Stories to inspire you.
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Holly Anderson has been running garage sales with her friends for years. These organized neighborhood garage sales are no small undertakings—shoppers fill the streets of their neighborhood for two straight days. Holly and her friends would use poster board, masking tape and stickers to keep track of sales. Then, they'd spend hours gathered around the kitchen table calculating profits.
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Being a mother to three sons—all under the age of 5—and helping run a successful long-standing business alongside her family members may seem crazy to some, but to Kelley Russo-Follett of Russo's International Market, this is her norm.
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Anyone can run a business, but only few are successful. Over 10 years ago Amy Ritsema and Mary Kline joined and founded OnSite Wellness, a workplace wellness company in Grand Rapids. At a time when employers became more conscientious about their employees health, Amy and Mary saw an opportunity and acted upon it.
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Just days before Karen's second birthday, her parents died in a plane crash. Karen and her brother moved into an unsteady childhood, living with various family members for nearly a decade until settling in with their aunt and uncle. The uncle began sexually abusing Karen when she was 13—abuse that continued through high school, college and beyond.
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Valencia Agnew, Ph.D., always loved psychology, but she was so sensitive to the feelings and needs of others, her mother often joked with her to "take it down a notch." Agnew decided she was good at math, so she pursued a business degree and majored in accounting.




