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.

Bianka Curvey | Digital Marketing and Brand Strategist

My business was actually started out of necessity, so the thought process was pretty simple. “Find a way to pay for grad school.”
I was preparing to leave for grad school but didn’t have a job lined up in Lubbock. Luckily, the company I worked at suggested that I continue working for them as a freelancer. It was the perfect setup to float me through school! When we shifted to this new structure, the company owner was so happy with my work that he started telling his friends about me. From that, I started getting calls from a friend of his who wanted to work together almost every week! After about four months, I saw I could turn this into something sustainable. Read more>>

Brittany January | Owner and CEO of OSHUN BEAUTY LLC

Over the years, I’ve tried various hair products that claim to be for people with sensitive skin however none of them truly worked as I always broke out every time. When I had my daughter and discover that she suffered from the same sensitivity that I did and I didn’t want her going through the same thing so I decided to make our own hair products. Read more>>

Jakob Patiño | Real Estate Agent and Relocation Specialist

From a young age, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. My first “business” began in elementary school when I started selling pencils, pens, and desk toys to my peers after noticing the high prices at the Scholastic book fair. I remember feeling embarrassed because the $20 my parents gave me wasn’t enough, while my classmates were spending $50-$200 on picture books. Coming from an ethnic middle-class family, we often shopped at the 99 Cents Store and Dollar Tree for school supplies. My mom, who worked at my elementary school and was aware of the price gouging, would buy similar items from these stores. I still remember her saying, “We can get three of those for the same price at the store.” My classmates always thought I was cashing out at the book fairs, so selling them a dollar store eraser for $3 or $4 seemed like a great deal to them. This went on from first grade until middle school when Smencils came about. Competing against disruptive technology was tough when I still had training wheels on my bike. Read more>>

Rickey Chavez | Team Lead For a Real Estate Team

I spent 20 years in the army and retired in 2002. During this time i followed the Strategies and the requirements that were lined out to me by my supervisors. It did not matter how you excelled or even how bad you did for that fact you were going to make the same amount of money. When I retired entered corporate America. I was fortunate enough to excel there along with the fact that I continued my education and achieved an MBA with the concentration in human resources but was told but senior vice president of HR told me in for me to be compensated what I deserved based on my experience and education at this point I’d have to leave the company and come back. Read more>>