Starting and growing a business is hard, but often deciding to start the business in the first place is even harder. We asked some successful entrepreneurs from around the community to open up to us about how they thought about starting a business.

Mike Leyva-Doherty | Owner, Wholistic Agency

I started my career in the digital advertising space and found a lot of the industry to be a bit dark, both from advertisers as well as from businesses advertising. I believe in affecting positive change on a large scale through commerce, and believe marketers have a moral responsibility to lift up the businesses, and by proxy, the voices of good and honest people. When we do this, we can grow good and honest businesses, that you could feel comfortable telling your family to call. This is why I started the Wholistic Agency. I wanted a space where clients can know they will be given honest and transparent communication all along the way, quick implementation times with no run-around, and have everything fulfilled in-house, so there are never any surprises. Read more>>

Robert Lange | Artist + Gallery Owner

My wife Megan and I were in our early twenties and just naive enough with nothing to lose to open a small business. Our friends helped paint walls and we crossed our fingers we would sell a painting to pay rent. That was 20 years ago. Read more>>

Mikel Conrad | Portrait Photographer & artist

My foundation of why I started my Portrait and Commercial portrait studio was first to create great images and memories that told a story of a family or for a marketing campaign. With that in mind, I began to lay the groundwork of where I would like to have a studio and how I could position myself as an expert in the field of portrait photography. Read more>>

Nyanah Shuler | Licensed Hair Stylist

I stared my business in 2020 during the pandemic. I was about a year out of high school and had a new born son. Of course everyone was stuck in the house and I used the time to really think about what I wanted to do with my life. I was working from my home office with my newborn baby and would think to myself ‘this can’t be it for me’. I always knew that I wanted to do something for myself and be my own boss. I had been braiding hair since middle school as a hobby and decided that maybe being a hair dresser was something I should take a little more seriously. One day while I was working, I called the local beauty school near me and set up a tour. Need less to say I was enrolled the very same day and stared school about a week later. From there I stared documenting the styles that I would do on Instagram and slowly I started to gain clientele. After a few months I had built my clientele up enough to be able to leave my work from home job and focus on being a full time stylist and cosmetology student. When I was close to graduation I knew it was time to step it up a notch so I opened my own salon suite and Ny Did That was born. Read more>>

 Lilian Campa | President and Founder of AdvoKate Foundation, Inc.

We wanted to continue Kate’s Legacy by forming a non-profit foundation that would support children / families going through a cancer journey. Read more>>

Jessica Gray | Travel Concierge

As someone who is fueled by individuality, creativity, time freedom and independence, I’ve always struggled with working in a corporate environment. While running a business is certainly not easy, I am always grateful for the ability to work how- and when- I choose. I also love the fact that my business, and the way I run it, is a representation of who I am as a person and as an entrepreneur. Read more>>

CALEB JACKSON | Documentary Filmmaker, Videographer

I had shot a few documentary projects- a few smaller ones about the Tucson music scene, and one full length proejct in Florida about my favorite punk band from the 90s (Squad Five-O). I started editing that movie, and realized that I had gained a skillset to work with clients in that speicifc format. With my videography business, I figured out a way to take what I learned on those documentaries, and create stories that were shorter than what I had made. Read more>>

Shannon Breen | Logistics Professional & Founder

I’ve always had a burning entrepreneurial spirit after 10 years inside the walls of one of Americas trucking institutions , covid, and some cancer within my extended family I felt like making the leap and starting FreightVana. Read more>>

Betty Galvan | Founder and Owner

My husband and I had our first baby in Tokyo, and I took a break from teaching. While exploring Japan and later Singapore, I documented our lives and shared them with our loved ones back home through my blog and social media. That was 2006-2009 and the height of influencer content. Read more>>

Brad James | Toy Store Owner

During my time working for companies, over two decades, I had been feeling increasingly like my efforts to excel at my job were being unnoticed or unappreciated. I came to the conclusion that as long as I’m working as an employee for someone else, I will never be able to fully excel within my strengths, that I would limited to the goals and priorities of an employer. I needed something more. I needed more opportunities to excel, to push the boundaries of personal excellence and expression of my personal passions. Read more>>

Min Enghauser | Fine Art Photographer & Digital Imaging Specialist

There is no job for what I know and how I apply it, so I started working for myself. There’s a lot of sacrifice but I get to live life on my terms. Read more>>

Valerio Di Falco | Owner and chef

I started my business because was always my dream open an Italian bakery in the US and when. my parents came here I thought would be perfect for them doing something and this how we start. Read more>>

Kent O’Jon | Exec. Dir. & Co-Founder of BMCC

The mission of the Black Maricopa Chamber of Commerce is to promote economic independence and prosperity among Black business entrepreneurs in the City of Maricopa and surrounding areas. This was the very reason we founded the BMCC. Read more>>

Ned Bustard | Graphic Designer/Illustrator/Author

I started my business out of desperation! My former employer had run out of work, so I went out on my own. I had grown up in a small business family so the idea of being an entrepreneur wasn’t too scary for me. And I also had a company I had been moonlighting for that I could bring on as my first main client. Read more>>

Derek Keller | Retail Store Owner

Unlikely Professionals was created as a brainchild by my wife and I. I had a leather goods company (440 Gentleman Supply), and she already had a retail store (Edge of Urge). We started to add a men’s section to Edge of Urge, but quickly saw there was just not the room to make it prosper. So the hunt began for the right space to combine retail, and a leather working space. Luckily, we scored a space directly across from the existing Edge of Urge store. The space was also large enough for us to pursue our dream of adding a beer/wine bar into the mix. For years, we were already hosting events and giving away drinks. Now, we were able to actually sell the drinks while people were shopping or attending an event. Read more>>

Joe Makston | Leadership Development Consultant & Coach

I spent 30 years in the corporate space and loved most of it. I was the only one in my friend group who wasn’t a small business owner. I liked the structure and security of a corporate role with its constant salary, benefits, and working with a team of people. I had aspirations of starting my own business in my sixties, when I had everything figured out and could share my knowledge. I’d write a book, then coach, mentor, and speak at conferences. Well, that’s what I had planned at least. Read more>>

Armanda Dempsey | Musician

My decision to launch my own business stemmed from a deep-seated desire to share the music I had meticulously crafted over the years. In today’s era, artists have unprecedented opportunities to maintain autonomy and express themselves without constraints. Personally, I’ve long felt at odds with societal norms and regulations, particularly when they encroach upon artistic expression. I refuse to compromise my art to fit within prescribed boxes, preferring authenticity over conformity. Rather than conforming to societal expectations, I’d opt to preserve the integrity of my art or abstain from sharing it altogether. Read more>>