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 Robben

I love this question because business owners never talk about their failures and it’s quite literally inevitable to experience failures in the journey to success. I closed my successful ballet school located in Cincinnati, OH in 2021 because I felt constrained and wanted to grow my business to reach more people across the nation. I then moved to Miami, FL with my husband to re-strategize and get inspired. I decided to start an online ballet inspired boutique and I had an inventory of about 300 items. Read more>>

Molly Blakeley

I made a bad business move and ended up being fraud by a slick couple. After being in business for 25 years I found my self with nothing. I was a single mom and $150 in my pocket. I was devastated, with no time to sit and be broke! So I started making gourmet cookies. It started slow, about 20 boxes a week, then exploded into 45 boxes a day after just 3 months! Read more>>

Nicole Tabak

This happened about a year into my professional baking career and I was still fairly new to the industry. I got this order for a super, cool beer mug cake. It was supposed to be a beer mug made out of 4 layers of 6 inch round cakes. It was probably one of the first times I had to sculpt and model a handle out of fondant. I was TERRIFIED. I wasn’t really sure how to tackle it. Read more>>

Jake Schwartz

As a performer, I’ve experienced failure a LOT. One particular time, I was performing with a buddy of mine and we wrote this whole routine over the course of an entire summer. We finally get to perform it, and the routine builds to this impossible crescendo. The audience is audibly saying “no way, no way” as we build to the ending. I finally get to reveal the card that came from an impossible location under an impossible set of circumstances, and the spectator says “that’s not my card.” Read more>>

Taylor Ellwood

In 2017 I had to shutdown my coaching business. I had made some mistakes by stepping away from networking and investing a lot in online marketing without understanding how much bigger of an investment it would be, in terms of advertising cost and also putting together a program that was sellable. Once I realized that I couldn’t sustain my business I shut it down and got a job at a customer support center. Read more>>