One of the most important lessons we learned is that our lives and our businesses will teach us along the way. We don’t need to know everything on day one because the challenges we face on day will likely be ones we are already equipped to handle. As we overcome challenges we get better and better and as the challenges increase in difficulty so too does our ability to tackle them.

We asked members of the community that we admire to share important lessons their business or career has taught them and have shared some of those responses below.

David Bertok | Composer

You are a business. You can’t live on idealism alone. You have to know your worth. It took me a while to implement this when discussing the budget on projects. There are just no set rates and I love composing music so much. So, I need to put on my business hat and think of it as a business transaction as well. How much lifetime am I investing in this project? It needs to reflect in some way what the return is…not necessarily only monetary, but at least in terms of relationships, creativity and ownership of my music. Read more>>

Katelynne Donoghue | Global Real Estate Advisor

“Your business and results will grow in direct proportion to your own growth.” -James Arthur Ray When I decided to leave the 9-5 model and become self employed, I had no idea my business would require so much of my own personal growth. Why would it? I had been working since I was a teenager and never needed to fix anything about who I was in order to receive a paycheck every week, so why would I even think about needing to do so, now that I work for myself? Read more>>

Tiana Heggins | Luxury event curator

The most important lesson that my business has taught me so far is be careful of the company you keep and who you associate with. Read more>>

Ryan Perry | The Hair Lady

The most important lesson my business has taught me is to never stop believing in myself. The level of belief I have in my business has kept me going for nearly a year now. I’ve always been one to start and stop different things but this is for me, I feel it. Read more>>

Joe Pham | Fashion Designer

There are unless lessons that you will learn when starting out on your own business. The biggest lesson that I had learned is to believe in myself. To trust your own instinct and go with it as your are more capable that you give yourself credit for. Yes, there will be time when you make mistakes, but that’s okay. Those mistakes are there to teach you something. And if you can learn from it, instead of beating yourself up over it, then you will grown as a person and in turn your business will grow as well. Read more>>

Alisha Liston | Singer/Songwriter, Actress, & Aerialist

The most important lesson my career/business has taught me is the importance of goal setting, planning and perseverance. I guess that’s three things, but they are all really important. I am a songwriter and musician, and it is really easy for me to get caught up in my art. But, what I’ve had to learn is that for me to be successful, I have to look beyond the art and ask myself what do I envision happening after I’ve created it. What’s the goal? Read more>>

Rina Mora | Visionary Business Coach

The most important lesson that I have learned in my career in business has been to Never Quit. Tiny but Mighty Coaching is my second business. When I first went into business for myself back in the early 2000’s I had no idea what I was doing as a business owner. Luckily for me, I had some management and supervising training under my belt, but nothing that really prepared me to be a business owner. Needless to say, I fell flat on my face the first go around. I learned a lot of really hard lessons with that experience. The biggest one is to pay attention and never quit. Read more>>