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.

Taylor Gulizio

I think the most important thing is to believe in yourself. From personal experience most of my defeats have been due to lack of confidence. I have had many business ventures that haven’t lifted off because the first hurdle I couldn’t get over I’d give up, I didn’t believe I could do it. With this business I fully believe that I am capable of succeeding, I have found a way to believe in myself. Now when I hit a hurdle I take a minute to calm myself down and rethink my plan of action. I will keep trying different ways until I finally succeed. I believe theres only “failure” when you give up on yourself. Read more>>

Rachel Lebo

It may be simple and over stated, but being nice and engaging will get you everywhere. People want to work with folks that make them feel good and take weight off their shoulders. In a similar vein, I have found that treating everyone like your good friend, at least in the service industry, goes a long way to getting happy clients and good reviews. I work in weddings and I’m there on one of the biggest days of their life. After that experience together we are friends. Read more>>

Oscar Dominguez

As I look back in my career, the key for success is consistency and commitment to your goals. It is important to know what do you want to achieve and where you want to be in the next few years or decades. It is easy to say, but it requires sacrifice of your time and resources. I remember when I decided to go back to college in 2018, it was my 5th time trying to obtain a college degree, it seemed like a long shot. But, I had to take it step by step and eventually I saw the progress that propelled me to the finish line. Read more>>

Robby Nguyen

Willingness to adapt and change. Real estate is a make-or-break industry. Many first-time agents quit after their first year, I almost did! But I held on, persevered, and came up with systems to better my business. I think one of the biggest faults of being an entrepreneur is that sometimes we find ourselves in a pit of pride, thinking our way of initially doing things is the only right way. This leads us to not max out our full potential. After my first year of real estate, which was my worst year, I sat down and re-wrote my game plan. I swallowed my pride and reached out to dozens of agents to see what made them successful in their own businesses. Read more>>

Leroy and Kiki Abrahams

Shortly after my wife, KeAndrea, and I got married in 2018, we embarked on a journey to pursue financial freedom and the flexibility to retire by age 50. At the time my wife was finishing an Internal Medicine residency and I was beginning my banking career as a Risk Analyst. We were buried in student loans and card debt and sported a 6-figure negative net worth. Today we run a business managing 3 short term and long term properties. We have paid off a large portion of student debt, while experiencing progressive success in our medical and banking careers. Read more>>

Chelkie Douglas

Success can be subjective and can mean different things to different people. However, there are certain qualities and habits that are commonly associated with achieving success. Some of these include: 1. Clear vision and goals: Having a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and setting specific, measurable goals to get there is crucial. Read more>>

Natalie Sahloff

I believe the recipe for success lies in your mindset. The most successful individuals do not fear failure, but welcome it as a learning tool. In addition, they are resilient. Failure allows us to tailor our process to perfection and resilience gives us the strength to continue to strive towards achieving our goals. Read more>>

Vincent Dobbins

The idea of never giving up is what drives me. With 3 patents under my belt, despite having a full-time job, I see needs in safety and security as well as needs of other businesses and try to address those. I also suffer from MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and this has complicated my life. However, I bring on individuals who can assist with marketing and promotion as well as networking, and like with the MS, I take each day at a time and overcome each challenge as it presents itself. Read more>>

Alec Coutinho

“Success” a very tall but also simple word. Through thick and thin it’s something I always think about, but the meaning is completely different for everyone. My parents had taught me as a kid to always keep a good group of people around you. No drama, people that you can learn from and vice versa. Personally for me, having a group of likeminded people as always pushed me to do more. Not only with my career, but with sports, education, and so much more. So what do I think it takes to be “successful”? Be eager to learn, accountable, openminded, and positive. Read more>>

Kim Flatley

Overall what I think it takes to be successful is not giving up, networking, feedback, always keep learning and improving. Also that you balance your work life and personal life because success is nothing if you’re not happy. Read more>>

Karen Alegi

I think everyone needs to think about what “success” means to them. It is not just financial wealth. For me it includes my physical, mental and emotional health as well as my family’s. Our society has historically associated being “rich” with being successful. But I know a lot of “rich” people or are miserable or just not nice people. Are they “successful”? I don’t think so. Part of my success includes making a positive impact on those around me. That could be by sharing knowledge in my professional role, or just spreading kindness every day. Read more>>

Amanda (Maddy) Haringx

Passion, and tenacity. If you truly love what you do, you won’t ever allow yourself to give up on your dreams. With such a volatile mineral and art market over the last few years, combined with inflation and all of the complications associated with Covid, there were many times that I thought, “maybe I should throw in the towel. Is it worth it to fight this hard just to stay afloat?” Read more>>

James Cinada

I strongly believe it requires consistency to be successful on any business. Hard work and study your craft . In addition , you have to have a clear plan and how you are going execute .Most individuals has great ideas or plan but do not know how to make it work. It’s very important to create an action plan and give yourself a goal when you would like to accomplish it. When I wanted to help 500 children in Haiti with my non profit organization, a lot of people did not believe I could do that because they were looking at me in my current situation and doubted “how are you going to do that “. Read more>>

Tovia Drinks

I believe that success is a combination of passion, hard work, and perseverance. It takes dedication to pursue your goals, the willingness to push through obstacles, and the ability to learn from both successes and failures. It’s also important to stay true to yourself and your values along the way. With your determination and talent, I have no doubt that anyone cannot be successful Read more>>

Yolanda Warren

I believe the only thing it takes to be successful is determination. You have to change your mindset and only receive advise from those you trust. One thing I have learned about success is that “Nothing changes if nothing changes” Read more>>

Jestin Lahair

There is no one thing that constitutes success. Success is a recipe with several ingredients. It requires you to have passion for what you do. Learning what you are capable of can be fun and exciting but it’s also important to keep moving forward without losing perspective. Along with that it takes hard work, self-awareness, analytical ability and the motivation to do a thorough job. And all of that takes discipline. Discipline might just be the most essential ingredient to being successful. The act of setting goals and making plans would be pointless without the discipline to carry them out. Read more>>

Jonathan Burton

Success is hard to define. Is it based on income or status? If you had asked me last year, I would have mentioned material things. You know, the typical lavish lifestyle we all dream about at some point: mansions, fleets of cars, and brand-name clothes. However, through my growing relationship with Christ, my ideology has changed. Success is not a destination but a journey filled with missteps. My mom always says, “To achieve, you’ll fail numerous times, and true success is getting back up when you fall.” I picture success as fulfilling God’s purpose for my life. I’m doing meaningful work while being content in any season. I am a full-time photographer, traveling the world, working with various clients, and bringing glory to God. Read more>>

Mike Castaneda

That’s a great question. For a long time I had so many people tell me how lucky I was for some of the things that was happening to me and at first I’d shrug it off and say, “yeah, it is pretty wild!” Until I started to kind of take offense to it, ha! I worked so hard and failed so much, constantly took risks and put my name in so many hats that it didn’t belong in just to get my name out there that it finally started paying off. It’s definitely been a lot of trial and error, a lot of hard work, and definitely a lot of never say die attitude. If you’re going to make it anywhere, you’re not going to take no for an answer. Read more>>

Karen Carson

I believe the only skill anyone needs to be successful is awareness of their thoughts. What you tell yourself internally directly influences the way you perceive any situation. I am very passionate about mindfulness, as I once was someone who had no control over my negative mindset and found myself speaking and behaving in ways that felt unauthentic. I came from a background that planted the seeds for a negative/scarcity mindset, and I allowed those thought patterns to consume me for a long time. No matter what was happening in my external world, I never truly felt “good” on the inside. Read more>>

Kate Vallee

I developed the “hard work, humble, and intellectual” theory when I worked in Corporate America. If you are a combination of these three traits, employers are looking for you and will try to retain you as an employee. I have found that those traits apply to employment in all industries including the theater industry. I prefer to work with talented individuals who are humble, hard workers, and apply their intellect. When faced with a challenge they brainstorm creative solutions and come at it with intellect and poise. Read more>>

Lusine Hakobyan

To be successful, you first need to understand what success means to you. We all have values and perceptions about life that could be different depending on where we are in the world and our own circumstances in life. In my view this is a very important topic as I have seen many people going round in circles and feeling hopeless because they are chasing someone else’s idea of success. The first and most crucial step to achieving success is to define your own success devoid of societal standards. Success is such a personal and subjective idea. Read more>>

Wayne Brantley

I am a retired high school history teacher and football coach. I was in education for 30 years! Today, I own and operate Wise Guys Historical Tours in Savannah, Georgia. Owning and operating a business is a lot like coaching a team. I think the number one area of being successful is building relationships and holding your people accountable. It is a lot of hard work but if you want to have a great team it is necessary to be elite in this area. Your people need to know that you sincerely love and care about them and their success. Read more>>

Kelton Gentle

What do I think it takes to become successful, that’s simple Sacrifice, Perseverance, and a can’t hurt me mentality. Being 19 years old in an industry such as real estate requires lots of time and sacrifice, most of my peers at this age and people I went to school with are out living the college life style partying every week & weekend enjoying “the best time of there life’s” as a realtor I spend 6/7 days showing property’s, handling stuff for my clients, always receiving phone calls and staying in the office as much as I can and that’s not even the tip of the iceberg of what you sacrifice being in this career. Read more>>

 Samantha Cornell & Emma Hill

We believe being successful starts with Setting goals, sometimes they may not seem super realistic but it’s important to put them down somewhere you can see them, read them over and over again. You must also have passion for what you are doing. Learning what you’re capable of and pushing yourself harder and further than you ever thought you could can be fun and so exciting, it’s so important to remember some goals take longer to reach and that’s totally okay! Read more>>