How to start your own business in 2025, according to people who already did
The US is home to over 33 million small businesses — organizations with fewer than 500 employees — and businesses of this size account for nearly all of the country's employers. Nearly 46 percent of Americans are employed by a small business.
Vox Culture
Culture reflects society. Get our best explainers on everything from money to entertainment to what everyone is talking about online. Email (required)
Sign Up
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
But the path to getting these businesses off the ground — and ensuring they're sustainable — can be daunting. There's money to raise, leases to sign, staff to build, inventory to acquire. And in today's turbulent economy, with uncertainty around tariffs and predictions about a coming recession, these hurdles can seem insurmountable. But as these six entrepreneurs who all recently launched their businesses prove, there will never be the 'perfect' time to start your own company. From the bouncer who opened his own comic book shop to the new mom who launched a beauty brand, small business owners share what it took to get their ideas off the ground.
Responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Don't be afraid to change course
From Joyce Medeiros, CEO and co-founder of Investrio, a bookkeeping and tax prep software for solopreneurs:
I'd been in finance my whole career before building Investrio, and I saw a need for entrepreneurs to get their finances just right. My co-founder also came from finance. Initially, when we set out to build a tool, we were helping with credit card debt, and we didn't really understand who our ideal customer was. At the time, we were helping Latinos, we were helping minorities. Upon looking at the data holistically, after a couple of months, we realized our customer is a solopreneur, and it's not a credit card issue; it's an accounting problem. That led us to pivot the strategy, the marketing, the way that we approach the business and the product itself.
'I've made no money some months.'
I was a financial coach before Investrio really took off. I've made no money some months. If you are ever curious about jumping ship, start working on some of those things that take time, like growing a social media audience, before you quit your job. I spent about a year building the social media presence, coaching on the side, and testing different products before I quit my full-time job. You might budget for three to six months until revenue comes, but it might take nine. You don't want to be left behind. You really want to plan ahead for the finances.
Lean into your strengths — and outsource where you can
From Grace Howland, founder of Évoquer, a direct-to-consumer fragrance brand:
I was working in investment banking and private equity in industrials, and my favorite part of the job was speaking with the founders about their startup stories and how they built their businesses. Last year, my firm announced they were moving to New York and shutting down their LA office, and I quit the next day. I filed for an LLC about a month later.
I lived and worked in Paris a few years ago, and I had this fragrance I wore every day while I was living there. Now, whenever I smell that, it brings me back to that time period of my life. I've always loved the idea behind scent memory. So my brand is really focused on scent memory and attaching different experiences to a scent and then always being able to come back to those periods in your life.
I've hired someone to do product development, because I am not a perfumer. I hired a nose, which is basically a sommelier for fragrances, and she's been helping me mix. Every time she mixes a trial, she sends it to me, and then I send her notes. We're on trial number 106 and still going. We're going to launch in October, maybe November, and I just did not expect it to take that long, honestly.
Consider your customer's price point
From Maria Colalancia, owner of Aperitivo Society and Aperitivo the Shop, a business that hosts community dining experiences and a storefront selling home items in Boston, respectively:
I moved up to Boston for a job and wanted to make this a place that I settled into and where I could try to build a community. I put out a TikTok and was like, 'Hey, I'm new-ish to Boston. I really like hosting dinner parties. Is anyone interested in a somewhat regular dinner party?' That TikTok went viral, and so I jumped into action. I made an Instagram and got a website, and we had 700 people sign up off of that one TikTok. We hosted the first dinner two weeks later in 2023. I continued that for over a year and a half while also working my full-time job. In March of 2024, I wanted to open a store, but I was not actively searching. I saw a space and signed the lease. That was over a year ago, and I've now quit my full-time job.
'The neighborhood has been really hungry for something like this for so long that we have a lot of really strong, loyal regulars already built in from day one.'
I try to work with small businesses or local artists and smaller batch production. I might not directly see the impact of tariffs, but prices are definitely increasing, because they have to get their supplies from somewhere. People are very vocal about prices. It was shocking to me when someone would come in and be like, 'Oh my god, that is so expensive,' or not fully understanding all of the costs that go into that end price that the customer is seeing. The average consumer doesn't always understand, especially in a world with Amazon and Walmart where they're bypassing a lot of those middleman costs. It could get to a point where I can't source those products, and I have to pivot to other products, or the prices just get too high to where people no longer want to buy them.
Listen to the needs of the community
From Zach George, owner of East Atlanta Comics, a comic shop in Atlanta:
I have worked at a bar down the street for 11 years in November. I've been a bouncer there. I love the neighborhood. A friend of mine who's a bartender opened a record shop two years ago, Black Habit Records. It gave me inspiration to see if it was possible to do a comic shop. I've always loved comic shops and nerd stuff. I sold an empty piece of property that I had an investment in and used that money to finance the store. I did all this on 60 grand. I live pretty modestly. It wasn't an easy thing to get together, but when I saw the store, I was like, 'It's worth trying.'
The neighborhood has been really hungry for something like this for so long that we have a lot of really strong, loyal regulars already built in from day one. There's no Toys R Us anymore. There's no KB Toys. Kids don't have a spot where they go to pick out something cool. That's been really cool to see: all the neighborhood families that come in here on a regular basis. And then, also, the homies that I've grown up coming here and getting hyped on Batman is pretty cool.
Embrace the power of negotiation
From Irene Ham, founder of Poom Cosmetics, a direct-to-consumer skin care company:
I started my brand four months after I gave birth, so I was deep into postpartum, taking care of a newborn. I'm Korean and use a lot of Korean skincare and cosmetic products, so I wanted all of my products to be manufactured from Korea. I really love their focus on skin health. I was researching manufacturers overseas while my baby was 4 to 6 months old, and then I finalized a manufacturer who was able to lower the minimum order quantities. It took two years to formulate my foundation.
'If I had my inventory ship after the tariffs hit, I would have had to pay around 26 grand for tariffs.'
When the tariffs were announced, my inventory was shipping. Luckily, I was able to avoid the tariffs this time around. If I had my inventory ship after the tariffs hit, I would have had to pay around 26 grand for tariffs. I did not have that money.
But now that I've launched, I am in a place where I can account for the tariffs. It's giving me a lot more negotiating power with my manufacturers. Can you lower the minimum order quantity? That's the biggest obstacle in a product-based business, that minimum order quantity, where they require you to reserve so much inventory up front, and it's very expensive. I understand that there's a chance that when I get my inventory, it's going to cost maybe 30 percent higher.
Level up when you can
From Christy Lee, owner of Seventh House Marketing, a creative marketing agency:
I was in-house for a jewelry brand for three and a half years, and I was the chief marketing officer. I have always been sure that an agency is what I wanted to do, but I didn't know exactly what it would look like. I didn't start any work, front-end or behind-the-scenes, for Seventh House until I quit. I took a month and a half, 24/7, where I was working hard to get everything prepared for the marketing, the branding. I developed the website by myself. It was very scrappy, because I was just me starting out as a team of one. Then, I was able to launch in February 2024.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's firing of the labor statistics chief could lead to a financial crisis
Donald Trump's firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer for releasing truthful employment figures showing a faltering U.S. economy is clearly not good news. But the consequences might be even worse than you think. Trump's actions weren't based on a methodological disagreement. He fired McEntarfer because he doesn't like the U.S. government releasing accurate numbers about the state of our economy — at least not when they make him look bad. In the short run, with luck, the impacts could be relatively modest. In the long run, without reforms to ensure quality data, this will lead to significantly slower economic growth than in other countries, and perhaps even a financial crisis. After McEntarfer's firing, government economic data can no longer be trusted or relied upon under this administration. Trump will not be able to appoint anyone with credibility to take over as BLS commissioner when it's already clear that person could be fired for releasing accurate data. The same goes for other statistical agencies, too. This doesn't mean all government data will be fraudulent going forward, but it does mean it will be less trustworthy. Government data analysts will do their best to produce credible reports, and much of what they publish will be accurate, but these workers will be increasingly subject to political pressures, or outright meddling. Reputational damage has already been done — and the decline in trust carries real consequences. The free availability of high-quality economic data from the government is an important part of how our economy operates. Businesses, entrepreneurs and families can't make good plans based on untrustworthy information. In practice, politicized data means the economic advantages Americans have long enjoyed — such as lower borrowing costs than the rest of the world — will begin to erode. Indeed, some experts and investors are already questioning whether higher interest rates will be necessary to compensate for the increased risks in the American economy brought about by Trump's firing of the BLS commissioner. This could lead to higher costs for both the U.S. government's debt payments and Americans' mortgages. Data reliability problems also create an uneven playing field for data, subtly undermining economic competition and growth. There will still be plenty of economic information available—it's just that the best data available won't be as good, and it won't be available to as many people. Private data companies will produce their own reports, but they simply aren't capable of the same scale as the government's current data collection efforts, and some of their reports will only be available to those who can pay. Established corporations that can afford alternative data sources will have a greater economic edge. Entrepreneurs won't have the same level of information to help them challenge more established players, so they'll do so less frequently and with less success. Worse, only Trump and his cronies will know whether, and how, government data has been juiced. This will give their companies a competitive economic advantage, further stifling competition. It also creates an additional incentive for corruption — and there is overwhelming evidence that corruption hinders growth in the long-run. Most troublingly, bad data can lead to financial crises because it allows political leaders to steer their countries into worse economic trouble than they would otherwise be able to. It's harder for investors, political opponents and anyone else outside the executive branch to warn about an inflationary or debt crisis if they don't know about it. Bad data can also exacerbate crises, as people are more likely to panic based solely on rumor. More and more, the United States looks like the countries we don't want to emulate. Firing the BLS commissioner echoes early warning signs from Argentina and China where gutting independent economic institutions paved the way for major economic collapse. Reliable data is but one of the many reasons democracies are generally rich and autocracies often are not. Autocrats try to erase facts that don't fit their preferred narrative. They get rid of people who tell the truth, including government experts, and use fear to stop dissent. Unsurprisingly, then, autocracies also frequently suffer deep economic crises. Firing the BLS commissioner may seem like a modest change in all the chaos the Trump administration has created, but it is not. Real damage has already been done. Still, most of the harmful economic consequences will be felt in the long term. This means there's still time for Americans to push back, and ensure the next administration can't cook the books. This article was originally published on Solve the daily Crossword
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Tips to help manage your buy now, pay later loans
Between rising prices and dwindling job growth, using 'buy now, pay later' on everything from concert tickets to fast food deliveries is becoming increasingly appealing. But greater use could also mean greater trouble, as more people fall behind on repaying these loans. Buy now, pay later loans gained popularity during the pandemic, especially among young people. While these loans can help you make large purchases without paying interest or undergoing a hard inquiry in your credit report, they can also easily be overused. About 4 in 10 Americans under the age of 45 say they've used 'buy now, pay later″ services when spending on entertainment or restaurant meals, or when paying for essentials like groceries or medical care, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Buy now, pay later loans were not previously reported to the three major credit reporting bureaus. But consumers will soon see the impact of buy now, pay later loans on their FICO credit scores. Whether you're a first-time or recurring user of buy now, pay later plans, here are some expert recommendations to use this tool responsibly. Focus on needs vs. wants Buy now, pay later plans divide purchases in monthly installments, typically in four payments. These loans are marketed as having low or no interest. Klarna, Afterpay, PayPal Later and Affirm are among the most popular buy now, pay later companies. These loans should ideally be used for large purchases or necessities, said Lauren Bringle, Accredited Financial Counselor at Self Financial. Bringle recommends asking yourself these questions before purchasing: Can I survive without this purchase right now? Do I need it for work, school, or a basic household need? Buy now, pay later is best used when you have a plan for the purchase, not for impulse buys. For example, when you need to buy a computer for school or a new refrigerator for your house, recommended Tyler Horn, head of planning at Origin, a budgeting app. Pause before purchasing Before deciding to take out a buy now, pay later loan, it's a good idea to pause and consider if it's the best financial decision for you, recommended Erika Rasure, Chief Financial Wellness advisor for Beyond Finance. Buy now, pay later plans can be positive budgeting tools when used strategically. However, it's essential you know your spending behaviors before using them, said Rasure. If you're an emotional spender, it might be hard for you to moderate your use of this tool and you could end up adding to your financial stress. 'Buy now, pay later can become a coping mechanism rather than a financial tool that can get you a good deal or improve your cash flow,' said Rasure. If you have other payments due, such as credit card or student loan payments, consider how a buy now, pay later loan will add to your monthly payments, recommended Sarah Rathner, Senior Writer for NerdWallet. Read the fine print Like credit cards, each buy now, pay later loan has terms and conditions that can vary by purchase and providers. It's crucial that you know what you're agreeing to before you sign up, recommended Michael Savino, Chief Lending Officer at Municipal Credit Union. 'Always read the fine print. Understand fees, repayment schedules, and what happens if you miss a payment or go into default,' said Savino. In general, if you miss a buy now, pay later payment, you can face fees, interest, or the possibility of being banned from using the services in the future. Avoid stacking BNPL loans You can easily run into difficulty keeping up with the cost and schedule of your repayments if you're trying to simultaneously pay off two, three or more loans, Savino said. 'Juggling multiple plans creates a blind spot and overall debt load, and multiple repayment dates are hard to manage,' Savino said. 'So more loans makes it more difficult to budget.' The best approach: Stay mindful of your overall spending, and limit the number of buy now, pay later loans. Keep track of your loan(s) Whether or not you're paying for multiple buy now, pay later purchases at once, you want to be aware of where your money is going at any given time, recommended Courtney Alev, consumer advocate at Credit Karma. 'Buy now, pay later often requires automatic payments, so you want to make sure that your account is funded so that those payments are processing successfully,' recommended Jennifer Seitz, director of education at Greenlight, a financial literacy app for families. There are many ways to track your loan payments — from setting a reminder on your calendar, to creating an intricate excel spreadsheet or tracking them on an app, said Jesse Mecham, founder of the budgeting app YNAB. Finding the best method that works for you will help you stay on track and avoid late fees. Make buy now, pay later work for you For shoppers with low credit scores or no credit history, buy now, pay later loans can seem like the best, if not the only, loan option. If used moderately and responsibly, these short-term loans can be a positive lending exercise, said Savino. 'It allows you to to establish a baseline (and) get access to other affordable credit options that you can leverage that will ultimately provide financial wellness,' he added. Still, NerdWallet's Rathner emphasized that shoppers using these tools always remember that buy now, pay later is a form of borrowing money. 'It just kind of feels like you're given a little extra time to pay back,' Rathner said. 'But the reality is, if you miss payments, it can hurt your credit, much like missing payments with any other loan.'
Miami Herald
3 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Costco debuts new fall dessert members already love
Americans have an obsession with all things fall. Whether it's pumpkin-flavored coffee or soap that makes our hands smell like fresh-baked apple pie, there's something about the fall season that tends to tickle our emotions and tempt us to buy things that may or may not fit our budget. If you've ever splurged on lawn decor or cozy throw blankets in various shades of orange and brown, you're nodding along. Related: Costco surprises fans with return of member favorite There's something so cozy and inviting about fall that it's easy to see why so many people embrace it. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Fall really gives us the best of all worlds – warm-ish weather during the day, cool weather at night, and in some areas of the country, beautiful changing leaves that make an otherwise mundane drive through the neighborhood amazingly scenic. And if that tempts you to spend a little extra money to enjoy the season, so be it. There's a reason retailers tend to stock up on fall items, and why food and beverage makers tend to produce an apple or pumpkin-flavored version of their most popular products. Consumers are usually willing to open their wallets during the fall and scoop up those seasonal items while they're still available. Related: Costco adds strict new policy for free samples And let's face it – the fall season is shrinking in much of the country. Fall in the Northeast used to begin in September and last well into November. Now, you might still be wearing your flip-flops on October 1. Grocery retailers are in an especially strong position to take advantage of the fall product-buying frenzy because food is relatively inexpensive to purchase impulsively. A $45 fall-colored rug might give you pause, and there may be a part of your brain that stops you from making that purchase on a whim. It's easier to spend $5 on pumpkin cookies or maple coffee creamer without having to stress about it. Like many retailers, Costco is no stranger to fall products. Whether it's home decor, clothing, or Halloween costumes and accessories, Costco knows full well that members expect those seasonal items to hit the shelves in September and October. This year, Costco has opted to bring back fall a bit early. And members are loving it. Related: Costco has another rule members may not know Costco recently unveiled a new addition to its baked goods selection - Apple Fritter Donut Bites. If you've ever been to a fall festival and popped a freshly made apple cider donut into your mouth, you know just how delicious a treat it is. Costco's version doesn't come warm, but you can warm up these donut bites at home and enjoy an amazing dessert (or breakfast or lunch - no one's judging). So far, Costco fans are sharing their love for the new Apple Fritter Donut Bites on social media. One Reddit poster said, "Their churro bites are good, but OMG these are fantastic!" More Retail: Walmart CEO sounds alarm on a big problem for customersTarget makes a change that might scare Walmart, CostcoTop investor takes firm stance on troubled retail brandWalmart and Costco making major change affecting all customers Of course, the downside of these Apple Fritter Donut Bites showing up so early in the year is that they may be scooped up before fall really kicks into gear. There's a solution to that, though. Buy them now, bag them, and freeze them. You'll have something to look forward to when sweater weather arrives. Maurie Backman owns shares of Costco. Related: Costco doesn't want members (and non-members) to know this The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
