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.

Danielle Schwartz | Designer, mother, feminine tomboy, California girl

When I started my business, I was thinking about my lifestyle and what I felt most passionate about. I thought about what made my lifestyle unique and inspiring to others, and what felt original compared to everything else that was out there. Basically, I was thinking about what I personally wished I could see more of in the fashion industry. Lady Dandelion was born from these thoughts as an ethical fashion brand for feminine tomboys, a coin I termed in the process. Read more>>

Rosi & Sara Lopez | Photographers

It all started in middle/high school, during yearbook club! We both participated and even became editors in chief for our school yearbooks. We mainly did sports photography, where we invested in lenses and equipment to best capture the live events such as soccer, volleyball, etc! We had so much fun. Then, some of those soccer players for example asked us to take prom photos, then photos for their graduation, etc! We started posting some of our content for fun at first, then family and friends started to ask and book us for events. Read more>>

Steph Zangeneh Azam | Brand Designer

I had been designing for the state assembly, but the environment and work didn’t fulfill the essence of my creative mind. I knew leaving a secure high-paying job with a pension and medical benefits was risky, but I was beyond ready to ditch my blazers and morning meetings to become my own boss. I didn’t have much in savings, but I knew I had to make a change because my freedom and happiness were more important than the security of the job. Read more>>

Tarin Butterfield | Photographer & Storyteller

Throughout my childhood I always had a camera in my hand and made a lot of videos. At the beginning of high school I discovered my love for still photography, particularly portraiture. I asked my friends to model for me and we’d go on adventures to different locations and try out different unique photo ideas that I saw on Flickr. Word took off in my high school after doing a handful of shoots with my classmates. Read more>>

Nikki Logsdon | Connor’s Mom & President of CHARGE for Connor

We started the process of forming the CHARGE for Connor Non-profit Organization a few months after Connor passed away in 2014. I wanted to find a way to keep his memory alive as well as help other children. Connor was special and although his life was short I knew it had purpose beyond his 15 months on Early. I felt passionate for supporting the organizations that had been instrumental in our journey while also being able to assist individual families raising a child with CHARGE. Read more>>

Nicole Victoria | CEO, Investor, Money Coach, Self Made Millionaire

Being an entrepreneur was always something that I wanted to do – I knew I wanted to own something and help people, but I just wasn’t sure exactly how I would do that. I grew up in a family without a lot of money, and school never taught me anything useful when it came to managing my finances – everything I learned I had to go out and seek myself. When I started immersing myself into the world of personal finance, psychology, behaviors and investing, I realized so much of what was “normal” was actually leading us astray. Read more>>

Christopher Huang | CEO – Brisk It Labs, Inc.

I’ve always loved eating BBQ. Little beats the first bite into a piece of beef that’s been smoked for 8, 10, sometimes 12+ hours! Cooking BBQ is fun too, but unfortunately that time commitment and energy needed conflicts heavily with the reality of day to day life responsibilities. Read more>>

Brianne Borden | CEO

First, I’d like to share that as a business with three co-owners, we will all be answering these questions and providing our some team but also individual perspective! Brianne here to answer this one, as it’s one of my favorite things to talk about! The other two co-owners, Claire and Amelia, and I were each individually creating our own virtual presence teaching yoga for musicians. We were operating on instagram and youtube, and got to know each other in that virtual space first. Read more>>

Anna Singleton and Christina Singleton | Founders and Owners of Show My Property

Anna Singleton As the children of entrepreneurs, I think it was ingrained in us from birth. Our dad was a mechanic, and our mom was an interior designer, both of them were hardworking small business owners. Growing up, I saw the flexibility that they had even though it was stressful. Seeing the ups and downs of entrepreneurialism firsthand influenced me to gravitate to the lifestyle of a business owner. From watching my parents, I didn’t see somebody putting a suit on and being at the office at 8:00 AM. I just naturally knew that I would at some point start a business just like my parents. Read more>>

Victor Cuevas | Restaurant owner

In my early 20s I was working as an assistant manager at a restaurant, that’s when I realized cooking was a passion of mine. Sharing food, having people enjoy what you make for them in my opinion is the best way to learn about and connect with people. I wanted to share my food with as many people as possible. Starting my own Restaurant has been one of the most rewarding experiences. Every day I get to have customers come to my restaurant and enjoy themselves. Read more>>

Alyssa Quiterio | ACSW

I currently do not have my own business. I work under my supervisor, who has her own business. My future goal is to open my own private practice therapy business. I am currently learning the ropes with my supervisors on what it takes to run a small therapy practice. Read more>>

Dimora Interior | Architecture & Interior Design Consultant

DIMORA comes from the desire to achieve something, to try to make a difference by bringing “what we are” into what we do. The same name Dimora leads us to identify ourselves as Europeans and specifically Italians (abroad), immediately defining our background. DIMORA is also a sort of upgrade of the word home and that’s exactly what we want to do, enhance the interiors of homes to make them unique homes. Read more>>

Anjabeen Ashraf | Mental Health Counselor, Counselor Educator, and Mental Health Advocate

I wanted to create a therapeutic space for communities of color, South Asians, and Muslims. At the time, I did not see many private practices led by South Asian Muslim women and thought the representation was lacking. What we see becomes our reality and often the limitations of what we can imagine so for me, having a public presence as a South Asian Muslim counselor is important to help people understand they too can do this work and it is powerful. Read more>>

Jamir Smith | Podcast Host & Fashion Content Creator

I started The “JamirSmithShow “ Podcast because I wanted to provide a platform for the everyday person to tell their stories creatively. I realized that in Los Angeles Black and Brown people did not have a space to be open and honest and deserved to tell their stories. Read more>>

Michael Dinetz | special makeup effects artist

It sort of happened out of necessity. I moved out to LA thinking I would just get a job at Stan Winston Studio and that would be my life for the next 40 years. Only after going to makeup school and speaking to many other industry artists did I learn how truly freelance this industry was. I started calling around to effects studios looking for work, and after a few months of no success, the studios were either without work or fully crewed, I said “screw it” and started applying for small independent film gigs. 18 years later, the rest is history. Obviously I learned a lot along the way about both my craft and about business. Read more>>

Amy Snider | LUXURY REAL ESTATE IN LA

I spent the first 10+ years of my career working for big companies in the corporate world. First as a management consultant and account manager for one of the world’s largest consultancies and later as a project manager / strategist / marketer at a premier asset management firm. Honestly, I didn’t grow up in a particularly entrepreneurial environment and was fairly risk-adverse. Read more>>

Kristen Justine | Boudoir Photographer

I was always very creative and knew that I wanted to work for myself one day. Following someone else’s rules and schedules was never something I was very good at nor fond of much! As a former makeup artist, photoshoots used to be where I spent a lot of time, and because of that I developed an interest in photography. When I finally started learning about photography, I fell in love with it because it’s such an exciting way to express yourself and create art. It wasn’t until I discovered boudoir though that I realized immediately that this is my calling and what I’m supposed to be doing for the rest of my life. Read more>>

Patrick Utz | CEO, Co-Founder

Both of my parents immigrated to the U.S. with one goal in mind: seek greater financial mobility, and political stability, for both themselves and my siblings. Despite his entrepreneurial career starting a residential-house painting business, my father had originally planned to run for office. Thus, I became well acquainted with concepts like filibustering, long before my peers. I heard my parents talk about the horror stories in Argentina, where people would lose much of their earnings from one day to the next due to hyperinflation; countless construction projects were always put on standby due to “political corruption”… Read more>>

zairah hid | Model & Stylist

It all started in 2019 when I wanted to pursue modeling. I started posting for consistently on my Instagram and photographers grew fond over me and that’s what started my modeling journey. Fashion wise it started in 2020 I wanted to do something in Fashion but I didn’t know what but u loved thrifting and creating signature looks. So I did style bundles as my first process for my business and then as months started going by I was asked by photographers if I could style their shoots and that’s what made me a fashion stylist today. Read more>>

Alexander Thomas | Wedding Photographer

Essentially I wanted to be in control of my own work/life balance. I’ve worked nine to fives, and while I enjoyed the structure, being self employed simply has more perks. I get to be far more creative working for myself, while also spending more time with my family. Starting your own business is a grind, but it’s worth it! Read more>>

Andrew Toth | Founder

I’ve worked in the film industry for over 13 years now, bouncing around with all different positions. By primarily working in the camera department and production, these experiences gave me the range to relate to all my clients. After talking with them and crew, we came up with the realization that there was no agency out there that represents only below the line crew members in film and tv. Read more>>

Nathan Cartwright | Artist and Owner of The Hive Gallery and Studios

I had been putting on underground art shows for several years before The Hive. I was more of an artist, making art shows happen. I was informed about a space that was opening up in the Gallery Row Area. I figured it would be nice to try starting up a real gallery with studios. Read more>>

Amy Seban | Franchise Consultant & Broker and Beauty Salon Franchise Owner

I have always been an entrepreneur at heart! I strive to be the best and most professional individual in any industry I work in and it has always frustrated me to have to sit and wait for others to complete a job when in the corporate world. What I love about being a business owner is the fact that I control my destiny. The more you put into your business the more you get out of it and it is very rewarding watching your employees grow alongside of you. Read more>>

Vincent James | Vincent James – Musician & Co-Founder Keep Music Alive

The funny thing is we didn’t start out trying to create a business per se. We self-published a book called “88+ Ways Music Can Change Your” featuring inspirational music stories of how music impacted people’s lives…it’s basically a Chicken Soup for the Music Lovers Soul and Jack Canfield (co-founder of Chicken Soup series) eventually wrote the forward to “88 Ways Music”. Read more>>