Doing things your way is one of the best parts of being your own boss and when done right seems to be highly correlated with outsized success. So, we wanted to gather real-world examples to shed more light on how the best artists, entrepreneurs and leaders differentiate themselves from others in their respective industries.
Karen La Rosa
Most people have limited vacation time, and it is precious. Why then are people looking to cut corners at every turn, using third parties and faceless online services and algorithms to try to piece together this important time? The travel industry has countless tools to connect you to a form, to an impersonal tour, to autofill everything, and make you decide on your own what’s worth it or not. Read More>>
Andrew Nowling
When I first got into this industry 30 years ago, we were limited to plants, trees in containers, and cut brush to be added on skeleton trees, and replaced over and over again, to create our exterior sets for film. When creating environments in studio stages, using live plants requires moving them outdoors after a few days in order to give them sunshine and water, which is time and labor intensive. That also can disrupt schedules, and limited my ability to build sets that looked close to nature the way I wanted. Read More>>
Tina Pech
At Sawdust + Stain, every piece we create tells a story. My husband and I work side by side, turning reclaimed wood, upcycled baseball gloves, and other materials into earrings, gifts, and keepsakes that carry both history and heart. Unlike mass-produced designs, each item reflects our family’s creativity and the memories embedded in the materials—whether it’s the nostalgia of a hometown team or the character of a piece of wood that’s been given a second life. Together, we transform everyday materials into meaningful pieces that are personal, timeless, and full of love. Read More>>
Adam Snook
The film industry can feel impossible to break into. Too often, success depends on being born into the right network or paying steep tuition just to secure an internship and learn the ropes. For many independent filmmakers, that is why guerrilla-style production becomes the first choice. It strips away bureaucracy and focuses on telling stories in their rawest, most authentic form. Read More>>
Carrie Baines
I have a lot of freedom being an oil painter. I’m my own boss, I make my own decisions. Even in painting custom pieces, I decide if it’s something I’d enjoy painting, and am able turn a job down for any reason.
The older I get, the fewer custom jobs I want to accept, as I prefer the freedom of painting exactly what I want to paint, when I want to paint it. Read More>>
China Schmitz
Yes. One of the biggest ways I’m running my brokerage, Grow Realty differently is by keeping the books open and putting a cap on my own income. Read More>>
Samantha Levi
One of the biggest ways I diverge from the industry standard is that I don’t see photography as a transactional service — I see it as transformation through image-making. A lens of truth. While much of the industry focuses on polished, curated branding, I created something I call Visual Alchemy. Read More>>
Matthew Shaffer
Many recording studios give you exactly what you pay for. You give them X amount of dollars and they give you basically a demo. The only way to get a better sound is to pay way more than you can afford or hope for a record deal to pay for the studio time. It is highly unlikely to get a deal now that won’t hurt the artist financially. Read More>>