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.

David Gibbs

The most unexpected problem I have ever had in my business is myself. It took some time for me to build a healthy mindset around coaching my clients. I wanted the dream for them so much, I found myself angry when they didn’t do what I wanted them to. Read more>>

#Zammy

As I navigate the vast realms of creativity as an independent recording artist, a fearless entrepreneur, and a day-dwelling computer engineer. In this boundless journey, I have encountered a plethora of issues and unforeseen challenges. Read more>>

Ashley Kirsner

One problem that folks who host speed-friending and speed-dating events don’t talk about very often is making events accessible. I noticed that a lot of event hosts just accepted that their events had no BIPOC in attendance, or just accepted that they couldn’t accommodate folks with a variety of disabilities. Read more>>

Heidi Farina

Printing from home! I went into this career change because I love art and I have a deep need to create and create the places that bring me a deeps sense of joy and peace. My goal is to share this out with others that value and love the Northwest region of North America. When I started making prints in house, it was sinking my time dealing with printer issues, wasted supplies, etc. I eventually pivoted to outsource this and it drastically changed how much time I had in a positive direction to focus on creating. Read more>>

Becca Suh-Hee Han

One of the most challenging parts of filmmaking, encountering unexpected problems, is ironically my favorite. Whenever I’m working as a director or 1st assistant director, I always hope for a smooth journey throughout the production process but prepare to inevitably face issues that may not have been taken into account during the pre-production phase. Read more>>

Crystal Knight

Thought out live there will be many challenges to face but one thing I’ve learned about this industry is that you have to be open to learn new things. New techniques, new products, learn to meet new people. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t know or if you are unsure about something always ask questions. Read more>>

Arkazul

One of the most unexpected problem we had was some years ago. We were invited to play at Hard Rock Cafe, in Caracas, Venezuela. Everything was going well, rehearsals, bus tickets (we are from another state), backline, everything. For some reasons, our bass player and the drummer were traveling one day after us. Read more>>

Maurice King-Clark

As a business owner there are always issues and unexpected problems. It’s to be expected, in fact after a while you get used to it and get really good at solving them. When I first got into real estate (fix and flip) literally everything is an educated guess. As an example, questions like what can I get the house for and how much money will go into fixing it are all kind of guesstimated. Read more>>

Kenny Lam

For the past year I wrote, acted, and produced my own 7 minute short film where we ran into issues during the post production process. We used three different CFast memory cards for our footage, however the files on one of the cards ended up being corrupted so we lost the footage for master shot, POV shot, as well as the establishing shot. Read more>>

Darrell Cole

One of the biggest, unexpected problems I have faced in my career, has absolutely been knowing and recognizing those who are there to support, and also knowing those were there to feed off of what I have accomplished. Though I’m not the most famous or most well-known, you would be surprised the people who have used me, taken advantage of my kindness and willingness to help others, learn and grow, . Read more>>

Donna Butler

I knew that I would run into obstacles when I decided to become a full time filmmaker, and it seemed like shooting my first episode of my series Divine Intervention was going as smoothly as I could have imagined. But what happens when your prime investors pull out, after filming, leaving me and my production team with unpaid actors, which caused a ripple effect through the project, that if I didn’t have faith, and belief in my project, I would have thrown in the towel. Read more>>

Nick Cooper

Free Radicals has put out 9 albums of diverse original music. With the tiny amounts of money that artists get for streaming, it is almost impossible to make money from albums. In 2022, we counted 1.3 million streams across all platforms, but this only translated to $98! The other biggest challenge is that rent and costs of living are going up rapidly. Cities that have cheap real estate foster culture. However, cities with expensive rent, no matter how many programs they have to “support the arts” kill culture. Read more>>

Bryan Smith

This is an interesting question on so many levels. But it’s also a question that needs to be asked because there are a lot of people that strive to want to start a business because when you look at things such a social media or you hear about all the success stories you tend to not get enough about the trials and tribulations and when you do get those stories you get the surface and not the real issues experienced. Read more>>