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.

Laura (aka Lawwrie) Lorenzo

Since a young age, I felt this need to constantly create stuff. I draw, I paint, I took ceramic classes, I did jewellery…later on with cameras and computer: photography, video editing, storytelling… all sorts of creative stuff. I had no limits to what I could explore. I always knew my career had to be related to Art & Design. I could dream and imagine myself travelling the world and doing what I love. Read more>>

Camille Rae

I was always cautious of working with people and trusting people to be my “team”. However, I was still taken advantage of and it was all over the course of a 4 year period. I am not at liberty (nor do I have the want or need) to mention names of people and/or businesses, but I feel that it is important that I share this story to help other artists coming into the music industry. Read more>>

 Caroline Rayman and Leigh Warren

Every event we work is different – different venues, different types of tents, different vendors, different weather. Each requires a different plan of attack! But this also keep it fun and interesting! Read more>>

Marissa Alma Nick

As far as my career goes, so far, my most unexpected business problem was when my chosen path of nearly thirty years (as a professional dancer, and choreographer) was halted when both of my lateral menisci tore. My whole life, I had only ever planned on dancing, and choreographing (like Martha Graham) until the day I died, but my knees had other plans. On top of that (just two months later), Covid came into the world, and not only was I not dancing, but the entire world was at rest. Read more>>

Valerie Giglio

Well, back in 2014 I was a healthy 42 year old, active, a lawyer by day with my own law practice as well as a musician by night. I had released a couple of CD’s and was a member of the Grammys and I was actively performing around Boston. Then one day I turned my neck too quickly and it broke the arteries leading to my brain, resulting in a stroke that paralyzed me completely on my left side. Read more>>

Kei-Che Randle

Barriers are definitely a part of the journey for BlackDeaf people. We are told “No” all the time and relentlessly the underdogs. #BlackDeafStudentsMatter Any time a Deaf consumer engaged in an activity outside the home, an interpreter should be provided. In 2023, I am still having to self-disclose my Deafness and request an interpreter. Oftentimes, I am denied an interpreter and occasionally pay out of pocket for these expenses. Read more>>

Mack Duncan

In 2007, I wrote a play about young people with extraordinary abilities trying to navigate an ordinary world. I didn’t do much with it until about 2018 when I decided to adapt it into a comic book. Seemed like the right space for it, considering the premise. Read more>>

Gwen Fox

I finally made the decision….I wanted to be a full time artist. I was excited and knew what I needed to do or at least I thought I did. I knew artists studied the Principles and Elements of Design, they learned how to mix colors so they wouldn’t make mud. They study with other artists to get ideas and grow their understanding of the medium they had chosen. Read more>>

Rachel Star Withers

I always expect things to fail. My plans, commitments from others, technology… anything and everything that can fail will. I’m not being pessimistic, the opposite really, because even with the potential of everything falling apart I’m still going on with my project. Read more>>

Seidah Durante

Thanks for the opportunity to share my story! Some may say this basketball business started with a BIG problem…COVID. My husband, Ronnell and I invested in launching a new team in the semi-professional basketball league, the Women’s American Basketball Association (WABA) in February 2020. Little did we, or the world, know that the pandemic would completely ground us that year, so we didn’t get to play our first game until July 2021. Read more>>

Bill Brunken

For a large enough part of my career to be embarrassing I lost my joy in art, but I have rediscovered it. All through graduate school, teaching at a small Southern university, and becoming an arts professional I didn’t notice that I wasn’t happy making art. I was dedicated because art had brought me great joy, but in hindsight I had developed expectations about what my art could be, highly intellectual somehow at the forefront of human thought, that was unrealistic and not who I am. Read more>>

Caroline Evans

This is currently an ongoing issue. The unexpected problem I am currently facing is the the updating of the body art code in NJ and at the same time the updating of the Cosmetic code on a federal level. I am the board secretary for the Alliance of Professional Tattooists (APT) which led me to be involved in both the state and federal issues. Read more>>

Kimberly Marcilene

One of the biggest issues many of us face as businesses owners is depression. It’s one of those things we hide behind the camera, the makeup, the fashion and our customers. Yes we hear it in the news and from some celebrities once it’s too late. As small businesses owners we have to push so much harder to flourish our dreams and make payroll hunni. Read more>>

Tyler Nail

I think many music artists feel lost in the modern world, caught between making art and making content, which are motivated but completely different things. I entered the music industry around 2009. The industry was still old-fashioned. Print magazines were more significant than social media, podcasts hardly existed, and YouTube was something I thought I might learn how to use someday down the road. The suggested roadmap for becoming a successful musician was very different than it is now. Read more>>

Gabi Coatsworth

I honed my skill in business and marketing as I worked in those fields, gradually working my way up from a junior executive in a market research company in London to becoming VP Marketing of a large travel company based in Chicago. What nobody explained to me before I started was that making mistakes was a necessary, even welcome, part of the process. And that failing to sell a product did not make you a failure – it simply meant that one moved on to the next call. Read more>>