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.

Kate Mullen

After over two decades of living in Charlotte, NC as a successful business consultant, I felt like something was missing. Although I had never gone camping or RVing before, I had a dream of traveling across the US, seeing and photographing as many national parks as possible. To make this dream a reality, I decided to take a sabbatical and hit the open road in an RV for six months. I ended up finding a deep sense of peace and purpose in my travels, and those six months turned into eight years of full-time RV living and traveling. Read more>>

Amanda Jones

Risk taking and my ability to regulate my nervous systems during these big moments of risk, has been vital on my journey as an entrepreneur. I am a “build the plane while I am flying it” type of woman and I always have been. I skip a lot of steps and I breeze over the planning process because things don’t typically go as planned anyway. Read more>>

Theresa Burleson

I believe anyone who truly knows me, knows I’m a risk taker. My whole life I’ve never been afraid to go big and never quit. I told my parents at the age of 5 that I was gonna be an actress, and from that point on I never changed my mind. Nobody took me seriously at first until I auditioned for my first show in elementary school, Annie. I grew up in predominantly white areas my whole life, so I’m no stranger to discrimination and micro aggression. Read more>>

Celines Estevez

I recently got back from a solo trip to Egypt. And as a female, you can imagine that I was heavily advised by many to strongly reconsider. This is the biggest life-changing risk I have ever done and by far the best one. Initially, I wanted to go to Egypt for the obvious bucket list cross-off, but going alone gave me the ultimate experience I did not expect to have. Read more>>

Alecs Simone

I moved to London in September 2022. I knew no one, had no job or visa. I left everything I had in Italy, friends, family, career and contacts in the performing world. I just felt that wasn’t the right place for me and felt a connection with London. It seemed to me like a land of opportunity, with big productions, where if you’re good and have the talent you will find your way. The day I left Italy I was scared. Never felt like that. I was afraid that if I looked back for even just a second I wouldn’t leave. So I didn’t look back. Read more>>

Stephanie Cellino

At pandemics peak I was working from home as a clinical trainer for a large and impactful mental health organization in Buffalo NY. I loved my job and the people I worked with. We were part of a new department, and it was really taking off. I had the creative flexibility to research and create continuing education courses on mental health topics and present them to peers. It was all so exciting and going well until I felt very ill and found out I was pregnant. Read more>>

Dr. Akeia Keith

I took the risk of “betting on myself.” Often, I cheer for others and support others in their endeavors while discounting my own. However, the new path that I have chosen for myself has prompted me to put myself first. This is a very new adventure, but I am loving every second of it. Read more>>

Bonnie Fischer, D.C.

When I was in chiropractic school, one repeating theme that was drilled into us was that the initial start up cost of opening a practice and the daily operating expenses would be a major factor in determining whether or not you’d be able to keep your doors open the first few years of practice. After already having taken on close to $200,ooo in student debt, I wasn’t fully prepared to take on the extra expenses and challenges of starting a new business in addition to learning how to be a good doctor. Read more>>

melanie gomez

When I think of a risk I’ve taken in my life, the first thing that immediately pops into my head was when I accepted my first nursing position as a new grad, for a covid floor. On the date of June 2020, I accepted my first new graduate job position on a covid floor. At that point in time, I had heard of covid but never really seen the true effects of it. As many nurses would agree, working during covid times was nothing like the “pre” covid nursing. New policies, plans of care, as well as medications were being established as more and more research came along. Read more>>

Arina Zhirkova

I learned that taking risks in life is great. Yes, the outcome might happen to be not what you expected, but it is one step closer to a goal. At other times, it all goes as planned. When I started Sunny Isles Beach Cleanup, a beach cleanup organization that hosted beach cleanups every week, I didn’t know what to expect, but I was willing to take this risk. It took a lot of research, networking with others, as well as obtaining more organizational and leadership skills to be able to lead a successful cleanup. Read more>>

Stacey Doyle

A recent risk I took was packing all of my belongings, and my business, and moving from Rhode Island to California in 2019. I didn’t really have any solid connections in the Sacramento or Bay Area, however, there was a pull to go so my partner and I did it. We drove cross-country and enjoyed exploring for a few months and then landed in East Sacramento. Read more>>

Cayla Hogan

Back in 2016 I was living at home still in Aptos CA. I was a college student, was working at a Century 21 office in and in the process of getting my real estate license. I was super excited about it and thought yep this is the career for me. I still do love real estate very much so, but God had other plans for me and my life. One afternoon on the weekend, a friend & I had gone to the local craft store and decided to make some diy at home candles. Read more>>

Viridiana Rodriguez

I didn’t consider myself a big risk taker and until recently. I would keep it safe with every area of my life by staying in my comfort zone. In the last year I have been taking many risks in my personal and professional life. The biggest risk I have taken so far in my career was in July of 2022 with becoming a private practice owner. I had worked for three different school districts for 10 years as a mental health provider. Read more>>

Reed Foley

I think the biggest risk I ever took in my life, was making the decision to finally moved to Nashville. I’ll never forget, coming off stage after a performance in my hometown and having a gentleman look at me and tell me that I needed to move the music city. Read more>>

Richard V Tong

Sports and Fitness Media requires that a successful professional must continuously strive to “reach farther.” Someone once said, “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space” and risk taking began for me at an early age. When I was three years old my father went surf fishing in Pacifica, California. He parked our car on a cliff, Mori Point (back then there were roads where you could drive up to the peak), Read more>>

Keith Deininger

Since the early 2000s, my primary goal was to become a published novelist. As I partied my way through college, making that time in my life more about experiencing things and discovering myself than any sort of academic pursuit, I began to write fiction on a regular basis. Read more>>

Rachel Corbett

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Sociology, I had no clue what my work life would be like. I knew that I wanted to provide helping services to my community but I had no clue what that helping service would be. After completing my undergraduate studies, I worked in retail for a little over a year before exploring a suggestion from a colleague to pursue an advising role at a local career college in Columbia, SC. Read more>>

David Bowles

To some degree, all creativity involves risk. But when a person from an under-represented community or intersection of them (as in Mexican American and queer) choses to center that background and identity in their work, they open themself to criticism and rejection. In my own case, because I insisted on including Spanish, Read more>>

Song Stanford

This video goes more into detail https://youtu.be/YDoP1rpvZkg but the biggest risk I have taken is leaving my job without a plan. I always knew I was supposed to be a business owner but didn’t know how to do it and I knew having a regular job kept me in my comfort zone of not pushing me to get started. Read more>>

Amiana Patterson

I believe that the greatest investment and simultaneously the greatest risk will always be betting on SELF. I worked in the corporate field for the majority of my life and it was always a struggle for me. I battled with needing to adhere to being fit into a box for monetary means to live while ultimately feeling like I was not only putting myself but my family on the back burner to do so. Read more>>

Drea Quintero

I graduated from ASU in 2011 with a degree in political science and a job in the cosmetics industry. Realizing that I wanted nothing to do with the government I spent a few years exploring different industries. While I felt successful in other professional arenas I never truly felt fulfilled and found myself booking make up applications around my work schedule. Read more>>

Feather Flikkema

Four years ago I decided to close my facial business, get pregnant and move to Hawaii with my family. I was 2 years into my marriage, 5 years together, and excited about life. Once I got pregnant, we sold everything we owned, hopped on a flight and made our way to Hawaii. Little did I know the Big Island of Hawaii would dissolve everything that I thought was solid in my life. Read more>>

Love Atiya

Hey beautiful souls, my name is Love Atiya but it should really be “Risk Atiya” because my life has been FULL of nothing but taking risks and reaping the rewards and lessons from those risks. Read more>>

Antoinette Wysocki

Taking risks is what you sign up for as a painter. The first big risk was choosing to attend art school where every statistic was against your success in your chosen career. When you told anyone you were looking at going to art school and you always got the lecture of making smart choices about your future. I received my BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 2000 when the song in the air was ” painting is dead.’ Read more>>

Sharayah Jimenez

Starting a new business during a global pandemic seemed like a crazy idea, but not just any business, an architecture design firm. Add to that, I am young, female and Chicana, in an old, white, male dominated industry. For years, the very idea of stepping out on my own seemed far too risky, it took years for me to develop the confidence and skill set that I would need to be where I am today. I spent nearly ten years working for an architecture firm that I very much respect, but after a while, things just started to feel stagnant for me. Read more>>

Brittnai Person Walton

2022 was the year of transition for me. I entered the year as an engaged, single mother, who was thriving as the Director of Commerical and Lifestyle print of a prominent Atlanta talent agency. I also started the year with a nagging feeling that I was about to experience a huge shift in life. I was no longer happy at my job and I was starting to experience extreme frustration and burnout. I leaned heavily into my faith, my bi-weekly therapy sessions, and a book … really more of a spiritual guide called The Artist’s way. Read more>>

Dr.’s Colleen and Sean Rollo

Becoming entrepreneurs is the biggest risk we both have taken! Our entrepreneurship journey began somewhere around 2020 when we both have had stable, good paying jobs. Dr. Colleen worked for a local hospital splitting time between outpatient and inpatient care and Dr. Sean was working on Camp Lejeune as the lead performance physical therapist for a U.S. special operations battalion. Read more>>

Ariel Smith

I graduated from the illustrious Clark Atlanta University, where I was involved in the background of athletics. I was a student Equipment Manager for all of the sports on our campus. When it was time to graduate, I received my first offer of being the first African American woman as the Head Equipment Manager of CAU’s athletic department. I was responsible for all of the equipment for 11 sports, but my biggest role and favorite part – was that I traveled with the football team and was on the field for every game. Read more>>

Alex Katz

I left an abusive home at 17 and completely cut contact with my parents. I then put myself through college by working 80 hour weeks. This was a huge risk because I moved to a new place as a minor with no support system or guidance. It seemed like less of a risk at the time, because I thought that school would provide housing and a support structure. I didn’t realize at the time that I wouldn’t be able to live in my dorm room for 4-5 months during the year, which led me to couch surf, live out of my junkyard car, or spend nights in the library. Read more>>

Nicole Pastore

When I first started thinking about moving into my own practice I was working for a company as an outpatient mental health and drug and alcohol therapist. This company had helped me grow and obtain my licenses, but I had a desire to grow more and I felt I had reached the peak of my potential for growth within that company. I remember coming out of my chiropractor and looking across the parking lot to see another family therapist had an office there. I looked her up and contacted her on a whim. Read more>>

Charles McCreary

The idea for Dank Dad itself could be considered a risk. A black man….in America…openly indulging in Marijuana and promoting his love for being a parent all rolled into one, scary right? So during the pandemic like many, I lost my job. Not funny part, I just got married and that’s just not a good look to come home and tell babe ” I got Fired”. Funny part is we were both elated. I finally got to spend time with my only kid at the time and it was the best thing in the world for both of us. A moth or so passed and she asked the question that started it all….what do you want to do? Read more>>

Chimi Peculiar

Choosing to live a life that not only is filled with art, but also emulates art is a risk that a lot of people don’t feel is worth taking. For me, being an artist on the weekends alone is not enough. It never fed my innermost desires of a life full of art and. freedom of expression, Changing my mindset about what kind of artist I want to be was the biggest risk I took. Read more>>

Emily Jacobson

At the end of January 2021, just over one year after I had invested in a buildout with a friend to open a tiny little acupuncture/massage clinic, I found myself in a situation that wasn’t working out. I had to make the hard decision to leave that location ensuring this bad situation wouldn’t get any worse and effect my business. In a scramble to find a new residence for To The Point Acupuncture and Tai Chi, Read more>>

Mac Wallace

When the pandemic originally hit, small business owners suffered a big loss. I, among hundreds of thousands of others like me, depended on vendor markets to make money. Without those markets, we were all just sitting on inventory and waiting for things to get back to “normal” so we could start traveling and chasing our dreams again. While my determination never left, my frustration around this matter began to grow. Read more>>

Lex Luga

The movement pushed “Hood Idol Apparel” through underground music to allow SSC Marketing to flourish. He knew to document the movement. The Spring of 2019 “Hood Idol Magazine” launched. Castles are set in place to bring additional momentum to SSC Marketing with community involvement and advertising. Read more>>

Jodie Eckleberry-Hunt

I love a good story, and I love reading real, human stories – so much so that I’ve always wanted to write a book of inspirational stories to help others. Yet, I was afraid. I was afraid of being “not good enough,” of being judged, of failing. So, I didn’t do a thing. I swallowed my dream, but it was still in my belly. One of the big problems was that I always compared my storytelling to other people’s, and I fell short in my own mind. Read more>>

Marcia Armstrong

When I got laid off in December 2022, I made the decision not to accept offers to work at another subsidiary of the bank. I wanted to explore entrepreneurship full-time although I did not see the full path that was ahead of me or knew what I would encounter on my journey. Read more>>

Jason Priest

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken was deciding to quit my corporate job and betting on myself when I started my business. My wife was pregnant at the time and I remember sitting down at the table for dinner one night to break the news to her. Read more>>

Anthony Foreman

I’ve always had a passion for woodworking and a dream of turning it in to business. Furthermore, I wanted to bring my creations to life but lacked the necessary equipment to do so. This changed when the pandemic hit and I was suddenly faced with the reality of having more free time on my hands. I had also just moved 100 miles from my hometown in Duncan, OK for work and luckily my new home afforded me more space. Read more>>

Beth Quarles

Following your dreams can mean taking risks. During the height of COVID, a friend and I were talking about some of our dreams one of which was to open a bookstore. The more we chatted and dreamed, the more we wanted to do it. There were certain risks we did not want to take. We didn’t want to take on any debt. COVID was a risk. However, there were risks, we were willing to take. Neither of us had a background in owning/operating a business. Read more>>

Jay Flats

In the year 2000 I took the biggest risk of my life. I hopped on a train from Orlando with 2 duffle bags and made the move to Hollywood. My best friend Canyon Prince had already made the move and provided me a place to crash and motivation to enter ‘THE BIZ’. As an spiring actor I wanted to jump right into the movies. Reality hits hard and fast when you realize you don’t have the money to attend acting school, take classes or workshops to begin building relationships which are key to starting your career. Read more>>

Pasquale Panico

I have taken a lot of risks in my life, none being as big as this one. In pursuit of being an artist and making music, the point I am at now has been 17 years in the making. This path I have taken, has been one that until the last year and a half was done in the darkness with no one knowing. I was never allowed to pursue a career in my passion, joy, & love for music. This is the beginning of what hopefully becomes an epic story and legacy. Read more>>

Tyler Smiley

The biggest risk I would say I have taken was going full-time into photography in November 2022. Prior to that, I had been working in a traditional 9 – 5 job for a local real estate brokerage as the marketing/administrative/HR/IT guy (I actually described myself as the swiss army knife of the brokerage). In addition to that position, I was able to practice real estate sales as well, and completed two transactions during my time with the brokerage. Read more>>