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.

Karen Kilgore

Best Investment for being a part of ROYAL (Our cast and their families) The parents and families with ROYAL are the best, we get to know our families on a professional and personal level, and we love watching these kids grow up in our organization and give back when they are older. I have been with ROYAL Theatre Company for 15 years and we just celebrated our “20 years” of ROYAL. Read more>>

Brenda Ferrell

B ready Mobile was one of the best Investments that I have made, I feel like with everything in world changing, with people’s demand wanting services come to them, I figured why not build a mobile salon, and be the “DOORDASH” of beauty. First of many to come. Starting in Los Angeles, It wasn’t an easy ride doing my first van on my own, investing my own money, I took a chance on myself and on another business i believe will change my life and the beauty industry as well. Worth ever penny, tear, and most importantly the achievement of not giving up on my dream. Read more>>

Emily Zamora

The best investment I have ever made (and continue to make) is education for myself. Whether that be the entrepreneurship and online business courses I took when I first started my business to recent courses on SEO and social media marketing. I feel like they have laid the groundwork for me and my business while also continuing to grow and expand me and my knowledge as a small business owner. A few other investments that I’ve never regretted for my business are mentorships with photographers and entrepreneurs that I aspire to be like and anything portfolio building (like styled shoots and free sessions). Read more>>

Sam Glaser

Like most college graduates, I entered my professional life with an enthusiastic blend of hope and naiveté. I worked as a musician and journalist, I helped out in my dad’s garment business, and I opened my first recording studio. I had the energy to do it all…or so I thought. And I had some money saved up that I wanted to grow in the quickest, most pain free manner possible. I was like an 18-year-old stepping up to the poker table for the first time, an easy mark. When my initial investment decisions failed miserably I became disillusioned and found it harder to trust. Any money I poured into my studio, however, came back to me in spades. Growing from 8 track to 16, then finally the holy grail of 24 tracks cost a fortune back in the “olden days.” Read more>>

Suzanne Wynn

In 2012, I was starting my 7th year in radio and I was thrilled. I was co-hosting a morning show with a locally owned company that had been in business for over 40 years and I was doing sales with them, too, which is something I had avoided. Still, I found myself in a meeting one day asking myself how far I could go with that company. As mornings are typically most highly-coveted of on air dayparts, what was left for me? I realized it would either be sales manager or general manager. Neither of which I wanted. So I set my mind to learn all I could and get to a bigger market – preferably Atlanta or Birmingham Read more>>

Brooke DeRosa

My best investments have always been investing in myself. It took me a long time to learn that. All too often as creatives, especially when starting out, we are looking to save money. But invest in the tools you need for your job, and always, always invest in education. There are many programs outside of full time colleges and graduate schools out there for creatives. Read more>>

Kirby Gladstein

The best investment I’ve ever made for my business has been any and every dollar I’ve spent on passion projects. I don’t want to test new techniques or try new equipment when I’m working for a paying client or hired for a gig. It’s just too big a gamble. So, passion projects are paramount for playing, learning, and developing new styles and methods. Without investing in my passion projects, I wouldn’t have landed 90% of the jobs I’ve done because the types of photography I am most often hired to shoot were all byproducts of that crucial time were I was free to try something new. Read more>>

Breonna Ousmane

More is not always necessarily good. I remember when I began scaling my business back in 2020-2021 and I started to invest in more and more inventory which is one of the worst business TikTok I made. As a fashion business owner you want to keep trending items in stock and make sure you’re not always sold out but this process requires strategic inventory planning. This was something I knew absolutely nothing about and I ended up falling into the” inventory trap” I like to call it. I invested thousands into only one jacket design and ended up not even selling 25 of them. I brought so many jackets of one style because I had the thought process of “this is the one” “this is going to bring my business to the next level” instead of thinking about if the jacket was actually trending or did I just decide it was a good pick. Read more>>