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.

Teresa Willis | Mobile Notary Signing Agent

Starting my own business was driven from quite a few things, but I guess the main drive is from my experience in corporate America. I was raised to strive for a “good job” with a “good company” and to work my way to a “good paying position” by being a long-standing employee. My grandfather worked a blue collar until he couldn’t any more. I have uncles in blue collar positions with their corporate companies since 1979 because what they were taught worked for them. I can’t say the same. I find Corporate America kind of stifling to a degree. Your growth and potential are set upon what someone else thinks of you, but with your own business you are able to operate according to what you think of yourself and allows for your growth to be determined upon how and who you service directly, not so much on who’s position you threaten. Read more>>

Mackenzie Ofordire | Founder & CEO of the Samantha Rose Candle Company

To bring more awareness to maternal health issues that affect women and their families. Being someone who experienced a late term pregnancy loss unexpectedly, I wasn’t aware of all the maternal health issues that women and their families face pre-conception, during pregnancy and postpartum. Through research I learned that 1 in 4 women will experience a pregnancy loss whether during pregnancy, delivery or infancy. Read more>>

Sherri Sherock | Certified Holistic Functional Practitioner Specializing in Peri-Postmonempause

My thought process behind starting my own business was to serve, educate and empower as many midlife women about supporting their hormone health, lose the menopausal weight and gain the confidence back. This process of creating a women’s health-based business was inspired by speaking with hundreds of women I have encountered over the past several years, including my own experience as well. The fact that women’s health issues are still not openly talked about in society that so many women don’t know how to support themselves during the challenging time of midlife transition. Educating women to know they have a say in their health and not to accept the first thing given to them. Read more>>

Gina DeSantis | Owner, Artist

I have been a potter for over twenty years but I officially established my business in 2013. My business began as a combination of a classroom space while I worked on selling my ceramics wholesale and retail. The classroom space was needed in the Cleveland area. I began working with a large retailer in my first year of business. This format worked until the pandemic. In 2020 I ceased operation of the classroom space and never re-opened. This was not due to lack of success or need but rather a shift in the wholesale orders. Wholesale shows that were in person quickly pivoted to online platforms. I was able to gain orders from major retailers such as Anthropologie, McGee & Co, Shoppe Amber Interiors and the Sundance Catalog. Read more>>

DeAnna Wilson, PhD., LPC, NCC, CRC | President/CEO Rejuvenation Training & Consulting, LLC & Higher Education Administrator

I started my business during the pandemic as many of my friends were discussing the pressure that they felt to keep going and balance work, home and personal lives. I thought about my first year as a full-time assistant professor and how I did not have balance. I was “on” all the time. I worked 7 days a week trying to keep up with all of my responsibilities. I learned about self-care during that year and it became near and dear to me. I wanted to share that with women. Of course, my business has expanded but that was the genesis of Rejuvenation Training & Consulting, LLC. Read more>>

Maurice Stewart | Certified Personal Trainer, Boxing Fitness Trainer & Assisted Stretching Coach

In January 2020, I embarked on a personal transformation journey. Fueled by a resolution to get in the best shape of my life, I embraced healthier eating and regular workouts. By May, I had shed 50 pounds, feeling fitter and more energized than ever. The pandemic presented a new challenge, but I didn’t let it derail my progress. I transformed my basement into a training space and began documenting my fitness journey on social media. As people watched my progress, particularly my boxing-inspired workouts, curiosity grew. Soon, I found myself offering 1-on-1 training sessions in my makeshift gym. This experience, coupled with my continued passion for fitness, led me to open my own studio in February 2021. Read more>>

Eboni Barry | Salon Owner/ Serial Entrepreneur

Becoming a mother for the second time around I knew that I needed more flexibility and freedom. After careful consideration I decided to do hair out of my home. Still working two other jobs at the time, I soon let the others go when I seen the income that I generated from hairstyling. After years of doing this as a “hustle” It was time to get serious and get my paperwork in order to thoroughly legitimize my business. I then moved to a Suite where I continued to do hair and expanded my clientele base. When I realized that I could not physically keep this occupation forever, my body was changing and I was seeing doctors more frequently I then decided that I wanted to expand my business from working independent to creating a space where I can bring in assistants to help carry my load and also offer other professionals a position to build a career for themselves. Read more>>

Alexander Freeman | Business Owner & Assistant Principal

In 2019, when Kaleidoscope Tutoring and Consulting LLC was founded, the mission was clear: to help students and adults chase their dreams. I embarked on the challenging and rewarding path of entrepreneurship with the hope that one day I could show the people who helped mold me that their love and support paid off. I graduated from Miami University in 2014 and had experience teaching and coaching in various schools within the Greater Cleveland Area, along with part-time roles as a tutor and writing consultant before I started my business. In 2019 I questioned whether I was truly making a difference in my students’ lives. Read more>>

Randy & Jayne Rausch | Co-owners of The MAiZE at Little Darby Creek

Randy grew up on a dairy farm and has always been a farmer. We purchased the farm and dairy herd from his parents in 1990. Over time we found that we wanted to try other avenues with the farm to bring in additional revenue. In 2002, we started the corn maze / fall agritourism event. After we had been open a few years, we found it difficult with our limited labor force to be able to do both. It was difficult to find a full time herdsman and we knew that our kids were not interested in taking over the dairy when they got older. The corn maze was starting to take off and showed good possibilities for growth, so in February of 2005, we sold the dairy herd. We also added a 5 acre you pick raspberry patch that year after we sold the cows. Read more>>

Derin Fletcher | Fine Artist/Designer

I wanted to create a life for myself where I could be as creative as possible while still uplifting and inspiring others. I’m creating all day every day but I never really thought about turning it into a career until I got my first few customers. I was actually still working my 9-5 as a graphic designer. But I would come home every day and create. Whenever I got a little free time I would just just create. I would paint and draw as much as I could. Then the pandemic hit and I we were all forced to work from home. So I began creating even more. Even when I was supposed to working, I was creating instead. Read more>>

Megan LaFrance | Founder of Bloom Towels

Both my parents are entrepreneurs, and because of that I knew that I wanted to start my own business one day. I am a stay at home mom, and wanted to be able to still stay home with my kids, but also contribute to my families finances. It was not until right before the pandemic that I started to really start thinking seriously about starting my own business. Read more>>