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.

Julie Taing

Before I became a permanent makeup artist, I was a traveling makeup artist and spokesperson for Sephora. I was one of 12 elite artist representing Sephora both internally (product development, artistry education, content writing, you name it) and also externally (fashion week, red carpet, celebrity, print, influencer relations). Our job in the beginning was unique where we had to audition every year for it. This was about a 6 month process where all artist within the studio were able to audition, then through a series of challenges and 3 rounds they cut it down to top 30. The top 30 then compete in the big Sephora conference. Our work is judged by some of the leading artist. I remember I was already on the team so I had all this wild travel to Asia, San Francisco, New York while going through the audition process. By the time the finals hit I was dead tired and I remember the final walk way where we had to create an advant guarde look I bombed it. I could not find it in me to create anything because I was so exhausted. And the judges saw that it was bad. I thought my career was over but after crying my eyes out and talking to my colleagues I had to own it, accept it and have that honest talk with myself that everything happens for a reason and everyone is allowed a bad day. I had to come to radical acceptance that. As they were calling all the winners it was down to the last spot and I told myself if I don’t get called it was my time to bow out and if I was called that it was my time to learn to speak up for myself and give myself agency. Read more>>

Miranda Quigley

One of the big (or best) failures was financial and one we experienced in our early months of being open. We had originally used a specific payroll system that helped us get started when we began paying employees, and part of payroll includes paying taxes. Through the system we used, they would show that our payments were designated to either payroll and/or payroll taxes, and so I was relieved to know that the taxes were being taken care of each week. Read more>>

Bethany Moore

It’s easy to look at an ending and label it as a failure. Maybe it is because the timing wasn’t what was expected, or possibly because it ended poorly. For me, I left my full time corporate job in May of 2023 without a backup plan. I found myself with the opportunity to risk familiarity and venture on to running my own business. To be brutally honest, I didn’t plan for any of it and that is what scared me. I never let myself plan for something like this, because deep down I did not think I had it in me to run my own business. I desperately did not feel ready and quickly learned, not many do. I am so grateful for the jobs I had before, because they taught me everything I now put into practice. Just like parenting, I take the good, learn from the blindspots, and make it my own. I quickly realized that many great leaders started out this way. They took risks, they were resilient to the dream, and they kept on pushing. I now have to take my years of experience in supporting others dreams, and channel it all into my own. Read more>>

Danielle Bullock

I was invited to be apart of a pop-up event in the area. I was so excited. I made sure I was up early and get all of my bracelets and accessories organized and packed up in the car. I drive about 30 minutes away and arrive to the location a few minutes early. I begin to set up my things and wait for the people to arrive. Two hours later and no one has stopped by to see what was going on. I ended up selling no bracelets that day. I felt defeated but realized that atleast I can learn and grow from the experience. Read more>>

Phoebe Rotter

In 2019, I applied to 6 MFA programs. In 2020, I was rejected from all of them. I found out about the last rejection on March 12th, 2020, immediately after I’d quit my desk job to care for my grandparents, and immediately before Covid shutdowns began in the US. The world felt tiny, but also staggeringly huge; grief was everywhere and I had no time or desire to process the sadness of my rejections– they were puny in comparison to the waves of death and illness all around me. I felt completely lost. Through a stroke of pure luck, one of the programs I’d applied to placed me on the waitlist for their one-year Master’s of Arts program, and I was accepted. With very little sureness or stability in my world, I took out a loan, moved out of Vermont, and began school at SUNY Albany. I felt deeply unsure of both myself and my work– hadn’t it been rejected?– and so I began school thinking that I needed to become an oil painter. I’d been largely a self-taught artist at that point, and I’d worked for 4 years hand-painting signs for a grocery store. I was convinced that I needed to abandon all of my experience-earned skills and master a completely new (and very specific, important) technique to deserve a spot in art school. Fortunately, my mentor JoAnne Carson reminded me that I could use what I knew and make interesting work. It seems simple now, but I was so mired in my failure, so bogged down by those rejections, that I was allowing them to devour my actual artistic drive. What I know now is that rejections from big, life-changing opportunities are not allowed to dictate whether or not I keep trying. They hurt! They also don’t disqualify me from my work, from trying new things, or from continuing to create work with skills both new and old. Read more>>

Madison Paul

When I started Face Fuel I originally created a Instagram, Yelp and Facebook page. I was juggling my time with so many other tasks that I decided to hire an advertising/marketing company. They offered help with creating a website, and posting to my facebook page. At first it sounded like a great deal so I thought, “might as well invest in an online presences.” In the end they weren’t posting much and didn’t have the same vision for Face Fuel as me. When I decided I no longer needed the help I didn’t realize I had a contract with them for 6 months. In the end it was a learning opportunity to always read the fine print, have a clear understanding of what you want advertised and promoted for your business otherwise it won’t be clear to your clients. Read more>>

 Marline Paul

For me, failure is not so much about the outcome as it is about the lessons learned throughout the journey. I don’t view setbacks as true defeat, but rather opportunities for growth. When I reflect on my life, I originally intended to launch my entrepreneurship long ago when my husband first enlisted. Our military relocation was going to be my chance to finally leave teaching and build my own business. However, that first attempt did not pan out as planned. I still had to return to the classroom at our new duty station. While some may have seen going back to teaching as a failure after telling others I would be leaving, I chose to see it as a period for strategic development. I used that time to invest in professional and personal growth and hire coaches to shift my mindset into one of abundance and determination. Read more>>

Holly Vinson

Most of my story could really be considered a failure to some people. I was one of those High School Graduates that had no idea what to do next. I found myself at an expensive private institution studying the subjects of Math & Physics. It was fun, I was good at it, and enjoyed it. Then I experienced a serious injury my sophomore year and that experience developed severe depression and anxiety. That hindered my performance at school. I went from an AB student to struggling to just get a passing D. I was failing so poorly that my advisor and TWO Heads of Departments suggested I choose a new major. My GPA was about to drop so far that I would lose my scholarship, so not only did I have to change my major, I had to change schools all together and ended up in my local community college. Read more>>