Putting up your own business can be such a scary thing. There is a lot of pressure into getting things right as much as possible because a lot of factors are counting on it. Being able to settle on a good business model, however, is also not an easy job and best believe, you will have people all up in your ear trying to coach you on the dos and don’ts. Many successful entrepreneurs insist that at the end of the day, you should only go for something that works only for you.
Gelare Danaie
Gelare is the President of a Toronto-based architectural firm called Dexd. She has previously worked with one of the world’s leading design firms which has absolutely helped her to venture out on her own.
She already had in mind what she didn’t want her company to become, referring to her experience with a previous employer wherein they always went by the book and left no room for any kind of innovation.
When Dexd was up and running, she went all in and hired a diverse team of professionals to work for the company. Her ultimate goal was to challenge the traditional way of doing things and by far, has succeeded in doing so.
According to Gelare, she had never thought of money as her driving force but rather creating designs that are unique to each customer.
Amelia Kruse
Amelia Kruse is a Leadership Coach that transforms creative professionals and businesspeople into leaders of their own craft and personal lives. She said that when she first thought about putting up a coaching practice, it was clear to her that this would be a career path that she would never leave.
She had told Business Insider that it was never entirely about the business. Instead, it was all about discovering the perfect foundation for her life. She carefully evaluated what starting a coaching practice would mean for both her and her clients and then figured it out from there.
As for the budget of putting up such a practice, Kruse said that she at first had to figure out exactly what she wanted for her company and the kind of people she wanted to hire and everything else flowed effortlessly.
Marta Subko
Marta founded a boutique digital marketing agency called Subko & Co. This isn’t the first company she put up, but according to her, all of the lessons that she’s learned from her first ever startup played a big role into making Subko & Co. a success. Her first company was a huge failure that had left her in tons of debt but we all have to start somewhere, right?
Subko’s goal for the marketing agency was to create a niche for herself and exploit it with a mission to give back to society. She reckons that making a name for yourself in the target market is easy, you only just have to be innovative and insanely curious.
Elena Reinholtz
Bid + Stone is a direct-to-consumer jewelry brand that gives part of their proceeds to nonprofits.
She has always been vocal about her goal. She did not just want to create beautiful items for her clients, but she wanted to start a movement.
“We are building a community of changemakers — people who buy bracelets but also volunteer, take action in their communities, and vote and engage with their legislators.”
Her road to success wasn’t all that smooth. Her idea of incorporating philanthropy into the business was met with skepticism while she was seeking funding to put up the company. She remembers one investor telling her that merging philanthropy with commerce “could never work.” Adamant on her goal, she eventually ended up bootstrapping to make sure she could build the company on her own terms.
She went all in to set up a charity movement by creating beautiful jewelry where buyers are able to volunteer for several causes that will have a positive impact to their respective communities.