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.

Nick Hutchison | Founder of BookThinkers and Author of Rise of the Reader

I fell in love with the idea that the right book at the right time can change your life. I have seen so many lives change because of the power of personal development books and I wanted to be around that energy all the time. By helping authors promote and market their books, we are helping them make a bigger positive impact! Read more>>

Chelsea Chomos | Registered Psychologist

I had a ‘problem solver’ or ‘solution-focused’ thought process behind starting my own business. I wasn’t happy where I currently was, so first I identified the problem (what is causing me distress?), next I explored possible options (what can I do to solve my problem? What is my ideal solution?), and lastly I determined my first step (what is the first step I need to take to move towards this solution?). Read more>>

Connor & Charity Barnes | Owner, Operator, Producer: Ugly Bros Comedy

At first, there wasn’t much intent in starting a business. My Town of Owosso, Michigan has never met my personal expectations for entertainment. Specifically, Stand-up comedy. After a failed attempt to get on stage, I (Connor) leaned into my natural calling which was networking. My former business partner and I would settle on the name Ugly Bros Comedy. Read more>>

Madison Crider | Student | Filmmaker | Entrepreneur

To give some backstory, I started a slime business around the summer of 2021 because I had always enjoyed making slime. But more importantly, I always enjoyed the business of matters. As a kid, I made fake contracts and “legal” documents for absolutely no reason. I always liked inventing as well, hence my pursuit of robotics, and that is what drove me to make a slime business, with my mother’s help. While I did decently well for a 13-year-old making slime with a stand mixer and a dream while posting videos to Instagram and TikTok, I eventually lost the motivation. I grew older and got embarrassed by saying I ran a slime business. Fast forward 3 years later, I started learning how to crochet. I enjoyed the process of making something and being able to watch with my own eyes my goals coming to life. I crocheted so much that I started to crochet at school and then I offered to crochet roses for my school’s graduating class. Along the way, people would ask me to make them something and say, “You need to start selling these!”. I decided I might as well because I enjoyed making things for others, it has become a standard of mine to crochet a birthday gift to others an animal of their favorite color. I am still in the process of officially launching my business, and it will be completely finished by the end of March, but I recently sold at the West Bloomfield Black Expo and have a few new customers and others waiting for the official launch. Read more>>

Kelly Ruther | Doctor of Physical Therapy, Content Creator, & Business Owner

Before starting my practice I worked at an insurance-based physical therapy clinic. I was seeing a patient every forty minutes for a total of 13 patients per day. High demand and mental overload of my schedule made it where I couldn’t give each patient the attention they needed. I was burnt out and tired of playing by the insurance companies’ rules. You see, at any time they can refuse to pay for patients’ visits based on formulas that may or may not be logical. And none of the insurance companies follow the same standard. Furthermore, you’re only allowed to treat one part of the body at a time. Imagine how disheartening it was that, I, a medical professional with a Doctorate, had to listen to large corporations far away who couldn’t grasp that a holistic approach was needed for most cases. Plus, we had to bill clients outlandish prices in order to recoup pennies on the dollar. It just didn’t sit right by me. Read more>>