Readers often email us asking us for advice about new businesses they are thinking about starting and we often find that many of them don’t have a framework for thinking about a more fundamental question: why should or shouldn’t you start a business?

Below, you’ll find how successful entrepreneurs from across the city thought about this very question when they were considering whether to start their businesses.

Christina Ambalavanar | Owner of Amba Creative & Founder of Neighbors Denver

I’ve always lived in places where there was a large unhoused population, but due to safety reasons, never felt like I could do something about it. When I moved to Denver, I had to pass by the Colfax/Broadway bus stop every time I came home, and every time I would feel this overwhelming urge that I needed to do something to help them. Read more>>

Taki Bailey | Lead Baker & Owner of AJ’S Dog Bakery

The thought process behind starting AJ’s Dog Bakery was very personal and rooted in the loss of my dog, Apple Jack. He passed away after eating a rawhide bone, which made me realize just how dangerous some common pet products can be. Rawhides can cause blockages, choking, and other health issues, yet they’re still widely sold. This tragedy drove me to find safer alternatives for dogs, and I became passionate about creating treats with ingredients that pet parents could trust and actually pronounce. Read more>>

Dd Goodson, | CSCS, Owner/Director of Strength & Conditioning

A lot of thought went into starting my own business. I believe having a solid mission going into starting my own business kept me grounded and focused on building it. My mission started with, and still is, to provide athletic teams, sport coaches, and athletes with proper strength and conditioning protocols to help them reduce their risk of injury in their sport or activity, improve their strength, speed, & performance, and help them gain better knowledge of strength and conditioning protocols to utilize. Read more>>

Rhiannon Fink | Contemporary Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Addiction Counselor

Psychotherapy is my second career. My first career was as a yoga teacher and yoga therapist. In my yoga career, I was never the teacher who was passionate about helping you with your frozen shoulder–sorry, frozen shoulders! My talents, skills, and interests lied with catalyzing and supporting transformation in emotional, relational, and mental health as well as compulsive behaviors. After 10 years in the yoga world, to grow in my capacity to facilitate change, it became a natural next step to pursue a masters in counseling psychology. Read more>>

Sami Griffin | Animal Trainer and Behavior Consultant

I started my own business to combine all my experiences and support both humans and their pets, improving their bonds and understanding of one another. By creating Wise Whiskers Training, I could offer compassionate, individualized care that is inclusive and flexible. My background in Gender Studies and anti-oppressive work heavily influences my approach. Read more>>

Chris Tyrrell | Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Speaker

When I started my own business, it wasn’t something I had planned or set out to do from the beginning. Instead, a great opportunity presented itself, and I decided to take the leap. It was only after I got the company off the ground that I realized I had the chance to do something much bigger than just changing my own life. Read more>>

Evan Russack | Co-Founder & Partner at WorkInProgress

After working in the advertising industry for other people for 15 years, my partners and I had a vision for the company that we wanted to create. A company that has a culture that is not just obsessed with the work but equally obsessed with the people at the agency. On top of that was career preservation. My tenure, pay, and age made me a liability, and I didn’t want to fall prey to organizational optimizations. Eight years later, one of the most fulfilling aspects of building WorkInProgress has been bringing our mission and vision to life and having close to 60 people who we respect and value. Read more>>

Amanda Pamplin | Restaurant Owner

My husband and I have been in the restaurant business for over 27 years. We worked together at 3 different restaurants, and we also worked at separate restaurants throughout the years. We both have served, bartended, managed and I was a general manager for over 5 years. We always wanted to own our own business. I was the manager of Revival Brews for 2 years, when the owners started talking to us about buying half or all of Revival Brews one day. Read more>>

Fahbia Ahmed | Event Balloon Artist & Civil Engineer

I never imagined I’d become a small business owner. My path has always been guided by logic and practicality, which is why I pursued a degree and career in civil engineering. However, after moving to Denver, I found myself decorating for friends’ birthdays and celebrations, a passion rooted in my childhood. My grandma Joan, who always made special occasions memorable, and my grandparents, who started their own small business selling cross-country skis in retirement, both deeply inspired me. Read more>>

Kyle Voska | PGA Teaching Professional & Owner of The Divot

This has been in the making for years now and I’m so grateful it finally came to fruition. I’m a PGA Teaching Professional who’s been teaching golf for a living at The Links Golf Course in Highlands Ranch, CO for the past 11 years. I have a very loyal following of students including one of the largest junior and ladies academies in the state. Over the winter months, it was tough finding consistent places to rent out and, like many other seasonal outdoor sports, it’s important to be able to offer year-round options which enhances my teaching business, but also keeps families/students active over the winter months. Additionally, I have 3 other full-time PGA Teaching Professionals who teach with me so it’s great to be able to offer them a home to teach year round now. Read more>>

Hailey Schnieders | Embodiment Portrait Photographer

I like this question a lot because I’m actually in the very beginning stages of growing my photography business.
Right now, my thought process revolves around a few core things:
1) Creating the space and setting for an introspective experience for my client that is both, candid and honest in the images, and therapeutic to his/her nervous system
2) Supporting my client’s reinvention process (a career shift, new life chapter, breaking their current narrative)
3) Recognizing beauty and rawness and organic emotion unraveling, and capturing it in the least invasive way. Read more>>

Cole Crawford | Owner, Carbon Strength & Conditioning

In January 2023, I left my tech job after seven years. I had been feeling stuck for a while and realized I had a choice: keep complaining about my job or do something to change it. I put in a month’s notice not knowing what exactly was next. I’ve been passionate about health and fitness for 20 years, and my wife Lainey was going to a CrossFit gym nearby. I reached out to the owner to get his perspective on working in the fitness industry. Fortunately, in that conversation he offered the opportunity to coach on Saturday’s. I dove into learning the ropes and quickly found I enjoyed coaching and could see myself working in the fitness industry. Read more>>

Jake Miller | High efficiency home builder/remodeler

From early on, I knew I wanted to own my own business. My career in residential construction began with a national builder, where I built a solid foundation in homebuilding, learning the ins and outs of various trades, and deepening my general construction knowledge. This experience ignited a passion for not just building houses, but for doing it with exceptional quality. Read more>>

Nick Gallina | Owner of MACE – Mobile Auto Care Experts

Starting my own business has always been a dream of mine. The difficult part is getting through the fear that comes with trying something new so late in my life. At 45 years old, married with 2 kids, it was terrifying to think about taking such a risk. Fortunately a few things happened that became the perfect storm that led to me finally taking this leap of faith. Read more>>

Michael Young | Proffesional Freelance Muralist

It took me a very long time to fully realize that working retail since I was 18, with the occasional mural here and there, had finally burned me out. Getting joyfully fired from my last retail job ( I was 55!) was the push I guess I always needed to just go with murals. It was incrddibly liberating and it proved to me that I had more ability to improve my happiness than I ever thought possible. Read more>>

Thomas Davis | Owner/Operator Filament Amp Works, LLC | Electronics Technician

My journey into the world of electronics started in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I grew up. A science fair project in the 8th grade ignited my passion for building distortion pedals. Under the guidance of a skilled mentor, I deepened my understanding of electronics and began building and repairing my own guitar amplifiers. Read more>>

Alex Vaughan | Transformation & Movement Coach- Allyship and Anti-BS

My thought process behind my business has been rooted in creating spaces for people to be, to have and to feel. I am a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor, ACE Certified Advanced Health Coach, Level 1 Reiki practitioner, and LGBTQ Peer Specialist in training. After over 25 years in the fitness industry, I kept finding how many fitness spaces are shame-based and I got sick of it. Literally sick of it. I started having panic attacks before going into teach my classes. I said no more and took action. Read more>>

Violet Elder | Soulful Photography and Spiritual Lifestyle

I believe the entrepreneurial spirit has always been alive within me; starting a business was an impulse, like a flame that couldn’t be ignored. I’ve always been someone who thrives on creation and innovation, with a fire for doing things my way. I’ve come to see that everyone must walk their path to truly discover themselves—and for me, business allows for that constant unfolding of self. It is a canvas where I can see myself reflected in the wider world, and it gives me the freedom to imagine, dream, and create. Read more>>

Nick | CEO & Founder, wovebike.com

I had begun making prototype bicycle saddles while I was completing my doctoral studies and I had offered my design to a large saddle company. The owner of that company told me to go start my own company, so that’s what I chose to do. I’ve been passionate about the idea of making my own bike parts for over thirty years, and I’ve especially been passionate about bike saddles due to the comfort or discomfort they can create while riding a bike. Read more>>

Rachel Hough | Sustainable Fashion Designer

Interestingly enough, I never began my company with the thought of turning it into a business. I had always been a concert & festival attender for over 13 years & making my own outfits was always a part of the experience for me. People had been coming up to me so much that my friends at the time in 2019 expressed to me that I should start a company selling my creations. I had been making patches for book bags & such, but decided to start making skirts & hats to see where it could lead me. It just slowly grew over the years especially since moving to Denver from Alabama, there was a lot more opportunity here in the festival & fashion industry. Read more>>