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.

Samantha Wootton

I recently just became a small business owner back in September of 2021. Rag Proper came from passion created by now 3 years with Samsville Gallery. People ask me all the time how I got started with Sam & it’s simple, Something I think we should all do for ourselves. Advocate for your business and sell what you have to bring to the table with confidence. So my dad & I were in Cheyenne at the Daddy of them All’ roping. I finally got my day away from the arena for a bit and ran across Samsville. Read more>>

Hannah Barnthouse

I’m a lover of all things that make a statement; vintage jewelry being at the top of that list. Hair Candy by Han was born during the pandemic as my passion project turned small business. Creating became my source of joy in a tumultuous, uncertain and strange time. A situation that seemed otherwise lonely and hopeless quickly became an opportunity to foster community. Read more>>

Kateřina G. Tomaselli

I’ve always had a talent for painting. But I didn’t develop it in childhood. Instead, I went to college, I had various part-time jobs, and eventually ended up working in an international corporation. The big break came during my maternity leave. For my birthday, my partner arranged a one-day session with a tattoo artist. At the end of the session, I made her first tattoo on a real person. Sure, It was just a begining of the whole story and the learning process. Read more>>

Vanessa Tinsley

Bridge to Hope is actually the 4th business I’ve started. This one was born out of a deeply personal experience and conceived around my kitchen table with 3 of my dearest friends. Having an idea and getting it on paper is the easy part, but bringing the idea to life required some grit. The original idea was to provide basics such as soap, shampoo, toilet paper, and laundry soap to families on food stamps when we found out that personal hygiene products can’t be purchased with them. Read more>>

Denise Ives

Taking an idea and into action now a days is fairly easy due to the advancement in technology. From the moment the thought presented itself I decided to make a cup of coffee, sit at my desk and search google to see how many others were celebrating women on a global scale. I spent hours reading the search results and diverse links on women groups, meet ups and businesses. Read more>>

Michelle Honkomp

The idea of VPQ was born from a philanthropic effort to help the communities of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after Hurricane Maria hit in 2017. My proceeds still to this day go towards donating to the Islands. Puerto Rico and Virgin Island communities. I didn’t start thinking about how this could scale into a business until a coworker told me, “you should sell this on Etsy Michelle!”. Knowing how saturated Etsy was and is with jewelry makers, I didn’t want these pieces to get lost in the crowd. So I said, “fuck it…why don’t I make my own website and sell them on their own platform?” Read more>>

Taurus & Brie Teel – Williams

Got Drip 4 Sale!!! I Got It! Do You? That’s how it all went down in February of 2019, kicked back in our bed vibing off Plies hit song “Got Drip 4 Sale”. Y’all! We knew we was on to something, Brie immediately pulled out her pad and sketched the original Got Drip Inc. logo. That’s it! That’s the design! Taurus said, however, we knew we needed to separate our drip from everyone else’s to change the perception of the word drip. Read more>>

AUBREY BANKS

FIRST LET ME START BY SAYING, I FEEL LIKE IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESFUL IN TODAYS SOCIETY, YOU HAVE TO FOCUS ON SHORT TERM GOALS. SOME TIME LONG TERM GOALS CAN SET YOU UP FOR FAILURE. SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW WHAT LIES IN TOMORROW, BUT YOU CAN CONTROL TODAY. WHEN I START ANY BUSINESS, IT OBVIOUSLY START WITH A IDEA, THE DIFFERNCE BETWEEN ME AND ALOT OF OTHER PEOPLE IS I MAKE MY IDEAS REAL IMMEDIATELY . I BUY THE DOMAIN, I CREATE THE LLC, AND GET THE EIN NUMBER EVEN IF ITS JUST AN IDEA. I DO THIS BECAUSE THEN IT MAKES THE IDEA TANGIBLE NOW ITS SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN TOUCH. FROM THAT POINT YOU CAN EXECUTE AT A QUICKER AND MORE PROFICENT PACE. Read more>>

Nicole Hansen

In order to understand the idea you have to understand where we were at, “we” being my husband Harry and I. We actually began working together in a collaborative way in 2001 when I was approached by Sundance catalog to produce a limited run of work for their Christmas catalog. At the time I was creating modern hand raised hollow form vases, oil lamps and candleholders. Sundance was interested in my work but concluded it was too modern for their audience and suggested perhaps I could collaborate with my husband (who at the time was both a farrier and a blacksmith) to combine his hand forged ironwork with my modern Sterling silver, Read more>>

Pearls

Well it started off when I was in high school, 10th grade to be specific. I always loved the idea of being independent and being able to have my own. I use to apply for jobs but none of them ever wanted to hire me, I was 15 at the time so maybe my age played a role. So I started thinking like “hey I know how to sorta do hair so why not profit from it?”. So I began servicing girls who use to live in my neighborhood, crazy thing is I was literally charging a ver low price per person. Read more>>

MIKO BRANCH

LEARNING MY CRAFT: As a young girl growing up in Queens New York I was always drawn to things that were beautiful and fashionable. In the 70s my mother was an artist and attended The School of Visual Arts and Pratt Institute in New York so art and beauty was no stranger in our household. My dad wanted me to be independent so at a young age he put my sister Titi and I to work. We did everything from cleaning to painting and spackling homes to help him and his real estate business. Read more>>