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.

Mishell Vale Elliston | Life and Wellness Coach

I opened a yoga studio in 2006 in Arizona. There were no Ashtanga studios in the Valley. I grew and thrived in my studio, expanded my business, and eventually sold it in 2013. I realized I didn’t need the brick-and-mortar establishment to make it. I took more courses and received additional National Certifications, and I grew my business to be more than just yoga. I now offer Personal Training, Meditation, Yoga Certifications, Life Coaching, Wellness, and Health Coaching both in-person and virtual. I truly believe we create our limitations personally and professionally. Read more>>

Linda Pennington | City Heights Community Organizer

I moved to San Diego in 1978 with my husband, Mark Pennington. I taught high school art in the Houston area for two years but it was always my life goal to be a professional artist. Mark supported me in this and I worked and struggled to find my way in this pursuit. We moved to my little house on a canyon in the Azalea Park Neighborhood in 1981. Here I was completely sidetracked by several occurrences of scary fires in the canyon so I began organizing neighborhood canyon hazardous brush removal events with free dumpsters from I Love A Clean San Diego. Read more>>

Kikin Ucelo | Sensei

It was the end of the year 2000 when I decided to come back to the US from my homeland Guatemala, leaving everything behind, my family, my girlfriend and my friends seeking an opportunity to grow and a better life, like many immigrants of this great nation. It was on the holiday of Presidents day of 2001 that I decided to visit Az for the first time. I was at the time working as an instructor at Grandmaster Jun Chong’s dojo in North Hollywood ( the old Cobra Kai Dojo), while coming in my car broke down. With no money , but with the huge and forever thankful support of a couple friends, and a out of this world opportunity, Read more>>

Greg Hansen | CEO & Father of 6

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Larry Snider | Entrepreneur

In 2012, In a downturned market, I opened Texas F.S.S., L.L.C. Taking a risk opening a Janitorial Company in Houston, Texas, competing with the Largest Janitorial Companies in the United States that I worked for over 30 years……. How could I stand a chance with other companies and there million-dollar budgets??? Well Back up a little. Upon leaving my last company, I was passing by customers for my exiting Greetings. Upon mentioning I was leaving to one, and I was fed up and going to start my own, because I was tired of how companies did not maintain good services and customer relations. Read more>>

Andy Hagenah | Private Events DJ

I’ve owned and operated The Groove DJs for 30 years this coming May 2022. I also co-own Starlight Photo Booth with a great friend and partner since 2010. Like so many other businesses, the pandemic was brutal to our industry, especially in California where it grinded to a halt for over a year. Like nearly everyone in the wedding industry, my DJ & Photo Booth businesses were shut down. It took the help of so many people and industry leaders like Amy Ulkutekin to finally get our state government to provide some guidance for how to get back to work. Read more>>

Ram Hernandez | Filmmaker

I take risks almost to a fault. Thank God for my wife who balances me out, giving me enough rope so I don’t hang myself! A while back, straight out of the University of Miami with a fresh degree in Accounting (and a very strong push from my parents) I became a CPA working as an Internal Audit Director for multi-national Fortune 500 companies. It was a very safe life. And it provided me with a pretty good living. I traveled around the world – I so love traveling. I have fond memories of that life despite the grueling hours and corporate stress. I am grateful and would not trade that experience for anything in the world as it helped shape me to the man I am today. Read more>>

Theresa Wells | Owner/Lead Trainer

I have taken two risks. The first deciding to start my own business some years ago. I threw myself into it without a clue on what to do or how to do it. Just something inside me said do it. So I did. I read some articles and blogs and researched other fitness entreprenuers who had been succesful. I was heavy in the gym and around fitness instructors often. So I began paying more attention to their interactions with members. I started taking instructor trainings to teach classes. I sought out private gym owners and asked to teach classes at their locations. After a month or so my comfort and confidence level grew, I gained hands on experience and knowledge from certification courses and actively watching other instructors. Read more>>

Evan Williams | Kareless CEO

I would say there was a significant amount of risk when I invested all my personal funding into establishing the Kareless business. It’s not like I have a lot to start up capital but every dollar I had I worked for personally. So that made it a hard decision. Ultimately my dedication to be in self-employed was the most important thing and that thankfully got me through all the hurdles and set backs. Started this brand back in 2012 and I’m so thankful to say we have hit our 10 year mark. And even better yet I’m confident this is only the beginning! I truly aspire to make this brand outlive me and become a household name for generations to come. Read more>>

Coryanne Ettiene | Entrepreneur, owner of Ettiene Market, Whodini Sisters and Lady Terlingua.

I’ve always followed the mantra that fortune favors the bold so I’ve tried to work past the fear and use that energy to fuel my direction. Sometimes I fail, but every time I learn, and the more I learn the better I get at taking risks. When Covid hit I went against the grain and used that chaotic time to scale my business rather than shrink away from it, with our doors closed we had time to review, forecast and untimely redefine our 5 year plan to move away from traditional retail and towards an omni channel retail structure. It meant learning on the job, spending our emergency money to bet on the future, tossing our organization structure in the air and landing with a new set of team members and most notably, Read more>>

Megan Johnson McCullough | Fitness Professional

My career as a fitness trainer began on the corporate route. Working for minimum wage with a Master’s Degree was not my ideal situation, but at the time being so young and needing experience, I did it. Over the next couple years, I accumulated varies certification in Group Exercise and added onto my resume. The gym I had been working at had me both personal training and teaching group exercise classes. The more I could do, the more I could fill he hours of my day. Upon request, the gym wanted to me to add a Yoga certification to my repertoire. I was interested, but the nearest and soonest course behind held was in Merced, CA. Read more>>

Ron Morabito | President – V Group Signs

Let’s go back in time a bit. The lockdowns had just begun. Uncertainty was sweeping. Our business, like many others had faced a decline. Think of the products a signage and printing company produces. Especially one like ours who is involved in creating signage for so many sports teams and events. That all came to a screeching stop. As the owner I was faced with decisions to make. Do we cross our fingers and hope for the best? Do we take the wait and see approach? Neither of those have ever been my style. I’m proactive, I knew I needed to do something, but I was unsure of what that something was, so I started to brain storm. First thought. Read more>>

Rosanna Bermejo | Aesthetician/ Dermatology Nurse; Business Owner

Despite having always wanted to be a business owner, deciding to be one was a very risky decision by itself. You are never truly aware of what such decision entails. When I opened MedAestheticsMiami, I had already made previous unsuccessful attempts at opening a business. I started MedAestheticsMiami while I was going through one of those turning moments in life. I had relatively young children, and was going through a divorce. Despite my professional experience, Read more>>

Will Newman | Principal Owner – Newman’s Financial Planning

Still in my on-boarding training seminar two weeks into my new job, the coach lectured about ways to persuade, sell, and force products onto customers. I sat uncomfortable, trying to push the racing thoughts from my mind telling me I didn’t belong here. From the hotel room that night, I called my wife and said, “I can’t do this. I know I’m supposed to be helping people with their finances, not selling to them. I’m quitting and starting my own business.” I put my livelihood and my career on the line to do what I felt what right. Three months later, Newman’s Financial Planning opened, and I secured my first (although small) client immediately. Read more>>

Brian Douglas | Accelerated Custom Software

As a service-oriented person, I connect well with the idea of a service-based business. That’s easy. But sometimes the best way to serve others is to not be the one serving them. In the past, I have often directed my clients to products off the shelf versus us building it. It’s cheaper and faster, and if it meets their needs, why not? That lasts until the business outgrows the canned solution. Then the company is looking for something that aligns better with how they run their business — something custom. My client takes on new risks during that custom development process. Read more>>

Aaron Embrey | creative + educator

I take risks every day. They’re not always big, life-changing risks. Obviously taking risks is part of being in business. They’re also part of being an artist or creator, or just being visible in the world. Showing up, showing your work, and sharing your voice with the world is a risk. For me, it felt like a BIG risk when I made the decision to quit my full-time job and start my own business. It’s always a BIG risk, in my experience, to create or start something new. Because we have to be willing to leave our comfort zones. And we have to risk getting things wrong to get things right. There’s discomfort in not knowing if an idea will work. Read more>>

Becky Banner | I am a results oriented, driven person and believe in the value of investing in relationships. I am the mother of 6 beautiful children and one grand daughter and my businesses get to be a part of making dreams come true for our clients.

By definition, the word “risk” means there is an uncertainty of outcome and the possibility of danger harm or loss and we have all heard the old adage “no risk no reward”, well I decided a long time ago to take charge of my life and take risk instead of waiting for life to come to me, so that I could grow and be in control of my life outcome. I do have to admit that I took a gradual approach to my risk tolerance. When I was 27 years old I took my first job that was low guaranteed income and high commission potential. I am not going to say that I wasn’t afraid and to some degree my fear of not succeeding was a driving factor in my determination to achieve financial security. Read more>>

K. C. Kanaan | Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Our company raised its Seed Round in July 2019. Unfortunately, things did not go well between the lead investor and myself. Things got so bad between the gentleman, the board and I that in March 2020, right at the start of the pandemic, we were looking at 3 options. Either we shut down the company, the investors buy my wife & I out or we buy them out. My wife and I decided to buy the lead investor & his group out. We took a loan against our home, liquidated some of our 401K investment while taking a huge tax hit, sold one of our 2 cars and bought the lead investor & his group out. Read more>>

 

Danny Arnold | Performance Coach

I think the biggest risk I took was leaving a good paying college coaching job, with a promising future, and with as little as $500 bucks, start Plex, a human performance center that provides performance training and physical therapy for individuals off all skills and sports. Why was it so risky? because at the time there wasn’t an industry or a company like this. I didn’t have the luxury to learn from this sort of business model. I had to create it my self. Sure there was physical therapy centers and there was personal training spots, but not to the degree like we offer then and currently at Plex. Read more>>

Laura Pate | Objects Conservator and Owner of Brown Mountain Art Restoration

I was 27 years old and had been working at Brown Mountain Art Restoration for five years when the owner approached me about buying the business. It was a difficult decision, one that compelled me to look back over my involvement with this thing called “the art world.” Ever since I was a small child, I wanted to be an artist. I imagined having my own gallery filled with my work, living in a garret upstairs. When not creating great art, I would drive around town in my Karmen Ghia, travel to the world’s most renowned art centers, and my life would be heaven. Then, when I attended the University of Texas at Austin as an art major, I had a rude awakening. Read more>>

Katie Hays | founder and lead evangelist, Galileo Church

Starting a church from scratch scared me to death. I enjoyed almost two decades of “safe” ministry in established congregations, and I felt like I was pretty good at it. But I could see that the traditional church was squeezing out so many people — beautiful children of God who were kind and generous, smart and funny. But they found the community life of the church disappointing and maybe even painful. If they were gay, or trans, or just loved someone gay or trans, they were out of bounds. If they were younger than Boomers, and digitally connected, and working the gig economy, and voting left of their parents, they felt out of place. Something had to change — and it was dawning on me that *I* was probably going to have to change first. Read more>>

Kalen Mehlman | Interior Designer & Artist

For many years, I worked as an interior designer and artist through a local high-end boutique which provided unique design services and custom art pieces for homes. While I truly enjoyed my work at this boutique and our many lovely clients and staff, I felt there was greater opportunity for the scope of my work as an independent business owner. To begin, Kalen’s Place was created as a “side business” out of my studio at home, providing design services, pieces of specialty artwork, and art events of all kinds. I was able to do this alongside my work at the boutique. Read more>>

Michelle Biely | Crafter and Art Center Owner

I do not view myself as a business owner. I see myself as a creative! The biggest risk I ever took was becoming a business owner so other creative people would have some place to practice their passion and be around others that are just as excited about creating their art as they are. My passion is animals. I LOVE animals. However I tend to be more logically creative brained than logically book smart brained. With this knowledge I knew going to vet school was out of the question so I went to photography school instead. While my other classmates were focusing on photographing people and products I was trying to figure out how to apply this knowledge to getting closer to animals. Read more>>

Diane Mandle | Author, Recording Artist, Tibetan bowl Practitioner

I was living in Amherst, MA with my two teenaged boys. The oldest was already living on his own and the youngest was 17. I had completed my studies in Polarity therapy, Life coaching and Tibetan Bowl sound therapy and wanted to offer an integrated practice that combined all three. The mentality on the east coast didn’t seem open to this and I was feeling frustrated. At the same time I could not face another New England winter. San Diego was the place that seemed to have the best weather in the country and I decided to head there and attempt to start a new life. Read more>>

Chris Jones | CEO & Founder of Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep

The biggest risk I have taken was the creation of Planting Seeds Tutoring & Test Prep. At the time, I was in my early 20’s just building my professional career and working additional jobs as supplemental income. At the time, I thought I was making good money for part-time work. However, I also knew these jobs were short-term and not part of my future long-term goals. Ultimately, I had to make a decision to either keep working multiple jobs or take a chance and create a profitable business that would give me the FREEDOM to live the life I truly want. I chose the latter of the too and it ended up being the most challenging but rewarding decision I have made to date! I highly recommend anyone else to take a risk, trust the process and go after what you want in life. Read more>>

Vicky Larsen | Skin Coach

As many of us experienced, 2020 started out to be “the” year. It was going to be life changing! (*ya, it was!) Cinco de Mayo was on a Tuesday and Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas and New Year’s Eve were all on Saturdays-score! I mean, could it line up more perfectly? Then March hit and whoa, no one saw that coming. What started out being a couple of weeks home stretched into months for the beauty industry. It made sense to me. I was in very close contact with clients and so an airborne disease made that difficult to operate under. So, I stayed home. Read more>>

Andrea Harborne | Photographer

I was always really creative. At school, I absolutely hated Maths + Science, but loved going to my art classes, partly because I had a very motivated and passionate art teacher, but also because I knew I was good at it and it allowed me to switch off and have fun. I knew I wanted to work with people, but we didn’t really have careers counselling ‘in my day’ so I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Marketing seemed the obvious next step after graduation. I enjoyed my business classes and marketing meant I could dip my toe into the creative world, yet still have a rewarding, well paid job. Read more>>

Phoenix Niewidok | Upcycled Fashion Artist

Have you ever reached a goal and still felt a little unsettled? I had been a successful hairstylist and colorist for a little over 25 years. Creating fashion was always a passion. Mix that with art and your giving me fuel for my soul. So what if I totally bagged hair and just focused on creating artful fashion. When I moved to Fort Lauderdale I immersed my self in the arts and creative community. When I surround my self with like minded and out of the box thinkers I find it exilerating. If you don’t jump off of the cliff you never learn how to fly. My heart was full and then the pandemic hit adding a level of anxiety which I have never felt before.. Read more>>

Kevin Rynn | Teeth Whitening Specialist

I have always wanted to own my own business but was never ready to take the risk. Finally after many years I accumulated enough savings to be ready to take the plunge and have my own business and I am so happy that I did. I have had the business for almost 10 years and it has been some of the most rewarding moments of my life. Read more>>

Nelson Lo | Cosmetic Dentist

You know the old saying that without taking risk, there is no reward. Life is about taking “calculated” risk and there have been multiple times that I have jumped off the cliff without knowing how life is going to turn out afterwards. The first time I “jumped” was when I decided to switch careers after being a software developer for 3 years to go into dentistry. I didn’t have the prerequisites to apply to dental school and had to go to a community college from 9AM to 9PM to get the credits. Read more>>

Sarah Lemke | Cosmetic and Reconstructive Tattoo Artist

Risk! Oh I talk all the time about how most things that hold value also hold an element of risk to get there. I say “anything of worth, usually has an after taste of risk.” Business, relationships and personal development. Looking back, I guess opening a tattoo studio in the heart of La Jolla would have been considered a risk. I opened my studio about 4 years ago. I went against most opinions and called myself a “tattoo studio”, because that is exactly what I am. I was told I wasn’t a tattoo artist, the word “tattoo” was too aggressive for the demographic and I needed to refer to myself as a “micro-blader” or that I do “permanent make-up”. Read more>>