CA

How did Stepheni Norton, a military veteran, go from active duty, to farmer, to successful entrepreneur over the course of just six years? 

In February 2012, Stepheni and her husband Mike, who is also a military veteran, purchased the Wallace D. Dickinson homestead in National City, Calif. When they bought the property, Stepheni was preparing for a 10-month deployment, and after a seemingly harmless tick bite, she was unknowingly experiencing the early symptoms of Lyme disease. After being left untreated for two and a half years, Stepheni was finally diagnosed in 2014. 

Candace Combs is a spa owner on a mission, working to heal her customers and make massage more accessible to her community.

“What we do isn’t designed just to relax you, but to physically help you,” Candace said. “People need massage in their lives.”

Small business owner Christin Evans is writing the next chapter for two historic bookstores.

Christin, who holds a MBA and was a management consultant for A.T. Kearney, gave up her high powered but emotionally unfulfilling career more than a decade ago to seek a new challenge. She and her husband, Praveen Madan, took over the 40-year-old San Francisco bookstore Booksmith in 2007 and the 60-year-old Kepler’s Books in 2012—bringing new life to old ink, and in the process creating much more than just places to buy volumes.

Most 25 year olds are more worried about paying off their student loans than launching a business to help their neighborhood. Not Kateri Gutierrez.

“Being involved in the community and teaching people about civic engagement is a labor of love for me,” said Kateri.

Alfredo Zendejas co-owns Accesorios Zendejas along with his wife, Leticia Sanchez, in Los Angeles, California. A true mom-and-pop enterprise, Alfredo and Leticia work together to design, create and deliver custom decorative pieces for quinceñeras, baptisms, weddings and other special occasions.

Around the country, small business owners are struggling to find qualified employees. In fact, some 40% of American employers cite lack of skills as the No. 1 reason for entry-level job vacancies, especially among young job candidates. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate in our country remains considerably high after the aftermath of the Great Recession. Though some small businesses may want to help address this problem while identifying potential talent, they often don’t have the resources to sponsor an internship or mentoring program.

In this economy it’s a notable accomplishment to secure a well-paying, full time job with benefits in your early twenties. But it’s perhaps even more impressive to leave the security of such a position to pursue a dream of becoming a business owner. That’s exactly what Kateri Gutierrez did when she opened her mobile coffee shop, Collective Avenue Coffee, in the fall of 2015. However, when Kateri answered her call to entrepreneurship, it came at a price; it meant leaving behind her employer-sponsored health coverage.

At Resilient Beauty Bar in Fairfield, CA, you’ll experience a warm and inviting atmosphere where the wellbeing of the client takes priority. The proud owner, Dee Naylor, has been a beauty professional and stylist for more than fifteen years, and hopes to eventually open a second location. But her plans to expand her business are on hold, as they hinge on the future of the Affordable Care Act.

As more small businesses look to enhance employee compensation and satisfaction by adding health insurance to their benefit packages, an important partner is an insurance agent specializing in the small group market.

It’s an important relationship, says Michael Lujan Co-founder and chief strategy officer of Limelight Health Inc. in Sacramento, and it’s a relationship not to be entered into lightly.

When it comes to health insurance, small businesses are deciding that price matters, but so does brand. In fact, a growing number of companies are turning to Covered California for Small Business to provide name-brand health coverage for their employees.