Starting a business is hard because it’s a fight with yourself, an internal battle – gaining the courage to get started, etc. Scaling a business is different – the challenges you face are mostly external to yourself. Each challenge has a million mini-challenges. We wanted to create a space for conversations and stories around growth and scaling. Below, you’ll find stories and insights from successful entrepreneurs across a variety of industries and markets.

Kirsten Anderson

I have been in business for 25 years at my current location, also traveling to do on location services. I started out as an apprentice roughly 10 years prior to opening my own private studio. For approximately 3 years I worked as an apprentice under. a very well known stylist in a very busy salon. It was long hours, extra early morning classes, assisting on photo shoots and hair shows on my days off from the salon, with very little pay. Read more>>

Brandon Curtis

I think what took my business to the next level was treating it like your only option. It can’t be something on the side it has to have your attention. So I currently work as a nurse so I see it as I have two full time positions currently until my business surpasses my nursing income. So for me that looked like posting consistently, at least every other day. Using all the marketing strategies I know work for larger corporations such as sms/email marketing, influencer marketing, etc. Read more>>

Robbie Harrell

Scaling up has been a work in progress since Minnesota Ice was founded. One of our biggest challenges has been growing and evolving our professional capabilities, not just to the size we are today but to the size we will be next year. Significant organizational financial growth has required the Minnesota Ice team to grow its professional capabilities dramatically. There are a few ways we problem-solved this challenge. Read more>>

Stephanie Kriebel.

The idea for OMG! Pretzels began with an after-school snack (hint: our Garlic pretzels) that Mom used to make for us when we were growing up. In 2014 we co-founded the company as a mother-daughter duo to share the family recipe with others. Lynn, my mom, who created the seasoning recipe and made the pretzel nuggets for us originally, made the pretzels in her kitchen two pans at a time and then packaged them for local retailers. Read more>>

Adam Trevillian

The growth I’ve seen in my business in 2022 has been unexpected. What started in 2021 as doing work for a couple of families a quarter quickly ballooned into 20+ families in a season. And honestly it doesn’t feel like I had to try that hard. The most important part about getting this business is putting my name out there. People can’t book me unless they know I exist. So I make sure people know that I exist. In addition, making it easy for customers to book you. Read more>>

Dr. Karwanna D Irving

A little over a decade ago I was stuck trying to figure out how to make my business work so that I wouldn’t have to go back to working for someone else. I had bad credit, little to no money in the back and was barely making ends meet. I was working more than 70hrs a week chasing customers but my business was only generating $20-$30k in revenues. And I was in the middle of a divorce with no help financially with my 2 children. Read more>>

Mariah Jenkins

Growing up, I’ve always said i wanted to be a cosmetologist. I didn’t know what that took until i graduated hair school and started working in a salon. I had 5 maybe 10 consistent clients at the time. That was great but it sure wasn’t a full clientele, one that would support me financially alone. So i did what i had to do to provide for myself and still made sure my vision wasn’t lost. I started at the salon in September 2018. Read more>>

Stevi Carr

“What got you here will NOT get you there” was the phrase I continued to remember through one of the most difficult moments of my career. The team that had a hand in building WISe Wellness Guild from the beginning was incredible, but the strategy required more dedicated expertise than the “side-hustle” support I had leveraged for almost two years. We had plateaued, I was too stretched, and the majority of my resources were placed in important but non-revenue generating areas. After consulting with coaches, a therapist and my team, I paused all team support for for three months. Read more>>

Jyll Kauffman

When I first opened Revolution Colour Studio in 2015, my main focus was on hair of course but to make us stand out we also offered makeup services which included mixing personal foundations. We ran as a typical salon with a receptionist, assistant and stylists. Life was good but I always felt something was missing. Then the pandemic hit. I was so afraid Revolution Colour Studio was not going to survive. Read more>>

Nicole McIntyre

Cocoa Forte™ started initially as a hobby, serving hand-dipped cheesecake from a tent. It’s events backed with community support where passions start and businesses begin. Our simple concept converted to a business after we tested it against the big name dessert brands in the seasonal retail mall setting. We were happy with the outcome, but understood that being mobile had lower fixed overhead costs. Read more>>