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.

Shavon & Brooke | Co-Founders of Solved Customer Services

Childhood friends and sorority sisters, Shavon and Brooke are people committed to the progression of small businesses and the advancement of creative business owners who provide much needed services to their respective communities. Shavon, with a undergraduate degree in Human Services and a Dual Masters in Education, has a passion for logistics and organization while Brooke, with an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Masters in Health Administration, is well versed in positive human connections and managing business operations effectively. COVID 19 was a huge push to begin our business as we saw an influx in small business start ups and social media services. With that, we saw a need to offer customer service to companies that had great potential but might not have the resources to keep up with the demand of consumers. People often complain about customer service from small businesses who often are doing every aspect alone or with a tiny but mighty team. Read more>>

Pallavi Prabhune | Realtor, Fathom Realty

When I moved to Dallas, I was already in this line of business for a long time now. But had worked only on the operations side of it. When I moved here, I thought about the sales part of the business when I saw that for most first time home buyers the whole process is very overwhelming. They need someone to walk them through the whole process and explain the intricacies involved in each step, contracts, payments involved etc. This is the biggest purchase of their life and they cannot afford to make any mistakes. If they have someone to guide them through each step, it will avoid them from making any expensive investment mistake. There are many steps in the home buying process. Buyers need to have information about and ask questions like – Where to start? What to look out for when touring a home? What is an offer? How to decide on the price to offer?. Read more>>

Gary Williams | Fashion Designer

The thought process behind WeirdWear was to find ways to get individuals out of their comfort zone. By introducing our message “Be Whatever” with fashion will give confidence too many who is trying to find purpose in this society. Read more>>

Willie & Kim Howard | Dallas Portrait Photographer & Videographer

We’ve all been there. You’re telling a story and then your friend has to interject with their version. Since we can never tell this story without the other “correcting” or adding their two cents, here we go…but we’ll tell you the short version! K: In 2010, the only gift under the Christmas tree was a shiny new camera. We both had an interest in photography for different reasons and decided to forgo individual gifts that year. W: I started taking photos and what I initially planned as a hobby quickly took a turn as friends started asking me to capture their families and events. This Christmas present to ourselves ended up giving us a gift, a business. K: We’re a team in all we do. Our wedding bands are engraved with “Team Howard” and it only seemed fitting to do this business thing together as Team Howard Photography. W: I was doing the photography and Kim was a part of the team in the administrative part, helping with editing, etc, but I wanted to show up to photograph events as a team. Read more>>

Emily Williams | Mental Coach

I’ve always been the person that feels like there is always something more to accomplish. I’m also very independent and enjoy doing things my own way in order to provide the level of service that I feel people deserve. To an extent, I feel like working for a typical company can be stifling. You are told what to do and what your job description is, and that’s what you stick to. It’s what you’re “allowed” to do. I simply didn’t want to be constrained by others’ rules and knew that I had so much more I could offer the athletes I work with. I think working for an existing company in a more “normal” setting might feel safer. You have a set salary and benefits which is comfortable, whereas starting a business is risky. You don’t know when you’ll start to see a profit, you don’t know how quickly it will grow, and it takes a lot of work! Much more than the typical 9-5 at least. However, once I took the leap and launched my business, the only thing I regretted was not doing it sooner. Read more>>

Amy Harris | Digital Marketing Consultant

I started Hashtageme Consulting shortly after closing One2One Restaurant and Bar, which I had owned and operated for ten years. I was not sure what I wanted to do when the restaurant closed, but I knew I wanted to start another business. I have a background in marketing, I worked as a media buyer and marketing manager for Hotels.com and owned my own photography business prior to developing the One2One brand and opening the restaurant. I managed all of the marketing and growth of One2One, I have a passion for brand development, creating and growing a small business and the creative process of marketing a business. After the restaurant closed I decided I wanted to help other small businesses grow their brands so starting a marketing consulting business seemed like the perfect next step in my career. Read more>>

Lexie Zitaglio | Owner & Baker at A Slice of Sweet

Baking was a hobby for several years before I thought about turning it into a business. I had plenty of experience making cakes and desserts for family and friends, who encouraged me to market my business and charge for my services. I feel so grateful to be able to make a profit on something that brings me so much joy!. Read more>>

Janay Cash | Entrepreneur and Mentor

We started Diamonds Do Brunch because there was a deficit in the community concerned sisterhood. We wanted to bridge the gap between the generations of seasoned ladies and young ladies by helping them heal from their past and present situations while also showing them they are not in this alone. We were tiered of seeing, hearing and talking about the problem it was time to become the change we want to see. Our thoughts were if we can be vulnerable enough to change someone else’s story then that is what we will do. Read more>>

Heidi Kidd | Visual Artist , Painter

My career as a textile artist changed when I was furloughed in April 2020 due to Covid-19. This was the push I needed to get started. While I was furloughed, I began a daily watercolor practice painting in my sketchbook. Occasionally, I would post paintings to Facebook & Instagram. During this time, a friend of mine posted his dog on FB and I painted his dog Sammy and posted it back into his feed for fun. The reaction was amazing. His wife then reached out and asked to purchase it. That is when I decided to launch Heidi Kidd Art. For years I have been a weekend painter and belong to local art guilds while working full time. Painting is what I love to do. My sketchbooks travel everywhere with me on vacation or just going for a daily hike. I found a passion for ecological art to raise public awareness about the amazing animals around us and the environments they live in. Read more>>

Brydric Wright | Founder, Designer, & Creative Director

To say that college was a busy time of my life would be an understatement. Working three jobs while going to school and maintaining a social life were the highlights of my early twenties. During this time, you can imagine money was tight and my schedule was full, so trying to shop for clothes was not always an option. I thought to myself, where can I find clothes that fit me well and can carry me from day to night. I needed clothes that were easy to move in, yet still polished and casual. With that need in mind, I created my brand of high-end ready-to-wear garments for men and women. Read more>>

Chelsea Rabroker | Owner & Founder

I knew I wanted to start a business firstly for women. Secondly, I wanted the business to empower us along our way and I knew I wanted a clothing aspect. This is when I developed Style Kalōn. Read more>>

Jyoti Singh | Cake Artist

I was born and brought up in India. I love cake baking since my childhood. But When I got married and I came to know that my husband is a cake lover then it was a plus point for me and I started baking cake for him. When we moved to USA then I started baking more often for our celebration like my son’s birthday, husband’s birthday and for our anniversary celebration. I am a self taught baker. Every time when I made cake, I learned something new. More I practiced more I learned. I can spend hours in decorating cake without getting bored. With each new cake I created, I improved and gained more confidence. Turning point came into my life when we were planning to celebrate my daughter’s first birthday in October 2018. I tried making my daughter’s first birthday cake. I decided to make 3tier Elena theme cake and I was exited how it turned out. Everything I made from scratch. It was challenging but I loved doing that. When our guests came to birthday party they were amazed seeing cake. Read more>>

Sau-Sha Meraki | Business & Mindset Coach

Being the first in my family to start a business, I felt lost and alone many times. Even though I come from a family of hustlers, no one knew how to turn their hustle into a business that could be systemized and scaled. I knew there had to be other people like me with a bomb business idea but no idea how to make it a reality. So, I started to brand myself as a business and mindset coach to help women build a lucrative brand and cultivate the mindset needed to handle wealth. I love the saying, “A million-dollar home holds the same amount of sorrow as a hundred thousand dollar home.” It does my heart no good to help someone build up their bank account while their soul is suffering. I want the women I help to flourish mentally, spiritually, AND financially. Read more>>

Dawn Lee | Graphic Designer & Founder of DLD.Studio/DLD.academy

Back in 2015 when I graduated from college, I was completely lost. I didn’t have a job lined up for myself, and couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted to do with my art degree. While I was applying for random jobs and working on my portfolio, I would watch a lot of YouTube, especially fashion and beauty-related videos. At the time, I remember wondering to myself how these huge content creators could have over millions of subscribers, but yet they didn’t have a proper banner, or any design assets for that matter. That’s when I really started to think about how interesting it would be to create designs for these content creators. So I started hitting up some of my favorite content creators, and to my surprise, I heard back from some of them. They saw my portfolio and were willing to give me a shot – I was so excited! That’s basically how I got my foot into the door, start my own design studio (DLD.studio) & was able to carve my own path as a graphic designer in the digital space. Read more>>

Sophia Karbowski | Health Food Cafe Owner at Rollin’ n Bowlin’

When my business partner, Austin Patry, and I met our senior year in class at TCU, we noticed a lack in healthy, convenient food options both on and near campus. While in multiple entrepreneurship classes together, we got to know each other through our shared passion for making healthy snacks and meals that actually taste good and fill you up. At the same time, we continually noticed our classmates and peers frustration that they couldn’t get any healthy food they really wanted near campus. We realized we could probably do something ourselves to fix this problem, and that’s when the brainstorming began! Personally, prior to the formation of Rollin’ n Bowlin’, I had no plans to start my own business post-grad. It really happened because of the clear issue college students were facing, combined with my passion for healthy eating and cooking. And we quickly realized that not only TCU students were facing this issue, but students at universities all over the country. Read more>>

 Spoken Word Artist/Musician/Host/Entrepreneur

I knew that no matter what, I was going to be working hard for the rest of my life. If I stuck to working a job, I’d be showing up and working hard every day and spending most of my time on work. I didn’t like the idea of working hard, just to make someone else rich in the process. I didn’t like the idea of spending years of my life helping someone else grow THEIR assets and THEIR business, of walking away old and tired and with nothing to show for it, not owning anything. I didn’t like the idea of helping someone else live their dreams while I busted my ass for them. I also hate bureaucracy, I hate office politics and pointless conversations. I knew I also would be miserable doing something I wasn’t passionate about, spending the only time I got on this earth doing something I disliked and answering to someone else; So I decided to take a shot at being an artist, and grow something I can hopefully make a living from one day. Read more>>

Shanista Robertson | Baker & Finance Analyst

My thought process was just that, a THOUGHT! I spoke my desires of wanting to start my own baking business to friends but never put them into action because I was afraid that I would not get any support. Read more>>

Kazima Wajahat | SLP, Author/Writer, Entrepreneur

I am professionally a Speech Language Pathologist. It was my passion, my reason to breathe, my purpose for waking up in the morning. What I didn’t realize at the time is that passions change according to your circumstances and your mindset in that particular point in time. After a while, I started feeling burnt out and began wanting to do something more fulfilling creatively and make a bigger impact. I wanted to work for myself and tap into my creative passion. What I thought was merely a hobby began to be my passion, my reason to breathe, my purpose for waking up in the morning. I realized my hobby was my passion. And at that point in time I wanted this passion to become my business. Read more>>

Erick Hernandez | Owner

Growing up I saw my father get up before the sun was up and work until the sun came down. He was a subcontractor for a roofing company. On occasions I would join him during the summer. He hated it. He wanted me to have a better life, live the “American dream”. Get a career so I could have a good “job” in the AC. But I always wanted more than that. I wanted something so great that it would not only provide for me, for my parents, but for my future generations. I wanted to create a business that would work hard as a family, serve our families and turn clients into family. I wanted to be in control of my own company that would serve and protect what everyone works so hard for, their home. Having the roofing experience behind my belt plus all of my dads knowledge, it was just the perfect business for us. Read more>>

Carmen Sauceda | Bridal and Special Event Hairstylist

When I first started out in my career I worked at a salon. I loved the salon environment but I quickly realized my love for updos. Working for a franchise salon I had to take every service and I just didn’t love them as much. I knew I wanted to start a business focusing on more styling and updos. Every time I got an updo client at the salon it was so much fun and I wanted to dive deeper into the fundamentals of hairstyling. I’ve always loved going to weddings and Quinceañeras. I knew I wanted to be apart of my clients special day. So I sat down and brainstormed with a few close people about my vision and business name. I set short term and long term goals. It was scary but I knew it’s what I really wanted to do. Read more>>

Broderick ” Huck” Huckaby (Huck Da Manager) | Founder/Owner & CEO of Royalty Sounds Entertainment/ Huck Da Manager

I knew at a very early age that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an Emphasis on Entrepreneurship. In addition, I was always interested in the responsibilities of the big executives behind the scenes in the music industry but decided not to pursue that dream right away. Fast forward to August of 2018 when I hosted my annual fantasy football draft that usually consists of great food, drinks, and conversations. This particular year the conversations were a bit different. My uncle was explaining that he was in the final stages of starting his own trucking company while my friend Donte, who I graduated college with, was very attentive and had several questions to ask. He was very interested because that was an idea he wanted to pursue. Another friend I went to college with, DeCorrian, informed us that he was going to start a carpet cleaning business (diggleselitecleaning.com). Read more>>

Aaliyah Gaines | CEO, CFO, Account Manger

The thought process for me starting my business was kind of simple and a no-brainer for people who know me because I’ve always been doing some kind of side hustle, it just took some time to figure out WHAT exactly I would sell that would stick. I’ve always known a lot of people and my sister would tell me “You need to start doing something to make money off all the people you know.” She suggested me being an “influencer” and we were about to go full blown photoshoot, Jayda mode. Honestly, I was just too lazy to get dressed and take the pictures. Then, one day I was just at home and I text my boyfriend like “Bro I wanna make some t-shirts that say where I’m from. Like a map of Dallas type shit.” And honestly, neither of us thought it was going to be anything because I made one graphic and it was just listing places in hoods of Dallas. I made like an “Oak Cliff” shirt and a “South Dallas” shirt, they never got dropped. Fast forward about maybe a month or so i came up with a simple “214, Tx” design and had that on the front of a pocket tee and threw “DDD” the back neckline. Read more>>