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.

Mary Moores

“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place, you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.”― Christine Caine. How do you survive in a crisis? Communicate in isolation? Maintain resiliency when facing a catastrophe. From January 30, 2021, through October 13, 2021, my 13-year-old daughter was hospitalized. My vocabulary expanded to include terms such as sepsis, cardiac arrest, severe chronic neutropenia, perforated bowel, ileostomy, necrotic tissue, and acute cholecystitis. Read more>>

Boitumelo Diseko-Ngubeni

I’ve faced some resistance, namely for being young or a female or black and also starting a business without external funding or any assistance. How I navigated from that is by always reminding myself of what’s my WHY. A lot of businesses know their WHAT(being their product) and know their HOW but most don’t know why they do what they do. Read more>>

Khamari Phillips

As a business owner and artist I never really thought of any unexpected problems/issues outside of finances or quality of product/service. It wasn’t until I experienced one of the biggest wake up calls of my life, that my mindset was changed. In September 2023 I experienced my first panic attack and from there I was dealing with severe anxiety symptoms. Read more>>

Chase Morgan

Well, being an artist and songwriter has its own unique set of challenges in itself; however, I’ve found most of my issues or problems have been in the realm of health and wellness. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, autoimmune hepatitis, and P.S.C., all at once, at the age of fifteen. Although this diagnosis happened years before I began pursuing music as a career, it did lead me to learning guitar, primarily for its therapeutic benefits. Read more>>

Kilian The Phantomat

After receiving an art prize in Vienna the president Karl Fisher invited us to a reception in a room covered in gold. I didn’t expect him to make jokes with me and suggesting that I should fill my jacket pockets with food from the buffet. Read more>>

Mengyuan “Mia” Qin

As a stage manager, encountering unexpected issues is an inevitable part of the job. The key to effectively handling these challenges lies in proactive planning, maintaining a calm demeanor, and fostering open communication. First and foremost, meticulous preparation ensures that you have contingencies in place for various scenarios, allowing for swift action when unforeseen circumstances arise. Keeping a composed and level-headed attitude is essential, as panicking can escalate the situation and hinder problem-solving efforts. Read more>>

Andrew Harris

One of my biggest issues with this career path was and is the lack of finding dedicated people to form a team with. This was unexpected in my eyes because I did and do my very best with helping every artist I come across with something. Read more>>

Tani Renee

Everyone knows I am a busy body. I am never not engulfed in a project. Just a few months ago, I was traveling for work when I was involved in a very scary collision with an 18-wheeler. I am grateful to be alive, of course! BUT my-oh-my has this been a time. I have really struggled with healing mentally, physically, and emotionally. Thinking about all of the things: I “had to get done” by a certain date; Read more>>

Miranda Schry

A major part of life is navigating the twists and turns along your path. No matter how meticulously you might plan out the steps you intend to take, curveballs are bound to be thrown your way. I graduated from Point Park University in 2021 with a crystal clear image of what I thought my life after college would look like – packing up and immediately heading over to Los Angeles, CA to (finally) pursue a professional dance career. Read more>>

Karolina Claxton

Sorry this is long – I am happy to delve into anything that feels vague. Also happy to discuss: building a team/hiring; showing client appreciation; establishing a firm; scaling up; reputation management. Competing with businesses and practitioners who are less qualified but better at branding. Read more>>

Phillip Acosta

Starting up a new line of business while running our current line of business was challenging in itself. To complicate matters our 2nd in charge decided to retire early so we went through a leadership transition. Finally as a company that will be exiting the 8a program in 2025 we have to relook how we approach the competitive landscape. Read more>>

Jena Rivard

The hardest problem that I have come up against is getting my art out there. How to get into shows, how to get into galleries, how to get into shops, building a website or just learning social media. Read more>>

Yifan Wu

Here are several most unexpected problems I’ve encountered and I wish people could talk about them more. 1. Work-life balance I’ve never had work coming at me at an even pace. Somehow it is always either a wave of commissions flooding over me or an eerily quiet inbox persists for weeks or even months. Read more>>

Fernando Martinez

My favorite problem solving situation didn’t actually come from a professional situation but was actually on my wedding day. We had a friend scheduled to play piano during the ceremony, with solo piano arrangements of some of our favorite songs for each of the groups coming down the aisle. Over the course of two months prior to the wedding, The pianist and I would discuss the piano arrangements and order and he would send me demos of his progress via Dropbox. Read more>>

Aliza Rozenberg

My most unexpected problem, which I continue to try and and solve today, is the up scaling stage of the business. As I started the adventure of owning a statistical consulting group I expected difficulty in finding clients. Quickly I realized that in my field there is a lack of professional statisticians, especially in the medical field, and a high demand. So finding clients was not the main problem, I needed to find more workers… Read more>>

Chloe Scott

It’s been a struggle at times in my creative career to feel like I am getting my foot in the door—or anywhere near the door for that matter. I find myself discouraged when I haven’t captured the right attention in my audition, or understood the right emotions for a character. It can be a real punch to my confidence as an actor. Read more>>

Kyle Spratt

Just like with anything you love, whether it’s a person, sport, cuisine, or even a place, there comes a moment in time where you need your space. Starting this musical journey, I never took that into consideration; the time I was spending with something I love. Creative block is easily the biggest problem I didn’t think I would come across. Read more>>