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.

Andrea Osuna

Early in my career, I had the exciting opportunity to embark on a journey as a food photographer for a prominent restaurant chain in Guatemala. My enthusiasm soared as I ventured into this new endeavor, and after successfully completing two photoshoots with them, I felt confident about the challenges that awaited me. Little did I anticipate the level of difficulty some of the dishes on the menu would pose. Read more>>

Alejandro Bras

I’ve suffered loads of failures. I co-founded a toy company after a career in law, so I had nearly zero experience in how to make a physical product, let alone sell it. Sometimes that inexperience has been an advantage since we’re less encumbered by the “right” way to do things and more free to create. But, lots of times its not! A recent failure of mine comes to mind as a great learning opportunity. Coming into the holiday season, we were very excited to be launching a number of new products. We planned far in advance (a lesson we learned through previous failures) and had everything in perfect order for a successful launch. Read more>>

Jewelie Rhodes

A client was referred to me for an invitation suite. I talked to the wedding planner who told me specific things the bride wanted in her invitation. When she reached out she sent a few examples of what she liked. They were all acrylic invitations which at the time I didn’t do. I designed an invitation which she loved and we moved forward. After everything was complete I sent her a photo of the final product, she lived out of state. She messaged me she hated the invitation. She couldn’t see her wedding ring in the small photo that was included on the invitation but she could in the digital design I sent. I tried to explain why a photo of a photo would not be as clear as in person but it didn’t sway her. I gave a full refund on a completed wedding suite, printed envelopes, and all. Read more>>

Kameishia Wooten

In the early stages of my career, I attended a networking event where filmmakers engaged in rapid-fire 5-minute meetings with creative executives. Generally, these events didn’t involve pitching, so my expectations were modest; I saw them as general introductions. However, to my surprise, one executive asked me about my ongoing projects, prompting me to pitch a script that wasn’t yet polished. To my astonishment, the executive expressed interest in reading the script and requested it for the next day. Read more>>

Dean Earls

I do and I firmly believe the most profound lessons are found in our struggles and failures. My biggest failure in business was losing my dream business. My dream was always to own a commercial recording studio. In 2019 I realized that dream and funded the majority of a company called Playback LA. After a series of personal losses and misfortune, I fell into a dark period of my life around the time of COVID-19. Read more>>

Ponchitta Lanoue

When I launched my business, I started with $20,000! That’s more than enough to start if you operate on a low budget! However, I tried to go too big too fast and my expenses ate all of my capital up! That’s when I learned very valuable lessons about the importance of watching my finances! Unfortunately, not long after I had launched, my then husband filed for divorce! I launched a business and failed and my husband was divorcing me all within 18 months! It would take me five years to recover! Those were the toughest five years of my life! Read more>>

Jasmin Chew

Looking back at it now, I don’t think it was necessarily ME who failed, but I felt like I had failed my family. Growing up in a somewhat tradition Chinese Canadian family, my sibling and I were raised to be good in school, get good grades, go to University and get a good paying job in business. I felt like I was being pulled in a direction I didn’t want to go to. I was always creative, adventurous and wanted to express myself differently and I let me parents down when they found that out about me. I never went to University, high school is my highest education level. Read more>>