Many books on startups and business talk about how there are right and wrong reasons for starting a business. So, we asked a handful of successful founders about their reasons and the thought-process behind starting their business.

Molly Sue Garbo | Genuinely & humbly capturing others

The past four years have flown by since I picked up a camera for the first time & immediately filled with overwhelming joy. When I say flown, I mean it! It seems like just yesterday I was dressing up with my best friend ready to brave an abandoned house to “get some model photos for the gram” with my moms camera set to auto. That feeling of stopping a moment in time is where it started. Though looking back, I never truly had the thought “I’m going to start my own business”… I simply kept doing what brought me joy, which was capturing others. I would call my photography more of an adventure than a business. Read more>>

J Stephen Sadler | Author, Speaker, Chef, Restauranteur and Travel Host

I grew up in a family business, so I already had the bones to do my own thing. My Dad had a painting on the wall of a turtle with an outstretched neck. The saying underneath the painting said “Behold the turtle, in order to move forward, he must first stick out his neck.” That saying was how he operated and it was also what he instilled in all his children. My starting my own business was actually the convergence of two things. My family had a 400-year old artisan crafted cake recipe that was passed down to me. At the time I had always felt cooking/baking had the same appeal as washing floors. That was until I met Rene Verdon (The Chef for the Kennedy’s at the White House). It was Rene who taught me that creating dishes was more art than work. Read more>>

Leslie Harris | Registered Nurse and Permanent Makeup Artist

I am an emergency room nurse and have been for 19 years. I was looking for a new challenge. i always felt like my calling was to empower other women and show them by example how to relearn to love yourself after suffering from mental or physical trauma. I also want to show young girls how to dream big and how to turn you dream into a business and money making opportunity. Read more>>

Dan Gilligan | MSP Owner & Technology Consultant

When I first got into technology back in 1994 I always had the thought of working for myself. It was not until 2009 that I took the plunge. I wanted to provide technology services to business customers with integrity, as well as provide them with the best possible solution to address their business needs while helping them achieve their goals. Read more>>