Starting a business is a commitment and requires dedication, resources and sacrifice. We asked some of the rising stars in our community how they thought through the idea of starting their own businesses.

Lauren & Courtney Lauterbach & Winslow | Lauren: Certified Meditation Instructor, Level II Reiki Practitioner & Crystal Healer. Courtney Winslow: Certified Crystal Healer

At Moon & Stone our thought process to starting our business was to provide products, services such as meditation, crystal healing and living life in accordance to the moons to become more mainstream in our community and beyond. To allow services and techniques learned, paired with knowledge and beautiful purposeful crystals to become the first line of defense for support in mental and physical health rather than a last ditch effort. Read more>>

Alex Burke | Large Format Landscape Photographer

I had actually been working full time as an automotive technician, but photography was a major driving force and passion in my life. I took advantage of every chance to get away from work and find myself in nature behind a camera. The job I had was enjoyable, but there were always various stresses and long hours; nothing could keep my away from what I really wanted to do. I started building it as a business while switching to part time employment, then after a few years the cord was cut completely and I was on my own as a landscape photographer. Read more>>

Jennifer Zamora | Photographer and Owner of Tiny Details Photography

My business grew from my passion that derived from the frustration I felt trying to take my pictures of my own newborn baby. Once I realized that this is something that requires a special skill set within photography I had to learn more and I fell in love with it in the process. Read more>>

Jeremy Chun | Owner & Master Electrician

Quality Choice Electric, LLC is a dream come true. I have worked in the electrical field for over 20 years, and I have completed many residential and commercial projects during my time. It is important to do a good job for your customers because they simply deserve quality work especially when it comes to their electrical needs. When I thought about creating my own business, Read more>>

Nicole Axelson | CEO

I knew there was a serious disconnect in the activewear industry when it came to inclusivity. There were no products on the market that were made with plus size people in mind or gender neutral activewear. TSL was started to change that. During our product design process we always have the goal to create luxury, ethically made and inclusive pieces. Read more>>

Jay Johnson | Big Top Entertainment COO

My process is before starting a business you need to decide what your niche is going to be and how your business will occupy the space you’re in. Read more>>

Heather Kuhn | Owner of CLUTCH

I wanted to build a community where people of all genders could come together and empower each other. I wanted people that felt like they didn’t belong, to feel a sense of belonging because we all have a purpose and we’re all meant to be here. I wanted to show people how important it is to keep your authenticity. We all come in CLUTCH. Read more>>

Claudia Morris-Barclay | Entertainment, Lifestyle & Education Consultant at Claudia MB Consulting

Establishing my Entertainment, Lifestyle & Education consulting business gave me the freedom to utilize all the facets of my education and experience. I also wanted freedom of schedule and location. I like to work on projects across a broad variety of industries, companies, and organizations. I help people and businesses “get it together” and level up. I take ideas and make them a reality. Read more>>

Leonor Gonzales | Executive Director Ballet Folklorico de Barajas

I started my own Ballet Folklorico de Barajas to give back to the community. It the developed into a non-profit organization as has grown from there. Read more>>

Darius Nabers | Creator

I wanted to have the freedom too live my life passionately and do something for the world that would leave a positive impression. Read more>>

Austin Jacobs | Outdoor Enthusiast & Creative

I wanted to start my business, CrazyWeird Productions, because of my passion of doing what I love and inspiring other outdoor enthusiasts to do the same. Read more>>

Louise Walker | Owner, Backyard Barnyard

I feel like my 8-year-old self dreamed up Backyard Barnyard and she’s very proud of us. I grew up on a farm in Western Maryland, where we bred Thoroughbred horses. My 8-year-old self spent all of her waking hours with animals; from training and competing horses to birthing piglets. I felt more at home with more four legged friends than anywhere else in the world. Read more>>

Josh Wiley | Artist and Teacher

I started painting for fun as an outlet from teaching. It was actually because I was teaching Jr. High art that I ended up diving into some youtube videos and getting some basic watercolour supplies. I never really expected painting to become a business for me, and it was a surprise when someone contacted me about selling a painting or doing a commission. That was a scary journey for me – deciding things like pricing and what I would agree to, but as I did my research and moved forward, I grew in confidence and comfortability. Since then it’s been a fun journey into the world of turning my painting into more of a “business.” Read more>>

Danielle Morris | God loving Entrepreneur & Dialysis Technician

a burdensome time in my life. I was attending college and managed to get myself into some pretty hefty student loans debt. “One of the biggest lies we love to believe is education equals success.” says Dale Partridge, an author of the Wall Street Journal. Students attend college wondering if it will all be worth it in the end. Read more>>

Terry Hinkle | Creative Guy

In the 30+ years that I was in the creative business of Advertising, I worked for some of the big ad agencies and also had my own agencies and creative businesses. Plus created a national meat marinade brand/company, created and owned a restaurant, hosted a nationally syndicated radio show that I created. So leaving the advertising and commercial art business and starting a Fine Art business was a very logical decision. I was a life long artist and now getting back to my “roots” was exciting. Read more>>

Larry O’Connor | Music Performer / Producer

I had to figure out what hats I was going to wear. Marketing, Sales, Web Development, accounting, R&D, Audio-Visual, computer literacies. Read more>>

Kendara Laurel | Intuitive Counselor and Metaphysical Teacher

I knew that there was a need for people interested in Metaphysics to connect with other like minded’s. For some reason many people in this buisness are reluctant to market themselves. I also saw tthe potential for many experts to let others know about their businesses and services. Read more>>

Elizabeth Albright | Narrative Artist

My first child was premature had to spend his first week of life in the NICU. When we were released from the hospital, my son was so small and fragile that I was afraid to put him into daycare. So I started searching for a way to make money while staying at home with him. I was mostly searching for freelance editing work, as that was something I had experience in, but I wasn’t having much success. Read more>>

Jeff Hanesworth | Entrepreneur, Investor, & Builder

Pivot was founded in the beginning of the pandemic as the world began to shift to how, where, and why people chose to live, work, and play. Pivot was essentially our pivot from conventional building practices to flexible building solutions. I wanted to create a product that was quicker to market, built to the best standards in the industry, and flexible to fit the specific needs and desires of the customer. Pivot is also focused on becoming one of the best companies to work for and one that is engaged in giving back to our communities and those whom can achieve a better life using our structures. Read more>>

Drea and Tiff Fleming | Crystal and Spiritual Healing

Starting this business was a way to shine light on, and share my passion for crystals, tarot, and spiritual healing. Read more>>

Leslie Weidel & Holly Knapp | We Would Be Dead Podcast Hosts

We realized through several in depth conversations about true crime documentaries that we had a lot of valuable insight and the cases always seemed to take us down entertaining and informative rabbit holes that we thought others would enjoy as much as we were. We found our selves asking more questions and finding answers that other podcasts weren’t answering for us. And we thought, others would definitely want to know these facts or theories as well. Read more>>

Benjamin Blakeley | Wood worker

After spending 10 years in the navy, Which I absolutely loved more than anything, I was pretty beaten up and got a medical discharge. The jobs I had in the navy didn’t really convert into the civilian world , (chasing pirates off the Horn of Africa and being a prison guard in Guantanamo bay) so I had to start over. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I wanted it to be something that I loved. Read more>>

Christina Robben | Founder of Robben Marketing Solutions

I’ve been working in media for 6 years and noticed during my time as a broadcast news reporter and in the marketing department for various organizations that small business owners struggle with maintaining and optimizing their social media. I recognized the noticeable disparity in access to marketing for entrepreneurs in Southern Colorado that they could afford. Read more>>

Corey & Amber McCool | Composters & Community Builders

Colorado is lagging behind much of the country in organic waste management. While there are several state-sponsored programs that are combating this issue, several factors remain that restrict entry into the industry. These include land requirements, heavy equipment requirements, and a number of permitting and environmental hurdles, among others. As a result, the majority of new entrants into the organics waste management space operate as haulers, collecting waste from one place and transporting it to a large processor, which in some cases can be an hour’s drive away or more. Read more>>

hellocentral | Band

We have all been life-long friends, growing up in New York together. We went separate ways for college then reconnected in Denver, rented out a big house together and hellocentral was quickly born. It was an easy decision, as we all grew up playing music together under other projects and always wanted to keep our creative outlet and dreams alive. Read more>>

Scott Earnest | Co-Founder and Owner

I have always enjoyed entrepreneurship. The challenges that come with starting a new business are exciting and demanding. Having a vision that one day will materialize into a means of economic support is an exciting notion. Working to develop long-term goals has been the driving force. Read more>>

Gina Mackovic | Owner and operator at Lil’ Buckaroo’s Petting Zoo

My husband and I were cooped up in the house during the beginning of the pandemic with three small children. We started to realize how much we rely on grocery stores, Amazon, etc to get everything we need. We decided we wanted to get back to our roots! But how? I had only seen most farm animals in a book. I wasn’t much of a gardener. Luckily my husband had grown up on a farm and was a bit more savvy than me about how it was going to get done. We started looking for the perfect property. Once we found our farm in Erie, we realized we had so many exciting ideas. Read more>>

Trent Ryan | Business Owner

We started Steel City Entertainment in the spring of 2019, in the midst of the covid crisis, as a response to the covid crisis. So many events, parties, graduations, proms, etc., were being cancelled and postponed due to lack of mobile entertainment services. Without much thought, we began reaching out to those who were experiencing cancellations and lack of services, and began to offer discounted services in an effort to assist the individuals and families whose events had been affected by the covid crisis. Read more>>

Jared Frost | Chief Chef and Scout’s Assistant

Cooking has always been important to me. When I was a pre-teen and first starting being left alone at home in charge of my younger sister, I would get scared, and my parents found that giving me a project would keep me from just sitting on the couch listening for noises and just waiting for them to come home. So, they gave me simple cooking projects, and they were perfect for keeping me focused on something other than being alone. Cooking & baking continued to be catharses for me as I grew older and it’s often I’ll spend multiple nights a week trying out new recipes, techniques, or experiments ranging from fresh pasta to smoked brisket to cheesecakes. Read more>>

Jillian Lovelace | Co-Owner/Operator

My husband, Bryan, has been cooking in the industry for 30+ years and the culinary arts have alwasy been a passion of mine. I wanted to go to culinary school once upon a time, but didn’t want to get stuck with the hours that lifestyle requires… little did I know I would marry into them! Owning our own restaurant is something we daydreamt about together, and as the climate of the work enironment changed in my career of 12 years, we decided to go for a food truck as a stepping stone to our ultimate goal. Read more>>

Gary Kessler | Photographer

I was in the darkroom from the time I could stand becasue my dad was an amateur photographer. Once I was old enough to start shooting , I was shooting nonstop, still shooting for both personal work and commerical and fine art. Read more>>

Kyla Murphy | Nail Enthusiast

The thought process behind my business was bringing something that individuals that are like me could appreciate and love. Luxury and quality being first in everything down to products and experience, while also feeling able to express themselves openly. Read more>>

Jennifer Perkins | Landscape Painter and Avid Traveler

When I was in college, I had a goal of becoming a professional painter. I graduated from college, got married, started working, went to graduate school to get my education degree, and life took over. I stopped making art entirely after I started teaching it full time in the public school setting. After relocating to Utah from Seattle, Washington after a divorce, I was in my seventh year of teaching, and I hadn’t made a lot of friends so I got back into painting as a way to entertain myself in a new place. I set up a small studio space in the basement I was renting and spent the majority of my free time working on my art. Read more>>

Jessica Rausch | Owner & Designer

Before I started selling jewelry, I worked in a retail boutique that sold a lot of really nice handmade jewelry. It was absolutely gorgeous stuff, but I couldn’t come close to affording most of it. I started making my own designs inspired by those high-end pieces, but using lower-priced metals and gemstones. My coworkers kept asking to buy my pieces and eventually the store’s jewelry buyer wanted to try selling my jewelry to customers! I realized that I wasn’t alone in wanting handmade jewelry that wasn’t an extravagant purchase, so I started creating a whole line of jewelry focused on using less expensive materials in beautiful ways. Read more>>

Stephanie Hayes | Business Strategist and Coach

I have always been wired as an entrepreneur. I can remember, even as a young kid, not even thinking about having a job, but always about being the business owner. I wanted the freedom to be able to own my time, and make decisions about my priorities. I wanted to be able to pick my kids up from school and be present with them. I wanted to be location independent as I lived out of the city, and spent half my day commuting. I wanted the challenge and the stimulation of solving problems about everything, not just one thing. Read more>>

Justin Tiwary | Naturopathy Enthusiast

It was never about money, it was always about connection and purpose. My wife was the catalyst. She has been making jewelry, specifically crystal jewelry, since 2016. We married in 2018 and had a baby shortly thereafter so between the new baby and the shockwaves resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic her art had taken a serious backseat during the first few years of our marriage. That all changed this year when she decided to unpack her supplies and crystals and do what brought her peace again. Read more>>

Rachel Jones | Founder of Band of the Wild

The truth is it all began with the idea that it wasn’t worth leaving my wonderful baby with a babysitter for a job I didn’t absolutely love. So it started slowly, I taught sewing a few nights a week rather than having a full time day job as a dietitian in a hospital. I assisted a costume design seamstress and improved my skills. I made things, I made art, clothes, halloween costumes for my kids and myself. I cut shadow puppets. After years of study in biology, which was fascinating but the resulting career options available to me were not inspiring me anymore, I found a new passion. Read more>>

Ali Kole | Sensual embodiment teacher and business executive

Women need a safe space to explore, reclaim, cultivate and express their sensuality and beauty. I found this in LA and it was invaluable to me. When I moved away from it to Boulder, I couldn’t live without it so I started it here! Wasn’t looking to be a business owner but it was the only way to have this movement that had become so essential to me, and which I wanted to share with other women. Read more>>

Elizabeth Wheeler | Product Designer & Entrepreneur

I think I’ve always been a bit entrepreneurial. I started my own jewelry business when I was 14 as my first job and have also worked as a freelance graphic designer. Starting WheelHaus is really a dream my partner and I have together to move towards more financial independence as we get older. We don’t want to feel financially tied to our stressful full-time tech jobs forever and want the freedom and flexibility to spend our time as we want (particularly more time with our kids). Purchasing our home in Breckenridge and creating LoughHaus with Myles and Eoin was part of that dream. Read more>>

Darwin Millard | The Spock of Cannabis; Chief Science Officer – Final Bell Corp.; Subcommittee Vicechair – ASTM International D37.04 on Cannabis Processing and Handling; Subcommittee Co-chair – ASTM International D37.07 on Industrial Hemp; National Cannabis Industry Association – ASTM D37 Liaison

When you have been in the cannabis industry for as long as I have, you come to realize that your reputation is the only thing that matters, and being true to yourself and who you are are the only ways to succeed. I learned early on that people aren’t always who they say they are. When I started my own business in the cannabis industry as a consultant, it wasn’t planned; I didn’t know what I was doing or how I would accomplish it, but I knew the business practices of the entity I worked for at the time were bad and went against everything I stood for as a person. Read more>>

Justin Huffmon | Co-Owner, Coffee Junkie, Plants and Cocktails Rock

It kind of happened on accident. I was working my day job in the office above where we opened our first roots location in Ruidoso, and the lady who had owned the store below notified me that she was closing her business. I asked if I could see the space, then called my wife, who has a ton of experience as a retail entrepreneur and we decided to open a new concept as a passion project. Read more>>

Christian Steward | Co-founder

Self dependency and sustainability. Legacy has been the greatest reason to start this business. Passing on generational wealth. Read more>>

Daryl Sommers | Realtor

Real estate is the family business. I’ve been in the real estate world since 2009 when I started as a licensed assistant to my mother in upstate NY. After a number of years working for other people including the coast guard, enterprise, peace corps etc I decided it was time to make my own money and do what my managing broker in NY always told me to do, work full time as a realtor. Read more>>

Joseph Bosworth | Firebirdeats

I had an epiphany in the middle of the night about the chicken sandwich I had created a couple weeks prior, and the rest was history. I had started my own businesses in the past and couldn’t quite get them off the ground, this time has been different. Read more>>

Anton Nikonov | Snowboard Instructor & Owner of Shark Tile LLC

The main reason I started my business is the love for snowboarding and outdoor activity. Passion for mountains and everything it has to offer. Be able to have free time in the winter to do what I love. Read more>>

Chris Peters | Ski and snowboard builder

Working in the snow sports industry for several years and repairing skis and snowboards for year I had a great understanding for the anatomy of snow sports equipment. I had a good understanding of the different materials available being used and the pros and cons of those materials. Over time an old friend asked me “why don’t we make skis?” and my first answer was “too competitive and too expensive to start-up”. The competition in snow sports manufacturing is mostly dominated by 3 corporations that own a large number of brands and most of their products are made in China with inferior materials and low dollar labor. Read more>>

Theresa Collins | Yoga Studio Owner and Instructor

I truly believe I was divinely guided to open Sattva Yoga. I moved to Carbon Valley, where Frederick, Firestone, and Dacono are, a little over 12 years ago and realized there were no yoga studios in an area that has over 46,000 living in it. I got the little whisper in my ear that I should open one. Since I was still working full time as a high school teacher and wasn’t even a certified yoga teacher yet, I ignored it…for as long as I could. Read more>>