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.

Tracy Phillippi

I believe that to be truly successful you need to remind yourself that everything is figureoutable ( that is my new favorite word). You need to know when to take a step back and pull emotion out of things and think logically. I feel like I am achieving new levels of success personally and professionally since I have adopted this new mindset. When things go sideways getting upset is fine but don’t stay upset find a solution to it or ask for help. I have had so many things in my life come up where I could have stayed in my feelings but I allowed myself to feel the pain then turn that pain into power. Read more>>

LaTia Kirby

I think everyone has their own unique view of what it means to be successful but for me it’s being disciplined and having clear goals. I’m a home health occupational therapist and I drive to patient’s homes daily to treat them. Sometimes I work eight or more hours and when I come home from work, I still have to complete my paperwork as well as find time to work on my business. I’m usually drained after work, but I know what I want to accomplish with HBCU MADE. Also, writing daily goals has allowed me to be more organized and focused. Read more>>

Christian Saber

I believe that success is achieved when you have a dream and you go for it. You are constantly making sure that you are not motivated by greed or pride or fame, but rather passion and a desire to do something really well. Success is enjoyed when you are able to prioritize what matters most in your life and take care of your family and community in the process. Read more>>

Ashley Loth

Many people think success is in a form of materialistic, or financial wealth. Before I became an entrepreneur I thought the same thing. I have been a photographer for over 15 years, and have achieved many milestones in my career, but the thing that has stood out to me the most has been the people I’ve created with. Even if I work with them only once that moment, we came together to create a magical image and moment to cherish forever. When I am in a low or feel as though I should have more fame or notoriety for my work, I look back on how far I have came and remember all the beautiful souls along the way. Read more>>

Jada Taylor

To be successful, one needs a clear vision and goals, hard work and diligence, resilience and perseverance, continuous learning, adaptability, networking and collaboration, passion and purpose, time management and discipline, taking calculated risks, emotional intelligence, integrity and ethics, self-belief and confidence. The factors that have shaped my path to success and some personal anecdotes that illustrate how I’ve navigated through various challenges to arrive where I am today are: Read more>>

Leah Gilbertson

I firmly believe that success is born from unwavering intention and dedicated investment of time. With determined focus on a well-defined goal, and a relentless commitment to honing one’s skills, I am a firm advocate that success can be achieved in any endeavor where heartfelt passion and energy are poured. The more time you carve out to spend on your business or craft becomes a stepping stone to shaping the path towards accomplishment. Read more>>

Derek Ruf

I think the recipe to being successful includes some combination of discipline, perseverance, accountability and surrounding yourself with good people. I have been very fortunate to have great people around me from different fields that teach me so much about business and help me grow professionally and personally. I think discipline is important because there are times I have to do the things I don’t necessarily feel like doing. Perseverance is necessary for success because you may not be an immediate success but if stay focused on the goals at hand you realize those goals can be obtained and you can make new goals. Read more>>

Juan Diego Cubillo

Success, in my opinion, is defined as whether or not we are living authentically and fulfilling our life purpose. It’s beyond money, degrees, and job titles. To be successful, we must first discover our gift(s) and identify ways in which we can use them while making a living. I remember making 6 figures for the first time and feeling empty as ever. I remember driving a luxury car for the first time and realizing that I was driving it just to impress the people around me. I took a step back and promised myself that I would never chase a paycheck. Instead, I will seek my life purpose until I’m in a position to help others find theirs. Read more>>

Maxyne Simon

To be successful you have to go against the grain, embrace the essence of taking risks, step out of comfort zones, and infuse your journey with a sense of joy and fun. Success is an ever-evolving concept, and for me, it means pursuing my passions, fulfilling personal goals, and persistently embracing discomfort in both my personal and professional life. Growing up photography was always looked at as something fun or a hobby. While I dabbled in this hobby, I continued to have a gut feeling that it could be more. I took all of the comments about it being a side gig or how fun it could be to fuel the business I have now created. What was the worst that could happen? I fail? That thought alone is my push for continuous success. Read more>>

Stephanie Frederick

What do you think it takes to be successful? I think there are a lot of factors that go into someone being successful, but my top three are; having a “why” or a mission, a willingness to try (and fail), and having a lifelong-learner mindset. Honestly, the “why” that fueled me to start Smart Girl Marketing was to create an income stream to pay off my student loan debt – something I feel like a lot of millennials can relate to. Read more>>

Stacy Strobl

Success is definitely subjective and determined by your goals and vision. It can get skewed when you allow others to define success for you or you dwell in comparison, the thief of joy. For us, we measure our success by those whom we have helped seize opportunity, find their niche and community, and have nurtured the success of their own teams! Today, we look across EXIT Southeast in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas and see these determined franchise owners, brokers and agents who are serving their community, colleagues and making a better life for their families and that is success! Read more>>

Kiera Hunter

Being successful means consistently pursuing and achieving meaningful goals, fueled by passion and commitment. It involves embracing challenges, learning from failures, and persisting with unwavering determination. Success is not solely measured by external accomplishments but also by personal growth, fulfillment, and the positive impact one has on others. It requires a balance between ambition and integrity, a mindset of continuous improvement, and the ability to adapt to change. Ultimately, success to me is living a purposeful life aligned with one’s values, while finding joy and satisfaction in the journey of self-discovery and contribution to the world. This is how I would explain my perspective on and experience with succession. Read more>>

Natalie Pugachevsky

Success is an intangible opinion we all have our own definitions of. Success can be a little win or big achievement. To me the definition of being successful is finding a little win each and every day. As a photographer it could be anything ranging from delivering an elopement gallery to booking a dream couple. Taking pride in every single thing you do can lead to your success. Taking pride in your work keeps you genuinely passionate about it. Read more>>

Confidence Omenai

You must define success for yourself before you can accurately measure it. Many accomplished scholars, artists, scientists, women and men of industry have died penniless or without notoriety, believing themselves to be failures. Why? Many were convinced by capitalism that what they created was only as worthy as what it earned, and if they earned nothing they had failed. Many of us were taught from an early age to pursue a predestined plan of action assigned by gender roles, race, and socioeconomic class. We often find out after the degrees, the wedding, the babies are born or the practice opens, that none of what we have accomplished had anything to do with what gives us joy or honors our purpose. Read more>>

Tomas Mitchell

Success is all about motivation. If you are not willing to put in the effort and keep your self motivation going even when you don’t feel like doing anything you will never succeed. I found out early in life that no one was going to take my ideas and make them happen but me. As I grew into adulthood I developed habits of hard work, and self motivation that have carried me through my life. One of the best self motivators I found was to take the criticism from others and use it to inspire me. Every time someone said to me “you can’t do that” I used the emotion it created in me to push my self harder, to practice longer, to study deeper to learn the skill I was seeking. Read more>>

Flo Erickson

I really think there are three key components to success. A goal, a plan, and a mindset. First you start of with your goal. If your goal is success, you first have to define what that means to you in its entirety and what you are hoping to gain from it. You also have to be realistic with your self about roadblocks or instances that may happen along the way that can hinder you from success. Being mindful or anticipating these factors in the beginning will help you down the road. When I started out as a content creator my only goal in mind was to be successful in what I set out to do – and that was to build a community of people with similar interests and create a safe space to share them, but I knew it would require a certain amount of patience, work, and time. Read more>>

Ashley Duran

In my own experiences, I believe what it takes to be successful is to be dedicated and constantly moving forward no matter what challenges life throws at you. Growing up, I did not come from money and lost my mom at the age of 18. I had to grow up a lot faster and change my whole perspective on things. It sure has been a tough journey, but what I realized what it takes to be successful. You really have to believe in yourself, have a vision and keep swimming. Read more>>

Brittnie Campbell

To be successful: I think it takes consistency. Practicing consistently, making mistakes & learning from those help to make us better in all aspects of life both professionally, & personally. I think it takes the willingness to fail but the personal determination & commitment to yourself to keep trying to be successful in whatever you do. Read more>>

Kiki Nikole

There are many factors involved with being successful. Success, for me, means determination and staying on track with my goals and mission – this includes my daily habits as well as my goals for a healthy work/life balance. I think it takes constant preparation as well. For instance, taking the time to prepare things such as meals and snacks helps sustain the energy needed to execute and complete any plans made. For example, when I take a road trip with my meditation class I must always prepare for things in advance. This includes packing healthy food and beverages, as well as tools such as camping gear, overnight things, and other miscellaneous stuff (if needed). Read more>>

Manny Rivera

Be willing to fail. Kobe Bryant once said, “If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.” For me, setting big goals so big it’s a good bet you may experience failure at least once. Big goals should be long term, you grow in the achievements you’re fortunate enough to achieve over time. Over time! Here’s the thing, small easy attainable goals might seem to “work” but your goals should stretch you, not be easy. If it’s easy, you’re cutting corners. And lastly, have a purpose, without it your sense of direction is skewed. Read more>>

Robby Mueller

During my time as a photographer i’ve quickly realized that there are reasons we all gravitate towards certain careers. Mostly dependent on our willingness to understand ourselves and what makes us motivated and intrigued to keep going. With a personality that is open to learning from mistakes and being accomodating to others creative visions I believe that there are times and places for us to allow our individuality to shine but also times for us to understand that collaboration is a necessity for not only my career path, but all career paths. If you don’t learn to lean on anyone else at any given moment, you will likely over work yourself and fall into a dreadful path that ends with a lack of motivation or completely checking out and coasting through life. Read more>>

Wayne Butler

I have been an entrepreneur my whole life. After age 16 normal 9-5 jobs just didn’t make sense. I tried everything from door to door, phone sales, to trade show/fairs. I owned my own business for 15 years right before the pandemic. My daughter and I have also been a comedy duo on social media. We just did it for fun but eventually we went viral and had over 25 global features on Musically app which is now Tiktok. I spent many days sometimes weeks away from my family running my business. I traveled all over the country and managed and trained sales teams. In 2020 when we were in lockdown I lost my business due to being unable to travel. Read more>>

Diego Santos

I firmly believe that achieving success in one’s career requires a combination of sacrifice, forward thinking, and discipline. These three essential traits were crucial in my early career development, enabling me to purchase an existing company at the young age of 23. While there were other minor qualities that contributed to my journey, these three traits were the most significant. During my early days, I observed those around me indulging in material possessions such as cars, extravagant food and drinks, unnecessary clothes, and lavish vacations. Read more>>

Kavita Melwani

I believe the main difference between success is to keep going. This may sound simplistic, but it can be harder than it sounds. Some things that can take us off track can come as distractions and bright, shiny objects. Whenever I have questioned my own intuition and inner knowing – essentially given my power away to others – it has taken me off track. A great coach will not give you the answers but bring out your own inner knowing when I work with clients that is my philosophy. Once they feel aligned and know what they want, I can help with strategies to help them achieve their deepest desires. Read more>>

Jesse Mohler

What it takes to be successful… you must first be willing to fail… and fail again… and again. You have to kind of be a risk-taker and even when those risks are very calculated, there’s still never 100% certainty that they’ll pay off. So, successful person has to be willing to go through these trials and treat them as learning experiences in order to move forward. This mindset can be applied to nearly every aspect of life, from personal growth to business goals and human relationships. Read more>>

Michelle Ann

Authenticity. Follow what lights up your soul and it will never lead you astray and it will keep leading you to every door you need to open, even if you don’t listen right away. Read more>>

Alisha Wielfaert

Being successful doesn’t mean doing just one thing. Being successful takes guts, heart, and a very, very strong personal why. Being successful also depends on you being willing to do things that nobody else wants to do, it means being willing to try and to fail and to get back up, dust yourself off and try again, and again, and again. Early on in my entrepreneurial journey, I was searching for a silver bullet. I believed that if I could gain enough social media followers, grow my email list to the right number, earn an award like 40 under 40, get endorsed by the right person, land a big speaking engagement or have a successful launch that it would help me ensure success. Read more>>

Jessica James

I believe that collaboration and great service experiences are two of many components that have helped Gifts by Jessy thrive! For more than five years, we have been creating hand crafted gift baskets. It started off as a hobby and has now blossomed into an amazing business. While I enjoy curating gifts, I quickly learned that I cannot handle everything alone, which lead me to collaborate with other small businesses. Customer favorites like homemade soaps and personalized cutting boards are a result of such collaborations. Read more>>

Clint Wright

Risk mitigation. All success story’s I’ve heard start from a point of risk. Even if it seems like the current owner or executive had everything handed to them because, for example, their dad owned the business or something like that. Whoever was the one to build that business from the ground up remembers the risks and hardships they encountered to grow it to that point, and solidify its legacy. I feel like too many people stand at the edge of something great but end up turning around and giving it up because they fear the reality of the negative possibilities that could occur, and don’t spend enough time focusing on the possibilities that could change their life for the better by deciding to blaze a trail through the unknown. Read more>>

Brooke Qilafi

Success comes in many different shapes and forms. Some of those forms include having an optimal outlook on life, your physical and mental strength, monetary gain, impact or building strong relationships. However, no matter the type of success you are looking to achieve, it requires action. The first step to reaching any goal is to take action, even when the outcome is unknown or grim. When I decided to open Qilafi Public Relations, I had no secured clients and furthermore, no capital. Using the little bit of savings I did have, I took a leap of faith and created my LLC. For me, that $100 spend was my first step. There were numerous investments ahead of starting my business which definitely scared me at the time, but I had to trust that the relationships and skills I had built over my career would serve me in my new venture. Read more>>

Grace Myler

I believe in order to be successful, you have to take risks and step out of your comfort zone. Success never comes from staying in your comfort zone and I’m a firm believer in that. Sometimes the biggest blessings and successes can come from the biggest challenges. I’ve been working in the social media space for 3+ years. In 2022 I launched Grace Myler Media a social media management and content creation business. Prior to my launch I had been struggling with a lot of health issues and had to undergo a Kidney Auto Transplant surgery. Read more>>

Lex Abshire

What I think it takes to be successful all depends on what you define as success. I think the best place to start is defining what that looks like for you and making tasks that accomplish that goal. So the level of effort, work, skills, etc will vary based on the what this idea of success is for you. That being said one thing is unavoidable within that goal of success. You need to have discipline. You need to be able to self start yourself to accomplish the tasks that bring you closer to your goal. You need the discipline to be able to hold yourself accountable and take responsibility for when the tasks aren’t being accomplish and your goal isn’t getting closer to becoming achieved. Read more>>

Candace Machado

My business started in an orange corner in my home 8 years ago. During that time I was working as a mental health practitioner in a Psychiatric hospital and came to realize, that was not where I was supposed to be but I knew that I wanted to help others in a more meaningful way. I started out with a vision of combining mental health practices with holistic practices and fusing them together. In Wyoming we do not have many services that combine mental health and holistic health together. So I started to pave a path. Blazing a trail that doesn’t have a guide book can be a daunting task. There were moments where I questioned myself, second guessed choices and decisions, and wondered if my vision was ever going to become a reality. Read more>>

Crystal Miller
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Several things are required to be successful at anything, especially business. First you need to have a goal you are trying to reach or set one. Second you need to create a map or guide of steps you will take to reach that goal. Third you need to have the discipline to stick with a routine or schedule, to follow the steps in your guideline and remain consistent with it. Fourth you need to have the timeline you are looking for to reach your goal. Be reasonable when setting the time frame. It’s ok if you mess up and have to restart. As long as you keep going until the goal is accomplished. Read more>>

Lane Tunstall

To be successful, you have to fail. You have to try things and the only way you will know if they work is by trying them out. Sometimes things fail and that’s ok. The key is to move on and try a new thing and not dwell on your failures and mistakes. Just move forward. Read more>>

Jared Nelson

Valuing people and doing what you say you will do is an investment in their lives, creating sustainable business relationships. Even if you fall short, own up to it, make it right, and always treat people with respect. It’s also important to provide growth opportunities for the ones that help build this day in and day out. That is what these companies were built on, and that’s what makes us different. Read more>>