We asked some of the city’s most brilliant and creative minds to tell us about the most difficult decision they’ve had to make.

Sarah Chartier | Retail Store Owner-The Spice & Tea Exchange

The most difficult business decision I have had to make thus far was deciding to close a second location we had in Vail, Co. We had this store open for about 4 years, and honestly it was a struggle the whole time. Sales were well below projections, finding and keeping employees was a challenge, and not to mention living 3 hours away. This made managing the store, inventory, and employees all that much more difficult. Read more>>

Landon Jones | Devoted husband and father committed to leading his family

After working tirelessly for 17 years for a Fortune 500 company and climbing the corporate ladder, my wife and I made the decision for me to walk away from my senior leadership position and pursue what we claimed mattered most to us – faith and family. We had it all. We were living the “American dream”. We had a beautiful three-story home on acreage here in Colorado. We took incredible vacations multiple times a year. We had a garage and a barn stocked full of toys. But, we couldn’t shake that inner voice that constantly said “there has to be more to life than this”. So, we sold our home and gave most of our belongings away. I put a six-month notice in with my employer and we made the decision to devote our energy and our resources towards growing in our faith and intentionally raising our four young boys. As we started saying “no” to the world and “yes” to things that were either faith or family-related the pieces all started falling into place. We had never felt so free and had never experienced so much peace. Read more>>

Mike Kremsreiter | Founder, Content Creator & Consultant

The most difficult decision I’ve ever made was in 2020 when my wife and I decided to move from the Chicago suburbs to Colorado. At the time, I was running a successful residential painting company, which I had built over 17 years. The business wasn’t perfect, but it had a solid brand, good online presence, and a loyal customer base. My wife had an opportunity with her company, but she needed to be in market to take the position, which sparked the conversation. Read more>>

Anakacia Shifflet | Couture Designer, Author, and Artist

The most difficult decision I have ever had to make took place eight years after I launched my business officially, and only 5 years after I opened my studio location. A location I was absolutely in love with, a place of creativity where not only my dreams came true but my clients. However, life has a way of doing unexpected things and for me that came with COVID, which developed into Long COVID. As you can imagine everything changed for me, from my health to my business. I had to take a hard look at my circumstances and make changes which included closing my studio location. I was heartbroken, but I turned my attention into looking for new opportunities. For as Socrates said, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Read more>>

Joni Wilde | Creative

I grew up in a Mennonite community, got married at 17, and had babies at 19 and 20. My marriage was abusive and the church had always felt restrictive to me so at 27 I made the most difficult decision to leave it all behind. It wasn’t a fast or easy decision. It took me a few years to gather enough courage to walk away. The toll of being told you have no value and could not survive without a partner, mentally gripped me in a way that made anything outside of the church and that relationship feel impossible Read more>>