Small Business Jumps

Elizabeth failed. Then started again. She loved photography, but found a different path forward to tell stories. Nate slept in his car and then an air mattress, to push through on his jump. First backpacks, before launching a gym. Steve edited magazine articles, but adored miniature golf. Mid career, he rolled the dice to design his dream course.

These three folks are just some of the many, many, many small business owners with a jump story behind their establishments. While it’s fun to romanticize the famous rags-to-riches, “overnight” (though nothing is ever overnight) success stories of well known jumpers, what I think makes the When to Jump community fabric real is that it’s real people. Faced with real challenges: failed first (and second..and sometimes third and fourth!) attempts, cash constraints, and twenty (or more) years down the wrong line of work. ​

Before Elizabeth had Wildcat Echo, she was a receptionist turned failed freelance photographer. Before Nate was The Nate Chambers behind Roark Gyms SF, he was a mechanical engineer. And before Steve started Urban Putt, he was an editor for PC Magazine.  

Last week was Small Business Week, a week we love to celebrate in our community. Catch our special podcast featuring Elizabeth, Nate, and Steve sharing the journeys and learnings of their jumps. 

Stay tuned this week as I travel down to Nashville, Tennessee, where When to Jump is teaming up with Weebly to host Makers and Merchants. I’ll be leading a panel featuring more small business jumpers: Elizabeth Fox and Liza Graves, Co-founders of Style Blueprint, Patrick Hayes, Founder 1767 Designs, Stephen Rose, Founder of The Peach Truck, and Bailey Spaulding, Founder of Jackalope Brew.

Follow us on social for a link to the Facebook Live, and for WTJ’ers in the area, come join us live as my guest.

Enjoy the stories of small business jumpers - and if you have one yourself, we would love to hear it. 

Nashville, here we come!  ​​

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