Deciding to work for yourself is often cited as the best decision folks in our community have made. Hearing the same response over and over led us to ask them about the next best decision folks have made and we’ve shared their responses with you below.

Cortney Marcinczyk | Silversmith & Business Owner of Mountain Glow Studio

In May 2021 I lost my partner Johnny Whelden to suicide. We shared a beautiful home and life together in Jamestown, Colorado. After his passing, that beautiful life was ripped away and my world was pulled out from underneath my feet. I was left floating (more like a shell of a human), grieving, lost and confused. At the time of his passing I was working part-time at a Tree Care company in Boulder that we both actually worked at together and spent the other part of my time making jewelry. When he died, I quit my job immediately and began the process of selling our home and processing my pain. With the help of my incredible community, family and an amazing therapist, over time I was able to start standing on my own feet again. Read more>>

Beth Baldwin | Nationally Certified Addictions Counselor

The single most important decision was to leave the full time position that supported our living expenses and risk contributing our attention full time to our addictions practice. We realized that it was necessary to leave our jobs to truly help others with our spiritual of service as well as enjoy our chosen career and independence. With making this decision, we are now able to service our clients individual needs and issues and assist them with finding viable solutions without giving ourselves and our own lives away to our full time job restraints. Frankly we can now commit because we no longer feel as though we are captives to our full time jobs. With this, we plan to hold on to the habits and values learned at our positions in order to provide services to a wider spectrum of clients. Read more>>

Rodrigo Ramirez Sierra | Founder & Director of Alpine Luxury Events

As an entrepreneur, I knew that starting a business was going to be hard and I was going to need help. I made sure to surround myself with hard-working and positive people. These are people who I have worked with in many stages of my professional career and I can depend on them to bring a positive, problem-solving attitude to our events. Read more>>