It’s wild out there and the struggle is real. Entrepreneurship is no joke, everyday is a new challenge, a new up, a new down, it never stops. The action, the drama, the energy is addictive and it’s why so many never want to retire from entrepreneurship. We’ve asked some very talented entrepreneurs to share some of those crazy stories with us.

Tony Bonvechio

My craziest experience as a business owner happened shortly setting out on my own. It involved some deceitful landlords and nearly cost me my entire business. After opening my own powerlifting gym in 2017 with a business partner, I ended that partnership at the end of 2021 and set out on my own. I inherited the original 5-year lease in our original location which expired in October with no option to renew. Read more>>

Sarah Fisher

Well, when we got started, it was mid pandemic when all of the ports were shut down. So not only did our shipment sit at sea for three weeks we also realize when it finally got to us they sent us the wrong size because everything China does is in metric in America we use standard measurements. So we had to re-order all of our equipment, re-ship it, and have it sit back and sea again! Read more>>

Claire Davis

In the span of my career, I’ve been through 5 layoffs. And the TL;DR on that is this: You MUST network. It will save your career and can save your life. In 2016, I retired from medical sales to stay home to support my husband and raise our baby boy. But all the while, I kept up with my doctors. I kept up with my colleagues. I always answered the phone when someone needed interview or resume advice. And 2 years later, we welcomed another son. But 30 days after he was born, my leg started to hurt. It burned. Read more>>

Keisha Greaves

I was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy at age 24. Back then, I had never thought of how the lives of people living with chronic illnesses felt. I was a fashion student at the time of my diagnosis, and I lived and breathe fashion. The opportunity to learn about adaptive fashion was not there because no one was thinking in that direction. Living with Muscular Dystrophy Read more>>

Ivy West

One of my craziest stories about my photography is how I planned this model shoot with a young lady at Shanty Hollow in Bowling Green, Ky. We were supposed to go down the trail to the like water fall in the back of the woods to shoot in there. Read more>>

Mandi Click

My first bad experience in Real Estate is something I reflect back on every time I hit a road bump in a sale. It reminds me that you can do everything right, but at the end of the day that paycheck is never guaranteed. I got a phone call from a gentleman that was relocating to our area and needed to find a house. I happily showed him about a dozen houses (at one hour per showing). Finally we had picked one and got a contract together. Read more>>

Diana Kirk

When I bought my historical bar, I didn’t expect so many people to hate the changes I made.. I thought people would want the bar cleaned up, the rats gone, the kitchen sterile. But they didn’t. They wanted me to give them free drinks and put up with their crap. But that’s not the type of person I am. On a planned Sunday, when the main bar clique was eating breakfast, I let them know that I wasn’t going to be bullied or pushed around by anybody. Read more>>

Max Lurie

Before I became a guide in Colorado, I cut my teeth as a guide and mountain rescuer in New Hampshire. Amidst the howling winter storms and treacherous mountains, I learned what it truly meant to save lives. Or at least attempt to. One rescue mission, in particular, left an indelible impression on me. Read more>>

August Henson

In the beginning I was living in Arkansas looking for a tattoo apprenticeship. I made the wild leap to move to Oahu, Hawaii in search for just that. I moved with no friends or family there, no car, apartment, job. Determined to make it. After a few weeks on the island I was exploring an abandoned skate park on the north shore I was told about. when I walked up I came across someone spray painting one of the walls. Read more>>

Sara Mizrachi

So I’ve actually had crazy stories on both sides of the spectrum. I started selling my jewelry at the age of 13(my mom chaperoned) at a local movie theater turned bingo hall in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, NY where they would have a weekly flea market. I only sold there a few times, pretty much because of what I experienced on one of those occasions. I was selling items for $5, I was making pieces out of clay, glass, plastic… Read more>>