Our community is comprised of some absolutely brilliant entrepreneurs and so we asked a few of them to tell us the story of how they came up with the ideas for their business.

Kristen Boyd | Owner, Window Seat

My husband and I are both CPAs and worked in accounting for a few years until we realized it was not something we wanted to do forever. Luckily, we both agreed we wanted to own our own business. When deciding what shape that would take, we realized that some of the best parts of our work days were when we were able to get away from the office, from the computer, and from the spreadsheets. We would each end up at a coffee shop and just loved the feel of walking in, saying “hello” to the barista, smelling the coffee beans, all of it. It was something we wanted to experience every day. In our minds, it was similar to the feeling we get when we dream about and then go on a vacation. So, we wanted to bring that feeling of “getting away” into our coffee shop, and Window Seat was born. Read more>>

Mollie Hancock | Owner, Elephant Trunk Moving Supplies

Actually I heard of another business in Canada doing the same thing…(Frog Box) .they did not have any interest in coming to Texas….so we started our own business. Thought of the name, had the logo designed and purchased the materials and started our business in August of 2015. I will say we have learned many things over the years and I think made improvements based on those learning curves. The reason this kind of business appealed to me and my family is that is enhances my other profession. I have been a real estate agent for over twenty years and so many people lament over the cardboard box and so do I. Since I was a little girl I have been concerned about Mother Earth and the impact humans have on her! Elephant Trunk Moving Supplies is so simple…and genius at the same time. I say it is the triple warm and fuzzy…..First..the client feels as thought they have made a good financial decision..(to rent the box is about the same as buying cardboard. Read more>>

Angela Chambers | Health and Fitness Coach

I remember commuting to work daily in tears from the thought of dealing with a job that I was very unhappy at. Working out became an outlet for me that I never imagined would one day lead to me becoming a gym owner. I use to attend several fitness camps and gyms around the metroplex. I started getting results and along with the results came people questioning me. “What do you eat, how many days do you workout, are you a trainer, etc. I was providing people with so much information that one day it clicked. This is what I enjoy doing, why not try it out. Even then I was skeptical due to the lack of information on how to begin as well as the financial stability. The feeling of failure was overwhelming. The idea of leaving my secure income for something I had no idea about was even more overwhelming. I continued to get excited about it and constantly found myself researching and asking other trainers questions and thats when I knew it’s something that I’m passionate about. Read more>>

David Hitchings | Jack of All Trades-Master of None

I had a friend of mine that knows I work with wood and have for years. He is always conjuring up something in his head and came up with an idea that involved wanting a community shop that guys could go to and use the tools to build furniture or whatever regarding to wood. We got to talking about cutting boards one day and how he wanted to build one. I was at home during the beginning of covid as most people were. I was pretty much stir crazy at that point and decided I would go out into my garage and use of some of the scrap hardwood I had on hand to build my friend a cutting board, and a fairly large one at that. The board was multi colored woods and measured 24x18x1.5″ and had a juice groove with rubber feet. So my wife decided to post it on Facebook to all her friends after I finished it. Kinda like hey look what my husband built. Well what happened next kinda surprised all of us, as many of her friends wanted to purchase one themselves. Now these boards were not cheap, many of them were $200 plus. Read more>>

Desree Robinson | CEO/FOUNDER

I created “LOST KIDS” in 2009 and brought it to life in 2019. I was in church one day and my preacher had this saying on the wall “I was once lost now I am found”. It used to bring me to tears but I realized it was showing me what “LOST KIDS” means to me over the years of going through trials and tribulations. I lost myself than I found myself walking into my purpose. So I created “LOST KIDS” with cartoon characters into a book to tell my story from different backgrounds also areas of my life ” I WAS ONCE LOST NOW I AM FOUND”. Read more>>

Ellie Austin | Owner + Founder of Griffy

When I was furloughed from my full time job in March of 2020 and immediately catapulted into being a full time stay at home mom to my three kids (at the time 3 1/2 year old twins and a 1 year old) a great deal was put into perspective for me and my family. While we hunkered down during the lockdown into survival mode through summer, we played, we explored, we travelled. I also found myself completely consumed by them and, like many, struggled to make time for myself. With small snippets of time here and there, I craved a creative outlet for myself so I slipped back into my campy happy place and started beading bracelets with sayings that felt relevant for the moment as well as names for friends and family. I has also always been passionate about needlework so the embroidered wish bracelets seemed like a natural progression. The peace of mind that the process of embroidering them gave me was therapy! The bracelets started stacking up and my husband turned to me one day and asked me if I was going to sell them one of these days. Read more>>