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.

Venisha Arnold

The best investment I made for my adult life is attending law school, graduating & practicing law. From the LSAT to passing the bar exam & getting my law license it was ALL WORTH IT. I graduated from the same law school as My Father. Practicing law has provided me a great living as an adult. My parents gave me a wonderful childhood & upbringing. Also being an attorney led me to starting my 2nd nonprofit THE ARNOLD Foundation/Henry’s Place in memoriam to My Father. My goal for The Arnold Foundation is to assist the next generation of lawyers. I plan to give away scholarships every semester. Read more>>

Prince Dajur

Everything changed once I connected with TrapLA – Music Marketing. You can have a great product but without marketing you won’t find your fans/sells. I slept in a car for 2 months & stayed at a shelter on Skid Row to have the investment money to start a promo campaign with TrapLA. My growth has been going up & I’m grateful for the exposure. You have to take calculated risk to gain a certain level of success in life. Nothing comes easy Read more>>

Bailey-Siamone Mason

As a full time musician trying to get my original music heard, there have been so many investments and untrustworthy people that I have had to deal with. I lost so much money due to scammers and con artists and had to learn the hard way that you really can’t trust anyone in the music industry. It’s a hard pill to swallow, and an unfortunate way to view your career, but it’s the truth and you have to trust that your work and persistence will pay off in the end. Read more>>

Amanda Baldwin

In the creative sticker and planning business, it is easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing. It falls right in line with the adage of that people only show you what they want to show you on social media. This community is the same and when you are wanting to sell items, you look at what others are selling. While one could theoretically strike gold there, it wastes a lot of time and money but it also teaches you so much! Some people have a clear vision and know right where to go when they jump into this endeavor and some of us stumble along. I’ve made my fair share of good and bad investments but each one has taught me something different. The biggest takeaway is that a good investment doesn’t need to take a whole lot of time or money. Read more>>

Anthony Carpenter

I would say my best investment…at this point…would be the combination of my iPad and Procreate. I had some well-paying gigs during the 2020 lockdown and decided to splurge on an iPad after seeing a video of illustrator Steve Simpson working on one. After watching that, I knew that the Apple Pencil would make a huge difference in how I worked digitally. I’m a pencil artist first and foremost. I draw all the time. Being able to draw directly on the screen opened up a world of possibilities for me digitally. Procreate is full of surprises and I learn new things I can do with it all the time. Sometimes I work directly in the program but I mostly start with drawings on paper (I’m still analog at heart) that I scan and then I mix them with digital voodoo until things look the way I want them to look. The flexibility of being able to bounce back and forth between programs like Illustrator and Photoshop as well as jumping between the iPad and my laptop…allows me so much creative freedom. It reenergized me. The fact that I can create art for a 30’ mural while sitting in a coffee shop is pretty wild. Read more>>

Alisa Shamauree

I would have to say that my best investment as a business owner was hiring a Business Coach! Ive been in the beauty industry over 10 years now, and along the journey, you discover a lot of pros and cons. Before creating Mane Glamour, I worked in other salons to gain behind the chair experience as well as learning to build exceptional rapports with clients. While working for these salons it taught me how to market myself to potential clients and to build on services in areas that I excelled. I noticed that after several years in the industry that there was a demand in MY services (which at the time were simply, Blowouts). Read more>>

Andie Ramirez

When it comes to content creation, the best investment I made was finding the balance between simplicity and quality gear. In the beginning, I was excited and invested in a lot of cameras and equipment, but I soon realized that it became overwhelming to manage and difficult use all of it effectively. Read more>>

Ali Smith

One of the best investments I’ve ever made was into my personal development and growth. It was something that I was intentional about because I strive to be a better father and role model for my children. I want to be someone that they can look up to and be proud of. Getting into real estate not only challenged me to get out of my comfort zone, learn new things, and meet new people, but it also provided opportunity for me to get into my first leadership position as the Bay County Realtor Associations Public Relations Committee Vice Chair, and that pushed me to get active in my community. Getting active in the community is another one of the best time investments that I’ve made. It’s something that I’m passionate about and I can often times include my family as well which is the best part for me. Being able to give back to the community that supports me and to do it with the ones I love, while showing them what is possible and building a legacy is one of the best investments I can think of. By doing so, I’ve motivated my children to become young entrepreneurs and excited them to get more involved in the community and the activities that I’m apart of. I’ve learned that there are many benefits to helping others when you do it for the right reasons, and you’re not looking for anything in return. Read more>>

Terrance Barksdale

Investing in yourself has proven to be the best investment I have ever made. That way, if something went wrong, I wouldn’t have anyone to blame. My ability to move at my own pace is most crucial. rather than being held to a deadline or time limit. the ability to do things when you are ready to accomplish them rather than waiting for approval from others. Having said that, I’m investing in my own graphic design, picture editing, and photography business. It doesn’t matter if your firm succeeds or fails; what matters most is that you created it from scratch. With this, you may demonstrate to other businesses that you are and are capable of being a leader who manages projects and manages risk in the business world. Read more>>