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.
Dr. Buffy Lloyd Krejci, DrPH, CIC
The word risk has negative associations. And sometimes risk can be negative. Risk is always scary, but I truly believe risk is a necessary element in the pursuit of our dreams. When we “go for it” we risk safety, security, and so much more. But every successful entrepreneur has a story of risk, and I am no different. Read more>>
CDK on the mic
I think of risk as opportunities to step outside of your comfort zone. I’ve built my brand off risk. The first risk that I took was taking all of the money that I made the summer before college to invest in starting my business. During that time period I worked at Mcdonalds only making $8.25 walking away with biweekly checks of $300 on a good check. Read more>>
Benjamin King
Took a big risk moving to Austin six years ago. I was in south Denver beforehand where I had only been for a year. I moved there from Nashville with the hopes of finding a shop to start tattooing. I worked at two different shops as an apprentice but wasn’t allowed to tattoo at either of them. Read more>>
Gemelia Bowdry
I use to think I had to take risk when I was a teenager in order for my dream to come true. But doing that led me in the wrong places at times even sometimes led me into dangerous situations. After taking the time for growth, and realistically being mindful about my next moves I stopped thinking in the mentality of having to be the struggling artist because that’s what I thought I had to do to become lady Gaga or a Beyoncé. Read more>>
Elena Labra
In 2019 I graduated from Youngstown State University with a Bachelors in Psychology along with a minor in interdisciplinary art. I had been gearing up to graduate, get a full-time job in my field, and be on my way advancing in the field of Psychology for the next 40+ years. About a year and a half into my first adult job out of college, I had started to notice a drastic change in my mental health. Things weren’t quite working out the way I had hoped they would and I sought professional help. Read more>>
JoJo Scott
When I was a senior in high school Covid hit. I spent the next year and a half locked indoors learning to produce over zoom, and attempting to continue pursuing music online. In the spring of 2021, two of my friends, Jessicca and Amber (who is also an amazing singer/songwriter), decided to move to Nashville permanently that fall and asked me if I wanted to tag along as their third roommate. That summer I took a three day trip and visited them in Nashville and decided to take a chance and move. Read more>>
Jordan-Paige Sudduth
Picture this: I’m 14 years old and feeling like I’m not getting the opportunity to showcase my acting abilities for film and tv. I’m taking classes, doing theatre in school, but I want to show what I can really do. So I decide to make my own opportunity and write a feature script that I plan to sell and pitch myself as the lead actor (keep in mind, I was 14, I didn’t really know how that aspect of the industry worked yet). Read more>>
Amy Budd
Starting my latest endeavor by following my heart! Prior to the pandemic, I had my own pet food company. I had been in the pet food industry for over 20 years starting with a pet food delivery business and learning the industry. After a brief learning curve, I decided to create a product of my own. Read more>>
Courtney Carter
I have always had a love for anything creative and artistic. I discovered my love for drawing and painting at the age of 6 years old. My art teacher was so kind, always allowing me to come in early and stay late to help and learn all things art. I continued to take classes through grade school and college thinking this is great I would love an career in art. Read more>>
Jenna Belevender & Michelle Gerard
In March of 2020, we moved from a 750 sq ft apartment into a 2800 sq ft live/work studio space. It was a huge undertaking financially and emotionally and just as we moved in, COVID hit Michigan. Suddenly we were locked down and all of our business disappeared overnight. Read more>>
Jane Dye
Early in my career as a registered nurse working in large hospital-based medical centers in psychiatry, I decided to take the risk of leaving that environment to work in preventive medicine with a private company. This was a life-changing event as it was what eventually led me to later to start my own business to offer private health and wellness coaching programs nationwide. Read more>>
Sara Alston
It all started 3years ago. My husband and I were looking to simplify our lives so that we could spend more time together and less time worrying about just making ends meet. We decided that the best way to do this was to move to a state that has a lower cost of living. Read more>>
Seven Bailey
After years of welding and fabricating I ended up teaching at Dunwoody College of Technology as the Senior Welding Instructor. Education is a deep passion of mine and being able to share my skills to help other pursue their own professional goals was/is truly a gift. Read more>>
Jasmine Cormier
In September 2021, I left my full time job as a middle school/high school dance teacher. I felt strongly enough about Soy Society, our growth and future, and my own will power, that it seemed like the best move to make given the circumstances. I started Soy Society Wellness in 2018, the same year that I started teaching at a local charter school. Read more>>
Christine Clark
Taking risks has always started with a feeling of conviction for me. It’s a feeling that keeps me up at night thinking about my dreams until I have more fear of NOT trying than the fear of failure. Read more>>
Alexa Loch
The biggest risk I ever took was quitting my corporate job to be a full-time tattoo artist. Not even a year ago I was working as a waitress at a fine dining restaurant here in the Galleria of Houston. From the time I turned 18, I’ve always worked in the food/drink industry and have always spent countless hours and nights studying menus making sure I knew most if not all. Read more>>
Mikayla Hammock
I took the risk to start doing arts festivals when I was 18. At the time, I thought I was not ready and people would not value my work. The opposite was true, and the festival was a success. I made more sales in one day than I had in years. It was intimidating to prepare for because it was a big investment to get my supplies and build up my inventory for the first time, but it changed the trajectory of my life. Read more>>
TRAMAYNE AGENT
After contributing 11 years to corporate America, I finally accepted my artistry as more than just a gift. As more opportunities fell into place, it was apparent that the pursuit of becoming a full-time makeup artist is in that current moment. On May 30, 2019, I stepped out on faith separated from the best telecommunications company (AT&T) to do just that. Read more>>
Dr. Krysten Jacobs
When my now husband, Dr. Matthew Jacobs, and I met in Chiropractic College in upstate NY, we both had a dream of owning our own chiropractic practice. Once we got engaged and married, that became a shared dream that evolved as we deliberated over exactly what type of practice we were going to establish for ourselves, our future associate doctors, and our future employees. Read more>>
Bri Rucker
Before I got into the world of content creation and entrepreneurship my original line of work and field of study was Early Childhood Education. As much as I adore children and helping them learn and grow, crafting has always been something I have been extremely passionate about. Read more>>
Sarah Sharp Abbey Benefield
Honestly, the biggest risk we’ve taken as business partners is starting the business itself. We joke about this all the time with people, but when you really think about it, starting AOS Productions LLC was very impulsive on our part. We met each other back in early 2022, but we never really became friends until August after shortly reconnecting after summer break and our college classes were back in session. Read more>>
Tracy Dias Dias
I would say moving to NYC without a plan or job was one of the biggest risks I’ve taken but leaving a secure financially stable job to pursue my passion during a pandemic might top that. Read more>>
Heather Shay
I believe that life is full of risks and challenges!! How boring it would be without them. You also wouldn’t grow to be at your full potential without them. I think that doing anything in life is risky, it just depends on how much you believe in yourself to take that risk. Read more>>
Nicki Gilbert
After becoming a private chef on yachts over 5 years ago now I have recently decided to make a transition to being land based and a Chef in homes here in Charleston, SC. It was a risk to me because I was comfortable in yachting, I had built up steady clients and I made good money. Read more>>
Carola Stephens
When I was little, I always thought that I wanted to be a scientist. My head was always in the clouds, wishing I was an astronaut and explore the Moon and Mars. All of this made sense, since my dad worked at NASA and I went there many times. Come high school and college, I major in Physics with an Astronomy minor. Now, I thought this was the path I should take because I was always good at math and science. Read more>>
Maybeline Despagne
At the beginning of 2020, COVID 19 turned our lives upside down and we were forced to find new routines while in quarantine. I had been a professional photographer for 2 years at the time. My primary business was, CAS Xpress, my shipping company and my side hustle was photography. Read more>>
Christina Brown
One of the most life-changing risks I have taken is moving from Atlanta to Los Angeles in 2019. I moved across the country to set myself up for a better life in my professional career and personal life. I wanted to reach my highest potential by being an LCSW in the state of California and beginning my content creation journey within the wellness niche. Read more>>
Jody Grunden
The biggest risk I’ve ever taken was going out on my own and starting my own firm. I worked in public accounting for three years and quickly learned that it wasn’t for me. It was a lot of travel, long hours, and late nights. My kids were young at that time, and I didn’t want to miss them growing up. Read more>>
Aixa Santos Rivera
When I was in undergrad in my last semester of my Biology degree, I started applying to different universities in Puerto Rico (where I was born and raised). One day, my mom began to have numbness and tingling in her arms and hands so she went to her medical doctor and he refer her to a chiropractor. Read more>>
Baby Claypool
I would simply say that the fact of me is that i don’t make safe decisions. I think life is a risk and your choices should be based in experimentation as you grow and learn. Educated choices and profitable risk can be hand in hand with one another. Becoming a photographer was the first huge risk I truly took that made sense to me. Read more>>
Kate Walker
In April 2021, in the middle of the global pandemic, I quit my incredible and well-paying corporate job. It was a job that I loved. Read more>>
Tonisha Gordon
Transitioning into the wellness + creative space is the most prevalent, life changing risk I am currently living. Read more>>
Alexis Rivera
I took a risk this summer when I decided to quit my job to travel and pursue my passion for art professionally and full-time. I had been working at a wildlife hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a wildlife rehabilitator for 5 years, a rewarding, yet, exhausting and under valued profession when an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself. Read more>>
Holly Chester
I believe life is more exciting when you take risks and my trip to Italy several years ago unleashed the risk-taker in me. The trip was for 17 days with a travel company, but I booked it solo and had never traveled to Europe before. I remember the night before asking myself what on Earth I was doing, traveling to a different country and not knowing anyone. It ended up being one of the best decisions of my life. Read more>>
Nathaniel Garcia
After five years of being active duty in the United States Navy, I wanted a change from the military life: to start a family and get into business. At the time of my separation, right at the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, my mind was racing with various interests of what I could invest my time into and also become a way to provide and work towards my goals. Read more>>