Starting and growing a business is hard, but often deciding to start the business in the first place is even harder. We asked some successful entrepreneurs from around the community to open up to us about how they thought about starting a business.

Melissa Rickman | Restauranteur, public speaker, World Pizza Champion

I believe that we each have a god given gift or talent and that it is our job, if you will, to share it with the world. I was given the gift of service and the love of great food, I am very fortunate to be able to share that gift each day. Read more>>

Shaley Bolks | Restauranteur & Fitness Instructor

Long before opening Daily, I had dreamed of bringing a more whole food focused, fast food concept to Sioux Falls. Prior to the current wellness industry boom, I experienced a major shift in my personal health when I lost 160 pounds through cleaner diet and exercise. While learning to cook and prepare more non-processed versions of comfort foods and beyond for myself, the lack of healthier options for dining out became more evident. It wasn’t until a few years after my transformation, and with the rapid growth of the health and wellness market, that I felt our community was ready to support a place like Daily. I was working as a fitness instructor at FORM Fitness when I met my business partner, Steve Gratzfeld, who was looking to start a local cafe and coffee shop just across the street. Luckily, we shared a similar vision for bringing a health focused, fast casual food concept to life. And so the planning started in the winter of 2017. Read more>>

Tim Flanagan | Husband to one, father to five, and papa to 10

Looking at the industry, I felt SLC could fill a couple of unique niches that would highlight our strengths-floral programs and sustainable solutions for existing commercial landscapes. Read more>>

Cooper Peterson | CEO of runGLUBZ LLC, Co-host of the Kingdom Kommerce Podcast

I experienced a problem, and I had a solution! For me, starting a business was an opportunity to create value for a community that I am a part of- the running community! I knew others struggled with cold hands on wintry runs, and I wanted to make a difference. Read more>>

Kristen Miller | Owner of Boho Studios, Master Injection Specialist BSN, RN

When I started the business, I had 8 years of being in the industry, as well as training. I felt empowered to create a business model that was fully my own. My style of injecting has always been a more natural and artistic approach and created my business with that in mind, in its totality, from the studio look, to the vibe we create and the look we go for in all our clients. Read more>>

Suzy Hunt Gardner | Artist and Owner, Dream Follower Designs

I’ve always done art, my mom’s and artist and several people in my family are artists, it’s just natural for me. I have created jewelry since I was 10 years old. My cousin Tina and I made beaded earrings and sold them at her mom’s cafe in the little town I grew up in. The next year we made spoon rings. Neither one of us still have a ring or earrings, I think we sold them all! Greedy little capitalists! I took metalsmithing, ceramics and sculpture in college… but then I got busy with life. Got “real jobs” and life happens! When my kids were little I started making jewelry again – just as gifts for friends and family. And then a friend said she’d have a home party for me, kind of like Silpada or Tupperware, and things just rolled from there. I named my company Dream Follower. Why? Our lives get so busy and we hustle just to get through our daily chore list. I came to a time in my life when I realized that I still had dreams I wanted to follow and needed to prioritize them if they were ever to be. Hence, Dream Follower. Follow your Dreams, they know the way. Read more>>

Blake Sinnock | Director of Photography and Video Editor

I started my own business in April of 2020, so right at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. I have been on staff for 8 years or so, and was itching to control my own destiny. I think everyone around me thought I was insane for leaving a stable job to do my own thing, and to be frank, I was pretty panicked for a couple months there with the world shutting down. However, I had a small trusted network of other creative professionals navigating the same thing. I treasured my relationships, and went the extra two miles at every opportunity. I ended up making more money than I had in my salaried position that year. Pretty crazy. It’s always been my goal to own a business, if for nothing more than to take responsibility for my livelihood. I feel like I have more control over my income, and a greater motivation to do great work. It’s tough sometimes, but I wouldn’t do it any differently. Read more>>

Wesley Panther | Owner of Ancestors Distilling Ltd.

I had previously looked at opening my own bar as I had recently opened one with one other party in Denver, but I found myself a little burnt out in the bar business and had a growing interest in distilled spirits. I thought to myself, what if I learned the art of distilling and opened a bar with my own spirits? I thought about how this would allow me to expand my market, knowledge and overall potential for revenue. Read more>>

Noor Adwan | Artist

It was almost accidental. I joined Instagram almost a decade ago when I was 12. It wasn’t my initial intention to start a business; I just wanted to share my art with the world. But my content sort of exploded, and I ended up gaining about 100,000 followers in just a couple of weeks. I decided that was a sign to try using my platform to make a living, so I’ve been offering a wide variety of commissions and originals online for about that same amount of time. It was a very weird and uniquely 21st century experience ― blowing up online as a preteen ― but I’m glad it happened and glad I seized the opportunity to keep cultivating my online presence in order to make a living. Read more>>

Debbie Emick | Author & Co-Creator of Go Bucket Yourself

In 2011 I began being diagnosed with multiple autoimmune diseases. Some of the diagnoses were very rare and serious, affecting my heart and lungs. This made it clear that time was my most precious resource and eventually led to me leaving my 14-year teaching career to heal and spend more time with family. Read more>>

jay strear | Business Coach and EOS Implementer

I think the decision to start my own business was less about a thought process and more about finally listening to my inner-voice. For nearly thirty years, I brought an entrepreneurial spirit to the not-for-profit sector. At times this impulse was welcomed, and often I was pursuing change at a pace far faster than what the organizations could tolerate. Read more>>

Megan Silvertooth | Owner, Le Snack Fine Foods

Having both owned our own businesses in Denver we knew eventually we wanted to do the same in Grand Junction. Our friend Ben Parsons, owner of The Ordinary Fellow Winery, approached us to be the food source at his winery in Palisade. Wanting to serve seasonal high end food to pair with his wines seemed like the perfect opportunity to get started! Read more>>

 Tom Frear | Musician & Engineer

My thought process was that there weren’t any recording studios in Rapid City that were able to get a good sound, so I decided to start my own with the goal bring to record my own music. I got busy enough to justify quitting my “real” job and do the studio thing full-time. Read more>>