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.
Daisy Segura
I started my business in December of 2022, after losing my 18-year-old daughter to an osteosarcoma childhood cancer relapse.
Grief and loss is very difficult to navigate, and I found crafting helped keep my mind and hands occupied. I started initially spending time in my daughter’s room, and slowly made room for a desk and other items. It became my safe space and place of solace.
After some encouragement from my sister, I decided to start a business, creating personalized gifts. At first, I was unsure of what that would look like, but with time, I started focusing more on custom drink ware and apparel. Read more>>
Bryan Schubert
6 months after opening COVID changed our business model. Which included selling to-go beer in cans. We luckily were able to buy cans from a local brewery in Festus, Main and Mill, and started single canning beers one by one to stay afloat. The community really supported us through that time, including local breweries, so while it was a huge struggle, it also brings back some fond memories.
Outside of that, probably nothing much different than all the challenges any other small business owner experiences. Read more>>
Miri (mj) Hunter
Such a timely question for me. I realized tonight at dinner that since 2019 I have been dealing with major life shifts. My mom died in 2019, then there was COVID in 2020 and 2021, then I had a serious illness in 2022 that kept me in bed for months and now at the end of 2024, my dad passed away. Talk about unexpected problems!! Life Changes!! Yeah!
In the beginning, the grief of my mother’s passing and then being quarantined led to a huge creative cycle of writing, producing and painting. In some ways it was the opposite of what I thought I would feel. I threw myself into art. The culmination of this was a one person cabaret style show that I wrote and still perform entitled “Musings of a Black Woman in a Brown Desert.” In short, the embodiment of those energies and transformation. Read more>>
June Vanotterdyk
Knowing yourself and your worth are key to navigating any problem you will face in this industry.
When you start trying to take that big first step into the Entertainment industry its all too natural to feel anxious. There is no one straightforward way of getting into the career you want. Despite any training you may have you still feel like it may not be up to industry standard. Not to mention you may not know anyone who can even help you get in. After all, its a very collaborative field and having someone there to vouch for you can mean the difference between getting a job or not. You worked so hard to get here and after having to work in retail, food service, and car insurance you’re really eager to start doing what you WANTED to do. Desperate even. Read more>>
Romain Kapadia
COVID was by far the most challenging period we’ve faced in our business. Exacerbating this was the fact that we had taken a large loan to buy out our investors just a few months prior, and with mandatory shutdowns, there was no cash flow to cover these payments, let alone run our business. In the beginning few months, it truly felt like the world was ending. Read more>>
John Quinonez
There are numerous paths to becoming a producer or artist, rather than a singular approach. The essential factor is consistency. In my view, maintaining consistency can be both a challenge and a straightforward endeavor; it is a double-edged sword, particularly in today’s environment where access to information and connectivity is abundant, yet competition remains intense. Read more>>
Jasmine Myrick
One of the unexpected problems was thinking, and being told that my gas line was sufficient by my electrician and being told a week before my grand opening scheduled for the next week with city officials attending .the gas company ,told me that I need a gas line installed and they have to break the ground and it will take three months . It wind up taking an another year to open the restaurant . So for a whole year there was no revenue, and the bills still had to be paid . Read more>>