Are you thinking about starting a business? If so, we think you’ll enjoy reading about how these seasoned entrepreneurs thought about the question when they were in your shoes.

Sarah Lacko | Women’s Empowerment Coach/Backpacking Course Creator/Women’s Retreat Host

I’ve always been passionate about helping others. I can remember a friend’s parent telling me at 7 or 8 that I was meant to help people and that I was probably going to end up being a nurse (which I thought was hilarious) but I knew I would be doing something for others, maybe just not in a super conventional way. Read more>>

Lina Rodriguez | Bridal Artist & Entrepreneur

I’ve always had the certainty of having my own business. I grew up watching the most amazing parents paving a way for themselves and their five children in a foreign country and I knew I was standing on a platform that most people didn’t have. My parents always taught us the power that there was in the freedom to control your own time and be able to choose what you invest your energy into. Read more>>

Rees Gibbons | Cinematographer & Marketing Specialist

I always knew I was going to do something for myself. Since I was little, I have always been on the move, constantly moving from place to place and doing my own thing. I found film after I finished a stent in Europe finishing school for journalism. I fell in love with the fast pace adventure that came with a camera and kept doing it due to the freedom it allowed me to travel Read more>>

Jocelyn Gentry | Events Beverage Director & CEO

I started Tap Truck Fort Collins for many reasons, but mainly because I wanted to have more autonomy over how I spent my time and energy. As someone who has worked consistently since age 16 (more like 11 if you count working for your parents on a guest ranch!) I have learned that I like to decide how to spend my time, money and energy. Read more>>

Gina Marie Burck | Online Fitness & Nutrition Coach

Google how to lose weight and you are bombarded with 3 million results and 5 different quick fix ads. It was no wonder so many women were so stuck and confused in their fitness and health journey. I started Commit to Fit Coaching to break through the noise of the fad diet industry, the quick fix schemes, and help women get real, sustainable results in their health, and help them create the best version of themselves. Read more>>

Tiffany Vora | Speaker & Thought Leader

I wish I could say that my first business, which focused on science communication, was part of a grand life plan. The truth is that I became a founder out of frustration. Frustration that I was doing the labor of science editing but splitting revenue with an agency. Frustration that I wasn’t building relationships with scientists as they shared their stories. Read more>>

Hugão Corintiano | Youtuber

Tudo se deu na Pandemia do Covid 19, estáva trabalhando de uber , mas não estava satisfeito e não me sentia realizado, consumia muito conteúdo de futebol no YouTube, e um belo dia em uma manhã de Outubro eu perguntei a mim mesmo, porque não criar um canal sobre o Corinthians na plataforma? E sem saber absolutamente nada de edição, filmagem ou até mesmo como a plataforma funcionava eu fui a luta !!! Read more>>

katie fowler | Artist, Author, Teacher, Speaker

I decided to start my own business after I self-published a book and began teaching and speaking on a national level. I am a certified creativity coach which means I can ask all the right questions so that clients can find creative sucess on their own terms. Read more>>

Hannah Duncan | Violinist & Musician Practice Planner Designer

As a musician that has a lot of pieces to practice I needed a way to remember of what I’ve practiced. I’m the type of person that easily forgets what I’ve practiced within the week and what still needs work so I had to come up with a system for keeping track. When I was auditioning for music schools for undergrad I remember using a simple chart that I created on Microsoft Excel to keep track but I knew I also needed something inspiring or more atheistically pleasing to look at rather than Excel sheets. Thus I turned to designing. Read more>>

Kara Lang | Fiber & Clay Jewelry Artist

Long ago, I had the dream to create and sell for a living but ended up taking a few different paths along the way. I’ve also always had a habit of creating things for myself but then I end up having all these extra materials to use to make more and don’t know what to do with it. Finally, after a lot of encouragement from family and friends, I started using the extra material to create inventory with the intent to sell online to family and friends and maybe do a holiday market or two. Read more>>

Kadi Bain | Pilates Studio Owner & Instructor

I wanted to start my own business so I could help others and really provide an individualized approach to Pilates. I started doing Pilates over ten years ago and it immediately provided relief to my neck and lower back, of which I had chronic pain from a few childhood injuries. Read more>>

Amber and Dannie Burr | Owners of Daddy’s Homemade

We honestly never had the intention of starting a business! My husband developed some health issues that got us looking closer at ingredients on labels. We used to buy the big containers of syrup from the store and he quickly realized how much high fructose corn syrup was in those containers. He decided to try making his own homemade maple syrup from his Grandma’s recipe for our kids and family. Read more>>

Madison Paige | Small Business Marketing Specialist

There was never really a question that I wanted to start my own business. The actual business idea itself? That was the real question. But to be honest, it happened naturally. I started somewhere. It kept evolving. I noticed a need and I kept adapting and then I found what I truly loved. Read more>>

Adrian Stanciu | Woodturner/Woodworker

It was truly an incremental process. Woodworking started out as a hobby and grew into a passion. When my employment situation changed at the and of 2020, I took the opportunity to delve fully into the craft. It was also a critical change for our family as I had been working away from home for the previous 13 years. I now had the chance to work a flexible schedule from my own home, and make up for lost time with my daughters. Read more>>

haven AQ | Artist/ cartoonist/ muralist

It was never my plan to start my own business. I was just never a good fit at any regular job, and I had always loved doing art. I started out by doing small (custom art) requests for people I know.. that lead to getting small gigs, mostly by responding to (and posting) ads on things like craigslist.  My advice to Artists out there (that want to start doing art for a living); start by doing small jobs for friends,  classmates and coworkers. Read more>>

Danielle Jimenez | Certified Master Hypnotist

During the pandemic I began having very vivid dreams so I started dream journaling like I used to when I was in high school. I used to be really good at keeping track of every dream I would have and really wanted to build a career around dreams and psychology. Life went in a different direction towards a corporate career and I eventually lost touch with dreams and rarely gave them a second thought. Read more>>

Desiree Rich | Owner

I’ve been going to Pinot’s Palette for 10 years and I’ve always liked the culture and the service I received when I attended as a customer. When the opportunity presented itself to transfer the business to us, we had to do it. We have loved getting to know our employees and enjoy being part of the community of Fort Collins. We know we have very large shoes to fill but hope that we can say that we made it for another 10 years in 2032. Read more>>

Marie Hornback | Calligrapher & Calligraphy Instructor

Opening my own calligraphy business was an easy decision. I had already helped my husband open his dental lab business, and I had also opened another business teaching Business and Corporate Protocol and Etiquette after I finished my training at The Protocol School of Washington in 2005. I have always loved handwriting and had dabbled around in broad edge pen lettering. Read more>>

John Black | Artist and Creator

My thought process in starting a business was to work in a field doing what I loved. I have always been a artist, it was figuring out how to take that to the next level and monetize while still allowing created freedom. Read more>>

Jennifer Meinking | Professional Storyteller

I’ve had an entrepreneurial bent since I was a young woman. It was modeled for me by several women in my family and became something I wanted when I began having children. Running my own business meant setting my own hours and being available to my littles when they needed me the most. So I’ve done quite a few different businesses, but my latest venture into the publishing world took me a bit by surprise. Read more>>

Shari Schroeder | Co-Founder Dems for Action

This isn’t the first business for me, but my reasons have been the same when looked at from a broad perspective. Seeing an unmet need that I can approach in a completely new way really fuels the creative business process for me. Read more>>

Desirae Miller | Friend of the medicine + Shopkeeper

Adobe Garden originally started as a small-scale hobby. I would infuse herbs into honey on the windowsill of my little adobe kitchen. I would harvest herbs from my garden, marry the infusion out of this tiny kitchen, and share the final goods within the community. With this in mind, Adobe Garden was founded and created in 2018. Read more>>

Christy Wells | Holistic Nutritionist & Integrative Wellness Coach

My passion for health and wellness began over almost two decades ago after losing my mother to cancer and disease. Unfortunately, never receiving answers for why she suffered is what began my pilgrimage into pursuing wellness for my own life. Being hungry to absorb as much knowledge as possible, Read more>>

Kristi Odom | Conservation Photographer and Visual Artist

To be honest I am much more of a photographer at heart then a business owner. I am really passionate about the planet and how I could use visual art to share my love for wildlife. In order to do that and tell the stories I wanted to tell, I had to structure a business around photography. My passion for conservation grew so strong, I had to find a way to make it happen. Read more>>

Dwinita Mosby Tyler | Chief Catalyst and Founder, The Equity Project

My process began with realizing that I needed a bigger and different platform to do my work. I have led in some wonderful large organizations in my career, but I felt constrained in my ability to leverage the power of my voice. I was speaking through organizational values instead of my own. As a speaker and facilitator of the complex topics of equity, inclusion and diversity, I knew that I would have to form my own business to amplify the topic in my own way. That is how I started The Equity Project. Read more>>

Evan Olmstead | Health and Fitness Coach

To help change other lives the way mine was. That is truly my #1 priority at all times with my program. I struggled for over a decade with yo-yo dieting. Constantly losing the same 30 lbs. over and over. After so many failed attempts at a sustainable lifestyle… it starts to really mess with your mental state, not just the physical. Read more>>