The first step to starting a business is deciding to start a business. They say the first step is the hardest and in our experience this is especially true when it comes to starting a business. Getting over the mental roadblocks can be tough, often harder to overcome than the challenges you’ll face once you actually start the business. Fellow entrepreneurs share their thoughts below.

Jaylin Bailey | Loan officer and real estate investor.

What I love about being an entrepreneur is the control of my own destiny. No one decides if I get a pay raise, promotion or what job I do, but me. It’s a beautiful and terrifying freedom, but at least you’re the driver. Read more>>

Taylor DeCosta | Executive Chef and CEO

To tell you the truth, starting a business was not my initial thought process! I began as a private chef with multiple clients, and started my business on paper as a way to organize my income. As my client list grew, I needed help to meet the demand. And that’s how Taylor Made Cuisine started! It was really organic and based on word-of-mouth. Read more>>

Daryl Thompson | BioHacker / Scientist / Adventurer

I began my career because I wanted to make the world a better and do what I could to end suffering. One of my most favorite quotes is “Nemo vir est qui mundum non reddat meliorem” wich means “no one is a man that does not render the world a better place”. I was always good at chemistry and biology and had an early love for adventure and figuring out problems so I decided to use these skill to try to make the world a better place by combining these all together when I formed my research organization. I am able to combine my knowledge of chemistry and biology with my love of exploration to discover new drugs that can hopefully lead to saving lives Read more>>

Jaylin Knight | Personal Trainer & Life Coach

I’ve always believed that when I’m deeply engaged in work I love, the right opportunities naturally present themselves. This was exactly my experience when I ventured into starting my own business. Read more>>

Tarah Belle | Human Design Reader

Well I have always thrived in structured workplaces with a schedule and boss (which you won’t hear most entrepreneurs say).

BUT I travel a lot. In the years leading up to me starting my business, I worked a seasonal job 6 months of the year so that I could travel the other 6. Read more>>

Reb Risty | Head REBL

My journey to starting REBL Marketing Inc. is rooted in my entrepreneurial spirit. It began with childhood endeavors like selling lemonade with my sister in my parents front yard to selling CUTCO knives door to door. My first venture was an e-commerce gift basket Read more>>

Sergio Bastidas | Photographer

Well at first I had no interest in owning my own photography business. I had gone to school for photojournalism. Which eventually led me back to the Imperial Valley where I got a photography position at the local newspaper in 2013. Fast forward to 2015 when all photographers got laid off, I decided, with the help of someone close to me, to promote myself as a photographer for hire. My work got well known and it became certain that I should open a small photography studio. It started by converting a small space at home to a functioning studio. But as business took off I outgrew the space. During the Covid pandemic, a friend of mine offered me a permanent space inside her vintage boutique. Doing that was a big step for me. but it was the correct choice. So for the past 3 years I’ve had an official photography studio in downtown El Centro. Read more>>

Cheri Pann & Gonzalo Duran | Artists

Both my wife Cheri and I are artists. We wanted to live and work on our paintings in the same place so we built 20’ high ceiling studios attached to the house. After the studios were finished, Cheri made some tiles for the kitchen and the process was very fulfilling because instead of straight tiling it was more like collaging with with broken tile. Read more>>