Things successful people say
I’ve noticed there are about five pieces of advice I hear over and over again from successful people. Different people. Different businesses. Different paths. Yet somehow, they keep coming back to the same things.
- Pay attention to who you hang out with.
- This one is usually near the top of the list, and especially true for entrepreneurs. Successful people tend to bring you up. They believe possibilities exist because they’ve seen them happen.
Take a look at your circle. If you’re regularly spending hours having cocktails with people who babble about absolutely nothing while you have dreams you’re supposedly trying to build, that might be a red flag. Move on, Sister.
2. Shut up. Keep your idea to yourself.
Especially in the beginning.
Now, this is advice this author absolutely did not follow.
If you’re not built of iron, grit and steel all melted into one solid piece, the comments from naysayers can disintegrate a dream before it ever gets going.
Remember, people see your possibilities through the glasses of their own life. Someone who has never taken a big risk or acted on a crazy dream may find 25 reasons yours won’t work.
Tell the right people. Everybody else can wait.
3. When people show you their true colors, believe them.
I’ve heard Oprah Winfrey talk about this lesson, which may have came from her mentor, Maya Angelou who famously said “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”
Sounds simple. It isn’t.
Someone repeatedly does something nasty, dishonest or hurtful, and somehow we convince ourselves there must be another explanation. Maybe there isn’t. Pay attention. They’re giving you information.
4. Starting with nothing can actually be an advantage.
Barbara Corcoran and Daymond John, both of Shark Tank, built businesses from very humble beginnings. And both have talked about the advantages of being scrappy.
When you don’t have unlimited money, you figure things out. You get crafty. You become creative. You learn how to make $100 do the job of $1,000. Having money certainly doesn’t prevent someone from building a great business. But there’s something to be said for learning how to survive without it. I might know a little something about that one.
5. And finally: Don’t quit.
This may be the most important one. You know what happens when you quit? Nothing. That’s it. Game over. You have officially eliminated any possibility of succeeding because you stopped. As long as you stay in the game, keep your nose to the grindstone, learn, adjust and keep moving, you’ve still got a shot.
One sidenote: know when to pivot. If you’ve gone all in—and I mean all in—for years and nothing is working, changing direction isn’t quitting.
It’s getting smarter.
But until then?
Keep going.
Just saying.
Wendy Kushel is the owner of Wendala’s LowCountry Sugar Scrub, LLC based in Bluffton. Drawn to the beauty and personal care industry, Wendy founded her company in 2020. Her background includes stand-up comedy, film, TV and a lot of sales and marketing. For more information about Wendala’s® LowCountry Sugar Scrub visit www.lowcountrysugarscrub.com or call/text 843-949-8933.
