Are you thinking about starting a business? If so, we think you’ll enjoy reading about how these seasoned entrepreneurs thought about the question when they were in your shoes.

Darce Ross | Photographer

In starting my business I wanted to eventually end up in the wedding industry. I always loved seeing wedding images on social media and wanted to be a part of something so special. There is something about meeting new people and capturing their special day for them to remember for the rest of their lives. I started off with graduation portraits at Texas Tech hoping that when the clients graduated, they’d get engaged and then remember that I was their last photographer they worked with. Read more>>

Aracelly Houston DelRio | Graphic Designer

I wish I could say there was more of a process than hating my day job… but there wasn’t! I had always said I was going to freelance and become self-employed, but that was something I saw happening 5-10 years after finishing my degree – not after a year. Read more>>

Kim Brown | Interior Designer

My thoughts…welcome to my brain. For a little history, I have loved interior design for as long as I can remember. I would come home and watch TLC’s Trading Spaces after school then proceed with moving our living room around. (Sorry mom, for every time you came home to a different arrangement, also sorry to my friends parents whom I’d also rearrange their rooms because I ran out of way to rearrange mine) I went to college for interior design and loved every minute of my design classes. Read more>>

Mark Ramirez | Videographer | Photographer

In search for a career that utilizes my creativity and artistic mind. I used to be a musician and always had a passion for expressing myself through my art. Read more>>

Shanice Love | Chief Executive Officer

LE Logistics+Dispatch was established out of need. My current partner spent over a decade on the road and so has my best friend. It truly sadden me to see what they were going through as women in the trucking industry. I felt that I could make a difference, be a voice for them. LE Logistics+Dispatch caters to her female trucker. We provide several services to help keep them on the road and focused on their success. Read more>>

Mahalia Jackson-Butler | Film Producer, Writer, Director

When you own the table then you don’t have to ask for a seat at it. Read more>>

Marlene Covarrubias | Chandler & Healer

Honestly, I was searching for a business that offered things my business now offers, services and products, centered around spirituality, growth, healing and herbalism. After searching for a while and not finding what I really wanted, I decided to use my own gifts, talents and offer my own services to the public as well as share my products! Read more>>

Raj Asava | Community Volunteer & Co-Founder of HungerMitao Movement

A little over seven years ago, in a conversation with the Plano, Texas mayor, we learned about the hunger issue in Plano and Collin County. We heard that many kids in the schooling system (where our children had attended) had to go hungry over the weekend if not for the Food4Kids program by the local food bank (North Texas Food Bank). Read more>>

Cesilia Land | Cesilia Owner of MJCJ Party Central

I wanted to be able to do something I enjoy and also be able to spend time and go to school events with my boys and not be away from home all the time. Crafting has always been apart of my life I always enjoyed creating and making things for my family’s events and now that my boys are bigger we thought about creating a family business which we came up with MJCJ Party Central… Read more>>

Boaz Freund | Cinematographer

I really only started my company once I got my first camera, it was a way to invoice for my gear.. Before that I was full on freelancer and as one you are the business.. providing services as a camera man has been a life long passion and so there was no thought process, but rather a blind faith that if I persist and do good work the opportunities will come to grow and grow.. Luckily for me it worked out. Read more>>

Darryl D. Smith | Variety Content Creator

Oddly, I had been in content creation for a long time, but I never realized it. I was a photographer for Harmland Visions and Rhedeont Photography for nearly a decade. But, I never saw it as content creation. Eventually, I was forced to walk away from photography due to an accident. Read more>>

Victor Entropy | Draglesque artist, costumer, and producer

I wanted a way to be able to showcase the art and talents of burg myself and my community, especially the members who receive fewer opportunities due to their gender, size, race, or sexuality. Read more>>

Jana Reishus | Glamping Queen of the Ozarks

My sister and I inherited a heritage farm when our grandfather passed away in 2006. The farm has been in our family for over a century and after our grandfather passed I made the decision along with my family to turn the farmhouse into a vacation rental in 2010, one of the first vacation rentals in SW Missouri. Read more>>

J’aime Wiley | Owner/Founder of Bougie Boozy Bears LLC

I’ve always had the dream to have a business of my own. I put a lot of emphasis on dreams. In my family, we were taught to complete our education, and apply for a good job to assist in taking care of a possible family. We were never taught to complete our education and then start our own business. Read more>>

Nikki Mack | Certified Relationship Coach & Director of Pretty Little Life Coaching

I launched my business at the height of the Pandemic in 2021. I seen there was a great need in the mental health community and I wanted to be a part of the change. Pursuing my passion and meeting individuals who are experiencing or have experienced some of the same things I have is what initiated the start of Pretty Little Life Coaching. Read more>>

Marjorie Mae Mrozek | Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum Doula

During my time in the military it came to my attention how many families were unsupported in their pregnancy, birth and postpartum period. Many families are young, and do not live by family or friends. If the spouse who is not pregnant is the military member they have a short period of time to spend at home after the delivery of their new child. Read more>>

Blake Burns | Private Chef

I’ve always had a passion for food and creating things from scratch that people can enjoy and experience with others. Food is a universal language that can reach the masses. Starting my own catering business would give me the freedom and joy of having my desired work life balance. Read more>>

Kayla Stiles | Small business owner, Wife & Mama

I’ve always had some type of “entrepreneur” mentality even as a child! Lemonade stands, selling homemade bracelets, you name it- I did it! As an adult, I’ve always had a knack for crafts. I’ve done multiple things over the years and found some way to turn my creativity into a hustle! Read more>>

Scott Sean White | Songwriter

I don’t know if I would call it a thought process or not, really. Deciding to be a songwriter – in today’s streaming world – is not what the world would consider “wise.” But what would be even more “unwise” is NOT doing what I was made to do, what I feel like I have no other choice BUT to DO, what I felt called to do beyond any doubt. And so far – despite what the world says – it’s working out 🙂 I get to do what I LOVE to do and make a living at it. Read more>>

Keyuana Burris | Travel Professional Agent | Serial Entrepreneur

I’ve always had a love for travel since I was very little. As I got older, I realized I wanted to see the world, the world outside the regular states. While in college, I knew I always wanted to have my own business and I knew my love for travel would be prefect for me to start one around it. I love to read, so I started to do my own research of becoming a travel agent. Read more>>

Chanel Gresham | Designer/ Stylist/ Creative Director

My thought process of starting my own business was because I didn’t want to work a 9-5 until retirement, but I also wanted to provide jobs for the creative mind. I also wanted to provide a way for people to grow if they want to start their own business from what they have learned through working with me. Read more>>

Sarah Ford | Operations & Sales Director

I have always been an entrepreneur. When I was 13 years old, I started a T-shirt dress and hair bow business and sold to a small business in Midland, TX. I was always looking into business and business opportunities. Before BeautiBars, I owned a weight loss and wellness company called slimGENEration. We grew to 13 locations in 3 years. Read more>>

Fatima Khan | Student & Henna Artist

My thought process behind starting my own business began when I moved to Texas before my junior year of high school. I had moved from a diverse area that I had known and grown to love after seven years, to a more isolated and uniform town. I was the only South Asian girl on campus and constantly felt alienated. Read more>>

Antoinette Foy | Interior Designer

As a young adult, by choice, I moved around often. Each time I moved I’d declutter and redesign a room in my new place. Doing so brought a lot of excitement to the move, in that I could literally start fresh. Read more>>

Olivia Wagner | Women’s Health Dietitian: Fertility, PCOS, Hormones

I have been in the nutrition and functional medicine space for over 10 years. Although my focus started in sports nutrition and wellness, it was through my own personal health journey that I became impassioned in women’s health. Read more>>

Kim Barnhart | Small Business Owner + Full-time Mom

Family! I want to be able to make my own schedule, spend more time with family and to absolutely live what I’m doing! Read more>>

Shunkecia Lewis | Wax Crumble Queen

I am a natural go-getter, and anything I think I can make on my own, I’ll try it out first! As someone who loves candles, I always bought from mainstream stores without question – until I started getting headaches and allergy flares. Since September 2021, I made the leap to try to make my own candles, and throughout testing, Read more>>

Stephen Knight | Principal

In June 2018, our firstborn, Elijah, died in a storm at summer camp. Two weeks before he passed away, he was working on ideas for his Eagle Scout project. He didn’t just want to make a one-time object; he wanted to solve a systemic challenge. While brainstorming, he said the words that would become his legacy: “Start everything with kindness and the end will be okay.” Read more>>

Eloy Arechiga | Front Man

Starting our own band was something that has been a long time coming for us. Several of us have been close friends since our high school years and even after 18 years we can say that music is what has kept our friendships strong. The thought process now is definitely different than what it was back when we first started our endeavors in the music industry. It used to be all about trying to make it big and get famous. Read more>>

Kerri Honeywood | Holistic Doula & Wellness Coach

My passion as a doula comes from wanting to make sure the family (Mother, Father & Sibling of the baby) are supported through one of the most life-changing events they’ll ever experience(birth of a child), and come out on the other side with positive memories, not trauma induced- From Fertility, Birth, & Postpartum. Read more>>

Zac Morgan | Husband, Dad, Creative, and Marketer

Running my business full-time has been a dream of mine since 2014. You think, “Yeah, that would be cool to do someday.” but year after year goes by and it’s no closer to being a reality than it was yesterday. At some point, you finally have to have a conversation with your family, put some dreams on the table, prioritize what’s most important for the people you’re taking care of, and decide that it’s time to take a calculated risk. Read more>>

Francisco Alejandro Jimenez Andrade | General contractor

I worked for big companies and noticed that the quality isn’t that great, that’s when I tough in open a family business so I can personally take care of my customer and offer a good quality craftsman and even when my company grew I was on the fiel overseeing my jobs Read more>>

Carolyn Moyers, D.O., FACOG, NCMP | OBGYN, entrepreneur & podcast host

I had no interest in owning my own practice right out of residency. Quite the opposite – when presented with the two options, I signed an employment contract. I wanted to practice a good medicine. We have not learned the business of medicine in medical school or residency. Read more>>

Lamonica Williams | Textured Specialist & Editorial Hair Stylist

To create a ethical margin of business that has began to dwindle in 2022. I wanted to create something that celebrates and caters wholeheartedly to the beauty of naturally textured hair. Read more>>

Camille Green | Restoration Coach

The thought process behind starting my own business was that I would like someone else get healed and have enough confidence to live life and go after their dreams. I am almost 40 years old and I finally have enough confidence in my to go after what I want! God has brought me through a lot and I believe if others build a relationship with him and be willing to put in a little work they may not have to wait as long as I did to start living. Read more>>

Janelle Rodriguez | CEO/Owner of Sweets and Berries by Janelle

Well the main reason I started my business was because of my daughter. I had just given birth to her and couldn’t imagine leaving her side to go work somewhere. So I decided why not start a baking business? I can be at home with her and still be able to make money at the same time. So my husband and I agreed to start up the business and it took off from there. Read more>>