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.

Suzanne Miller | Textile Designer and Writer

From my own experience when renovating my home, I found that there was little variety in textile design. In other words, in a certain aesthetic, there were only a certain amount of choices and those were all over Instagram. Even as beautiful as everything seemed, its reappearance on social media channels made it feel very ‘samey.’ I started conducting my own research and discovered that at that time, we were on the cusp of a major shift in the industry with printing processes and the digitization of art. Read more>>

Alexandra Fasulo | Author and Gig Economy Commentator

My arrival into the business world was unplanned, and unexpected, if I am being honest. It came out of necessity when I quit my job in 2015 with no idea what I was going to do – I just knew I couldn’t work in an office. I ended up trying out 5+ different side hustles, landing on freelance writing with Fiverr. One thing led to another, and I discovered that I not only loved working for myself, but that I was destined to be in the business world forever. It’s the best ‘irresponsible’ decision I have ever made. Read more>>

Svetlana Tulasi | Dance Performer & Entrepreneur

Dance is the most important thing in my life, it is an integral part of my identity. Everything I do is built around dance, be it forming a troupe and performing around the world, choreographing and teaching it to others, or creating a business around dance, such as: an online dance course, dance merch, a TV series about dance, brand collaborations as a dance influencer or something else. Read more>>

Dan Onel & Mihaela Dutu | Project Manager, Marketer & Artist, Nails Technician

Both of us had a pretty bad initial experience while working for someone else. Let’s just say we weren’t treated as we deserved. This opened our eyes towards the importance of having your own business and how much working for ourselves can improve our financial freedom. Both of us developed our own business after that – Dan in Marketing, while Mihaela as a Nails Technician. It wasn’t easy from the get go, it never is…but with time and perseverence we believe everyone can make it. Read more>>

Paula Muller | Founder with the mission to help older adults maintain connection and companionship.

I started my company because I recognized an unmet need that I wanted to solve. Growing up in Chile, I was very close to my grandmother and my family, and after 25 years of living far away, the relationship remains very strong. For that reason, family relations and lifetime connections are precious to me. Read more>>

Brian Lawrence | Personal Trainer

My thought process behind starting a business was to help people. To help people become the best they can possibly become. To let everyone I come in contact with know that anything is possible. That through consistency and hard work you can achieve your goals. To give people confidence in themselves that they may not currently have. That through fitness and nutrition not only will change your life but of those around you. Setting an example is setting a standard for generations to come. Read more>>

Nadia Ramnarain Ramsaran | Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor & Mompreneu

I founded Best Life Counseling Services (BLCS) in May 2020, a pivotal time in our world, the height of a global pandemic, and also a pivotal time in my life. I was two months postpartum as a first-time mom. I was not only navigating the new world of motherhood but now a new parent in a global pandemic. I was experiencing a flood of emotions, among those fear and uncertainty: uncertain of when or if I’d be required to return to work in person at my full-time position, uncertain of how we’d be able to keep our newborn safe and healthy, uncertain of how I could continue to contribute to our family if I stopped working…sitting with these uncertainties was scary and difficult. Read more>>

Madison Santos | Actor/Producer/Model

During Covid I lost everything I had worked for. My job went down to part time, I got extremely sick and was in and out of the hospital for months, my car got totaled the first day I drove again, and lost my apartment all in 3 months. At 25 I was back living at home with no job, no money, still recovering from being sick. That was when I decided it was time to take myself and my dreams seriously, become my own boss and start pursuing modeling and acting full time. Read more>>

Johnny Abreu | Producer/Recording Engineer known as Johnny Hits

I started playing piano at the age of 5, recording at the ripe age of 12 years old, at 18 graduated high school and enrolled at Chico State University under their recording arts program and transferred to San Francisco State and got my Bachelors Degree in Radio & Television with Audio Production emphasis. During my time there they gave me an internship opportunity at Coast Recorders in San Francisco on their Mission Street location where I helped Dan Alexander (owner of Coast) move from Mission St. to 3rd and Howard. Read more>>

Joshua Koo | Pit Master

Before I started up AshersRealBBQ I was a full time employee of a hospital in LA. I performed over 200 exams on our busiest days and commuted 2 hours one way and often times forced to skip lunch to see patients. I was working to the point of insanity. One day I decided that enough was enough and I could no longer commit my self to a job that I felt was not worth the time and effort. So I spoke with my wife and we discussed my passions and what might be worth a try. I have always loved cooking and BBQ. Since I have already been honing my skills in BBQ since I was in middle school it seemed like the perfect fit. so we decided to just go for it! Read more>>

Holly Lynch | Photographer/Actor/Model/Work In Progress

I’ve been in front of the camera for 24 years now. I’ve always loved photography and the emotions it can pull from you. One day I decided to put my experience to use behind the lens. So I faced the crowds on a black Friday and bought myself a canon 5D Mark II camera and a 50mm lens with some money I had saved and put aside. I had no clue how to work the damn thing, but I knew how to capture images. I fell in love with it immediately. Read more>>

Ron Weisberg | Acting Coach/Production Company

Starting my own business was a wild idea I had about helping actors like no one else ever has. I always wondered why actors in universities focused on theater and not film. Then I realized the acting departments don’t have access to the film equipment, in most cases. Projects were being made for filmmakers, but actors still had to audition. Not anymore, actors at my studio are in the driver’s seat of their career as they invest in their own training. Read more>>

Sayan Aboudi Esq. | Personal Injury Attorney

I have always had a passion for helping others, from being in my adolescence and participating in fundraisers, to speaking out for others who were being bullied. Becoming an attorney was always a dream of mine, and when it became a reality I made a promise to myself to continue my passion and to not let anything get in my way. Therefore when I started this company, the vision was simple, to set myself and my company apart from all other law firms. While many attorneys claim to treat clients like family, in my office my clients have my personal cell phone number as well as multiple other ways to communicate with me and my team. Read more>>

Liv Gaugain | Dance Studio Owner & Artistic Director

I had been working as a dance teacher for almost 15 years. And I loved teaching. I absolutely adore building relationships with my students and their families. For many years, I felt my desire to build a strong community amongst the students was pushed aside by my bosses or overlooked to prioritize profitable events. Dance can be such a powerful tool and I just wanted to be able to offer it to kids that didn’t have the financial support. Read more>>

Marjory Vazquez | Psychologist & Life Coach

It started from a desire to one, better serve my clients in therapy, and two, have more work-life balance. I realized early on that when working for an organization there is always benchmarks and timelines that need to be met. As much as I would like to think that those organizational pressures do not impact the care I give to patients, it does! It is easy to get burned out and have big caseloads of therapy patients assigned to you when working for any organization. Read more>>

Kyle A. Smith, Tahirah Austin-Muhammad and Ediomi Utuk-Lowery | Co-Founders, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

Our organization was founded out of necessity and grief. Unfortunately, we lost a close friend and well known member of our community to sickle cell disease (SCD). Our hospitals weren’t caring for us properly and our local community-based organization wasn’t servicing us the way we felt we deserved. We decided to be the change we wanted to see. Read more>>

Steven Nguyen | Wedding Photographer

After graduating with a business degree, I felt unfulfilled lagging away at an office job. But through the discovery of my own talent and keen eye for photography, I decided to pursue wedding photography as freelance work. Seeing potential in myself and wanting something more concrete than simply freelancing led me towards opening up LLC-backed personal brand businesses – thus beginning another chapter in pursuit of dreams! Read more>>

Dr. Tina Olivieri | Veterinarian, Healer of Hearts, & Maker of Laughs…

I value so many facets within the veterinary medical field, and I realized early on in my career that working for myself would allow me a bit more flexibility to explore my interests. Both within veterinary medicine and outside of it. After working in several veterinary hospitals after graduation, I realized that the fast pace and long hours were not allowing me to practice medicine the way that I wanted to. That being said, I have so much respect for my colleagues who do work in hospitals. Read more>>