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.

Adam Haman | Broker Associate

When we started the Mountain View Group, we saw it as an opportunity to combine our passion for Real Estate, family, and the best possible outcomes for our clients who count on us to help them navigate one of the biggest life decisions they will ever make– buying and selling their homes! With over $125 million of combined sales across our team, we were doing a great job individually. But together we’ve been able to brainstorm better practices and some fun and engaging marketing. Additionally, working on Real Estate in a fast-moving market is a 24/7 pursuit, Read more>>

Enrique Camacho | Owner and Master Roaster

I retired from the Army in Dec 2019, and I had determined that I wanted to try something completely different. A friend told me it was important to know what you want before launching; and if you didn’t know what you want at least know what you don’t want. I knew I didn’t want to work for the government in a civilian capacity, and I didn’t want to work as a contractor doing what I had been doing for 30 years. That left me with a full range of options – nonprofit, new career path, volunteer, politics or…. start a business. Read more>>

Ryan Durbin | Web Developer by day, Potter & Small Business Owner by night

I initially started making just for fun during high school through my summer and winter breaks, but I think I knew early on I wanted to sell my work some day. I didn’t necessarily know whether it would be sustainable financially, so I decided to minor in studio arts while majoring in a tech field at Northern Kentucky University. This path to start my career in computer technology out of college allowed me to continue making pottery on the side as I started selling my functional work to the public. It has always been a secondary source of income to my day job and allows me to experiment much more with the small business as it grows. I’ve now been selling on the side for 6+ years and hope to leave the tech field to sell pottery full time when it makes financial sense for our family needs. Read more>>

Kate Schaper | Police Officer & Photographer

I can honestly say that there wasn’t really a thought process in starting my own business. I have a full time job and kind of felt content in my abilities at my job. I was looking for more of a challenge and decided one day that I wanted to start photography. I always liked taking photos but really didn’t realize how much of a challenge this business would be. I started taking photos of my friends at work and from there began learning more. After a couple years of practice I turned my hobby into a business and found joy outside of my regular full time job. Read more>>

Jess Lindsley + Heather Bahlmann | Flock-Finders

When our youngest daughters were in preschool and the newness of motherhood was wearing off and the monotony of our routines were settling in, we stood on the playground with a mutual friend and out loud said, “is this it?” We knew we needed each other to extend the invitation to not let it be. We have found that women often won’t follow through on what they need, what they are most curious about, and what they are craving unless they are being held accountable OR doing it for someone else. We created a closed group of women that met once a month to explore topics from meditation to reducing our carbon footprint to exploring our sensuality. This group has been going strong for over seven years now. Read more>>

Curt Fulster | Author, Illustrator, and Producer (a.k.a. C. Fulsty)

The thought process behind starting my business, C. Fulsty Productions, LLC (C. Fulsty Books), was to take a shot at creating new, inspiring stories for children. It all stemmed from a conversation I had with a parent of a child in my “Learn-To-Play” roller hockey class I taught. We had talked several times before and he mentioned one day that his son hated reading. He said his son thought Dr. Seuss books were old and newer books were boring. He took his son to a bookstore to help him pick out some picture books but he thought the books were boring too. Read more>>

Nicole Lenz | Veterinarian and Owner of BarkWell Animal Care Center

Since I was a very young child, I always had a passion for animals and the outdoors. I was the child that spent weekends and holidays exploring the flint hills around our family cabin in rural Kansas. As I grew up, this love for animals developed into a desire to become a veterinarian, and the time I spent at our cabin helped me to see the beauty of our rural areas and small-town communities — I wanted to serve these communities and their animals. Read more>>

Kali Taaffe- Rawls | Owner and event coordinator of KTR events

The very first wedding I planned was for a very dear friend of mine that was battling cancer at the time. Her and her husband were already legally married and had 3 children but they had never had a big wedding. I wanted them to experience this and set out to get a complete dream wedding donated. Not only was I successful at getting a wedding donated to this very deserving couple but I was lucky enough to book two weddings from people I had met during the process. I had a fantastic time coordinating those weddings and decided events was where I wanted to be. Read more>>

Rebecca Mezoff | Educator, author, artist

I used to work in healthcare. While being an occupational therapist was a good job and I enjoyed many aspects of it, I wanted to spend time teaching and making tapestries. I took an online business class, learned about running my own business from the SBA in Fort Collins, and made and launched my first online class about tapestry weaving. I had taught tapestry in person but I knew that I couldn’t make a living teaching that way and needed to add online classes. The first class I taught was quite successful and I never went back to my healthcare job. Read more>>

Ashley Paige | Co-Owner

Our thought process began with our two daughters. We wanted to have the flexibility of our own business to be able to create our schedule to fit our lifestyle and be able to maximize being with our daughters. Also, when shopping at local natural grocery stores, we realized that there was no single serve cold treats available, and we saw this as a great opportunity. With both of these in mind, Read more>>

Tyler Purcell | Professional Filmmaker and Educator

We started our business during a time where colleges were dumping film programs left and right. The writing was on the wall and we wanted to do something about it. Working with local labs and resellers, we were able to acquire equipment at low cost and our students were able to benefit. Read more>>

Brynn Vollmer and Chelsea Iversen | Course creators for online coaches

As sisters, we have known each other’s strengths (and weaknesses!) since childhood. We had both been freelancing independently for years — Chelsea as a marketing writer and Brynn as a learning experience designer. But our professional journeys converged a few years ago when we both joined the same company and we had a chance to work together. We were both shocked at how amazing it went and how much we loved it, so when that opportunity ended, we really wanted to get a chance to work together again. Read more>>

Calvin Ludwig | Founder & Owner | 4Blades Digital Media

This one is kind of funny, it really started when I went to a local car show – and importantly, my wife didn’t want to come with me. That left me fully caffeinated and unsupervised to talk to about every single person I could find at the car show. Whenever I used to see a really nice and expensive car, I always used to ask myself “man, I wonder what that person does for a living?” Well, when I was left unsupervised at a car show – I did exactly that.  Read more>>

Bobby Cornwell | Photographer

When I got my first camera, I knew I was addicted for life. This was a passion that I knew I could happily do for a living. Starting my own business was an easy decision because it allowed me to learn at my own pace while developing my skills in all different types of photography. If I had chosen to work for someone else, I most likely would have only been focusing on one area. Read more>>

Deborah Padilla | Entrepreneur

One night I was really craving cotton candy and there was no where to get it. The very next day I got all the equipment needed and licenses to start a business . That exact weekend I went out to sale at a local park and noticed I wasn’t the only one who really wanted cotton candy . I decided to make my cotton candy super large (as large as 14 ft tall) and have over 101 flavors all handcrafted. Since I was 16 I’ve had 6 different types of businesses, but this one has been my favorite! All my businesses have had the name “Ordinarily Beautiful” because you can turn any ordinary thing into something beautiful. It’s been a blessing to have a business that makes people happy and laugh . I love to be able to create something that others can enjoy . Read more>>

David Threlfall | Founder of Trill Pills

My mother developed lung cancer and I started to research cancer alternatives. I found that THC can create apoptosis (natural cell death), but she would not try it. Unfortunately, she passed away, but I kept up on the research and decided to get into the cannabis business to help people understand the therapeutic properties of THC. During that time, I came across CBD and the vast number of ailments CBD can help with on its own, and when paired with other Cannabinoids like THC, CBG, and CBGA, to name a few. In my 12 plus years in the cannabis industry, we helped thousands of people with all types of health issues, but I could not find a high quality, clean option for CBD, so we decided to produce our own and sell it in our dispensary. Read more>>

Matthew (Mick) Minyard | Tattoo Artist/Owner

I had spent many years working for someone else, having someone else be my boss. I’ve been tattooing professionally for 22 years and managed several tattoo businesses before. I felt it was time to branch out by myself and get ahold of my own career and not have someone over me or dictate my daily life. I wanted to create a safe and inclusive space where my clients felt open and comfortable in their own skin. It’s important to me to have people feel relaxed in the environment of the shop. Read more>>

Ray Mirzabegian | Pediatric Cannabinoids Therapies Coach

My business was born out of necessity. Ten years ago I found myself desperately searching for a product that could potentially save my daughters life. You see I have a special needs child who has a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. She started having seizures at 5 months old, and by the time she was 9 years old she’d had over 20,000 seizures. Unfortunately all available medications had failed to control her seizures and we were at a point where we were looking into hospice care for her. She was about 10 years old when a documentary was aired on CNN by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, called “Weed” part 1, and in this documentary he featured another child with the same exact diagnosis and condition as my daughter whose name was Charlotte Figi. Read more>>

Larry Moore | Artist, author, instructor

To be honest, I never had one. I often tell people that my career has been like a leaf in a stream, it goes where it goes. I started in graphic design and advertising and worked for two agencies. But, after a few years, I felt the paycheck wasn’t worth the complexities of being in a corporate environment, so I went out on my own as a freelance creative. I found that I enjoyed illustration more and leaned into that and had a good run for about 30 years. I then moved into a different kind of art-as-a-living modality, plein air painting (painting on location at plein air competitions) which lead to being picked up by galleries. Read more>>

Leo Tsuo | Owner, Weston Backcountry

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” Weston is my third venture (maybe 5th if you include some of the stuff I did when I was younger) and all were done on the basis that starting your own business is the best way to ensure that you are passionate about the work you do. “Passion and discipline are all anyone needs to succeed in life” Read more>>

Jessica Caruso | Realtor & Hospitality Consultant

I have been a hospitality professional/consultant for about 10 years and the biggest lessons I took away were prioritization, humiliation, and communication. These, to me, are skills not everyone can master in their daily lives, and shifting over to full time Realtor, will continue to help me as I build my own brand; my own version of a “boss”… but a boss to nobody but myself. The hardest employee to have. Read more>>

Dana McCausland | Hypnotherapist

I have always had a natural ease connecting with others, intuitively understanding people on a deep level. I knew I wanted to have a career working with others in this capacity, but did feel as though the traditional mental health route was for me. Hypnotherapy became very interesting to me when one of my good friends (who is actually a licensed therpaist) introduced me to the idea. I had been working at dead-end meaningless jobs and this felt like the biggest “aha moment” of my life. Immediately I got to work getting certified and working with other alternative mental health professionals to learn more about what this field had to offer. It has been the most amazing journey of my life. Read more>>

Kevin Johnson | Tattooer/Artist

To be honest, I never even thought twice about it. It kind of just fell into place with being an independent artist. The business side of things is something I’m still dialing in. Art came naturally and was my only focus for so long, now that I’m getting older and more established I am learning how to balance between the business side of things and the creative side of things. In the future I will definitely be diving deeper into creating a line of merchandise to help establish more of a brand that will align/compliment my tatttooing. Read more>>

Cathy Burds | Service Dog Educator & Advocate

If everyone was educated about the ADA law, service dogs, and civil rights, that are tied to visible and invisible disabilities, then my world would be completely living the American Dream.. When I got my service dog, I realized that society doesn’t understand that it is the law that I get to have a service animal. So the inspiration for the business was to educate, so that I could have my freedoms back. Read more>>

Emily Pack Jessica Samuels | Content Creators

Starting your own business is no easy task. You have to be ready to work harder than you have ever worked before. We knew that going into starting a self employed career as a content creator would be dependent on how much effort we could and still do put in. I think the process is best describes as blood, sweat, and tears. I will say once you are doing something you are so passionate about, even though you are working 10 times harder, it suddenly all feels worth it. We are still growing, learning, and pushing ourselves everyday. Read more>>

Tom Sundro Lewis | Semi-retired photographer/woodworker

It seems like I have always run my own business. For 25 years I designed and built everything from decks and additions to cabinets and furniture until due to old job related injuries I just couldn’t physically do it anymore. That was almost 20 years ago. I was still relatively young. (54 at the time). So, what was I going to do? I still needed to earn a living and I still loved to create. Well, I had always loved photography, so I decided this was my chance even though I had always suspected it’s a very difficult way to make a living. And it is. Even harder now than when I started out. And it took me many years to build it up. Read more>>

Dawn Cooper | Real Estate Photographer

Honestly, I never wanted to own my own company. Several years ago my husband at the time, wanted me to quit my full-time job and run his photography businesses. The thought of running our company, not having a reliable, steady income, was very nerve-racking. But the freedom of running your own company, setting your own rules, and being in charge, is very liberating! Now that I have my own business, I can never see going back to a job where I have to answer to someone else. Read more>>

Regina Pasqualone | Owner & Maker, Tiny Kitchen Candle Co.

Deciding to start my own business was not something that came easily to me. I was a public school teacher before starting TKCC. It was the only career I had ever known and it was “safe.” However, in the last few years of teaching, my mental health was deteriorating. I was constantly tired, anxious, and depressed. The little energy I had I used to get through my work day, and once I got home, I would collapse on my couch. As a mother, the guilt of having nothing left to give my son only compounded the difficult feelings and emotions I was already experiencing. Read more>>

Julie Jacobs | Psychologist, Attorney, and Risk Management Consultant

My initial thought process was “no way!” I was never interested in starting a business and always assumed I would work for other people throughout my career. When I decided to go to law school at 39 years old, my older brother kept saying “you need to hang your own shingle” and I would laugh and respond that I am not a business person and don’t know enough to run my own company. Read more>>

Laura Zucker | singer/songwriter and music educator.

Most creatives I know start out having one or more day jobs to pay the bills while their creative endeavors take shape, take hold. For many, having a day job is a necessity that allows them to pursue their artistic path. I started off with a day job that some would say is antithetical to creativity- a lawyer chasing down the dream of being a singer/songwriter. The more I immersed myself in the music scene, the more opportunities seemed to appear. So I quit my day job, took a big deep breath and said “yes!” to those opportunities. I knew I would never make as much money as I did as a lawyer, but as a single mother of three kids, I needed the flexibility to structure my work in a sustainable way. Read more>>