is being a make up artist or having my own baking business. I started baking and playing around with different recipes for my family and friends. After a ton of trial and error, I quickly began to love it! I decided I wanted to start selling my bakery about 13 years ago. Read more>>

Justin Kish

Kish Sports Media has been something that came after I have decided to work as a freelance sports journalist. For almost ten years if not more I have been working for other websites including Fansided and even having successful sports casts on YouTube (Pro Football Exclusive, MLB Baseball Blogs, and The Real Sports Talk). Read more>>

Leesa Ferrer

My love for designing started when I was in high school and wanted to pursue a career in graphic design. To take an idea from its most basic concept and have the ability to visualize a final product that encompasses all of the elements you want to deliver inside of that design, is one of my passions. The creativity you tap into, watching one idea evolve into more ideas that spark another idea is the drive behind my passion. Read more>>

Morrinah Egharevba

Funny story about this one. Have you ever hard the saying, “man plan, God disposes”? This was the case for me. I have been considered the fashionable one among my friends all my life. Everyone always told me to start a fashion blog. However, when I got married, I decided to start a marriage/life style blog. Although I was a newly wed, and knew absolutely nothing about marriage, I thought sharing my journey and experiences as a millennial wife was a great idea. However, every time I released a blog post, everyone was focused on my outfits more so than what I had to say about millennial marriage. This is where the saying “Man plan, God disposes” comes into play. I was running away from what I was good at and known for. Read more>>

Bri Mangum

Being a stay-at-home mom in the midst of 2020 COVID gives you a lot of time to think…and dream. After having served on Active Duty in the Air Force, becoming a full time stay-at-home mom was a major change. Add on top of that, a second child in April 2020 and the restrictions that came alongside COVID and I was feeling lost and looking for purpose. Of course, I love my children and they are purpose enough, but I wanted more. I wanted to feel accomplished in some way outside of raising kind humans. I’ve always been crafty and handy, preferring to make it myself than to buy it. Read more>>

Taquisha Jallah

I started my permanent makeup (brow) journey all thanks to one IG post I saw back in 2017! There was a beautiful young lady in Los Angeles who’s Instagram page I came across, and was performing the microblading service. I instantly I became so very intrigued by the process that I stalked her page and became obsessed with all things microblading! I was already a business owner selling luxury hair extensions and knew how to leverage my researching skills to learn all I could about microblading. As I began to learn more about the service, I just couldn’t believe how women could now go from thin, sparse, uneven brows to full, natural, beautiful brows instantly that lasted from one to two years without any down time or severe damage to the skin. Read more>>

Erica Tuggle

I have always had an appreciation for great, homemade food and always tell people that my mom spoiled my siblings and me in that way when we were growing up. She’s an incredible cook, and made sure we were well fed by her home cooking. I wanted the same for my family once I started having kids, but quickly realized that the demands of my career didn’t allow me much time for cooking. Regardless, I squeezed it in wherever I could. If I was traveling one week, I was up until 1am making meals before departing. If it was just a regular busy week, Read more>>

Abbie Ince-Hendrickson

At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, I graduated with my Masters’s Degree in Biology, completing my thesis work on American Alligators. But with lockdowns beginning and uncertainty about the future, not many organizations or government entities were in the market for wildlife biologists. I was struggling with PTSD surrounding a fire I experienced during my undergraduate junior year and felt the need to work outside, in the sun and fresh air… I had a favorite nursery where I bought all my native plants for our 10 acres east of Conroe, and decided to start there. Read more>>

Latonja Welch Smith

I have always been very fashion forward. When my daughters were in school I loved helping them put outfits together. With a big emphasis on accessories. Once they both went off to college. I started the business out of an empty nest. What started out as an accessories and jewelry business in 2012. Soon turned into a women’s boutique when I acquired a suite in 2016. We’ve been a vendor for numerous expos, festivals, pop up shops, fashion shows, conferences and more since the beginning. Currently we’re online only. Our customer base are from social media, events, and word of mouth. Read more>>

Raven Chareal’

Just like a lot of us, the quarantine sparked a new level of creativity that we never knew we had! With this new idea, though, I wanted it to be a solution.. something fun and refreshing for all ages. Selfie museums were becoming the new rave! I knew my hometown didn’t have an attraction like that and I wanted to be the one to bring it! Per usual, the second guessing, self-doubting, hesitancy, and not realizing WHO I WAS and what God had already equipped me to do held me back. If I’m being transparent, although I have an AMAZING support system, I still didn’t believe I could do it, afford it, or that it would’ve even been good enough if I did. Read more>>

Brittany Christie

My business (Christie’s Sports and Philanthropy Strategy Group) reflects my two loves of sports and community outreach. As a child, my mom taught me the importance of giving back and helping others. At the age of six, I remember accompanying her to visit a member of our church who resided in a retirement home. We would polish and her nails and style her hair during each visit. Although our visits lasted no more than an hour, our church member greatly appreciated the company and care. At age 10, my family and I began our Thanksgiving tradition of preparing and serving Thanksgiving meals for members at the local homeless shelter — a tradition we continue to this day. Read more>>