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.

Yasuyo Takeo

Our journey to find our very first skateboarding-friendly commercial space in NYC was nothing short of a wild ride. Renting a commercial space in the Big Apple is one thing, but the one that allows skateboarding in their space? A little over 3 years into running SKATEYOGI without its own physical space, it was time to look for our own brick and mortar location. With no manual in hand, whenever we spotted a For Lease sign, we would dial the number, fueled by a mix of hope and curiosity. But the moment we uttered that infamous S word – Skateboarding – the calls would often end pretty quickly. Lesson learned: next time, we would lead with the S word to save everyone some time and our sanity. Read more>>

Dionne Webster

As a Psychic Medium I’m asked many different questions, see all kinds of images, and experience many different sensations. I once did a Mediumship reading for a woman who wanted to connect to her father that had passed years earlier. Immediately the energy felt sharp, direct even. I knew her father wanted to convey a serious message. It felt like time was of the essence. Her father kept showing me dead roses on her work desk, and would not stop showing me that image until she stated who the roses were from. Once she confirmed her ex gave her the roses, and that they were not on great terms he began to deliver the real message or should I say… warning. Read more>>

Michelle Brandt

I became aware of an elderly artist named Al Newbill who was living in Ohio, but had quite the storied career in NYC in the mid 1950’s. His last known address was in a small, one stoplight, one bar town about 75 miles northeast from my gallery. I made my way to the town, but he was no longer living at the address. I walked into the bar across the street from the apartment and asked around. The bartender said she used to see his light on in the window into the wee hours of the night while he painted away, but that she had heard he moved to an assisted living facility about an hour away. I, of course, got back into my vehicle and drove to the facility. I went to check in, and they would not permit me to his room on the third floor because he wasn’t expecting any visitors. So, as I was leaving the facility, I noticed a back staircase and decided to find his room on my own. I knocked on his door several times. He did not answer… although I was positive I heard jazz music coming from his apartment. I was walking back toward the stairs to leave when my gut told me to give it one more try. I knocked, waited, and he opened the door, suspiciously greeting me, “Who the hell are you?” I told him my name and that I was an art dealer from Columbus. He responded brashly and cantankerously, “I don’t like art dealers!” Read more>>

Roberta Goulart

In 2022, when I started playing footvolley, I realized that, much like soccer, the sport has its own unspoken codes and conduct. Simply entering the sport isn’t enough; you have to respect these unwritten rules. In other words, if you’re not good enough or don’t meet the unspoken standards, you’re excluded from certain groups or “cliques” scattered around the city. I used to play with a group of friends, and we had a WhatsApp chat where we’d organize games every morning. But one day, I suddenly stopped getting invited to play, and I found out that a parallel WhatsApp group had been created without me. I never imagined something like this would happen to me—but it did. It felt like a knife to the heart. Read more>>