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.

Erin Neupauer

The best investment will always be the investment of yourself and your future. As an actor, I would love nothing more than to act full time and be paid for my craft (bonus if I also received benefits!) This business is very much feast or famine, and growing yourself and your brand can and will take years. I think it’s important to invest in yourself as an artist for the long run. Too often we think “This next project will be the one that changes everything”. If it does, all the power to you! Read more>>

Tonal Simmons

The worst investment I made was purchasing more gear before fully understanding why I needed it in the first place. I bought a new camera, which turned out to be almost identical to the one I already had. Then, when I finally got the camera I truly wanted, I chose a model that wasn’t compatible with the tech I was paying for to tether to my tablet directly. Read more>>

Reid Quiggins

My best investments have always been buying other people’s lessons and mistakes. At the beginning of my content creation journey, I had no idea what I was doing, but I had direction. Instead of having to trudge through the mud and learn video editing, voiceovers, social media strategy, analytics, etc. all from scratch, I invested my time researching and watching videos on other people’s mistakes and what they wish they knew at the beginning of their content creation journey. Read more>>

Abigial Schmitt

As a chef, the best investment I’ve ever made was in my Vitamix blender! The tools that I use are so important to create efficiency in my workflow. The Vitamix is something that I use every single day, for every single dish that I create for my menus. Sauces, soups, blended oils, aioli or dressings are all common recipes for me and help to create every rounded and delicious dish. Read more>>

Paul Cooper

The best investments I’ve made in my business have been in education. When I first started in wedding photography, I was lucky enough to find an extremely talented mentor who saw in me a strong work ethic and thirst to learn. He took me under his wing and taught me a ton in mastering my craft and technique. Through him, I met a few other very talented photographers, and they, too, began offering me opportunities to gain experience and to learn from watching them. During this period, some jobs did not pay great (or at all), and many were 90 minutes or more away from me. But it was well worth the investment of my time and energy to hone my craft and become stronger as a photographer. Read more>>

Jordan Castillo

Best investment: The best investment I’ve ever made is dance. Dance has given me back much more than the efforts I have put into the craft. Backstory: I used to be very big into soccer. I stopped routinely playing soccer when I was about 21. It was then that I made the conscious decision to invest my time and energy into dance. I needed something new to obsess over. Why I made the decision: I had always felt that dance was something I was naturally drawn to and I was highly inspired by freestyle hip hop dancers I watched on YouTube and TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance.  Read more>>

Alex Butler

I had connected with a social media influencer 2 years into my tattooing career. We had made an agreement to do a trade, she would do a few videos showcasing her experience in exchange for a free tattoo. We originally decided to do a spiderweb on her elbow, however there is some stigma around that design and placement (it has ties to some prison/gang symbolism). I agreed to move the design to her knee, even though the piece would be much larger. Somehow I got talked into doing both knees as a matching set. We break the whole thing into 3 sessions, so I was expecting to see at least 3 videos. Read more>>

Halfway To Neptune

Best Performance The best show that we ever played would have to be the EP release party. It was the very first concert that we headlined and hosted on our own. It was the most fun we had, especially knowing that every single person in the crowd all came to see us. We sold a total of over 300 tickets, which meant the place was crowded with fans. I think it was at that moment that we realized we were getting somewhere as a band, especially with the EP release doing so well. Read more>>