Tony Robbins says the #1 human need is certainty, but do you know what the second need is? It’s uncertainty. This tug of war between the competing needs of safety and risk are at the heart of so many dilemmas we face in life and for most folks the goal isn’t to eliminate risk – rather it’s to understand this core human need. In our view, the best way to understand or learn is through stories and so we’ve asked some very talented entrepreneurs and creatives to tell us the stories behind some of the risks they’ve taken.

Hillary schneider

I was 32 years old when my dream property came into my life by chance. I had a successful online business and was leasing a property. It was a risk for me as a single woman to take on an 80 acre 1.2 million dollar property and trust that I would be able to grow and sustain my vision to create a retreat space where people could come and experience the teachings of horses. Read more>>

Torry Sledge

It seems that taking risks is truly the summation of who I am as a person all my life. I have countless examples that I can pour from, but one of the most monumental risks that I took was the decision to leave my job as an engineer and dedicate my full attention to my first business that I called Tutor4U. I had been working as an Aerospace Structures engineer for a couple of years and was making a decent living. Read more>>

Noelle Saladin

As of 2021 I had been running my part-time training business for about 5 years, but was operating as an independent contactor working for another training facility. I had realized that this was not only the career I wanted to pursue but also my passion, so I started making plans for the future. In early 2022 I transitioned my DBA to an LLC, started drafting a business plan, ramped up marketing, and began taking a look at the commercial real estate market. Read more>>

Dotti Groover-Skipper

“Nobody sees me”, she said…”nobody”. These are the gut wrenching words I’ve heard repeatedly in my 40 plus years of being “in the trenches of the human trafficking arena. It was over 4 decades ago when I first heard those words quietly murmured through painful sobs and tears. Her words that day were a gut punch to me. As a child, I often felt invisible. I remember being in dance classes as a child. Read more>>

Francisco Salinas

“You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love.” – Jim Carrey It’s the simplest concept I try to remember everyday. Choosing to pursue something that fulfills my life even though it is not easy. Read more>>

LAUREN HALL

The mention of Hypnosis often accompanies an instant intrigue or stoic refusal to believe. We’ve all heard the word yet don’t realized the mis-associations portrayed in media and engrained in our subconscious beliefs. Read more>>

Tinni Karim

Taking a leap of faith and leaving behind my successful career as a pharmacist to pursue art full-time was a major risk that changed my life. Pharmacy school was great, and being a student was exciting, but once I entered the retail pharmacist world, something didn’t feel right. The job’s demands took a toll on me, and I started yearning for a change. Read more>>

Penny Willis

I take risk all the time! I take risk in every aspect of my life. I am the type of person that having mental peace is my end all result. From they way I parent my children to the relationships I build and most importantly being able to turn a few of my passions into careers. One of the biggest career risk I took was for my own mental health. With no secure plan I quit my full time job as a supervisor at a mental health agency. Read more>>

Kristi Young

Taking a risk is often an uncomfortable endeavor for most individuals. The looming fear of failure can encompass you. A large majority of my life was lived in the shadow of the fear of failing. Regardless of affirmations of family, friends, and those who had an immense impact on me, I was too afraid to take a big risk with most things in my life. When I entered the craft of soap making, I found the process came natural to me; Read more>>

zainab sesay

There was this invisible pressure to have my life in order and all figured out in my senior year of High School. I heard the question “So, what do you want to do with your life?” replaying like a broken record, Not just in my head but out loud from loved ones and peers. It seemed like a harmless question and honestly a reasonable one to ask. Read more>>

Frank Simmons III

I’ve always been a creative that was not afraid to take risk. I can vividly remember my father telling me that the richest place on earth was the graveyard. Due to all of the ideas, songs, inventions, books etc. that could’ve been life changing but people never pursued their dreams and kept those treasures buried within themselves. Read more>>

Kristan Woolford

One of the most frustrating things I experience is seeing first hand some of the most creative people I know say they are not an “artist”. It grinds my gears because 1) I can see an old indoctrinated version of myself in them and 2) I know this is stemming from society’s treatment of creative people and supporting a toxic high risk proposition for most people that want to be creative. Read more>>

Artysta LuLu

Prior to my transition into being a full-time Artist, I worked in “Corporate America”. I worked for a University and April 1 st of 2016 my department was downsized and so I was part of a large layoff. All of my ex coworkers were preparing for other jobs, applying and interviewing and I decided to not rush into anything out of fear. I had been fortunate enough to have saved up some money and I knew I wanted to get a job that I would be happy with, not just to satisfy my obligations. Read more>>

Kate Oakley

Starting a business is taking a huge risk. Even if you have low overhead, its a big commitment of time and constant hustle. We doubled that risk by having my significant partner as my business partner, and partner on the scene. You really have to develop excellent communication skills, leave personal life problems at home, and celebrate every “win” or good thing that happens. Read more>>

Ravon Ezell

I take a risk everyday while pursuing rapping. I could easily get an apartment, a nice girlfriend , and start a family . I’m 26 and most of my peers are starting to create families . Then theirs me still pursuing a craft that is a huge gamble in a world where a lot of people do it, A Lot of talented people might I add. Read more>>

Dr linda Salvin

Taking a risk is what life is about; I went on blind faith after surviving a plane crash in in 1981. I had not idea what I would be doing after I left my corporate job, not willingly but thankfully. I have learned everything happens for a reason. I was headed in one direction academically and professionally and literally indoctrinated into the spiritual world beyond my wildest expectations. Read more>>

Haley Day

Starting my wedding photography business was the biggest risk I have ever taken, which I know sounds like a cliche but I truly feel this way. Photography was always a hobby of mine, a perfect pairing for my love for travel. I started out taking photos of landscapes for my own enjoyment, something very low risk. Landscape photography turned into lifestyle photography, and soon my friends and family were encouraging me to venture into portrait and wedding photography, but it all felt too high stakes. Read more>>

Jacqueline Ammerman

One of the most important risks I have taken in my life was moving to Texas from Chile with my family. In 2018, my husband and I decided to make a life changing move. We felt moving to the United States was necessary if our children were to become bilingual, which we felt was very important for them since I am a native Spanish speaker and my husband is a native English speaker. Read more>>

Joseph Kasper

I joined the United States Air Force at the age of 17. I turned 18 in Basic Training. I also started a family shortly thereafter. I retired after 22 years in 2010. I learned valuable skills while serving which includes discipline, organization, planning and last but certainly not least the value of hard work. While serving I knew I wanted to start a business but it never seemed to be the right time. Moving every couple of years, responsibilities of being a parent, husband and an Active Duty Airman. Read more>>

Haley Hosea

For years I had the dream to move abroad, but I wasn’t sure it would ever come true. Until last year, I was applying for jobs abroad (yet again) and I finally got an offer for a role, in an industry, and in a city abroad that made it a dream opportunity for me! I obviously decided to take the job and ultimately this meant I was moving abroad all by myself just a few months later to pursue this huge dream of mine. While I had thought about it for a year, I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. Read more>>

Dee Dee Taylor

I was a paralegal for 20 years. I took a huge risk getting into the Hemp and CBD business in 2016. It wasn’t even truly legal at the time. But it was worth it. I love what I do now. Lots of trials and tribulations, but worth it. Read more>>

Marianna Gonzalez

“Always take the leap! I grew up in a very small town with lots of negative energy and bad intentions. When I had recently graduated high school I ran away from my home at seventeen years old. I lived in my car with no money, no family and nothing but faith. I discovered my flaws, I discovered thousands of versions of myself that I needed to overcome. Read more>>

Bri Golob

Prior to my work as the Director of Programs at Not One More Vet (NOMV) I was in a totally different field. I spent 6 years working in higher education at a large public university before making the leap to the non-profit sector. Technically I worked for the government which has a lot of similarities in terms of structure to a non-profit, but I was used to being a small fish in a big pond. Read more>>

Diane Reyes

I think the biggest risk I’ve ever taken in my life is when I left the salon I had been at for over a year! I was doing booth rent working for myself and making my own money when I just started getting tired of doing the same haircuts (stacked bobs lol) and same color (Chunky highlights with black and blonde or red and black or red black and platinum) in the small town I was living in Stephenville Tx. Read more>>

Emily Robyn Clark

“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” – Erich Fromm, psychologist and author. “An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.” – Langston Hughes, poet and writer. I have a lot to share about my career as an artist, but I’d like to begin by discussing the notion of risk-taking, which I believe to be one of the most important. Risk, as a noun, refers to “exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazardous or dangerous chance.” Read more>>

Michela Parisi

I’m not sure if you want me to tell a story here about taking a risk…I feel that was covered in the subsequent questions but let me know if you need a more specific story here, too. Read more>>

Jaimie Bahl

In 2016, I had to move out of my home due to a foreclosure, or what I’ve called “For-my-closure”. At this time, I had no interest in using my spiritual gifts for professional reasons. I wasn’t confident in my skills and was only interested in helping family and friends. Through many trials, I was able to move in with friends, a lovely married couple, who owned a wedding venue and was very active with networking of other business owners. Read more>>

Jessica Roswell

My skating coach, Janice, took over a Learn to Skate program back in 1993, one day a week, on half of a sheet of ice. By 1995, the program grew to a few days a week and she decided to incorporate it, creating Skate Great, Inc. I was 14 at the time and at the height of my competitive figure skating career. had no interest in coaching and didn’t really care for other children. However, she needed me to follow a 2 year old around that had signed up for the program. That was the start of my 27 years of coaching. Read more>>

Melissa Lohrer

I think we become more risk-averse as we get older. We’d rather stay unhappy in our circumstances than try something new. But I can easily mark all my best moments around risks I’ve taken – whether learning a new sport, traveling to a new country alone, quitting a job when I wasn’t being treated with respect… Read more>>

Daniela Duncan

Leaving a well-paying, stable corporate job to follow my passion and become a professional photographer was a huge risk I took. I had been doing photography as a hobby, on the side, when I was invited by an editor to become a contributor to an international stock photography agency. I didn’t fully understand how stock photography worked. Who would buy my pictures, how would they be used? I took a leap of faith. Read more>>

Mykeya Haygood

I am currently taking a risk and betting on myself. Last year God placed the idea of a live audience on my heart and I immediately knew it was time to execute. I didn’t have much of a budget, but I was determined to make it happen. After only a few weeks of planning, I had come to the realization that it was simply not my time. Read more>>

Shadi Ireifej

I am a veterinarian and board-certified surgeon of almost 17 years. I have been working on a telehealth concept since my surgery internship in 2008. My career took a turn in such a way that I switched gears completely to become the first ever full-time televeterinarian. A launched VetTriage at the end of 2019, risking my secure job as a surgeon to tackle three main challenges we have been facing in the veterinary field for a long time, which then became exacerbated by the pandemic. Read more>>

MELISSA CARTER

I wish I had taken more risks in life. That’s probably my only regret. That fearlessness is what sets you ahead and later creates wisdom if you let it. Read more>>

Erick Mota

Five years ago, while being swamped with classwork and term papers within my psychology PhD program, having to balance long hours at work as a retail manager, and maintain a household with three children, I made the difficult decision of resigning from my job to focus on life. There were many things happening at once, and I felt it was a perfect time to just take the risk and resign, which will result in having more time to spend with family, having more time to focus on school, and finally becoming serious about making artwork. Read more>>

Allies Always Lie

Ihan: So I think our biggest risk musically we have ever taken was our metal cover of the 80’s song “Never Ending Story” by Limahl. It really didn’t seem like a risk when we first started hashing out the ideas of how the song was gonna sound in our style until we went into the studio to record the song. Before we decided to even attempt that song, we were always joking about doing a cover song, as a lot of other artists had done previously. Read more>>

Trip Fountain

I worked in the Restaurant industry for years. I worked my tail off for every business I represented, unfortunately building their brands left me with little success or rewards. I began to feel like just another number and could be replaced at anytime. I woke up one day and decided enough was enough. I was tired of working for ‘the man’ I wanted to be “the man”. Read more>>

Katherine Zeigert

Founding my own practice has been a long-term goal of mine since undergrad, I just did not expect to reach it this early in my career. I would be lying if I said I was “ready” to take the leap when I founded Monarch Therapy LLC back in October 2021. Right out of grad school I started doing outpatient therapy as an independent contractor with a local private practice, and soon was offered another contract with a local domestic violence shelter. Read more>>

Jenn Prine

Recently I was reminded of the first big media project I accepted. I was asked to show up at the Ballpark and to photograph a local, famous chef as he threw the opening pitch. I was to stand on the field near the catcher for this. I was most definitely as nervous as it gets. I had to turn my radio on full blast on the way there in attempts to drown out my anxiety. I had to meet the chef at a restaurant next to the ballpark and then go over to the game with him. Read more>>