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.
Angela Ledyard

If I could go back in time, I would have definitely started my business sooner. My photography was just a hobby for so many years. I battled between doing portrait and wedding photography over landscape and nature photography. I was settling because it was all that I saw. I didn’t see any women or women of color in the landscape and nature photography genre. Read more>>
KITANA CA$H

I actually started my first business at around age 25 called Rogue Lingerie. It was an online lingerie business and we did a few pop ups in Atlanta and Brooklyn, but I had no clue what I was doing, kind of rushed into it and treated it like a hobby instead of a career. I was young and I think, in my mind, I thought being a business owner sounded cool and I was just looking for a way out of the rat race. I had no idea how much money and dedication it would actually take to make it a reality. Read more>>
Lisa Hall

The greatest advice I can share with a visionary would be “start your dream today!” Waiting only pushes things further into the future. So, to answer the question, yes, I would have absolutely launched my company sooner than I did. I worked in corporate America for over two decades, grinding it out for the shareholders. Those long travel hours and board room-style meetings were all-consuming. Read more>>
Emily Sheridan

I wish I would’ve started sooner. I try to not look back on the past too much. But I feel like I would be much father along in my art career if I would’ve started sooner. I took a very long break doing art when I jumped into motherhood so it was not for nothing, I try to remember that I’m exactly where I am supposed to be. Read more>>
G.B. ROANE JR

I started my business in 2022. I’m retired military and I volunteer for the Red Cross. I wish I would have started my business before the pandemic. I’m seeing to many people about to go to jail or have to pay back a lot of money from that PPP loan situation. I’m a Financial Coach and I feel I may have been able to help a lot of people. Read more>>
Lauren Topor

Hindsight is always 20/20, but if I could go back in time and start sooner I absolutely would! When I started nearlynewbylo in 2015 it was just a side hustle. And really, it was kind of an accident. I’ve always loved sourcing vintage and high-end fashion from thrift stores, but I only had so much closet space for myself. I wasn’t exactly business-minded about nearlynewbylo at the start. Read more>>
Yolanda Tyler

There have been times when I wish I would have started the business sooner because I would have impacted more lives than I have today. However, I think I started right on time because I did not have the support that I currently have. It also gave me the opportunity to refine my mission and goals for the organization. Read more>>
Angela Talamantes

Ankata sprouted up in October 2020, as a spin off of another sustainable business I was running at that time, selling pre-loved clothing and goods. Prior to Ankata, the polymer clay earring community was emerging and I was so drawn to it. I started dabbling in making clay earrings, and soon enough, it was all I wanted to do, and eventually became all I did. Read more>>
Danielle Babcock
I sometimes wish I did start sooner. I first picked up a camera 18 years ago. Back then, there wasn’t the education there is now for photographers so I didn’t pursue it because I didn’t know where to start/how to make it work. I will say, had I started sooner, I’m not sure what my business would look like today. Read more>>
Seiko Mohsen
If I could go back in time, I definitely wish I would have started my business sooner than later, for sure! Read more>>
Makuyo

Creating SIIKA Herb + Honey Co. when I did was perfect timing. I actually had a couple of businesses before SIIKA, both health and wellness based. My first business, my brand was all over the place. It was during the first one that I happened to meet a business mentor who took one look at my product offerings, paused, then told me, “You’re selling everything except socks.” Read more>>
B Poetique

If I could go back in time, I would not have started a business sooner because I honestly did not have the tools, knowledge, or “know-how” to be a business owner. I have two sides; business and creative. If I had started sooner, I would have had a difficult time separating my two sides to grow both businesses separately. Read more>>
Beth Symons

I took the leap to full time artist and photographer 2 months before the Covid 2020 Lockdown. I’d known for a while that I wanted to own my own business, I just wasn’t sure how to get started. In January of 2020, I found myself at a precipice when I was suddenly laid off from my full time job as the marketing director at a local yoga studio. Read more>>