It’s hard to define what exactly “success” means in the world of business.
In my experience, becoming successful means that you’ve achieved the goals you set out to accomplish, regardless of what those goals are. Your goal could be to earn $100,000 a year working for yourself, build and sell a startup for $100 million in the next five years, create a less stressful lifestyle for yourself, or something completely different.
One thing that sets successful business owners apart from the rest is that they actively seek out advice and aren’t afraid to change course, based on the experiences of others who are exactly where they want to be in their careers. They’re also not afraid of working day and night, in order to achieve their goals.
I asked a few of my favorite entrepreneurs to share with me their single most important piece of business advice.
“Scratch your own itch”
“Go after solving a problem that you have,” says Chase Jarvis. “Something that’s near and dear to you, not some random market opportunity. Because when things get hard, if you’re chasing just the dollars, or a random market opportunity, you’re not going to be able to have the fortitude, the passion, to stick with it.”
Since making quite a name for himself in the world of photography, Jarvis went on to co-found, CreativeLive, the world’s largest live streaming education company. He credits much of his success to following his passions and only pursuing opportunities that he’s genuinely interested in, rather than settling for pursuing just any profitable business idea that came his way.
“Don’t give up, don’t take anything personally, and don’t take no for an answer.”
Nasty Gal began as merely an eBay store back in 2006 that Sophia Amoruso used to sell vintage clothing she found, mostly from local thrift stores. She’s since transformed the business into a multi-million dollar company that was named the “Fastest Growing Retailer” in 2012. Recently, the author of the New York Times best seller #GIRLBOSS has stepped out of her role as the CEO of Nasty Gal to become the executive chairman, shifting her focus to overseeing the creative and brand marketing functions of the business.
Amoruso credits much of her hard-earned success to her inability to accept failure as an option.
“The people who told me no were the people who eventually told me yes,” she explains.
“Follow your heart”
Lewis Howes, the New York Times best-selling author of The School of Greatness and host of the podcast bearing the same name, is a professional athlete turned entrepreneur. After suffering a debilitating injury on the field, Howes’ football career was finished. Overnight, he lost his ability to do what he was passionate about and was forced to discover a new way to live with purpose. Now, he’s a writer, speaker, and online educator who teaches entrepreneurs how to grow their online businesses.
Regardless of the line of work you’re in, your skill sets, and passions in life, starting and growing a successful business can be done with the right combination of hard work, determination, and seizing of the opportunities that come your way.
Photo: Katy McCourt-Basham