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.

Kimberly St. Clair

To be honest, the reason I started this company, is a reason I wish didn’t exist. I watched my dad struggle with eating healthy and his weight my entire life. He tried so many different fad diets and quick fixes, but nothing seemed to stick. He was a huge foodie and loved to watch shows like “Diners, Drive-In’s & Dives,” so all of the “healthy” food he was forcing himself to eat never tasted great to him and always seemed like a punishment. Unfortunately at the young age of 62, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 Esophageal Cancer. A disease strongly attributed to a lifetime of unhealthy eating. A year and a half later he was gone. Read more>>

Ashleigh Vanhouten

My jewelry business, August Son, is truly the result of providing something I didn’t really see in the market because I wanted it, and hoped others would too. I’ve always loved jewelry and am fascinated by what beautiful baubles women are wearing, how it expresses their personalities and interests, and the stories the pieces tell (where did you get that piece? Who gave it to you? Where in the world was it made? What does it mean to you, or how does it make you feel?). I’ve studied jewelry, metal smithing, and trends, and there were a few things in particular that I personally wanted to add to my collection that I didn’t see a lot of out there, so I decided to create them myself and see if others would want them as well! Read more>>

Paul Wnek

I’m the founder and CEO of two tech startups – Coalescence Cloud, a Salesforce professional services partner, and ExpandAP, an expense, Accounts Payable (AP) and corporate credit card automation application built natively on the Salesforce platform. My career experience working for other Salesforce ecosystem partners has educated me on the importance of well-engineered business systems. Some of my business system focus areas include CRM, ERP, PSA, billing, CPQ, enterprise software and expense management. Read more>>

Elliott Hinkle

Unicorn Solutions came about from my own personal identity in combination with a desire to do work on my own terms and in my own ways. I’m a transgender person who is also nonbinary, and for me that means I don’t identify as a man or a woman, somewhere in between or beyond. And early on I joked that I identified as a unicorn. This stuck quickly and I documented my transition on social media as Elliott The Unicorn. At some point, while doing federal consulting in Child Welfare, I hit a wall where I was feeling the tension of federal government consulting work and the constraints that can sometimes be under. I wanted a way to do the work outside of that but also a way to have meaningful impact on the experiences of youth and young adults who grow up in foster care, like myself. Read more>>

Jessper Maquindang

“Jessper, the world needs more of that right now!” That was the feedback I received when I shared with others an idea I had in mind. During the recent pandemic, there were many conversations about the future of work in the so-called “new normal”. How will it affect leadership? How will it affect teamwork? How will it affect our work processes? Throughout these conversations, there was one theme that boldly stood out: The sense of belonging. During the pandemic, employees had been reporting increasing levels of isolation and decreasing levels of meaningful connection. With my experience in team-building and collaboration, this was the perfect opportunity to restore that sense of belonging and community in the workplace. Read more>>

Shanell Penn

I use to help my mom with making meat trays for her birthday parties when I was about 10 or 11. Then the summer of 2021 some friends came to visit from Cincinnati and I decided to make a charcuterie board for them! I had no idea what I was doing but I did the board and they loved it! So my friend Danielle began to make a video saying that I ship and contact me for all your charcuterie needs, etc. I looked at her and said oh no I don’t lol. After that video, I received my first order to ship a charcuterie board to Cincinnati! So at that moment I said ok, wow I might be on to something. Then a fellow charcuterie creator on Instagram encouraged me to start my own charcuterie page and try doing workshops! So I did my first Workshop in my home in 2022 and since I’ve done several and now have a partnership with 2 wineries, so I’m able to do my workshops at 2 locations. Read more>>

Lyric Kochendorfer

Lyric Kochendorfer’s journey into videography & photography began in the unlikeliest of places—her hometown of Hastings, Minnesota. During the carefree summer days of 8th grade, armed with nothing more than a GoPro and a spark of inspiration, she set out to capture the adventures she and her friends embarked on. “I felt like my friends and I had so much fun swimming, cliff jumping, and biking around our small town that I wanted to capture these moments so we could remember them when we were older,” Kochendorfer reflects. Read more>>

Harut Sassounian

Back in 1958, two of my predecessors decided to publish an English-language weekly Armenian newspaper in order to inform the Armenian-American community about Armenian-related news. Up until then, all of the Armenian newspapers in California were published in the Armenian language which means that second or third generation Armenians who did not know Armenian could not follow the news of their community. That is why The California Courier was born. It created a lot of excitement in the Armenian community. After publishing the newspaper since 1958, in February 2024, I converted the paper to a digital format, meaning online or on website. Read more>>

Gia Susi

I came up with the idea behind my children’s book, “When the World Feels a Little Scary,” which covers some heavier life topics that children could find challenging, pretty much sadly, influenced by the state of our world and my life experiences. As a former teacher and current stay-at-home mom of two young children, I have read many children’s books in my day, both personally and professionally. I was always critical and receptive of the books that I read. I would think “oh I really like how this book covered this topic but I wish they dug in a bit deeper or “they really are only scratching the surface of this but the book has a nice message.” I felt a mission as a former teacher and parent, and just honestly as a citizen of the world, to create this book that will hopefully teach people how to spread some love around and to be reminded that they are loved. Read more>>

Kaylynn Mower

Im still developing my the creative service business idea. “When you Give” is a charitable account where my sales of each book that is sold, the proceeds go towards families financial burden for adoption. It all started with the idea years ago when I wanted to write and publish a children’s book about my feelings and how my adoption changed my life but also to make an impact for young children that are awaiting adoption or been adopted to have the love hope that I received. I would love to inspire or give hope to young children or anyone else who wants to hear my story. If this succeeds, then it was meant to be. Read more>>

Parth Patel

It all started back in high school, I remember sitting in my guidance counselors office discussing what I wanted to major in when I go to college. I said I was interested in majoring in Business field and at the time I did not know what degree in particular to go for. Did I even have the skills to know how to have effective communication? Do I even have the skills to be a leader or do I even find being a business major interesting at all? It was a struggle figuring out why I even chose the idea of being a Business major. Later on, I realized one of the reasons as to why I chose to be a business major in college is because of being a YouTuber and Twitch streamer! Read more>>

Ashley & Karina Foster & Kemp

Coming up with HoneyDo Socials was actually surprisingly unexpected! We have been friends for over five years now, and through our friendship, we discovered a shared love for the wedding industry. It was during our own wedding journeys—Karina’s in March 2022 and Ashley in June 2023—that everything truly fell into place. After our weddings, we both had a similar feeling: we were missing those raw, authentic moments we’d hoped to relive. Sure, guests took some videos and photos, but the quality was often hit or miss. Plus, chasing down all those snippets became a bit of a hassle while we waited for our professional photos and videos to be ready. It was in those moments of frustration that we both realized something—we wanted more. Read more>>

Zulma Y. Terrones

The idea for Life Stages and its mission to address the $2.5T global mental health crisis through science, community, technology, and nature was born from both my personal mental health journey and my 13+ years of professional experience helping diverse global communities build fundamental wellness skills. I was born in Mexico and raised in Chicago since the age of one, surrounded by Lake Michigan, city parks, and neighboring rural cornfields, within a Latinx family that neither recognized nor actively worked on mental health. My mental health was already suffering from childhood trauma and was only deteriorating further as I navigated early adulthood. After earning my undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago (AB ’12), I spent a couple of years working in sales and marketing at local startups, quickly realizing this wasn’t my calling which left me feeling unfulfilled and lost.  Read more>>

Laramie George

The vision for The Tailored Nanny came after trying to find my own nanny. I had used a few local nanny agencies and I just felt like they were sending me the opposite of what my family really needed. After numerous phone calls and emails of telling the agency exactly what I wanted, I gave up and decided to search on my own. After all, being a career Nanny for over a decade, I knew exactly what to look for in a nanny. I kept thinking to myself there has to be a better way! I ended up finding my own nanny and she stayed with my son for around four years. While going through the process of looking for my own nanny, I had a lightbulb go off! I knew I could create a company that really tailored nanny searches to each family to find the most perfect match- thus came The Tailored Nanny! I think the most exciting part of what I do is hearing parents tell me I’m the only local agency who asks the family over 65 questions and really takes the time to find the best match. Read more>>

Cole Taft

Creating a business out of adventure/outdoor media creation was never truly an “idea” or even a conscious decision. I wish it had been that straightforward, though the love and passion that has led me to this point likely would not have formed if it hadn’t been so organic. From a young age I always had a love for the outdoors – spending as much time immersed as I possibly could. This continued as I grew up and through college – fishing, skiing, wakeboarding, hiking, exploring, camping. I always wanted to capture this experience and share it with my friends who didn’t always “get it”, but I never pulled the trigger on purchasing a camera. In college, where i studied Cell and Molecular Biology, media was never at the top of mind for me. That is until I got the opportunity to intern with a start up outdoor apparel company in New York, where I did some marketing and saw first hand the importance of media and content to a business. Read more>>