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.

Jeanette Salzburg | Fine Artist/Watercolor, Pastel and Colored Pencil

Creating art is my life’s passion. I’d rather be in my studio than anywhere else. Having my own business would allow me to live the life I have always wanted, and be my own boss. I want to make a difference and raise awareness of the endangered species on our planet, because I feel connected to Nature when I am creating. Read more>>

Mike Blankenship | Co-Founder and Managing Director of Yeah, Art! / Founder of Sticky Thing

Yeah, Art! was created in response to the pandemic and the technological barriers between arts education and distanced learning. The challenges of conducting arts instruction over ZOOM meetings was nearly impossible, due to audio latency issues and hardware and network limitations. A group of creatives came together with this idea to create arts curriculum that’s optimized for the distanced learning. Focusing on subjects that are largely rooted in tech giving our students exposure to newer career pathways in the arts. As the pandemic ended and schools began re-opening, we saw an opportunity to bring our curriculum and “Big Kid” teaching style into physical classrooms where we now offer programming in voice, songwriting, music production, 3D modeling, dance, photography and more. Read more>>

Nadeen Flynn | Photography Workshop Leader and Mentor

What started out as a hobby became a business through lots of encouragement and positive feedback from my friends, peers, and most importantly, my husband. It was ‘safe’ for me to pursue a photography business as I had taken an early retirement from my career as a teacher. I knew I would not have to support myself financially solely through my photography so that gave me a comfortable margin to pursue developing my own skills about running a business. Starting my own business meant I had to learn a lot about the business side of things, including an online presence through social media and developing my own website. Read more>>

Jessica Roberts | Co-founder, Director of Operations, Clinician

The choice to begin Logos Healing Institute came from a realization that nature-based trauma therapy that specializes in helping individuals who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation or human trafficking was non-existent. In working in the field of mental health, it was evident that more trauma specific services were needed for this population. We both have personally experienced healing and transformation in intentional wilderness experiences and witnessed how effective this environment could be as a container for healing. We dreamed of bringing this combination of intentionality in the wilderness with clinical trauma therapy to survivors of trauma, of which there is little access. Read more>>

Brianna Beans | Home/ Rental Property Inspector, Move In/Out Cleaning Services, Certified Radon Measurement Specialist

Starting my own business stemmed from a mix of passion, identifying a need in the market, and the desire for greater autonomy and impact. Six years ago, I launched a home inspection business because I was tired of having bosses and a schedule I couldn’t control. Shortly after, I shifted to rental inspections with another company. It wasn’t until 2022 that this opportunity was handed over to me, and I seized it, taking the business to the next level. My focus shifted to catering to property management companies, providing vendor solutions to streamline turnovers and enhance their processes. Read more>>

Lisa M. Bolt Simons | Author and Teaching Artist

I had been a writer since I was a little girl. But after I started teaching and realized that most of the students in my building couldn’t just go spend money in the local bookstores, I wanted to write books they could access in libraries. I was able to combine my education background with my writing skills and become a freelance writer. I started publishing books almost 15 years ago. By 2024, I’ll have more than 75 books published, which include children’s nonfiction, middle grade “choose your path” sports novels, and an adult history book. My titles are in school libraries around the nation. I also started a business that helps authors find literary agents and publishers because the research is so daunting and time-consuming. And let’s be honest–there are so many rabbit holes on the Internet! I also teach writing classes. Read more>>

Eric Friedman | Co-Hounder and Executive Chef – Mountain Dog Sauce Company

It all started back when Reagan was 6 or 7 years old. Like many first-born daughters, she was always ready to take over the world and so after a couple years of always going with Mom to buy hot sauce for Dad for holidays, she decided rather than giving money to someone else, she could do this on her own. That led to a number of years collaborating in the kitchen, perfecting three different recipes that were given to friends and family for holidays and fun, always getting a positive reception and further encouragement. Throwing caution to the wind, we decided to make a real run at this in late 2022, developing packaging and working to bring Mountain Dog Sauce Company to market. Read more>>

David & Charlotte Mondragon | Pueblo Charcuterie Owners

First of all, thank you for inviting us to this interview. We are so honored to be on this platform. So to answer the question, we truthfully don’t think we had a very strategic thought process when we started Pueblo Charcuterie. When we began this business, we pretty much just threw ourselves out there. We made our first board for our family in 2020 for the holidays, and then we realized that we enjoyed making them. We didn’t really sit down and talk about it, we just took the risk. Charlotte and I, didn’t go over numbers or goals, which I know sounds very crazy, but sometimes you just have to take chances. Both of us just knew Pueblo needed new and innovative options. So that’s when “Pueblo Charcuterie” was born. Read more>>

Brian Bolyer | Business owner/Automotive Technician//Entrepreneur

I’m a 3rd generation automotive technician that took over my family’s business in ’06, which has been in operation since 1945. Having an opportunity to combine my passions of cannabis & automotive was a no brainier.
Louisiana’s top two Commodities are Agriculture and oil & gas industry. How do I combine the two? Being able to produce Industrial hemp and utilize it in Bioplastics for the automotive industry is a dream come true. Read more>>

Jennifer Perry | Teacher, Business Owner, Collaborator

Our first inkling towards starting a small business was when we realized that the corporate world was not for us. We didn’t want to take part in something that encouraged people to work for the majority of their lives. We are strong believers that we are here to experience the world: not just make a paycheck. We wanted to start our own ventures when we realized we were just a number or statistic to some other faceless higher-up. We value our family time, work-life balance, and connection. So, we decided to venture into the metal business. Eric already knew metal (he’s a jack-of-all trades, really), and Jenn knew people. Eric was tired of the daily grind and we both knew our priorities lay outside of the 9-5. Thus, Eric dove into metal creation. Read more>>

Alice Mazel | Founder of comette cosmetics

I realized quickly after my sister was pregnant that 100% organic, clean and natural cosmetics for pregnant women and babies did not exist in France at all. I wanted to offer a solution and a safe place for them to Keep Taking care of themselves Read more>>

Michael Ryno | Professional Landscape and Portrait Photographer

I retired from a 38 year career in corporate banking in 2021 so that I could dedicate more time to photography and establish a photography business. I had become passionate about photography ever since purchasing my first camera in 2016, and having a photography business provides me with a very active retirement while generating supplemental income. Since retiring from my corporate banking job, I was also able to become more active with photography organizations I belong to, particularly Professional Photographers of Colorado as the current President and Lone Tree Photography Club as Past President and recent board member. Read more>>

Alan Jantzen | Owner Silver Grill Cafe and Vern’s Place

My thoughts behind becoming a business owner were brought about by a change in my work circumstances. The company that I had been working at for 30 years was no longer a viable option to purchase. I had stayed with that business in hopes that I would own it. I worked hard to build a company that I was very proud of and built very much in my image and culture. When things changed it was a difficult decision to start to map my future. After a lot of thought and reflection with my wife it was clear that I had been operating as an ‘owner’ without owning anything. I approached each day as if I owned the business I had been running. So, why not give it a go on my own? Read more>>

Donny Teran | Makeup artist

I guess my thought processes, or interest in makeup started at a young age. Growing up it was just me and my mom. As a single mother, raising me by herself, we spent a lot of time together. Starting in elementary school , I would sit with my mom every morning before she went to work and before I went to school. I would watch her get ready every morning for work. That’s probably where my interest in makeup started. I would watch her do her do her morning routine every morning while watching a show together before we started our day. The most vivid memory is she had a mascara that she would always use,it was pink with a green lid, maybelline I think was the brand. But anyway, I would watch her every morning and it really intrigued me. Read more>>

Sonny Miles | Integrative and Palliative Medicine Physician

I started my career in medicine as a hospitalist (taking care of people sick enough to be in the hospital). Over time I felt saddened (and sometimes defeated) by what I called the revolving door of the hospital. We would get people well enough to go home and then it was often only a matter of time before they came back, often because they don’t have the skills or knowledge or access to the things that would help keep them out of the hospital (diet, movement, stress management, etc). One of the aspects of care that I most enjoyed was really being honest with patients about what our care and interventions in the hospital could and could not achieve so that they could decide what they wanted and whether they wanted to go through interventions that had a low risk of helping them get better. Read more>>

Kristen Sandine | License Professional Counselor and Registered Play Therapist

The mental health field can be somewhat unpredictable and demanding. I wanted to work in a way that I could control my hours and boundaries a bit more and still be able to help and advocate for children who need it. I also wanted to make sure I had a work space that was created for the children that feels comfortable, safe, and playful! I wanted children to walk in and say, “this place is for me” and by starting my own business and private practice, I was able to do that! Read more>>

Nikki Lynch | Handcrafted Sign Maker

I personally think everyone who is ambitious enough to start their own business, should. You can make a business into what you want it to be if you have the right mindset. Have the confidence in knowing where you want your business to go and how you want it to get there. Of course there are hurtles you find yourself climbing over here and there but they shouldn’t be the reason for failure. Read more>>

Thomas Codevilla | Partner, SK&S Law Group LLP

I took a typical path at the start of my career- BigLaw, In-house. 6 years into practicing law, I found myself working harder than ever and gaining no new insights or skills, not to mention a stagnation in compensation. Then I realized I had counseled entrepreneurs for years but had not started a business myself, so I thought it was time to give it a try for myself, so I explored the idea with a couple friends and we took the leap. 4 years in, it’s the best decision I ever made, next to getting my dog. Read more>>