How do you know when you should keep going versus when it makes sense to cut your losses and try something new? It’s a difficult decision most entrepreneurs and creatives have faced along their journey and so we asked some brilliant folks from the community to share their thoughts.

Kate Johnson | Visual Artist

I’m not sure I ever give up on a piece. Sometimes an artwork might change as I am making it due to either limitations or realizations. What I envisioned in my mind changes as it takes physical form. This can be because of a realization in making and building the piece that leads me in a new direction. It can be because as I make it I see potential for something else. The original idea is never discarded or given up on but is morphed into something new. There’s also always those artworks that just are made easily and come together as I had originally intended. I guess my answer to this question is that I just always keep going. If you think of art making as a practice, there is nothing to be given up on but only more to be learned and discovered as you keep up the practice of making. Read more>>

Alexander Wolf | Experience Creating Wolf Snake

NEVER EVER EVER EVER GIVE Up On Your DREAM!!!!! Sounds Simple, and something you get in a fortune cookie or see on your Facebook feed, but the action of saying those words has power! When starting my Company (Floki Entertainment) with nothing but a dollar and a dream, that I chased into the devils nightmare, and ended up riding the storm and made it out with a lot of heart and hustle! Though homelessness, losing everything, & everyone, my whole world! My back was getting pretty leathery from my friends stabbing me in it,and by the time of the global pandemic “Corona Virus” when you needed to be inside quarantined. Read more>>

Kayla Silber | Augmented Reality Artist and Creative Director

On March 12th of this year, I was slated to have my first big solo show featuring 8 of my augmented reality pieces. It was the culmination of two years of painstaking work and I was beyond excited for my community to experience in person what I’d poured so much of my heart and soul into. Over the course of that terrifying day, as all the events I had scheduled for the next two months went down like dominoes, I made the necessary and heartbreaking decision to pull the plug on my show. My art relies on joy, human connection, transformation, and optimism as its foundation. But going on 8 months into this pandemic, I’ve found myself feeling lost, disconnected, stagnant and cynical. Read more>>

Juliana Novelo | Reiki Practitioner/Candle Maker

I believe the if you are following your passion and this is truly what you want to do you should never give up. There will always be ups and downs, gains and losses in whatever you do. If you believe in what you are doing, things will always work out. Read more>>

Stephen Kenn | Designer

There are always 100 reasons to give up. I think it’s important to ask your self why you started in the first place? If the reason is for money or success we’ll only see what we don’t have and get discouraged. If we desire to learn, meet people and bring something beautiful into the world, we can focus on those tangibles and be reminded that every day our efforts compound, our relationships get deeper and our experiences are preparing us for what is ahead. Read more>>

Brienna McWade | Creative Director + Artist

To know whether to give up is a very personal decision and sometimes, it’s one out of our control such as for neighboring restaurants and businesses who are not able to remain open or sustain a clientele. It is a constant stressor and worry whether my businesses (or I) can withstand the next round of mandates into 2021. The pandemic has created a massive shift in entrepreneurship and business building and further demands flexibility from us business owners. The pandemic and the resulting experience of reinventing my business on the fly has encouraged me to keep putting one step in front of the other, even if they are tiny steps and I don’t know which way I’m going. Read more>>