We asked the community what factors they felt were responsible for their success and we’ve highlighted some of those responses below.

Parinaz Behbahani | Architectural Designer and Entrepreneur

I believe success is an internal measurement. You can be the most successful person in the eyes of others but internally not satisfied at all. That is because success must be defined for yourself. It could be defined doing something you love, attempting to move forward or in my case, it is being creative with the goal of giving back. I absolutely believe in understanding each space or object’s use before starting the design process. Once I fully understand the use & purpose, I always ask myself” now, how can I make an impact? How can I change for the better? What do I want to achieve?” pBinovs is not only born with creativity and understanding use but also one of its main goals is bringing back the handcrafted & personalized touch to our homes. As the digital world progresses, & we increasingly have more new gadgets & machine-made disposable items around us, bringing back the handcrafted touch & long-lasting quality, has been essential in my creation. Working with my own hands to create is definitely success for me. Read more>>

Caley Rose | Indie Pop Singer & Songwriter

I think the most important factors that have brought me success in the music business have been authenticity, my dogged determination, and finally trusting my own voice. On authenticity: I used to think of networking as a dirty word. It felt disingenuous to me, so I never wanted to actively do it. It took an accidental “networking” opportunity to show me what networking really is: liking people! Networking can be successful when you realize that it’s enjoying meeting new people, making them feel good, and feeling good yourself! I couldn’t believe it when that clicked for me. People tend to want to work with cool and nice people. Can we blame them? If you show yourself as the nice and cool person you are, and if you have skill on top of that, people will want to work with you! Another key component behind my success has been dogged determination. I used to think I had zero value in this industry. I thought I was lucky to be in ANY room, let alone the ones with talented people with impressive resumes. Read more>>

Saiah Frizzelle | Actor, Certified Fitness Trainer, Podcast Creator, Writer

The most important factor that I keep coming back to is authenticity. Once you understand how colorful you are as a person because of your experiences( and you appreciate that), it changes things. It’s not about being liked or having a bunch of followers, instead it’s about connection, honest connection. We all need motivation or a little reminder to take better care of ourselves. Read more>>

Seth & Theresa Harding | Balloon Artists

I think it’s a combination of 3 things. Persistence is key, I’ve seen many folks come into this industry and not have the long term vision to truly build a foundation upon which to grow their business. Often I see individuals thinking in terms of gig to gig, rather than what comes next, what seeds are you sowing today and relationships are being built that will ultimately flourish in the future. This applies to customers, families, other business, distributors and wholesalers… the whole gambit. Persistence in the face of adversity and in simply putting in the time to know your craft is a must. Second is personality. When I was originally learning balloons from my mentor, she told me something that sticks with me to this day… she said to focus on what you have got. In this case she was talking about someone who excelled in their balloon craft VS someone who simply had a great and gregarious personality. Read more>>

LG Williams | Artist

The Enchanted Hunters Senior Retirement Village overlooking Forest Lawn atop the Hollywood Hills just because you suddenly wanted to be a Post-Performative Artist—the most unusual leisure activity found in today’s expansive Senior Living recreational options. No way. Instead, you’ve finally decided to make your dreams and passions come alive by tapping into your unlimited creative potential. Great AARP Post-Performative artists are thrust into making radical, avant-garde art by a personal sense of longing, the distant calls from ancient artistic wisdoms, or by the devoted, independent living housekeepers and staff who want seniors out of the private care unit while they clean. Just the lucky few are cast out of mainstream communal activities (crafting, bingo, Zumba, flower arrangement, channel surfing) and placed into the rarified solitary world of the community-based, woke-oriented, visual art authority/adventurer/pensioner. Read more>>