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.

Melvin Sweats Jr | Photographer

Photography was always around me growing up with my father capturing all the family moments. I grew my own passion for photography when traveling with the navy. Once I got out the military, I wanted to keep making memories with my camera and thought what better way than to create memories for others. Read more>>

Brittany Blackman | Family Nurse Practitioner

I knew years ago that I would eventually want my own business, but I didn’t know at the time it would be my own family practice clinic. I have absolutely adored all my 14 years of being a bedside registered nurse. During the last year or two, there was an unrest that began slowly in me. I started to have an inkling of wanting to do more than I was presently. A conversation with a colleague one night at work, ended with me applying for Graduate School. What really made me want to go out on my own and forge my own path were two things. Number one, is the way I was (am) seeing the Healthcare system going. More and more of late, I have seen healthcare turn more into a business practice than that of managing and caring for human lives. First, I understand that at some level there is a fee for service transaction that is occurring, but that has become the forefront of the matter and no longer a detail. People are more worried about making money than taking the necessary time patients need for us to take care of their entire selves. Number two is a symptom of the first, being the response of patients discussing their view of their care and their disappointment. In my last year of practice, it was very unfortunate to watch patients neglect their own health care, not only due to a lack of health literacy/education, but them feeling like they’re just a number and no one actually cared about them as people. They feel unseen, unheard, and rushed through their appointments. Health care shouldn’t be like that, so I decided to have my own business and will do what I can to change the trajectory of that. Read more>>

Dannielle Hoener | Boutique Owner

When I started my business I had just become a stay at home mom and quit my full time job to raise my daughter. I wanted something to do, I am a very busy body so just being home wasn’t enough for me. Of course wanting to contribute financially was a part of it, but I never thought it would be making me more then my full time job did with in the first 6 months. I was talking to my husband about what I would do once the kids were both in school full time, and not even two weeks later we were given the opportunity to buy the inventory and take over the lease of a store front. I said yes before he did, but after some convincing he was ready to jump in. We took over the store when I was 35 weeks pregnant with our son. He was 9 days old at our grand opening and has probably spent just as much time in the store as he has at home since he was born. Having a career I can still be present in my kids life is my number one reason for doing what I do. It started off as bows for girls, within a year it turned into clothes for all kids, and now three years later I am a full blown boutique with kids, womens, and mens items with a store front! Read more>>

Lex Ronin | Founder: Ronin Fitness of Richardson

I think I was like a lot of people, in the sense that I saw my “real world” job and my “real self” as two distinct lives. I can remember spending some very long days watching the clock, waiting for that 24-hour Paramedic shift to end just so I could go train in martial arts for an hour or hit the gym. Before bodybuilding and Martial Arts, it was music. I played in bands from ages 13 to 33. It’s all I cared about. I was a terrible employee in literally every job I ever had, including the Army. I was the guy who was always late and screwed up basic rookie things. However, when I would get to what I perceived to be my “real” life, I would suddenly become this energized, focused guy who cared about details and loved even the mundane parts. It was a weird evolution from playing in bands to martial arts to weightlifting to going into business, but it all feels like the same project. The big moment of my life was meeting martial arts instructors and personal trainers who did it full time as a “real” job. All of a sudden, that power that I had in my “off” hours was something that could sustain me in my “real” life. I did attempt to do personal training as a “side hustle” for a while and keep my Paramedic career, but after getting fired for the 4th time in 2012, I decided to jump in full time and make it happen. I had negative 100 bucks in the bank that day. I burned all my State of Texas Medical Documents and effectively made myself unemployable. It was June 15th. I celebrate that day every year. All six companies I worked for here in Texas have since shut down. So much for Normalcy…. Read more>>

Ike Esedebe | Business Directory Owner & Real Estate Agent/Investor

Seeking Africa was founded on the idea to connect and invest African Diaspora. We believe by economically empowering our business owners we are helping build a promising future for the Diaspora. I chose to primarily focus of African businesses due to the fact that they lack marketing and exposure most of the times. Even on large business directories like Yelp they are not aware of or market a lot of African-owned businesses. Read more>>

Dallas Wise | Founder and CEO

My thought was that since I love baking pastries I should start selling them, especially cookies. That’s why when I turned nine years old I decided to take a online entrepreneur class in 2020. Read more>>

RA K7NG | HIP HOP ARTIST EMCEE

MY thought process for creating my Record Label NEWPR7NT is its purpose I Love hip hop & it’s my duty to give the culture something dope Read more>>

Jennifer Bassman | Burnout and stress management speaker, author, and coach

The first business I started, a petsitting business, did not have much thought behind it. I was a recent college graduate looking for extra cash to supplement my income from my full-time job. Read more>>

Cece Cardona | Wedding & Event Florist

Starting my business came naturally, it started with an idea that turned into a hobby and grew into what it is today. Now that i’ve ventured into the wedding and event industry it does take more thought, time and effort to continue to provide exceptional service and experience to all my couples. Read more>>

Alyssen Nguyen | Connection to Self Expert, Transformational Mindset Coach and Dynamic Speaker

My thought process was, I knew I did not want to work a traditional job. I have nothing against that route, but for my goals in life, I normal 9-5 or staying with a company for 30 plus years would not get me where I ultimately want to be. I also knew I wanted to help people navigate the complexities of life. Having a 9-5 would take away from that focus. I wanted to be able to put my all into my business. Read more>>

Carly Haynie | Muralist, Designer, and Illustrator

Starting my own business has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, but in my early 20s it always seemed just out of reach. After graduating college, I worked for a couple of different companies where I observed both a successful business that was professionally operated and a struggling business that was not operated professionally. Seeing both extremes first hand taught me so much about things that foster a successful business and the things that can prevent it from thriving. During this time I also did free lance design work on the side, which gave me the opportunity to apply the positive things I was observing with my own personal clients. Throughout the past 8 years I have grown my client base and added to the list of services I provide, which gave me the confidence to finally step out on my own and create Carly Haynie Design Co. Read more>>

Courtni Fontenot | Product Designer & Speech-Language Pathologist

Honestly, I never was a risk taker and was so naive to the process of owning a business. My husband felt that owning a business was his calling in life, so eventually I told him that I was on board if we talked to an accountant to get all the details lined out. However, we still didn’t really know what type of business we wanted to start at the time we got our LLC. We tried and failed at another business or two before we discovered what became our business today. When we started this business, we decided that even if it failed, we could still have some very unique and customized gifts for our own families. Within a short time, people loved these unique gift options and it really took off, even though we started J. Lea & Co right before the coronavirus outbreak. We have sincerely enjoyed being a part of so many of our customers’ journeys and creating unique gifts to celebrate the birth of new babies, commemorating loved ones who have passed, and recognizing all of life’s journeys in between. Read more>>