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.

Kayla Simone

I came up with the idea just from personal experience. I remember saying I wanted my own business and hair has always been apart of my identity since I was a child so it flowed. My mom use to keep my hair done and as I got older she would let me experiment with different hairstyles and color so I grew to love changing my hair whenever I want. Read more>>

Chrissy Kunkel

The idea for Noun Interiors, Design for People, Places, & Things came to me after years of working in the interior design industry. Over time I began to see three common elements in every design project: people, places, and things. Read more>>

L. Dolphin Brown

I fell into video production completely by accident when I signed up for TV news as an elective in the 8th grade. I hated being in front of the camera, but I fell in love with the process of editing. From there I started working in radio and television as a teen, was accepted into the media program at Highschool for Performing and Visual Arts. Read more>>

Cirea Strode

My name is Cirea owner of Strode Creations “Making Memories Pop”. We offer a variety of custom items capturing memories from photos and turning them into real life. We are most known for our “Strode Boxes of Love”. (Customized photo explosion boxes) As the 4 layer box is opened each layer shows your beautiful memories customized for your special someone. Read more>>

Karinna Fischer

My vision for All Hallows’ came to fruition in the early months of 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 epidemic. My previous salon, along with the majority of businesses at the time, had been closed for over two months. Read more>>

Beth Hutchinson

I began working in florals about eight years ago, and it was completely unplanned. At the time, I was working a corporate job as a Director of Marketing for a restaurant franchise and had young twin baby girls to care for. I had a friend who had asked me to help her in planning her wedding, and I had naturally been drawn to helping her with flowers. Read more>>

Nicki Chapelway

I’ve been writing since I was just a kid. I always knew that I wanted to write a book, I’m not entirely sure where that desire stemmed from or why I chose writing as my creative outlet, but I did. Before I even had an idea FOR a book, I knew that I wanted to write and I wracked my young mind trying to figure out a story to write so I could put it on the pages. Read more>>

Megan Slaton

My business was started on a leap of faith in Jacksonville, North Carolina on March 22, 2018. Nearly ten years prior to this, I found baking to be a passion of mine when I submitted a cake to the county fair for my Culinary Class as a senior and won. Between that win and starting my business, I worked in a couple professional bakeries in my hometown in Lakeland, Florida. Read more>>

Maria Agosto

I decided to start my yoga and mindfulness focused business in 2018. Read more>>

Mariah Lawrence

I recently rebranded the company to Bespoke to better fit my core values with this business. I have always been more interested in the unique weddings and catering towards each and every couple’s inspiration. Being that something being “bespoke” means that it is tailored to them, I found the name to be very fitting. Read more>>

Sonia Kahlon

I was sober for five years when I was blindsided by the breakup of my relationship of 18 years and had no idea how I would be able to maintain my sobriety and mental health. My existing tools were simply not big enough to get through this situation. My toolbox at the time consistent of journaling and writing, making art, exercising, eating properly, spending time outside and photographing NYC and the country landscape. Read more>>

Ryan Neil

The creation of Mirai happened in my head over the six years I apprenticed myself to Masahiko Kimura, the most revolutionary figure in Japanese bonsai and the most revered bonsai master in the world. Days were long, starting at 7 a.m. and ending between 10 p.m. and midnight, 7 days a week. Read more>>

Ian Loud

I’m 80tyz baby from Dorchester and back then you had to be careful about what hat you rocked or which kicks were on your feet, not so much about colors. But that never stopped me from crossing blocks and I was always good at connecting with others. Getting older I got off the porch and on my bike and spent more time in Roxbury. Read more>>

Jasmine Hathaway

My co-founders, Rachel Donnelly, Esther Pipoly, Mollie Lacher, and I had started our own businesses focused on a space we felt was a wide-open gap in the market: helping people with all of the administrative tasks, logistical work, and decisions that fell to them after the loss of a loved one. Read more>>

Taylor Matheson

I’ve always had a love for baking but it wasn’t until I decided I was going to make my son’s second birthday cake that I became completely obsessed with learning everything I possibly could about cakes and baking. A lot of practice and a few questionable looking cakes later I pulled off a successful second birthday cake for my son. Little did I know that was just the beginning! Read more>>

Caterine Sanchez

I decided I wanted to be an artist by the age of seven. I had always loved drawing and painting and knew it was what I wanted to do. However, It took me many years to figure out how I wanted to express my artistic inclinations. I started receiving commissions for portraits in high school and imaged myself one day owning an art gallery. Read more>>

Teniqua Broughton

I established VerveSimone Consulting as a means to build an organization where I could control the fruits of my labor. I wanted to exercise my own capacity as a community leader for the issues and topics most dear to my heart: Arts and Culture, women and girls and marginalized communities. Read more>>

Jenny Soffin

After growing up a short drive from the Indiana Dunes, going to the Northwest Indiana beaches in the summer…you appreciate how wonderful this area truly is after you move away from it and come back. Read more>>

Dani Washington

My journey into foster care started as a kinship caretaker, where I witnessed firsthand the struggles and challenges that children in the foster care system face. As a foster parent and eventually a PMC, my passion for helping these children and their families only grew stronger. Read more>>

Gabrielle Lawrence, Rashana Calloway N/A

Brielle and I created Brielle Ray because we love jewelry and wanted to promote mental wellness. We love to see the way our pieces make people feel and look. For many people, jewelry is a part of their wardrobe and our goal is to provide busy women simple or luxurious pieces that make them feel put together with minimal effort. Read more>>

Lisa Haggstrom

I was at a crossroads in my career path. I had to make more money at my home business, at the time quilting, or go back to working for someone else. I knew the quilt business was not sustainable long term due to the time involved for each project. Read more>>

Lauren Franklin

I launched Luxe Allure Interiors in my apartment in the year 2019 after noticing my growing interest in home decor. Prior to moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 2018, I always had the urge to re-decorate my room in my parent’s home by changing wall colors, re-arranging furniture and taking decor from other rooms and incorporating it into my own space. Read more>>

Tarisha Finch

Let me start by saying that my sister Kendeja Ealy is a key reason why I started doing hair, as well as my own hair. As a child, I observed her doing her own makeup and hair. As a result, whenever she would do her hair, I would be in the bathroom with her watching and asking a lot of questions. Read more>>

Tara White

When Covid-19 began a few years ago, I was primarily a kindergarten teacher. Working with children everyday and giving them all of you can be so exhausting. But it’s rewarding. We all need relaxation, meditation, and a way to show yourself some type of self care. For me, candles always set the mood to relax me. Read more>>

KT Moyer

I have always working the the corporate healthcare setting and I was burned out with the push for high volume of patients and the low quality of care. Corporate and Insurance companies felt like everyone was just a number and it was hard to provide the quality of care patients deserved. Read more>>

Chasa Fulkerson

This is more of a hobby than it is a business. Later in life I realized that I loved the outdoors/nature. I wanted to learn more about animals. I decided I wanted to document it with pictures and videos for others to see. The thing about living in the South is that people have a certain perception when it comes to certain animals. I wanted to change other outlooks. I wanted them to see if they learned they would realize things aren’t so scary. Read more>>

Alexis Howard

Etta Grove Footwear is a start-up, luxury brand that offers fashionable, feel-good footwear in women’s sizes 7m to 14m. I have worn a women’s size 10 or above since the age of 10. I now wear a size 13. There were times I felt a painted shoebox would be better than what was available in the footwear market, at least it would be creative. Read more>>

Tamara Davis-Jack

My business, Positivity Has A Purpose™ started as a means for survival. I have often stated that PHAP™ was established in 2009, but the integral thoughts that later formed into a business began much earlier in my life. I grew up in central Pennsylvania in a small town. In the 1980s the population was under 4,000 and drugs were ravishing our neighborhoods and families. Read more>>

Jorchual Gregory Vargas

4 years ago I was working as a production designer in the film industry in Los Angeles. After working in several studios that were only providing an empty space for filmmakers to come and create their projects, I saw an opportunity to open a studio that would be a one stop shop for creatives. Read more>>

Angela Tezeno

So the idea for my business originated from my 62 year old self. I heard her loud and clear when she boldly told me, “Lady, we need a plan!” I’ll get to that in a bit. Read more>>

Kara Mac

I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and studied fashion design. I spent 25 years moving up the ladder for a number of companies. My first job was as an assistant designer but I was often sent out to run errands for the staff and didn’t do much designing, however, I always learned. Read more>>

Sarah Pavia

In my work with women, I often hear that they’re “stuck” and “unsure” of what they are doing and/or want to do next. My answer is always the same: what has always brought you joy, that you’ve never had to work that hard at? That just comes naturally to you, with a built-in skillset that makes you great without even trying? Better yet – is it something you’ve thought about over and over again, and can’t seem to shake it? That is what you’re meant to do. Read more>>

Ray Nell Jones

When I became a single mother while a freshman in college I experienced emotional and financial hardships. I realized being a single parent in a low income community affected me mentally and I wanted to create a nonprofit that would help single mothers with emergency support and financial literacy. I wanted to become the hero I did not have when I was struggling to maintain bills, college books, and pay for feminine hygiene products. Read more>>

Elyse Whisby

As a little girl, beauty and fashion has always been important to me. I used to love to glamour up and pretend I was a model. As the years passed, my passion for beauty elevated and culminated. It manifested in the world of Esthetics. While being a student of Esthetics, I also acquired a teaching bug. Read more>>

Brandon Girouard

I have been dancing since I was three years old due to curiosity in the waiting room while my two sisters took lessons. I grew up in New Bedford , MA and was always a creative child at heart. I love the Arts and the ability to express myself through creative avenues. I pursued dance at the university level from a Bachelor and Master level. I moved to NYC to pursue a professional career post college after showing increased curiosity with choreography. Read more>>

Joretta Powell

I always had a love for creating things and making them as beautiful as possible. I started out as a full time crafter and as I began to create items with crafting it allowed me to build the confidence to venture off into other places that allowed me to further more express my creativity as much as possible. I started out with a simple balloon structure and as I fell in love with balloons I started my journey to being a luxury event planer. Read more>>

Nicole Chamberlain

The word Urbane is a masculine adjective described as sophisticated, suave or worldly. My Grandpa Bob was suave. He was debonair in my eyes with his Grandpa hat, gold wrist watch and freshly pressed slacks. He was urbane. He is the why behind URBANE. Read more>>

Kimberly May

The idea of Ivory and Lace started as a way of expressing my creative need outside of my daily hospital life. What most people don’t know is for the pass twenty two years my calling has always been to service. After graduation college as a Respiratory Care Practitioner and spending so much time with critically ill patients Read more>>

Jovan Davis

I worked with young people who had been committed to the department of youth justice system in 2008 and 2009. My responsibility in these children’s lives was to serve as a mentor and ensure that they were headed in the direction of success. Read more>>

Svitlana Prystynska

I come from Ukraine and as a student I worked in the Kyiv Museum of Science, it was the first interactive museum where children could touch the exhibits, it was a lot of fun. Later, in Warsaw, I worked in a museum of virtual reality, and already when I moved to Denver, I thought about opening my own museum and combining all the ideas that I had during these years. Read more>>

Micole Love

My business is Miicon Genteel. I came up with the name Miicon in my younger years. I realized that I create iconic art, and my name starts with an ‘M’, and in that moment Miicon was born. Genteel is a highlight to Miicon as refined and respectable. The uniqueness of my brand comes from focusing on self-insecurities instead of others’ creations or opinions. My brand solves the problem of being seen, but how you will be received is up to you. Read more>>

Martha Jackman-Bivas

I don’t think there is a straightforward answer to this simple question, lol. The answer is that a series of unfortunate and fortunate events collectively helped me to form the idea for my books, business, and profession. Let’s start at the beginning… Read more>>

Natasha Mosby

March 2020, Governor Sisolak announced closing of Nevada schools and businesses, social distancing and stay at home directives to keep Nevadans safe in the wake of COVID-19. At the time of the announcement, I was heading to my office to see clients for therapy sessions and my phone began ringing excessively. Read more>>

Daniel Knight

Thanks for the question. Since the age of 7 I have had a passion for cooking. As I got older I discovered I really loved how food taste, the freshness of the ingredients, and just the overall process of creating a meal from scratch. Over the years I spent time cooking and refining my skills. Read more>>

Shawn Gossman

In my late 20s, I realized my health was significantly taking a drop in life. I knew I would live long if I continued living as I was. I smoked two packs a day. I drank like a fish. I ate fast food every night. I didn’t exercise. I was lonely. I was depressed. Read more>>

Nathalie Barreto

Growing up in Santa Rosa Beach (30A), FL I came from a very business-driven family. My dad, Jorge, who is my business partner had several local businesses in our area from a four-star restaurant to a large painting company. I learned at a very young age how to have a business mindset and that being a business owner was a form of having freedom. Read more>>

DONNELL JOHNS

I initially came up with the idea while serving in the military and modified it several times. I wanted to create a community similar to the military to support veteran business owners. Starting a small business is hard, and lonely everyone is working on their own to turn their passion into a business. Read more>>

Sabrina Auclair

Long story short, I was looking for another bottle of shampoo at the grocery store and I was in front of that huge display of just plastic and more plastic and thought to myself, why am I buying the trash that these companies make? why can’t I just bring back the same perfectly useful bottle I already have and refill it? Read more>>

Tulani Agnew

One night at like 3am I could not sleep for anything. I just kept tossing and turning so I got up and went in my moms room that night, and surprisingly enough she was up we got to talking about innovative ways to make more money, and how we want to become rich we were stating that we feel that the evil sometimes become wealthy and a good have to go through all the bed before they get a chance to reap the reward. Read more>>