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.

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

Throughout my career, I’ve published over 90 stories–and received over 1,500 rejections. To make it as a writer, you have to thicken your skin to rejection, because it’s a certainty. Building that thick skin takes time, maybe some therapy, and a change in thought patterns. I had to learn that it’s not always about the work itself, but about the individual tastes of the editors and the circumstances of the magazine. Read more>>

Carina Walker

My 1-Star Review When I was first starting out professionally, I made a generic contract for potential clients and I sent it for review with a lawyer in the business. Years later to my dismay, one particular father of a bride completely rewrote my contract! Furthermore, his presumptuousness led him to change not only my pricing but also my entire structure as a business. Read more>>

Kristian DePue

First off, thank you for this opportunity to be featured. I’ve previously done Q&As with VoyageDenver and Shoutout Colorado, so this is like round-three. Before I answer the first question, asking about a failure I’ve experienced, I should probably provide a quick introduction. I was born and raised in northern Indiana — a Hoosier growing up surrounded by cornfields, dairy farms and gravel roads. My rural hometown, Winamac, is located along the Tippecanoe River in Pulaski County with a population about 2,500. Read more>>

Mica Rose

The most significant failure we have had as a company was when we recently did not get to open our physical location. It was our first time ever having to lease for our business and the leasing agent did not tell us that we needed to get a building permit. It was not until a couple of days prior to the move in that we found out from someone that we would need a building permit. When we contacted the city, we were told that we could not do retail out of the location because the area was not zoned for retail. Read more>>