We asked some brilliant entrepreneurs, artists and creatives to reflect on lessons they’ve learned at prior jobs. We’ve shared highlights below.

Christina Martinez

My entrepreneur journey started in 2019. I had previously worked in the media field for five years and while I loved my career and am thankful for what it taught me, I was ready for a change. I had built incredible relationships in the community and felt passionately about working directly for them. In the spring of 2019, I founded my first business, Christina Martinez Consulting. I offered a wide variety of services that reflected my skillsets. Read more>>

Matt Miranda

The most important lesson I learned from an old job that has helped me as a business owner came from working at a restaurant. In my early 20’s, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I took time off from college and worked full-time at a restaurant in Houston, TX, called Carrabba’s. The cool thing about this is that our family used to go to the restaurant basically every week for dinner. You could say I grew up in the restaurant. Read more>>

Gail Rudolph

I started out clueless, as the only full-time employee at a community foundation. My boss was part time and more often than not, I did the majority of the work while he took the majority of the credit. So I regularly starting asking for a raise, which my boss denied, citing the irrelevant fact that I received child support as a single mom of two children. Finally, I resigned and moved on. But I learned that I had been unknowingly giving my power away. Read more>>

Marie Tabuena-urriola

Important lesson I had learned is to always put agreements in writing. Many people sign up for training with the best intentions. Unfortunately, there are many that lose their commitment and want to back out of the agreement. Putting everything in writing allows no room for misunderstandings and clarifies the boundaries and commitments determined on both parties. Read more>>

Dr. Chester Wilson

My professional experience includes serving as a Vice President of Quality Improvement and as a College Professor. These professional positions assisted me in developing and preparing me for entrepreneurship. However, these positions also held me from displaying all of my acquired skills. I felt I had more to give and wanted to be more diverse in displaying my talents. However, due to the nature of the positions, I was limited in what I could do within that position. Read more>>

Rhys Williams

Building relationships in this business is more important than competence. To be clear, you need to know what you are doing as a given. But building trust and the subsequent success from that, takes time. That is something that I continually remind myself of. It’s easy to lose track of your long-term goals in the hecticness of the day to day. It is hard to stay motivated through disappointments and unexpected challenges that arise. Read more>>

Mona Harry

The most important lesson and experience I had on a prior job was learning how to guard the heart of other people. I worked with a lady who was a single mom with one child. This lady was in her late forties; maybe her early fifties. Unfortunately, the child’s father was not in their lives and with having her first and only child so late in life this made things difficult for her. She always had a negative attitude and the other co-workers didn’t care to be around her. If someone said good morning she would respond by either saying, Read more>>

SAILID

Being a prior enlisted Marine the number on thing I experienced most was safety briefs and to pay attention to detail. As a creative artist/entrepreneur it is extremely critical, detrimental rather to do so. It can be marketing, environmental awareness, or data analysis. These methods and experiences taught me to assess risk and better prepare for any and everything I may encounter for success. Read more>>

Julian Amerally

Being direct about what you want to do one an important lesson I’ve learned from my prior job. We can’t assume that people will interpret what we say correctly so it’s always better to be real and direct about what you want or you won’t get anything done the way it should be for yourself. Read more>>

Melanie Holder

An important lesson that I learned at a past job is that sometimes bad things happen to good-even great- people and the journey is not always what you expect, but with hard wok and perseverance, it all works out for the best! The story begins with a well-known private school that was facing lawsuits for not being able to meet the nutritional needs of all students. As a Registered Dietitian, I was hired to help. Read more>>

Jason Louissaint

Working as an Executive Chef in an independent restaurant is a task and learning experience. I would recommend an aspiring Chef to go the corporate route when working for someone. There’s more structure, discipline, guidance, and methods you can utilize into your craft and even on business if you were to ever go that route. Working for an independent restaurant “mom and pop” is always the same thing, lack of knowledge of the industry and business. The owners just have capital and that is no way to operate a business nor is that a way to excel and learn as a Chef. Read more>>

Dalia Sherif

There are numerous lessons I learned and each of them has an enthralling backstory. Perhaps the most important of which is that ‘comparison is the thief of joy’. As someone once put it, “popcorn is prepared in the same pot, in the same heat, and in the same oil, yet the kernels do not all pop at the same time, your turn to ‘pop’ is coming”. Upon my graduation from college, I chose to be a stay at home mom for 3 years just to witness my baby’s developmental milestones and enjoy my early parenthood. Read more>>