Getting started is HARD.  Getting the first client is insanely hard.  Keeping that client happy, generating more and continuing to keep everything going is heroic.  So we asked these heroic entrepreneurs how they got started and took something that might have just been a hobby and turned it into a business.

Stacey Barrera | Lash Technician

Well when I first started I was struggling to find a corporate job, I would apply & almost always get rejected, It was frustrating. I was into the beauty field and I’ve always considered lashing but makeup was my first option but since the makeup industry is overly saturated I never got anywhere with it so my last option was lashing. I took the risk & invested in a lash course, at first I was super intimidated and didn’t know what I was getting myself into, I’m glad I took the risk. It’s one of the best investments I’ve made & it’s changed my life entirely. Read more>

Justin Kimmich, AIA, NCARB | Architect & Owner

At the end of a 6 year partnership at a different firm – it became clear to me and my wife (also a trained as an architect – lead Project Manager and a designer at the same firm as I) that it was time to move on. But on to where? After being at a partnership level I could not see myself simply going to work for someone else. I felt I could make a difference and provide a greater value if I were not held down – ‘working my way up’ in a larger company. So at the end of 2016 we began our planning for our new company – then Kimmich Architecture + Design, LLC. I started the company up at the turn of 2017 working from our home office. Read more>>

Maria Mello | Hairstylist

When I was in hair school I asked a local well established Hairstylist/salon owner if she’d let me shadow her. She graciously said yes & I did so every chance I got. When I graduated hair school I worked a full-time office job while I worked hard part-time building my book. It was tough being a wife & a mother working 2 jobs sometimes it felt like 3 because I would still shadow that same Hairstylist sometimes. My first client was the Mom of one of my daughters friends & she is still my client today 16 years later. I became a salon owner by going in with a friend as part owner about 6 years ago, when my friend decided to move on to another type of salon I bought her out & took over on my own. Read more>>

Cristina Denegri | Visual Artist

I’m a self-taught artist, at the beginning of my career I together with a group of artists opened a workshop where we developed different kinds of art disciplines, I started doing ceramic but I really soon figured out that my real passion was painting, a discipline where I express myself intensely. We did a lot of art exhibitions and travel together to exhibit, it was an incredible experience working with all those artists. I started my own Interior Design company on 2015. As an artist and entrepreneur my passion and motivation was and is at the moment my carrier as an artist so I decided to focus my Interior Design company on adding contemporary art to the design projects. Read more>>