You’re working hard, things are going well, piece by piece you’ve built a life you are proud of, you’ve overcome obstacles and challenges, beat the odds and then you find yourself at the center of an unexpected dilemma – do you risk it all to keep growing? What if growing means leaving the job you worked so hard to get or the industry you worked so hard to break into? How we approach risk often has a huge bearing on our journey and so we’ve asked some of the brightest folks we know to share stories of risks they’ve taken.

Timi Gleason

When I was graduating from college, there were no jobs. Every night on TV, they talked about how graduate students were working at coffee shops and burger places just trying to survive. I was only graduating with a bachelor’s degree, so this was intimidating news! Read more>>

Lauren Mulenos

Sometimes what you end up doing is not what you went to school for. A lot of the time in fact. I’ve always loved to write and create helpful content whether it be about a designer bag review or a travel guide. When I had my twins 2 years ago, I couldn’t find any twin books that I liked, so I decided to do it myself. Read more>>

Esthi Besties Waxing Studio

Hello, We are Jessica and Julia the owners of Esthi Besties Waxing Studio located in Tucson Arizona. We specialize in full body waxing, lash lifts, eyebrow laminations and brow waxing and tinting. Our biggest goal is to help women feel confident in their skin. “We are not regular mom’s, we are cool moms’s who wax” Read more>>

Morgan Converse

I am the epitome of take the damn risks. In 2019, I made the choice to quit my full time job I had been at for 8 years. I was hustling on the side of my job doing photography for 3 years as a official business. While juggling a passion side gig with a safe paycheck job something inside of me said “take the damn risk”. Read more>>

Brandon Breault

When it comes to taking risks I feel that I’ve often jumped into the deep end without much thought as to if there were even water in the pool. Sometimes you end up bobbing in the refreshing cool water, weightless, or you break your ankle from the impact. Read more>>

Jules Weldon & Stacey Pierce

As the founders of OME Gear, we (Stace and Jules) faced insurmountable obstacles in 2020. Our manufacturing partner went silent on us during Covid after sending 500+ units that could not be used and, as a result, we lost out on $17,000 they owed us which never got recovered. We had to research, find, and secure a new manufacturer. Read more>>

Stephanie Ryan

2020 proved to be a challenging year for businesses. When the Covid shut-down happened, I immediately accessed how long we could go without income, and what steps I could take to make any money. I did a May basket promotion where people could buy a May basket for either $25 or $40 and it would be delivered on May Day. Read more>>

Brandon Holland

Do It Scared! That’s what I will lead with for all of you scared creators just like myself. There is only one of you and YOLO TAKE THE RISK! I am the owner of Molding Heartz Productions, I work in entertainment full time outside of the classroom; everything in our industry is a risk. Read more>>

Brenna Damatta

After years of bending the rules of reality, failing, and trying again, risk seems like an ever present temptation for me. It’s like this; when you get a taste of freedom, you can never forget it. And thus, risk always seems to be the catalyst between “stuck” and “liberated”. My first great risk was taking my first breath. Read more>>

Michael Grab

When I quit my regular job and financial security to pursue my creative passion Read more>>

Chuck & Karen Smith

There is inherent risk in everything we do. This is perhaps cliché, but I think it’s important to keep in mind when evaluating options and opportunities. Decisions we make reflect our aspirations, beliefs, and recognition of what is important. I believe we should use the gifts and talents God gave us to make positive and uplifting contributions in society. Read more>>

Jenna Grey

Being a destination wedding photographer that takes pictures predominantly in natural landscapes all over the world, taking risks to capture some of my clients most cherished moments in wild and uninhabited locations, is part of my everyday work. Read more>>

Joseph Penner

My whole life is a risk.I’ll never forget when I was 16, my parents asked me what I was going to do after high school. I answered, “college?” They both laughed. My grades had slipped from Bs to C-, my assumption was pretty humorous. School wasn’t really my thing. I liked getting high with my friends and going skateboarding, and my grades reflected it. Read more>>

Carolina Bedoya

My journey from Colombia to the USA at the age of 15, as the daughter of an immigrant single mother, has undeniably shaped the narrative of my life story. Driven by the desire to pursue a college degree, I embraced the challenge of working full-time as a bilingual community liaison at my local high school. Read more>>

John Miles

Moving to Atlanta Georgia without ever visiting. Read more>>

Leah Kra

In my early career, I worked in industry in quality systems and engineering, for 7 years. But something was missing, though I didn’t know what. And my life ended up taking a wild detour. My husband, who is far more adventurous than I am, had always had a dream to join the Peace Corps. Read more>>

Corina Seas

I think pursuing art in and of itself is a risk and compounding that with the objective of not sacrificing the art for popularity creates a high risk scenario that shouldn’t be taken lightly. There’s nothing wrong with following trends or selling appearance first but for me, I always wanted to see how far I could go without either of those elements being the focus. Read more>>

Angie Grimes

What does it mean to risk it all? For most of my life I’ve been a risk-lover. I’ve stepped into many a risky venture that others could not understand and some would even caution me against. My risks have come with great reward and have been followed by great difficulty. Read more>>

Eileen Hennemann

After a few years of painting, and being asked many times if I would ever do a show, I decided to do something about it. In 2017 I created The Ten Collective and have had four highly successful shows since then. See the next question with the full article. Read more>>

Dwayne Winston Holness

My biggest risk was taken by my mother when she decided to move to Canada from Jamaica. She risked her life to provide me with a better one, and that is why I became what I am today, an entrepreneur. My mother’s risk inspired me to take more risks and believe in myself, which led to my biggest and most rewarding move, which was to bet on my dreams. Read more>>

Amber Fairlie

I think the biggest risk I took was when I first open the business. I was 22, tired of working at salons that didnt appreciate me or the hard work I was putting in. I knew a change had to be made. The crossroads was either get out of the business entirely or start something fresh. Read more>>

Jessica Hirsch

Leaving my full time career as a high school math teacher in the South Bronx.From the time i started doing social media content creation on the side in 2014, until June 28, 2017 i was sort of living a double life — over that three year span i was gaining a lot of traction on social media and building a loyal following. I decided to take the biggest risk of my professional career and leave teaching to pursue life as a full time entrepreneur. Read more>>

Melanie Alexandria

The risk I’ve been taking throughout my life is the constant bet on myself. Born into a challenging environment, to a sixteen-year-old mother and a twenty-one-year-old father, who would separate and divorce by the time I was three years old. The odds were stacked against me from the beginning. Read more>>

LXVE AFTR

I firmly believe that life is akin to a intricate game of risk and reward, where every decision we make carries a certain degree of uncertainty. Embracing this notion allows us to find solace in the pursuit of greater risks, as they imbue our existence with a sense of exhilaration and purpose. Read more>>

Mariah Switzer

Sometimes in life you have to take huge risks to have new experiences you don’t know if you don’t try you know ? , you either start learning stuff from taking these risks or plan to never do it again , to be honest I take a lot of risks , wether that be in a career or life choices. Read more>>

Diana Zuniga

Back in 2020 when the lockdown happened and the gyms closed down I had to find a way to start training from home. I started buying equipment little by little and building my home gym. Months later I started inviting friends and family to train with me on Sundays and I I used to call this sessions Self Love Sundays. Read more>>

Alisha Ponce

I’ve been a physical therapist for 10 years. For many of those years, I worked in a hospital-based outpatient setting. Within those settings it’s part of the norm to juggle 2-3 patients in the hour. As I begin to advanced my certifications and experience, I begin to realize that patients deserved better. Read more>>

KPMADMAN

Taking a risk to be oppositional to everything that’s pushed in our faces. Once you learn the depth of where it all goes, it’s not worth having for any reason outside of the fact that they want you to have it and they want you to have all of it. all the time. Content is a great example. Read more>>

Gretchen Dunn

While I have always leaned into risks and taking chances, my career was an area of my life that I held back for years. I have always loved photography- I earned my BA in Cinema & Photography from Southern Illinois University. I moved to California to pursue my field. Read more>>

Lynda Lee

As a single mother of three boys, with two on the way to college, I faced a pivotal choice: to cling to the security of my desk job or dare to chase my dreams of owning and operating a small business. Despite the uncertainties, I took the leap, risking my salary and what I thought was security and stability. Read more>>

Macey Marie

I always loved taking aesthetic pictures and posing for the camera ever since I was young. I knew blogging/content creation was something I wanted to pursue. I first attempted to start my page while in college. It didn’t last long due to some of my classmates’ criticism. Read more>>

Dr. David & Sheryl Iszler

Dr. David: I had been practicing in Casper, Wyoming since 1994. Sheryl joined the practice in 2010. We we were very successful, but always felt like there was more in store for us than where we were. We began visiting the Phoenix area in 2012 and instantly fell in love with it. Read more>>

Molly Cottrell

The funny thing about this question is that…the riskiest thing I’ve done in my life wasn’t something I considered to be a risk at all. I didn’t feel that I had a choice – it was something I knew in my bones that I had to do. Even if the action is risky, I think the bigger risk would be going against your intuition and heart. Read more>>

Zeyu Xue

Taking a risk is not about pushing myself to get what I want for my expectation or desire; it is about the courage to face the unknown, the attitude and the action after what if I didn’t get it or be rejected or disappointed. I know I want to do something, and I am aware of what might be the worst result of the action I gotta take and I rationally believe that I am able to cover the result. Read more>>

Shaun Greer

My biggest risk I took was quitting my job making $25/hr at Pepsi as a store merchandiser I wolfed nearly every up to 16 hours in a day get to work everyday at 6 a.m. it started to seem like a repetitive lifestyle I was only 18 working there everyone there was atleast 30+ and have been there basically all of their lives I loved the job literally one of the best I’ve had great pay and benefits payed weekly it was the dream at 18 but everyone I’ve worked with always told me get a back brace get knee pads keep gloves on etc etc Read more>>

Shaina Fawn

Like many others, the COVID-19 pandemic was a tough and challenging time mentally, socially, and emotionally. Not only was I confronted with the devastating loss and uncertainty that the pandemic brought about, but I also found myself working in a highly toxic workplace environment. Read more>>

Chelsey Jimenez

In response to the pandemic, I had to do a bit of a career shake-up after putting in years of effort into something that was unexpectedly coming to an end. The first year and a half was honestly pretty tough. I felt like I was wandering without a clear direction, trying to navigate through all the rapid changes while also figuring out who I really was in my professional life. Read more>>

Dezha Sexton

In April of 2023, I took the biggest risk of my life. Even though the countless job applications I filled out weren’t receiving so much as a rejection email back, I quit serving tables for good to focus on pursuing a career in the music industry. Read more>>

Kelly Maryanski

Before I took the leap to became a full-time freelancer / entrepreneur / permanently anxiety-ridden creature (just kidding about that last one), I held my fair share of part-time jobs. I was performing at night, rehearsing nighttime/some day times, and working a handful of part-time jobs. Read more>>

Marian MiàoYín Sing

When I heard about Atlanta ramping up with infrastructure for the film industry, I answered a post on Facebook from CL Casting. They were looking for athletic people, and I study martial arts, so I figured I would go for it! I sent a couple of pictures to the email, and I heard back in about 10 minutes! Read more>>

Dalisia Ballinger

I was tired of not walking in my passion. I wanted to do something that I wanted to be happy to wake up to. After experiencing a lot of ups and downs with life and getting back on my feet, I was in my office and decided the position that I was in no love served me. I packed up my belongings for lunch and never returned. From there, I took an opportunity working at a local newspaper as a Journalist, and the rest is history. Read more>>

Zack Lucero

I took a risk getting in the tattoo industry. It is a cutthroat world, with alot of things to learn, and still learning. Going from college, with a degree towards something unrelated and having a job that was steady income. I took a leap of faith pursuing my passion. Read more>>

Jason Matthew

I started a brewery with my friend and his father in Seoul, South Korea. We started working on it in 2014 in the US and officially opened in 2017 in South Korea. I was very proud of what we accomplished and it is now the most award winning brewery in the world since 2018. Read more>>