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.

 Jeffrey Wacker | Custom glass fitter and mentor

I had been working in the industry for 11 years and had worked at every level from delivery driver to technician to shop manager to logistics coordinator… but working on the cars and creating relationships with clients, not having customers was what I truly loved. Read more>>

Caroline Tanis CDFA® MBA | Financial Advisor, Srategist, & Speaker

Prior to starting my own financial planning practice I was under the umbrella of Merrill Lynch. However, after half of a decade there I was tired of seeing highly-ambitious women wanting to work a financial planner but being scared away by the predominantly male industry. Read more>>

Brianna Bove | Artist

I started my business, BeAbove Designs when I was in high school. At the time, I was in need of a way to make money that would be flexible enough to fit around school hours and all of the extra curricular activities I was involved in. My mom suggested that I use my love of art to create my own business. Read more>>

Emily Landers | Artist/Creative & Founder of A Little Something. A Lot of Love

The tragic loss of my baby at 15 weeks gave me almost immediate inspiration. I wanted to be able to give support and hope to those going through miscarriage and also open up the conversation surrounding miscarriage, still birth and loss. Read more>>

Ben and Molly Wiedenman | Farmers/Foragers/Educators

We had a deep passion for plants, small scale growing and health through food which we wanted to share with people around us. Careers in education and aquaculture research primed us for being knowledgeable about our craft and able to teach others about various topics. Read more>>

Peyton Millard | Registered Dietitian & Licensed Medical Nutrition Therapist

I created Peachy Plate Nutrition for a specific purpose: to properly educate individuals about nutrition and to improve the health and lives of those that I work with. Nutrition has become a very confusing topic for many because there are numerous individuals, including other health professionals, who are attempting to educate the public about nutrition without any proper education or training on the topic. Read more>>

Heather Wright Fitzgerald | Herbal Wellness Coach & Tarot Practitioner

I officially started my herbal wellness business, Tea & Tarot, in 2020 during the global pandemic. It might have seemed like a risky idea given the state of the world at the time but I decided to take a leap of faith! I opened my doors at a time when people, especially women and people of color needed support, I opened my doors to them. Read more>>

Megan Maloy | Salon Owner and Holistic Hairstylist

Starting my own business was a way for me to create a space that would fuel the creativity and passion for my craft, and provide a place to call home for other talent in this industry. I have always been a ‘go-getter” so to speak, and although I knew owning a business would not be easy, I also felt called to contribute to my community in this way. Read more>>

Rosalind Bertram | Herbalist and Natural Cosmetic Formulator

The research and love for what I do started back in 2007 when I was pregnant for my first child. I really dove into the herbal world and started making herbal preparations for my family and friends, which later branched out into skin care in 2010. It was all well received and I continued to make products as a hobby until 2016 when I officially launched my business. Read more>>

Robby Willey | Co-Founder & Managing Member, The Virginia Beer Co.

My business partner and I first meet at university in Williamsburg, VA, and then we both went on to careers in finance. I worked in the Washington, DC area for almost 10 years; and Chris worked in New York & Boston for 5 years. We kept in touch and regularly made the trip back to Williamsburg together as alums. What brought us back so frequently was our love of the community in which we had first met. Read more>>

Jenny Sauer-Schmidgall | Farmer & Greenhouse Grower

I had been growing plants for some customers for a few years, but I had a big problem, I would have to stop during planting season to meet with customers to give them their plants. I grow corn and soybeans, large row crops, with my father…I don’t have time to stop and meet with people. Read more>>

Andrew Barclay | Professional Coach

I honestly never set out to have my own coaching and development business. I started coaching friends and people I knew as a side hustle. I loved seeing the results my clients were producing: creating meaningful relationships, honing their communication skills and courageously working towards what matters most to them in life. I knew this was work I wanted to be doing, and I struggled to see how I could make my passion a career for a long time. Read more>>

Caleb Holland | co owner

Simply put, it was always our dream to, so we just figured it out to make it happen. My wife Moriah and I had always wanted to start a coffee shop together since we first started dating, and our friends Elliot and Maddi had always wanted to start a studio to rent out to independent beauty professionals, so when Elliot and Maddi found the place to start their studio, and there was a perfect place for a coffee shop in the front, we decided to combine our dreams into one! Read more>>

Jennifer Smith | Owner

I wanted a product that was pure & natural and you knew what the ingredients were. Everyone in my family and close friends all suffer from some type of skin issue or ailment and I wanted to address those and work to fix them. Read more>>

Eileen Elizabeth | Private Vegan Chef, Resturant Recipe Developer, Nutritional Coach, Cookbook author

Honestly, I have always been a very hard worker and I was tired of making lots of money for other people. I wanted to do something my way, and take charge of my destiny. I also wanted to make sure that whatever I was doing for my career was ethically in line with my values. Specifically that every aspect was vegan friendly, and that I was mindful of the impact I had on the world. Read more>>

Travis Chrisman | Executive Chef & Owner, The Twisted Tines

We had to find the right place to plant our roots. We had taken our initial leap of faith and moved cross country with two kids. Then again one year later. The confidence was present, and we already owned most of the equipment we needed. I had been moonlighting as a Private Chef while maintaining my role as an Executive Chef for nearly 5 years and hated doing anything else. Read more>>

Cheryl Nance | Handcrafter & Formulator

I felt that God had given me a purpose and a gift to share and even though this is not my first attempt at starting a business, I sensed that God was prompting me to continue on with this idea of creating natural products from what He provided in nature for His people! Read more>>

Jamie Asdorian and Hannah Cordero Chen | Cultivating community wellness through ancestral wisdom & self-empowerment

Jamie: Tharavada Yoga was born from the search for self-empowerment, community, and balanced living. When the pandemic hit, I found myself in a profoundly challenging phase of life. I had left a vibrant job and life to move to a place far away from my support systems. Read more>>

Kris Martinez | Owner/ Designer, Bench Jeweler

I did not really have a thought process when I started my business. I started wire wrapping after my brother passed away as a way to help me focus on something other than his death. I taught myself how to make wire-wrapped rings using silver plated wire from Michaels. I made so many rings and then pendants, that my boyfriend, Chris, said that I should try to sell some of them because my jewelry was taking over the house. Read more>>

bradley dickey | Executive protection agent / nurse

My though was, “what’s a better way to make the community and world a safer place for everyone to enjoy, while taking away added stress from unwanted individuals “. Thats why i started my own security company. Read more>>

Dara Tiscareno | Personalized giftmaker

I always knew that I wanted to work for myself and become my own boss. I am self motivated and creative so at the start of the pandemic I knew that this was the time to begin my journey as an entrepreneur. Shortly after my son was born in January of 2020 my husband gifted me a cricut for my birthday to get my creative mind going. Read more>>

Keyli Gonzalez | Owner

My dogs are my children! I wanted to make sure that they are living their best possible life which means keeping them healthy. I started researching Raw feeding and I fell in love with it! I wanted to slowly introduce Rocky&Stella to a Raw fed diet so I started that with making all natural frozen treats which contained fruits, veggies, goat milk and supplements such as salmon oil, golden paste, and coconut oil. Read more>>

Doc Nester | Confounder of Throttle Therapy

As I was honorably discharged I quickly found that there was no support system that was veteran centric outside the military. So we founded a nonprofit to help transition veterans into civilian life. We found it needed even more than we could see on the surface and it’s been going strong since 2020. Read more>>

Marsha Durfee | Certified Master Dog Trainer

17 years ago I adopted a puppy from the local shelter I was given one free training class, where the trainer cranked and yanked my puppy around and when she couldn’t get her to do anything she tossed the end of the leash at me and said ” your dog is stupid ” I than knew there was a better way to train dogs and began to research dog training methods. Read more>>

Steven Holliday | Illustrator

I wanted to draw ever since I was a kid. I still have many of my originals from my childhood. I always knew I wanted to make art a career. I worked in a warehouse for 7 years often time arriving hours before open in order to leave early to be able to draw in the evenings. Once I got laid off in 2018 I decided to go full throttle with my desires to be an independent artist. Read more>>

Miklós Breitner | Golf club marketing consultant

The Golf Business Monitor (www.golfbusinessmonitor.com) was launched in 2009 as a hobby blog to show the golf industry the relevant best practices of the hospitality industry. In 2009 I worked in a WPP agency (Possible Worldwide). Between 2009-2015 thanks to the quality of advice and content in general, I received many RFPs from various companies, plus I was added to the media contact list of major brands (e.g. Troon, Syngenta, Callaway Golf, etc.) and golf clubs. Read more>>

Dino Kuznik | Photographer

I worked as a full-time Graphic Designer for about seven years but have always been involved in photography – in my student years; I worked as a journalistic photographer, retoucher, and studio assistant. Read more>>

Sarah Allen | Rincon Creek Farm farm wedding and event center

Since we moved to our farm 8 years ago, we have been asked to host many weddings here for friends and family. That is what started the idea of opening this place up to the community. The wide open space in the middle of a mesquite forest that is in the center of our farm has worked out really well in accommodating large groups. Read more>>

 Cherish Chavez | Content Creator & Business Owner

This is a funny questions for me, I never planned (or even dreamed) of starting my own business. I guess you could say that my business found me! I began posting lighthearted videos on social platforms and three year’s later… I have a full fledged career. I’ve spent hours teaching myself the things associated with running my own platforms and certainly learned a few hard lessons along the way. It’s not “easy” but it IS simple. Read more>>

MARALEE BURNETT | Astrologer and Life Coach

I would say it was more of a calling than a thought process. I have always been someone that people turn to for help and advice. My role in management gave me the opportunity to coach many associates over my 35 years in financial services. Transitioning to my own business where I can focus solely on helping others seemed like a natural transition. Read more>>

Melissa Temple | Disabled DISventures, writer, videographer, ambulatory wheelchair user, disabled

David, my husband, was watching a lot of Disney YouTubers and he said that he thought it would be fun to do that. So I said back to him, “but you know we can’t do the Parks like they do”. None of their tips or tricks work for us because I am disabled and we have either a wheelchair or a mobility scooter with us. Read more>>

Caroline McBride | Account Manager

I was driven more by passion and emotion, and it was less about thinking back in 1995 when the idea to open a restaurant came to me. The loss of my son Justin had a profound effect on my decision-making- it was not about logical thinking, it was more about abating loss and sorrow Read more>>

Nikki Jones | Fitness and Mindset Coach

Honestly, I never thought I would be a business owner/ entrepreneur. With the way I grew up, people just didn’t do that. So when I decided to change my career from a graphic designer to a fitness professional in 2019, I had no intention on starting my own business. Read more>>

Erika Riccobono | Certified Holistic Health Coach| Certified Personal Trainer

This is an interesting question since I was never intending to start a business. There were a lot of pivotal points in my journey that lead me to where I am at today. My journey started around 2008. Read more>>

Scott Wilson | Life Long Learner, Musician with Enthusiasm and EdTech CEO

The driving force behind Joticle initially was the futile process of using Google as a research tool to study and learn a topic. The frustration of ad driven content and results really cheapened the process and made the experience far from concise and filled with trial and error. Read more>>

Pauly Jackson | Founder and Executive Director

We NEEDED to found Edifye after the police shooting of my brother, Jacob Blake, in front of his children in August 2020. Jake is one of several thousand People of Color who have been shot by American police since the pandemic began alone. Read more>>