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.

Drew Wayne Roberts | Co-Founder, Ghoul’s Night Productions

Drew Wayne Roberts had the idea of putting together a production team after he and Madi Lyn worked together on his first horror production: Tunnels. Drew and Madi met at a horror movie trivia night hosted by Drew’s horror trivia troup: Ghoul’s Night Out. Read more>>

Tricia Martin-Owen | Founder & Head of School at The Oak School, a nature-based, holistic school in Lakewood

I decided to launch The Oak School because I was confronted by an issue with our education system, and that issue nagged me until I made the commitment to do everything I could to change it. Read more>>

Devika Kamboh CFP, MBA | CEO, Sohum Mountain Ranch LLC| CEO, Sohum Financial Planning LLC | Founder & President, Sohum Global Foundation, Inc.

I have had an entrepreneurial mind set since I was a teenager in India. My profession as a Certified Financial Planner in the financial industry also required a business oriented thought process and being self motivated as my built my client base over over than 20 years in New York City, before I moved to southern Colorado and bought this Ranch that I named Sohum Mountain Ranch. Read more>>

Erika Benavente-Arzola | Colorado Esthetician & Master Lash Technician

My thought behind starting my own business was that I needed to do something that I enjoy in a daily life, I needed to get out of the norm hamster wheel, working Monday through Saturday an 8 til 5 job. Needed to start spending more time with my family especially during the holidays. I’m the type of person that get board easily and stops enjoying work after awhile. Starting my own business gives me that daily adrenaline not knowing what my next client has in mind for lashes or what’s the clients concern/goal for their skin care. Read more>>

Nevada Crandall | Creative Director & Hormone Health Coach

Freedom. Financial freedom, freedom of schedule, freedom of location. Growing up, I watched my parents be successful (but busy). I always admired them for their work ethic and drive, but also wondered if things could be different. Upon entering the “real world” I realized that my time was the most precious asset and that I wasn’t willing to give it up or waste it on anything that didn’t mesh well with the lifestyle that I wanted for myself. Read more>>

Dave Smithey | Adventure Enabler

Top Out Adventures comes out the incredible experiences I’ve had the privilege to have outdoors and the people who have helped me along my personal outdoor adventuring journey. I always tell the story of Narissa who was willing to help the schmuck who walked into the running store to buy trail shoes. She hooked me up with my first pair and invited me to a weekend trail run. Read more>>

Brock Benson | Bike Shop Owner/Teacher/Director/DJ/Podcaster

My thought process has a lot to do with my history and sense of duty, so I’ll give you a quick rundown. I grew up on a cattle ranch here here in the West End. My father was the superintendent of the coal mine in Nucla when it was operating in the 80s. My mother was the secretary, and Peabody Coal Co. Read more>>

Regan Smith | Founder, Facilitator & Chief of Staff

Living in bigger cities around the world has given me the opportunity to meet so many different kinds of people and really be challenged in my perspective through diverse relationships. I found that when I came back to Denver there were not a lot of spaces to meet people who were wildly different from me. I also found that most of my conversations revolved around similar topics such as work, outdoor activities and other surface level small talk. Read more>>

Trisha Herman | Gym Owner

I never imagined starting my own business. It really fell into my lap. When fitness became my passion and I started teaching Zumba classes I truly just realized that our small eastern Colorado town didn’t have the amenities to offer more fitness classes. I was bouncing around to locations trying to teach Zumba and even joined a spin class that carpooled to a gym an hour away. With my concern, the conversation started with a family friend who owned a vacant building downtown who needed a renter….late on a Friday night the idea of the Holyoke Fitness Club came to fruition and the rest was history! Read more>>

Marina Bommarito | Mental Health and Neurofeedback Therapist

.After graduating with my master’s in clinical mental health counseling directly following my undergrad program I craved freedom, spontaneity, and a looser idea of structure. Working through school and spending so much time being places I was told to be when I was told to be there provided the groundwork for work ethic, responsibility, and time management but I needed to be the one taking the wheel for a change. I took some time off and traveled the country in my camper van for a year. Read more>>

Chuy Dorado | Owner of Le Nettoyage

I thought that I would rather be the owner of something, even if it was small, than the worker for someone getting rich off of my work. I value my time and my independence and the only real way to get it is to work for myself. I figured all of the effort I put into it will be for me and even though it’s gonna be a struggle it’ll be worth it. Read more>>

Katryna Kirby | Founder of Social Kat

Like most people in this world, the idea of starting your own business is intriguing. The thought of naming the business, creating a logo, being your own boss, working whenever you want, sounds pretty amazing, right? So while I would think about owning a business in the back of my head, I had to keep moving forward, keep working hard in my current positions, keep learning and keep networking to figure out what that might be and look like. Read more>>

Maria Wulf | Artist

In 2008 I was forty four and getting divorced. I knew I wanted to focus my life on being an artist, something I’d never given the time and energy to. I had a studio in a small barn on a friend’s farm where I was making my quilts from repurposed fabric. My friend, writer Jon Katz, (who I later married) had his blog for a year or so by then. When one of my quilts sold after he put a picture of it up on his blog and wrote about it, I decided a blog of my own would be a good way to sell my work. Read more>>

Nikaiya Lawson | Artist and Entrepreneur

It kind of just happened in a way. In high school I was asked to compete in a mural competition for Zappos in downtown Las Vegas. I painted two live-murals facing a popular tourist street on Freemont. At the same time I won several huge art awards for two series I was working on in my junior and senior year. A business owner and family friend was opening his own barbershop and commissioned me to paint almost the entire space. Read more>>

Shequan Smith | Mentally Ill- in real life and business

My thought process behind starting my own business was that I needed to be able to create a job that fit my lifestyle. The mentally comes from my own struggle from mental illness and the Ill is for my battle of cancer. Those two things influence the majority of my life, even when I get the “clear” from my doctor there’s always that thought of will my next results be good or bad, the moment I feel bloated or a pain I quietly panic, and there’s constant thoughts of the unknown with my health overall. Read more>>

Janna Yost | LCSW, NBC-HWC, RYT, Clarity Breathwork Practitioner

my own business naturally aligns with my journey.  I have had the privilege of working within nonprofit community mental health centers for the past 8+ years and have grown in countless ways. I believe it is a privilege to be a witness and to hold space for another who is on their healing journey and I hold such gratitude for each person who has trusted me. Throughout my career thus far, I have been able to form my unique lens of sacred space and offerings that I feel deeply called to share with others. Read more>>

Shannon Henn | Artist & Gallery Owner

Believe it or not, Colorado weather was one of the factors of opening my own business. When I decided to dedicate my time to my artwork, I needed an outlet to make money from my creations. I started out doing art fairs in and around Denver. As everyone in Colorado knows, weather turns on a dime here and wind gusts, flash rains, and cold spells are part of our everyday life. Read more>>

Jessika Martin | Tongue tie specialist, breastfeeding enthusiast, nasal breathing evangelist

A deep desire to offer a higher level of care. When I work with a client they receive my undivided attention and generous appointment times. You should never feel rushed or unheard. All of my clients have my personal phone number and they’re encouraged to use it. We all come with a backstory and that story plays a significant role in our current situation. Read more>>

Arthur Imemelo | Talent agent, songwriter & Philanthropist

My original plan was to build something my family could use to push their artistic work further than just local influence. I started New Era Musik after noticing I had a bunch of guys making music but no one really had a direction or a visitions for what’s next. The music industry is a very treacherous path I’ve seen many great artist go silent over labels twisted contracts and I was determined to help as many as I can from being low balled or wrapped into contracts they didn’t understand. Read more>>

Jeff Ditsworth | Owner, Pescador on the Fly

I’ve been an avid fly fisherman and have traveled for business for 10+ years. Back in the day when I first started fly fishing, I almost always brought a fly rod with me on my trips, pretty much everywhere I went. There are places to toss a fly almost everywhere. You can get into trout, bass, panfish, carp, and when you get to the ocean, it gets really interesting. I started bringing 4 piece fly rods with me, and that got to be a pain. Read more>>

Zach Iggy” Ingenthrone | Metal Fabricator”

Growing up, I always had some sort of side hustle and I think it just became part of my personality. So many of my friends are business owners – and you know they say you are the average of the 5 people you hang around so it was my turn! I’ve started to see the world through the lense of a business owner. It just so happened that metal fabrication aligned with my passion as an entrepreneur and a solution to a gap in the market. Read more>>

Jacob Viers | Founder and Owner

When I moved to Colorado from Iowa ten years ago I found myself in a land desolate of good BBQ. Back home there was a small neighborhood BBQ spot called Woody’s Smokeshack. Woody used cherry wood and the atmosphere inside his small BBQ joint was warm and welcoming. It matched right up with the experience I was trained to deliver working for Texas Roadhouse. Read more>>

Sami Nammari | House cleaner

In short, I saw a need and filled it. I have always wanted to own my own business. I have never liked having a boss telling me what to do. My original dream was to open a restaurant because, I love cooking. After about 15yrs of working almost every position though, I realized that owning a restaurant was the last thing I wanted to do (many reasons behind that decision, lol). Read more>>

Bud, Maggie & Matthew Hird | Small Business Owners with State Flag Concept Designs

We always thought about starting our own business and were challenged by others to actually do it. At our son’s swim meet in Maryland, we saw an image that gave us an idea that was the premise of our entire business – to tie the state flag with images that people like and connected with their lifestyles. We started out with a Maryland flag rockfish magnet and decal, and then designed a Maryland flag crab. The crab took off and our business was off to a good start locally. Read more>>