We reached out to some of our favorite entrepreneurs and asked them to think back and tell us about how they decided to start a business. Check out their responses below.

Kendra Biesemeier | Small Business Owner

I am a busy mom of three, and a wife to a farmer, so there is always plenty to do to keep up with life with them. I absolutely love our way of life, but the older our kids get, the more we started to feel like we were headed backwards financially. It truly feels like, gone are the days of stay at home moms and single incomes! My husband and I knew that it was time for me to go back to work. Read more>>

Mikaela Molnar | Owner of Simple Bare Necessities

I’m a pretty impulsive person who, if you ask my husband, tends to start too many projects. When you take that and mix it with a major passion for environmental change and a innocent level of impatience, it leads to randomly deciding to open a business in the midst of a pandemic. That’s the truth behind how I decided to open Simple Bare Necessities; I was yearning for a change, and I was too impatient to wait for someone else to do it. Read more>>

Will Bodewes | Founder & CEO of Spoke Sound

Ever since I was little I have always been fascinated by the idea of creating new things. The idea of building something that no one has ever done before and having people buy and use it has always inspired me. Before I even knew what it was called I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I went to school for mechanical engineering because I wanted to learn how to design “things”. Read more>>

Nicole Samuels | Photographer

I actually hadn’t planned on starting a business! I had little kids and loved taking their pictures. My husband bought me a “fancy” camera and my love of it grew from there. I had friends ask me if I would take their photos and it eventually grew into a business when they wanted to purchase prints and products. That was 12 years ago! Read more>>

Tracy Elena | Photographer

I started working in retail at age 15 and have had an abundance of jobs since, both in retail and food service. Throughout that time, I found myself never being truly fulfilled or content with where I was, and I was constantly looking for something new and different. While initially starting in retail, I already knew I had a love as well as an eye for photography, and I was semi aware of the fact that I did eventually want this to be my career, I was just never fully focused or fixated on making that happen. Read more>>

Cindy Li | Uproot Teas Founder & Tea-EO

I’ve always loved tea. From a young age, I started drinking tea way more than anyone else in my family. For me, tea has always meant comfort and connection: a source of warmth on a cold New England day, an excuse to slow down with a friend. Tea is deeply woven into my heritage; something that I hold closely to who I am. Read more>>

Aaron Pyne | Elven Wizard

The entire inspiration and process for my business has been derived by my experiences in meditation. During my inner journeys through mediation the format, structure, goals, and various aspects of the business were defined and created. My entire endeavor is oriented around t Read more>>

Clover Street | Owner/Operator

I love working with dogs. Whether it’s a police dog or personal pet, i truly enjoy developing relationships between handler/owner and canine. Problem solving and showing folks how to effectively communicate with their dog turned into a passion. Read more>>

The Curry Couple | Cinematic Travel Videos

We are passionate about what we do, we value the ability to control our work experience, and we would love to have a legacy when we get old. Amit grew up in a business family. I grew up in a family where income diversification was a top priority. So the things we’re exposed to during our formative years play a significant role in what we become. Read more>>

Mars Brown | Curator

Accessibility and Representation. I started my spiritual journey almost ten years ago and the most difficult part, for me, was all of the leg work i had to put in to learn the craft of spiritual healing through herbs and crystals and I also found that ambassadors for rootworkers who’d reached prominence did not look like me. I started Vashti Mars as a way to help resolve both issues. We supply the necessary tools – the knowledge and the items – in one place. Read more>>

Christian Ojala | Filmmaker and Drone Operator

My thought process behind starting my own business was to turn a hobby and a passion into a business. I wanted to share with other brands, creators, and businesses my passion and showcase how my skillsets can benefit others through the lens of a camera on the ground, or in the air. I wanted to start my own business so I can have the ability to work with whomever I choose and wherever I choose. Read more>>

George Baines | Entrepreneur, Author & Engineer

My thought process was that everyone should experience what I had growing up. That is the taste of homemade pound cake. At a time when people were looking for all natural, artisan cakes, with less ingredients, my grandmothers pound cakes was the perfect product. Read more>>

Laura Flores | Entrepreneur

When we planned to start our business, we were mainly motivated by being able to offer people a bit of the gastronomy of our country of origin (Mexico). Our main goal is to satisfy our customers by enjoying a delicious and unique meal. Read more>>

Jeff Becker | Book binder, Leather Journals & mandolinist

I kind of bounce around in life, so it was more of an accident than a consious choice. I was searching for a journal & either did not like the ones I saw or the one’s I liked were too expensive. So I took a class at Two Hands Paperie & learned how to do a simple Coptic binding. Read more>>

Tiffany Miller Blooms | Creative, Coach, & Collaborator

I began wearing flowers in my hair 12 years ago. I noticed the lack of creativity and quality in the flowers. While on a trip to D.C., I met a beautiful red sunflower in the middle of the square. I was inspired at that moment to create my own. I purchased supplies and began creating blooms in 2012. I gave my Honey Mama my first batch of blooms for her 60th BloomDay (birthday) and she loved them. FlyBlooms has been blooming ever since. Read more>>

Casper Alexander | Creative Entrepreneur

I’ve always been business minded since a kid. I remember asking to sell my toys at my neighbor’s garage sales. Fast forward to the beginning of Covid and being let go from my day job. At that point, I knew I needed to go all in, so I had more control over my destiny. So I thought about all the things I’d done over the years and ways to monetize them. Read more>>

Chad Jo Peterson | Voice over actor

There are two things I knew I really wanted out of my career path: to be independent and to be creative everyday. The thought of being a voice actor was something I fell in love with when I was a kid – from cartoons to radio DJs – being behind a mic and using my voice to be fun sounded like a great way to spend my time, but not a reality that felt within my reach. Read more>>

Angelina Lontz | All-natural & organic dog treat baker

I originally wasn’t trying to start a business. I just had some free time and silicone treat molds, so I decided to make my dogs homemade treats! They loved them so much, I decided to offer them to other dogs in the neighborhood I lived in. Soon I was getting messages asking when I was going to make more treats because their dogs loved them! Read more>>

Angelica Pohl | Makeup artist

My thought process on starting my own business came from being a stay at home mother. I found something that I was passionate about but also wanted to create the time and space to be able to be successful but also be able to move freely. I also wanted to be a role model in my daughters life to show her she can achieve whatever she wants if she works hard for it! Read more>>

Matt Land | Entrepreneur, Filmmaker, & Photographer

We get one shot at this thing called life. If you’re living your day to day clocking in and out at your 9-5, going through the motions to pay your bills, and live for the weekend you’re simply doing a disservice to yourself. There’s way more to life than that. The reality is that we can go at any time, and if that were to happen you’re going to want to look back on your life with a sense of fulfillment with no regrets so you can simply rest in peace. If that’s not the case for every second of every day you need to make change. Immediately. Do what you love!! Read more>>

Ashley Lauwereins | Jewelry Designer

I wasn’t athletic growing up, so to entertain myself, I bought some beads and started making jewelry. Turns out, I was really good at it and I loved it. I kept getting compliments on my creations. Then, in high school, I saw that a jewelry-making class was offered. I signed up expecting more beads, but instead, I learned metalsmithing techniques and how to form and shape metal. At that point, I was hooked and knew I wanted to continue to explore this art form. Read more>>

D’Ana Joi Spencer | Coach for Multi-Passionates

As a highly multi-passionate person, I found that even with the best on on paper, I would eventually get bored or burnt out. It was hard for me to imagine doing the same thing for an extended amount of time and I never considered myself to be career driven. I was always looking for a way to bring MORE of myself to the table. Read more>>

Brooke LeCount | Entrepreneur and Small Business Owner

I started The Dogwood Pup towards the end of 2018. After graduating high school in 2018, I was headed off to Longwood University. I was there at the end of summer to start my freshman year and by mid September I found myself very homesick and knew Longwood wasn’t the place for me so I came home. When I came home I knew I had to make a new plan of what I was going to do since I couldn’t start community college until the Spring. Read more>>

Ted Tahquechi | Blind Photographer, disability advocate and photo educator

At the beginning of this adventure, I set out with the clear (and possibly selfish) intention of changing public perceptions of visually impaired and blind artists. After a car accident in 1999, I was left with no vision in one eye and only 5% low functioning vision in the other, effectively ending a decades long career in the videogames industry where I created game franchises for Atari, Accolade and Mattel Toys. Read more>> 

Noah Fishman | Owner/Operator

When I was in high school, I was working for my town’s public library. One snowy Sunday, my coworker and I decided to shovel some properties. After only 5 hours of work, I had made double the amount of money I was paid the day before to work 8 hours. That math was clear enough for us! When it warmed up, my coworker and I quit our jobs at the library and began mowing lawns. Read more>>

Emily Picart | Owner & Designer at Bellator Leather

My business started out as a hobby with creating pieces for myself and close friends. This evolved into being something I was super passionate about because it not only provided a creative outlet but it connected me with the opportunity to offer an intimate experience where individuals see themselves in a new and profound way. From there the business side came naturally as I wanted to expand this experience for anyone and everyone interested in a leather accessory. Read more>>

Nicholas Gold | Founder of Schrodinger’s Packs: Tabletop Games

One of the biggest influences on my thought process when Sierra and I were starting Schrodinger’s Packs: Tabletop Games, was seeing our son’s love for playing Pokemon and Yugioh, it was still every bit as alive and inspiring to him as it was for me over 20 years ago, which granted me enough confidence to go all-in on our dream. Read more>>

Alastair Brogan | Chieftain

Single malt Whisky has always been a passion to me and in Scotland you cant go more than 50 miles before you pass a Whisky Distillery and you cant go to someone’s house without being offered a whiskey. When I moved from Scotland with my wife and 2 young children I started making American Single Malt Whiskey Distillery really as a hobby , who was I kidding. Read more>>

Johnny Argrow | Boxer & Boxing Coach

My thought process behind starting my own business was survival haha! I had considered the idea before, but I was somewhat comfortable so I never took the leap. I was leaving a job where I actually liked what I did and it just so happened to align with the business I had been wanting to start. Things kind of fell in place from there. Read more>>