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.

Leia Baez

I used to despise the “F” word – failure. I didn’t talk about it or bring it up in conversation. In fact, I preferred to talk about my achievements. I was proud that people knew me as a successful Latina and an award-winning journalist. But in 2015, my perspective changed when my life was flipped upside down. I went from feeling like I had everything – I was a homeowner, a wife, a mother – to nearly losing it all. I had to prove to a judge that I was worthy of being a mother in the first round of a lengthy custody battle with my soon-to-be ex-husband. Read more>>

Carlita Pitts

When I first launched my business, I needed to do more research on what to charge for my services. My prices were so low – I booked many clients but quickly experienced burnout, in some cases, a lack of motivation. I quickly learned that I had to do more research on pricing and redo my pricing structure. Read more>>

Kaylia Lundgren

Before doing what I am now, I was working in the tech industry. I had a passion for tech startups and spent an entire year working on one. We pivoted 5 times. We started out working in the medical space until we realized there was too much red tape to grow fast enough. So we shifted to a dating app. Vastly different I know. It was a really cool concept that everyone was starting to love. Until App Store denied us due to a saturated market. So although we had already built the app we had to move on. Read more>>

Heather Southerland

This succeeding story of Rite Events is almost entirely about failure. Ironically, this story will post nearly a year to the date after the first, which was a lovely ode to my small business’s beginnings. Rite Events experienced six months of an upward climb before I had to halt all further progress. After such a successful start and seeing my dream begin to unfold, nothing made me feel as contemptible as I did when I suddenly had to dismiss new clients. Read more>>

Dr. Jack Mustard

In developing Advanced Body Foods we encountered failure many times and in many forms before we began to see success. I saw a dream to help people all over the world with the science, knowledge, and superfood supplements that we created in clinical practice. Many friends, family and other professionals friends did not support or listen to our dream. Read more>>

Meme Green

Life lessons are the biggest teachers. I remember I was set to release my second self-published book. It felt like the release of a second album and I was afraid of the sophomore jinx. I was in such a rush to release and ride the wave of the success from my first book. I didn’t hire an editor. I decided to self-edit which was a mistake. I needed an extra eye to review the work. I was too attached to it. Read more>>