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.
Matthew Iommi
The average American in 2021 lost 97 hours of their life in traffic. That’s time that could have been spent nurturing your daughter or son, bonding with your partner, caring for your mother or father, forming memories with your friends, or building with your co-workers. Instead, each year you sit in your car staring at red taillights for 97 hours. The root of this problem…unnecessary single-occupancy vehicles on the road. Read more>>
Jay Khosla
I started BlueJay Records when I was in 8th grade, living in San Antonio, Texas. At the time, I was just getting into playing music and learning instruments when I had just started my very first band called The Devoid. I was obviously quite new to the SATX music scene and wasn’t sure how I was to go about getting my band gigs. I figured that if my band was not well known enough to be getting asked to play shows, I would seek out venues or oppourtunities to get my band gigs, just to start out. Read more>>
jamie Maitland
I started out my fitness career by co-owing a spin studio. In 2017 I sold my shares of the company and found myself going around to various studios to get variety. the problem was that I had to drive around to several different places every week to get this variety. I was doing boxing, spin, barre, strength, isolated classes, etc but no studio offered this in a “group setting” as a class under one roof. Read more>>
Sergio & Libna Echeverri
My wife and I were raised in Arizona and got married in 2017. One month later, we sold everything off and drove to our new home in Miami! Not having any friends here or knowing the areas, we turned to Yelp and the Yelp community to start exploring the best parts of the city and getting to know the locals. As we became Yelp elite members, we began to be more involved within the foodie world here in Miami and several friends we met started recommending us to open up an influencer account so we decided to give it a shot. Read more>>
Mike Rynart
For a long time, I had the pleasure of promoting Miami with TheMiamiGuide, a guide for Miami I started in 2010. The Miami Guide began by offering an online platform where visitors could view news and cultural events. The Miami Guide has now grown into a premier promotional vehicle for brands and events in Miami. We have the advantage of our large-scale social media presence with high exposure of over 300,000+ combined followers on all the main platforms. Read more>>
Juan Rodriguez
As a child, my parents always valued their appearance. They often wore stylish, well-put-together outfits, no matter the occasion. Seeing their care in the way they presented themselves influenced my taste for fashion, even into my adulthood. My parents backgrounds has heavily influenced me throughout my life. I was born in New York City, immersed in a melting pot of cultures and traditions. My Puerto Rican mother was born in Morovis, and my Dominican Father was born in Moca. Read more>>
Gina Tomasetti
Yes! I remember the day the idea was born. My business partner Maylise and I were good friends and both coaches at the time, but we weren’t working together yet. We were just reflecting on the fulfillment we both experienced from our work and coaching in general. One on one sessions have such a special impact and the takeaways can be extraordinary. I remember feeling grateful and just playing with our imagination, coming up with creative ways to share that fulfillment with more people. Read more>>
Daneille Moss
We make pure, soy wax candles. We’re not the first nor the last, but what makes ours unique is the way they came to be. My husband and I decied to make candles at home one night for fun. We were getting really creative with the fragrance notes but, once we finished making the candle, he mentioned that it looked a little plain. We’d been so thoughtful with the fragrance blend but the there was nothing on the candle jar. It was just a single, milky white candle that smelled amazing but nothing on it really reflected us or the things we cared about. Read more>>
Hannah Mulik
When I first started out I was working as a portrait photographer, but I always had the idea of getting involved in commercial photography so I could work with brands and businesses. At this time, I noticed there weren’t many female product/commercial photographers and not many that focused on small businesses either. I saw an opportunity to make my way into this side of photography by working with a blogger in Miami and doing fashion photos for her. I reached out to her on Instagram and we started working together, Read more>>
Dmitrii Kustov
A wild desire for change drove me. After working as an SEO specialist for a while, I realized that I’m not too fond of the approach that almost all internet marketing agencies use. I’d seen the company I worked for at that time offer all clients some ready-made packages. They did not even try to go into the essence of the client’s business; they had a mechanism, which by the way, did not always work. Later I realized that’s how most agencies work. I was disappointed because I understood that this is one of the reasons why people misunderstand and undervalue SEO and internet marketing in general. So I quit and decided that I would try to do better. Read more>>
Paulina Webb
I came up with the idea of Luca Love through a series of personal discoveries and experiences. While I was a student at the University of Houston I became involved in a Southeast Asia study abroad project. This trip taught me how to use my career in business to help improve peoples lives. This sparked a huge desire to pursue a life of which I’d use the tools I had to help create opportunities for others. Read more>>
Andrea Renee
Great souls are born in small towns! I know my Aunt Edna was, my story doesn’t start at, “how did you come up with the idea for your business”. My story is more-like; I was born into it! My father married my mother when she was very young, My mother shared her story with me, as to how my father’s sister (Aunt Edna) was the one that actually taught her to cook, her exact words were “If you’re going to be married to my brother, you have to learn how to cook for him”…..Let’s just say, between my father, mother, and Aunt, cooking lesson began very early for me. Read more>>
Laura Kupper
Our son Preston was hospitalized when he was nine months old. Preston developed a cold which turned into a nasty cough. We took him to a Pediatric Urgent Care facility. He was diagnosed with croup. Preston received a breathing treatment and steroids to help him breathe. We were advised that if he develops stridor to go to an emergency room. We took him home that night and watched him very closely. Read more>>
Julliana Garten
After losing so many pairs of glasses and sunglasses, I decided to Design and patent a tag to hold them outside any bag, backpack, beach bag, diaper bag and so much more, for easy access. Read more>>
Katie Murwin
The idea of Sensory Cooking has been with us for a long time. It was a part of our life long before it was a business. We have a son with autism and sensory issues, and food aversions were a part of our everyday life. As he matured, we needed him to learn life skills and cooking is certainly a necessary one. We run an organization called Kids with Autism Can and we host sensory-friendly social events for kids on the spectrum and one of the things we tried to offer was a cooking program, but we could never find the right teacher. Read more>>
Barbara Schreihans
When I graduated from my master of taxation program, I had received a job offer as a Tax Staff Accountant from one of the most ‘prestigious’ firms in the world. When I got there, I thought, ‘THIS? This is what everyone was striving for?’ Everyone looked like bored, overworked-zombies. We were working 100 hour work weeks and not actually saving the clients any money in taxes. Additionally, since we had so many projects, we couldn’t possibly keep up with the client communication. I quickly moved to a more regional sized firm and then small, local firms thinking I would find something better. I was hoping that a smaller firm meant more personalization and increased customer service. Read more>>
Stella Abril
About 6 years ago, I dove head first into sustainable fashion. I became passionately obsessed with sharing the sustainable fashion movement and conscious consumerism. I started a podcast, created a nonprofit, and started a sustainable business coaching program. My focus was always on expanding the impact. As I journeyed through conscious consumerism, my focus shifted to consciousness all together. I found every opportunity to heal from within and then shared those healing practices with my children. Read more>>
jonathan santos
I always felt i was meant for more in life , like if i had a purpose to touch more individuals in a broader way. I have always been one to always lay a helping hand , As a kid growing up in a Hispanic House hold , i saw and experiance many ups and downs which today are the reasons why i am so focus to becoming successful why making an impact in my families lives especially my parents. I owe them the world. Read more>>
Sammy Berger
The concept of Prio Golf started as an idea by two best friends, Sammy Berger and Tara Collins, while walking 9 holes. What started out as a mere question of: “where on earth do you buy your golf clothes?” turned into a comical comparison of shopping horror stories – everything from buying men’s XS sizes, to wearing clothes from middle school, to going into golf stores where leggings zipped all the way up your leg (revealing far too much). Read more>>
Delisa Harper
Zach and I started our business 6 months into dating. Being vegan, we were usually disappointed in restaurants’ dessert options. One day, I bought a vegan crispy treat as a last resort and was pleasantly surprised. It was tasty! But boring. So we created fun flavors of treats that we were excited about, sold them at farmer’s markets, and the rest is history! Read more>>
Lee Torain
Barkery & Brew was born in the pandemic. Being a personal trainer and personal chef during the pandemic saw my income go to nothing. Being out of work and having a lot of time on my hands forced me to think about ways to diversify my income. Several years ago I had toyed with the idea of starting a food truck but was not happy about how much of an initial investment it was going to take to launch. Read more>>
Gwendolyn Anokye
I have to foremost give all the glory to God because He brought me the vision, I just had to remain faithful. 10 years ago when I started going to school at the Art Institute of Dallas, I thought I enrolled into the radio because that was my interest at the time only to find out I actually enrolled in the film program. Luckily film happened to stick with me, I actually never imagined running a media company ever. After school I stepped out on faith, became a freelancer and named my company SoGe Media. Read more>>
Sage Love
am a resourceful and resilient woman. I face the challenges of life even when I feel like giving up. I am stoic, very spiritually motivated, and I tend to think outside the box. I am a bit rebellious towards those who seek to make me conform to their rules. Perhaps most importantly, I am a survivor with strong ethics and a foundation of unlimited spiritual resources at my fingertips. Read more>>
Aidin Belganeh
Growing up, I never knew what I wanted to do. My family and I moved to the US when I was a teenager, so the first few years of my life were just about surviving. When you’re in survival mode, you don’t really dream or have extraordinary plans for your life. So I ended up listening to the adults in my life at the time and majored in something safe, marketing and advertising. I graduated from SMU with a BBA in business degree and started working in “corporate America.” What I had in mind about marketing was nothing like the actual reality, so I quickly realized I was stuck and did not like my life. This constant feeling that I wasn’t doing what I loved and going through a depression made me finally go after what I really wanted to do. Read more>>
MICHELLE RENFROW
To be honest, I’ve always had the idea of doing more with art and therapeutic activities and parties and teaching. I was just never able to find the time or the fierce motivation to get things jump-started. As everybody in the entire world is aware, when covid shut down virtually everything in March of 2020, I knew that my summer plans were in jeopardy of being canceled and thus losing an important part of my summer salary. As many of you know being a single mom is challenging and we are always trying to find creative ways to save money or take on multiple jobs in order to make things work. Read more>>
Sandi King
Being an independent artist of any kind can be overwhelming. I have been a full time musician for the last 10 years and have tried my best to keep up with the ever changing landscape of self employed independent contractor work needed to be successful as a Musican. Throughout the last 10 years I realized every single musician friend of ours was struggling with balancing managing their career with the creation of their art. Read more>>
Cherimarie Poulos
Food Tour Interview Question Answers for Carlsbad Food Tours 1.) How did you come up with the idea for your business? Meet the Founders: Cherimarie Poulos • CEO – Carlsbad Food Tours is a Women-Owned, Veteran Owned Business. Retired Registered Nurse specializing in heart surgery. Brad Poulos • CMO – 30 + years in the medical device and internet marketing. Read more>>
Mitchelle Woodson
On October 5, 2006, nine women gathered for dinner at co-founder Rachel Jensen’s home to discuss the challenges of homelessness. The ladies passed many of their displaced neighbors on the streets and it was becoming increasingly clear that a few bucks here, a meal there, were only temporarily helpful. They desired a tangible way to restore basic dignity to these individuals and understood these unhoused neighbors were citizens too. Each person had their own story: mothers and fathers, someone’s child, a man forgotten after becoming disabled during war. Many endured great tragedy. Read more>>
Camille Marie
About 2yrs ago when the pandemic hit, I went from going into a large office building everyday to quickly making the shift to working from home (as most of us did). I found myself trying my best to adapt to my “new normal” of having barely any human interaction during the week. Working in healthcare staffing in the midst of the pandemic was a lot for my mental health. My saving grace during this time was & still is my French Bulldog, Winston. As long as I had his snuggles and some amazing candles after a long day, all was right again with the world… Read more>>
Rachele DeMeo
Regarding FLAM San Diego, a school providing French classes for children and teenagers: As an educator for 18 years, possessing two Master degrees, but also as a mother of two children, I’ve always been passionate about bilingual/multicultural education. I actually grew up in a bilingual and multicultural environment (my father is American-Italian, my mother is British but I was born and raised in France) and have therefore always been captivated by various languages and different cultures. Read more>>
Kelly Guerriero
When I first moved to San Diego in 2017, I wanted to explore everything I could – the beaches, the restaurants, the ‘must-sees’. I started doing just that and taking pictures along the way. In 2018, while in my Master’s program, I had to build a website to showcase my work in the program. I had so much fun making the website and using my creativity to make it just right. However, after I graduated, I didn’t really have a use for that site. So, I started thinking, what could I build a website for? Read more>>
Sherri Follstad Hanna Prado
As successful independent lash artists we were inspired to open Parpar House of Lash due to the gap in the market. Not only for the consumers but also for the artist behind the chair. When it comes to beauty services eyelash extensions are a relatively new service. We saw so much opportunity to grow and develop the consistency of the service. We also wanted to build a community for the artist to ask questions and share ideas. Read more>>
Janine Morales
Before I became organized professionally, I wasn’t always so tidy. When I moved into my first home I felt the need to fill up every cabinet with stuff, because something was always on sale and, you know, I might need it someday. I became very overwhelmed with stuff and credit card bills. One day I came across the book “the life-changing magic of tidying up” by Marie Kondo. Her minimalist approach to decluttering really spoke to me and I decluttered my home, sold lots of stuff (including a car), Read more>>
Raphael Romano
Since I born i was introduce to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Surf in Brazil. After Graduated in Physical Education start work with my father that used to be an Professional Coach. Start teaching with 14 years old, move to the USA with 33 yrs and found my own Method Called U.Natural. Now a days i coach many professional athletes specially from UFC and WSL (World Surf League), we have more than 100 certified instructors in more than 10 countries all of them representing my method and certified by me. This summer we will be opening our first Academy here in South California. Read more>>
Emmitt Henderson III
My nonprofit organization is called Male Lupus Warriors Corp. According to statistics, 15-20% of Lupus patients are men. What’s even a lower percentage, is men advocating for Lupus. Since 1995, I dealt with this disease, work and Life until a Brain Disease (Lupus related) medically retired me in 2019. I wanted to start an organization based on the lack of resources that I had access to when needing education on this disease and how men dealt with it. Read more>>
David Esau
Growing up in a small, family-owned business, I knew first-hand that there is always too much to do. There was never enough time to do it all, especially when it came to learning something new like digital marketing. But over the years, digital marketing has become one of the most efficient ways to connect with potential customers and grow a business. Read more>>
Cari Tiller
When I went off to college, I knew that I wanted to do something creative. I had an inner passion to create art, but wasn’t really sure how that would be expressed in a career. At first, I took a college course to help students determine their major. The college course directed me to Broadcast Journalism and I thought I wanted to be a news broadcaster. Nope. I quickly learned that career was not something I really was interested in. Read more>>
Chanel White
There’s something in photography that is unlike any other form of art for me. There is a level of satisfaction that I am able to receive from my photography, that I simply can not find in painting. I have always had an urge to create. Photography has been one of the most satisfying displays of art for me. I can remember vividly, the first few snaps I had taken from my Canon T6s. I was in awe. After using a cell phone to take and edit photos, I had noticed a possible talent surfacing. Read more>>
Chris Reinecke
I started my career in 2007 as a Graphic Designer, with some hefty student debt. It was pretty much always on my mind to do some freelance work on the side, to supplement my income. But, it would take time. I was new to the industry, without much of a network to draw from, and the clients I could attract at that stage in my career were pretty small. Read more>>
Mandy Gleason
The idea for Replica Surfaces came about in an unexpected way–as most worthwhile things do! I was working as a resident physician and looking up to doctors who would soon be my colleagues, and I realized that many were unhappy in their careers. I quickly realized I needed to develop a side income stream so that I could take a job I enjoyed rather than settle for one that paid enough to cover my massive student loans. Read more>>
Shymika Stephenson-Davison
The vision of PreCollege Solutions started at a business conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico in November 2014. While awaiting my shuttle from the airport to the conference hotel, I called my best friend. We discussed the conference, which focused on the lack of college readiness for high school students. I remember going on and on, she abruptly stopped me and said, “If I had a college-bound teen, I would pay you for those services.” In that moment of silence, I decided to start PreCollege Solutions. Read more>>
Casey Arnold
I am in the Events and Marketing sector of the hospitality industry. When we were shutdown for Covid I took a long road trip and visited my home state of Kentucky where I saw a MONOPOLY edition featuring the University of Kentucky. Living in a popular tourist destination of Key West, Florida I saw the unique customization of the board game featuring tons of history and beautiful imagery of the school and city. I immediately pondered if the City of Key West had a version in which we did not. So, I reached out to Hasbro Gaming and secured a licensing deal to bring MONOPOLY: City of Key West to life! Read more>>
Angela Ligon
I always thought myself to be very creative and artistic…so much so that I decorated my space with my artwork and murals and I painted (primarily on canvas) nearly every evening as my children and I were watching television together. I had always worked in Corporate America throughout my 25 year+ professional career. I worked in a few industries and disciplines, but I was most successful in roles of Sales and/or Operations. But, despite my success, I wasn’t happy. I held these positions as a means of a living; none of these jobs and roles throughout my career were never truly personally fulfilling. Read more>>
Jada Haynes
I came up with Jada Unpublished when I was suffering from post-grad depression, heartbreak, financial hardship, and flunking out of my law school program. From the years 2017 – 2018 I was suffering in silence and trying to figure out how to navigate life without any help. I held all of my feelings in, and it was ultimately not helping me heal. One day I was talking to my sister, and she told me to start blogging. At that time, she was thinking the typical fashion, hair, nails – things that I was into and something that would get me out of my rut. Read more>>
Brittny Johnson
At my core I’m a DIY kinda girl. I think I can do everything well and trust me I’ve tried. However, in reality I’m good at certain things and I’m great at others. Which lead me into making DIY products more than 10 years ago. It was fun and it allowed me to see chemistry in real time. Making products and my passion of serving the needs of others. Lead me to creating Trades of Brit! Trades of Brit was created based on a need. Read more>>