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.

Leeza Maroe

This is more of a general thing as opposed to a specific circumstance. I started singing when I was a kid, and I never had any doubts about loving music or singing, especially not at such a young age. No one around me was involved in music professionally, so my grasp of how it all works behind the scenes was basically non existent, and my awareness of what it takes to be in the industry was completely absent. Read more>>

Susie Mccolgan

Life’s issues present themselves throughout our journey here on earth. Some of the early issues were money, balancing a new family, babies, jobs etc. and our need to survive financially. I always put others and our family needs first which meant the world to me, which meant my art career was not fully given the attention it needed. Or my fear would block me. That being said, I did have a good career with great clientele. when my parents grew ill and starting aging we moved in with them to take care of them. Life happens and my heart always chose love first. Then in 2019 I was in a life-threatening accident and everything stopped. Read more>>

Maksim Mizgirev

One of the most surprising challenges in my creative journey came when I moved to the U.S. about a year and a half ago. Having spent time living and working in Europe and Asia, I thought I’d seen just about every approach to fashion. But stepping into the American fashion scene? Let’s just say I quickly realized it was a whole different world. Imagine showing up to a jazz concert, guitar in hand, ready to rock out—you know music, sure, but it’s not quite the right vibe. Read more>>

Katelyn Johnson

When I was in the “product development” stage of Katsby Covers, I had an entirely different plan for handling the printing process. And I had to change that plan multiple times. After figuring out the dimensions I needed for my dust jackets, I looked into custom-size printing. After all, a book cover (approx 9″ tall and 22″ inches wide) isn’t exactly a “standard” photo size. However, it’s very difficult – and very expensive – to get a printing company to create a print and cut it to size if it doesn’t fall into one of the “normal” dimensions (ex: poster size, photo size, etc.). Dropshipping and professional printing alike…it just wasn’t going to work. Read more>>