Deciding to start a business is an unusual decision. It’s often considered irrational and yet for many it’s the best decision they’ve ever made. So we asked folks to think back to when they were starting their businesses and to tell us about their decision making process.

Elysse Voyer | Chef & Business Owner

I had known for years that I wanted to run a business of my own, but I took a very winding road to finally get here. My formal education and early career was in research astrophysics – believe it or not! After my postdoc, I made a decision to leave that career path, and found myself living in the Bay Area and working in tech which was a natural transfer of my skill set as a scientist to industry. Read more>>

Jeff Heggie | Entrepreneur & Success Coach

In my 20+ years of entrepreneurship I have been through many ups and downs. I’ve had a lot of success and I’ve had many failures, all of which were learning experiences. During that time I have also had many opportunities to coach and mentor a lot of people in different aspects. This includes over 20 years of coaching different levels of basketball. Read more>>

Dallas McLaughlin | Marketer. Entrepreneur. Speaker. Dad.

The biggest thing process wide that I’ve been focused on with starting my new business, is trying to define and create the category of direct-to-expert marketing as an alternative to the full-service advertising agency model which we’ve all come to know. Read more>>

Omar Rodríguez Villa | Art Director & Visual Storyteller

Before starting SINGULARBOLD., I was freelancing on the side while also working full time as a multimedia coordinator within an in-house department in Tucson, Az. I was getting several projects as a freelancer, which motivated me to become an independent designer at some point. However, after two years and several projects, I realized that I needed to learn more about business in many aspects. Read more>>

Tireek Cody Jennifer Maybloom | Photography & Videography

The thought process behind starting T&J Productions was to provide people with our unique, creative skills in order to help them capture precious moments, develop their ideas, and bring their visions to life. We think of our customers as family, so we will always give them our best. Read more>>

Patricia Repolda | Brand Strategist & Web Designer

Over the years, I’ve had the good fortune of working with local and international social entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations with big dreams of changing the world. My work centered around fundraising and external communications, which covered a lot of things – from brand development, web design, newsletters to social media management. You can say I’ve worn many hats! Read more>>

Flora Puerta | Cleaning Expert

It all started in my home. I have always enjoyed cleanliness. So I decided that a cleaning business where the main mission was to help people have an impeccable and healthy space to work was what I wanted to do. At first, it started with just one employee, myself. As the business grew, we integrated more people. Today we have 5 people who support us in our project. Read more>>

Marsha Ham | Retired Higher Education administrative professional, Cat lover and now Cat Café owner & entrepreneur

I have always wanted to start my own business, but I never really thought I had an idea that could be developed successfully into a thriving business. In the seventies, I developed a process for using microwave technology to blanch garden vegetables, which resulted in farm fresh results when the frozen veggies were cooked. The problem was that I could not think of a way to scale the idea beyond a single microwave. If I had been an engineer, I probably could have developed a viable process that would have interested a venture capitalist. But I didn’t. Read more>>

Tyree York | CEO & Founder of G.R.E.A.T Training

The thought process behind starting G.R.E.A.T Training (Getting Right Everyday At Training) was to teach life lessons through the game of basketball and fitness. In basketball, there are multiple components that equates to success of the sport such as hard work, dedication, communication, etc. Life is very similar in that aspect. As a former college basketball athlete, I have experienced many lessons in my life and career that propelled me to greatness. I want to use those lessons to inspire the next generation in my community, on and off the court. Read more>>