We believe that success can mean different things to different people – not everyone wants the same thing, what drives happiness and fulfillment for one person doesn’t necessarily predict what will for another. That said – if we simply think of success as being effective at achieving one’s goal – whatever those goals might be – then we can set a sort of common

Nickolas Folmar

“Success is not just about achieving personal goals; it’s about creating lasting impact and building meaningful relationships within your community.” – Nickolas Folmar, Owner of Jet Stream Clean In my journey as the owner of Jet Stream Clean, a Carpet Cleaning Service based out of the Chattahoochee Valley, I’ve come to realize that true success goes beyond mere financial gains. It’s about becoming an integral part of the community and making a positive difference that resonates far beyond your own accomplishments. Creating relationships with your community is an essential aspect of achieving lasting success. By engaging with local businesses, organizations, and individuals, you not only establish a strong network of support but also gain valuable insights into the needs and aspirations of your community. Read more>>

Sarah Roche

I believe that success is a dynamic combination of determination, adaptability, and the presence of a strong support system. The decision of whether to persevere or pivot can be tough, but striking the right balance between these elements is crucial. My perspective on this has been shaped by my own experiences and journey. My story begins with a passion for music, which led me to study Classical Piano Performance at Leeds Conservatoire in the UK. After graduation, I dove into teaching full-time but soon realized that it wasn’t my true calling. This realization was not giving up; rather, it fueled my determination to find a path that allowed me to integrate my love for music while also pursuing a fulfilling career. This initial setback propelled me into exploring different avenues. Read more>>

Amy Long

To be successful, you need determination, persistence, and commitment, especially when starting your own business. Passion, drive and work ethic are also a must. If you take those elements and add self-motivation and hard work, you have a potential recipe for success. Success in business certainly does not come from luck. Most successful people will tell you that they worked their butts off to get where they are. Having success in your own business is similar to working out at the gym in that you won’t see results overnight or even in a few weeks or months. It’s the decisions and action steps you execute each day that eventually turn into your payoff in the future. Read more>>

Jen Yuhas

Understanding what it takes to be successful means defining what success looks like on my terms. Understanding my core values, and how I want to contribute to the world underscores my definition of success. My definition of success is so much more nuanced than the arbitrary ways in which the world measures success. Clarity around my personal values amplifies what is authentic and true in my head and my heart. From this place, every thought, word, action and reaction is measured against what is true success for me. Life, work and relationship decisions become less complicated when the definition is clear. I am better able to move from an intuitive place of honest feedback from my own heart rather than the often cloudy and misaligned feedback from the world. Read more>>

Kat Ivanov

There are so many definitions of success, some are financially based and others are more personal. I think if you can come home from work everyday and know you made a difference in someone’s life, you’ve been successful. It takes a lot of hard work and self awareness, and it’s more of a journey than a destination. I think the biggest factor to success is being open minded and listening to others who have walked before you. We don’t know what we’re doing all of the time and it’s detrimental to have mentors and other business owners you can surround yourself with and learn from. I’ve been very lucky to have other people and bosses around me who were supportive of me starting my business and even took me to lunch to give me advice. Find those good people in your life who want to see you succeed, and the rest will follow. Read more>>

Kellyann Alvarez

Success can mean different things for different people. One thing I know for certain is that, regardless of what it means, it will never come without discipline and effort. For me, being successful is offering products that make an impact and exceed client expectations. But what did it take to get here? It took endless nights at the office, a lot of trial and error, overcoming my fears of failing, and always aiming to provide excellent customer service. Read more>>

Kerry Maull

The question that is posed is , “What do I think it takes to be successful?” Based on my personal success of owning and running a successful small business I believe success is based off of the goals you have established for your business’s repertoire. For many ,success is defined in monetary value and although monetary value while operating a company is about an 80% necessity how your clientele views your outreach, problem solving, price point , and quality of your product is pertinent. Read more>>

Michelle Robertson

The idea of success is to me an individualized and very personalized concept. Most would identify success as the accumulation of possessions, money, and in some cases, having people in place to instantly fulfill your desires and wishes. That to me is simply the result of hard work and diligence. In my opinion, it takes good will and perseverance to be successful in today’s global economy. Treating people fairly as well as having a written plan for your vision is also important. Staying steady in one’s thinking capacity when it comes to dreams, goals and aspirations without faltering are also necessary ingredients to becoming successful. Other individuals may have their idea of what you should be doing with your life and how you should get to your destination. I think humans should keep in mind that your journey is your own unique pathway to success and your vision was given to you. Not to anyone else so don’t expect them to get it. Read more>>

Kenneth T. Thomas, Sr.

Most people measure their own success by the same measure as their neighbor. However, I believe that true success is more personal. It’s based on not so much how others view you, but how you view yourself. True success is reaching the life goals you set for yourself. To that end, success is seeing your dreams through, trudging ahead, and reaching your own desired destiny. “I” determined what it took to be successful and I worked hard to achieve it. Read more>>

Natalie Trivibulchaikul

Success is an amalgamation of ambition, adaptability, continual learning, and a profound sense of purpose. It’s about leveraging one’s unique experiences, education, and passion to create meaningful impact and foster growth. Stories and Anecdotes: My belief is deeply rooted in both personal and professional experiences. Drawing inspiration from my parents’ resilience and sacrifices, I founded a non-profit dedicated to locating and recovering minors ensnared in the tragic web of human trafficking. It’s more than just an organization; it’s a testament to the idea that success should have purpose, a broader mission that betters humanity. Read more>>

Sara Buxton

I started this business in 2017. It originated with me trying to apply to get on the show Making It with Nick Offerman and Amy Poehler. I had someone helping me at the time to hash out the details of the application process. We met up after finding out I did not make the cut. Being a metal artist, I wanted to figure out how to do something similar on a local level and they threw out doing Night Markets, as we had both traveled and experienced different artisan markets. The unique and wondrous feeling of doing this at night appealed to me. I was all in. We had our kick off in August 2018. I had secured the financing through sponsorships from businesses that I had already held art shows with. Read more>>

Giulia Davis

To me when it comes to being successful or reaching a point of sustained success, you have to eat sleep and breathe what you do. When I’m in the shower, driving, or even just scrolling on my phone I’m thinking of new ideas, designs, or ways to improve. You just have to keep doing. If you stop, so will your success. Consistency is key. If you’re always there, people will remember you even if they don’t love your product or style. I also think Inspiration is everywhere. Taking a balanced amount of time off to keep yourself happy and inspired and willing to keep going has been a big help for me. I think intense hustle culture is sometimes necessary, but is also the death of creativity and imagination. Read more>>

Cristal Johnson

To me, it depends on how one defines success. To some, success is based on a monetary level, and to some success is based on social status.. to me, success is defying the odds, standing strong when you have so many reasons to quit, making a change, the dash in between your birthdate and your death date being something to be proud of. For me, it takes determination, motivation, and definitely tenacity. Knowing that you will probably fail way more than you succeed, but deciding to continue anyway.. that to me is what makes a person successful. Read more>>

Brent Eite

I know these two examples are kind of “cliche”, but if you find something you absolutely love to do and are somewhat good at doing it, that sets you up perfectly to putting the time in to master it. Secondly, working hard is a natural byproduct of that. I think the trouble with a majority of people, not just nowdays but throughout the previous generations, is that kids don’t know what they want to do so they end up in an unfulfilled work environment. Read more>>

Cynthia Garcia Williams

To achieve success, I firmly believe that one must be willing to dedicate at least 10,000 hours of focused practice, a concept explored in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers.” In addition to hard work and persistence, luck can also play a role in achieving greatness. Personally, I have fully embraced this philosophy and wholeheartedly devote myself to my craft. This means working hard to create balance in my life. However, I most often find myself making tough decisions, saying no to other commitments, and sometimes being away from loved ones for extended periods. Read more>>

Deb Whitcas

Success is a formula. It happens when hard work and being prepared meets opportunity and luck! I don’t think success can be achieved without this exact formula — at least it hasn’t happened for me yet! I can use getting my first job in the TV Industry as an example. I worked very hard in college as a TV major- I did 5 internships, maintained a good GPA and was involved in several different on-campus media outlets, o when I got lucky and got the opportunity to meet Jerry Springer while he was filming a Spring Break show in Negril, Jamaica, I was prepared to ask for a job and had the experience in TV to back it up. Because of this formula, I was hired a few weeks later as a part – time intern on the show and I turned that opportunity into a full- time Producer position. I wound up working on the show for three years! Read more>>

Caleb Quire

First step is to define what success means to you. And then hammer in the tenacity to keep going and give it your healthy all. I used to have the “suck it up. get it done”, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, “If you’re not hustling 24/7, you’re wrong” kind of mentality and for the beginning part of my career I believe it was necessary. I needed to build the drive to push through the hard times with no wiggle room for excuses. However, I saw success as big figures, a strong team, lots of respect, and an influx of work just waiting at my front door. Every small victory was a tiny stepping stone to the larger goal and nothing too big enough to enjoy. Read more>>

Chris Hall

Zig Ziglar among many others are quoted as saying “Success is when opportunity and preparedness meet” or some variation of that quote. It stems from a Roman philosopher, Seneca, that said “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Whether you call it luck or success, it doesn’t happen without being prepared when the opportunity presents itself. I’m always big on breaking things down into threes. Much like a strong sturdy tripod has three legs, many facets of life can be broken down into three main points. Read more>>

Alan Genter

There’s one thing I believe people need to become successful. And that’s failure. You need to know failure, you need to experience failure, and you kind of need to fear failure. My path to the success I’ve found was not linear. Growing up in a lower/middle-class area where everyone ended up stuck there, you definitely didn’t have any advantage or head start to success. Well putting myself through barber school and being there eight hours a day. The bills still need to get paid somehow. So I worked 12 hour graveyard, shifts painting airplanes for a company called leading edge. Three nights were long and so were the Days. Monday through Friday, 9am- 5pm I was in barber school and 7pm-7am I was working. After doing that for nine months I finally got my barbers license, but the hustle didn’t stop there. Read more>>

STEPHEN SHENBOYEJO

My name is Stephen Shenboyejo, popularly known as Steve The Director, a multi-award-winning filmmaker/music video director As a prolific cinematographer, director, editor and colorist, I have worked with twelve-time Grammy award nominee and two-time Grammy award winner; Lil Eddie. I recently shot and directed the music videos of popular music producer, Mystro, who has produced songs for Tiwa Savage, Wizkid and Davido. Read more>>

Bobby Lee

Being successful is measured in many different ways. One measure is what society at large deems as successful, this is normally centered around financial gain and status. Another measure is what our friends and family consider successful, which I believe is derived from perceived accomplishment based on what people think you are doing. Then there is the measure that I think is the most accurate, which is your personal measure. Of these, I believe that your personal measures will form the guidelines that determine what we as individuals call successes and failures. But for me it is easy, patience and hard work! Read more>>

Danny Blaq

This is somewhat a loaded question. I believe there are many levels to “success” as it is very subjective and can mean different things to different people. I would think that for most it relates to money, fame and influence. I look at life like a recipe, you must have a bunch of different ingredients with the right amount for the flavor to be just right. Too much or little of one thing and the entire dish can be turn out bad. You have rich people that people think have it all be miserable and poor people very happy, then of course you have everything in between but the point is that for you to find your sweet spot there are a lot of things that must occur. Read more>>

Johanne Marseille

I believe it takes hard work, consistency, and faith. It’s difficult to keep adapting to trends to build your brand and it’s definitely an extra job. But no matter what you have to keep pushing and believe in the dream. Read more>>

Bruce Miller

My first lesson leading to my success was to ignore the negativity coming from others. Tune them out! I did not have full family support when I first began officiating 5 years ago! They were cool with my doing my brother in-laws wedding and not so cool with it when I decided to put my shingle out! I read about the growing need for Officiants & decided to jump right in. They honestly have not embraced it very well. I will not go into all of the gory details about it, as some of it is not really pleasant. I had a new friend whom I met at a networking group, and she offered me the best advice. You do you & let them do them. Read more>>