There is so much to learn from investments that went really well as well as those that went really poorly and so we asked some of the wisest creatives and entrepreneurs in the community to tell us the stories of their best and worst investments.

Royale Michael

Best Investment(s): Time, Ownership, & Fatherhood Last time we spoke I was coming off of an album called “The Prologue” one of my favorite projects of mines. During the entire year I was focused on creating the art and making the magic that every artist gets a thrill from. After releasing “The Prologue” and then “Second Chapter” afterwards, I started studying the ins and outs of the business side of the music industry only to realize that I never set myself up with a legitimate brand. I’ve just been making music for years without actually having knowledge in distribution and market value. Read more>>

Nicole Davis

The best investment I’ve done for my business is starting FITWITHNIC! A group of likeminded women with the same goals in mind; to better our lifestyles in a healthy and sustainable way! Starting this has changed my life! I’ve met incredible people and so proud of the progress that I’ve made along with my FITWITHNIC gals! Seeing others shine and feel more confident in themselves, it all worth it! Read more>>

Tran Ta

“Invest in yourself, in your education. There’s nothing better.” – Sylvia Porter E-commerce owners are always learning new skills, from marketing to website design. But the best investment I made for myself for my business was learning design. Not every fashion brand owner knows to sew. Some companies can do all of that for you, but I wanted to design my pieces from scratch. I can construct a design from beginning to end without help. I now have 6-7 years of design experience under my belt. Even after all that time, I still consider myself a novice and scour the internet for garment construction tips as if I was a complete beginner. Read more>>

Brandi Price

The best investment you can make is in yourself and your creative endeavors. I hemmed and hawed for ages about establishing my production company, Baseline Beatnik, as a legitimate business. It seemed like one neverending to-do list – solely to get ready for the process. Then, one day, I took a plunge; it was a random evening, near my birthday, when I concluded that licensing my business would be a gift to myself. By declaring this a gift, I told the universe that I had faith in myself, but it also freed me from the pressure of everything accompanying such an endeavor. Read more>>

Roxy Moron

I commissioned a custom St. Andrew’s Cross specifically to perform a routine as a kinky, submissive Jesus, who gets whipped by a leather daddy and “crucified” at the end of the act. It was my worst investment because I got it *right* before COVID hit, so I’ve never gotten to perform that routine yet! But it was also an excellent investment because I’ve managed to find other uses for it in the meantime >:3 Read more>>

Gary Lovelace Jr

I know it might sound rather cliche, but the best investment I ever have made was in myself and developing my skills. I had a couple key mentors who gave me years of insight on the master locks needed to build a sustainable scale-able business. I found out early on the most crucial skill needed was sales and negotiating. Your ideas or products are not responsible to sell themselves, you are! Success in business is founded on your ability to get attention, qualify a customer, present your product, overcome objections, and get a credit card number or put cash in a register. Read more>>

Lisa Forgan

I think the best investments would be into my husband’s and my education and well-being. These two tasks are important for us to bring the highest return within our business. By prioritizing the time for educating and health, it provides us the ability to exercise our mind and body so we can produce great returns. In order for us to provide healthy healing and beauty to our clients, we must be able to take care of ourselves too. Read more>>

Megan Siason

Starting a business without having a clue how to run a business is incredibly daunting. I went to school for interior design, but actually running a business was something we barely touched on in design school. 3 years after starting M Studio Interior Design, one of the best investments I made was hiring a coach, specifically an interior design coach who could guide me through the design business- focusing on my zone of genius, how to delegate, how to charge, promote myself, fine tune processes, sell my services, etc. Read more>>

Shawne Jacobs

The decision to purchase Anne Barge has ended up being the best investment that we have made thus far. Prior to purchasing the company, my husband and I explored the possibility of starting our own bridal design company. After working with Anne Barge for 12 years and with my husband’s experience owning other companies, we knew that we wanted to own a business in the bridal industry. When the opportunity presented itself to potentially purchase Anne Barge, we had to weigh the benefits of purchasing an established brand versus starting a new line from scratch. Read more>>

Randal Ford

Over the course of my 15+ year career, I’ve made many investments, some good, some bad. Without question, the best investment has always been in my own business. As a creative artist, I believe you have a unique investment vehicle that has the potential for an ROI far greater than investing in stocks, startups, and dare I say, cryptocurrency. The best investments in my business as an artist and photographer have been in the development of new work and marketing for that work and my previous work. Read more>>

Trevoy Pointer

It’s simple, myself. The last 10 years, I’ve spent between $7K – $10K simply on just educating myself. in several forms I’ve read several books, attend webinars, trade shows, invested into mentors, etc. I’ve spent 10,000 hours (and counting) curating and improving skillsets and a mindset that’ll help. me accomplish my goals. My first investment was a book called “The Four Agreements”, I think everyone should read this book. The book discusses basically how you must unlearn everything you’ve been taught and relearn a new world. A world that the person creates, not a world based on information that’s been handed to you from birth. Self development if I am being exact. The process of thinking for yourself. Read more>>

Andrea Belzer

I started my first business in 2002. I thought I was in a good position to be able to run it. I had my undergraduate in finance. I had my MBA with an emphasis on finance. I had worked in Corporate America in multiple areas including, banking, investments, financial budgeting, and more. I did know that I needed some work on my marketing. I was not completely oblivious to the fact I did not know everything. I began the process of learning about marketing and was quickly catching on. Read more>>

Kari Kuschel

Most business owners will tell you that the best investment you can make is in yourself. This has been so true for me in my business! I have invested in growing my understanding and skill of what it takes to be a wedding photographer in Colorado. This has mostly been through a lot of hands on practice, but also finding educators out there who specialize in what I do but are 10 steps ahead of me. Learning from people who think completely different from me helped me grow and expand my business in ways I would have never been able to do on my own! Read more>>

Sharonda Lawson

As a bakery owner the most nerve wrecking thing is delivering a cake and making sure it gets to its destination in perfect condition. Temperature plays a major roll in cake delivery because icing base is butter and butter melts easily, so in the winter we are delivering cakes freezing cold because we DARE NOT turn on the heat in out delivery vehicle and risk the cake melting, even if the cake box has dry ice or ice packs we are still not taking any chances .In the summer we are trying to make sure not one ray of sunlight hits the box, because the Texas heat will melt a glacier, so just imagine what it will do to icing. We also drive extra careful because, its cake and cake is delicate, so we drive a little slower trying to avoid dips and bumps in the road. Read more>>

Jaquan Newsome

One of the best investments I’ve made as a business owner is to spend 24k on a mentor. At the time I was only doing about 60k a year so I had to speak to Jesus a couple of times before making that investment. On top of that, it was right when the pandemic hit and I lost half of my clients overnight. I was leasing out a gym and when COVID hit, all businesses had to shut down. Before COVID I had a dream of running my business full time online, but I was unaware of how to do it and still be able to maintain my lifestyle. Once the world went on lockdown to slow the spread, I had two options. Either let my business fail or take a risk of investing money I didn’t even have to take my business to another level. Read more>>

Royal Johnathan Haggerty

The best investment that has had the most vital impact in my life is The Holy Bible. It has helped me recognize my gifts and talents and serve them to the marketplace. Read more>>