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.

Laura Ramirez

Frosted by Laura has been a journey for sure, which actually started as LauraKay Sweets. I started my business in 2016 while attending culinary school and working as a prep cook in a local restaurant. While attending culinary school, I shortly realized that baking & pastry was my main interest and that is what I wanted to master. I started offering my services to friends and family and created an IG business that same year. My business was mainly small cakes & party treats such as chocolate covered strawberries, cakepops, & chocolate covered pretzels. Read more>>

Brooke Happe

When I started b.e.happe in 2016 it was a hobby, something that I could do when my kids went to bed. Once I started doing in-person markets locally it was becoming more and more difficult to keep up with making our handcrafted hats. I knew that I needed help making our knit and crochet hats. I reached out to our church knitting group to see if anyone would be interested in joining my team. What I thought would be an easy process of I am a knitter- she is a knitter turned into a much bigger thing. Read more>>

Isaac Perlman

My business is significantly larger than when I started in 2013. I started cooking privately in clients houses out of my trunk. I essentially got to running a full on catering with just and SUV and an igloo cooler on wheels. Doing bridal showers, corporate dinners, and even wedding dinners with a team I would call for that event and we would cook out of the clients home or a rental kitchen I would bring and set up shop if it was a venue without a kitchen. As they say you really do need to fake it until you make it. Read more>>

Kati & Alex Pauls

For many years KP Design consisted of only 1 person Kati. It was always our dream to work together and in 2019 we took the leap and Alex became a part of the team. From there we worked on ramping up our networking and taking on more monthly projects from local small businesses. In our first year working together we managed to double the amount of business we were doing just by being active members in our business network community. Read more>>

Mike Lopriore

”Scaling up” can actually mean different things to different brands. For us, it’s never been about simply expanding the company. We remain family-owned to maintain the integrity of what we create so everything we attempt is in service of that ideal.
Ever since I joined the company, my dream was to bring my father’s name Michele Lopriore to the US. And not just because it offers a larger consumer base but because having a foothold there represents another step in cementing our position in the luxury market. Read more>>

Becky Durigan

So I have a very unique story that is probably not a normal scenario. Unlike most small business owners, we purchased our business. But that’s the media story, but the nitty gritty to how it happened. You see, my husband had lost his job in 2020. We had a newborn baby and I was working very part time. We were barely getting by and we had no business purchasing anything, nonetheless a company. Read more>>

Justin Scher

When beginning my journey as a professional Dog Behavioral Therapist, it was quite scary to say the least. For one, I started this endeavor in 2008, a time where the US economy was almost headed into depression from the housing market collapse . I did had formal training offered by Bark Busters USA, but coming in, I had zero experience and yet people were hiring me to resolve whatever issue their dog(s) had. To add, no one really knew anything about me or who I was in the industry. I didn’t have any testimonials as to what I could do but I knew, in order to build this business, I needed to gain necessary experience and build a reputation from scratch. Read more>>

Karen Gallier

All Gussied Up is continuing to grow. When I first started AGU, I was experimenting with buying and had no real plan except to buy what I liked and see how it sold. To be more successful, I realized I needed to set goals and research what is currently in style so I could buy more competitively. I also want to offer a quality product, so I needed to find vendors who sell quality items at a good price point. To achieve these goals, I got my business license so I could buy wholesale from a wider variety of vendors. I also research the trends for the coming seasons before I make a purchase. Read more>>

Lauren Roberts

When I first started Archie’s Views Photography, I’ll admit I started off blindly. They weren’t joking when they say on average it takes 7 years for a photography business to break even. I had started my business going to every single Little Elm High School football game from 2015 to 2018 when my baby sister, Sydney Archibald, was a cheerleader with the school. From there, word had seemed to get around that Sydney’s older sister was photographing the games, cheerleaders, and halftimes which in turn help received some recognition within the school. Read more>>

Pareesha Gudipaty

It is very easy to look at someone else’s success and want that for your own business. I personally have had instances where I looked at a competitor’s business model and thought to myself, it’s so easy I can do that too. However, I have come to learn the hard way that not everyone’s journey is the same. When I first started the business I had little success with online sales. Our business started picking up when I started doing farmers markets every weekend for a year and a half. We had repeat customers, our prices were unbeatable and our customer service was phenomenal. Read more>>

Daneisha Simon

When I first started my business I had the same idea as a lot of other people in the world- all I have to do is copy what everyone else is doing, and BAM! booming business. Of course, this journey did not work out like that lol! Majority of my learning process came from various YouTube videos. I practiced my craft a TON in the beginning. I was so eager to get to the “booked and busy” status that I just knew one day I would wake up to a bunch of people wanting to book my services. Even though I practiced a lot, I still negated the fact that my beginner’s journey was far from over. Read more>>