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?

Dr. Cesar Daoud | Acupuncturist – Chronic Pain, Body & Emotions

I believe little successes make up my day-to-day life. And to feel successful, I tend to perform at high level my ordinary life; including when I am with my patients. A successful day at work would be a smile on my patients’ faces, the hope in their eyes and the love of what I am doing. Yet, there are important professional factors that I believe make a big difference in my practices: I personalized treatment for each and every patient, I use the powerful combination of the best from both, alternative and conventional medicine though all the specialties I have and I go beyond symptoms by treating dysfunction at its source… And success does not go without a high sense of Persistence, Adaptation, Commitment, Open Mind and Gratefulness. Read more>>

Ryan Emmons | CEO, Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water

I strongly believe the most important factors behind our success are our ability to communicate effectively and empathetically to one another, as well as the mission, purpose, and impact of our products that make our team that much more excited to wake up each day and get to work. We have a clearly defined set of core values, purpose statement, and brand promises which are the very fabric of our organization, and these are reinforced daily in our all-hands meetings and shoutouts. Read more>>

Laura Stylez | Media Personality, Philanthropist, Connector

The most important factor behind my success is being FEARLESS. Ive never been scared to try new things or go for opportunities that are intimidating Never count yourself out. Theres been many instances where people doubted me, have said things like.. “maybe its not for you” and then i get that campaign or hosting opportunity. Youre not always going to land your dream job but you have to try…i did and im living my dream NOW! Read more>>

Megan Sullivan | Abstract Artist + Teacher

Connection and the ability to pivot. Being in a creative role can often be a lonely journey, so it has always been really important to share my inspirations, process and build a community around what I am working on. Often things do not go as planned and sometimes you have an idea that on paper sounds amazing but when you actually start working on it you quickly realize it is going to take a lot more time / money than you initially thought. Paying attention to those metrics and maintaining an open mind to pivoting your idea is a very crucial factor in longterm success in business. Read more>>

DJ ROME | DJ Rome CEO of Captured Moments Entertainment LLC/Official DJ of Ruthless Killa Records and Creator & Founder of Family B4 Fame and Under the Radar Radio

I believe the most important factor behind my success was building a strong foundation. Most would try to find the quick and easy way to the top but I’d rather take my time and put in the work to prevent missing an important step. My satisfaction comes from being able to say “I did that or I made it happen”. My foundation is built with a strong support team that includes my family, my team and business partners. I believe that having the right individuals surrounding you that not only share the same goals but have the same work ethic plays a big role in rising to the top. Read more>>

Wayne Hayes Mgmt | Music Business professional/Entrepreneur

The most important factor of my success is resilience. I’ve never ever given up . When the funding wasn’t there , when my self efficacy wasn’t where it should be , when things that were in my control or out of my control I’ve never given up . This consistency allows people to take me serious it has created my positive reputation in the community for being someone who will see things through Read more>>

Tone Mak | Entrepreneur & Music Artist

The most important factor behind the success of myself and brand is my consistent act of professionalism. It makes people appreciate their time of working with me because I keep my professionalism at an all time high, at all times. Read more>>

Emmanuel Segarra Ortíz | Music Composer, Conductor and Orchestrator

I believe that the most important factor behind my work is the Latin influence that made me embrace multiple cultural and stylistic elements that some way or another affects my work, from composition to conducting. Thanks to my father, who was the one who started my musical education, made me appreciate our cultural genres that been essential to my artistic growth. My childhood in Puerto Rico was surrounded by Salsa and Urban music rhythms, genres that I have studied and have been cultivating into my Concert Orchestral Music, very different from what you expect with classical music but the influence will always be there. Read more>>

Robina Strowder | Plus Model & Influencer

Consistency. I would not have accomplished anything that I show for my success as a plus model without consistency and persistence. I have tried to be consistent in pushing the fact that the body positivity movement still has a long way to go when it comes to social acceptance. I have never had the conventional body type but I have always been confident and felt comfortable in my skin enough to pursue beauty and fashion as a career. I have had many doors opened to me simply because I was consistent with putting myself in spaces where typically you would not see women like me. Read more>>

Lana Blue | Singer-Songwriter / Influencer

Having genuine relationships/friendship is the most important factor behind all my success. Whether they share industry advice, invest in me financially, share my music, or offer a couch to crash when I’m in town… I have lots of friends and creative partners who help me. And they are willing to do that, because I most likely support them back in some way. Essentially, I’ve built a network of people who all want to see each other succeed. Read more>>

Kimmy Seltzer | Authentic Dating Strategist, Confidence Therapist and Image Expert

One of the reasons why I’m so passionate about what I do is that it comes from my own story and transformation. It’s important to have passion and purpose first and success will follow. Many people have given me advice about getting more specific and narrow with my brand but it never felt right. My brand is the fact that I’m NOT narrow and that I use a holistic approach in helping women and men attract what they want by focusing on their style, emotional and social intelligence. I have been told that is one of the reasons they like working with me is that I have a vat of knowledge being a therapist, dating coach, matchmaker and image consultant and don’t just focus on one thing. Read more>>

Marney Sobel | Passionate educator with a mission to make the most out of learning!

I think there are many important factors behind my success and the success of my brand. The most important one is most definitely passion. I strongly believe in my product and love what I do. When your heart beats for a certain cause, you’re undefeatable. I believe that passion is a guarantee that you will still persevere as long as takes to be successful. I also think that authenticity, motivation, courage, and communication skills have helped me a great deal. Read more>>

True Justice Allah | The Bay Area’s Most Exciting DJ

That would HAVE to be consistency. When I decided that I wanted to be a DJ at 16 years old, there was a specific lane that appealed to me. At the time, I was not interested in being on the radio, doing parties or weddings. I wanted to BE Jam Master Jay! I wanted to be the person that rappers relied on for their live performances. Even though I have done ALL of the above, 32 years later I am known as one of the most exciting Show/Tour DJs in the Biz. Read more>>

Katrina Lee | Executive Assistant / Project Manager

The most important factor behind my success has been my ability to be a team player. I played sports during my childhood, so being on a team became natural. What I did not expect was that being on a team helped me to strive to be the greatest asset I could be with any company I have been a part of. Being a team player helps you learn patience, communication and positivity. It gives you the strength to ask for help when you need guidance. It gives you the courage to speak your point of view in a professional manner, and it gives you the footing to help others in a solo and/or group setting. The success of being a team player has given me the ability to network and develop true friendships within my career that have ended up being beneficial toward my personal and professional growth. Read more>>

Alasia Shalai | Creator & Designer, Shalai World

I think the most important factor behind my brands success is reinvention. I’m always thinking of how to reinvent the fashion I create and offer a fresh perspective on current/past trends. While my brand is still growing, I’ve seen success in what I’ve created so I know it’s only up from here. Read more>>

Julia Pennington and Allison Lange | Co Founders, Hera The Dog Vodka

There are many factors behind the success of Hera, but if we have to choose one, it’s the belief that together we can make a difference. People want to help. People want to feel good about brands they support and want businesses that authentically commit to giving back. It’s important to us that our vodka is of the highest quality and tastes fantastic. Hera The Dog Vodka is organic, meticulously crafted, with detailed attention given to quality and consistency. However, it’s the heart of our company, the commitment to help animals in need, that is building the passionate Hera community so quickly. Read more>>

Chelsea Frank | Comedian & Writer

Authenticity. I think people can smell inauthenticity from a mile away. Even if what you’re doing isn’t necessarily for them, no matter what it is that you’re selling, promoting, or creating – people will at least appreciate how genuine your message is. As for me, I started as a standup comedian. Comedy is all about telling the truth and finding your authentic voice. That same foundation has leaked into everything I’ve ever tried to do: be honest, be genuine, and stay weird. Read more>>

isa peña | florist & community organizer

botánica brava is an evolving project in community care and creation. It is abundantly clear that running your own business, especially one where you need to market your creativity for consumption, is a lonely and often all-consuming affair. With this in mind, I decided pretty early on that I would commit myself to rest and authentic community collaboration above all else. I’m completely against grind culture, and, having just left the high paced world of labor organizing, my own relationship to work was incredibly unhealthy and unbalanced. Read more>>

Alyssa Chan | Product Manager

The Donuttery wasn’t founded on building a brand. It evolved into a brand as people became familiar with our donuts and loved them. My focus was entirely on making just really good donuts. I became obsessed with the humble, ring-shaped, fried dough so embedded in our morning coffee ritual. With the revolution of food in recent years on social media, I noticed that donuts were trending away from the classic yeast-raised donut that is light, springy and chewy. The widespread hysteria of donut crossbreds and picture perfect designs are aesthetically pleasing and decadent, but oftentimes cloyingly sweet. Read more>>

Quan Chandler | Radio Host/Marketing Specialist

I would say the most important factor to the current and future success of my brand is, teamwork. I can not do everything alone and it takes a team, a squad, and like-minded group of diverse people to get the job done. I choose to have this mentality, I am not perfect and know that doing this my way, may not be the best to be fully successful. There can be some moments of success on my own, with so many levels to achieving “success” there is not one exact key to opening all the doors. Read more>>

Ambient Village | Music Collective

What brought Ambient Village so much success is that we think, act, and move like a village. Over the years we’ve individually developed our many talents and have found that we have many resources to offer one another. Whether it’s as simple as laying down a guitar part for someone’s song or as brotherly as lending a couch to a family member in need, we’ve always extended out to each other to strengthen our community that we’ve created and maintain our foundation. Read more>>

Lee Levy | Web Designer & Consultant (aka “Design Queen”)

I am one of the FEW web designers that actually meets with clients IN PERSON. There are so many factors to discuss about web design, its nearly impossible to accomplish it all by phone or email. You really need to sit with the client, in front of a computer, with visuals. My clients VERY MUCH appreciate the fact that I take the time to meet with them, and they appreciate having a face to the name. Also, in my industry there are many unscrupulous people unfortunately, and many times my clients come to me after having that terrible experience and so they appreciate to feel like they are dealing with a person who will not run or hide. Read more>>

Jessica Owen | Freelance Costume Maker and Illustrator

I think as a freelance costumer and illustrator, the most important factors behind my own success has been a combination of adaptability and relationship building with clients. I really enjoy variety in my everyday life, so my job is perfect for me. A lot of projects I’ve taken on over my career have been things that I had never done before but was excited to figure out. Read more>>

Aminul Islam | Art Director & Motion designer

Beside other factors I think the most important factor is passion! it helps me to learn and adapt simultaneously! never get tired Read more>>

Halsey Chaplin | Artist

Collaborating with other artists and friends sharing my work has brought the most success to GREENS. When I reach out to an artist (or they reach out to me) to work together on a collaboration / realizing we both equally admire each others work is so motivating to me and such a boost of confidence to continue making. One of my favorite pastimes is brain storming! I love putting two minds together with all their different perspectives, memories, and ways of doing things together and seeing what comes out. Read more>>

Dani Tygr | Beauty Industry Executive & Artist

It’s not easy to specify one particular factor that can point to success for me. Success has been a result of a blend things that has shifted over time. For me, it all began when a seed was planted by my first mentor, he opened a door for me when he taught me to “never say no” and encouraged me to put myself out there. From then on, building on a undiscovered creative talent and passion changed the trajectory of my entire life and lead to tremendous fulfillment. Read more>>

Michelle Bernard | Actor and Writer

The most important factor behind my success and my brand is patience, persistence, and perseverance. I have learned and grown so much over the past 30 odd years working and living in Hollywood pursuing my dreams in entertainment. So now, through experience and life lessons, I appreciate every single audition, opportunity, and networking connection as a stepping stone on a much bigger path. Read more>>

Dominique Carson | Freelance Journalist and Massage Therapist

First and foremost, I credit my Heavenly Father for all of my blessings, along with the good and bad. Next, I appreciate my fiancé, friends, family, & colleagues for their continuous support and tough love. God has blessed me with people that SINCERELY have my best interest at heart. Success is truly a journey, not a destination. The roadway to success is not always calculated but you can’t be afraid to fail. I realized in my life that my triumph moments were created after experiencing some of my biggest failures and or valleys. A Lyft driver told me that we don’t have problems, we have incidents. You will only have a problem if you do not wake up the next day. And from that ride, it has been my slogan for success and life. We are not immune to life challenges; it comes a long with success but how you handle it determines the outcome of your life. Read more>>

Caroline Salinas | and Sheryl Desir, Co-Founders of Our Vibes Media

Authenticity. We started Our Vibes Media with the intention of creating our own representation in digital media. We wanted to expand our narrative from stereotypes, which is why our content is centered around our stories as college-educated Latinos from the greater Los Angeles area. Being ourselves and people simply relating to us has been the root of our brand’s success. Specificity is universal, and we find so much joy in seeing that so many people can relate to our experiences. Read more>>

Treasure Cooper | Artist and business owner

The single most important factor behind my success is wanting to live a peaceful and healthy life. Then asking myself ‘what does that require I change about myself and the way I think? What types of decisions does this person make?’ And then I continue to rinse and repeat everyday. I’m also very honest with myself even when it doesn’t feel good. Honesty leads to self-awareness and self-awareness leads to success in one way or another. Read more>>

Em Persico | Clown, Podcast Host, and Musician

I have a lot of baggage with the word “success.” There is no straight path to success as an artist. I took it upon myself to define it for me, which is to make art that I like to consume and to make opportunities for my fellow artists. Winston Churchill once said, “success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm,” which I keep in mind when I try my best to keep momentum and enthusiasm for all of the projects that I believe in and want to make. Read more>>

Viktoria Kay | Model/Influencer/Creator

Consistency and discipline! In addition, taking advantage of every single minute every day with an efficient schedule towards your goal will lead to success. Read more>>

Bob Celli | Director/Actor/Writer/Filmmaker

To say that this business is difficult and challenging, while being the most exhilarating and gratifying would be an understatement. I also think success is relative and that the term success means different things to different people. I have always been lucky to have people around me whom I respect and am humbled that they continue to support my ventures. I am also fortunate to have support and honesty from these people which keeps me striving to be better. I would like to think that any success I have had stems from the fact that my bottom line is “treat people the way you want to be treated”. Give and take, be open to suggestion, build trust, and push each other to be better. It’s not a competition, it’s about the project. The only one you should be in competition with is yourself, to make yourself better. Read more>>

Will Roberts | Professional actor & Magician

I’ve always felt as a professional Actor & Magician that you needed to have more than just the tricks, you needed to have more than just one thing you did to be able to stand out in the crowd. Early in my career I made the decision that I was going to learn as many skills as I possibly could. one for the fun of it but two and mainly because I realize that my odds were better that if I was able to do more things in my industry I would be more valuable. Once I went into an audition for Jack in the box and they wanted someone to make an eggroll disappear. The first thing they ask the over 200 people in the room was how many of you do magic? and a whopping six people raise their hands. At that moment I realized the more you know the better your odds are of success. Read more>>

Shannon Liebel | Yoga Instructor & Studio Owner

Love. Love is absolutely the most important factor behind my success. When I opened my yoga studio, I had no intentions of being some huge “success”. I opened my studio simply to create a yoga home for my community. Like so many of us, my life has not been particularly easy, and yoga has saved me multiple times throughout my life. I wanted to share the aspects of yoga that has brought so much healing and joy to my life with as many people as possible. Read more>>

Kt Ruth Harms | Singer/Songwriter

I think the most important factor, really, my strategy for success is not playing the game. As an independent artist, I don’t have the finances or the connections to push my music in the way that labels are able to. I can’t compete. There’s no point in playing their game so I pour my efforts into making good work first and foremost… and getting creative when it comes to marketing. My face may not end up on billboards within my budget, but there are so many examples of guerrilla marketing techniques that have inspired me to think outside the box. Read more>>

David Steenblock | Dr. David Steenblock, D.O.

I think in general, my fear of death. My love for humanity and desire to relieve suffering grew from my early years on my family farm in Northern Iowa. I viewed my natural environment as a great source of education. When I was four years old we had one instance of a horse that died at an early age, and in those times -living on a dirt road on a 40-acre farm – a veterinarian decided to do an autopsy right there in the yard. The vet started to show me the insides of the horse and how the systems worked together, and I decided it was very complicated. I decided then and there to study enough to learn about these systems within humans. Read more>>

Carissa Beasley | Plant shop owner

Staying true to why I started is the biggest key. As a small business it’s incredibly easy to get sidetracked on what’s “new/up and coming” but going back to your roots is incredibly important. Read more>>

Chaz “Mr. Thrive” Volk | Podcast Producer & CEO

The most important factor behind my business is having an effective and active network. I feel that one of my best talents is surrounding myself with people I can trust and work with. Just like making friends in casual settings, it’s about who will have the most positive impact on you. Read more>>

Alexander Orozco | Social Media Foodie

The most important factor behind my success/brand is that I wasn’t looking for it, it found me. Not knowing how much of an impact it was going to have on so many communities from all over, supporting small businesses in the food industry became a calling for me. Read more>>