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.

Nikhail Asnani

I guess being a world muse – I have to live with my human rights violated which have happened since 2008 when the gaslighting all this began. I live surveillanced with limited contact to people, withheld from gay relationships, and constantly abused emotionally and mentally by lies of many. It’s a situation that not even the courts can help as my work has impacted not just Hollywood movies but very big events in the world.  Read more>>

Belle Adams

The 2020 pandemic was just about the most unexpected problem/issue I could never have imagined. It rendered us actors industryless. Without the film industry, we don’t work, which is a big issue and certainly was challenging to manage during that time. Especially after having just wrapped the second season of a show I had my first recurring role on. However, those trying years gave rise to an even bigger unexpected issue, and that was the issue of the industry itself. Read more>>

Timo Elliott

I had heard that the arts were a “feast or famine” industry, but I hadn’t really expected how that would play out. I’ve been lucky enough to be employed working in production more or less full time for the past five years, but there have definitely been times, such as during the beginning of the Covid era and now with the strikes where work has been harder to come by. It definitely takes a certain amount of resilience to pursue a career in the arts with the potential unwanted off time always looming over the horizon. Read more>>

Michael Martinez

As I age out of being a young artist to being a working musician in my thirties, I notice that trends change and being timeless, having the personal density to withstand changing tastes is important and takes precedence over trying to be cool. This is stuff they try to teach you when you’re in kindergarten. Be true to yourself. There are folks who are good at playing the game, the trend-game. Hats off to them, but you have to know what you’re getting into. Be honest Read more>>

Kay Gray

My co-host and I started doing research for our podcast, Haunted Mitten, in summer of 2019. Our first episode premiered October 31, 2019. You can probably already guess where I’m going with this. We were just finished with our first season when COVID-19 shut down the world. Read more>>

Erika Vikander

As a female living in 2023 you would think that living in a first world country, we would be treated as equals. Unfortunately, that is not the case. After facing a multitude of let downs by my male counterparts both in and out of competition, I am constantly reminded that we are still facing a world of inequality. This was made particularly clear to me this last season while competing on the Freeride World Tour. Read more>>

Tobias Wells

Recently while being in atlanta I witnessed myself get into the darkest moments in life , considered taking my own life because of all my barber equipment & money & personal items being stolen from my car while celebrating my return to atlanta , this made me sad and full of anger and depressed because the equipment was new and i was looking for a new beginning to take over once again in the barber industry… Read more>>

Anahid Boghosian

the most common problem I think artists face today is representation. The art world has changed so much over the past 10 years that keeping up with being relevant takes up too much space and time. I as an artist like to be with my thoughts, and surround myself with inspiration before starting a piece, then i like to immerse myself in that process for months. Todays world has too many interruptions. “Did I post today?” “Did I check my emails” ” did I respond to the comments ” this all takes time and it is all time away from the process of creating, Read more>>

Emilie & Joshua Mentrup

As restaurant owners, COVID-19 was one of the most unexpected issues to come up for the entire industry in our lifetime. We’re located a little hidden away inside an office building, which meant that we went from about 150 customers per day to about five since all the offices around us were ghost towns from one day to the next. Read more>>

Tiffani Martin

Seven years ago, when I lost my sight to diabetic retinopathy and was on dialysis from type 1 juvenile diabetes, my Mother’s advice to get supplemental insurance became a financial lifesaver. I know what it is like to be on peritoneal dialysis 7 nights a week for 9 hours each night, work a 9 to 5, bootstrap a startup and maintain a hustle while your Spouse, your caregiver, cannot get employment at the time because they are supporting you. Read more>>

Kash Hovey

In life nothing is certain. There are always dilemmas that will come up even when things are going well. When I started high school and began working professionally in the industry, I was put in some situations that forced me to grow up fast. Looking back I carried a lot of baggage emotionally and didn’t have many peers to relate to what I was going through. I had also lost some friends as the years went on due to unforeseen circumstances. Read more>>

Victoria Gutierrez

I’ve been pretty lucky so far in my experience, but the one thing that comes to mind is other photographers seeing me as competition and trying to sabotage me. You know, typical haters, who are also getting paid to work the event. Instead of seeing me as part of the team, she tried her best to try to make me look bad in front of the boss lady. So what happened was, we were in the bathroom and the boss lady walks in coincidentally. Read more>>

Carra Roots

I didn’t expect to not love what I do anymore. Talk about having a passion to go full-time as an entrepreneur, finally working with people that you wanted to, and then after some time realizing that you don’t want to do it anymore. No one ever really talks about the transitional phases in businesses. people are loud with the new ideas but for me having to navigate that space of growth really threw me off. Read more>>

Lizzie Darwin

Regardless of the issue, taking advantage of your creativity when a problem presents itself is important. A year and a half ago, I realized I had not updated any of my designs, causing my sales to slump. I needed a fresh, new idea. I kept getting Vogue magazines sent to my house, so I thought, what if I cut butterflies from the paper in the Vogue magazines instead of the regular paper I use? Read more>>

Clyde Childrezz, Albert Hobson NA

A lot of us musicians start off with the fantasy of super stardom overnight. Well, for most of us this is not the case. Being a true musician and artist you’re faced with lots of study practice and playing small gigs to hone your craft. Then as we get older we realize we need to take care of our family while still trying to pursue the dream. Read more>>

Andrew Ferrell

The existence of Cloaked Press, my indie publisher for Scifi/Fantasy/Horror, only exists because of an unexpected problem. When I originally wrote and self published my debut novel, Beginnings, I approached a small local independent bookstore about a review service they offered on their website. The goal being a signing and stocking my book at their store as a local author. Read more>>

Darrell Abney

There are definitely some things that I’ve noticed in my art career after a long time that I didn’t give much thought when I was breaking into the industry. When you are breaking in, you are lazer focused on finding that first job that you don’t have time to think beyond that much. I feel the hardest thing is finding a job that satisfies my creative goals. The hard truth is, some jobs might satisfy it for a bit but then the project changes or the people change and it’s really hard to sustain this long term. Read more>>

Chloe Moser

I believe that people who are songwriters, poets, filmmakers, story tellers of any kind, can all relate to certain forms of self sabotage. Unless they have healthy creative outlets and are totally normal people with normal people tendencies. I tend to get along with most creative people because I’ve noticed that we all can struggle to be vulnerable. For me, I never thought it would be so hard to write sometimes. Read more>>

Jennifer Kok

I sold my brick-and-mortar bakery business in the Fall of 2018 after owning and operating this business for over 20 years. I can remember the day I was sitting in my favorite chair, drinking my coffee, and watching locally owned businesses panic and struggle when the pandemic of 2019-2020 that shut them temporarily down. These businesses were scrambling, trying to make payroll, and keep their doors open. Read more>>

Joe Oliver

After college I’d been doing a couple small paying gigs, but nothing substantial. I finally got an opportunity to do some article illustrations for a local paper. The pay wasn’t great, but it was consistent and I was more than happy to crank out as much as I could. It was rough because they’d need full drawings within a couple hours of going to print, so there wasn’t a lot of prep time. Read more>>

Andres Paredes Arroyo Martinez

Film production is an intricate dance of planning and problem-solving, ideally preventing issues before they arise. It’s about orchestrating budgets, assembling teams, and ensuring everything aligns seamlessly before the cameras start rolling. The role of a producer is to transform a creative concept, often worth millions of dollars, into an enjoyable viewing experience. Read more>>

Dennis Aliaksandrou

I think, COVID-19 has become the most shocking and unexpected issue for the whole world, not only for creative professionals. It has radically changed our lives for the following years. During such stressful periods we need to take care of ourselves and our families more and also develop new business approaches. Getting accustomed to the new reality, I tried to find new opportunities for professional photography. Read more>>

Bethany Platanella

My business started as an Active Retreats company. For over 15 years I’ve worked in various areas of the travel industry while teaching yoga on the side. COVID all but destroyed the travel industry, so I decided to take that time to start my own gig. I wanted to plan and lead unique retreat experiences all over the world. Who wouldn’t sign up for that?? I figured my long time yoga students and friends would be my first clients and this would help to get my business rolling. Read more>>

Chris Shaw

Filmmaking as a whole consists of constant problem-solving. Unexpected issues will always come up and you will have to decide how to react to them. One unexpected problem I’ve experienced is losing a filming location the day before production starts. Luckily, we had done our diligence to have backup locations prepared in case something like this happened. I think it’s extremely important to have a contingency plan on every project and to remain calm during the process. Read more>>

LyNore James

As a business developer, I initially set out to support entrepreneurs on their growth journey. However, I soon encountered a challenge that struck a personal chord with me as a Black woman entrepreneur. Read more>>

Antoinette Naddour, Esq., LLM

The term nonprofit is a misnomer- you still need to turn a profit. Although we service the poor at no charge, we still have overhead. Our costs include rent, salaries, insurances, supplies and more. Yet, we are not selling good or services, we are providing goodwill. We survive off of private donations and grant funding. We have big bills and even bigger dreams. That being said, I thought having a few employees would suffice and we would be able to source enough funding to cover every Veteran in need. Read more>>

Savina Welch

I have been a photographer for 3 years full time and last year there was an Incident where I had essentially lost my business due to a hacking Incident. I couldn’t get Into my Instagram I couldn’t verify using my Identity and at the time my website was under construction, So I really felt like there was nothing I could do. I luckily had a great community which helped me through. I created a new account, I had a new name. Read more>>