Going from idea to execution isn’t easy. Part of the difficulty is that often there is no playbook to follow and while we can’t offer a playbook either, we wanted to create a space where aspiring entrepreneurs could read the stories of how some very smart, very thoughtful entrepreneurs form the community got started.

Antoine Smith.

Prior to becoming a photographer, I was a hip-hop artist. As I was transitioning away from recording music, I still felt the need to express myself as a creative. Visually, with a camera, made the most sense to me. I invested in my first DSLR Camera during that transition. The Canon T2i. This was in 2012. I was initially just a random, hobbyist, shooting places and things that were around me. Read more>>

Helen Meyers

In 2013, I was backpacking through Thailand, pondering what I wanted to do with my life, and I asked myself, what am I passionate about? I was wearing flip-flops then and realized I missed my cowboy boots back home. The idea of a cowboy boot and flip-flop company as a combination hit me, and I was obsessed, I couldn’t stop thinking about creating the business for the rest of the trip. Read more>>

Seth Woolsey

The process of going from idea to execution requires action. Which in reality, taking action in any area of life is difficult. I had already invested in a midlevel camera and some basic gear. So, the next big step was to put myself out there for the first time and offer my services to the public. “Don’t start big, work your way up to it I thought.” Little victories are still victories and they expound upon one another. I started by offering friends and family free shoots, portraits, engagement, weddings. Read more>>

Jenn Eluwa

I started Stallion Fitness LLC during COVID (June 2020). At this time, fitness had been my lifestyle for 9 years. Because of quarantine, gyms were closing so if you wanted to work out, you were either doing a home workout or working out outside. I realized people were looking for a way to be active and took this as an opportunity to start Stallion Fitness LLC. At this time, I was working full time so I had to execute the business in a way that would honor the mission but still be manageable in terms of balancing my current occupation. Read more>>

Josh Wheeler

I was once a college dropout, feeling lost and uncertain about my future. I worked dead-end jobs and struggled to find my place in the world. However, in 2014, I was given a chance to work for the #1 carpet cleaner in Atlanta,GA. With hard work and dedication, I quickly became known for my excellent customer service. It was this reputation that led the company to offer me a position in their newer hardwood division. I was thrilled at the opportunity and eager to learn all that I could. Read more>>

Haley Cox

Mya Wrenn, LCSWA, and I, Haley Cox, RD, were working together at a residential eating disorder treatment center for children and adolescents. We considered ourselves the dream team: we loved sharing clients together, and we’d like to say most of our clients liked working with us, too. During our time there, we realized that more ‘in the moment’ support was needed in the home and in the community. Read more>>

Mika Pella

Let me just start off by saying I am originally from Kansas City Mo. I got discovered by a small record label in the Tampa Bay Area. They signed me and moved me in with them. had originally been a Music artist but was doing freelance photography, and was a singer songwriter performing live a lot. My 3rd cd I had produced was called Neon Dreams Liquid Love. How I came up with that was I thought if your going to dream than your dreams should be bright like neon colors, and if your going to love than love should flow smooth like water. Read more>>

Chrishayla Smith

It all started for me in late 2019 when people all around me were turning their talents into actual side hustles and their businesses were going fast! The more they grew, the more questions I got about how they could be successful on digital spaces. After seeing and hearing the struggles of small business owners trying scale their digital presence, I got the idea to post a Black Friday deal on Facebook to help small businesses set up their social media accounts. Read more>>

Shannen Shipley

Starting from when I was a child I knew I was going to be a “boss or someone big.” I use to look at myself in the mirror and say I will be the female P. Diddy. I used to create these rubber bracelets and sell them to my neighbors and surprisingly enough they brought them, so I knew I had the entrepreneur jean. From the beginning, I’ve always had creative talents, from my Dad (the artist) and my Mom (the crafter/creative brain). Read more>>

Marcus Johnson

I first had the thought of creating my own clothing brand around December of 2011. I went and did a lot of research on how to get started such as where to find the materials, who can print my clothing and also how to get properly set up as a business. Next I went and told everyone I knew that I was about to launch my own clothing company many were excited and believed me and some didn’t. Then after all my research I finally found a local print shop called Anderson Screenprint. Read more>>

Savoya Nyantakyi

Starting anything in life always requires us to first overcome the mental process of whether or not that particular thing can be done. For me I remember sitting in my home office. I had all the motivating slogans nicely placed all around the space to offer encouragement and to promote the ideals that would soon come forth from my mind. When you’re sitting in your creative space there’s always a moment of mental meandering that happens when you are playing around with ideals and wondering which one makes sense, and that’s what was happening with me. Read more>>

Safaque Kagdi

I completed my Masters in Business Administration, and then spent my early career working with one of the largest PR agencies in the world. There I learnt the nuances of communication intelligence and branding for a few years.mAfter I had a good grasp of how the industry worked, I felt I was ready to start on my own, but I was nervous. The problem with moving from concept to reality is that there is no guarantee of success. Read more>>

Bessie LeeCappell

My business began in July of 2019. It began as a solution to an issue I had as a mom with an infant. The solution is now called the Brush Bib- A protective barrier that goes around bottle brushes to prevent the user from being splashed on while washing baby bottles. A friend of mine sent me using my new invention and stated that I should sell the product. Read more>>

Angela Howard

During my 15+ years leading teams in Employee Experience, HR and Culture – I quickly realized that leaders had little no knowledge around how to assess, develop, and change organizational culture. My idea for Call for Culture and our IMPACT Culture Program was incremental. I wish I could tell you it came to me in a dream or in a spontaneous moment, but it really spawned from a few different places: Read more>>

Sylvia Cardim de Melo

I officially opened Strawberry Brand Studio in Jan 2018. It was in the back of having freelanced as a Strategist for a few years where I felt the work I delivered never felt holistic. I depended on a graphic designer or a web designer to execute to a vision I shaped, but that always felt short. After some internal back and forths (go back to corporate or open my own agency), I decided over Christmas break in 2017 that it was time for me to venture in the world of entrepreneurship and open my own agency, bootstrapped and all. Read more>>

Jasherrell Scott

This is a question I love to answer and that answer was one of the scariest decisions I have ever made, I just did it! As someone from a small town that did not come from much, the hardest thing on my business starter checklist was changing my mentality. I really had to push through the fear of failure and self doubt and take things one step at a time. With that, I first completed a few courses on how to start a T-shirt business. Read more>>

Allison Hartgraves

Being homeschooled, my middle and high school life revolved around two things: horses and sewing. I discovered a love and talent for sewing as a teenager, but the class projects never really went beyond potholders and pillowcases. Still, I discovered that as much as I loved sewing, I loved making projects for other people, being able to create something based on their interests such as a pillowcase in their favorite color or with their favorite animal on it. Read more>>

Nicole Oliva

Ever since high school, I’ve loved photography, but it wasn’t until college that I actually started taking it seriously. During my college years, I decided to switch majors from Biology to Marketing so I could have a career where I can unleash my creativity and still make a decent income. Read more>>

Rebecca Southern

I actually wasn’t trying to start a business. I have the infamous story line of ” I was taking care of this need that I had and was sharing with people on my Facebook page…and then they started offering to pay me to make them some.” It all started when I was smack dab in the middle of prepping for a bodybuilding competition. Read more>>

Mark Taniguchi

One day as I was pulling into my garage, I noticed that I had a bunch of paint cans and leftover material from doing work around my home sitting in my garage. I thought about how bad it is to dump paint and if there are options available for people to buy and sell used paint. Since I am always doing work around my home, I always find myself buying more supplies than what I actually need, resulting in a bunch of leftovers. Along with that, I have my tools that sit unless I’m using them. Read more>>

Oriana Oquendo

I’ve always love the beach and the natural style. One day I asked my mom to crochet a bikini for me. She did and I loved it, then I asked her to make more swimwear and it started to be a fun activity between mom and daughter. I created an instagram account exclusively for the swimsuits, all my girlfriends started to love them and we started getting people that wanted to make others. Read more>>

Jennifer McHam

I’ve always loved art – painting, drawing, you name it – and have dabbled in photography for as long as I can remember. My actual degree is in marketing with a minor in design. I worked in the corporate world for a while but decided to stay home when I had my first child. This is when my love for photography truly came to life! Everything about my new son fascinated me and I wanted to capture every single second. Read more>>

Kristyn Schnarr

My story starts out as a part-time side hustle while I worked in the corporate world. Long story short (to get to the meat of the execution), is that I got certified in makeup artistry back in 2016 and did makeup for Senior homecomings, proms and senior pictures up until I decided that I wanted to do hair as well in 2018. Read more>>

Ramoni Overton

I never planned to create a personal training business, but when I think back, it feels like it was destined. As a teenager, I realized that I’d been overweight throughout my entire life. In high school I decided I wanted to change my life and I lost 30 pounds in 2 months. I was able to keep the weight off until I left for college and gained over 20 pounds back. I knew what I had to do because I’d done it before, but this time I had an audience. Read more>>

Rona D. Drinkard

I have a passion for reading, loved women’s fiction, science fiction, mystery, drama…all of it. When I was introduced to Octavia E. Butler, after reading “Kindred” and realizing that this was a black female author who dared to write in a genre that was predominately males, I began to think I could write a book too. Read more>>

Ashley Duverneau

I always love answering this question because I didn’t intentionally start my business with an amazing idea. I actually had no intention on becoming a business owner until I had something people wanted to buy. At first it was me helping myself with my life long skin and hair condition by developing natural products to improve my skin’s health. Growing up with eczema, I had become frustrated with the lack of options for over the counter skin care for people with dry and sensitive skin. Read more>>

Jessica Bright

Ive always loved to plan and setup parties. See that grand finally and look of everyones face gave me great joy. Having someone say “Girl I couldn’t have done this without you, you just took the idea and gave it a new meaning. I started off assisting with my church’s women’s events such as Teas, Breakfast and Conferences. I started having people ask me to help them with their events and gatherings. I fund myself asking the same questions over and over so I developed a questionnaire to help me know where they needed the most help. Read more>>

Steven Giroux

Our podcast idea was born from family parties and vacations when three brother in-laws would get together to joke around and have fun. Conversations from those events were so funny that we wanted to share our experiences with the rest of the world. At those parties and vacations, we would always tell each other to “Never Stop Getting It,” which means to persevere through adversity, no matter what, to achiever whatever goal you’re trying to accomplish. Read more>>

Emily Montes

I started Marketing Geek Chic last year in May. I saw a gap in the marketing world for coaching clients and offering coaching sessions. I was currently working for a small agency and freelancing on the side. I wasn’t happy in my current state and wanted to create and run a business that I would be proud of and share my talents with B2B companies. I always loved the word geek and I actually consider myself a Marketing Geek always researching and learning new things in the marketing world. Read more>>

E. G. Creel

There are two types of writers, the pantser and the plotter. I’m very much on the seat of my pants when I’m writing. I listened to Neil Gaiman’s master class commercial on repeat. Hearing him say, “There are no rules,” gave me the permission I needed to tell my story and make it the very best I could. Read more>>

Pranav Kulkarni

As a passionate advocate for leveraging technology to solve real-world problems, I co-founded SafeR Mapping, a non-profit organization that creates optimal routing software for safe refugee relocation using AI mapping. When we first started, our goal was clear: to create “The Google Maps for Refugees” and help internally displaced persons find safe haven from conflict and violence around the world. Read more>>

Michelle Lynch

Well Ive always loved fashion and wanted to go to a fashion based school and my parents said ‘Oh No you’re going to college’, so I went to Arizona State University and I ended up taking marketing not knowing what I wanted to do other than be in the fashion industry and I happen to go to a model call during my last year and got selected because I was tall and I did my first show as a model and someone saw me in the audience that happened to be a modeling agent and thought I had a great look and the next thing you know, Read more>>