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.

Liz Alterman

Whatever you’re pursuing, it’s so important to practice your craft and hone your skill. While we might often hear “overnight success” stories, chances are if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that the successful person worked incredibly hard, often for years, to achieve that level. Though it’s hard to put yourself out there, asking for feedback helps you grow and improve. I also believe perseverance is every bit as important as talent. I’m a big proponent of the phrase, “You make your own luck.” Believing in yourself makes all the difference. Read more>>

Finian St Omer

To be successful you need to come up with a clear plan and goal you want to reach. Once you reach the goal you are successful. Never compare your success to someone else’s success. It will only make you feel as if you aren’t doing enough. Once you figure out success is not one size fits all you will see how successful you really are in your journey. Read more>>

Judith DeMasters

Everything you do, do it out of kindness and respect. Life comes in many layers all simultaneously: you have your own self, your family, friends, career… and many different things happening within each one of those aspects of your life at once. The definition of success will vary for each particular project and endeavor, but If you have a strong moral compas and make sure that everything you do has been done respectfully and with kindness, you will constantly be building strong relationships, building healthy environments and creating positive experiences. These will all be paving the road to success, along the journey and through completion. Read more>>

Penny Bell

I believe it takes, a strong mind set. It takes dedication, keeping God ahead of every move you make! But, it also takes the right team to help encourage your dreams and goals . Once you have those things in control you can be successful in anything. Read more>>

Yolanda Warren

Success is built on tenacity. There will be a lot of times you want to quit or things aren’t going your way. But that’s when creativity has to kick in along with faith for the middle. Because at that point you are in the middle. The beginning is over you can see the end but the journey to get there is this thing called the middle. The middle can be challenging but without it you won’t come out on the other side. Read more>>

Stephanie Jacobs

I think that we have gotten wrong what it means to be successful in our country. Ones success in United States is based on money, possessions, and job status. As a former educator in public schools, I have seen the backlash this thought process has on our students. Personally I believe that success is feeling comfortable standing up for others, speaking ones mind, and being content with what they have. Read more>>

Brandie Moravek

In order to become successful in anything, it takes hard work, determination, and having a growth mindset. I think that all too often people quit or stop focusing on the positive outcome when things become too difficult or when things don’t go ” according to plan” as how they envisioned it going. Success doesn’t happen overnight; because, if it did, everyone would be successful in all the things. Read more>>

Lina Franklin

Success is an interesting word. We all measure success in different ways. Although it shows up differently for all of us, there are three undeniable pillars to success. The first is genuine interest. Genuine interest may seem obvious but sometimes it’s not. The world imparts an abundance of influence along with our personal beliefs, it can be challenging to stay true to yourself. True authenticity is earned. The second pillar is curiosity. To achieve any goal it takes strategy or training. Curiosity is a very open way to learn. It creates a desire for the information you receive. Even if the answer is “right in your face”, it’s not always in your mind. The third and most crucial pillar is resilience. Read more>>

Jenny Svehlek

For me being successful has several components. Prior to Covid, I worked in the Audio Visual industry. I started as a technician on the bottom rung, and worked my way up to a Sales Manager. Now running my own business, I actually take a lot of ideas and what I’ve learned from that industry and apply it to my business. Read more>>

Crystal Beckel

Success is a purpose, an aim and a goal in which is obtained with determination, drive, hard work, hustle and consistency. There is no specific recipe for success, however; achieving it can take you on a long journey full of whirlwind moments and stressful times. I started Avalon Blue out of my home garage in 2013, with the aim of building and refurbishing furniture. At the time this was more of a pipe dream and truthfully, looking back now I know that I didn’t have it in me to build what I now call Avalon Blue Home. Read more>>

Erin Darling

Without a doubt, success comes from a place of genuine love and interest for the work you do. I live, sleep and breathe all things wellness and can never see myself doing anything different. I have personally experienced the struggle of living a life that wasn’t happy or healthy and I can relate so deeply to my clients when they are in this low place. I believe this connection and life experience has made my business that much more successful. I have a passion to help, guide and encourage others to break past the limiting space they are stuck in and to rise their full potential. Read more>>

TIANA ASHWORTH-BERNARDO

I have been a small business owner for 15 years now, and both my husband & myself, have had multiple businesses together. I think what it takes to be successful is to keep your morals & values every day. Staying true to yourself & what you want your business to look like. Having good relationships with customers and people in general that you will encounter daily. Read more>>

Andreja Scanland

You must have passion and purpose! A BURNING DESIRE to create a life beyond what you are living in now! Removing all the negative self-talk the non-supporters those are the ones who should be driving you daily! You must focus daily and put in the work, consistently even on days when you don’t feel like it.. I know hard work customer service / relationships drives our business being key upfront and showing up daily and caring about your customer and team base is so important. Read more>>

Sara Widman

I believe that having a true heart for people and valuing them as individuals is a key to success. I think it is important not to get so focused on profit and value of self that you lose sight of who the people are who have helped make you the company that you are. I was reminded of this just last year through a customer whom had been purchasing from me for a couple years as she had gone through fertility . Finally after 2 years, she had a baby girl and sent me a long message about how my hair bows were a constant in her life as she waiting for her little girl. Read more>>

Ellen Nguyen

The successful team come from our hard work and good personality Read more>>

Monique Nash

I feel in order to be successful it starts with hard work and dedication. I am very big on manifesting my dreams and goals. I feel that it is very crucial to my journey in life. For me success is not about being on top all the time but seeing a vision come to life slowly but surely. Making a difference and giving back. If I can touch just one person with my gifts that is what a consider success! Read more>>

Kyla Rys

Photography itself largely represents and influences how viewers may feel about an event, company, or moment. I think shaping into a positive experience is important. The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me is the satisfaction of getting “the shot”. I love the process of photography, from the studio, to the darkroom, to my backyard or the woods. Having a vision, working for it, and seeing it come to life is incredibly powerful. Read more>>

Keonna Butler

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency. That is the Key To becoming successful. You can start anything. You can start working out, eating right, a business, affirmations, etc, but if you are not consistent that’s all you will do Start. It takes guts to start something. It takes Consistency to finish. Read more>>

Shane Manier

The biggest thing I’ve found in running your own business and in any artistic project’s success is to just get out of your own way. Personal development has been huge for me when it comes to the fears and expectations we have around putting ourselves out there. If you aren’t working on how to market yourself and getting comfortable with that, and what follows by putting yourself out there, it can be a really hard road to get anything off the ground. Letting go of the idea of perfection has been super helpful as well. Read more>>

Emily Tobias

Being successful is defined in a plethora of different things. For me personally, being successful meeting personal goals and eliminating comparison. Comparison is ultimately the thief of creativity and if we set goals that are based off of other creative journey, we are complying with the path that we are on. Read more>>

Raymond Allen

It takes determination and a lot of hustle to be a full-time artist. It’s one thing to be an artist, it is another to be a paid artist. I was told for years by family and friends to share and sell my work; however, I didn’t see what they saw in me and my work. We have all heard, you are your biggest critic, and it holds true. I didn’t think my work was anything special, or at least not good enough to sale. I eventually took the leap. and although my first works weren’t the best or most popular, slowly but surely, I found what works for me. Four years later, I am going strong and, in my opinion, putting out consistent and beautiful works of art. It all comes down to sticking with it through the thick and thin and always move forward. Read more>>

Steve Perrino

Persistence mostly. Progress is not a linear process, so there are times that make you feel like you’re failing and things get tough, and that’s when most people quit. The people who are successful are the ones who stick through the tough times because they want it so badly that it’s worth it to them. And opportunities come and go, and that means you’ll consistently be around to take them. Read more>>

Mark Avery

Skills. Time. Resources. Read more>>

Fioriana Larche

2 words, your mindset and your network. Read more>>

Abby Ayoola-Williams

What it takes to be successful is being open-minded to learning, consistency, time management, knowing your why and knowing your worth. Read more>>

Ben Hernandez

To be successful takes not only patience but desire, focus, a lot of confidence and especially strong desire to serve others! Read more>>

Jarius Johnson

In a nutshell, success comes from failures and experience. By failing, I grew a larger aptitude in relation to hunger, desire, and perseverance. I love challenges as they are put in place in order to test and overcome the status quo. Experiences come in a positive and negative fashion but I view them all as positive. Reflection shines a light on my current goals and objectives which feeds into my overall vision and mission. Read more>>

Courtney Williams

What do I think it takes to be successful ? Man, that’s a loaded question. There are many things that go into someone being successful but if we are simplifying it, I’d say, be sure that whatever you do it’s for a purpose. Have a clear “why” and a plan that you can follow. Get mentors who have fruit on the tree and are where you want to be in life. A lot of times we take advice from people who have never been where they are trying to advice us to go. Ask yourself “do they have the results that I want?”.  Read more>>

Anthony Zamora

I have seen so many different answers to this particular quesstion. Some say it takes hard work, dedication and self discipline. Others say success is a state of mind where what you do is what makes you happy the most, where you feel free and in control of things. I personally think that those who are or feel trully successful on what they do is because they do it with love and with passion. They also find meaning a purpose and a reason to keep going, to keep trying to improve every day to do better. Always looking for oportunities to serve others to go the extra mile and feel acomplished. Success is not a final destination, success its an every day jorney. Read more>>

Devin Edwards

Success can be measured in so many ways. As a business owner money is the number one answer most people would say. For me it’s about my shop turning out the best quality work, all artist being extremely happy to come to work, and providing a great experience for the clients that come through the door. Once you’ve developed all this things… Then I believe your successful. Read more>>

Andrew Grayson

In order to be successful you have to stand out, be weird, learn to fail, and learn to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. In order to become something you never been, you have to do things you’ve never done. There’s no recipe for how to be successful, if you ask 100 people what it means to be successful, you’ll get 100 different answers. To me being successful is as simple as being truly happy every day with what you’re doing as you’re “job”. I worked in healthcare before starting Six Pack Coverage and thought it was a fine job, paid well, and I thought I was happy but the feeling doesn’t come close to the joy I have in what I do now. Read more>>