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.

David Miniatures

From the outside, my business can look like one of those “overnight success” stories. One day I’m making miniatures, the next I’m collaborating with celebrities, brands, and publications, with hundreds of thousands of people following the work. Read More>> 

Darrell Kenny

I chose the question about how we have handled growing as a business. I chose this question because I feel like it’s sort of a unique story because my wife and I started making soft Plastics just for ourselves, to be able to choose our own colors and to have some fun making baits. Read More>> 

Shannon Jennings

I believe meaningful growth begins with genuine connection. From the very beginning, I focused on cultivating strong, lasting relationships with my clients – because trust, once earned, creates its own momentum. I take the time to truly know the women I serve, and that level of care can’t be manufactured. Read More>> 

May OConnor

People assume my business “took off” because my work got better or I got luckier, but the real scaling moment was when I stopped doing everything manually and started building infrastructure. For the first stretch, I was the bottleneck. Every lead lived in my inbox, every follow-up was in my head, every onboarding step depended on me remembering it, and every project started from scratch. Read More>> 

Melissa Erker

People love the idea of “overnight success,” but I don’t know a single business owner who actually lived that story. Mine definitely wasn’t overnight, it was slow, quiet, and sometimes uncomfortable. I started Flowers by Melis after spending years as a stay-at-home mom. Read More>> 

Keiaundria Ragland

my secret to scheduling up is Community collaboration. When others see that you are not just out for yourself and see you come to help, expecting nothing in return, the favor always comes back. My network see that I have a passion for us all to grow together. The outcome in networking; happy customers and clients refer others. Read More>> 

Savannah Vinson

I actually started out as a model myself. When I was on set or going to castings, people would always ask me things like do you have a friend for this or do you know a model who would be good for this. At some point I realized I was already doing the job of a casting director without even meaning to. Read More>> 

Nena Rivas

**Stitching Success: How an Immigrant Entrepreneur Built a Thriving Fashion & Sewing Business in the United States** In a world where fashion often moves at the speed of light, the most compelling stories are those stitched slowly, intentionally, and with heart. Read More>> 

Jane Beiles

I founded Jane Beiles Photography in 2011, building the business through freelance work focused on architecture and interiors. With the dawn of the digital age, creatives had more need than ever to document their work to build compelling websites and social media portfolios. Read More>> 

Hayden Van Hulzen

People love the idea of overnight success. It is clean. It is cinematic. It makes for a great headline. But in real life, overnight success is usually the result of years of quiet, unglamorous work that no one sees. That part of the story is rarely told honestly. Read More>> 

Laura LaRue

From the outside, it can look like Lulu Liquor Cakes exploded overnight. In reality, the growth happened in small, imperfect, sometimes accidental steps—with plenty of risk, mistakes, and pivots along the way. My scaling journey didn’t start with a business plan, investors, or a viral moment. It started with a single post on Facebook Marketplace. Read More>> 

David Arustamian

I have always been a hard worker, I will do whatever it takes to create more exposure. To this day, I still go out and actively look for business, and I hear more “no’s” than “yes’.” Those “no’s” don’t discourage me, they motivate me to keep showing up, build new connections, and earn trust over time. Read More>> 

Lisa Easton

People often assume my success happened quickly because they see the outcomes — the companies, the community, the recognition — but the truth is that nothing about my journey was overnight. When I started, I was a single mother navigating survival mode. Read More>> 

carlton washington

People love the idea of “overnight success” because it makes the outcome feel magical instead of earned. That wasn’t my experience at all. What people see now is the result—not the decade of pressure, uncertainty, wrong turns, personal risk, and constant recalibration that came before it. The truth is, scaling didn’t happen in a straight line. It happened in layers. Read More>>

Ivo Peshev

My Answer: Growing a business is never an easy task. It has taken us years to scale, and we’re still scaling and improving today. While numerous factors contribute to business growth, I’d like to share what I believe are the most critical elements of our journey. Vision as the Foundation First and foremost, you must aim high. Read More>>