Over the years, after talking with tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, artists and creatives, almost every success story we’ve heard has been filled with stories of failure. Unfortunately, in our view the media rarely covers these parts of the story – instead we often read summaries that make it seem like success happened “overnight.” However, what we’ve learned in our conversations with so many successful folks is that failure is core ingredient in the recipe for future success. Below, we’ve shared some fascinating stories of failure from folks who have ultimately found great success.

Maureen Evelyn Koepke

“You’ve been rejected.” Those 3 simple words changed my life. My email inbox pings with the sound of a new email. Harvard updated my application, I had already made it onto the waitlist, next stop acceptance. I can already picture myself walking across those stunning brick pathways, drinking a 7$ coffee, and living out my academic excellence. Read more>>

Tim Tindall

I fail every single day. From when wake up, to when I finally fall asleep. My day is sprinkled with tiny little failures. This may sound bad to many, but to me, I thrive with them. I say this because each failure that I go through teaches me something new, it lets me know that I am human. I feel that people are afraid to take chances or to try something new because of their fear of failure. I say that the way to find success is through failing. With my last book, “A Poetic Guide to Serial Killers”, Read more>>

Vivek Narula

I had just started out as a portrait photographer, and I was going to do a portrait session for a business woman who I had met through a networking group. As a thank you, she’d get complimentary hair and make-up, as well as a complimentary portrait from the session. If she wanted to purchase any additional photos, she could, but there was pressure to do so. She was excited and said, “Yes, let’s do the session!” Read more>>

Mandy Valadez

Escaping a cult could definitely be a downfall for someone wanting to create a successful life of their own. But that is exactly what I did. It wasn’t easy. I left a toxic environment(cult) in 2018. The only real community I had known for almost 20 yrs. Being completely shunned and moving away on my own created many setbacks. There was days I thought it wouldn’t work. Here I was in my early 30’s coming into a society I had been isolated from for so many years. But I didn’t stay down. I had 2 children that I knew I had to prove to them that anything is possible! And I did. Read more>>

Makeda Blackwood

Failures are what makes us grow as a person and in business. My first travel chef experience was atrocious and I could not wait for it to be over. From the beginning, I received nothing but problems from this client. My intuition told me to cancel everything, but I had a personal relationship with the client’s family member and wanted to fulfill the request ; that was my first mistake. My second mistake was accepting EBT as a form of payment for the food and low-balling due to the personal relationship and the fact it was a birthday celebration. My third mistake was not having a signed contract at the beginning of the request/along with the paid deposit. Read more>>

X Wanna be great

First of all hi guys my name is Xavier I go by X or X wanna be great I am 23 years old college student at A HBCU in Texas Jarvis Christian University I was a former athlete but I stop doing sports recently to focus on my education and academics I am part of the church choir in my school & band Read more>>

Michaeline Fraser

As an entrepreneur I am always looking for ways to improve. I’ve taken a lot of courses and like to spend time at YouTube University to find ways to improve my business, my mindset etc. During the end of 2021 I decided to put my business on hold so that I could focus on building capital and starting a 2nd, easier business model. This would improve my cash revenue and provide capital for my fashion brand. One thing about starting a fashion e-commerce brand is that it takes work. Read more>>