Over the years, after talking with tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, artists and creatives, almost every success story we’ve heard has been filled with stories of failure. Unfortunately, in our view the media rarely covers these parts of the story – instead we often read summaries that make it seem like success happened “overnight.” However, what we’ve learned in our conversations with so many successful folks is that failure is core ingredient in the recipe for future success. Below, we’ve shared some fascinating stories of failure from folks who have ultimately found great success.

Kristin Fair

My main product is flour sack towels screen-printed with my designs. There is a lot of skill that goes into that, both from the printmaking side and from the design side, and it doesn’t always go well. In fact, I had one design that was absolutely adorable when I printed it on paper, but when I attempted to print it on a towel, it all fell apart! Printing on fabric is different than paper and you have to design with that in mind. Read more>>

LaBronze Garrett

About two years ago, my girlfriend was in a horrible car accident on my daughter’s birthday. I called and let her know what happened. My daughters sweet sixteen birthday party was that same weekend. Now at the time my car was in the shop, so we were sharing a car. The car was totaled from the accident. The accident happened on Wednesday. Her party was on Saturday. There was a shortage on rental cars, so we were without a vehicle. Read more>>

Elizabeth Emmanuel

Before I became a judge, I was a prosecutor for a district attorney’s office. So that means that I have seen my fair share of trials. And I mean that literally because my first trial was perhaps the greatest failure that I experienced in my legal career. Prosecuting a career criminal who had crashed a 10,000 pound stolen semi-tractor trailer truck into a home while the homeowners were inside of the home sleeping was supposed to be my introduction to trial victory. But it ended up being my introduction to defeat. Read more>>

Sydney Durham

Failure is my friend. As a costumer, mockups are a must. As a historical costumer, they are constant. Trying to bring a piece of clothing to life that hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years is hard. You cannot just go to a craft store to buy a pattern; Esty can only get you so far if you are going for a niche. As I’ve grown in my costuming career, I’ve moved away from premade patterns and now draft them myself, which takes a lot more time and is labor-intensive. It also doubles my mockups. Read more>>