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.

Evan Ogden

Being a creative and an artist is inherently choosing to live a life of isolation to some degree. Often times, you are mis-understood and cut against the grain. I have learned its important to lean into that diversity. It can be lonely, but to a degree it is re-assuring. No one can say exactly what you have to say. No one can speak the words you need to speak. Read more>>

Kendra Lewis

When I started my business in 2020, I founded it as an artist, not a business owner. I have a real passion for marketing and creating beauty in this world to combat negativity and inspire creativity and innovation in our daily lives. A well-designed brand flagships a well designed business. Read more>>

Johanna Ocampo

Covid was a very unexpected problem. We were mostly teaching in person classes and we had very little online options. We lost more than half of our students and we still needed to pay rent, materials and teachers. we had the opportunity to apply for city grant and we got it. Iwas small for 15,000 and it saved us from closing our doors. We were able to pay rent for 6 months. Our community trust and support kept us going. I was always thinking of sales strategies and what to offer to our students online to keep us alive. I shorten the teachers hours and my salary disappear completely. It was an opportunity to think out of the box and open myself and the school to the online world fast and effectively. Read more>>

Trish Evangelista

I purchased my business in October 2019. It was an existing fitness/CrossFit facility that was opening in 2014. In December 2019 I found out I was pregnant with my first child. In addition to buying a small business I had a full time sales position that was based out of NYC. March 16th 202o my small business was shut down. April 13th 2020, I was laid off from my full time sales role due to COVID and I lost my health benefits. Our family when through every up and down that an American family could have seen throughout the pandemic. Read more>>

Christal Allen-Harrahill

I thought being focused on the goal or outcome was the way to success. It is, but not the way I was doing it. I was obsessed with the outcome looking a certain way and arriving at a certain time. As you can imagine, entrepreneurship doesn’t always work that way. To pile on even more, I hadn’t developed a practice to self-regulate and take care of myself in those moments, which led to burnout. Now, I commit to goals with a loose grip on HOW it will happen and when. This approach has me enjoying the by-products of the journey so much more than I ever have. Focusing on the commitment also has me showing up differently. I’m asking better questions of myself and the process, and most of all I make time to be still, to connect with the answers within. Read more>>

Lakeasha Jackson

My name is Lakeasha Jackson. I am a model,a casting director, red carpet host, influencer, serial entrepreneur and a financial coach. Having a huge passion for the fashion industry, along with being faced at the young age 17 with the brutal murder of the man who would’ve been my husband, my son’s father tarnished my entire life. This rewrote my future, because not only did it leave me a heartbroken single mom of a 7 month old baby boy, but yet a single “teen mom”, it honestly left me mentally and emotionally paralyzed. Ive spent many years praying and planning different ways to turn my numbness, pain, ambitions & desires into my very own legacy. Read more>>

Marissa Rosen

I am currently experiencing an unexpected problem within my small business! M.O.M. G.U.IL.T. I am a military spouse and we are going on 9 months without my husband. I am a mother of 2 young children and was absolutely not expecting this deployment. It feels as though each time I think I’m gaining traction within my business, there is a setback. Becoming a mom for the first time, moving across the country, having another baby, and now surviving with my husband overseas. I think there is something that needs to be said about the incredible women behind small businesses they have built over and over again while following their husbands’ career. My kids have been hit hard with this deployment, and I am in the trenches of trying to pour more time into my business. Read more>>

Jennifer Rabenstein

My eyesight is my biggest obstacles. My eyesight has more than its fair share of challenges that I am constantly adapting to. I have to use extra lights, magnification aids, special safety measures, blind cane, audial aids for reading, organized placement of items, public transport (along with friends and family), and so many other things to do everyday things. I love the work and art that I do, so these things don’t feel like adaptations, they just feel like the way. It’s also challenging to recognize my own self-worth. It is a big challenge for me to need to ask/receive help with so many things, to have to ask for rides everywhere, to have my family make countless sacrifices on my behalf. Read more>>

Richard Welsh

Ive had unexpected problems my whole life the struggle was real until I figured out life. My step father would go out on crack binges leading into me getting woken at 3 am with my mother either crying drunk or beat in the head with blood trickling down staining carpets. Read more>>

LaurenOLauren

I believe that starting Good Body Lifestyle was a perfect opportunity for me. However, I didn’t initially consider the extensive time and research it would require. While I was prepared for the challenges, I underestimated the difficulty of handling everything on my own. From managing photoshoots and content creation to shipping products, all while maintaining a 9-5 job, has proven to be quite challenging. These were some of the hurdles I faced. Read more>>

Rain Jordan

I started work on The Fearful Dogs Project around 2014 as a program for an animal welfare & protection nonprofit. Having first developed and tested several protocols for helping traumatized and fearful dogs and their caregivers, and also being a certified canine behavior professional, it soon became clear to me that a rigorous, comprehensive, step-by-step program was needed for this population to ensure that innocent dogs weren’t getting surrendered, euthanized, or suffering long-term from their fears. So I began offering programs for the public and for other animal services professionals, to ensure that people have the level of expertise needed to help. Read more>>