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.

Rachel Wojo

Fear and faith collided in our household when my husband lost his job. With five children depending on us for stability, the weight of financial responsibility suddenly shifted. I had multiple income streams through my website, email list, and Shopify store, but I needed a larger income stream than I ever had before. Read more>>

Catalina Rojo Ianetta

Entrepreneurship has a way of throwing you into situations you never imagined, and for me, that moment came with my very first wedding client. It was supposed to be a picture-perfect Cape Cod wedding—sunset on the beach, a tented reception with oyster shell design details, and a steel drum player setting the tone for an unforgettable evening. But Mother Nature had other plans. Read more>>

Candace

The craziest story also happens to be the beginning. Just out of high school, my mother asked what I wanted my next steps to be. When I replied with “I want to be a hair stylist”,I was met with some push back. “You’ll be working on your feet all day”, “you won’t have any benefits”, “a job like that doesn’t have any job security”. So without any direction of my own, I enrolled in UNM. I performed very poorly. I dropped out, moved to Hawaii for a year and when I returned to New Mexico, I knew that pursuing my passions would be the next step to happiness. I got a job at a credit union as a teller and enrolled myself in night classes at a seemingly hip beauty school that was located right off of central, near UNM at the time. I was so excited! Read more>>

Kristin Green

I don’t know if craziest is the right word, I would use impactful. While helping a capsule closet client declutter her closet I asked her, “What inspired your minimalist journey?” Her answer stuck with me ever since she shared her deeper ‘why.’ She said, “I realized I needed minimalism, to finally get my home in order because I want to realize my dream of finally opening a sandwich shop. The first step in doing that is it get my home in order.” This for sure was a mic drop moment for me and why I am so passionate about what I do. It’s not just aesthetics, having a pretty space, it changes everything. Decluttering and having the right systems in place to create a simple, peaceful home is the vehicle to focus on what matters, you can fill in the blank here. Read more>>