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.

Michael Lloyd | Artist & Founder of LEFOURSEVEN

Financial freedom and generational wealth. It’s what I work for every single day. I strive to be able to provide my family with opportunities to be what ever it is they want to be. Read more>>

Juliet George | Photographer

The question I always asked myself was; how can I get paid doing what I love? It toke me a while to figure out that for me it has always been photography. I started doing photography 5 years ago. I didn’t own a camera so I always toke my picture on my iPhone. I was the many few that started with an iPhone rather then with a camera. So the transition was rough when I had the money to get my camera. I had never token a photography class or held a camera till I had saved up for one. I spent endless nights with the camera in my hand figuring out how to use it. Read more>>

Paria Saber | Certified Herbalist, author & pilot

My main goal was to create products that can raise awareness about animal cruelty, conscious shopping and also healing power of herbs . As a vegan I’m strongly against animal testing which is still common in beauty industry so I decided to create a skincare line that delivers results and also could be approved by leaping bunny organization . It wasn’t easy but I achieved it. In 2020 I got covid and suffered from several health issues but I was able to restore my health by using herbal remedies . For this reason I try to share my story with others and educate my clients about herbs . My luxury herbal tea blend was a great way to entice my audience and follower to add herbs into their diet . Read more>>

Jordon Brockman | Owner & Artist

Until recently, I spent all my adult life working as a professional stage manager. In that position my job was to support those that create the art. It was an extremely satisfying job for me, and very important to that business, but there is not a lot of artistic input. As I got more and more involved in creating art of my own, in the form of my leather goods, I felt a growing desire to share that with the world, to put my art out there and see how the world reacts to it, to see if I could bring both some function and some beauty to people’s lives in some small way. Read more>>

Lindsey Nhingsavath | Content Creator/ Denver Creates, Owner

When Fashionably Late Productions was created ideally, it was a thought when I first started getting introduced to fashion shows 6 years ago. My photography business Stay Positive was headed in a different direction and I decided to rebrand and start marketing myself as an fashion editorial photographer who also did commercial/brand shoots so Fashionably Late became a thing to become more “professional” with a niche. Read more>>

Vic Carter | Entrepreneur

Building up the confidence within to take the leap. Read more>>

Zach VanCamp | Principal + Designer at VanCamp Design Co.

I started my own business so that I could work on what I wanted, with who I wanted, when I wanted, from wherever I wanted. It’s not always as glamorous as the above sounds but it’s a heck of an improvement from several shops I’ve worked at. This won’t be a surprise to many but there’s an unspoken rule in the design / marketing industry that if you’re not grinding 24-7 you’re not doing enough. Funny thing is I actually thrive in that environment – but success there began to come at the cost of my physical & mental well being, my relationships, and overall happiness. Read more>>

Scott Stillman | Author

First, I started a blog, posting essays and photographs of my solo backpacking adventures. As the blog gained followers, I had many requests to write a book. So I decided, if people are interested in reading by stories in the form of a book, why not give the people what they want! The whole thing started organically like that. Read more>>

Olivia Ferrante & Erica McMahon | Co-Owner’s

With everything going on around us from the pandemic to politics, we decided that we wanted to add some good to the world. So we thought, what a perfect time to start a local all vegan meal prep service! We wanted to create a business that would show people, being vegan isn’t limiting, but that it’s freeing ! We are trying to create an opportunity for folx to see they don’t have to give up their favorite foods, or much at all really, to be vegan. Plus, we wanted to give existing vegans more variety for food in the Denver area ! Read more>>

Jay Ryser | Photographer

It started out as a hobby; I started a Facebook group for local wildlife photographers. It started out very slowly, with only a couple of dozen local photographers at first, and stayed that way for months. We’d add new members at a very slow pace for the longest time, and that was perfectly fine – this was a labor of love. Then we started adding lots of new members, mostly local, some from elsewhere in the state, and some from elsewhere in the US. We even had some from other countries. Read more>>

Patrick Joiner | Pop Culture Enthusiast & Producer

Initially, my goal was to simply share my hobbies and passions on social media platforms in hopes that it might provide some level of joy and entertainment. It wasn’t long after that I realized I could use my same passions for Pop Culture, as a form of marketing and visual production for other like minded companies. Read more>>