We reached out to some of our favorite entrepreneurs and asked them to think back and tell us about how they decided to start a business. Check out their responses below.

Chelsea Paine | CEO of Influence Florida, South Florida Influencer, Yoga Teacher, and Beach Lover

When I started my own business, I was working full time still. I decided to leave that full time job when I knew that I could financially support myself, but also when I knew that my ideas and my work were successful. The clients that I had in the beginning really propelled me forward, and gave me the confidence that I needed to take the leap of faith. Read more>>

Selene Salas | Cake Artist / Entrepreneur

It’s as if God had it planned for me. I believe it I started later than what he intended me to. Having 17 years of culinary experience, working in luxury hotels with talented chefs who genuinely cared about my growth. The downfall was pretty much not having a life. All was well when I started. I was young single and had all the time in the world. Fast forward, Blessed with a beautiful little family. I was starting to feel like I didn’t belong at work and unmotivated. I was starting to question if I had lost my passion for baking. Read more>>

Yirett Clemente | Professional Photographer

Self-improvement. I wanted to give 100% of effort in a project of mine. Working for other companies helped me to grow and understand that I had the enough capacity to take the risk of doing what I liked and being able to work for my own dream. For me, it is important to fulfill each daily objective and be happy doing what I like the most, I understood that in this life we must dedicate time to what we really want to do. Read more>>

Juliana Calienes | Social Media Expert

I never envisioned that I would be an entrepreneur but as the saying goes, “we make plans and God laughs”. When the pandemic hit, the world was completely flipped and my professional life was no exception. I knew I could either sit around and wait to go back to my previous job or take advantage of this time and build something for myself. Miami Made Media is the culmination of my life experience and my hometown, my passion to be a creative and the environment that has shaped me. I am Miami made, the potential is limitless. Read more>>

Andrea Magni (CEO) & Gian Luca Olivieri (CFO) | CEO & CFO

Both me and Gian Luca (and Gianmaria – the third wheel that helped us a lot during the starting phase) love to make business that could help others and that could be valuable in the future. We launched COW-ORK because we both loved the idea and trusted “the process”. We realized it was something that could be valuable to people and businesses because of the pandemic, also. I don’t think there was a real thought process behind, we just loved the idea and embraced it at its fullest. Sometimes the best things come out of nowhere. Read more>>

Evgeniya Ignatushchenko | CEO at Nail Patrol /mobile services and store

I never really had a thought for starting my own business, my main drive was doing what I love the most and making living out of it. I started as a freelancer visiting clients with newborns that can’t leave their house for beauty essential needs. Word of mouth was my biggest advertising. I made a name for myself as someone who was good and fast. So at some point I figured there was a huge demand out the for at home services that required a fast and good job done, and financial part of it wasn’t an issue. Nail Patrol was born and I was the only member on the team patrolling all over Miami. One day I realized that I can’t handle all the jobs coming to me and I never wanted to be that nail tech that doesn’t take new clients anymore. Nail Patrol added 3 new team members and a concierge that handles booking over the phone. Read more>>