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.

Lacey Pruett

In my second book, I discuss how success is personal and defined within a person’s heart, not society. What may be successful to one person, may not be what successful looks like to another. I wish someone would have explained this to me sooner, as I spent the first part of my working life chasing society’s version of success. To be your version of success, you have to start with self-awareness. What makes you who you are, and what authentically fulfills you? Starting with this self-awareness will give you an end feeling. Read more>>

Shenelle Daly

Becoming successful is rarely about luck, it’s about showing up, over and over again, even when no one’s clapping for you. It’s about being consistent, putting in the work on the days when motivation is nowhere to be found. Success demands determination, the kind that makes you get back up after every setback, even when it feels easier to quit. Read more>>

Amber Bisek

I’m confident the key to success in any business is being authentic and creating the ability to naturally connect with your audience/ideal customer. You have to know how they think and understand how they show up to support your business, Connection and relatability are the key to success. Read more>>

Ben & Aubree Fudge

Many businesses and creators fall into the trap of waiting for the ‘perfect’ idea or plan before taking action. But perfection is an illusion. The only way to find out what works is to put something out into the world, measure the response, and adjust accordingly. The faster you take action, the faster you learn, and the closer you get to success. Read more>>

Kristin O’Neil

The answer I will give as I approach 40 in a few weeks is very different than the answer I would have given at 25 or 30. I used to think being successful had to do with the number of closings I had in a month. I would have told you that out working the competition, putting in 60 plus hours a week, and meeting every person under the sun is what it would take to be successful. Looking back on my nearly 15 year career my idea of success has shifted. I measure success in the number of families I help, the number of hours I spend outside with my children, the number of meaningful relationships I was able to build with my clients throughout the year. While it still takes a lot of dedication, hard work, and long hours to be successful it is so much more than that. I have found my most successful stride when I let my guard down and let my clients get to know my authentic self. Read more>>

Natavia Reddick

I know that it takes passion, purpose and grace from Jesus Christ to be successful. These tools allow me to be successful in my business. However, I know that it also takes discipline, work and action. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26), which is why I try my best to continue learning new skills, educating myself and finding ways to invest back in to my business. When I’m fueled by passion and purpose it doesn’t take much for me to commit to the work. Read more>>

Nicole Parker

When I started my career in photography, I was anxious and felt extremely insecure. In such a saturated industry and with so much to learn, I felt completely overwhelmed. In order to be successful, I had to learn to run alongside fear rather than let it control me or shut me down. I had to do things afraid. I had to be willing to make mistakes so I could learn from them. Photography has taught me that in order to succeed you often have to fail some along the way – but it’s how you handle those failures that matter most. Read more>>

Alexia

Success isn’t always about talent or intelligence; it’s about perseverance. To be truly successful, you have to keep going, no matter how many setbacks you face. Life can throw challenges that test your resolve, but it’s the ability to push forward, to rise after falling, that defines success. At 21, I looked in the mirror and all I could see was a college dropout and a single mother who didn’t know what to do! When I looked at my son and turned to God, I found the strength to rise above any and all obstacles I had in my way. I was able to publish my very own book in the hopes of instilling self worth and confidence to all children while creating a legacy for my son. Outside of being an author, I still have dreams of running a childcare center. Read more>>

Michelle Pollack

Most of us were handed a definition of success before we were old enough to question it. It started in school where success was getting A’s and getting into the “right school.”

We learned early that success meant figuring out what each teacher wanted and adapting to it. Every class had different standards—so we got good at shape-shifting to meet someone else’s expectations. Read more>>

Andrew Clare

Success requires resilience and a willingness to keep going, even when it’s uncomfortable. At the end of the day, it’s not just about talent or luck but it’s about how much effort you’re willing to put in. Read more>>

Christopher McCoy

Success can be described in many different levels. Some may feel success having a lot of money or some may feel success from loving what you do in life. I feel if you’re happy and doing what you love to do and can wake up day to day with a smile on your face and able to take care of your family is success. I developed this view just by my ups and down of everyday life and seeing how blessed I am compared to other individuals in this world. Read more>>

Gil Moody & Hilary Jones

Success, to us, is about committing fully—not to a specific outcome, but to the path itself. It’s about deciding that you’re going to build the life and work you believe in, and not giving yourself permission to quit just because it gets hard. That doesn’t mean you won’t fail, or change direction, or have to start over. You will. But when you know that turning back isn’t an option, you find a different kind of clarity. You become more creative, more resilient, and more honest about what really matters. Read more>>

Laura Lutz

Everyone has a different relationship with the word “success”. For some, it’s how much money is in the bank. For others, it may be the number of followers you have. Humans do a really good job of always moving the needle of success farther and farther out of reach so we spend much of our time in a state of wanting more and feeling unsatisfied with the present. It takes a long time, experience and years lived to understand that success is subjective and unique to every individual. Once I realized that no one truly knows what they’re doing (we’re all here for the first time, after all) and worrying about how we’re perceived is a losing game, I made peace with my idea of success. Read more>>

Katelyn Berberich

To be successful in the photography industry, I think it takes remaining true to your own unique process and style. It’s so easy to rely on Pinterest, Instagram, or other sources of inspiration to dictate the constraints of your work. The most successful photoshoots- and the happiest clients I’ve had- derived from a deviation from the plan that resulted in a more unique direction. Being successful takes believing in your own vision and trusting your own taste, especially when artists are hiring you for YOU, not for someone else’s work they saw on Pinterest. Read more>>

Natasha Zaytseva

Success is a byproduct of relentless execution, extreme ownership, and the ability to make decisions based on data rather than emotion. It’s not about being the smartest or most talented—it’s about being the person who consistently takes action, adapts quickly, and refuses to make excuses.

One of my clients came to me when she was struggling to get traction in her business. She was insanely talented in her field, but she was stuck—constantly overwhelmed, undercharging, and unsure of how to scale. She felt like she was doing everything but still wasn’t seeing the results she wanted. Instead of looking at external factors, we focused on what she could control—her pricing, her positioning, and her execution. We refined her offer, streamlined her operations, and got her focused on high-leverage activities instead of busywork. Read more>>

Todd Jones

“The richest people in the world build networks. Everyone else is trained to look for work.”
Robert Kiyosaki

Three things I think help create success:

Consistency
Momentum
And creating a strong network.

Success is not about a single magic formula, but rather a combination of strategic approaches that work together to create meaningful progress and opportunities. Read more>>

Stephanie Staneart

To me, success is not just about achieving financial goals or closing deals; it’s deeply rooted in one’s mindset and daily practices. For me, my morning routine is crucial; it sets the tone not just for my business day, but for every part of my life. Incorporating practices like positive affirmations, gratitude journaling, and daily uplifting readings has had a significant impact on my journey as a realtor, mom, wife, daughter, sister, and friend. Read more>>

Brian Ondrako

I think what gets most overlooked when it comes to success is defining what success means for us, individually. Historically, “success” meant money or fame or status. That is no longer the case and it’s something we have to remove from our thinking. The simple question we can ask ourselves to start figuring it out is, “What do we want?” It’s a difficult question and one that might take time to develop but it helps us set a course ahead. Read more>>

Shaun Holley

To be successful, I believe it takes a combination of passion, adaptability, and resilience. It’s about having a strong vision, but also being able to pivot when challenges arise. When I first started The Fabled Rooster, I had this idea in my mind of serving high-quality, southern-inspired BBQ in a fast-casual setting, but I quickly learned that the path to success would not be linear. Read more>>

Lily Ke

To me, success is about taking on problems that matter, even when they’re messy or uncertain—and having the persistence to see them through. It’s also about creating something that others can build on, not just checking a box for yourself.
One experience that really shaped this view was a research project I did on differential privacy. I was exploring how synthetic data—data that’s artificially generated to protect people’s identities—could be made more fair. At the time, there wasn’t a clear way to measure fairness in these datasets, especially when privacy constraints made everything more complicated. I kept hitting walls—some methods looked good on paper but completely failed in practice, and others couldn’t scale. Read more>>

Miguel Rivera

Without question, success takes a fair amount of determination, self-belief, and hard work. Talent is great but usually a minimal part of the overall formula. Even luck/blessings can determine the course of our lives and/or success/failure. I was born in Newark, NJ to a Puerto Rican family. My grandmother spoke very little English, my mother was somewhat bilingual but with an accent. Nonetheless, she taught us to read at the age of 3-4. This was a monumental shift in our family. One that led my sister and I to develop a love of books. Voracious readers from a young age, we each grew to love for particular genres. Read more>>

Jaime P. Bradley

Persistence. The discipline to keep showing up, even when it’s hard. Even when you’re not seeing results. Even when you’re not able to put in a full effort. Keep. Showing. Up.

I grew up on a comparatively small dairy farm in Vermont and my parents gave my brother and myself a fair amount of responsibility from a young age. On a given week, we both did everything from tractor work to milking cows, but we each had a daily chore that never changed. For me that was feeding calves. No one was going to do it for me, and those animals relied on me to get it done. Every day, from the time I was about seven years old. Read more>>

Carolina Mejias

I believe that what takes to be successful, is persistence, dedication (daily) and when things go in ways that you didn’t expected or that you’re not liking that much, to pause for a second and keep going stronger, sometimes those moments are huge for your career and will help you to grow in ways that you couldn’t imagine (if you keep going and let your strength guide you), you think you want to give up because the challenges that are happening in front of you, but your dream or goal are right around the corner looking at you to see if you’re going to keep going or give up when you’re almost there. Just keep in mind no matter what if is your dream or one of your goals in life, keep going, and enjoy the process, every step, every moment. Read more>>

Amanda Purdom

Success doesn’t follow a formula. Over the past 15 years of running one company—and now two—I’ve learned that having a strong core belief system and clearly defined values is essential. These principles serve as a guide for decision-making and keep the business moving forward.

No one will work harder for your company than you. Its success depends on your active involvement in every aspect—without falling into the trap of micromanagement. My core beliefs shape how I lead: Read more>>

Danielle Wade

To be successful, I believe it takes a combination of resilience, adaptability, and continuous learning. Transitioning from corporate America to entrepreneurship has reinforced this view. In my corporate role, I had the opportunity to manage budgets worth millions of dollars, which taught me the importance of financial discipline and strategic decision-making. Working directly with people from all socioeconomic backgrounds helped me develop strong communication and empathy skills, which are crucial for building relationships and trust in business. I faced constant problem-solving challenges, whether it was improving processes or addressing client concerns, and these experiences have been invaluable in my entrepreneurial journey. Read more>>