Risk is a topic that comes up a lot in our conversations with entrepreneurs and creatives, but a related topic is investments. Investments come in many forms – investing your time, money, heart and soul, etc. So, with that broad definition of investment in mind, we asked rising stars in the community to tell us the stories of the best or worst investments they’ve made.

Brandy Blackford | Wedding Planner Guru

When I first started my business almost 13 years ago now a lot of things just fell into place. I had just gotten married and my venue coordinators reached out the Monday after my wedding and told me that in all their years they had never had a wedding come in that was so organized, so complete and so easy to work because of all the background work I had done. They told me I had a gift and asked me if I would mind being referred out to their couples that needed an extra hand. This was so very different than family and friends telling me I had done a good job at this or that event. Read more>>

Jonathan May | Lawyer and Owner of The Lions’ Den, Attorneys at Law

I am a Christian pastor/preacher/disciple in addition to being a lawyer/law firm owner. The name for The Lions’ Den was a tribute to Daniel and the lions’ den that he was thrown into for worshiping God against the king’s decree whereby people were only allowed to worship the king. Daniel was unphased by the death sentence given to him when God protected him in the lions’ den. However, his accusers were thrown in the den and eaten immediately without God’s protection. The investment that I made is to make my company, branding, marketing and more in direct stated, written alignment with God and Christ. This came with positive and negative outcomes. Read more>>

Carisha Davis | Artist, Designer

As a new artist and designer, I was traveling all over the city doing arts and crafts shows. Almost every other month, I was doing a new show. Those shows were expensive to participate in, and not all of them were tailored to my audience. As a new artist, you are just so eager to get your work out there that you will do whatever it takes. I would work 40+ hour weeks and then do shows all weekend. It was madness. While persistence is a noble thing, persistence without wisdom is not productive. This was one of the worst moves that I ever made, as it was so much time and money wasted early on. If I could tell my twenty-something self then what I have learned today, it would be focus on finding your market and client base and then proceed accordingly. You live and you learn though. Read more>>

Haley Unger | Wedding Photographer

The best investment I have made in my business was hiring a business coach/taking a specialized business course. Having a no nonsense person to help me prioritize, organize, and grow in ways I was afraid to before completely changed how I ran my business. Plus it made my business much more profitable. I was unsure for years whether or not spending that kind of money on something that wasn’t tangible was a good call, but I wish I would have done it way earlier than I did. I rebuilt my website. raised my pricing significantly, and learned strategies that got me consistent results. Investing in yourself is the best thing anyone can do. Read more>>

Jason Bahamundi | Entrepreneur & Endurance Sports Athlete

The best investment I’ve made as the owner of Run Tri Bike Magazine was to hire the Witmer Group to handle the building and maintenance of our website. I tend to be an idea person and don’t understand the nuts and bolts of building a website and the Witmer Group has turned my ideas into the site you see today. Kristina Witmer, owner, and I have a call every week and we discuss the business and how the website can play a role. For example, I wanted to have events from across the country on our site. We partnered with Brian Hunt at Let’s Race App to power our events and Kristina figured out the best way to make that happen. Now, we import events from Brian’s app and the events are posted to our site. This gives us the opportunity to serve our readers with not just tips and tricks but to then find a race on our site to apply them and we don’t step on the Let’s Race App toes. Read more>>

Shadasia ‘Shay The CEO’ George | CEO/Founder

Th best investment I mad as a business owner is my assistant. She really keeps everything together and I have someone to discuss real relevant business with. She first reached out to me in a group on FB. At the time I knew I needed an assistant but didn’t know if I could afford it or what to expect. It got to the point in my business where we were so busy we were losing appointments because I didn’t have time to keep up. The day she started I felt the stress leaving me. In the first week she helped make what I had to pay her and then some. 2 years later she’s still my #1 team player. She is the best thing to happen to my business and not just in terms of being an assistant but most importantly in who she is as a person and what she contributes. I could never thank her enough. Read more>>