Hardwork? Luck? Good habits? What would you say is behind your success? We’ve shared some thoughtful responses below.

Adelin Gasana | Documentary Filmmaker

Time management, organization, and hard work are the most important factors to my success thus far. As a documentary filmmaker taking on long-term projects, time management on a daily and weekly trajectory is fundamental in accomplishing the goal at hand. It is about taking one important step at a time in order to climb the mountain in front of you. Organization is key in working with clients, colleagues, and collaborators at various stages of development on a given project. Organization includes processes in workflow, deliverables, and communication. Organization is a time-saver as well as a money-saver. Finally, hard work goes without saying. Rolling up your sleeves getting into the grind is what it takes to evolve a concept of an idea to a finished, completed project. Hard work includes patience, diligence, determination, and focus–among other things. Documentary filmmaking has three key stages in the journey to complete a short-form or long-form film–pre-production, production, and post-production. In all these stages time management, organization, and hard work helps a person as well as a team achieve. Read more>>

Get Taped! | Audition Taping Service

There is a lot of competition in our industry of audition taping services, but our continued success is in our mission statement. We seek to dispel fear in actors, and that motivation alone creates a posture of safety, encouragement, and a lack of judgment that resonates with our clients. As full-time actors ourselves, we know what an actor needs to do their best work, and we work tirelessly to provide that for them. Read more>>

Robert Fuson | Director, Sound Designer, & Writer

Much of my success has been a result of fortune and being in the right place at the right time. That is undoubtedly true for the vast majority of success stories. However, particularly in a highly collaborative field such as theatre, I cannot put enough stress on the notion of making yourself indispensable. Do not allow yourself to get locked into being only one thing. While I identify primarily as a director, I worked significantly more as a stage manager and sound designer in my first several years than as a director. In fact, I learned how to sound design because I could not find anyone else to do it for me when I was self-producing. It very quickly became a skill that got me into a lot more rooms because it was a job that few people took the time to learn how to do. Read more>>

Jaren Mendel | Founder

Staying consistent with our values: compassion, empathy, community, generosity. We thrive when people resonate with our purpose, and our purpose is what drives our success—to inspire kindness. Read more>>

Frances Bailey | The Purpose Zeal Life, Empowerment, & Life Recovery Coach

The most important factor behind my success is my relationship with Jesus Christ. The only advice I can give is what I have done and can say it work. To gain true success is to first give your life to Christ. Submit your goals, plans, and visons to him first. Acknowledge him in all that you do, then execute the plan. Don’t worry about failing. When you fail, you learn so you still win in being successful. Another key aspect is to always be a student on your journey to success. You can never learn to much and you never know it all. There is power in networking and collaborating as well. Don’t be afraid or have too much pride to reach out to others who are where you are trying to go. God sometimes places divine and strategic connections to help get you where you need to be. Read more>>

Gaffney Taylor | Fashion and Beauty Photographer

The most important factor behind my success as a fashion and beauty photographer is discovering and staying true to my brand ideas and morals. To not wander around aimlessly with your career or business, you must know what you stand for and what defines you as a creative. For a year, I photographed anything. I thought my passion was fine art photography. However, when I took a day to look at what inspires me the most, along with artists out there that I am drawn too, it was clear that glamour, beauty, bold, and stylized imagery was my future niche. Slowly, as I developed, I created a set of “guidelines” to keep me on track and stay true to the work I was producing. In short, I stand for “experimentalism, fantastical worlds and concepts, and narrative storytelling. Taking a concept and making it bold, beautiful, and unexpected.” Read more>>

Shavannah Speaks Moore | Empowerment Speaker & Life Coach

The most important factor behind my success is the awareness that I create my reality. Read more>>

Karl Hibbert | Fashion Designer & Stylist

I abide by three principles for success: Activation, Motivation & Realization. Being a self-starter was not something I was heavy on in the beginning but as projects and opportunities presented themselves, I understood that as the sole proprietor, everything laid on me when in regards to making or breaking a deal (Activation). Leveraging social media in the right ways (allowing it to serve as an additive rather than a mainstream means to success), growing an organic base of supporters and understanding that Fortunate LifeStyle (FLS) is more than clothing but rather a representation of my progression through struggle towards success, allow for less focus on outward noise and more on perfecting my craft (Motivation). Read more>>

Kristen Wimberly | CEO/ Founder of Miss Kupid & Host of Kupid’s Korner

The most important factor behind the success of Miss Kupid has been support. It truly takes a team of people who want to see your business grow with you to help you succeed and get to the next level. I can’t tell you how many times my friends or family members have come and helped make gift baskets or worked behind the scenes as production for our new show on Youtube, Kupid’s Korner. Without support, I would be struggling to do so much by myself so I am truly grateful for them. Read more>>

Timothy Lens | Music Video Director / Videographer

For my brand I believe quality and consistency have been one of the most important factors with my success, as well as networking and building great relationships within the industry. Read more>>

Yung Marco | Producer/Engineer

Personally, I believe it is my mindset. Being able to have a idea and bring it to life takes a lot of control and discipline. Also the ability to tune others who are against you in order to keep moving forward. You are going to have people not in your corner, but only you can stop yourself from accomplishing your goals. Read more>>

Eric Marable Jr. | Multi – Medium Artist/Co – Executive Director of The Flourish Alabama

I believe that the success of The Flourish Alabama can be attributed to the strength and purity of our mission. Our mission is to help young artists BLOOM! Since undergrad, my brother/Co-Executive Director Jahman Hill and I have planned and discussed how we would come back and make better days for the next generation. My friends and I have always had a strong conviction to show the world a healthier and more compassionate path to walk in life. It’s been 2 years and we’ve had nothing but support and love from those who share our passion for fostering imagination and empathy in our students. As long as we continue to put the needs of our students first, I believe we can continue our success for years to come. Read more>>

Latoya Whitfield | Financial Coach

Budgeting with Whit, LLC started with passion and love. Our goal is to create generational wealth by helping others truly believe that it can happen for them. The business started as a Facebook group that helped individuals become aware of the many resources that could improve their overall financial health. It was filled with daily tips and testimonials that motivated others to succeed financially. By using a unique approach, Budgeting with Whit grew quickly. Clients viewed our brand as being a non judgmental company that transforms their mindset into a financial success. Our goal is and will always be to inspire others to believe beyond what they could have ever imagined for their financial future. Read more>>

Shaanah Montanna | Podcaster & Influencer

I would say the most important factors behind the success of my brand are being wildly intentional and consistent in all that I do! I have a podcast that I’ve promised the people will be available with a new episode every week, so I must live up to that and give the people what they want every Monday! Additionally, it’s all about the consistency of what goes on behind the scenes that makes the success happen! This included coming up with fresh topics, finding reliable guests to appear on the show, recording the episodes, and so much more and this is all before the episode goes live or the content relating to it shows up on social media! So, being intentional in all that I do gives me the focus to be as consistent as my brand requires!. Read more>>

Young Block | Artist & Clothing Designer/owner

The most important factor to me that’s behind my success has to be ambition. Without that i would have gave up 1000 times due to things just not going right for me but because I’ve had ambition it gave me just enough drive to keep going. Read more>>

Aja Ali | Makeup Artist & Esthetician

The most important factor behind my success & the success of my business would be the conviction and confidence I have in myself and my abilities. There’s been plenty of times where I was told to “just go to college” because a career as a makeup artist was risky or I might not make it. A lot of times I didn’t get the support I really wanted from friends and family. That in itself can be enough to make someone want to give up.
What stopped me from giving up was this feeling I had in my gut that was telling me to pursue my passion. It was unshakable. So instead of choosing to feed into that insecurity that I felt everyone else around me believed, I chose myself. That’s what drove me to quit my job and go to school to become a licensed esthetician. Which then led to me working at/managing a makeup store & eventually manifested as me being a full time freelance makeup artist. Without the conviction and confidence I had in myself, I would’ve never made it to where I am today. Read more>>

Jenni Graham | The Brand Stylist

The most important factor behind my success is the need for freedom being realized. When I say freedom, I’m speaking of the freedom to just be and live my life as I see fit on my own terms. I’m speaking of the freedom to retire from the things that no longer serve me and to evolve into the things that do. I’m successful because the money is not the motivation. The freedom is. Another aspect of freedom is not having to settle for any friendship or relationship, causing me to have to depend on another human being to pay my way. This pushes me every day to do more, to go further, to keep pushing, and to bring others along. The most important factor behind the success of my brand is the serving aspect. I focus way more on how I can serve, uplift, and support others than I focus on making a sale. This makes me stand out in the marketplace by providing value, serving and selling without selling. I utilize the serve, serve, serve, sell method. Read more>>

Dorothy Shain Henderson | Founder and Creative Director of Dorothy Shain Fine Art & Design

A support system and a powerful mindset. I could not be successful without my wonderful family, husband, employee, vendors who are along for the ride, every step of the way. They are my constant cheerleaders and are there through the ups and downs that accompany an entrepreneurial journey. Mindset. If you don’t have the belief in yourself to succeed, it is hard to gain momentum. Read more>>

Jay Math | Publisher of Show Discipline Magazin e

I think the most important factor behind my brand is the simple things. When I say that I mean following up with people keeping your word and being on time. Those are the things I value the most about my business. I believe those are the reasons that artists and advertisers want to work with me. All I have is my name and my word and I take that very seriously when working with someone. Read more>>

Bryce Lennon | Fashion Blogger & Social Media Influencer

Since the beginning of my blogging journey, I’ve implemented a three tiered formula for success: 1) Positivity; 2) Consistency; 3) Vulnerability. The first, positivity, relates to an optimistic mindset. More specifically, the way our internal thoughts and beliefs manifest desired outcomes. For instance, I’ve always maintained a level of optimism when it comes to my work, with little to no expectations. I set small goals here, but my focus centers around the quality of my content. Remember, true power comes from within. As a result, I’ve been able to achieve high levels of success that way. Second, I’ve maintained a level of consistency from the very beginning. Whether it’s creating a blog post or posting on social media, my readers and followers have content to engage with on a weekly basis. They pretty much know what to expect, and that’s what keeps them engaged. This routine helps me stay on task as well. Consistency is the key!. Read more>>

Lord Phly | Inspirational Rockstar / International Man Of Mystery

The most important factor (s) behind LORD PHLY INC are Passion and Purpose! Through my life journey I became aware that my purpose was to create & inspire by any means necessary, the passion that lives within me to Be Genuine, Be Authentic, Unapologetically The Extraordinary Soul I accept myself as, bridging the two has begun to open my eyes to things I could never have imagined… While respecting the process and understanding that both will bring about a lot, yet having the focus to progress forward & upward keep me aligned & guided throughout the journey!! Smiles And Hugs Show Share Spread Love, 6-7 Figures Nothing Less, & Wr Approach That Mindset with No Fear No Worries No Apologies!! #nAFbDOPE. Read more>>

Jamesa Hogges | Public Health Professional | Small Business Owner

The most important factor behind my success is perseverance. I started my businesses with one mission in mind: help add value to others’ journey. Whether it be with my non-profit organization, You Hold the Key, Inc., awarding scholarships to well-deserving high school seniors in financial need seeking educational advancement, or my small growing business ‘by J. Creates, LLC’, where we strive to create custom items for all, as well as partner with other businesses to add value to their brand through expansion of merchandising. Read more>>

Tijania Goodwin | CEO & Founder of The Divine

I feel the most important factor behind my success is my FAITH and DETERMINATION. These two things assists in me building a solid foundation which holds so much weight when it comes to my business and also my personal life. Having faith puts me in such a peaceful place because I know all things are possible when I put my mind to it. When you lose faith or sight of where you want to go, you will be all over the place. Of course, that is not a great feeling. So having that space to go into when I am not feeling like myself, is very beautiful to me. Read more>>

Shambria Davis | Author, Content Creator, & Passionate Influencer

The most important factor behind my success and the success of my brand, “When Passion Speaks” is undeniably God. Yes, yes, I know, it may seem so cliché but it’s the honest truth! I would not be where I am today without having God at the center of my life. Although my brand is captured primarily on social media (I.e. Instagram and Facebook), the many encounters/conversations I have with my #PassionateGuest always reminds me that God is in complete control of my current and future successes. Prime example, I launched When Passion Speaks, a social media series that allows guests to speak their passion and extend advice to all viewers/listeners, in June 2020 during the rise of COVID-19. Despite some trial and error, WPS has recorded over 25 episodes with over 30 guests to date. Furthermore, God has allowed people to inquire about being a guest WPS as well as accepting invitation to be a part, (I.e. rising actors, models, fitness influencers and many more). Read more>>

Helena Dale | Owner

I think that my business model is a big part of my success, it’s very different than most. I’m only open once a month, it’s in a barn and my inventory is very unique. I work really hard in between my sales scouring the countryside to bring cool pieces back to the barn. My goal is to always give my customers a unique and fun shopping experience each time they visit my barn. Read more>>

Ray Young | Strategic Director – Atlien – Wanderer

The biggest factor behind my success has been my faith. My faith has enabled me to get through being jobless for two years (with a Master’s Degree) and practically being homeless myself. Because of my faith, I was able to overcome a lifelong illness, cyclical depression, and push past the abundance of naysayers when I have shared my vision of The Dignity Bus Project. My faith has allowed me to think outside the box and create resources that did not exist with the goal of implementing even more in the future to help those in need. It has also propelled me to keep going when there was no funding, when the volunteers did not show up, when an event that I poured my heart into didn’t get the support that I thought it would; faith kept me going. My faith is the driving force behind stepping outside of my comfort zone, meeting people where they are and reminding them that they are loved, they have purpose, and encourage them that life will get better. Read more>>

Donavan Perkins | Drumline CEO & Musician

The most important factor behind the success of myself and the N.O.D. brand is the Integrity Factor. I believe that integrity of my brand is important because it can, in my opinion, be the key difference between you and your competition. As a business, your reputation is everything to your sustainability and growth. Customers, suppliers, business partners, and investors all need to trust that you know what you are doing and are operating a business that they feel that they can trust and rely on. When you act with integrity, this helps build your reputation and has the potential to keep your business growing because the people you start to have collaborations could be the vey same people that help bring you more business. Trust can make or break a business. If partners or customers cannot trust the brand or the owner, they will refuse to continue to do business in the future. N.O.D. takes its interactions very seriously. Read more>>

Maya Turnipseed | Reiki Master, Chakra and Crystal Educator and Your Favorite Auntie

The most important factor behind my success and the brand of my business has been my transparency and vulnerability. I am the same person no matter if you catch me out with my family or speaking to a group of women at a church. I am going to always be Maya, the loud and loving person who just so happens to cuss (not curse) a lot. I am comfortable within my skin and I wanted my brand to exuberate the same personality. Read more>>

Trickeon Ruffin | Lash Tech & Strip Lash Distributor

I think the most important factor behind my success is number one i am a MALE lash tech. I put emphasis on male because there is not many men in this industry. I travel state to state and come to their house as well. All of my clients love the fact they’re in the comfort of their own home. Another huge factor is my business is self funded. Now, the success of my brand is different. Customer service is the most important factor of my brand, and to be a successful business. I’m a peoples person. I love to make people smile and feel good about themselves. Read more>>

TaVona Denise | Business Coach & Launch Strategist

Being myself online and treating people like I would offline. For some reason, many online business owners think that because they are building their business online instead of offline, they are excluded from connecting with and talking to people. So we see them create posts and send email blasts, but their message often misses the mark because they have not interacted with or gotten feedback from the people they want to work with. It’s a shame, because that approach makes marketing more difficult and keeps them from getting opportunities that would help their business grow faster. Read more>>

Chivonne Hyppolite | Event Execution Expert

The most important factor behind my success is my faith in myself and God! No matter how arduous this entrepreneurial journey gets, the one thing that is constantly playing in my mind is that, “I can accomplish whatever, I put my hands to because God’s got me!” When I reference having faith in myself, that encompasses my faith in my professional aptitude and extensive industry experience plus executing with divine intuition. I wholeheartedly believe in myself, the value my business offers and my ability to deliver beyond expectation. Read more>>

Aja Wolfe | Reiki Therapist & Creative Writer

Relatability, Just being myself and giving my customers the solutions to the problems that I once faced. being vulnerable at times sharing my journey. Read more>>

John Wong | Business Owner

My view on success is more of an intrinsic view. My core values in life are honesty, positivity, and passion. My success is defined by living and leading an honest life and engaging with the community. I strive to embody the qualities of sincerity and authenticity. My personal views on success also carry over to my business. We always see ourselves as a part of the client and treat all events as if they were our own. We value our attention to detail in everything including backdrop selections, photo designs, and branding concepts to help our clients achieve their event goals. It’s the little things that take an event or experience from good to great and that’s what sets the great ones apart. I genuinely believe in acting with integrity in everything that I do and that translates into my photobooth business. This includes really understanding what our clients’ goals are for each event and dedicating our time and resources to help our clients achieve their goals. Read more>>

Chike Nwoke | Founder at Klippit

Persistence, conviction, execution, and TIMING. When I conceptualized the idea of Klippit in 2009, Instagram was one year away from launch, Snapchat founders Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy were still sophomores at Stanford University, and the term “influencer marketing” didn’t exist. I was convinced that the future of advertising was peer to peer recommendations, but I was just a recent college graduate, with no idea of how to launch and run a business. The truth is, Klippit wouldn’t have worked in 2009. The idea was massively too early to market. As a society, we weren’t even addicted to our cell phones yet! Fast forward to 2020. The idea of influencer marketing has become mainstream and has emerged as a legitimate go-to strategy for some of the biggest companies in the world. Read more>>

Marcus & Kayla Lewis – Allen | Creatives

The most important factor behind the success of Full Circle Television is COMMUNITY! We are consistently feeding our community through our show Relationship Goals The Series , Merch that speaks to the culture, positive content and events. In turn we are cultivating lasting relationships. I believe relatability contributes to community. When we can see a little bit of ourselves in others it brings us closer and that’s how the magic happens. Read more>>

Ashley James | Community Advocate – Story Teller – Creator of Wellness Experiences

The most important factor behind the success of my brand, TRILUNA, is our core values which inform everything we do. At TRILUNA, we believe: 1. We believe that diversity and community matter. 2. We approach wellness with a beginner’s mind. 3. Health supports your life, it shouldn’t consume it.
4. We know that health is a social justice issue. 5. Our wellness is grounded in bio- individuality and intuitive care. These core values create an environment that everyone can feel welcomed and supported while receiving tools and resources that better serve their individual wellness journey. TRILUNA was created in effort to bring enjoyment back into the wellness space. We think the world often makes us feel not “well enough” and created this company with the intention of providing space for people to show up as they are. Read more>>

Jalen Everett | Clothing Brand Owner

I feel the most important factor behind Humble Clothing Brand’s success is patience. When you first start out your brand isn’t going to blow over night for most people. It’s going to take some time for it to grow. There are a lot of components that you will need to learn over time. I feel that in society today social media is causing brand owners to rush their success. We look at how other brands are flourishing and try to keep up with them which is not what’s best for your brand. Stay patient, run your own race, and results will come. Read more>>

Drew Young | Mentor & Sports Chaplain

The most important factor behind my success is my faith. I started out with nothing and all I had was myself, my thinking and my faith. Also me keeping a positive attitude with positive energy has gotten me to where I am now and it takes effort to gain and keep all of 3. It takes effort to have faith and effort being able to keep the faith. It takes effort to be positive and to stay positive even when people or things can be negative at times. Read more>>

Thurayyah Pitts | Raye The Promo Addict

The most important factor behind my success/the success of my brand is to be successful means all of my family and loved ones are successful too. I want to create generational wealth for them. Also, self validation. A lot of people seek validation from others but me, I seek it from myself by my accomplishments and being successful will be my ultimate accomplishment as not only will I be setting my loved ones up for success I will also be able to open more doors for others in need as I have a number of non profit organizations that I would like to open and of course as a black woman that brings about a whole other level of success as I can add to all of the others before me to show those who are coming up that dreams are obtainable. Read more>>

Leticia Hutchins | Owner & Founder

The most important factor behind our success and the success of our brand would have to be transparency. From the beginning, my husband Harry and I knew that Alma Coffee needed to be different in the already very saturated coffee market. Inherently, we are different because my family has been in coffee farming for over 5 generations and we still own our own farms in Honduras. Vertically integrating with out farms and starting to roast that very same coffee we planted ourselves was inherently a very unique factor about us, we call it farm to cup! Additionally, we wanted Alma Coffee to educate consumers on what it takes to get a cup of coffee; the countless faces, the processes, and all the different steps in the coffee life cycle. Unfortunately, coffee is a commodity that is very hard to track. Apart from being inside a coffee sack that has the year of the harvest and the origin of the coffee, it is impossible to look at a sack of green bean “raw coffee product” and know where it came from. Read more>>

Nika Watts | Fashion Designer

The most important part about the success of Black6Hearts Clothing comes from me keeping things fresh and new. I like to believe I bring something to the fashion industry that’s unique, fun and relatable. I strive to outdo the last collection. My customers can count on one of a kind pieces (customs orders), comfortable, brightly colored fabrics with a flavor that only Black6Hearts Clothing can bring. Read more>>

Taimere & Arista Wood | Online Fashion Retailer & Entrepreneurs

The most important factor to our success is our consistency and passion. We are both passionate about our brand with long hours factored into choosing quality and unique products to set us apart from others, while also consistently working to ensure long time growth in an over-saturated industry like fashion. Read more>>

Ashley Brianca | Entrepreneur & YouTube Content Creator

The most important key success factors that make my brand and business successful would be patience and simply a refusal to never give up on my journey. Good things and quality comes with time. Having self confidence in myself pushed me to continue to strive for greater. The uniqueness of my brand is something that can’t be copied from others, it’s unique, it’s me. Read more>>

Shauntoria Craver | Self-Taught Loctician & Entrepreneur

If I had to sum it up in one word I would say consistency. Consistency is what has helped me build my clientele. Consistency is what has helped me stay focused on excelling in this industry. Consistency has helped me make myself more noticeable on social media. I never worried about who was going to support me. I knew I owed it to myself to be consistent and that if I were it would take me to the places that I am trying to go. Read more>>

LaQuita Parks | Publisher, Author, Mentor, Coach, Motivational Speaker, Publicist

The most important factor behind my success is the meaning behind my company name. Pa-Pro-Vi means Pain, Progress, Victory. I believe that without pain, there is no progress and without progress, there can be no victory. I help people take their story from a “thought to a realization” and help them heal in the process. I use my own personal story of medical childhood trauma that left me crippled for life as an avenue to encourage others to share their stories. Read more>>

Javaris Harris | Multimedia Sports Journalist & Current Game Operations Intern For The Columbus River Dragons

The most important factor I would say is my hunger. I want to have my schedule booked with events that I have to attend. I can’t ever be satisfied with doing less. I strive on versatility, because I feel that the more skills you bring to the table, the more of an advantage you have against your competitors in the market field. You have to have that drive to go out and get it by any means necessary. The sports media market is very big but it can be very challenging to get your foot in the door, if you don’t have the connections or willingness to be successful. Read more>>