We asked some very talented folks to talk to us about success and what it takes to be successful.  We’ve shared their responses below.

Krystal Gagnon

Success looks different depending on the person. What one person’s success looks like, may not be what success would look like for another. But success starts with a decision, a decision to go all in, and take action. For so long I talked about the life I wanted, or the dreams I had. I had no idea what it meant to be an adult and manage life. I still have no clue what it takes to buy a house and struggle with a monthly budget but I believe I am successful. I have goals, and once I them and create a plan, I take action. Successful people are open and coachable, they inspire to chase better and be constantly learning. Success is to have a plan and achieve it. Read more>>

Markus Kypreos

You have to love what you do and people often say hard work, but you have to immerse yourself in the business and the brand. There are various ways to push yourself and motivate yourself internally, but for me, it’s all a competition. How can I get on the next shelf? How can we get on that cocktail menu? How can we get into that hotel? How can we expand into that state? There are always barriers and hurdles and excuses to prevent you from achieving those goals. How you overcome those hurdles and persevere through adversity is what defines a company’s growth and success. The definition of the essence of business can be summarized as simply problem solving. How well you problem solve is the determinative factor of overall success. Read more>>

Mendy Hoffman

Passion for what you do is a big key to success! I believe it takes heart and tenacity to be successful. Knowing when to say yes and when to say no is huge to avoid burnout. Giving yourself grace is really important on the challenging days. Read more>>

Cerila Gailliard

You need to first define what success means to you. Everyone has their own vision on how success means to them. Find a mentor to discuss your ideas and help guide you in the right direction. You should have a plan to help focus you on your goals. A plan will help you understand how much capital and resources you will need to be successfully in reaching your goals. Always, be willing to change and adapt to the changing business environment. For those businesses, who did not adapt and change during COVID-19 went out of business, Read more>>

J Bert

I believe success is not about having a lot of money or driving the nicest car or owning the biggest home. Success is what’s within you. Whenever you wake in the morning, you probably don’t say much. That’s the thing because some people don’t get to wake up as you do. Being thankful, respectful, having wisdom, and always wanting to help others is what makes you successful. Growing up, it took a lot of time to learn that. Being full of yourself and thankful and still fighting for a better tomorrow not only for yourself but for the people around you makes you successful. As an artist, my goal is to spread the love around the world. Read more>>

Chelsea Lauridsen

Connecting with others. It doesn’t matter if you are a single person business, you need to connect with all different types of people in all different types of environments. I can attribute a lot of my success to the network I have built. Everything from a business referral to a support system to someone to ask a question to that I hadn’t thought about before and forcing me to think outside of the box to a friend that will share a laugh with me when I need a break. It’s extremely important to build a strong and authentic network around you. Read more>>

Wayne Williams

My Story is quite interesting. I started my podcast with Myself and two other co – hosts. One was a friend and the other was a female I meet in Starbucks actually. It was pretty interesting at first and the chemistry was great. Yet, after a few episodes I began to learn it was a challenge for who is more Alpha out of the two fellas. My female co host was holding back in conversations and opinions. Long story short after about 10 Episodes it had to come to an end. It started to become toxic and it was so many differences. It was a difficult decision for me as I grew accustomed to our group and their input on topics. My co- host also was responsible for our camera guy we were working with at the time. It wasn’t easy for me to run the show alone. Read more>>

Cheryl-Ann Andrews

The key to success is hard-work and commitment. It is not about the money. When you put your heart and soul into what you are doing and doing what you love to do, you will always prosper. You have to dedicate yourself and find the motivation to get to work early and leave work late. When you work for yourself, it is tempting to just come in late and leave early or take excessive amounts of time off, however, that is not going to work in the long run. You have to come in early to prepare for the day ahead, check emails, answer messages left on the phone from clientele, and make the place look presentable and friendly. Read more>>

Anthony Benjamin

It takes discipline, extreme focus, and grit to be successful. Nothing comes easy when you are trying to build your legacy and really stand out in the industry, while maintaining at the same time. You have to push yourself everyday and know that it will pay off in the end. I’ve always been able to see things in the future before it happens, that’s where the power is I believe. Very blessed to be able to live my best life while creating an amazing business where I’m able to help alot of people out. Read more>>

Cydney Isom

I believe you first have to define what success really is to you. It looks different for everybody. For some it may be overcoming an addiction or other unhealthy habit, making a certain amount of money, buying a home, finishing school, starting a family, etc… Once that is figured out, you then have to be disciplined and commit yourself to reaching success as you see it. I feel that every decision you make should be in consideration of that goal. There is very little in this world that is impossible. With focus and consistent effort your success can definitely be obtained. Read more>>

Jeanette Ramos

To be successful from my point of view consists of various components. Being successful definitely consists of much hard work. In order to provide so, one must have to have a true passion for what they are doing. As long as one truly enjoys what they do, minor inconveniences will eventually be overlooked. There may be times were one will have to be willing to make sacrifices, like balancing time. Patience really plays a big role also. It is very easy to want to be successful overnight, especially in times like now where Social Media portrays Big Businesses just successful. Read more>>

Laura Arellano

Being stubborn for starters, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who has reached their goals who has taken “no” for an answer or who gave up after the first try. I believe that having an understanding and acceptance that you will encounter obstacles and failures along the way but doing your best to not only to overcome them, but to also not let obstacles and failures define you, which goes back to being stubborn. I think a big part of how successful someone can be is making connections and networking with people and showing gratitude to those whom helped you along your path and show unwavering support for your livelihood. Read more>>

Jacien B Bass

Success means different things to different individuals. But in my opinion, when you enjoy what you do, when you can do it on your terms and when you feel good about the work that you put into the world, you are successful. As someone who is in a leadership role, you have to be willing to surround yourself with people who know more about certain things than you do, and trust them to help provide solutions to challenges that you may face along the way. To be successful, you have to understand that failure is just an opportunity to pivot. If you’re willing to face difficult situations head on, most times you will come out with a renewed perspective. Read more>>

Jude Dairy

As the Rock once sang, it’s about drive, it’s about power, we stay hungry, we devour, put in the work, put in the hours and take what’s ours. There’s different versions of success and each person is able to define what success means to them. That said, success isn’t really handed out, no one will come up as a knock knock joke to your house and hand you financial or personal stability. Most people want success but won’t go out of their way for it. You will lose sleep, you will lose friends, and you will lose your mind at certain points but if it’s truly something you want you’ll give it your all for whatever your version of success is. Read more>>

Courtney Ripoll

Success is a concept that is different for every person. Whether it means having a great career, a home, or a family, success is something everyone strives to achieve. It makes you feel proud, it gives you excitement and it lets you know you have made an impact on the world. Success is not something you attain without putting in the effort, however. It is a mindset you must adopt to accomplish your goals and grow as a person, and it takes hard work. Read more>>

Jasmin Zimmerman

To be successful you need to be patient. Success comes with time and work! You cannot choose a career path, wake up one morning and expect everything to fall on your lap. It takes dedication and passion! At least that is what I believe. You need to see a future in whatever you decide to do. In my case, I fell in love with hairdressing. I feel very lucky because loving what I do has made the journey to success enjoyable with all its ups and downs. I have learned so many things along the way that I know will help me in any future decisions. I have also learned to never give up and let my work speak for itself. Read more>>

Imani Givertz

This depends on your view of success. If it’s money and image, I think it takes money and looks and probably some luck sprinkled in with hard work that doesn’t feel fun after a bit. If it’s fulfillment, which is what I view as success, I think and am learning that it takes removing yourself out of scarcity mindset and into living with an abundance mindset. Hard work; not just labor, but emotional, spiritual, and soul work. I’ve learned over the past few years that success has nothing to do with how much money I make, who sees my art, etc. It’s all about the trail I leave behind and the light ahead. It’s about the love we’re surrounded with and encompassed by. It’s about how freely we give and how slowly we take. Read more>>

Aaron Auxier

While winning methods are typically simplistic in nature – nature itself is not. What I mean is that it’s in our human nature to not only over value others’ opinions, but to also over value our own inner critics. They must be shushed. One must become comfortable being uncomfortable. And that’s VERY hard for most humans. Read more>>

Amy Chitwood

Pele, one of the greatest Brazilian soccer players, said it best. “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” His words sum up my entire being when it comes to being a successful person. You do not have to be the best at what you do, as long as you love what you are doing and work hard to accomplish your goals and fulfill your ambitions. Success is working nights and weekends. Getting up early to set goals for your day, week, month. Staying up late to analyze and reevaluate your growth. Success is sometimes sacrificing precious time with your loved ones. Read more>>

Tim and Vanessa Shively

We have realized that your level of success is dependent on your mindset. You must be willing to take risks. It’s knowing that there will be challenges along the way and being mentally prepared to overcome them. We have also learned that success requires flexibility because customer and community needs are always changing. Find a need in your community that you can be passionate about. This helps with motivation while you invest your time and resources into growing your business. When you’re having fun while being successful, you know you’re doing it right! Read more>

Lana Sackwild

Many people join my courses because they want to be successful. We have entrepreneurs who join the Lucid Entrepreneur Lab with just a “dream seed” of an idea for a business or what they want to achieve in terms of both personal and professional goals. Lots of students who are in this position with first starting up their business or moving into entrepreneurship can often feel intimidated and ask me questions about where other people are at in their success journey. I enjoy telling them about how lucid dreaming really helps people define and deeply understand the TRUTH of what success means. Read more>>

Charlicia Harper

I believe that it takes a significant amount of perseverance and faith to become successful. The will to keep going through adversity and challenges, and the faith to believe that even in the storms the sun is on its way out. No one has become successful without taking risk, as you are only rewarded after the initial risk. Read more>>

Gaston Rossato

There is no one single answer, however I did hear a quote once that always stuck with me. “you can’t beat someone that never quits”. That one line has so much collective knowledge. To never quit means you have to maintain constancy/dedication in what you do. In order to keep going, even through the rough times there needs to be a driving force behind it. That fire is the passion, if what you are doing doesn’t have a higher meaning, it makes it too easy to quit. If you never quit it’s inevitable to not reach some form of success. Read more>>

Parker Stiles

There are many thoughts and words that come to mind when trying to answer this question. For one, success requires a multitude of skills and personality traits in various categories. There are many different types of success to consider. Success can be defined numerous ways, by different people. However, if I had to pick one word that stands out to me above the rest, it would be persistence. Which prior to someone’s success, can be camouflaged as stubbornness, or being naïve, to surrounding family & friends. This can be very painful and/or discouraging to “go getters” in their early stages of success. Read more>>

Shanteria Poetizer” Griglen “

I believe that the first thing you must have in order to be successful is vision. Once you see it, you have to mix in some faith and courage to seal the deal. Success is whatever fills you, that thing that brings purpose full circle in your life. Read more>>

Lindsay Rapier

A lot of things go into success. You have to be driven, work hard, continue to want to learn more, take mistakes as learning opportunities, communicate well with others, the list goes on. What I think makes lasting success though is the passion behind it. If it’s what you love to do, and it comes naturally to you, then it doesn’t feel like work. When I am photographing people I get a huge boost of energy, I truly enjoy it, and a lot of times its hard to stop! I actually have to set a timer during shoots because a 30 minute session can easily turn intro hours if I don’t! So if you absolutely love what you do, I believe success will always follow. Read more>>

Jasmine Hunt

Becoming a wellness practitioner looks very different for every individual. For me, learning my craft came to me at a time in which I needed it most. It started as a therapeutic process — in a yoga studio. I was 21 at the time and going through things as most of us do in our early stages of life. Yoga was not only about the asana (or pose), it was about the practice and the restoration I experienced. Yoga aided me in the healing of my heart, my neural connectivities and my mind-body. It changed my habits. So I began to learn this practice from a non-judging place where I had no expectations to “succeed” or “be the best”. That was how I felt inspired to become a yoga instructor. Read more>>

Ashley Grubbs

Success is such a broad term and means something different to everyone. In my experience, having a successful business means realizing that I need a team of people and a strong support system to help me reach my vision and goals. I have an AMAZING organizing team that works directly with clients in their homes so that I can focus on working on the business, not in it. Without my team and their support, we wouldn’t be able to help as many clients and change their lives. It’s a ripple effect! Read more>>

Martha Ware

I know it sounds cliche, but it takes a whole lot of determination, passion, and hard work. However, more than any of those, it takes courage and strength to get up after each fall, to overcome challenges, and to take failure as learning opportunities. You also need to be flexible and change courses quickly when needed, and learn to swallow your pride more times than you can count. Read more>>

Diamos Demerritt

Life is simple. We as a people make it hard. We rather follow the social norms then the vision that burn in ones heart. In order to become successful in life, one must define what success looks like to them. To have the courage to bet on yourself. Remain consistent no matter the challenge or obstacle. Follow the vision. Read more>>

Emily Rainier

I believe that it takes a heavy dose of positivity and consistency to be successful. Having talent when it comes to your industry is obviously super important, but with out consistency and hard work PLUS a positive attitude, there’s a chance you’ll never actually see success. We live in a world that has gotten way too comfortable with taking the easy route and assuming that it will just work out. The idea of giving 110% for and extended amount of time keeps many from going after what they really want to accomplish. A mentor of mine once told me, “If it were easy, everyone would do it”, and I couldn’t agree more. Those who are consistent and work hard for what they want will see success – whatever that may mean personally. Read more>>

Erik Berkley

It simple- success is determined by one thing- hard work. No matter what business you are in all you have do do is work harder than anyone else in order to be successful. I teach this to my children and I believe that I am a prime example of this in that my hard work in any role that I have been given is what leads to being given greater responsibilities and ultimately what leads to being successful. Read more>>

Tiera Johnson

This may sound cliche but the way to be successful is with hard work and dedication. I learned the hard way that it’s not that things aren’t working, it’s that you aren’t. It can be easy to blame the world and others for your downfall but if you don’t put in the work then you won’t see any results. There’s also different levels of success. Once I hit a point where I feel successful I start looking at what I need to do to get to the next level. So I guess the real key to being successful is never hitting a brick wall when it comes to looking at levels of success. Read more>>

Shantel Davis

You have to be patient and know that customers will come in their own time. Know what your customers want because customers just want to browse around a store first before they make a purchase. Don’t pressure the customers to buy a product from you because they have other priorities right now. When a customer likes your page and website that’s another way of becoming successful. Do not give up on what you want to achieve in. Also do not give up on your dreams. Have a solid support system when you do that means you are doing the right thing. Read more>>

Mackenzie Smith-Wuest

Being successful is a relative term. If I’m a chef, not burning the soufflé is a success. If I’m a firefighter, saving a historic building from being completely ruined is a success. If I’m a rancher, turning out a bountiful crop is a success. Society has raised us to perceive “being successful” as only one thing, profitable. And in part yes, this has to do with your success as a business owner, but there’s so much more that gets overlooked. You could be the most profitable business but if there’s not an ounce of morale or authenticity behind you or your brand, I don’t see that as successful at all. Read more>>

Weston Mosburg

Patience and persistence are the two things you need to become successful. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are at something if you aren’t patient. It takes some people years to become good at their craft, and that’s fine, You hear stories all the time about how people didn’t become who they are today until late in life. Colonel Sanders didn’t get KFC going until he was 62! It may seem like you need to be successful today or this year, but everyone has lots of time to develop. That’s where the persistence comes in. If you work at something everyday for a long period of time, you’ll vastly improve. Read more>>

Whitney Espinosa

I strongly believe that a person starting or running a business must find their niche and excel at it. It’s impossible to please everyone so find one thing and do it better than anyone else. I promote myself as a health conscious baker, providing healthier option desserts. My hope is that through word of mouth, people on special diets will seek me out. Instead of them trying to go to a full service bakery to see if they can make something vegan or gluten free, for example, they can reach out to me to make them something that I have been perfecting for years for my own special dietary needs. Read more>>

Elle France

If you don’t love what you do, of course it’s going to be hard to put in work. It’s hard to spend time doing something you’re not excited about. Stay humble and work hard on your craft, and you’ll see some great things happen. Takes time, but the rewards along the way are worth it. I have never worried about what other people had “keeping Up with the Joneses” I don’t base my life on other peoples success and what other people have. Read more>>

Alexandra Goodman

To be successful, you have to WANT to be successful. You have to push through hardship, inconvenience, and negative experiences. Stay your course, remain strong, and maintain a level of flexibility. Success may not always come painted like the picture we have in our head, but it’s important to recognize and be proud of our accomplishments. Read more>>

Emily Davis

Consulting for nonprofits is a very specific niche. Applying corporate practices to nonprofits doesn’t necessarily translate and vice versa. There are so many different types of nonprofits from their missions, to their services, to their budget and staff sizes, to their organizational lifecycles. For that reason, providing consulting services to nonprofits isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, as a nonprofit consultant I have expertise in nonprofit board governance but that doesn’t make me an expert in program design and evaluation or planned giving. Read more>

Erin Swietlik

In order to be a successful entrepreneur, you must have the “I will never give up” mindset. I started Energy Ballz back in 2018 with no set plan of this being a full-time business. At the time, I had my nutrition consulting business that I was trying to build as a part time gig while I was in a self development program. I kept Energy Ballz as part of my previous business name, not thinking it would be something big. Energy Ballz has always been a hobby of mine, its really the perfect grab n go snack that is fulfilling and healthy. I started selling my ballz at a local boutique gym called TruFusion in Scottsdale where I also was teaching group fitness. I would do monthly samples and they were actually selling at a decent rate. Read more>>

Jhase Kennedy

In my opinion To be successful takes a few things, determination, self belief, consistency & hard work if you’re able to maintain all those things at a high enough level there’s almost no way you can lose. Read more>>

Amy Clary

What if I were to tell you that I draw a mouse really, really good. And, then ask you to invest millions of dollars into my little mouse drawing, would you do it? But, look, this mouse is no ordinary mouse. He has a mouse “friend” that looks just like him, except she has a bow and long eyelashes and it’s not quite clear if she’s his girlfriend or friend or wife or what. And he has a pack of rag tag friends like a duck you can hardly understand, a dog who walks on all fours and doesn’t talk and another dog who walks on two legs and talks. Now would you invest in my mouse? Read more>>

Isabela O’Meara

I think what is takes to be successful is loving what you do and using your talents and abilities to give back to others. When you focus on making a difference in someone’s life as a priority, you become happy, fearless, passionate, driven and fulfilled in your heart. Read more>>