The Founder of Miss Jessie's Got Retail Placement by Asking a Stock Boy for IntelAfter an entrepreneurial failure, Miko Branch launched a new business out of necessity -- and identified a lucrative, underserved market in the haircare industry.

In the Women Entrepreneur seriesMy First Moves, we talk to founders about that pivotal moment when they decided to turn their business idea into a reality—and the first steps they took to make it happen.

Miko Branch started working as a hairstylist for two reasons: She loved hair, and she knew she could be her own boss in theindustry. When a string of entrepreneurial successes, failures and misfires ultimately led her to focus on serving women with curly hair -- primarily African American women who, like Branch, wanted to wear their hair naturally -- she found a lucrative niche. Along with her sister, she started experimenting and creating a product line for curly hair, one that could support the very cut she'd popularized. Today, those kitchen experiments have grown intoMiss Jessie's, a multi-million dollar product line sold in retailers across the country. Branch breaks down her start and details how life's necessities -- paying the mortgage and keeping her son happy and healthy -- drove her toward success.

1. Don't let missteps and failure stop you.