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.
Sarah Finck
As we have written songs and have gotten them recorded, we have spent a lot of time and money creating and perfecting them. The thing is, all that time and money should not stop at the completion of a song. We have read many books and had many role models tell us that “if you are going to spend a lot on the makings of a song, you should prepare to spend that much or more promoting it.” This was a very scary thing to recognize and put into practice. It is a huge risk to trust and pay a promotion company wads of money to get your song in front of the right audience in order to gain exposure and return in investment. We got our feet wet with promoting our songs a couple years ago. We hired a promotion company to promote our song on music streaming services. Read more>>
Kent Darwin
My best investment I have ever made was buying 200 shares of Apple stock. When I bought Apple stock, it was about $35.00 a share. The stock grew to about $100.00, then fell over a matter of weeks back to $80.00, so I sold half of the Apple stock. Within a year the Apple stock spit twice, 7 shares for each share owned within a short period of time. So, now that each share purchase price I own is $1.67. ($2,338.00). Today the Apple shares I own are worth almost $300,000.00. Read more>>
Chessa Metz
When I was in final callbacks for Suffs on Broadway, I made myself a promise that I would do one thing if I got it: Get a cat. As a child, I had two kitties and I loved them endlessly. As an adult, I never really considered getting one. I’m an actor in New York City–my life seemed too transient for a commitment like that. Out-of-town jobs, moving apartments constantly, long restaurant shifts–it just didn’t seem practical. Even after years of living alone in a nice apartment, I was afraid. What if I booked a tour? There was always a reason not to get a cat. Read more>>
Alex Dapkus
There is nothing more valuable than the time we offer eachother. There’s no gear, no instruments, not even sweet effect pedals that can match the value of the time and effort we give one another. We have put years of ourselves into this band and the relationships we have with eachother. I mean this truly was a huge investment. It took a lot of work for us to build upon the chemistry we naturally have. Our investment to eachother paid off because every single one of us shows up to practice, commits to performing, and works on the music that we write. There is nothing more that any of us can ask of eachother. Read more>>
Courtnee Ricole
The best investment is investing in yourself. Your dreams and passions are no mistake, so don’t be cheated out of it by the fears of other people’s stories, opinions, and perspectives. Not knowing how things might’ve turned out because of fear is way worst then the obstacles and being told “no” on the way to that one “yes” needed. Just go for it! Read more>>
Eloise Gebbie
The best investment I’ve made as an artist was actually through Facebook marketplace! Back in 2020, I painted a piece on a blank skate deck for my partners birthday. I thought it would be a one off, but I actually enjoyed it so much I started to look for old skate decks for repurposing. I found an ad from a pro-skaters dad, he said he had ~30 decks sat in his garage and needed the space back. He was selling them for $30 aka $1 a deck! Read more>>
Sandy Shannon
Over my 13+ years as a business owner, I’ve seen that often the sales/marketing tactics that you pay for (e.g. joining a Wedding industry website network) don’t often yield the leads + income you want. When you’re starting out, you are hungry and want to get clients ASAP. You need the experience, content + income to make the dream a reality! But in my experience, the best investments have been in building things. For example, joining the local networking group WIPA SoCal has been a wonderful way to continue developing my business. Did I walk away from the first meeting with a bunch of leads? No, but it was step 1 in building relationships which are the foundation of any close-knit professional industry. Read more>>