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.

Reina Waller | Rise & Earthshine Owner & Artist

Mid-March 2020, I started working from home as my place of employment, like many others, had no choice but to close their doors to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world faced such immense uncertainty, I found solace in taking daily nature walks in the surrounding areas of my neighborhood. Wildflower season had just begun, and without thinking twice about it, I was picking fist-fulls of flowers to take home. This simple act brought me a remarkable amount of joy and gave me something to look forward to each day. Read more>>

Samara Chalott Barron Christian Rios Portilla | Co-owners

The idea of becoming small business owners was inspired by the countless gatherings we hosted at our home pre-pandemic. After many of our friends and family members encouraged us to start catering family parties, Christian decided to make it official by applying for an LLC in April 2021. By May we were up and running! We booked our first event–a little boy’s birthday party, which we learned a lot from! Thankfully, our business has kept us busy almost every weekend since! Read more>>

Terrell Brown | Mobile Bartender

Having my own business was always something that I wanted to do. The hard part was figuring out exactly what type of business would best suit me. So over the past 5 years I just focused on one idea at a time and pursued it. At one point I was a music video producer, a photographer, and even had my own apparel clothing line. I tried my best but neither was my calling. So one morning I sat in my kitchen made me a drink and tried to come up with a new idea. Thats when I came up with my Tipsy by Noon brand. Figured I was always making drinks for friends, family and myself why not make a hobby out of it. So 9 months later here I am. I went from just teaching people how to make drinks, to me now about to launch my own Private Bartending business. Read more>>

Hellie | Artist of Death

If you told me two years ago that I’d be working with animal remains for a living, in no way would I have believed you. Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to be an artist. The only problem was, I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do. I loved to paint, draw, sculpt, use mixed media, and DIY just about anything I possibly could, and sell my work to just about anyone who would buy it. my earliest memories of selling my work and where I’d say my passion for being an artist all truly started was back when I was in elementary school. Read more>>

Emily Burton | Writer, Author, & CEO

I started Bold Butterfly in 2020 during the Covid-19 shutdown, mainly as an expressive outlet and something to take my mind away from the fact we couldn’t do anything or go anywhere. During that time my son started what he thinks is a career in video games, some of which require purchases to do certain activities within the game. Well, if you grew up anything like me, you’ve heard the saying, “Money doesn’t grow on trees!” So, one day we sat down together and we came up with this idea to get kids talking about money. As a child, I always wanted to be a writer. As I got older and the papers for school got longer and longer, I started to lose my passion for writing. After having my children and writing so much for work, the shutdown really showed me that life is short and I should take charge of all my dreams! Fast forward a few months – I established my blog and started writing my first children’s book! Read more>>