Having to overcome unexpected problems is a hallmark of entrepreneurship. Almost every business owner, artist, maker, and creative we know has had to deal with countless unexpected problems that arise in the journey and so we asked some brilliant folks from the community to share their stories of the unexpected problems they’ve faced along the way.

Leslie & Ashley Paz

Starting a business is never easy, especially when it is completely new to you. So, of course, we had our challenges. We solved many of those challenges by setting up weekly meetings with our teams in each city to discuss all upcoming events to ensure we all had everything we needed to provide our guests with the best experience possible. We take pride in our work and want to deliver that to each one of our events. We love taking the time to build relationships with our guests to be able to customize each event according to their vision. Read more>>

Latonya Patterson

One of the most unexpected problems I’ve faced in my business is being a Black Woman who’s openly gay, in a same-sex marriage all while being a role model in the community. Many have questioned my moral beliefs when it comes to Mentoring Young Parents. I’ve had financial funding held from me once sponsors found out about my lifestyle as well. Read more>>

Jennifer Hutchins

Shooting a film during the summer can be rough if the heat doesn’t cooperate but what happens when bystanders start to ruin your production? I was hired to production manage/ 1st AD a one day short film shoot in Austin, Texas and we were facing a 14-hour shoot day for nearly 7 pages and the high was going to be 104 with 40% humidity. The location was a beautiful outdoor park and it was pretty empty & quiet on both days we scouted. What a perfect location! On the shoot day, this all changed. Read more>>

Annmarie Benigno

As a young performer living in Orlando, I was saving money with the trajectory of moving to NYC to persue all the bigger and better things that the city could offer me. After college I auditioned to be a parade performer for universal studios got my first role in their holiday parade. From then on I continued to perform in shows and in tourism experiences in the surrounding area. I worked very hard with multiple jobs and finally made it to NYC in 2018. Read more>>

Vanisha Davis

I was onto to gaining a bigger audience. I was doing shows for hundreds to thousands of people. I was getting my name out there and doing shows. Then one night back in September of 2018, I got into an accident that derailed my life. My car was totaled and I was told that I was lucky to be alive. Had I been in a car that was even slightly less safe I would’ve been dead. I had a long term concussion and my memory was messed up from an undiagnosed brain injury. I wasn’t able to remember my lyrics, parts of my child hood and even sometimes the day before. Read more>>

Eri Young

My original idea was to sell prints, post cards and calendars, because the bulk of my work was landscape photography. I created an instagram account and would sporadically post random shots. I never advertised my services; I also never printed any items to sell! I didn’t truly dedicate myself to bringing my ideas to fruition. So I was shocked when I would receive messages from strangers seeking my services for special events and headshots. Read more>>

iamCHANGE

The most unexpected problem that me along with the rest of the world faced was the global pandemic. For some artists, the pandemic allowed them to put in creative work right away and build their careers even more. However, for me it was a double edged sword because right before the pandemic I was planning on releasing my first project “In Progress” and building up my fanbase in person. Without that push, after the album released I was stuck in a creative block for most of 2020. Read more>>

sofia khan

How to inspire the community to get inspired/involved in helping their newly resettled refugee families? This issue was complex and required a multifaceted approach  -educating the community about the refugee resettlement process -introducing them to the families -having a discussion about the needs of these families. -motivating community to get started Read more>>

Andy Hardman

On a wedding day you can basically bet on having something unexpected happen. I try to carry certain things with me to help in a pinch (tide stick, gum, needle & thread) and I also give couples a heads up as to things they may want to prepare for should they come up during our or wedding correspondence. One of my famous lines on a wedding day is, “no apologies” & “anytime you get anywhere today you are on time”. Timelines are rarely followed to a T and couples need as little stress as possible. Read more>>

Ava Paige

I started music professionally when I was 10 years old and absolutely fell in love with all things writing and performing. I worked hard to hone in on my sound and get better at co-writing. By the end of 2018- beginning of 2019, I was performing around 150+ shows a year all across the U.S, writing twice a day 5 days a week, and was getting industry looks. Then on July 1st, 2019, my life changed forever when I was diagnosed with cancer. It was an extremely sudden diagnosis and I actually just got back from Texas the night before. My mom, being a retired nurse, knew something wasn’t quite right, so when we got home, I went straight to my pediatrician who ran my blood work. Read more>>

Zack Rippy

As an artist, we are always on the chopping block. We always run into financial burdens as well as creative blocks. As a rap artist in Nashville, I have found myself having issues with booking shows or even getting my music out in this saturated market. It can really put you down as an artist and really have you considering putting this passion on the back burner. What I’ve done to deal with these issues is to understand that not everyone is going to like or dislike your work. What matters the most is what you do after you have failed. Read more>>

Portia Riggins

The business of entrepreneurship has been up-and-down for me. Voyage Austin seen me at the beginning of my tax business career where I was very excited, motivated, and optimistic for the future that was ahead of me. I still am! Very grateful overall. All successful businesses go through changes and growth spurts. That’s currently the stage I’m in when it comes to my tax firm that I started. I am in a stage of unknown, and that’s just me being very transparent. Read more>>

Lipstick Stains

Lipstick Stains formed in 2018 and gained momentum playing out of town and within the Memphis music scene all throughout 2019. We started progressing forward within our careers musically in 2020 and had many tours lined up to further reach our potential. Just like everyone in the world, we were stopped dead in our tracks as the pandemic came. We used that fuel and those pent-up feelings, and we went into the studio and recorded our record Controlled Chaos. We kept holding off on a release until we felt it was safe to play live – we wanted to hit the ground running once it was put out in the world. Read more>>

Jylanthia Redding

My most unexpected tribulation as a business owner was having to relocate from Georgia to Florida making the decision put my business on a hiatus. Taking a hiatus was very unexpected because the move was very sudden and I felt like it was at a peak point in my career as a boutique owner because I was starting to make a lot of buzz in Atlanta doing pop-up shops and I launched my online boutique! I started understanding the algorithms of social media with using my pop up shop videos for content! Read more>>

Myscha Gaines

The packaging we selected for our scrubs became an unexpected problem. Our packaging choice is not one, consumers are used to seeing for body scrubs and it produced some hesitation about trying the product. I can honestly say that we have rarely had a customer try our scrub and not love the results. When we decided to relaunch EmGe Naturals I was searching for that thing that would help us stand out among the thousands of other body scrub brands. How to make a better body scrub and appeal to an eco-conscious customer was my goal. Read more>>

CJ & Justin Hildebrand

Roughly six months after opening our doors, the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to affect our nation gravely in many ways. A lockdown was instituted throughout the country and also in our county. Fortunately, as healthcare practitioners, the clinic was able to continue to serve the community with IV drips and services. However, by the middle of March of 2020, our business, as many others, experienced the impact of the pandemic. Read more>>

Ja’min G. Walker

As a business owner you will always face unexpected issues. I’ve personally had some great months and bad ones. When the bad months happen never let it keep you down, use it as a lesson, and learn from it. Always remember why you started. That motto has helped push me through rough times. Read more>>