Every overnight success we’ve seen has been years in the making. And those overnight successes are rarely because of an amazing idea or a stroke of luck. We asked some of our favorite folks from the community about what characteristics are at the heart of their success story?

Julie Hablemann | Founder/Advocate/Survivor

The most important factor for me, our brand, and anyone really, is in our name. That is, to be noble. A lot of thought was put into our name because this is something more than another fashion brand. For me it had to be grounded in purpose, inspired by style. A definition of noble is; to be honest, brave, good, virtuous; to be held in high regard. That said, I see Noble Sands as a platform to do good, with the benefit of creating beautiful eco friendly resort wear. My background is not in fashion so I’ve learned everything on my own, but what I did know is that it is one of the largest industries contributing to the detriment of our planet. One of our goals is to raise awareness about the importance of being a conscious consumer and doing small things like reading labels, where things are made, what they’re made of, and how they’re made. Read more>>

Jacky Wright | CEO

The most important factor behind my success is my faith in God, I truly believe anything is possible. The brands I’ve created (wrighteous & wrenaissance) are extensions of me. Read more>>

Nina Madzirov | Actress, Writer & Producer

The most important factor behind my success is the support of my family. My dad taught me to never to give up. My mom taught me how to be strong, independent and persistent. I believe that persistency is the key for being successful. My brother taught me to believe in myself. The support of my family always pushed me to be the best version of myself. I will forever be grateful to them. Read more>>

Romy Devack | Founder, Sincerely Jewelry

I, more or less, started my brand by accident. After my father passed away from cancer in September 2014, I wanted to do something special for my mom’s first birthday without him. I had this crazy idea of turning his signature into a diamond necklace and was fortunate to have a dear family friend who was a jeweler help make this possible. Needless to say, the gift was a success and my mom was beside herself when she saw it for the first time. Over the next several months, I received requests from family and friends to create their own special pieces. I knew I had something and that’s when I decided to take the risk and launch SINCERELY on September 29, 2016. I realized that it was the perfect way for me to honor my dad and help others do the same with their loved ones. All of our designers are made to order and designed using someone’s actual handwriting / signature, making the pieces extremely personal and sentimental. Read more>>

Shirley Chung | Chef & Owner

I’ve built my career on a series of taking risks and capturing opportunities. I believe in never be comfortable at where am I, always challenging myself to be better and that includes choosing to take risks instead of playing it safe in many situations. I wouldn’t be who am I today if I didn’t take the risk 17 years ago, left my career in the Silicon Valley and went to culinary school to pursue my dream of becoming a chef. Years later, I was established in Las Vegas as a corporate executive chef when Top Chef approached me to compete, and I took the leap, did well in the competition, then opened my first namesake restaurant Twenty Eight as chef partner. Finally, 2 years ago, I left the partnership, sold my home in Las Vegas and used the money to open Ms Chi in Culver City with my husband, so I don’t have to answer to any investors. As you can see, playing safe is not in my book. Read more>>

Lee Tonks | Real Estate Agent

The most important factor in any business should always be those that your serve, your clients. Building any business should be looked at as a marathon rather than a sprint, many real estate agents use the mantra and it’s acronym “Always be Closing, ABC”, I disagree with this. Closing a sale is a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but it should never be at the expense of your client. There has been times that I have advised my clients to walk away from a deal or to not buy a particular property, even though I would have made a substantial amount of money from them purchasing the property. I always give clear and sound reasons as to why I believe any given deal might be a bad deal, however ultimately it is always my clients decision and I make that point very clear. My clients usually take my advice as it’s based on experience and quite frankly my clients trust me, perhaps, for this very reason. Read more>>

Black Rock Candy | Rock Band

Grinding! Hard work and dedication! We practice many many hours. Sometimes four hours as a group two times a week and gig on the weekends. We dedicate a lot of time to writing and cultivating our original material. It is important that we practice frequently to achieve the right sound. Most importantly, dynamically we all work well as one unit. We love spending time together, which is a factor that comes through when we play covers, but more so with our original music. It’s difficult with bands because there are so many different personalities involved, but we respect each other’s abilities and what we have to bring to the table. It is a family like no other, at the end of the day we all love each other and the space that we collectively share. Read more>>

Alexandria Labson, MS | Nutritionist

I feel that the most important factor behind my success is engagement. Creating a business online is not easy and takes a lot of patience, time, and interacting with others. I love seeing messages from people that I’ve directly or indirectly helped. Seeing their photos, posts, comments, emails of their progress and successes is incredible. Answering questions, providing insight, and cheering people on has received a lot of positive feedback. Another factor is that I whole heartedly believe in what I do. I am so happy to provide people with a platform that offers scientifically-backed and relatable nutrition content. I know there is so much misinformation about nutrition, weight loss, and health out there and it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. I have been on the opposite side of nutrition, having had an eating disorder at 15 years old. Read more>>

Jordan Van Clief | Actor, Writer, Creator

The main reason I have had success is because I’ve tried. I know that sounds stupid, but so many people have great ideas and great concepts, but never get beyond that phase. I call it my crazy ratio, I have 90% follow through on my crazy. If I have an idea, I go for it. As an actor, making your own work is paramount and I’ve had great follow through on that. Do I do it alone? Absolutely not. The second reason I have succeeded is because I know how to ask for help. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. Support your friends. You can’t ask for their help if you don’t support them. As an actor, I try to go to all my friends shows, repost their work, shout them out to friends and family and then when I say I need a favor, they are happy to help me out knowing I’ve always had their back. Read more>>

Francis Galluppi | Writer & Director

For me, I didn’t go to school for film so I made a promise to myself to learn every aspect of filmmaking on my own. Honestly, in this day and age there’s really no excuse not to when all the information you need is pretty much on YouTube. I started and continue to watch a new movie every night, not only for entertainment but to educate myself. I started making short films around my house and learned how to do all the post work from editing to sound design. Eventually the projects became bigger and I started to build my team. With that said, I think the most important factor is not waiting around for other people. Learn how to do everything on your own and continue to create. On top of that, make sure you’re creating art for yourself and don’t expect people to understand or appreciate it right away. Just keep creating and eventually people will notice. Read more>>

Hope Leigh | Founder / Digital Strategist and Content Creator

For me, being able to be selective about the clients we take on is obviously a blessing – but it also helps with our success. We work with brands that we believe in, that we are excited by, and that shows through in our work. We found over time that brands we weren’t excited about were harder to create for, harder to sell, and we felt ourselves wanting to procrastinate. Strategizing, capturing for and marketing brands we love is makes us more successful and more joyful to work with. Read more>>

Ellie Pritts | Creative Multi-Hyphenate

I feel like a true culmination of factors contributed to my success and the success of my businesses. I can’t discount how much of a factor luck has been, but by far the most important factor has been sheer determination. When I set my mind to something I have to see it through, anything else isn’t really an option. And I’ve had this mindset since I can remember, so it’s not even something I cultivated. Hence the luck! Read more>>

Ishmael Mayhew | Brand architect for art movements. Creative & wellness entrepreneur

I’d say the main contributing factor to my progress in business has been resilience. You really have to be willing to come back stronger and show up for yourself despite what’s going on in the world or your own life. Read more>>

Katy Chase | Children’s Improv Instructor & Owner

I think Studio LOL has seen success over the years because we work really hard at what we do and we genuinely love it. We love watching kids come up with funny ideas and say the most random stuff. We love getting to see a parent witness their child become more confident. We love meeting a new student who’s maybe a bit quirky and hilarious, and then helping them to find their voice and their “people” in our class. Mostly, we love offering an experience to families that delivers happiness. So I think because we get such a kick out of what we get to bring to the world, it’s been very easy to work hard at it and build a successful program. Read more>>

Lori Webster | Retail Store Owner

The fact that we’ve committed to buying as locally as possible to support our community’s creatives, and to keep our dollars in our community. Our favorite slogan is “Keep Your Money Where Your House Is”. Read more>>

Sunny | Elite Tennis Coach

Adopting a non cookie- cutter, personalized, white-glove tailored private tennis instruction model coupled with cardio fitness baked into the paradigm- in an MO which was nonmicro-managerial, holistic,emotionally engaging but also intellectually stimulating via learning a brand new motor skill-set for beginners. It also proved to be a great way for intermediates and advanceds to get a terrific workout while honing their muscle memory- away from the hamster on a wheel routine of a treadmill, and for folks to get out and have some fun under the sun in a predominantly work from home milieu currently. Read more>>

Christine Ma | Private Chef & Food Blogger

After much reflection, I can honestly say that the reason my private chef business is successful is because of my perseverance. Anyone can learn to cook but it’s a completely different story turning that skill into a profession. I didn’t become a personal chef overnight; it took years of struggling to find clients and building a brand. However, no matter how many times I wanted to give up, I stuck with it. At the end of the day, I realized that this was where I wanted to be. I wouldn’t trade being a private chef and food blogger for anything else. I continued to market my business and soon, I was receiving inquiries almost every day asking about my services. It was all worth it! Read more>>