Business Owners Share: Why I Love My Business Volume II

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, more and more people are being struck by Cupid’s arrow and have love on their minds.  When you’re thinking about love, typically you’d be thinking about your friends, family, or significant other. For business owners, on the other hand, their business takes up that coveted piece of real estate in their hearts.

Last week we introduced you to 25 entrepreneurs whose business is their pride and joy, but why stop there?  Today, we’re bringing you a brand new batch of professionals sharing some love for their business and the experiences that have made their company thrive.

Haralee Weintraub, CEO of Haralee.com

I Love My Business Because: it affords me the freedom to do what I love and work from my home. I love my business because I can help other women get a better night’s sleep, travel lighter, and give back to a charity of my choice. I love my business because I am excited to go to work Every. Single. Day!

Kristina & Jeff Hunter, CEOs of Jerkfit

I Love My Business Because: we have grown as people as a result of JerkFit. To ensure our business thrives and is successful, we are faced every day with solving problems, resolving conflicts, thinking outside the box about everything we do, and being innovative in every decision we make. As a result, we have found that we live consistently in a “growth mindset” now with everything we do. We are always striving to think bigger, aim higher, and push ourselves to new limits in all areas of our life , whether it’s at the gym, in our personal relationships, or at a friendly game of pool! This concept is now wired into our DNA and has become our new family motto…and we love it!

Senica Evans, Enrolled Agent & Accountant at Simplified Accounting

I Love My Business Because: it has allowed me to experience life on a different level and forced me to grow personally. I can honestly say I’m a better person because of this business . The one thing I love the most about my business is the opportunities it’s afforded me and my family. Opportunities to see life and the world, in general, in a completely different light.

Vicky Llerena, CEO of Social Vibes Media

I Love My Business Because: as cliche as it sounds, I get very excited working with different small business owners – or more specifically, working with small brands that have big potential. Very similar to a reporter, I get to hear the small business owner’s story and I also get to be part of that story. It’s pretty cool to experience how genuine people become when they share their story and even cooler when you actually become as excited as they are. Their story induces you to become that much more involved with the success of their business. Sure, I’m no journalist, but it’s pretty neat to know that I get to share their story with the rest of the world through creative content.

Philip Thomas, CEO & Founder of Staffjoy

I Love My Business Because: I love being able to work on meaningful problems with a group of great people. Small teams have the agility and the ability to make an impact quickly. No day feels wasted because we’re able to brainstorm together and consistently improve our product. I always feel like I leave the office has made our customers happier and made their jobs more streamlined. It’s great to see our team feel empowered, like the work they do & improve the experience of others .

Sacha Ferrandi, Founder of Source Capital Funding, Inc.

I Love My Business Because: our business helps grow our local community. Internally, I love how my company helps grow the careers of our employees. It is a great feeling to know that every day at work your employees look up to you for support and guidance. By supporting my team, our community & those around our network directly benefit . I also love how my business helps the local community. Every entrepreneur has his or her niche and I especially love how our business helps to make our area a hub for real estate and business expertise. I am lucky that I have found a niche that not only grows the business community but also helps to grow the residential community as well.

Steve Benson, Founder & CEO of Badger Maps

I Love My Business Because: it gives me the opportunity to create something . I get to talk to people every day whose lives are different and better because of the product that I envisioned and led the team to build. What I love most about my business is the opportunity to coach, teach, and mentor my team. I’m having a ton of fun helping people be their best in their careers, and there has been so much personal and professional growth at Badger over the last few years. We have taught people how to do better at their job. But more importantly, we’ve worked to find the right fit for people in the organization – we’ve launched people’s careers in a way they will never forget. I want people who work at Badger to think back at this as the best experience of their professional life.

Max Soni, President of Dot Com SEO

I Love My Business Because: I love people. My business is a method through which I can express that desire of communicating with people.  The thing I love the most is seeing companies grow – and hire more staff because of our efforts. There’s literally nothing more gratifying than knowing I created jobs – because of the increase in revenue/business our marketing agency generated for a client.  Our marketing agency is responsible for creating and maintaining jobs. I am helping not only the CEO of a company keep his job – but I’m also helping the employees – and the families of the employees – who are dependent on that job – which we sustain through our marketing efforts.

Evan Harris, Co-Founder of  SD Equity Partners

I Love My Business Because: I love experimenting . My industry, like many others, is centered around risk analysis. We look at data and make decisions. I love this process and enjoy the feeling of discovery that comes with data analysis. Perhaps more importantly, I love having the tools necessary to look at data, analyze a situation, and make a decision that directly impacts my company. In many larger companies, this type of data-driven experimentation is very difficult to achieve. However, as an entrepreneur, I am able to complete these projects in all functions of the business. Business is a fun and exciting ride and I love the freedom to make changes to my company’s structure as needed.

Sharon Soliday, MS, CCC-SLP, Owner & CEO of The Hello Foundation

I Love My Business Because: I’ve discovered a profound sense of pride in my responsibility to the 60 employees calling my company home. I have no idea how other business owners or boards can feel so little of their workers and think nothing of paying the lowest amount possible, shaving hours away, or not offering health insurance or a retirement plan. I may have the final say at work in the realm of business but I’ve come to believe my greater responsibility is to be a good corporate citizen to my staff . I don’t ever want to make a decision based solely on what’s best for the bottom line. What do I love? Painting a picture of prosperity for anyone willing to show up every day committed to serving our clients. If I can’t figure out how to run my business and take care of the collective “us”, I don’t have much vision for the business.

Kim Beeler, Owner of Beeler Marketing

I Love My Business Because: I have freedom . Freedom that gives me more personal time. I am not forced to set an alarm to wake up at 5 a.m. in order to shower, style my hair, put on makeup and a suit, and then fight rush hour traffic in order to get to work on time. My office is steps from my bedroom and kitchen. Every day is a casual day. Each morning I brew coffee, feed the cats, let the dog outside, and I’m in the office within about 30 minutes of finishing this routine and with a freshly brewed cup of coffee in hand. I operate a one-person, home-based business that works very well with my self-starting, independent nature. In the past 15 years, my stress level is much lower than when I previously needed to commute to a Portland location with cramped office quarters in a sea of cubicles.

Damon Nailer, CEO of Kitril

I Love My Business Because: it utilizes my dominant gift which is communication. This in and of itself enables me to remain consistently passionate about what I do and receive fulfillment and satisfaction. Another reason I love my business is because of the positive, dynamic impact it has on other’s lives. There is nothing like witnessing the joy and inspiration people receive when utilizing my services or products. Last, but not least, I love my business because it ultimately is a reflection of my core values, and I am able to be who I am without altering or compromising my identity .

AJ Saleem, Academic Director at Suprex Tutors Houston

I Love My Business Because: of the opportunity to make changes in everyone’s lives . For example, I help students with learning disabilities at my private school, and I can see my impact every day. The students enjoy coming to school, and I even give them the opportunity to come to my office and play video games.

Jennifer Roe, CMO & Co-Founder of From Fat to Finish Line

I Love My Business Because: we enable people to find their inner athlete and reach finish lines they never dreamt possible . Once an obese cigarette smoker, I never dreamed I’d wind up a co-founder of a running community! We help people live healthier, happier, and longer lives.  While we are still in the lean times of early startup mode, our community has grown to more than 11,000 runners from around the world. I can’t imagine ever doing anything else.

Thomas Nguyen, Partner & Brand Boss at Peli Peli

I Love My Business Because: we can actually make a difference in this world . I love Peli Peli because it allows me to never feel like I am working, because I get to do what I love doing: Creating experiences that have a lasting impact in the community, giving back in meaningful ways, and creating a brand that stands for something.

Lisa Hennessey, Founder of Your Pet Chef

I Love My Business Because: of the direct impact our food has on the lives of our four-legged customers. During deliveries, I get to see previously ailing pups now happy, jumping on me, and really just loving life. To see that type of transformation is really a privilege and I’m so grateful to my customers (the 2 legged ones) for allowing me to be part of their lives .

Kathryn Labarbera, President of Closet Factory

I Love My Business Because: I absolutely love seeing my designers help people bring their vision for their home to life! I have designed a lot of gorgeous closets myself over the years. There have been some amazing projects installed in everything from modest homes to large mansions. Of course, all of them were perfect for what each client wanted, and when you help someone achieve that closet or space they’ve always dreamed of, you can see the excitement in their eyes. Now, as president of Closet Factory, I get to work with an entire network of franchisees who are just as dedicated to helping people’s dreams come true. When you bring passionate people together, amazing things can happen , and you can’t help but love what you do.

Flora Pringle, Founder & CEO of Cracked Candy, LLC

I Love My Business Because: it changes lives. I provide work for people with disabilities in my local Brooklyn community. I make Cracked Candy; a natural, sugar-free candy that is delicious, good for teeth, and safe for diabetics. Eating guilt-free candy makes your day a little healthier and a little happier. I love that my product is fun and makes people smile when they see it and then again when they open the tin and find that the candy is cracked into different sized pieces. I love that I can run my business from anywhere in the world. I love that my work is flexible so I can choose to take time for my children when and where I need it.

Alexis Monson, Co-Founder of Punkpost

I Love My Business Because: our team gets to deliver happiness to people on a daily basis by helping them send notes of encouragement, affection and support to loved ones. I love that we get to see the human kindness that we all extend to each other through our words. I love our community of Scriptists, who take your words and make them into little pieces of art that we send out in the mail for you. I love that we are bringing back the humanity to communication that gets lost in a text or a tweet. I love that real human emotion and human hands full of creativity inspire me on a daily basis. Oh, and I also love that I get to work with my husband every day. That’s just a little bonus.

Robert Atallah, Founder & CEO of CedarLane Natural Foods

I Love My Business Because: I love being able to just be me, without any compromise. I find day-to-day life as an entrepreneur almost always filled with both thrills and letdowns. I also love being able to innovate.  Business really is a roller coaster, but it is also very fun. 

Bridget Chambers, Founder of Bridget Chambers, Inc.

I Love My Business Because: I get to connect with people all day, every day. My mornings begin with chatty clients in bustling coffee shops and end late at night – fingers typing feverishly on my backlit laptop as I write my latest OpEd. Whether I am writing to the world or ​coaching one-on-one, I get to experience the most special, sad, enraging, exciting, and invigorating moments in people’s lives. My job is to capture the essence of what they’re feeling and – either by the verbal or written word – make sense of them, relate to them, and learn from them. Very often, their words change me. ​Of course, like all great relationships, my business and I have experienced our share of ups and downs, but therein lies the beauty of a perfectly worthwhile love story.

Lanna Barrison, Co-Managing Partner of Umbrella Legal Marketing

I Love My Business Because: it’s my baby. It’s my third (and best-behaved) child. I’ve raised and nurtured my little baby biz since its inception, endured countless sleepless nights during its infancy, made many financial and social sacrifices, poured my heart and soul into it, and yet, I’ve never had so much fun, working so hard, in my entire life. [tweet_disinject=”@lannabarrison”] The sense of pride and accomplishment that goes along with running your own business is simply unmatched[/tweet_dis] and far more rewarding than a fat paycheque or an impressive title from someone else’s company could ever be.

Ponchitta Lilly, Owner of Ponch Cosmetics

I Love My Business Because: every day I have a chance to transform women and help build their self-esteem. I don’t just sell makeup; I sell confidence. Women share with me their beauty secrets and insecurities and I help them overcome with my suggestions for how they can conquer those issues. I have laughed, I’ve cried and I’ve shared countless memories with my customers . Each one has felt like my sister and friend. I love my business because it helps me connect with other women and make a difference in a small (but huge) way.

Michael J. Zwick, Esq., President of Assets International, L.L.C.

I Love My Business Because: I see a successful venture that I, with my partners and the support of our loved ones, built from nothing. There is nothing like seeing the fruits of your labor. For me, I also love the actual work I do, which is to find missing heirs and beneficiaries who don’t know about the money we found for them. I’m like Ed McMahon, surprising people with big checks. It is so rewarding to hear how the money we found is changing people’s lives , whether it’s to end their homelessness or to act as seed money for that business they always wanted to start.

Peter George, Public Speaking Coach at Be The Obvious Choice

I Love My Business Because: I love helping people learn how to better engage, inspire and persuade their audiences . Seeing them progress from being nervous about presenting in front of others and not knowing how to craft compelling presentations to having the ability to do each confidently and skillfully is transformational for them and gratifying for me. Also, I know that if I can help them further their careers through more effective communication, then they have a greater opportunity to not only achieve their professional goals but also realize their personal dreams. There are few professions I can think of that would be more rewarding.

Why do you love your business?  We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to check out Volume I for even more business love stories!

Have You Started Planning Your
Holiday Marketing Campaign?

Ensuring a successful holiday season is a massive undertaking. While it may be too soon for you to go decking the halls in your house, it’s the perfect time to start planning your holiday marketing campaign for your business.

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