Risk is a topic that comes up a lot in our conversations with entrepreneurs and creatives, but a related topic is investments. Investments come in many forms – investing your time, money, heart and soul, etc. So, with that broad definition of investment in mind, we asked rising stars in the community to tell us the stories of the best or worst investments they’ve made.

Alicia Skiver-Palmer

I started my photography business back in 2013. I was young, I just had my first child and I HATED having to leave him every day for work. I was always taking pictures of our dogs or of nature and after I had my first child, my husband bought me my first DSLR camera. I knew then, that I wanted to open a photography studio. Not just any photography studio, but one where I focused most of my attention on new babies and families. That was where my passion lies. Fast forward several years, Read more>>

Cheyenne Morris

The best investment that I’ve made in my photography business is, hands down, education. And when I say education, I don’t mean majoring in photography because I didn’t. I majored in Biology which is basically as far away from creativity as you can get. By education, I mean online courses, mentorships, in person lectures and photoshoots, etc. Read more>>

Chaz Mazzota

The best investment I ever made was in time and energy into myself and my community. As a creative and artist, financial abundance is a bit harder to come by so by committing to learning more and more about producing visual/audio content, marketing and design, I am able to bring that into my community so we all grow together. Read more>>

Pascal Kinsey

One of the best investments that I could make is investing in a good camera but investing more into lenses. When I first started as a photographer, I was using the standard kit lens that came with the camera, nothing was wrong with that however I knew that wasn’t going to be a lens that I will use forever. I wanted my pictures crisp, clear and sharp. I got on Youtube and started watching videos on good lenses. However, I didn’t realize that they were going to be crazy expensive. I saved for a couple of months and bought my first great piece of glass, it was a Sigma Art Lens 24mm 1.4. Read more>>

Melissa Maschek

The best investment(s) I’ve made in my business have been in regards to education- courses, business coaches, books I’ve read, etc. I’ve realized that you can avoid a lot of mistakes by learning from others example. Also it is really beneficial to get an outsiders opinion. Having a coach in the first year of my business was so beneficial to give me guidance on which areas I needed to dedicate more time to developing and action steps to get from point A to point B. Read more>>

Marcus Alland

The absolute best investment I made in myself so far was that I took time to work on producing. So at the age of 14, I was on vacation in Georgia with my older brother at his apartment. I was woken up by a loud banging noise from the next room which was his bedroom. I thought something was wrong so I went to his room to make sure everything was okay and he told me to come in. I asked him what was he doing and he told me he was making beats. I was a bit intrigued so I asked him “how do you do that?” Read more>>

Mia Dunlap

The best investment I’ve ever made is in my self-development. I spent years having grown up in poverty on the Southside of Chicago in abusive circumstances from being stolen from, be waken by gunshots outside my window and body blows and screams within my home— it was traumatic. I remember being 12 years old telling my mom, who was battling addiction, I’m going away to college and not coming back and her saying, “you staying your behind right here.” Ten years later I graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta— and moved to New York for ten years one week following graduation. Read more>>

Alvin Parker

This, is a phenomenal question and the answer is something share with everyone: Investing in a mentor.
Even so, with a twist, during the COVID shutdown in 2020. Let’s rewind a bit leading up to this moment – Long story short; I’ve always been subconsciously into photography. Even in high school when Instagram first made it debut, I was always taking photos of everything around me for the fun of it (and now I had somewhere to share my view of the world.) Read more>>

Rachel Dorneanu

The best investment I’ve made in my business has been hiring social media and research interns. I truly felt that I was drowning in balancing clients and marketing. I didn’t have a life. Then my husband and I brainstormed and came up with the idea to bring on an intern or two. The startup was a bit slow to begin, but after a year of multiple rounds of interns, I’ve got a great system for hiring and training interns. They’re excited for the experience and I’m grateful for the help in marketing my business. Now, I have a blog post editor, 2 social media interns, and 2 research interns. Read more>>

Zach Attwood

My best investment was definitely getting professional headshots done. When I started taking acting more seriously around 2019, I was being sent out for roles and using headshots that did not represent me and characters I can play. At the time, I didn’t know how important headsets were and that they could be making the difference between receiving auditions and not receiving anything. As soon as I invested in professional headshots and began to incorporate them, I saw a tremendous increase in the number of auditions I was receiving, and my agent at the time had many looks to choose from for the different types of roles I was being submitted for. Read more>>

Jessica Langley

I invested in life and business coaching back in 2020 after feeling so numb and burnt out. I had made $120K in revenue the year prior through my design and mural studio, but I took on too many projects and overworked myself. I was exhausted. Right before the pandemic really hit full force, I found a masterclass online that was $300 on how to go from artist to coach. I had been having really fun coffee dates with creatives and everyone wanted to know how I was running a business and charging as much as I was and managing it all. I was repeating the same story over and over again, and I thought maybe it’s time I get paid for sharing all of this knowledge. Read more>>

WHOISJORDAN

The best investment I’ve made is investing in myself, whether that’s time, money, or energy. Giving myself the space and tools I need to meet my goals is a priority. For me, taking the time to learn how to make beats by watching YouTube videos or understanding how to structure lyrics by listening to a wide array of different types of music was and is so crucial to the foundation I am building my career on. Now I am a multi-talented and multi-faceted artist because of all the hours I put into studying the aspects of creating music. Always bet on yourself. Read more>>

Alisha Ward

I graduated from the University of West Georgia with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Criminology. For a good minute I thought the path I chose in college was a waste and that I should’ve gone to school for theatre. I started pursuing my acting career in 2018. I didn’t realize until maybe 2019, even though I didn’t go to school for theatre, what I chose to focus on in college actually benefited my acting. Read more>>

Janese Howard

As a business owner, I would say the best investment I have made thus far is,,,investing time and pouring into myself and my business. Sometimes, as a business owner we get lost in the material investments of business not realizing that taking time to perfect what you love doing is also an investment too. There’s been situations with shoots where I felt like “omg, I’ve never done this before Lord I don’t know how it’s going to come out.” But, it always does because I choose to put the time in to get the results my clients are pleased with. Read more>>

Annie & Dymond Jones

By far, the best, and most important investment we have made is in our staff. We tell prospective families, “Our teachers are our curriculum,” because we know that our program would be nothing without the right people. Our teachers are mentors first, and they are proud to play this role in our students’ lives. Read more>>

Kyle Burton

Well while trying to expand the brand I wanted to get into athletic wear. I tried to contact multiple manufacturers in the states but all were too expensive even for bulk prices. There was ROI. While searching a friend of mine posted his athletic wear on IG. It looked comfortable and well made so I messaged him asking who made it. He gave me the info needed to start the process. Well when I received the samples they were not the quality I hoped for. So I went back to the manufacturer and advised of the changes I wanted and needed. Read more>>

Jackson Black

The best investment I ever made was signing up and in turn being accepted in to the JPWA. I was able to sit under the learning tree of Dr. Tom Prichard trainer to the best of the best wrestlers on the planet. With everything there is a gamble but this has been my dream for as long as I can remember and the gamble has started to pay off. While the time I spent at the JPWA was invaluable, learning from the legend himself wasn’t to bad either. Biggest lesson this is not ballet Read more>>