Helping more people thrive doing what they love or are passionate about means helping more folks learn from those who came before them and so we asked successful entrepreneurs, artists and creatives to tell us what they would do differently, knowing what they know now, if they were starting over.

Ana Najera

First of all my biggest advise is to START! start today and do not wait until… as those are only excuses that we tell ourselves because of fear. I will do it when I get some money, I will do it when my kids are older etc… and the truth is there is no better date than today. Another advise is to invest in yourself and never stop learning. There are books, mentors, masterclasses, podcasts, groups and most of the time very inexpensive and they give you tremendous value to you, your time and your money, Learn from their mistakes and imitate their successes. Read more>>

Nikki Byrom

I am currently experiencing a rebirth with both my art and poetry, so that’s kind of like starting over. I spent seven years of my life offering visual and functional art to the public, and those years have definitely informed how I facilitate this rebirth. I think the most salient carryover lesson is: slow down and only create/ offer when inspired to do so. Sometimes creative entrepreneurship feels like a race to the next trend. But for me, having a solid and loyal group of collectors is far more valuable. Read more>>

Nathan Concepcion

If I was starting over, I would avoid letting my desire to succeed cause me to change directions too quickly. In our society today, we’re all about hustling and getting to where we want to be by taking the fastest route we see, but the fastest route isn’t always the best route. On my path to where I’m at now, I was going between jobs and freelancing almost every 6 months, thinking “I’ll get it right this time around” or “I want/need the consistency” Read more>>

Robert Wood

I would have opened up shop years ago. I had too much I wish I had and not enough of look at what I have and see how to make it better. Read more>>

Caroline Brackney

I would have started sooner. I. had the passion and started my journey in photography long before I actually took the plunge and called it my full-time job. Fear, the unknown, and a mountain of student loan debt were the biggest factors that played into my decision for photography to not be my full-time focus (at that time). I stuck with what felt safe over a decade, which in my case were two different corporate sales. Read more>>

Rachel Kennedy

When I started my company in 2015 my main goal was to make enough money to replace my corporate salary. I had a marketable skill and knew I was good at the thing I was selling, but I started a business for the wrong reason, and therefore attracted the wrong kind of clients. Because all I was trying to do was make a paycheck I also attracted clients who only want a TON of traffic to their websites without really considering the next step after getting all this traffic. Read more>>

Olivia Starling

I started a little homegrown business with $300 and a big dream to a million-dollar company that has even bigger dreams. In the most recent few months, I’ve been asked over and over, “how are you doing it?” And I guess the only thing I can truly say is, consistency, Which is a fairly broad answer, so let me elaborate. Read more>>

David Glessner

If I was going to build up David Glessner Works from the ground up again, I could say I’d do a lot of things differently because I’ve learned from my mistakes. But truthfully, I think part of owning a business is making mistakes and learning from them, as well as adapting to new industry standards. So if I was going to start over, I’d run into different mistakes and problems that. The biggest thing that I would change if I could, was to know my value and understand early on in my career that my value was still under-appreciated. Read more>>

 

Ricka Graves

Ownership. After a decade plus of consistent dedication and the ingenuity to make our business stand the test of time, we were forced to close our doors due to the sale plaza that we were located in. With just a simple stroke of the pen the property owners gave us 60 days to transition a 5000 square foot business elsewhere. That’s all. With the changes being made around the City of Atlanta many land owners in the area and around the perimeter cashing on the “gold rush” search for commercial property within the city limits that have seen unprecedented increases in value. Read more>>

Lindsey Condra

Ownership. After a decade plus of consistent dedication and the ingenuity to make our business stand the test of time, we were forced to close our doors due to the sale plaza that we were located in. With just a simple stroke of the pen the property owners gave us 60 days to transition a 5000 square foot business elsewhere. That’s all. With the changes being made around the City of Atlanta many land owners in the area and around the perimeter cashing on the “gold rush” search for commercial property within the city limits that have seen unprecedented increases in value. Read more>>

Kelly Martinsen

We opened our doors with a loan a mission statement and a dream. Our mission statement was to create a fitness studio for everyone, one that challenged the biggest athlete while at the very same time empowering the person who was new to exercise. We opened the door with a passion to serve clients first above everything. We had never worked for or owned a fitness studio. As such, we went in green and were unaware of certain failures that could happen. Read more>>

Aymee Hernandez

Hindsight is 20/20, and I’d believe in myself, my skillset and talents much more if I were to start over. I would have taken more one-on-one classes with professionals I admired in the field, and I certainly would have asked more questions. When I enrolled in beauty school in 2006, the beauty industry wasn’t the billion dollar industry that it is today. I should have ignored the nay-sayers and gone head-first into my field, but alas, here we are. Read more>>