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.

Shadea Murphy

Success can vary depending on the individual. As the owner of Spiked Delights my idea of success has everything to do with what is going on internally rather than the things you have externally. Success is finding peace on those days when you booked 0 events because you know one day you will have so many events you’ll need a whole corporation to service them. Success is not sleeping for days, running from state to state & still going with tears in your eyes because you KNOW that it’s going to pay off! You will find TRUE SUCCESS in the actual journey rather than the destination & that’s when you will be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor wholeheartedly. Read more>>

Sandy Sea

I believe that hard work makes a person successful. When I first decided I wanted to be a mermaid, I started working on my breath hold and different tricks to audition to be a mermaid at Ripleys aquarium in Myrtle Beach. When I got the role I was ecstatic. However, it was not long until I got laid off due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Rather than accept defeat, I saved up to buy my own tail and form my own LLC. This was the start of my own mermaid business. Read more>>

Pepi Ng

Honestly, as I am still a student, I’m not sure if I’m the best candidate to answer this question. However, for me, success currently means doing things that I’m proud of, and doing things that I think are right for myself! I think that being open to trying new things and being experimental has definitely allowed me to discover more about myself and develop a new perspective of my environment and surroundings, and that gives me a lot of fulfilment every day. Read more>>

Mikasha Clark

Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. It takes a lot of hard work, consistency, and passion to be successful. But just because you aren’t exactly where you want to be doesn’t mean you’ve failed. You are on your path to success. It may be a bumpy road, but it’ll make for an even better success story! Keep going! Read more>>

Arthur Russell

To be successful, I believe it takes a great deed of hard work and perseverance. I look at the lives of peers that I grew up with. Some are incarcerated, some on drugs and some are now deceased. I ask myself, “What’s different from them and myself?” The only difference was that I: Included God in my life, worked my butt off and NEVER gave up. Read more>>

Kyshona Gresham

I firmly believe the key to success is consistency, discipline, time management, great client service, & a positive attitude. No matter what industry you are in. When you implement these traits/tools to your everyday life and thought process, you will see constant success in everything you do. Read more>>

Allison Viviano

To be successful you have to be able to fail or accept setbacks. The lessons you learn through those setbacks will help you for the future. When covid hit I was living where I was born and raised in Orange County CA so everything was shut down especially the beauty industry. After a year of no work we had to come to a decision if this is where we wanted to raise our family. We had great lives as kids and our parents never let us go without. We wanted the same for our future kids so that’s when we chose to leave our careers to start over and move to Santa Rosa Beach FL. Read more>>

Daniela Yepez

To me, being successful is to have the ability to push away the fear. The fear of dreaming big even it seems be unreachable. If you allow yourself to freely dream, then you have completed half of the work. Honor those dreams because you will find, within yourself, an inexplicable strength in order to pursue them. I think that my story is a clear example of listening to my dream and accomplishing every step to make it happen. My wish of being an international creative started in 2014 when I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and it has shaped my life. Read more>>

Fernando Wicker

What do I think it takes to be successful? Everything that’s within you . Success doesn’t come until you work on personal development . I failed to realize that at first . But over the last year I’ve been working on myself and saw my business get more engagement than ever. Also everyone has their own definition of being successful . I think being successful is not being satisfied . Without success you have to fail . Adversity shows a man whom he really is . Read more>>

Ryan Waters

There are the typical responses such as hard work and determination, but I feel that it really depends on personal motivation that is very individually specific. When I first began my career as a guide, I would take jobs with low or sometimes no pay, travel far distances, anything just to get opportunities. So over time, I developed simple phrases that became important; “you have to make things happen for yourself”, and “you have to take chances”. These mottos helped me become successful because they gained me valuable experience, which led to additional opportunities. Read more>>

Roquita Johnson

This is a great question! I believe success is a combination of different factors instead of one ultimate determinant. When it comes to business, there are answers to this question that are often cited by others that still hold up: discipline, ingenuity, building relationships, knowing how to prioritize, and leveraging your strengths to name a few. I definitely believe you need all of these as a baseline for being successful. Read more>>

Natorsha Hammonds

I think that being open minded, adventurous, love, and understanding male A successful business owner. Read more>>

Caroline Polly

Success to me means doing exactly what you want to do and feeling fulfilled and happy pursuing that. As a business owner, I’m constantly redefining what metrics I’m measuring my growth by, but I feel I’ve been successful ever since I decided to fully pursue my two businesses (social media management at The Polly Agency and photography at Caroline Polly Photography) full-time. My dad is an entrepreneur and over the years, I have seen his business grow one client at a time, culminating in where he is now. He has always been an inspiration to me and his encouragement to start my own business was instrumental in guiding my career path. Read more>>

Clara Fernández

I think this is not a simple question because the definition of success has changed considerably worldwide and especially in our industry. Before I think about what it takes to be successful I need to think about the definition of success. What is to be successful for me? And this is a question I have been reflecting about a lot considering quite extensively lately. Is it to have big clients? Is it to earn a lot of money with your business? Is it to be recognized and celebrated by the design community? Is it to be happy with the work you’re carrying out?… For me the correct answer is closer to the last question. Being successful is to be happy with whatever you like to do, it is to achieve what you want to do in life and enjoy both the process and the results. Read more>>

Dana Marie Alkhouri

I think it takes alot of resilience and patience to be successful. You need to be very comfortable with being told no. However, it’s how you take that no and turn it into a yes. There is always a way; it takes compromise, negotiation, and patience but be comfortable with that no and you will turn it into a yes. Another thing i standby, which I believe in one of the most important things to remember, is don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone’s path and journey is different and you will get to where you’re meant to be. It’s the bar one sets for themselves and the path you follow. Read more>>

Marta Alonso Yebra and Imanol Calderón Elosegui

We think that today it takes to be successful honesty, naif, real and truth. Our experience is link to design and built spaces and objects. We love light so light is so important in our work. We never know what is going to be successful. We think it is so difficult to figure it out. But fi we analyze the most important designers at this moment, all their designs are really honest, pure, it takes a kind of beauty and aesthetic quite universal and open. This kind of beauty, functionality and aesthetic could be love by our grandmothers or a children. And this process it is so difficult. Read more>>

Matt Nemetz

I believe in order to be successful, we must define what success looks like through our own lens and metrics. From there, it’s a matter of reverse engineering the steps to ‘attain it and maintain it’. Success isn’t an end destination that you just end up at, rather, it’s a journey of consistent efforts over an extended period of time. Read more>>

Gary Karapetyan

Thank you for the question. Success, in my opinion, is a complex idea that includes more than just career and financial accomplishments. While recognition and accomplishments are significant, I believe that genuine success is strongly related to one’s sense of happiness and joy. Pursuing a sincere passion is one important factor that contributes to success. Passion is a driving force, as it inspires people to put in the required work, devotion, and time to succeed in their chosen fields. Challenges become chances for progress rather than obstacles when you are enthusiastic about what you do. Read more>>

Amanda Thorne

To be successful you need to have a thick skin, and self motivation. For some reason a lot of people want to point out what could go wrong when you start a new venture, and usually don’t offer a lot of hope or support. You have to look past what others think, and trust in your own vision and ability, and keep pushing to make your dream a reality. You have to be okay with learning as you go, and facing adversity head-on. There will always be bumps in the road, and doubters will always be there too, so you need to be okay with working through the tough times, and not letting the nay-sayers get in your head. Read more>>

Amy Schutte

“What does wildly successful mean to you?” is a question we pose to our coaching clients when we start working with them. We dig into values, money, and creating a business around the life we want to live — not the other way around. Getting to that place when you are running a business requires a constant uplevel and reframing of the stories you tell yourself. Now that I’ve grown a successful business and helped hundreds of other entrepreneurs do the same, the three most significant keys to success always come down to the following: Read more>>

Emilie Sobel

I measure success on so many things. First off, success shouldn’t be only about how much money you’re making. I feel truly successful when I have the opportunity to work with clients, brands and people that I not only look up to but am an actual fan and consumer of. For me, nothing feels better than getting noticed by someone you admire and then getting hired by them to work together on a campaign or project. The fact that businesses put their trust in me to create captivating social media campaigns and strategies is what makes me feel like I’m doing this whole work thing right and that my business is successful. Read more>>

Vincent Madero

Based on how you choose to measure it, I think success can look different for everyone. For me it’s being able to provide for myself while not feeling like my entire life is devoted to working non-stop. To be successful in this sense I know that being open-minded, communicative, flexible with my time, and impeccable with my word keeps me in the good graces of my clients. To keep me within the good graces of myself I workout, research things I’m interested in, volunteer, and indulge in my favorite foods. It’s a good life. Read more>>

Jami Nelson

I think it takes the ability to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. The willingness to see fear as a tool and a guide, not as a voice that rules. I also think it takes the ability to start before you are ever ready. You must be willing to try new things and evolve and grow and never stay the same. I think you must fall in love with your customer rather than your product. I have been turned down on ideas and products and licensing options by the dozens. Especially with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. They have very strict laws around raw and unpasteurized juices. I have learned to pivot and look at things differently or find a brand new approach! Read more>>

Nichola Jarvis

I think success looks differently for everyone. For me, my success has come from many failures, lots of learning, trial and error, connections in my community, and continuing to strive for growth. I started photography at 15 with no plans to turn it into a business. Not that I didn’t want to, it just never crossed my mind. As a high school student, I just wanted a fun way to capture memories with my friends. Little did I know that it would unleash this side of me that held so much creativity, and I discovered this deep passion for creating with others. I knew nothing about what it takes to run a business or how to transform what I loved into something profitable. Read more>>

Alyssa Anne Ebba

For me personally, I believe that to be successful you have to have determination, passion and dedication as well as inspiration. I call it my 4 acTION moves since they all end with the TION sound. Lol. 1. Without determination you can come up with all these ideas but not have the push to make it happen. 2. Without passion you’ll get bored and just let it all go. 3. Without dedication you can easily get sidetracked with all the million things happening in the world around you. Read more>>