Many books on startups and business talk about how there are right and wrong reasons for starting a business. So, we asked a handful of successful founders about their reasons and the thought-process behind starting their business.

Nikki Scott | Makeup Artist & Business Owner

How to help other makeup artist and makeup lovers get the best quality products and service different than what’s out there. Read more>>

Sadie Howard | Photographer|Business Owner

This all started in the early 2000’s when celebrities in a magazine were airbrushed and looked so “perfect”. I asked myself, “Well, what can they do, that I can’t? And how can I incorporate this for good? How can I make a difference?” Not to mention I had a passion to freeze anything beautiful. Ie: Nature and people in their elements. Read more>>

Uba Udogwu | Filmmaker & Video Editor

Business has always been an iffy term for me. Iffy but absolutely necessary, of course. The main reason I started 22 Stone Productions was to create. To get the stories in my heart and mind out on a screen. Storytelling is in my blood and starting my own production company was a way to connect and share with others. Whatever money I make off of that doesn’t really matter to me. Read more>>

Jerrod and Christen Medulla | Jerrod Medulla / Songwriter, Recording Artist and Producer / Co-Owner of Medulla’s Spaghetti and Pizza / Co-Founder of Tastebuddy. Christen Medulla / Co-Founder and CEO of Tastebuddy / Co-Owner of Medulla’s Spaghetti and Pizza

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a passion for food and music. I started college at San Angelo State University, where I played rugby and really kicked off my songwriting. After a couple of years, I moved to Lubbock, Texas to finish school. I soon found myself in the middle of the Lubbock music scene and on stage for the first time. Read more>>

Amber Young | Owner

In 2017 The Leopard Antler Boutique was created. I started inside my parents business, Cook’s Main Street Mercantile as a vendor who rented a 10×10 spot. At the time I was working full time, My husband was working out of town and we had 2 teen daughters and this was extra income. With hopes and dreams of having our own store front one day. Read more>>

Yanlin Li | Artist

It’s actually a funny story of how I started my small business. When I was working at my previous job, I was very stressed out every day and I really had no way to cope with it. My coworker at the time was telling me about an online group where people share and sell their crafts, Read more>>

Blake York | Family Nurse Practitioner , Anti-Aging, Functional & Regenerative Medicine

Ever since I was a little kid I dreamed of doing something bigger than myself and I suppose years of being surrounded by my own entrepreneurial parents and being exposed to their endeavors and around that type of mindset really rubbed off on me more than I realized it would at the time. Read more>>

Angie Montero | Custom Bridal Designer & Bridal Alterations Specialist

My business very much started as a side hustle. I had just come back from working in New York and began a design job for a western company here in Fort Worth. Although I love design, I knew my heart was in creating. I needed to be creating with my hands. So when a few friends started asking me to do alterations on their wedding dresses, I quickly said yes. Read more>>

Ilia Barreto | Director & Pastor

My thoughts about starting my own business started when I came from Puerto Rico in 2016 with a dream in my heart. We had been doing since 2015 everything online, dance classes, ministering people, and worship through dance so many years and when I came to Fort Worth something came out from me , like a bravery though! I cam do it! And I did! Read more>>

Jamilah ‘Milah’ Lucas |

HOW TO KNOW WHETHER TO KEEP GOING OR GIVE UP? I don’t know how to give up but I know how to let go of things that no longer serve me.Before Covid, I had an award winning dance studio, Milah’s School of Dance, and I was financially stable as a small business owner. Read more>>

Paula Merriman | Realtor

To have some flexibility in my schedule. I can work from home and also not be at a desk all day. Like meeting people Read more>>

Braxton Garms | Photography

I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I wanted a chance to serve others, the way I’d like. Read more>>

Alyssa West | Owner of TAG Delysscious Bakery

Initially, I began my journey with creating and setting up party decor. I have always been good with creating things digitally or being able to recreate something I’ve seen online. I was not yet into the baking side of things. I booked a few parties just from posting photos of me practicing and setting up my son’s, Traejin, birthday parties. Read more>>

Lori Phan | President, SoPhancy and Mommy of Six

My husband bought me a Cricut and heat press with all the trimmings in Januaury of 2019. We threw around the notion of starting a modest home business so I could be close to home and school for our six children. My husband died in July that same year. My girls and I decided to move forward with the business and started on August 31, 2019. Read more>>

Antonio Sanchez | CEO & Founder

The way I ended up in business was by seeing what my mom, dad, grandparents and most of my family did. They are all in business so I always saw how they would make things happen. I thought it was cool and I know I couldn’t do the same thing every day. I enjoy work and I am not afraid to put 110 hour weeks to get something done. I feel that its in my nature to create so I built a business around that talent. Read more>>

Faison Garrett | Photographer & Videographer

I was younger, probably sixteen or seventeen when I picked up a camera, and from that moment I haven’t left the house without it. I thought it so cool to be able to capture moments and save them for later as I was almost always taking videos on my phone of everyone and what was going on around us. Read more>>

Shira Litvin | Handmade Soap maker

Starting a small business is a commitment and dedication, and I wanted to show myself and others that if you are pationate enough about something, believe in your product and doing it from your heart, it is possible even if you are a full time job working mom. some dreams are meant to come true. Read more>>

Katrina Lokko | Executive Producer & Program Director

While starting a business is hard work, my drive was to create freedom and quality of life, not just for myself, but all who needed something fresh. Yes. Lol I work longer hours as a business owner, but guess what? I expect a huge ROI for myself and my community. Read more>>

Jasmine Robinson | Healthy Hair Specialist

My thought process behind starting my own business consisted of the following: As a high school student braiding boys and girls hair and watching the stylists that did my hair made me realize that this was my calling; to become a Licensed Cosmetologist. The girls were pleased with the beautiful styles that I gave them: Roller set, Silk Press and Braids. Read more>>

Maurine Molak | Co-Founder David’s Legacy Foundation

Hi Maurine, what was your thought process behind starting your own business? Starting our non-profit, David’s Legacy Foundation, was very organic and community driven. In early 2016, my youngest son David died by suicide after experiencing months of devastating cyberbullying that left him feeling helpless and hopeless. Read more>>

Corey White | Wood Worker

I have spent years working for other people and other jobs. Honestly, I wouldn’t change any of it even though I knew before i even started the job that it wasn’t my forever job. I learned something at every job, and it expanded my mind and knowledge base. There is a saying “a jack of all trades but master of none” most people don’t know that it’s not the whole quote. Read more>>

Tianisha Yates-Lott | Business owner

November 14, 2019 I lost a very important piece of my life, my grandmother LUCY LOUISE YATES. She was a person who never met a stranger and loved and helped everyone she came in contact with. As a little girl growing up I would see her work hard every day to provide for her children, grandchildren, and people she loved. Read more>>