As almost any entrepreneur or creative will tell you, unexpected problems are to be expected. Below, you’ll hear some incredible stories that highlight and illustrate the kinds of issues and problems entrepreneurs and creatives are dealing with everyday. It’s not easy, but the silver lining is that dealing with unexpected problems is one of the best ways to develop antifragility.

Karley Hill

I think my most important problem/issue I have faced in my life was when I had to drop out of college 2 days into my last year because of my mental health and the toll it had been taking on me for a year before I made that decision. It’s truly shaped me into who I am now a year and a half later, and I wouldn’t have had any of the career experiences I’ve had within the last year if I hadn’t left school. Those experiences that have now led me into running my own design business studio and working for myself which has always been my dream and goal in life. Read more>>

Veronica Clark

I am a Procurement Technical Assistance Center Counselor. I counsel small businesses on how to compete for government contracts. I can provide some dos and don’ts to government contracting. Read more>>

William Kimbrough

Ok. I remember moving a client’s 4bdrm house with all new furniture. And as I was disassembling the bed, the headboard to the bed snapped and broke from the bottom right in front of the customer. The customer immediately put both of his hands on the top of his head in ahhh, and said (verbatim) “ahh big baby what are you going to do for me”. Read more>>

Kelsey Toombs

I worked in the hair industry for seven years before being diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). My FND symptoms began with chronic fatigue, migraines, nerve pain, and dizziness. Then, I started to have convulsions that mimicked seizures, vocal/ body tics, and a loss of coordination. I considered leaving the industry and accepting that I’ll have to find a new career; since being a beauty professional is an able-bodied profession. Read more>>

Ayanna Hill

2022 has been a roller coaster of year on the farm. We have been challenged with a fire on the farm, a stolen tractor, labor issues within the family, unalive livestock on our property for starters. Read more>>

Kristen Davis

As an artist manager you must expect the unexpected. Honestly no matter how much you plan, the unexpected will find its way to you often in the entertainment industry. As a manager it’s my job to have backup plans for when problems arise but I’m not a total mind reader and it sure is a huge blow when times come and none of your backup plans will suffice. Read more>>

Ellen St. Michael

When I was younger I had a dewy eyed vision of my future as a creative, imagining myself almost in montage format constantly creating large, inspired pieces of work. Although my relationship with creating is by no means jaded or stunted, it was an adjustment for me learning how to cope with things such as creative block and waves of low self-esteem. I think in today’s world of constant content it can be overwhelming both to consume and produce that content, and oftentimes damaging if you are using social media platforms as a comparison to your own output and experience. Read more>>

Richard Pierre

Finding our niche was the most unexpected problem. Listening to our guests, audience and others experienced in media to inform us that we needed a niche to focus on was how we resolved that issue. There was point in time when there was no growth occurring. Many people expressed that the show lacked direction and didn’t really have no real reason to tune in as nothing of value is being taken from the show. Read more>>

Tom Hansen

In the 70’s I was a skateboard champion. In the 80’s I was a rock musician, even signed to an indy label and put out an album. In the 90’s I was a heroin addict and drug dealer. Got clean May 26, 1999, went back to school, got an MFA, wrote two books and got them published. Ironically the only one of these endeavors that paid enough money to live on was drug dealer. That was kind of unexpected. Read more>>

Freddie Morris

The pandemic brought so many problems into my life. But it also created an opportunity for me to change the direction of where my life was going. I was furloughed from my job so I was forced to rely my media talents to survive. I shot wedding, birthday parties, sporting events etc. I never did any of this professionally so it was quite nerve-wracking. Read more>>

Amanda Thomas

First off as active duty military I didn’t realize how hard this would be taking on entrepreneurship as well. So starting out I spent a lot of my own money because I didn’t know about applying for business grants. So I take out loans which in turn out me in some debt and they weren’t even business loans because the bank isn’t going to just give you money if they don’t know for sure if your business will be profitable. So I went and got my realtors license and am now in esthetician school so I can learn and do more research on how to get funding for new start up business during inflation and COVID world we live in. Read more>>

Chad Watts

Building a website and understanding what is truly needed for your idea to work. You want to build your company with the end in mind and if that relates in part to a web based program then you want to understand the different revenue points and what is needed to make that be successful. Our mission is and will always be to Empower Veterans to become Entrepreneurs via a starting point of a 100% veteran-only salesforce. Read more>>

T. Renee’ Smith

The most challenging problem I faced in my business was not marketing and sales (although it has taken a while to master those), but it was learning how to grow a successful business, be a wife and mom, and remain sane and true to myself all at the same time. Read more>>

Melissa Bona

One of the most unexpected issues came when I signed my first lease in November 2018. The goal was to launch the new store location in March 2019 in Baltimore City, MD. Everything was going according to plan and then we started to have leak in the space while under construction. This leak continued thru the whole entire process and would not go away no matter how many times the landlord fixed it. In July 2019 I was told that it would take more months to fix the issue as this was a building issue and had to be fixed by the city. Read more>>