How to think through whether you should start a business

Readers often email us asking us for advice about new businesses they are thinking about starting and we often find that many of them don’t have a framework for thinking about a more fundamental question: why should or shouldn’t you start a business?

Below, you’ll find how successful entrepreneurs from across the city thought about this very question when they were considering whether to start their businesses.

Kimberly Tapplar | Hair stylist and Extreme Entrepreneur

Whew! I was in a crazy time! My mother passed away a few years prior and I just couldn’t shake grief! I was thinking of ways I can make my late mother’s life still relevant to the world! My mother was the life and light to everyone around her. She made us laugh so hard at times that we would cry and almost pee our pants lol! Read more>>

Nancy Gale | Innovator, Inspiring Future Visionaries

A few years after launching JAMAH, my business partner and I went our separate ways. After a period of introspection, I redirected our focus from high-end cast and crew gifts in the entertainment industry to the ultra-luxury handbag market. Read more>>

Samantha Weisman | CEO

Starting a business was something I always wanted to do, but I needed the right thing to come up. Banana Menorah was born from a family tradition and felt like the right fit for taking the leap and starting a retail company. Initially I wanted to open a brick and mortar store as a I love in-person interactions, but it made more sense to start online. Read more>>

celia fisher | Director/ Administrator

I had several thoughts before moving forward with my own business. My initial. thought was, “How am I ever going to be able to afford to send these daughters of mines off to college?” I was a single parent and had been working for the school board and chipping off at college classes for about a decade, before I actually did my first roll out. Read more>>

Michael J. Ramirez | Ordained Minister | Dispenser of Love, Wisdom & Sacred Ceremony | Certified Life & Relationship Coach | Certified Martial Arts Instructor

Truth be told, I am a suicide survivor; as you can imagine, waking up after such a dreadful decision, my entire life – my beliefs, perspectives and understanding; everything I’d identified with and found value in had all been completely shattered. Perhaps even worse, I had unwittingly found myself enveloped in tremendous guilt, shame, fear and distrust – in myself as well as in those whom I believed loved me. Read more>>

Shawn Fleming | Guitar Teacher

It all started in 1995 when I was hired to teach guitar at Ace Music in 1995. Larry Little ran the teaching department and hired me although I had no teaching experience I was playing professionally, knew how to read and play some different styles. Read more>>

Jarrel Cudjoe | Owner and operator of LoadingMediaLA

I wanted to start my own business because growing up I always did things on my own time. I believed that you should get paid for the hard work and effort that you put in, not for the hours. This thought process led me to creating my own business and building a team around me that can help my business grow and flourish through the years. Read more>>

David & John Auten-Schneider | LGBTQ+ Money Experts

A year after launching our first business, Debt Free Guys, we attended a conference for personal finance content creators and finance media. Of the 900 or so people there, we were the only out, LGBTQ+ couple. Read more>> 

Isaac Priest | Creative Director & Actor/Producer

I graduated a bachelor branded fashion design through Billy Blue college and I knew I wanted to develop my own label. Isaac James was formed with the goal to empower individuals through clothing allowing them to find their confidence. Craftsmanship, experience and using the ever evolving technology is extremely important to me and what I keep in mind with the brand. Read more>>

April Davidson | CEO of Trixie B Cosmetics

I was a fashion photographer and I always noticed that some makeup artists had quite a few different make up brands that they used. I decided to create my own line that I can give to the make-up artists that I hired for shoots. I have had my brand since 2013 and it has been an ever evolving wonderful roller coaster if changes. Read more>>

Ed Ward | Songwriter

The band ASE was created with an artistic vision influenced by a passion for music. At the time (2017), I had been in and out of bands and playing multiple instruments since I was about 12 years old. Read more>>

Kayden Grace Swan | Actor – Author

When considering the creation of the Wilderness High book series, my thought process was driven by a desire to address the multifaceted challenges and experiences that high school students face—challenges that I personally encountered in my freshman year in 2022 and continue to deal with now as I enter my junior year. Read more>>

Kiara Farmer | Candle Business Owner

The thought process behind starting my own candle business stemmed from a deep passion for creating unique scents and beautiful ambiance. I’ve always been fascinated by how candles can transform a space and evoke emotions. Read more>>

Shelby Ward | Co-Founder Curious Refuge

We decided to start Curious Refuge as an AI school after so many people reach out to us asking what AI tools they should learn to create projects like the ones we were sharing. We have a background in animation and VFX training, so it was a natural fit to start up an AI school. Read more>>

Association of South-Asian A Cappella (ASA)

The South Asian A Cappella genre was pioneered by Penn Masala, an all-male student group founded in 1996 at the University of Pennsylvania. Inspired by their groundbreaking work of seamlessly performing Bollywood music with layered harmonies and vocal percussion, i.e. western a cappella style, enthusiastic musicians across the country formed their own collegiate South Asian A Cappella groups. Read more>>

Leyla Norooz | Textile Artist & UX Researcher

I’ve always been more creatively inclined, but I’d never thought to start a business to sell any of my crochet pieces. Shortly after the first year of the pandemic, I was having trouble finding work as layoffs were common and my industry was flooded with people competing for limited opportunities. Read more>>

Molly Shaheen | Co-founder of the WHEAT Collection

I come from a family of entrepreneurs – so business is kind of in my blood. I started in LA in entertainment – the classic story of mail room, to assistant, to production and so on. I cannot express how much I learned from that experience. Read more>>

Eric Payne | Footwear Designer

It was actually sort of unintentional. I think it really started just by wanting to make shoes that would resonate with my friends and I. This was in 2018. Everything available to us at that time felt sort of broad, so the idea of creating something that was more unique to the counter culture of LA was really motivating. Read more>>

Elena Erykalina | Interior Designer & CG artist

The first time I thought about starting my own business, I had two thoughts that kept coming to mind. Firstly, I saw how repetitive projects were being created, where people were getting the same solutions over and over again, solutions that could easily be copied from Pinterest. Read more>>

Amir Monsefi | CEO and Co-Founder of AIRE Advisors

Our thought process behind starting AIRE Advisors was driven by a desire to create what we felt was the ideal client experience in the wealth advisory industry. We wanted to create a firm that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of our clients by centering our approach solely around their needs and interests. Read more>>

Queen Eze | Fashion Enthusiast and Travel Addict

When I started Style of A Queen in 2015, I was simply having fun with it. I knew I loved fashion, I loved clothes and I loved taking photos, so I thought to myself: Let me start a blog showcasing my outfits, how I style things and most importantly how I am having fun with it. Read more>>

Kara Chang | Relationship Coach & Content Creator

I’m a relationship coach, and I believe that love and relationships are what make the world go round, not only with others but within ourselves. As a transwoman, I’ve definitely looked for love in all the wrong places. I bought into the fallacy that I was exempt from happily ever after because of who I am.  I’m a relationship coach, and I believe that love and relationships are what make the world go round, not only with others but within ourselves. As a transwoman, I’ve definitely looked for love in all the wrong places. I bought into the fallacy that I was exempt from happily ever after because of who I am. Read more>>

Amber Maynard | Hair Artist, Salon Owner, & Mother

I never wanted to own my own business. The pandemic had other plans for me. I had been working at Nine Zero One Salon for 10 years when Covid hit. My daughter, who was 8 months old at the time, had been diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder. We were advised to keep her safe, which meant limiting my interactions with people. Read more>>

Fionn O’Hare | Entrepreneur/ Bodybuilder/ Hospitality Worker

As a child, I struggled with learning difficulties impacting my literacy and numeracy skills during my early school years. However, at secondary school, I began to feel that my life and career path needs were not being met by regular education and that I would need to find a way to move into and be in control of my adult life. Read more>> 

Stacey McClain | Writer, Director, Producer and Author

Running my small production company has been a rewarding experience! It started after being staffed on a Television Series, “The Parkers.” I was advised about how important it was to have a loanout to maximize tax incentives. Read more>>

Monica Tyson | Estate Liquidator/ Estate Sales

My name is Monica Tyson, and I am the proud owner of Vintique Finds Estate Sales. My journey into the estate sale and thrift world began in my childhood, frequenting places like Salvation Army, Goodwill, and the now-closed Alpine Village Swap Meet. Read more>>

Natalie Dauer | Small Business Owner & Social Media Specialist

The idea for Pup of the Party came from my own experience! As a bride-to-be myself, I wanted to find a way to involve my dog in my wedding without having family or friends get stuck with dog-sitting duties on the big day. Read more>>

Jenny Ta | Startup Founder/CEO & Venture Capitalist

My thought process was driven by a passion to solve a specific problem I identified, a desire for creative and financial independence, and the motivation to create value and make a positive impact in my industry. Read more>>

Wenjay Sung | Doctor turned Entrepreneur

After searching for children’s shoes at Target, Ross, and Marshall’s, I realized there needed to be a better way. I drafted up an idea with my wife and approached several friends who have young children as my resource. Through my web searching, I got an ad for Oneday mentoring and signed up for their one on one mentorship program for entrepreneurs. Read more>>