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.

Svetlana Pustova

When I first launched my YouTube channel, it was an exhilarating experience. The growth was incredible, and every piece of content seemed to resonate with my audience. However, as with everything that rises, there came a point where the growth plateaued and then started to decline. Read more>>

Sherry McClurkin

Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know and don’t know that you don’t know it. I learned the hard way I didn’t know what I needed to know about the financial side of running a business. I founded and ran a small business with a handful of employees for 6 years. Read more>>

Gina Ahtof

Early in my business, there was a company that I really wanted to work with. I didn’t have experience working with this kind of organization, but it was interesting to me so I persisted. I asked networking friends to connect me, but that wasn’t successful. I tried to ask them directly but it didn’t work. Read more>>

Danielle Gilbert

Certainly, I believe that embracing our failures is as crucial as celebrating our successes. One memorable failure occurred early in my career when I was leading a significant project to overhaul the HR system for a major corporation. Enthusiastic and confident, I pushed forward with a comprehensive plan without securing adequate buy-in from all key stakeholders. Read more>>

Melissa Pepin and Corry Frazier

2023 was the year it felt like we couldn’t sell anything with The Business Reboot. We ended 2022 having successfully sold two retreats for entrepreneurs, selling out our first $30,000 Mastermind, and wholeheartedly believing the old adage, “if you build it they will come!” Read more>>