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.

Baleigh Rollins | Western Wedding Photographer

I have always loved being creative and serving people. When I fell into the wedding industry, I knew it was my place. I get to be creative and serve couples on one of the most important days of their lives. When starting within the industry with my own business, I knew I wanted to go full-time with the business and set myself apart from many in the wedding industry. Read more>>

Said Shaban | entrepreneur

people deserve better! Over the years, the culture of a barber shop has changed repeatedly. We noticed that most barber shops around the world have started to advertise their amazing lounge rooms that offer a variety of spirits and drinks, an 80” 8K screen TV, and announcing the addition of a glorious pool table. Suddenly, these luxurious additions became a necessity for a barber shop. The actual need for a barber shop is to provide a great, artistic, well-crafted haircut, and other grooming services, that fits the individual’s head, body shape, and the flow of their day-to-day lifestyle! Minty Barber strives to restore a lost art, the art of authentic barbering. Read more>>

Laila Smith | CEO Cykletime

My thought process behind starting my own business was to allow me the freedom to be able to be available for my kids at any given moment first and foremost but also giving me the freedom to do something I enjoy while teaching my childing that investing yourself is key. Read more>>

Crystal Elyse | Artist, Entrepreneur, Author, Chef, Swimsuit Designer

The thought process behind starting my business was, how can I provide generational wealth while doing something I’m passionate about? I wanted to do something that brought me pure joy while making a passive income for my family. When starting a business, it is so important to do something you are genuinely passionate about. Read more>>

Brooke Caldwell | Hair Stylist/Salon Owner & Nutrition Coach

I am Brooke! 33 year old Mom of 2! I have been a hair stylist for 13 years, Salon owner for 11 years, and I have been competing in the body building industry for 5 years! I have 2 overall wins, and plan to jump on stage again next year! I became a certified online nutrition coach this year as well! My passions include helping women to look in the mirror and be happy with what they see! It started in the salon with hair…and I quickly noticed that a lot of my clients were so happy looking in the mirror with their new hair, until I took their cape off and then the attention flies to the full body mirror they’re sitting in front of and they immediately say they hate the mirror. Read more>>

Autumn Johnson | Entrepreneur, Author, mentor

My thought process behind starting my business was I knew I couldn’t work for anyone else. I knew I was purposed to be an entrepreneur, I wanted to create generational Wealth for my children and The next generation so they wouldn’t have to experience what I had to. So I had to take a leap of faith and trust God to sustain me, whatever that looked like. Read more>>

Keandria Richardson | Realtor® – Investor – Entrepreneur

Since I was young, I always wanted to be my own boss. I didn’t know how I was going to do it or when I was going to do it. I just knew I wanted to make it happen! I’ve always been ambitious and wanted to be great. Moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area was probably the best decision my parents ever made for me. Along the way, I’ve established a lot of great connections, acquired knowledge and learned more about what the city of Dallas has to offer. I wanted to be in an environment where I could be authentically myself. Read more>>

Eva Bradys & Ruth Balloon | Bubble STOP CEO

I, Eva Brandys, own a music and fine art schools at Park Cities and Lakewood area for last 12 years (Park Cities School of Music & Lakewood Conservatory of Fine Arts). We always have large summer camps (12 weeks of summer camps). I have decided to make our summer camps more attractive by adding a special fun hour for kids to play in the foam and upbeat music. It turned out to be a hit. Many parents started to hire Bubble STOP for at home parties. Read more>>

Ronni Rice | aka Marvelous Mrs Mahj – Mahjong Teacher Extraordinaire!

I have had many, many jobs over the years, never having had that one career path. I found myself at this point in my life, my kids were now grown & flown, the pandemic was over, and I just couldn’t sit around my house doing nothing. I had been searching for my “what’s next”. Everyone says to do what you’re passionate about. I just wasn’t sure what that was. One day, a friend asked if I could teach some of her friends how to play Mahj. Read more>>

Brandie Marie | Esthetician & Lash Specialist

I wanted to be able to provide to women a service that would make them feel good about themself. Having been getting lash extensions myself for years i found that the quality was low, retention was bad and at a price that was high. So my strategy to would provide quality service with great retention and at an affordable price so that every woman could afford should they want too. I did not think this was going to be a business, just a hobby which I enjoyed and would undertake in my spare time. Little did on know then, 6 years ago, that I would have a career and “go to work” every day doing what i love. Read more>>

Jennifer Lee | Party planner/Event Rentals

My mind has been brewing the past couple years to do something I love , do something that will bring joy to my clients , do something I can invest in for my future my family and to start my own business . Read more>>

Andwele Jones | Kidpreneur, Owner of Mega Air Jump

My mom was my first motivation because she has a business and she encouraged us to start our own businesses but said it has to be something we enjoy doing. Well, I wanted to make money, have fun doing it and later become an example for other kids, too. I wanted my own hustle. Read more>>

Maria Castillo | wedding coordiator/planner & florist

The thought process over starting it was definitely scary.! I was afraid to let go off that steady income with 5 kids by my side like everyone you get caught up with a 9-5 job working for someone else & get use to it. you think you will never make It, I was truly scared I thought of all the worst case scenarios but I was eager to make it happen one way or another my husband would see me and my excitement and would push me to figure it out ! Read more>>

Zion James | Web Designer & Consultant

For my business, I wanted to create a way for people that just starting their business to have a easier way to manage the backend technical side of things while they focus on their product or service that they are working on. The reason for this is not because they don’t have the ability to do so, but that it would ultimately take away from the core of their business that should be focused on diving deep into their passion and developing it to its utmost potential. Read more>>

Karly Driftwood | Singer-Songwriter

I don’t know if it’s the most important lesson, but one that sticks out is: “Projects take longer than expected.” I often see with my own work and others, that if you pick a set date on something, it’s usually gonna take longer than that. You can set a goal for something to be done, but it almost always ends up taking longer than expected. Read more>>

Jaël Roznicki | Contemporary Artist

The most important thing I have learned through the process, is to trust myself. Not to try and imitate or create out of “expectations” of others, but to truly express what I have within and let people react to that in the way they do. This has given me the most confidence in my unique work and the most clarity on what I am trying to create Read more>>

Christine Workman | MPAS, PA-C; Certified Injector, Neuromodulators, Dermal Fills; Master – PDO Threads

I had just been forced to leave a job that I really loved because of some major disagreements I was having with the senior leadership and it left me feeling very helpless and empty – I had put a lot of myself into that job and while there were so many things I loved about it, there was just too much toxicity behind the scenes that I just couldn’t deal with. It left me wondering why I was devoting so much of my time and effort into supporting leaders who didn’t care about me or share my personal values, so after I was forced out, I decided to give myself the chance to seek out and work with people who shared my principles and my goals. Read more>>

James Davis | Air Force Command and Control Specialist & Aspiring Author

I have served in the United States Air Force for 16 years. As a non-commissioned officer, as a leader, the most important lesson that I have learned is the power of empathy. The concept sounds so simple, to understand the feelings and emotions that another person is sharing. People struggle all the time, battling depression, anxiety, daily life stressors, big events, little events and so on. From your perspective you may look at someone else’s situation and think that their challenge is insignificant, but from their vantage they may look at their challenge as daunting as climbing Mt. Everest. Read more>>