Starting a business can be terrifying. Weighing the pros and cons, the risks, and other considerations can be so overwhelming that often promising entrepreneurs stop before they even start. We asked some phenomenal entrepreneurs about their thought process behind starting their own businesses. Our hope is that by making the thought-process less intimidating we can help more folks think through whether they should take an entrepreneurial leap.

Stefano Schiavon | Designer

One day 10 years ago, while we were still working in the advertising agency, also due to our passion for cult films of the 80s, we decided to pay homage to a film to which we are very attached (Back to the Future) and therefore we created the film poster in a style that was somewhat reminiscent of the stained glass windows of Gothic churches and the art of Roy Lichtenstein. Read more>>

Nick Flook | Artist & Musician – Both proficient in traditional styles as well as digital

I’m one of those artist’s that likes to see their vision all the way to the finish line. I spent a lot of my early 20’s working for various media companies, always being given a task and having the outcome be swayed in a million directions from producers, clients, and guidelines. The vision I would initially have for a project would almost never end up as cool as I had originally planned due to what I call “too many cooks in the kitchen.” I used to work tirelessly after hours, creating my own media and personal projects that I knew, if good enough, would hopefully persuade companies into giving me more creative freedom. Unfortunately I learned that’s not how most movie and TV companies work and they usually have strict guidelines they must adhere to, regardless of how artistic and creative I was. I knew my ultimate goal was to have people come to me for what I create, and not what I could create for them. I slowly made the move from a freelance artist, who’s job was to create clients ideas, to a more individual artist, where people wanted what I was making, and was solely interested in my own personal creations. At the time, there wasn’t many avenues to making money with personal digital art, so I honed in my passion for hand made artwork, knowing at least I could sell physical paintings. Skip ahead to now, and I’ve been making a living as a full time painter for the last 10 years as “Flooko”, my widely known artist name. Read more>>

Delain Mott | Realtor & Certified Personal Trainer

My first career was fulfilling and I learned so much. I ended up being the youngest Sales Manager in our companies history and I had some really great bosses along the way! I also had one horrible boss that ultimately pushed me to leave after 12 years of climbing the ladder and growing professionally. After leaving that company, I realized I had made that job apart of my identity and did not really know who I was anymore. I also just had two babies and though I enjoyed being a mom, I also realized I needed something for me, something on own. Maybe initial it started as a selfish venture to rediscover Delain. But, as I came into my own again and realized my greater purpose. I began to understand, I am the boss… and I can impact others lives and help in a way that is purposeful and meaningful to others, which in turn, filled my soul. Read more>>

Katie Svihlik | Founder and CEO

My dream to work with individuals with disabilities began at a young age. I come from a family who had experienced the world of disabilities with my sister, Missy, who is now 34 years old, and has Angelman syndrome. We didn’t have many options as my sister was growing up and left to piece meal any combination of help we could find. Most of the time, my parents had the only option to rely on my older sister and I for support and care for Missy. Read more>>

Amber Miller | Health Coaching and Personal Training

I have been a personal trainer and have worked in the fitness industry and many gyms for the last 18 years of my career. I was in management for a long time as well where I was able to develop my expertise and teach it to other trainers. After completing graduate school where I got the opportunity to formally teach I fell in love with teaching. I have taught wellness and health education as a coach for years and realized I wanted to create my own space in the health and fitness industry where there is so much misinformation and confusion for people who really need help in improving their health. In my business I am working to marry coaching and training and health education to spread the word to get more people moving. People struggle with where to start and what they actually need to Implement a program , mainly because they think it’s so much more complicated than it actually is. I’m here to lower the barrier and simplify exercise and nutrition to empower people with right tools and knowledge to build a sustainable healthy lifestyle. Read more>>

Cassandra (Cassie) Comeau | Web Designer, Funnel Builder & Tech Bestie

For me, the thought process initially started as a way to have more flexibility for my family and to supplement the commission income that I was earning as a Mortgage Agent in Ontario, Canada. Read more>>

Jessica Dewbre | Creator

I began crocheting during the COVID quarantine. While everyone was baking sourdough, I was watching YouTube videos to teach myself how to crochet. My COVID craft quickly turned into an obsession, and soon I was making scarves, hats, and blankets for my two daughters. Eventually I started making stuffed animals for them, and then all my friends kiddos’ began wanting them too! When I started my crochet business making stuffed animals for kids, I wanted to create something unique and handmade that would bring joy to children. I’ve always had a passion for crafting, and I saw an opportunity to turn that passion into a business while also spreading happiness through my creations. Additionally, I wanted to have the flexibility to work from home and set my own schedule, allowing me to prioritize both my business and my personal life. Read more>>

Amina Altaf | Founder, Jaanu

Starting Jaanu was a decision deeply influenced by the birth of my son, Rafie, and my time living in Berlin. I encountered a culture that placed immense value on cherishing early days with your child, prioritizing quality over quantity, and embracing sustainable parenting practices. Read more>>

Jason Matzinger | Film/Television Producer

I did’t think that there was really anyone out there producing films or television that truly depicted our story as hunter/conservationists. I felt like something needed to be done to show the hunting & non-hunting public why our role is still so critical for the future of wildlife in today’s society. Read more>>

Bu Nan/Stephan Brown/van der Mersch | Zen priest and attachment repair coach/analyst and entrepreneur

We don’t think of Boulder Tea Hut as a business. It’s more akin to a non-denomenational church or temple than a business. We’ve studied in Global Tea Hut’s Zen-Daoist tea lineage for about eight years. For years we’ve enjoyed a serene space in the mountains (our mountain teahouse, 15 minutes from downtown). In March our teacher, Wu De, proposed we open a new space in-town in Boulder. He shared with us, that in all of his years of world travel, teaching tea, that Boulder had the best tea spirit of any place he had been too. Read more>>

Georgia Damalas Snodgrass | Associate Director – Scout & Cellar clean-crafted wine & coffee

I used to work in Corporate America. For a while I even enjoyed climbing the “corporate ladder”, but life changed rather significantly for me. Married with two children, one with special needs and two more on the way from Ghana, Africa, I knew it was time. Time to take the leap and step down from managing multiple investment advisory offices and do something for myself. I needed autonomy of my time and I wanted to be the one in the driver seat making the decisions of my day to day. The craziness of me and my husband both working in Corporate was killing our family slowly, as my husband would say “death by a thousand cuts.” I left and never looked back. Now, I just look forward and am so thankful for the decision I made for my own desires in life, but also for our tribe. Read more>>

Tina Salas | Part Owner of High Plains Flooring & Blinds

James Salas, owner started as an installer and worked with many different companies. Through this experience, he noticed a gap between the customers, installers, and sales(flooring companies). This gap was a lack of customer service provided to the customers. His concerns finally drove him to speak with his wife, Tina Salas, about opening their own flooring store to provide their customers with a customer service that actually serves the customers and the community. His experience as an installer gave him knowledge and connections that would lead to a successful flooring store in Pueblo, CO. Read more>>

Jessica Weesner-Butcher | Digital Marketing Strategist & Founder of Power Branding

As many other business owners would say, I didn’t always see myself owning a business. However, in hindsight, it’s comical that I never envisioned myself as a business owner because I grew up seeing my dad own his business as a third-generation business owner. Read more>>

Christy Watson | Realtor

We moved from Seattle to Colorado and I knew no one, other than my kids and husband. Great time to launch a real estate business, right? I grew up helping my Dad do fix and flips in the 80’s before it was cool and on TV. I bought my first house at 19 and real estate has always been “easy” for me. When we moved here, I thought I’d get my license and just do fix and flips. But the instructor for the real estate exam asked what I did previously and suggested I consider commercial or residential real estate. I dismissed them at first, but as often happens with things that are “meant to be”, I couldn’t stop thinking that it might be a great option. We had three small kids and while starting my own business that served others in a new profession scared me, I jumped in. I committed myself to learning and educating myself as quickly as possible. I knew I had a my corporate background of Client Experience for Fortune 100 banks and Hospitality Management would be a solid foundation and would allow me to serve clients through the emotions and stresses of the real estate process. Read more>>

Dr. Nichole Hardy Swann | Clinical Psychologist

While working in private practice in Denver and Colorado Springs, I felt isolated from the support services I sent our patients to. I wanted more follow through and a connection with my patients. I envisioned a clinic with practitioners from several disciplines working together and following patients collaboratively. Essentially, I wanted to move away from report writing to integrated care. Read more>>

Linda or LV Ditchkus | Author

When I retired from my work as a banking supervisor, Certified Public Accountant, and consultant, I wondered how to use my time in a way that would feed my creative energy. I thought about some of the typical crafts like mosaics and needlework. But ultimately, I decided to rely on a skill I’d used for my entire life—writing. While I’d spent my career teaching and writing technical topics, I’d dabbled in creative writing since I was a teen. Like any new endeavor, I didn’t know how much I didn’t know. Over the last nearly ten years, I’ve taken writing craft workshops, networked with other authors, and spent countless hours writing and editing my work. I released my first novel in 2020, followed by three more in that series and one in a new series over the next three years. Being a published author isn’t just about writing a book and releasing it to the world, it’s about getting it into the hands of readers. That takes commitment to marketing. All published authors must develop a business mindset to promote their work. Read more>>

Bridget Dvorak | Artist

I have always known that I rarely fit into a traditional mold… I tried my hand in Corporate America and it was not a good fit for me. I knew I wanted to build something that I loved doing and that brought other people joy too. I have always been creative and thus – I became an artist. Read more>>

Heidi Grace Dack | Cowgirl and Entrepreneur

Starting my own business was kind of inevitable after my husband joined the military. I used to work on ranches and absolutely loved the lifestyle, so I knew that I needed to share a piece of the ranch and western style with the world and that’s how Unicorn of the West was started. Read more>>

Ray Ellis | Director / Director of Photography / Owner – Footpath Pictures, Inc.

My wife, Susan and I were working for one of the largest film and video production companies in the southeast United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We worked on films, commercials, and interactive games with different ad agencies, Then 9/11 happened…and I think that changed everyone in one way or another. For sure, agency work dried up for awhile as the economy took a hit, but what drove Susan and I to start our own business was that we wanted to be producing work that meant something important to humanity and the greater good. Read more>>

Melinda Fouts, Ph.D. | International Executive Coach

My father always told me, the best business you can do is be your own boss, work out of a briefcase and have no overhead. I took those words to heart and after receiving my psychotherapy license, I started a private practice and fulfilled those words he spoke to me long ago. Read more>>

May Engelstad | Birth and Postpartum Doula & Healer

Starting my business truly started more with a feeling and less with thinking to be candid. I became a mom in 2017 and despite having a lot of family close by, my postpartum experience was incredibly challenging. I was starving. I had truly never been hungrier physically, but I also felt a deep hunger emotionally and spiritually. I felt isolated and disconnected, like the world was spinning on despite the fact that everything in my life had turned upside-down. I didn’t know kind of help I needed nor how to ask for it. I had questions about how to take care of a baby and of my healing body but I also was just tired of being alone in a house or feeling like I needed to host family members that offered to come over. I had heard of birth doulas, but the concept of a postpartum doula was new to me. Once I learned that such a thing existed it felt very much like part of the solution. Despite no longer being a freshly postpartum mom myself, I suspected that my experience was far from unique. I went through some basic training and certifying before beginning to put my own unique touches to the services that I offer. Those services specifically address that postpartum “hunger” that I have come to find is so deeply universal and often goes ignored. Read more>>

Jerome Trappier | Owner: Petit Mont-Blanc LLC

Jerome: I am originally from Chamonix, France and I had the amazing opportunity to spend a few winters working as an ski patrol exchanger in Colorado and Utah. I made great friends along the way, and one day, one of my friends invited me over for fondue. I was so excited to finally eat some cheese! The fondue was wonderful, as it was enjoyed with friends, but it really missed the ‘true’ ingredients. I dreamt of cheese from my home country the entire time I was on exchange. And that is how the business idea started – bringing my home (Chamonix) to yours (here in Aspen, Colorado). Read more>>

Tiya Trent | Everlasting Essential Element

My thought process behind starting my own business was, “Oh shit, I don’t have a job or money to pay my bills!” I was working at CU Boulder in the TRiO Student Support Services when I decided (after four years) that I needed a change for my mental health. I started looking for a job before I left my position as a Coordinator, and everything was going great, but then…my new job fell through, and I was left jobless, with no savings and no way to pay my bills. I kept thinking to myself, what can I do quickly to get money, and it came to me. I should open my own baking business. Everyone who knows me knows that I love to cook, bake, and feed people. It’s one of my favorite languages, and I can actually cook and bake. Read more>>

Christian Atley | Freelance writer, Web-designer, Nonprofit specialist

I’ve tried out so many careers: Education, marketing, web design, writing… I have enjoyed some aspects about everywhere I have worked, but nothing felt quite right. Teaching was incredibly fulfilling, but it paid so little that I was moonlighting as a bartender. Marketing was dynamic and exciting, but I felt sheer emptiness looking at the graphs that were my “accomplishments”. I loved the structure and problem solving in tech-work, but I missed humans. Over time, I learned that I was really seeking three fundamental features in a career: Read more>>