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.

Rosella Papale | Brandketing Strategist

It all started in 2014 when I decided to leave Venezuela looking for a better future and better opportunities. As I balanced my options, the one that seem to be faster and easier was to open a business. So using family’s savings, I bought a franchise in the sign industry and got my visa as an investor. This opened a door to a new country, new culture, new language and to the unknown. I am a Medical Doctor, an Anesthesiologist to be precise, so i didn’t know anything about running a business or about the sign industry. I was in such an adrenaline rush that I was excited and motivated to learn in a very short period of time the basics about that industry and on how to run a business. Read more>>

Antonio Crutchley | Miami Wedding Photographer

I can’t recall exactly my thought process behind starting my own business. All I know is that I wanted something other than a regular 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. job. Perhaps, because I grew up around businesses. I always knew that I was going to have a business – thanks to my mother. My mother was a solopreneur long before the term become popular. Read more>>

Vanina Vazque | Founder of The Intentional Shop

Perfectionism! Getting out of my own way and make the decision to just start! I like to think of myself as a “recovered over-thinker, procrastinator, perfectionist”. I am the kind of person that needs to do a lot of research, take a lot of courses, watch a lot of videos before starting something new, but in the last couple of years I’ve learned that all of that comes from a place of fear and insecurities, so I had to fight my way through it. The first step was to be aware of what was going on, sometimes we self-sabotage ourselves without even realizing it. I knew what I wanted to do but for some reason I wasn’t doing it, so I had to dig deep into what was stopping me. Once I identified the main actions I had to make the decision to stop! Read more>>

Sabine Charles | HR Recruiter| Hair Braider

My Thought Process behind starting my business was to have natural Queens like my self enjoy there natural journey, without having to break there pockets. Read more>>

Daina Levy | Home Baker

There really wasn’t any thought put into it. I studied culinary arts at The Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale and always had a passion for baking and decorating cookies. I figured I would do orders for friends for special occasions. It was the encouragement from family and friends that prompted me to raise the bar and push myself to what Forchin Cookies & Cakes is today. Read more>>

Derick Beach | Photographer

It all started by accident honestly. I was in the beginning stages of producing a clothing line back in 2015 and was looking for a photographer. As I was getting quotes I realized most of these guys were getting like $75+ per hour. I figured if I would be paying that much for a photoshoot I might as well buy my own camera and learn how to use it. After hours of YouTube tutorials it started to peak my interest and then I brought my camera to Art Basel to take photo’s of my friends art work and then found myself taking pictures of the whole event. Since everyone loved them I figured I could get better and take it more serious. So weeks later I was getting booking requests and decided to make a separate Instagram from my personal: Johnny_shotMe. And did all the business paperwork behind it. The rest is history. Read more>>