Ideas aren’t everything, execution matters greatly, but starting often requires an idea and so we asked folks to think back and tell us the story of how they came up with the idea for their businesses. We’ve highlighted some of our favorite stories below.

Julian Placino | Personal Branding Consultant & Keynote Speaker

I often found myself being invited to speak about personal branding because of my podcast and Linkedin presence. This led to companies having me teach their teams how to brand themselves online. Today, I help sales teams build an online personal brand, win trust, generate leads, and land more meetings by teaching the skill of content marketing. Read more>>

Tierra Haynes | Podcast Host & Public Speaker

I started Mommy on the Move as a way to document my whirlwind of a journey as a stay-at-home mom, but it’s evolved into a beautiful tribe of mommas who are just trying to figure things out, drink a little wine, and live their best lives. I also host a podcast where I have both serious and light-hearted conversations about life, motherhood, and everything in between. So far, I’ve recorded over 30 episodes and have had the pleasure of conversing with some really incredible women! Read more>>

Tony Barsotti | Design/Fabrication

To be honest I’m not sure I had an exact idea of starting a business. I was always heavily into building things and fascinated by design & always wanted to work for myself and with other people that were creating things. It seemed pretty effortless to jump right In and start taking on projects & building things, whether I knew how to or not. The uncertainty of the outcome was the risk I was willing to take. I would take on projects that would require a tool I didn’t have, and a process I’ve never experienced, then learn about the tool while doing the job, and with just a little time it would turn out pretty good. Essentially I was being paid to learn, and at that point I knew I was going the right direction and was hooked. It’s actually really fun and gratifying, still is to this day! Read more>>