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.

James Halfacre | Photographer

I started my own business to be the decision maker- the boss. I wanted to be able to follow my own creative path. Though, I do think it’s important to point out that when I work with clients, they become a temporary boss for the project. Some of my clients know exactly what they envision and it’s my job to create it. Others have a foggy idea of what they want, so I help them develop their idea. Others have no idea, and I am free to create from the ground up. I have the choice to say yes or no to any potential client, sometimes no is the right answer. Read more>>

Maria Onisemo | Owner of Nigeria Breeze Restaurant

In 2020, when my family and I took a vacation to San Diego, CA, we were taken aback by the absence of a Nigerian restaurant. Despite the presence of an African store offering groceries and frozen foods, there seemed to be a gap in the market. This experience inspired me to consider opening a Nigerian restaurant where people from all over Africa can gather to savor authentic Nigerian cuisine. Read more>>

Cynthia Demorest FunFit & Friends LLC | FunFit & Friends LLC aka getfitwithcynthia |

My business journey unfolded organically, with little initial planning. As a full-time Human Resources professional, I began teaching group fitness classes to my colleagues as a cost-saving measure for our company’s fitness program, offering them for free. What started as a practical solution quickly revealed the joy of inspiring others to move and prioritize self-care. Read more>>

Valerie Wiener | Herbalist, Sobriety advocate & Spiritual wellness teacher

Before starting my own business, I always felt that a 9-5 wasn’t for me. I knew that there was more for me out there and felt like I had the perseverance, passion & drive to create something of my own, to build a legacy and pass down to my children. Read more>>

Ava Lauren Grayson | Writer/Director & Founder of Hip Librarian Productions

I started Hip Librarian Productions to address a gap in the industry. Working both in publishing as a writer and editor and in film as a director, I realized that many authors and publishers who now use social media (TikTok, IG, and YouTube) to promote book releases don’t use high quality, original cinematic footage to showcase the authors’ work visually. So I got thinking and… Hip Librarian Productions was born. With HLP, we create original cinematic book trailers, book teasers, and book commercials for authors, publishing companies, and book-related products. We work closely with our clients to adapt original written material into high concept, striking visuals that will attract the Gen-Z audience and appeal to viewers just like a Hollywood film trailer. Read more>>

Stuart Wood | Executive Director/ PhD

When I joined Sustainable Claremont, it was my hope to be part of a local sustainability organization where I could help empower greater local, regional and even large scale change. With an amazing Board, staff, network of CBO partners, and community of volunteers, we have grown larger than I could have imagined. This includes expanding our tree planting from one city, Claremont, to now include the likes of Glendora, La Verne, Los Angeles, Montclair, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Tustin, and Upland. Similarly–we have grown from a single community composting program–to a composting operation that serves 5 schools and processes nearly a ton of food waste per month! With programs such as our Earth Day, Sustainability Talks, and Green Home Tour–we have been able to reach more people, with more sustainability resources, than ever before. Read more>>

Seya Speake Pine | Somatic Breathwork Facilitator & Energy Medicine Mentor/Educator

When I started out as an Entrepreneur of Somatic Work at 25, I had no idea what laid ahead. I had recently graduated with a Creative Writing Degree with a concentration in Poetry and Philosophy, moving from the Midwest to California in high pursuit of becoming a Poetry Professor and getting in with Disney. When we landed in San Diego, I quickly began diving into the study of Yoga: initially for the purpose of learning to catch my breath. For years I had suffered from allergies and asthma to the extent of using steriods, emergency inhalers, breathing machines, allergy shots- all to still wind up with constant constriction in my throat and a contracted diaphragm. It was 2016 when a dear friend invited me to join her for a Breathwork workshop. One that would ultimately change the trajectory of my career, opening up a doorway into Somatics. In that single first session, I experienced an opening in my diaphragm and sensation in my physical body that had never been accessed before. I saw it as a gift- an unexpected one- an invitation to do something no one in my immediate lineage had ever done. Stowed aside my drive to become a Writer and started studying Breath and Somatic Therapy to quickly learn how much Breathwork impacted myself, my community, and my clients. I saw the way it could quickly and effectively release repressed emotion and blockages in the nervous system, opening up the body to unearth wisdom long forgotten. Like hours of therapy in a matter of moments. My own mother nervously asked me: “How are you possibly going to Breathe people for a living?” Seven years later, I am doing exactly that. Read more>>