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.

Caitie C. | Avid reader and occasional 9-5 worker.

While there are thousands (thousands) of book-tokers and book-bloggers, we couldn’t find a single account that made talking about books FUN. We were greatly inspired by Drunk History, which is arguably the greatest invention of our time, and thought we could implement a similar concept. Queue our first book club meeting, where we accidentally got a bit too tossed, and found the conversation around the books start to change from something clinical into something fluid and silly. From here we realized there was a gap in the industry that we could fill, leading to the genesis of Drunk Book Club. Read more>>

Vaishna Rajakumar | Founder & Editor-in- Chief

The idea for NAYLA originally started as a resource guide for women of colour. When I was in grad school, an editor had assigned me a story about Indigenous women’s healthcare, and neither of us was Indigenous. Through my interviews with some incredible Indigenous women, I realized I was unequipped to write this story both culturally and because of my lack of understanding of the press’ role in Indigenous communities. Read more>>

Kristen Radke, LCSW | Private Practice Owner, Clinical Therapist & Supervisor

I’ve been in the social work / mental health field since 2012, and I’ve taken on many different roles during that time. For a while it didn’t really make sense what all of these experiences would lead to, but eventually I found my way into the mental health field. I realized that I loved holding space and walking people through places of deep pain into healing – it’s a privilege, and something I don’t take lightly. Read more>>

Rob Colon | Studio Owner

My vision was to create a safe space for like-minded people to maximize their potential physically, mentally and spiritually through community. Read more>>

Joy

I started The Food of Joy in late 2015, I was constantly asked as a busy vegetarian model what & where I would eat. People never seemed to believe that the food I would eat looked or even tasted good, so I figured maybe they should see what it truly looks like when I eat a vegan or vegetarian meal. Read more>>

Connor Mobley | Tour guide

I’m am one of the many people who live in Sedona, but did not grow up in the area. With the city now being a world renowned destination, more and more people are venturing to sample a piece of the Red Rocks. Everything from the lure of the Vortex, to the cool waters of Oak Creek, to the thousands of ancient ruins, the city speaks to many, for many reasons. Read more>>

Michelle Miller | Interior Designer and General Contractor

My father was an entrepreneur; he started his own business the year I was born. As such, I grew up in a household where the money coming in was reliant on your own vision, your own hustle and your own perseverance. That said, I went the traditional route out of college. I worked a few smaller jobs at first, but then I spent 15 years working at two huge companies – Browning-Ferris (BFI in its heyday) and then MCI, which subsequently was acquired by Verizon. Those two jobs provided me with the confidence, experience and knowledge required to start my own company. Read more>>

Vanessa Gilles | Cleaning service Owner

My thought process was I’m a young mom trying to make a living for my son. I was tired of working from the time he wakes up and me coming back right before he goes to bed. So that didn’t give me any time with him. I knew I needed to make a change in spending more time with my son and by doing this it gives me more time. Read more>>

Jake Leffel | Creative Journalist

The thought process behind starting this was the need for a creative outlet. I was someone who grew up around the arts and raised with an appreciate for creative expression. Shortly after college I found my self in the corporate world living what felt like the exact same day over and over again. Just the same way i did as a kid, I needed time for the arts. Every day I try to find time to do something creative, even if it’s outside of Photo/video. It really helps to balance me out, and its something that is really important to me Read more>>

Hannah & Ann Marie Martinez/Monteiro | Co-Founders of Prosperum (CEO & CCO)

Ann Marie and I (Hannah) met during our Master’s program in Clinical Nutrition, where we quickly discovered a common frustration: the complexity of the supplement market and a widespread misunderstanding about the roles and balances of vitamins and minerals in our diets. Motivated to change this, we envisioned a platform that emphasizes transparency and simplicity in nutritional conversations. Read more>> 

April Foltz | Portrait Photographer; Family, Newborn, High School Seniors, Pet, Car Culture, Headshots, Branding

Starting my own business as a photographer was driven by a combination of passion, creativity, and the desire for independence. Photography has always been more than a hobby for me; it’s a way to capture the world through my unique perspective and tell stories that words alone cannot express. This deep-seated passion for the art of photography is what initially sparked the idea of turning it into a profession. Read more>>

Kathryn Rambo | Happily Humble & Mother of 8

When I was a child, I grew up in extreme poverty. No running water and no electricity. I was tired of being hungry, and I was very tired of being dependent on others who were not dependable. I worked many odd jobs as a kid. I met a lot of people. No one that claimed they would care for me actually did. I always had to fall back on myself. My mother was not allowed to work at the time and my father was an alcoholic and deeply depressed. Read more>> 

Jennifer Smelker | Licensed Artist & Owner of Tandem For Two

The thought process behind starting my own business was both organic and deeply personal. It all began in 2012 when I designed a bucket list-type canvas for our family. My kids and husband helped come up with a list of activities, memories, and things that were uniquely us. This canvas became a beautiful reflection of our family life and hung proudly on our wall. Read more>>

Hannah Tustin | Head Baker at Owls Head Farmstead

In March of 2023 after less than a year at a new position with a new organization, I was informed that due to reorganization, my position was being eliminated. I was completely devastated. As someone in Construction Management and nearly 40 years old with a family, I couldn’t stomach finding a high stress job that took me on the road away from my family, which is what I did for the majority of my career. Read more>>

Stephen & Giselle Jiroch | Travel Content Creator

When we initially started The Lovers Passport, we had no intention of starting a business. We initially created this because we enjoyed capturing photos and videos along our travels, and wanted to share helpful information to other like-minded travelers and full-time workers, in hopes to inspire them to travel more! Both of us loved travel, hiking, adventure, and enjoyed the process of capturing the content, editing it, and sharing on social media! Eventually we started to gain traction, and we started to gain more income from this hobby than our regular jobs! Read more>>