Thinking through whether to start a business – whether to take the risk, whether to go out on your own – isn’t easy. So we asked some entrepreneurs we admire to tell us about how they thought through the process of starting a business.

Anthony Gaudio | Owner & Chef

After seeing the popularity of food trucks and the growing need for more, we felt that we would be able to make a big impact in the industry. We saw that there were no food trucks selling Italian cuisine, and being that it was our heritage, it was a no brainer to bring that style of food to the streets with a first class food truck. Read more>>

Ertugrul Ertuc | Real Estate Agent & Investor

Embarking on the journey of starting my own business was fueled by a deep-seated desire for financial freedom and a conviction that my efforts should directly contribute to shaping my financial destiny. The thought process behind this decision was multi-faceted. Read more>>

TeNari Parker | Body & Skincare Formulator

I gained the idea of starting a body and skincare business from my hobby of making scrubs for myself. Having sensitive skin is not the best when trying to buy in store products to care for your skin. The many dyes and chemicals in certain products would break me out and leave my skin feeling unhealthy. My alternative was to make my own scrubs and oils with natural ingredients to help me obtain the healthy glowing skin I’ve always wanted. Read more>> 

Susanne Troutt | Owner, The Kindred Spirits

I was able to earn early retirement at the age of 59. My dream has always to do something with art, crafts, and decor after retirement. It was perfect timing as the original owner of The Kindred Spirits wanted to retire. We have been friends for many years and I have been a customer since her grand opening 7 years ago.  Read more>>

MariaNoël Polk | Makeup Artists

I kind of started my business on accident. I went to cosmetology school and thought I was going to only work on skin. After someone close to me got cancer, and I helped to teach them how to draw their eyebrows on. I decided that Makeup was where I needed to be. It felt amazing to give a woman back part of what cancer took from her. Read more>>

Frances Morris | Esthetician

I wanted To create a relaxing space where I deliver relaxation and results to all my clients. I love to use medical grade products and treatments but it’s also so important to me to incorporate facial massage, neck, chest and arm massage to give the full Linen Studios experience. Read more>>

Jacquelyn Kimbrell | Owner of Apricot Lane Boutique Fort Mill

My thought process behind starting my own business was having something that was mine that I loved doing, something that I am proud to promote and something I could share with my two daughters. My thought process was thinking of starting a business that was something I love to do that doesn’t feel like a job. Read more>>

Jennifer Johnson | Laser File Designer

I was initially skeptical about starting my own business at the very beginning. I worried that no one would buy my artwork. I took a risk and posted my first design online in some likeminded Facebook groups and I got wonderful feedback. I took a risk and continued designing more and more SVG laser files and suddenly I was being recognized by laser companies for my creativity. One of my designs was featured in an advertisement and then I was asked to be a designer for Glowforge. I have always wanted to be an artist my entire life and I feel as though this risk I took was what I needed to help me achieve my goal. Read more>>

Tim Boatwright Johnson | Speaker & Author

The initial inspiration for launching my own business came from a desire for financial success, influenced by witnessing both of my parents prosper in their entrepreneurial endeavors. Observing the flow of money into their hands fueled my ambition to achieve the same financial prosperity. Read more>>

Dr. Gabrielle Edwards | Scientist Nail Artist and Esthetician

I knew that since I was a little girl, I was creative, I was different, and I was a mogul in the making. I also knew that I was never made to be regular or have anybody deciding my daily tasks or the trajectory of my life for me. I personally grew up in a family that always had different ways to generate income, and I just so happened to have a niche in the beauty industry. I always loved cosmetics and playing in makeup as a kid, I even accidentally shaved my eyebrows off as a child because I though I was teaching myself how to arch eyebrows. As I got older, nails became my true first love and I have been stuck with it ever since. Read more>>

JenVon Cherry | Founder & President of Epitome of Epilepsy

I’ve had epilepsy for thirty five years and I never realized how powerful my story was until about five years ago. I started talking more about my journey with epilepsy. Good and bad because I felt like people living with epilepsy needed to hear that as well. To me there was a huge lack of awareness in the black and brown communities. I wanted to have an organization that catered to that community. Read more>>

Lane and Noemia Poole | Craft Designer and Maker

We both always enjoyed doing various crafts. I, Lane, enjoy making small wood projects. My grandfather was a carpenter and my father has his personal wood/metal shop. I started buying wood working machines, the first being a table saw. Shortly after my wife and I were married, she started doing home crafts such as shower bonnets and newspaper baskets.  Read more>>

Kevin Pahl | Founder/Owner

As the old adage goes “If you can’t find something you’re looking for, might as well build it yourself!” And that hold true for our us too. As a family, we were always looking for a fun way to get our Christmas tree each year, that didn’t involve a far drive to the mountains or only last 15 minutes in the parking lot of a local grocery store. We really wanted to bring the magic of Christmas to life, for families just like our own, and felt that by starting our business, we could do just that. Read more>>

Precious Johnson | Nail Technician & Salon owner

Starting my own business gave me the freedom that I needed to be there for my children. As a child I remember growing up with a single mom working all she could to make ends meet. I was very active in sports, band, and JROTC but my mom barely had time to attend my events. I found myself doing the same thing while my children were younger. I started to access my life and realize that I wanted more for my children than I received growing up. So being able to be a major part of my children’s events motivates me daily to continue to operate my own salon. Read more>>

Roderick Fluellen | True Elite Cleaning Services, LLC & The 180 Community Center

Dating back to when I was a small kid, I’ve also dreamt of being an entrepreneur and having my own business. The hardest part was figuring out what type of business I wanted to start. Although I did not have any prior experience of being a business owner, I always thought and believed I was capable of starting and operating a successful business that not only focus on providing a solution to a need, but also focus on giving back to the community and providing great services at affordable prices. Read more>>

Ra’Jonna McMillan | Travel Advisor & Business Woman

There were several factors that contributed to my thought process behind getting my businesses started. Back in 2018 when I made the decision to get my businesses started, I had just moved back home and I felt like I was completely starting life over from scratch & rebuilding. I had enrolled in school (which I was solely putting myself through school at the time), and that can be very expensive. Read more>>

BrizzNicole | Digital Creator

I thought about what types of tasks that I truly enjoyed doing and quickly realized that if I could do something that I loved, then I would never “work” again. It wouldn’t feel like work. It would feel like purpose. That task for me was creating. Additionally, I needed to acknowledge that I had to make sacrifices in order to essentially monetize my hobby. It really clicked for me once I realized that if I could sacrifice my time for a job which ultimately fueled someone else’s dreams, then I could do the same for myself. Read more>>

Leisel Strickler | Woodworker

When I started dabbling in woodworking, I never intended to launch a business. However, as I continued to share my latest creations I gained a lot of interest from friends, family, and even strangers. In 2020, I started to consider starting a woodworking business because of the success I had started to have. I loved sharing my work in person and online and I knew that if I did not give it a chance, I would end up regretting it later on. Read more>>

Thea Zeppone | Home Care

Becoming a CEO all started when I felt like every place I was working did not have a core value for treating people with love like family. I enjoyed working other people companies and enjoy learning but it was that one thing I felt I needed that would allow me to stay in a company and that was what I could not find. I always work in the medical field and we are always working with people and that is a field I felt have to be personable when providing a care that means so much to someone life. Read more>>

Jermel President | Executive Director, DAE Foundation

Growing up, I always had the skill of being able to talk with people, and I was a good student. The other natural skill I had was athletic, and I was good at basketball. My thoughts of what work or a career looked like became primarily focused on that, and I looked at basketball as my career potential. There were people and programs in the community that were influential in shaping me. Read more>>

Jamie Jackson | Cake Pop Artist

I knew that my job of 13 years was about to come to an end, due to the corporate office moving out of state. I worked for someone else for 30 years, so I didn’t want to go right back in to the corporate world. Knowing that I would be getting a severance package, it was now or never to try to start my own business. Months before my last day I started testing out different flavors of cake pops and candy popcorn.  Read more>>

Robin Roach | Home Bakery Owner

I started my business because my son Bryan has Down syndrome and Autism. I wanted to use baking to work on motor and social skills at markets selling the product. My son started out mostly non verbal, was not socially engaged and unable to do most of it. Fast forward 3 years later and he now makes the Brownies, sells them and is involved in some of the processes with the cakes and macarons. He is fully involved with his friends Stephen and Ryan (also Down syndrome) selling at the markets. Read more>>