Having to overcome unexpected problems is a hallmark of entrepreneurship. Almost every business owner, artist, maker, and creative we know has had to deal with countless unexpected problems that arise in the journey and so we asked some brilliant folks from the community to share their stories of the unexpected problems they’ve faced along the way.

Hannah Cole

I was so excited when I began my career as a painter. But when I left art school, it hit me hard that I was going to have to do my taxes, and that included figuring out a suite of other things – what I could deduct, how to track that, bookkeeping, self-employment tax, and setting up retirement accounts. I went to my dad’s accountant, and was shocked at how bad I felt doing so. He had no idea what a professional artists looked like, and he treated me like an amateur and an unserious person. Read more>>

Stoned Mary.

As a band who formed during the height of the pandemic the biggest unexpected challenge was creating music and content while quarantining separately. We collaborated online and filmed music videos in separate locations when we first started out. This would be our Gentlemen music video! Originally, we were a 4 piece band with Tani playing bass as well as singing lead. The challenge this presented was that Tani felt like she wasn’t able to give both instruments her all and ultimately we decided it would be best to bring in a 5th member. Read more>>

Nzinga Moore.

My personal story of transformation began a few years ago when I moved to Los Angeles… Like for many young hopefuls, things didn’t go as planned. My life became consumed by the worst “survival job” I’d ever had, leaving me zero time to audition or energy to devote to my acting career. Amid all this, I was dealing with a variety of mental health diagnoses due to persistent depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and mood disorders. I was prescribed different types of medication, but nothing seemed to solve the problem. Read more>>

Anna Partlow

After graduating high school, I made the decision to pursue design in college. I was dedicated and passionate, and I couldn’t foresee many issues arising. My goal was to work as hard as I possibly could to get a degree so that I could have a direct path to pursue the field of my dreams. This, however, became much harder for me over time. After spending the first two years of my college experience trying to meet deadlines, keep my bills paid, and deal with ongoing mental health issues, all while trying to stay creative, I found myself going through an intense burn out.  Read more>>

Miss Dior.

The most unexpected problem I faced with my business involved trademarks. Someone knowingly copied my business name after I followed them on social media. They persisted to even get a logo very similar to mine and made one small change to the name by adding one extra letter. I immediately started doing research on how to trademark my name. It seemed pretty simple at first, but I was in a rush. Read more>>

Imani Todd.

Being in the beauty industry is not for everyone and most people who come into this field of business lack knowledge in the seasonal ups and downs of this business. My first full year of being a braider I came to realization that as the seasons change the number of clients you service will go up and down. For example: Our busiest seasons are Summer and Spring and during the Winter and Fall our clientele slows down. Read more>>

Missi Jay

This year began like any normal year. My plate was full of fun, creative projects to keep me busy, and I had just outlined my list of “goals” I wanted to achieve in 2022. In March, I was on my path to achieving some of those goals already when my doctor called with some surprising news — I had breast cancer. I couldn’t feel my legs. Or my face. I thought I was having a bad dream and I would wake up in a moment. I just sat at my desk staring at my computer, held my head in my hands, and cried. Hard. Read more>>

CAYLEA

Comparison of timeline is probably still my biggest problem. It’s easy to look around at your peers in any industry and wonder why you aren’t where they are yet, or why you haven’t reached certain goals yet. For most type A personality creatives like myself, it’s rarely a lack of effort, although that is the number one question that plagues my mind – am I doing enough? Usually, yes, but it may be a matter of how you’re going about something, or it simply isn’t the right time. Read more>>

Alexander Morris

The most unexpected problem was going through weeks or months without any clients booking. I had to realize I needed to market myself more outside of my city to really become successful. I started running social media ads and posting flyers in different places to get noticed. I also had to try and do stuff that other videographers weren’t doing. If you set a trend and become the first to do something you garner more attention that way Read more>>

Susana House

When I first started my creative journey I was both excited and scared. I wasn’t sure where to start I just knew I wanted to express my artist side as much as possible and also find a way to share my talents with the world. So in between my nine to five job I researched about my newly found interests, that I found allowed me to express myself in different ways. These interests are spirituality, herbal medicine, painting, writing, videography, fashion, the list went on. Shortly after I ran into my first issue, not having enough time to do all that my mind wanted to do. Read more>>

Victoria Tunstall

As a business owner you run into a variety of things whether it’s financial or if it’s personal or anything that you’re dealing with at that point of time. It’s even more harder when you are a single parent and you are working multiple jobs trying to make your dreams come true as well as taking care of your family fun sometimes can be low because unexpected expenses happen and if you’re not prepared for them it deplete all the funds that you may need. Read more>>

 

Lydia Chadwick.

While I was pursuing my degree in studio art I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I found myself in a deep pit of despair and self-loathing some weeks and in others, I felt like I was on top of the world. This entirely disrupted my schoolwork. I struggled so hard with waking up in the morning and feeling motivated. My grades became so bad I was put on academic probation and had to take a semester off. During my time away I began going to therapy. Read more>>

Lainey Melnick

The travel industry is packed full of continual unexpected problems. A large part of my job is to manage conflict and issues for my clients so I take on all that stress and they can just enjoy the travel and adventure experience. A travel advisor and entrepreneur must be a skilled problem solver to be successful. This is my fifth business and after a long executive career in the high tech industry, dabbling in politics, and with decades of experience in communications, media, filmmaking, personnel management, technology, website development, retail sales, restaurant and hospitality management, major account sales, channel marketing, product management and service, Read more>>

Rachel Jackson

As the founder of a nonprofit organization our biggest issue was, how are we going to get the capital to help complete our mission. We had a vision and had every idea in mind as to how to implement that mission ,we just didn’t completely factor in that completing that mission was going cost money.. After-all the services we were going to be providing to the community were going to be free workshops. Read more>>

Christa Suppan

Owning a restaurant/bar is full of unexpected problems and issues. From deliveries to point of sale systems, you never quite know what the day or evening will bring. To say you always have to be ready to pivot is an understatement! Running a business like mine has always had its “situations” but nothing like 2020. Read more>>

Kela Johnson

COVID -19 put a halt to my business. Cosmetics are part of my business and lip products were my main focus. Once COVID hit masks were required so lips were no longer visible. My sales began to decline and I was forced to take a break. Read more>>