“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” Tim Sullivan stated that when he summarized he and his wife’s (Lorri) journey towards owning Pagosa Secure Storage. Tim had been involved in several endeavors to build or buy his own storage facility for the past ten years. Due to circumstances involving financing, zoning, limitations to expand an existing property or it being too expensive, the right deal never presented itself. Tim did

Arawyn Madu taught toddlers for nine years before deciding to open her own center. Three of those were at the Campbell Center at Fort Lewis College. She attended night school for seven years to accumulate the credits required to become a Director of an Early Childhood Education Center in the State of Colorado. When she had the state requirements satisfied, she took the Leading Edge for Entrepreneurs Class, “to learn the business side,” she explains.

Coffee is more than a recipe…it’s an art form. Jon Roberts, owner of Crossroads Coffee on 11th and Main, couldn’t agree more. As a latté artist who competed nationally and took third, he’ll tell you, “Slinging coffee is a fantastic way to make a living.” After running the coffee shop at Mercy Regional Hospital for several years, he came down with COVID and wasn’t able to continue working at the hospital. After several months, he

Last year, while quarantined in his basement, Greg Mauger had an epiphany. He was bored stiff, and he realized that he would rather work himself to death than be that bored. So, after more than a decade of working off and on at the Durango Diner, he decided to buy it. He began looking for funding and quickly realized that his adventurous lifestyle didn’t lend itself to easy loan approval from banks. He looked for

Maria and Anthony Archuleta are in the process of fulfilling one of Anthony’s long time dreams – to own and run a boxing gym. Anthony used to box when he was young and remembers how it affected him. He wants to share his passion to influence youngsters. “I lived in Las Vegas for a while and trained at a gym there. I experienced first-hand how it changed me and saw it changing others. My business

Ken Brengle is the owner of KB Insurance Group, headquartered in Cortez, CO.  He studied business at Fort Lewis College.  Outside of class, Ken did a lot of self study and sold cell phones at a local store.  He was inspired by his business professors who became successful and moved to Durango for a better quality of life.  Ken learned he was a good salesman, and with a sufficient income he thought, “Why should I pay thousands of dollars