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.

Tami Saffell | Wick Street Vinyl

I am not sure there was a solid thought process at first. I just knew there had to be a better solution than always buying materials to craft with online or in the big box stores. Neither offers guidance on materials or help with projects. Basically, we are left to “hope” we bought the right materials for the job. I wanted to be a more solid sounding board for crafters. Help the beginners or newbies layout projects. Show them how to make the most of their design space to limit over buying. In the long wrong, educate them but also help them save money. At the end of the day, most individuals do this to have a little side money for vacations, sports fees or to help make their paycheck go a little farther. That was my end goal, help crafters keep as much money in their pockets as possible but still have knowledge and fun at the same time. Read more>>

Jeff Gaydash | Fine Art Photographer & Printmaker

As an aspiring artist/photographer one must have an entrepreneurial spirit in order to pursue their creative endeavors, while also making a living. Just out of art school I partnered with a colleague in starting a commercial photography and digital imaging studio. As art students, we had zero business experience but we were hungry to succeed. It was quite the learning experience having to wear the many hats of running a successful business. Read more>>

Rajani Konkipudi | Chocolate Maker

Starting an artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate business during a time when most of the folks around here munch on a grocery store chocolate bar was a very scary endeavor. I grew up eating Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate and thought that it is a true chocolate bar. Most bars on the grocery store shelves are either filled with sugar or flavors such as vanilla (this is often a wonderful way to hid bad fermentation and defects in cocoa) to make the chocolate palatable. With confusing labels, the customers are often left with a sense of accomplishment thinking that they chose good chocolate. That is where I wanted to tell the story and the journey of the simple cocoa transformation from a bean to a silky chocolate bar that we now experience. Read more>>

Rachel Paga | Owner & Designer

We started Rachel Marie Designs back when I was in high school. As a child, my mom would bring back beads and findings from NYC when she would go on buying trips for her boutique and I would play around with them. After years of “playing beads”, I did a business class as part of my high school homeschool curriculum and created the legal documentation for the business, created a business banking account and began to do a profit and loss sheet. Read more>>

Aleyshia Czarnecki | Mixed Media Artist

I didn’t necessarily mean to at first. At first I was just trying to make art for myself and my own home. I have a degree in art history, and after I finished school I realized that there aren’t a lot of people making home decor using the art that I studied. It’s easy to find art by the ‘masters’ – art that everyone has heard of. I’ve seen the same few paintings on a thousand different coffee mugs for years. But there is so much other great art that isn’t explored outside of a museum setting. My focus in school was on Late-Medieval and Early Renaissance art, but none of the art that I spent hours learning about for my classes was being made for home display. So I took it upon myself, and I just didn’t want to stop. I also started to fall in love with the ‘process’ of making, so it only made sense to make more than one piece at a time. Eventually, I ended up with too much for my own walls, and so Twin Goats was born. It became an opportunity to share my knowledge and passion for this art, as well as a space for me to make more. Half the fun for me is learning about new art (and the meaning and stories behind it) so when I create art it makes me feel like, in some way, I’m preserving that history in a way that everyone can enjoy. Read more>>

Kelly Kaatz | Ceramic Artist

From a young age I’ve always been creative. I never planned on starting my own business but after graduating with a BFA in sculpture and metals, I worked for several entrepreneur artists. I learned a lot about making work to sell, packing, art fairs and other logistics of an art business. Simultaneously, I was learning how to make clay objects. People seemed attracted to my work’ plus I loved working with clay as a medium so I decided to keep renting studio space to push my skill. I participated in local art fairs, pop ups and galleries while working full time as a Director of a non-profit gallery. After 9 years of doing both, I decided I could go further with my ceramics if I quit my job at the gallery and focused. I became a full time ceramicist November 12, 2021. Read more>>

Terry Grahl | Founder, Visionary and CEO of Enchanted Makeovers

In early 2005 I started an interior decorating business called Terry’s Enchanted Cottage. It quickly became an award-winning business, and I was so very grateful. Life seemed good. I had moved on from my past, so I thought. That could have been the end of my story, but it was only just the beginning. Read more>>