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.

Fred Freire | Visual Artist & Designer

I never saw me working to another purpose than creating. From images to concept, I love to imagine things and see this ideas gain shape. Read more>>

Megan Kitzmiller | Freelance Content Writer & Screenwriter

Before I started my own creative business, I was looking for ways to add more flexibility and creativity into my life. I started taking classes and pursuing creative hobbies on the side. It wasn’t until months later that the idea of transitioning my career into a more creative lane even came to me. It was something I always saw as a side project. Read more>>

Stephen Hamm | Landscape Photographer

I started my own business because I wanted to stop working my day job as a chef. Being a chef takes a lot of time from my family. I cannot get those hours back. Having my own business as a landscape photographer, I can “work” whenever I want. I can bring my family with me. Some of my best photos are taken with my wife and son by my side. Read more>>

David Curtis | Founder/Owner Enzy Campers

Starting my own business was born out of a personal experience. My family and I have owned various RV’s and campers though none of them fit our needs well. We do some family camping, but most of our trips are planned around hunting. So during the summer of 2020, which lots of lockdown time on my hands I took things into my own hands and built my own camper out of a cargo trailer.. Read more>>

Jessica Larson | Graphic Designer & Co-Founder of WEST

I had given birth to my first child a year prior and, like many new mothers, felt like I had lost my identity. I didn’t know who I was or the path I was meant to walk down in this new phase of life. As a stay-at-home mom, the desire to help provide for my family in a monetary way was very present. Read more>>

Mike Williams | Photographer, Traveler, Constantly Curious

I started a photography business to expand my creativity, reshape the way I look at the world and capture stunning views of the amazing places I plan to travel to. I went to school for engineering and then business management and over time my role in the large corporations I’ve worked for became less about engineering and design and more focused on project management and business giving me less opportunity for creativity in my work. Read more>>

D. Ryan Mowry | Artist (Filmmaker/Digital Painter/Brewer/Fermenter) & Product Manager

I am an artist at heart who has been working in the corporate world for many years now. I have been working on “side hustles” for years, but now I am working to make my newest venture a full time business. In my day job I haven’t had much opportunity to use my creative side, so I have always had side outputs for my creativity: Read more>>

Robert Heckel | Entrepreneur

My thought process for starting this business was simple. I wanted to create a location that everyone was attracted to and created a community feel around music art and cocktails. I am more of a creative person so the design was the fun part. We own other businesses and this was just something I always wanted to create and got the opportunity to do so. Read more>>

Mario Franco | Chef Mario Franco

I really wanted a platform where I could showcase my style of food but opening a restaurant wasn’t an option financially. then I decided to advertise my style of cuisine and offered services to come to peoples homes and cook for them there. Read more>>

Jonathan Hanst | Executive Director of Kaleidoscope, a nonprofit Creative Sanctuary in Lafayette CO

I wanted to have a space where local creatives could do whatever it is they love to do. I am lucky enough to have my own studio to inhabit every day and I thought it would be cool to build something for other like-minded artists and makers. Read more>>

Adam Passarelli | inspiraHike Founder

Since a young age, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I like creating things, challenging the status quo, and pushing boundaries. Starting a business is always a risky thing, but for me, taking chances is what life should be all about. Read more>>

Angie Lucid | Media Designer & Videographer

The simple answer: Life is too short to work for someone else’s dream. I grew up watching my parent’s generation working to live, and I didn’t want that for myself or my family. As a new mom, I want to show my son that you can have a healthy balance between working and living and enjoy both of them. So working for myself and pursuing my own dreams and visions was one way to start. Read more>>

Sophie Unterhaslberger | Custom and fine artist

I’m on a quest to make regular items so colorful, they will give you a headache. As a child, I would daydream about the world being covered in patterns. Why would I want to eat at a brown table when it could be bright yellow with polka dots? I remember completing a watercolor in 3rd grade and knew something was missing. So before turning it in I covered everything in vibrant stripes and dots. Read more>>

Joanna Rogers | Mental Health Therapist & Owner of Elevated Life Counseling

I had joined a private practice in Arizona as an independent contractor and learned so much about how business’s work. I went on maternity leave for almost a year and during this time my family and I moved to Colorado to be closer to family. When we settled into our house, I knew right away that I wanted to start my business back up. Having my own business allows me the freedom to be home with my baby while scheduling my clients around my husband’s work schedule. Read more>>

B. S. H. Garcia | SFF Author

Once I decided on the indie publishing route, starting a business was a no-brainer. It made sense to create a publishing house, a brand, that I could house all my future projects under. I also want my books to have the professional feel of traditional presses, and that includes running my business similarly. Read more>>

Dorothy Cranfill | Travel Planner/Concierge

After being laid off from my job at a local gym in Austin due to funding issues during COVID, I took a break professionally to get a feel for what I would like to pursue moving forward. Naturally, I felt the best place to clear my head was at my mountain house in Crested Butte, Colorado. Read more>>

Julie Colangelo | Soccer Buddies – Business Owner

Soccer Buddies was born out of a desire to provide a fun and pressure-free soccer program for kids. As a parent, I saw firsthand how the competitive soccer clubs were discouraging my daughter from playing soccer. She wasn’t hating the sport, but rather the way it was taught and the pressure she felt to perform. I recognized a gap in the market for a soccer program that focused on fun, learning, and meeting new friends. Read more>>

Shawn Koch | Entrepeneur

I came from a family of entrepreneurs. My father owned his own business for 30+ years; my uncle has created three successful businesses in his life. Oddly enough, the small business, entrepreneur lifestyle was never something that I aspired to. Although, after going back to college, finishing my bachelor’s degree. I knew something was not right. Read more>>

Anna Graves | Director/Founder/ Lifelong Learner/Educator

Field Academy was started because we recognize that having lived experiences in community, seeing how different people live, engaging across difference, talking to people who have jobs you have never heard of, eating food you have never tried etc. is the way for people to understand themselves better and imagine possibilities for their own lives. Read more>>

Olga Tsoi | Influencer, Social Media agency owner

I have always been fond of writing and content creation since I was a teenager, but back then there wasn’t really one platform that would feature creatives, so I would write on forums and blogs. Then, when I moved to United States I started doing photography for bloggers as while writing for a Ukrainian magazine in Chicago. Read more>>