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.
Bri Becker
I was having dinner with someone about 6 years ago, they recently started a band, and out of nowhere they asked if I wanted to be their manager. I had zero experience but I couldn’t say no. Long story short; I fell in love with the business. I started seeing how the business side of things sort of swallowed up a lot of talent. With booking, press, promoting, negotiating, keeping up with social media, planning and all the other things that come with making a successful foundation for a band/artist; there’s not enough time for artists to create. Read more>>
Michael & Amanda Joyner
The first seeds of Bowler Man Confection were born on a couch in Austin, Texas. Back then it was called Bowler Man, it was Retro Bizzaro. Me and my wife watched an episode of No Reservation with Anthony Bourdan where he visited a snack cake factory that had been closed down years earlier. Anthony found some cream filling that had spilled on the floor and discussed that even after all the years the factory had been down the local vermin hadn’t eaten it. From that moment we started our first company Retro Bizzaro. Read more>>
Meko Bowden
The idea of personal training came up through my peers. They seen that I was in the gym everyday and would mention to me how much of a transformation I was getting by going so much. At one point my peers mentioned, “you should become a trainer”. My response was, “I should, huh?”. Ever since then I had took this idea into consideration even though my first career choice was engineering. My passion for personal training sparked my interest because I love helping people and I believe that health is wealth. Read more>>
Claudia Aalderink
I started my current art practice when I was still studying Photography. I had a half year gap between two Degrees when my husband, a beekeeper, came home with a ute load full of old beehives. “Firewood” he said. I instantly saw the potential in the beautiful discarded boxes and decided to start creating wall art with them. I have always had an interest in re-using and recycling material for artworks. I started exploring this new medium by disassembling them and revealing the beautiful character of the boxes in a new lease of life – Art Read more>>
Alison Glowinski
Happy People Hike is a business that was never intended to be a business. It started as a simple comment on a hike. During one of my first times hiking up a real mountain I made the comment to my partner about how amazing it was that everyone we had met or passed on the trail was so happy. “Ya know, it’s kind of like happy people hike!” The phrase stuck with him and when we returned home, he decided to make a sticker. It was a fun side hobby to make a few things and throw them on Etsy. Read more>>
Jennifer Kielich
Back in September of 2012, I became a first time mom. We had tried for years to start a family, and the day my twins were born truly changed my life forever (doesn’t it for all parents??). I had recently left the corporate world and knew I didn’t want to go back. I was dead set on being a stay at home mom and soaking up every minute with my newborn babies. So that’s what I did! For about a year I devoted every minute of every day to my kiddos, and it was MAGICAL. Read more>>
Andrew Glantz
Giving back has always been important to me, and I noticed a trend that many individuals were increasingly looking to support businesses that make a positive social impact. However, with restaurants, the incentives (outside of good food and a good experience), were mainly financial — discounts and coupons — and didn’t build an emotional connection between the customer and the restaurant. Read more>>
Maddy Sharp
I’m a multi-passionate creative at heart with big vision dreams. My first major in college was photojournalism with the dream of traveling the world while photographing & writing for magazines like Elle or Vogue. I fell in love with and switched my major to psychology, which I now realize was because I had so much of my own healing to do. I dedicated 13 years to psychology and practice as a school psychologist until I realized I was absolutely miserable and had no idea who the hell I was other than a burnt out mom of two toddlers, who was working her life away. Read more>>
Maija Diethelm
I come from the hospitality industry where one of my roles was bartender, which is the ultimate way to learn about people dynamics and gain an understanding of how an individual ticks. I learned so much about myself and about human connection and what drives us to want to be better and have a better way of life during those years. One of the many concepts that stood out was being at peace with ourselves and our surroundings. One of the best ways to accomplish this zen – centering feeling is to have a clutter-free space. Your home is your sanctuary – Thus decluttering is a positive, motivational and distressing way to make your space a happy, energetic, loving, calming place to nurture yourself and our loved ones. Read more>>
Alicia Ricks
The idea to get into the lash industry started in 2017, when lash extensions actually wasn’t as popular as it is today, I never even heard or seen lash extensions until I started seeing adds and videos pop up on Instagram. The videos and pictures of women being transformed with JUST lashes really intrigued me. Yes I’ve seen what strip lashes or clusters can do to a girl’s appearance but lash extensions is a different effect. I went to youtube university and watched lots of tutorials on the process. Read more>>
Diana Byll-Cataria
Prior to the pandemic, I was finally coming out of the dark side of post-partum depression. When the pandemic hit, I was working from home for two months, that was very different for me. Things were different all around and I felt myself slipping back into a place that was uncomfortable. I have always loved art, more so making things. I dabbled in bead work, wood work and everything in between during the pandemic but nothing felt right to me. I have a love for earrings, I’m sure like most women do. I had never in my life heard of polymer clay, I knew absolutely nothing about it. Read more>>
Angel Tuccy
I came up with the idea for Vedette Global after being released from broadcasting. For 10 years, I was a radio talk show host in Denver, CO. During my career, I hosted over 2500 broadcasts and interviewed over 5,000 guests. In one afternoon, my entire world changed when our station “made a change”. Feeling like this was an amazing opportunity to make a change, I was also feeling paralyzed with making the decision of what to do next. I took advantage of the time off to go away for a few days, into the mountains to decide what my next step would be. I had options. Read more>>
Slick Da King
Being a Reality TV blogger you have to cover the lives of the Reality TV stars on and off the television screen. And during my years of sneaking into filmings and rubbing elbows with the reality TV world at Atlanta events, I became aware of a side to the stars that their fans wouldn’t believe. At times even if I was tempted to report some of their unsavory or shocking dealings. I knew that I couldn’t fight the wrath of the networks for exposing their moneymakers. Read more>>
Srilekha Cherukuvada
In middle school, I moved to Texas, and my mental health took a very big toll because of it. Starting fresh with no friends was hard, and my bubbly self quickly became so much effort to uphold. In that period of time, my family rebuilt and we became closer, but at the same time, I became more aware of the mental health issues that I had been facing my whole life. Anxiety, depression, and a whole host of physical health issues, to name a few. I discovered my passion for the mental health space after writing for several journals, eventually falling upon mental health research. Read more>>
Brittany Bohannon
Being a massage therapist and the idea of starting a business based on massage services is a part of God’s plan for me. While attending school for massage therapy we were required to take a business course. Within that course, we were to come up with a business name and a formatted business plan. It was that moment when I felt inspired to start a business. I didn’t quite know what, how, or where to begin but I had a dream! That was exciting. After graduating from massage school in 2014 I worked various jobs that introduced me to new realms of the massage world which inspired and excited me more on building my business. Read more>>
Devin Jenkins
I’ve always loved music, but around 2015 upon graduating college and beginning my career is when I really started listening to albums in full and consistently staying current on new releases each week. Over time I started texting people new songs or albums they should check out and eventually became known as the music guy among my friend groups. It got to a point where I was sending about 15 different messages out each week to people with music suggestions, and I said there has to be a better way to do this. This led to me creating the Share The Vibes Facebook Group in May of 2019, where I could put my suggestions in one place for everybody as well as allow others to share music with the group members. Read more>>
Christopher Myers Davis
I came up with “Thank God For Every 24”because of frustrations with the way I saw things operating in the world, as well as frustrations with my own feelings of inadequacy. I was frustrated with my peers only posting materialistic, and mainly negative material on social media. I was frustrated with what felt like a resurgence at the time (2015) of unarmed African Americans being killed by the police. What frustrated me most though? The fact that I wasn’t confident enough at the time to standout, be comfortable in my own skin, and speak out on these things/subject matter. Read more>>
Meredith and Rooker James Painter
To be honest, I didn’t come up with the idea myself, someone else mentioned starting my dog his own Instagram account because I was flooding my own personal account with pictures of him. I took a leap and decided, why not? If my friends and family are the only ones that follow him, then so be it. Within the first two weeks, Rooker hit 1,000 followers and I was shocked! Users loved him and thought he was just as cute as I did, which is saying a lot because I am obsessed with my dog. Read more>>
Colton Rhault
To be honest, I never even thought about it. It just became a thing I randomly started one day and found out that I loved doing it. I started blogging about and taking photos of food when I was in high school. It all started as a hobby and creative outlet for me. Little did I know, some people would actually be interested in my thoughts and love for anything, and everything, involving food. Growing up, I always loved to write, especially about topics I was invested in. It has been 5 years since I started the page and my mentality has yet to change. Read more>>
Paige Newton`
Whenever I get put in front of the camera, I immediately freeze up. I don’t know what to do with my hands and I get… blotchy? I had to get a headshot taken for something and I decided I’d have a little adult beverage beforehand to lower my inhibitions. Suddenly, it dawned on me- this might help other people as well. So I invited a group of friends around to my studio for a little happy hour and offered them free headshots while we hung out. They loved it. They got to enjoy some time with friends while taking care of business. Thus, Head Shot Happy Hour was born. Read more>>
Kelli Pelc
One of the components offered by The Refilleri is zero-waste wine. I came up with the idea, as I love wine but hate the waste associated with it. As I started researching, I found that there are options for zero waste wine available, but none where I live. So I’m setting out to change that :) Read more>>
Kenneth Orange Jr.
Let’s just say that when I realized what life was really about, that’s when the idea came about. What I mean by that, is we can have plans for other things when God already has plans for us. I thought that I was going to be a high school band director. I enrolled in Alabama A&M University in the fall of 2004 pursuing a B.A. in Music Education with a concentration in Instrumentation. With that being said, my beginning years as a college student weren’t the best due to my lack of focus and personal issues during that time. Read more>>
Makayla a d Danny Clanton
Once upon a time we were both gainfully employed; Danny was a Bond Trader and I was in B2B Sales, and then the pandemic hit and we went into lockdown. We would share dinners with our neighbors regularly – sometimes with a potluck them and other times we would order out from one of the local owned restaurants in Lake Worth Beach. There came a time that we all wanted a good Sub Sandwich and there wasn’t anywhere to get one. Read more>>
Anne Johnson
“Creating” was a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. Whereas some kids grow up loving a sport, I grew up with my hands covered in paint, glue, and glitter. When I was 13, I received my first sewing machine and quickly discovered I could make money from the products I created. I sewed purses for friends, participated in countless craft shows, and even established an Etsy shop selling beach glass necklaces, bridesmaid purses, canvas crossbody bags, and ribbon headbands. Read more>>
Sophia Wasu
As a mom of three, I started my Instagram of food pictures as a hobby that would be just for me. The spoon pictures started as a joke because I would take a bite of my husband’s food and would manage to get part of the whole meal onto one bite. Thus, a quick spoon pictures were born. Read more>>
Juana Lewis
As a black woman, there is a struggle when it comes to finding someone to help you take care and understand your naturally curly hair. Growing up I never knew how magical my curls where, or knew how to take care of my hair. I would go to the hair salon with my mom every two week to get my hair straightened and then a relaxer every 6-8 weeks. That’s what hair care looked like for me. As black people we have to be taught how to care of our curls, and if your parent/guardian don’t know then its likely you wont either. Read more>>
Allison Moncheck
Here I want to share the story of how I came up with the name of my salon. It’s important to me, and I think it story should be shared. Since the day I started hair school in 2009, through to my first few years of being a hairstylist I always felt that I needed to be put into a box. Whether that was with my skills or anything that I was learning, it felt that there was truly only one way of doing things, and if you did not do it that way it was wrong. The issue was so many of these in the box ways of doing things simply did not work for me. Read more>>
Rashad Hayes
Life gave me lemons, but no one gave me instructions on how to turn it into lemonade. Let’s take a trip back to 2016, It was a normal day for me. I was a senior in undergrad , and I felt invincible. It was the first time in my life that I could dedicate time to myself. I didn’t have to worry about the hectic schedule of football. All, I had to focus on was school and working. Read more>>
VIVIAN FIERCE
It all started with my dog, “Nacho.” He’s a micro pupfluencer who paved the way to connect me to the dog community. I came from the music industry working in radio, label, agency, and working some of the biggest festivals in the US. I started attending dog events and realized there was a need to showcase more quality products and brands that I would give to my dog. While researching and using my experience from the festival world, I was able to bridge the two and create festival-like events for our pups. This is where Pawsitive MGMT was born. Read more>>
JoAnn Emale
JoJo Emale never planned on being an inventor of a beauty device. She was simply a beauty queen who was tired of getting makeup on her sponsored gowns when changing clothes. When JoJo realized there was no real solution to preventing makeup transfer, she spent 6 years learning and vetting the perfect manufacturer to create this device. Maskee is the first and only patent pending beauty device that prevents makeup transfer when changing. This breathable and see through device is one of a kind and will revolutionize how we change everyday. Read more>>
Niky & Sophia Mosconi
It all started when Niky a boxer from Italy came to NY on a Visa to train at the world famous Gleason’s Gym and Sophia a professional make up artist to NY’s elite was traveling to NY from Texas & met at 21 years old in New York City. They met at a pizzeria near the Brooklyn Bridge fell in love instantly and quickly moved forward to get married and start a life together. Read more>>
Lee Cahill
Before I started my own business I was working downtown as a manager at a small financial firm. We weren’t the biggest company in town and I wasn’t pulling down a huge paycheck, but there was a certain level of stability and safety to the job that gave me some freedom to travel, go out to eat whenever I wanted, and live a life that I was comfortable with. One day my coworker and I were having one of those, “If you could do anything and be guaranteed to succeed, what would you do” conversations. Read more>>
Cluffy Casstevens
It all started 15 years ago, when my son was diagnosed with severe Eczema. It was so bad that we had to put socks on his hands to keep him from clawing his skin. He had dry white patches all over his body. After several dermatologist appointments, using steroids, & spending an abundance of cash on inefficient products. I decided to take matters into my own hands. By that I mean, really getting to the root of the problem. What caused this di-ease that was making my baby so miserable. Read more>>
Samantha & Harold Albert
We started this company as a hobby. With family, kids, and traditional 9-5 corporate finance jobs it became something fun for us to do on the side. We are both originally from Florida, so Flamingo just seemed like the right name to pick that meant something to both of us. We started posting on Facebook the creations we were making and we had people start asking to purchase things. In our traditional 9-5 jobs we were laid off several times and this was a way to keep our heads above water as we navigated layoffs. Read more>>
Indira Lee
As Fashion Merchandising Major I knew I always wanted to have my own business, it was not until they invited me to a wedding where my cousin suggested that she wanted to rent her father a tuxedo, I needed a dress for myself and thought how come theres all these places where you can rent a tuxedo so easily but not a store where we can rent dresses, it has always be known that women do not like to wear the same dress twice specially now with social media that you upload photos and all people can see it, plus dresses can be very expensive to buy for just one night. Renting a dress not only saves money but reduces the consumption one dress at a time. Read more>>
Donna Bellah Anderson
Ms. Donna “Bellah” Anderson is a native of Sumter, South Carolina. She Graduated from Sumter High School and from the University of North Carolina with a master’s in business management and communication. When Donna was in college, she did some Modeling. She was featured in David’s Bridal Spring 2004 and 2005 she also worked with a lot of designers and did a lot of fashion shows. But her Passion wasn’t to be a model but to make everyone feel like one so in 2009Donna decided she wanted to open up here own Agency and it’s called Bellah Modeling Agency Located in her hometown Sumter, SC she made a major impact on the community and change tons of life’s and in that year, she did tons of events and fashion shows. Read more>>
Tanisha Franklin
I have always been the friend/family member who did the planning of events and trips. I was the go to person if someone wanted to do something special. It started off as small events and trips for people I know. Then in 2009 I joined Facebook, that really changed my life. Along with connecting with people I already knew it opened me up to thousands of connections with people. I’ve joined a variety of Facebook Groups with like interests. I became active in groups and attended outings. Read more>>
Donovan Garcia
Problem solving, it all comes back to the colorful task of problem solving. Growing up in the small town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania my upbringing was focused completely around sports. Hoop group top 100 basketball athlete & Junior rank football All-American accolades translated into the thought that my future would be filled with practices & drills. Hard work & dedication became some of the strongest values instilled in me I later used as resources. The only problem I saw was that the desire to continue to prove my self through sports was slowly starting to fade away. Read more>>
Shaqwane Yates
Yates House Productions was a dream made real with hard work, perseverance and lastly but not least creativity. Y.H.P is a film/tv production company specializing in original content via steaming. The company was founded in 2021 by Shaqwane Yates who is Owner and CEO. The main goal of the company is to tell stories that entertains while enlightening viewers. We wish to immerse audiences into stories that inspire while resonating with movie lovers on a level they never dare to imagine. Read more>>
Beth Orsini
I had been a middle school ELA teacher for a number of years, and, in the 2019-2020 school year, I moved into my dream position teaching a 6th grade reading class. I had the opportunity to design it my own way, and I focused on creating an environment that celebrated literacy and reading culture. It was a huge success and the happiest I’ve ever been as a teacher. One of the ways that teachers can expose kids to different genres and authors is to do something called “book tastings”–or book “speed dating”. Read more>>