It takes a lot more than an idea to build a business, but there can’t be a business without the idea. So we asked folks who’ve built wonderful businesses to tell us about how they came up with the idea in the first place.

Justin Kruger | Founder and CEO

I struggled with my mental health for most of my life. During my twenties, I was hospitalized twice. After exploring most of the conventional mental health treatment options, I was frustrated with the fact that I was still struggling. This led me to thoughts of suicide and a feeling of hopelessness. At a point where I was struggling intensely, I was invited to volunteer. Normally, I wouldn’t engage in this type of activity because my social anxiety wouldn’t let me. However, I was invited by someone I just started dating. Naturally, I said yes, mainly to impress her. I had never volunteered and had no real expectations for the experience. The event started with the host organization telling us what we would be doing and how it would help those in need.R Read more>>

Heather Currier | Owner of Leavenly.com and creator of the Sourdough Mamas movement

Leavenly.com was started after a conversation I had with my husband about my sourdough baking. I had just started baking regularly, and I was talking about keeping a journal so I could keep track of what was working and not working. He recommended that I start a blog so I could share my mistakes and knowledge with others, as well as keep notes for myself. Leavenly was born, and it’s evolved so far beyond what I could have imagined back then. Today, Leavenly is all about helping busy women and moms learn to bake sourdough for their families by removing the intimidation and confusion from the process. I realized that I found a secret to baking sourdough at home with two kids under 2, and I wanted to share this secret with every mom in the world. Today, I have over 2,600 email subscribers and 1,300 members in my rapidly growing Facebook community, Sourdough Mamas. Read more>>

Allison Rissel | Founder of the Yoga Teacher Conf

The Yoga Teacher Conf was born when I became sick of the yoga industry. I got sick of hearing yoga teachers say “just trust in the universe.” I got tired of being paid almost nothing but being asked to invest thousands of dollars into my continuing education. I got tired of hearing about more sexual misconduct in the yoga industry. I got tired of other yoga studios stealing my intellectual property. I got sick of hearing everyone complain about the yoga teacher industry but no one take action. So I decided that I would take action and work to help connect, support and provide affordable continuing education for yoga teachers. I created the Yoga Teacher Conf as a way for yoga teachers to come together, learn from each other, create community over competition and be change we want to see in the world. Read more>>

Reid Husmer | Founder and CEO

One Saturday morning, I was eating breakfast and knew that I was going to have a rough weekend. It was time to do some Spring cleaning! Ughhhhh! After a nice breakfast I had the courage to go down to the basement and see the monster that was slowly taking over my house. What a mess! My first thought. No problem, I can order a rolloff and be done with this mess in one day. No! That’s not right. I can’t throw my son’s favorite car bed into the dumpster. Let’s do this the right way and keep stuff out of the landfill. So I went to the computer and looked for a service that would take my stuff and keep it out of the landfill. It turns out that there really wasn’t a one stop service. Read more>>

Noah Kaufman | Board Certified Physician & Health & Wellness Expert

As a physician, I have seen patients adopting CBD tinctures and products to use for a variety of ailments and as a supplement for inflammatory processes and sleep/anxiety. The stigma is changing rapidly in medicine and many of us providers are recommending that patients try CBD. At the same time, I noticed that the market is flooded with poor options: Not Organic, poorly processed or researched, poor genetic strains, non-full spectrum, shoddy practices etc. Patients need a high-end physician-backed product that they can trust and afford and that is USDA Organic and best in class. When I saw the hemp the Dory Family Farm was lovingly producing, I knew that people could benefit strongly from a superior supplement and line of products that I could get behind and use for myself, my family and my patients. Read more>>