Starting and growing a business is hard, but often deciding to start the business in the first place is even harder. We asked some successful entrepreneurs from around the community to open up to us about how they thought about starting a business.

Meghan Corum

I was a stay at home mom for a couple of years. Which is a very important role. But I always knew I wanted to be able to be successful myself in a career because one day my babies will be in school and I wanted to have another purpose. I knew that I loved all things beauty. I was already getting my lashes done every few weeks. Read More>>

Brad Wallace

By nature, I am a natural born leader. So I’m driven by my passion to run a successful business. I’ve had a few ventures that he failed but I refused to give up. This particular Venue has been everything I’ve been trying to accomplish! Read More>>

Ariel Decker

I started this business because I wanted to make not only children’s birthday parties memorable but any occassion in life worth celebrating memorable for people. Offering a variety of things for any age bracket. We celebrate baby showers, 1st birthdays, graduations, and retirements. There are so many things to celebrate I wanted to be a stand out company that is an easy go to for anything party. Read More>>

Nabil El Jaouhari

I’ve always wanted to become an artist, even as a young kid I would stay in and doodle. And being the son of a furniture maker, my parents encouraged me and I ended up going to school for general fine arts diploma. It’s a French system back in Beirut where I’m from in my country Lebanon. And then came here for my MFA in painting and printmaking at the University of Missouri Read More>>

David Sauer

My fellow co-founder, Kevin Letnes, and I were grinding in the corporate world for awhile and just knew that wasn’t the long term path for us. We had a lot of creativity and ideas about how we would run a company if we were leading it. It was a gut feeling ultimately that we had. Our parents were both entrepreneurial so it was in our blood apparently. Read More>>

Kicherra Chisolm

I wanted to find a way to encourage others to create and to heal through art. Read More>>

Ihar Sukhikh

About 20 years ago I trained as an aircraft technician, so I have the skills to repair any electrical equipment, which is why I opened a repair business.
And it all started with the fact that we came to the USA without knowledge of English and education in the USA, it was really very difficult for us, one of the first jobs here was working in a company repairing household appliances, but due to certain difficulties in the company there was very little work, and we were forced to start our own business. Our company SmartFix Appliance Repair. And we try to do it well. Read More>>

Phillipe Coley

My thought process is having the chance to share my creativity and art with everyone, and welcoming everyone to the world of Doc Skippy. Read More>>

Rebecca Fillion

Success starts with a decision. For me, that decision came when I realized how unfulfilling the 9-to-5 grind was and that working for someone else would always come with a ceiling.

I was burned out working remotely in the mortgage industry through the covid refi boom. Loans were drying up as interest rates climbed, and I could feel a shift in energy. Read More>>

Cleveland Wilson

Starting my own business as a personal trainer was driven by two key factors: financial freedom and control over my time. I wanted to build a career that allowed me to create my own schedule, work with clients on my terms, and avoid the limitations of traditional employment. Read More>>

Meredith Kate Petrilli

We love where we live and want to give that same experience of coastal living to our clients! Our start with Banks Builders came from a passion for the small-town charm that makes the Crystal Coast feel like home, whether you’ve lived here forever or visit every summer. Read More>>

Chris Childs

Each of us already having experience owning our own businesses, starting up Kaioken was a no brainer. Our collective experience in the fine dining industry coupled with the desire to utilize zero-waste practices and leverage the opportunity to work with local farms functioned as the driving force to create this platform for highlighting our culinary talents and sustainability values. We saw the need for a hub for fermentation here in Charlotte and went for it! Read More>>