The uncertainty of entrepreneurship causes many entrepreneurs to put off starting their business. For others, losing a job or other economic hardships push them starting their businesses earlier than expected. In our conversations with thousands of entrepreneurs we’ve seen so much variety in when, how and why people started their business and so we wanted to share a wide variety of views and reflections on the question of whether these folks wished they had started sooner or waited longer before starting their businesses.

Jenna Irizarry

I feel like I started my business at the perfect time in my life. While I want to initially say that I wish I started sooner, I am happy my journey began when it did. I have always been someone who carried my camera with me everywhere I went, but I didn’t start taking my photography business seriously until my first daughter was born. I was working in education, and the thought of spending all that time away from my new baby was eating me up inside. That’s when I decided to take a leap, and see if I could try photography as a career instead of just a hobby. Read more>>

Pilar Harris

I have always had a love for food, the art of cooking intrigue me since a little girl. I have always been the friend that cooks and host an over time people kept telling me to sell plates or do catering. I personally was like no way I’m not that good but as time past more and more people kept saying it , so I jumped out the window and said here goes nothing. Scared and all I started my business February 1st 2020 selling small plates and ended up with more orders then I could handle and the rest was history. Read more>>

Will Baez

Yes, I would’ve started sooner. I started my business on 2020, before this I was working on a warehouse, job that I hated althought It paid the bills, Someone has showed me the oportunity in the insurance business around 2018, but at that moment I didn’t beleive I could ever be a salesman. I don’t regret about my starting, just have to say It would have been better starting earlier because this industry requires us to walk it thruogh and the sooner you walk the better. Read more>>

Rachel Lubanowski

I wish I had started my business sooner! I officially launched my business in the summer of 2021, which was about a month after I ended my 7+ year position at a locally-owned women’s consignment boutique. I was thriving there – we had an amazing staff, the business was doing really well, I was able to make my own schedule and had the freedom to work on projects that were fulfilling to me and the business – but, I’ve always felt as though I needed to do something for myself. Read more>>

Rebecca LaBeaume

I would absolutely start my business at the exact same time! Looking back on all the experience I have gained working alongside some of the most talented and experienced artists and creators in the industry- I never would have come to the table with the wisdom and know-how I have to offer with my own business today. Although I’d give almost anything to pair that strong and youthful twenty-something body with the experience I’ve gained – that’s apparently not an option! Of the two, I would pick the wisdom and confidence that comes with age any day! So definitely that’s a now for me! Read more>>

Christina H

I’ve always had a passion for saving money and getting great deals. This particular piece of my journey started over 12 years ago when my son was born. I left full-time teaching in higher education to stay home with my newborn son for 1 year. During that time, because we went from two incomes to one, I started reading blogs about different ways to save money. Read more>>

Asia Davis

I started my business in 2017 . When I first started out , I was in college doing hair for extra cash . When I left college I even veered off into potential becoming a nail technician. I purchased all of the supplies , a table , anything to really help me hit the floor running but it just wasn’t my niche . It made me happy to create but it didn’t feel like it was my destiny . I felt terrible dropping something I invested so much money and time into but I chose to stop fighting my talents and what really made me passionate which was hair. Read more>>

Meiyan Magayanes

I wish I started sooner so i would’ve learned sooner. Whether from mistakes or experiences. If i knew about pop ups i would’ve indulged with it right away. I was only selling packs of frozen lumpia when i was living in florida but never thought about pop ups since i do have a regular salary job that was enough to live. I def regret starting sooner. Read more>>

Morgan Jones

As a new business owner, it is very important to have the right mentors in your life. There are many ways one can live their life and prosper, but to be really “living on purpose” is the true goal for me. The ability to be on the search for your true life “calling”, or the true purpose for you being alive here on earth, now that is the quest for life. Some folks have one thing that they are good at and they run with that one thing and become successful. Read more>>

Amy Christman

If I could go back in time, I would absolutely start my business sooner! I didn’t start The Fierce Collective until 2020. Every time I thought or talked about starting my own business, I put it off because I didn’t have the confidence to start. I was also a little lost on what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to stay connected to fitness in some capacity. Read more>>

Megan Larson

Looking back now, YES, I should’ve started my business sooner. Well, I should’ve dove into my business 100% sooner. I started M Rock Creative in 2013 as a side gig, working with friends and family who needed graphic design work. I had been working at a large, local nonprofit for 6 years at that time and I knew that wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I loved the work, but – to be honest – I didn’t love the pay! Read more>>

Sarah Adams & Maggie Rieth Austin

Maggie: For me, I’ve always wanted to make movies. I’ve made short films since I was old enough to pick up a camcorder. But after graduating with a film degree, I fell into teaching and then working operations. My creative outlet became improv which was wonderful and led me to Sarah (thank goodness!) and my husband (thanks comedy!) When our home theater closed during the pandemic, and I became unemployed, it felt like such an incredible opportunity to throw caution to the wind and start making movies and commercial content full-time. Read more>>

Rona Bachour

Definitely sooner. I started this journey on June 20th 2020, when COVID-19 hit. Was constantly stressed out with my full-time job, quarantining with 2 very young kids in an apartment. Started by taking an online course and felt so good. Never thought I had it in me to create such good cookies. If I started earlier, I might by now had my biggest goal which is a store front. Read more>>

Joshua Proche’

I wish I would have started sooner…. Back in High School is when I really got a taste for what I am doing now. I was on the basketball team and we formed a little group called ROVO and we started selling shirts.. Little did we know that everyone would want one… It kinda took off and we had everyone at the school wanting to support us. Fast forward to my senior year in college which was 2019 is when I started building the foundation for my brand. Read more>>

Toniel Garner

If I could go back in time, I definitely wish I could have started my wig business sooner. I also wish that I would have had the mindset that I have today. When I started my business, it was really just a side hustle for me. I always had the skills to do hair from a very young age so it came natural to me. Read more>>

Romy Van Rijckevorsel

I would have loved to have done art school. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way in the past. I started working at a bank and did that for 20 years with great pleasure. Especially a lot of fun with my colleagues, I didn’t really like the work. When our children were born I started painting again and especially their portraits.Other parents also liked the portraits and so I regularly received portrait assignments. When the bank started to reorganize, I stopped there and started for myself. With a little bit of effort I got very regular portrait assignments and I could very well start my own business. Read more>>

Chioma Ikoku

If time travel was a reality, I would recover the ten years I lost to ‘Imposter Syndrome’ by registering my business straight out of college. I started decorating for friends and family when I was about nineteen, for no reason other than I felt called to it. I could walk into a room and visualize three different ways to optimize the space. In those early days, no one in my circle had a budget for decorating, but I was an eager learner, so I would work for free and use the opportunity to learn new DIY (aka cost-saving) techniques. Read more>>

Ronald Simmons

Yes, I wish I had started my business years ago. I started my business in 2020, when I moved back to Virginia. When I decided to start my business, I was thinking about what i love to do and my future after I retire from the Army. I am currently active duty in the United States Army and I’m approaching my retirement from military service. Prior to this I had been talking about buying a camera and really getting into photography, so I purchased a drone. Read more>>

Kirsten Owen

Of course I wish I had started my business sooner because I have never been happier. I absolutely love what I do.  I would have loved to challenge myself as a business owner a lot sooner.  I do believe the timing was just right for me and my business. I had to go through a lot of life lessons before starting my business.  A lot of growth and discipline was necessary. I can be headstrong yet immensely driven at the same time. I have found during the process that growth and service is so rewarding. Read more>>

Chanda Daniels

When I started my business in 1999, I knew two things for a fact, I loved planning things and I loved weddings. Growing up, I had no idea that my love for planning parties would led to me becoming a “best” wedding planner at the age of 50! I often think back to my mother telling me that when I was a young child, I was always “leading” and telling folks what to do (lol). Who would have known that It would led up to me being PAID to tell clients what to do. Read more>>

Hoda Deluvia

Definitely sooner. Read more>>

Bea Rutledge

I introduced BeaHired to the world in 2017, I was fresh out of a divorce and ready impactful change in my professional life as well. I remembered being nervous because BeaHired was my baby, and I wasn’t sure if you “my internet cousins” would embrace it, share it and love it the same. But shockingly, my mobile app had over 1200 downloads within the first week. Read more>>

 

Alice Garner

I honestly wish I could have started my business sooner, but I believe everything happened when it was supposed to happen. I started my business in August of 2019. I was in the Army before I started my business and had a dream of doing 20 years and retire. I was diagnosed with cervical cancer and the treatment caused complications. I ended up getting medically retired from the Army. Read more>>

Susie Lynn

I started my blog back in 2019 and really wish I had started sooner! Not only because the blogging industry can be saturated, but also because year after year I grow more and would be that much farther ahead if I had only started sooner! I first decided to create my blog after following some of my favorite lifestyle bloggers. I noticed they all had the same thing in common. Their pictures were heavily filtered, as were their instagram stories and videos. Read more>>

Jessica Cavin

I go back and forth on this one. I wish I would have been doing this since high school to be able to see where I could be now, but often times I wonder if I had started later, would I have done it differently? When I picked up my first camera is was only to be one of those moms who wanted to take better photos of her kids. My husband told me I needed to get a hobby and so I got one! I was recently married, had just had a baby and started practicing on her and my close friends. I was a stay at home mom and was really enjoying learning all things manual mode. Read more>>

Ilgın Simay Koçali

I started my journey when I was 13 by selling soaps. One night while I was scrollling on TikTok I saw a video about making cold process soaps that look like cakes. I was amazed by the idea and three months after that I had collected the money I needed to start my small business. Later on, I could not maintain that business and I gave up. That was my first attempt on this journey. Yes, that did not turned into a successful business but it taught me a really important lesson: Not to give up. Read more>>

Latisha “Tish” Wright

I started my business TFK Best Life Coaching Services, LLC on November 1st, 2022, after I separated from my corporate job. I was not even upset I was relieved because I could pursue my passion and my purpose for helping others full time as a Personal Development Relationships Life Coach, focusing on purpose, happiness, and goal Success, and using my voice to tell my story as a Speaker and Author. This is what I was born to be. Read more>>