One of the most under-the-radar benefits of entrepreneurship is its ability to build fortitude and make the entrepreneur a more formidable person. Challenges – particularly the crazy, unexpected ones that take on a life of their own – build character and confidence. And the unexpected surprises to the upside, the crazy good moments offer a high that’s hard to reproduce elsewhere. The charm and the challenge of entrepreneurship is dealing with the crazy things that happen and so we’ve asked some fantastic business owners and leaders to share some of their stories with us below.

Michelle Palatine

When I first started in Real Estate I had 3 months of savings…and that is all! I knew I had no choice but to succeed, and the pressure was on. I decided I had no choice but to go door knocking, which I was terrified of doing…but I did it. I made one homeowner so mad, mad enough that he was telling a colleague about me the next day at work. The colleague just happened to be looking to sell his home and was impressed with my determination. Needless to say, I am now his Realtor. Read more>>

Brittney Smith

I’m a ghostwriter, so naturally, I enjoy writing and writing for others. About a year ago, a client came to me telling me they were looking for someone to write their book because they didn’t have the time to devote to it. That’s very common, so there were no red flags there. I like to get my clients very involved in the process. In most cases, involvement looks like me asking a bunch of deep questions so that I have the greatest chance of making the first draft very close to what they were looking for in their book. After that, I go through it with them to make any changes they request. The key thing to remember is that I make all the changes because I am writing the book. Read more>>

Ciara Stockeland

Most business owners have a dirty little secret…. Their business is growing, they are making sales and from the outside they look widely successful….but behind the scenes they are overwhelmed with debt and they never pay themselves. I can relate. I had this same dirty little secret myself. I scaled my retail business to a “successful” seven figure business, I had a team of twelve, multiple locations and national accolades. However, I never paid myself which caused me to secretly feel like a fraud. Read more>>

Vanessa Stanley

I’ve been in business for over 2 years and despite the challenges faced I’ve preserved and maintained my business. The craziest thing happened to me recently. I’ve been given a huge opportunity after styling an actor on set for a popular Television show. She was a great client and passed the word and got me my first celebrity client for the upcoming 2023 year and I’m so excited. Not only is my brand/store DBD Fashions going to be an actual brand marketed throughout the United States but I can add dressing people with names to my resume. I owe all my success to God, my family, my close circle of friends and my beautiful daughter who is my motivation. Read more>>

Cari Hamoui

Throughout my 8.5 years of working at Chamblin’s, one could say I have seen some things. Working at the downtown location specifically, I have a front row seat to all the urban core’s action. Many well known individuals have walked through our doors. Of course there has been some seedy characters and hostile customers as well. It would be too difficult to narrow down one specific event that has happened, so I’ll cover a few. Read more>>

Christina Torres

Many people are warned about shopping in antiques for fear of purchasing something possessed or has an attachment with the previous owners from beyond the grave. I have had an abundance of odd happenings and unexplainable scenarios over the years. From old dolls moving from one place to another, music boxes going off for no reason at all, and extremely old books literally flying off of shelves. Some items are displayed in my shop, but not for sale since I am pretty certain that someone other than the item would be going home with them as well. However, one time in particular stands out above the rest. Read more>>

Michael Womer

Working with Alligators for 30 years, I have quite a few “crazy” stories. I used to, during my demonstrations, swing out over a group of alligators on a rope and land on a huge boulder on the other side. Imagine the video game “Pitfall” but in real life. Once, as I was swinging over the gators, the rope swing snapped, plunging me directly on top of a dozen or so real live alligators. Not only did I miraculously survive but I did so without a scratch! Read more>>

Hatice Rosato

I moved here for college at 22 with the money I saved working for 4 years after high school. The money I saved at the time covered just 1 year of community college tuition and living expenses but I needed at least 2 years or show a person who will sign an affidavit for the school to become my “sponsor” My first sponsor in DC was my first boss who sold jewelry around town in multiple locations and set up every weekend at Eastern Market. She was a very well educated Turkish woman who built herself a comfortable life in DC. But after working for her about 9 months it turned out she was employing foreign students, firing them for minor reasons and never pay their last paycheck. Read more>>

Jen Bowen

One of the craziest things that has happened to me in my business is that I was Googled by Google! I teach in-person calligraphy workshops at various location around Houston/The Woodlands areas. At the beginning of this year, I received an email from a Workplace Program Coordinator for the Arts at Google program! This coordinator asked if she could bring me on to teach a calligraphy and Valentine’s Day card making workshop for their Googlers! I was shocked and surprised that someone from Google would find out about me and ask me to teach a virtual workshop open to all their employees around the world. When I asked the coordinator how she found me, she said she’d Googled me! Read more>>

Jes Weiner

I once booked a mural with a local pizza restaurant in my home town. I had drawn up two very different designs for my clients to choose from. The first design, however, had two color variants. Same design, different colors. So one could definitely argue that there were three different designs. My clients replied and told me they would like the second design. I arrived on site and started painting. My client stopped by a few hours into the job to see how it was progressing. It was then that I learned that I had started painting the WRONG design! When they told me they wanted the second design, they meant the second picture in the line up. Read more>>

Stanley Takwana Tongai

This was definitely a positive for me. It was a time when wedding season was in full effect and I was shooting one every 2 weeks. I was very grateful for the work but I could feel the exhaustion creeping in both physically and emotionally. I wasn’t very good at saying no to work. Especially having had a quiet year previously. Then I received a call from a soon to be bride and she explained that they had to let their photographer go because of her lack of communication and trust. And they wanted to see if I was available, in two weeks time! It fell on one of the two free weekends per month that I used to try and rest and recover. Read more>>

Ant Boogie

My venue, High Volume Music Live, had been open at the time for about two years. It has always been open to bands and groups for rehearsals but no one was wanting to use the venue to rehearse. Then one night the group H-Town rented it out for a rehearsal. I posted on Facebook that H-Town was at the venue rehearsing and then all of a sudden the phone wouldn’t stop ringing as everyone wanted to rent HVML out for their rehearsals. It literally took H-Town for people to realize if it was good enough for them to rent out then it was good enough for anyone.. Read more>>

Astrid Lange

In September of 2016 I had just gotten my dream camera (Canon 5D Mark IV) and was psyching myself up for its first “real” shoot, 3 Doors Down at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I immediately booked a flight from Florida and survived the next few weeks by relying on a reservoir of nervous energy, as well as projecting my excitement on any innocent bystander within earshot. As the monumental day crept closer and closer the Sunshine state, in all of its ironic glory, quite literally decided to rain on my parade; hurricane season was upon us. Read more>>

Misty Castaneda

It was January 2019 and I had just completed my most successful holiday season yet as a small business and felt that the pieces of my vision were beginning to come together. I still had a great deal to learn in the world of e-commerce, but I was grateful to be connecting with customers interested in inspiring the next generation of global citizens. Yet, there were still a lot of naysayers in the background saying my idea wouldn’t work, that young kids wouldn’t be able to connect with our message and that we wouldn’t generate enough sales to gain a foothold in the market. It’s true that my most successful holiday season hadn’t generated an earth-shattering amount of revenue, but it was enough to keep me going at the time. Read more>>

JJ Wes

How Do I Do It? How do I own and operate- a barber/ beauty shop, catering service, and lawn service all at once and being the primary if the not sole person doing all the work? ( and let’s not forget finishing my Masters in Business) Do everything by appointment. I have had 3 home lawns to cut, a chicken wing platter to prep and deliver, as well as 2 hair appointments and 2 pedicure appointments…all in one day. Plus a thesis paper due and an exam coming up. I am the sole operator for 2 of my 3 businesses. On a day like that, you can’t afford to sleep in or have a dead phone. I will start my day at 6 am and sometimes not finish my day until 3 am. Read more>>