Success Advice
7 Successful People and Their Time-Tested Secrets to Success

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Have you ever wondered how successful people get to where they are in life? It looks so easy and effortless for them to have a good time, make friends, and influence people. We see the glory, the splendid mansions, the adoring public, the wealthy lifestyle, and the endearing media coverage. However, many don’t see the long arduous journeys they have taken. The pains, the tears, the struggles, and the desperation that some of them have crawled out of.
Their unsung stories are an inspiring trial of enlightenment for the diligent seekers of success.
Let’s glimpse the nuggets of wisdom from 7 life-changing successful people stories:
1. Colonel Sanders — Never Too Late to Start
Colonel Sanders is well known as the icon and founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Colonel Sanders sold the company in 1964 for $2 million and semi-retired at the age of 74 years old. Most people would be unfazed with such a track record without knowing how he got started.
Would you believe that Colonel Sanders only started pitching his secret chicken recipe to restaurants at the age of 66, and with only $105 from his social security? Everyone thought he was senile, but our Colonel bravely charged into the battlefield of business and prevailed. Colonel Sanders was a great example that success is not dependent on how young you start or how much money you have to begin with. His inspirational quote:
“I was sixty-six years old. I still had to make a living. I looked at my social security check of 105 dollars and decided to use that to try to franchise my chicken recipe. Folks had always liked my chicken.”
2. Vincent Van Gogh — Love Your Work
Did you know that the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh only sold ONE painting to a close friend during his lifetime? That was not because of the lack of paintings. He painted well over 800 pieces of work during his lifetime.
Vincent Van Gogh was considered an epic failure while he was alive. He was tormented with years of mental illness, depression and poverty. What kept him going was his deep love of nature and the firm belief of the power behind the beauty of nature. This elixir of love he poured into his work resulted in internationally acclaimed pieces of art with price tags running into millions of dollars, albeit posthumously.
He unveiled his secret of producing the masterpieces with this motivational quote:
“Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”
3. Warren Buffett — Mind Sponge for Knowledge
Warren Buffett has been a legend in the investment world, with uncanny eyes for deals that made him a multi-billionaire. There are tons of written stories about Warren Buffett’s investment prowess and how he made killings with his investment strategies. When asked about his secret to success, Warren’s humble reply was that “I just feel very, very lucky” and that he just “won the ovarian lottery.”
The hidden gem to Warren Buffett’s success is that he loves to read. He admitted to amassing a great wealth of knowledge through reading every day. But he brushed it aside as an unfair advantage by saying “Everybody can read what I read, it is a level playing field.”
However, have you come across a wildly successful person who can say this:
“I just sit in my office and read all day”
4. Colin Powell — Secret to Decisiveness
Colin Powell was a successful soldier, diplomat and statesperson. He has an illustrious military career, climbing to the highest rank of a 4-star general by the age of 52. He served under George W. Bush as the Secretary of State and became America’s top Diplomat. That was an awe-inspiring feat for an African American to achieve as no others have come even close.
His authoritative decisiveness was his trademark. His covert weapon of success was his 40/70 rule:
“If you can apply the 40/70 rule, you’ll be successful at whatever you choose to do…..You only need 40% to 70% of the information to make a decision.”
5. Bill Gates — Don’t Focus on The Money
Bill Gates has been one of the world’s top billionaires, with a net worth of about $100b. Yet he has openly admitted that he does not like to spend a lot of money on clothes and jewelry. He walks the talk by wearing a $10 watch and flying economy for all official purposes. He even washed the dishes at home every night for his family rather than waste electricity on the dishwasher!
Bill Gates understood meaningful freedom that came with desiring millions of dollars. However, he shared that “once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.” For Bill Gates, his compelling secret was not to be obsessed with money:
“Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point.”
6. Thomas Edison — Failure? Not in My Dictionary
Thomas Edison did not stand out for his intelligence, as his teachers belittled him as ‘too stupid to learn anything.’ Yet later in life, Thomas Edison became famous for his many inventions, with more than 1000 patents under his belt. Among his countless inventions, he was particularly famous for his relentless research on the construction of the electric light bulb.
When asked why he failed more than 10,000 times, his mind-blowing answer became engraved in history as the epitome of embracing failure:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
7. Jesus Christ — Service Above Self
The Holy Bible is effectively a widely read biography of Jesus Christ. Jesus started his ministry with 12 disciples, named the apostles. The Christian movement has since grown to about 2.3 billion people worldwide in 2020 or about 29% of the world’s population.
A noteworthy event was when his disciples were arguing among themselves as to who was the greatest amongst them. Jesus grilled into them that the heavenly key to greatness was to serve the interest of others above self. If you observe the character of many successful people, they held true to the key principle as expounded by Jesus when he said:
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
What Successful People Do: 7 Keys To Your Successful Future
You want to succeed in life. You want to conquer your fears. You want to know what drives successful people to get ahead in life.
The traits of highly successful people have been unveiled for you. You now know that to be extraordinarily successful you need to:
- NEVER use age or lack of money as an excuse
- Love what you are doing
- Cultivate Lifelong Learning
- Be decisive using the 40/70 rule
- NEVER make money be the end-goal in life
- Embrace failure
- Service Above Self
The time-tested secrets of successful people have been uncloaked for you. Start to unlock your limitless potential for success today.
In your opinion, who is the most successful person you know and why? Share your thoughts with us below!
Change Your Mindset
You Become What You Absorb: How Input Shapes Your Life
We let the world dictate who we spend time with and what input we allow in, rarely stopping to consider the effects it’s having on us

“Input” is anything from the outside world that influences your mood, mindset, and emotional state. It includes the media you consume, the books you read, the podcasts and music you listen to, and the movies and shows you watch. But it also encompasses much more: the environment you live and work in, the conversations you have, the people you surround yourself with, and the events, personal or global, that unfold around you. (more…)
Success Advice
This Overlooked Skill Drives Real Business Growth
It strengthens relationships, enhances decision-making, and fosters trust.

In every successful leader’s toolkit, one skill stands out above the rest: the ability to listen. While good leaders are known for making confident decisions, great leaders understand that those decisions are only as strong as the information they’re based on. And that information? It comes from truly listening to their teams, peers, and even critics. (more…)
Scale Your Business
Tired of Wasting Money on the Wrong Marketers? Here’s How Smart Entrepreneurs Are Finally Hiring Right

If you’ve ever Googled how to hire a Facebook marketer or best TikTok marketing agency only to spend thousands on someone who couldn’t deliver…congrats, you’ve joined a very expensive club! For many entrepreneurs, hiring a digital marketer feels like more like visiting a casino and gambling with your runway, than it feels like securing a partner who’ll help build your business. Often, it feels like you’re betting on a stranger to grow the dream you’ve poured your savings into.
And way too often, you lose that bet.
You don’t need another list of the “Top 10 Agencies” with five-star testimonials and polished logos. You need to know which marketer can actually drive results for your business. Not in theory. In practice.
This is where entrepreneurs are learning to pivot. And it’s why a new platform called TruthMetric.com is turning heads across the startup world.
Why Most Startups Burn Through 3–6 Marketers Before Finding the Right One
Here’s the hard truth: most startups don’t fail because of their product, they fail because they can’t get sales or sell it fast enough. And in trying to fix that, founders usually go through five or six marketers, burning tens of thousands before finding someone who truly knows how to convert.
You build your product, get your website live, maybe even launch an ad campaign. But when you search for help and look up how to “hire a YouTube ads agency” or “top Facebook ad expert for Shopify”, you get hit with a sea of shiny portfolios, “ninja” titles, and endless promises.
Three months later, you’re still waiting on your first profitable campaign, and you’re most likely out tens of thousands, feeling utterly defeated…and maybe grinning with an affinity for that upcoming boxing class with a picture of that marketer’s fac……nevermind.
If this sounds like you, it’s time for what one entrepreneur called a strategic shift to scale smarter, not harder.
Introducing TruthMetric.com: The Transparent Marketplace for Hiring Marketers Who Deliver
TruthMetric.com isn’t just another freelancer platform or agency directory. It’s the first hiring solution where you can see three years of real, verified marketing performance before spending a dime.
That includes:
- Verified ad campaign performance
- Actual return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Industry-specific experience
- Platform specialties (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Google Ads, and more)
Whether you’re looking for a Facebook ads expert, a TikTok marketer, or a YouTube growth strategist, TruthMetric.com lets you filter and compare based on what actually matters, results.
This level of clarity is something you won’t find on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. And it solves what many founders know too well as the New York Pizza Problem: where every marketer claims they’re “the best,” just like every pizzeria in Manhattan says they’re #1. Often without showing you results, you get sucked into this dream of collaboration, until the nightmare commences the moment you fork that first invoice payment. Hence the deception that leads to many business owners losing their hard earned savings and budget to launch their grand idea.
With TruthMetric, you finally get the data to decide for yourself, BEFORE you hire. Now if only New York Pizza shops had the same transparency then maybe you’d finally find the best pizza in New York, perhaps the perfect post work out after a boxing sesh? I think so!
Why Founders Are Shifting to Results-First Hiring
Most entrepreneurs think they need to do it all themselves, until they burn out or burn through their budget. That’s exactly why this founder had to drop the Superman complex and hire a marketing genius.
What makes TruthMetric so powerful is that it turns hiring into a confident move, not a hopeful one. You’re no longer guessing. You’re choosing from proven performers. You know what vertical they dominate. You know their past client performance. You see the monthly results from the campaigns they ran, and the outcomes they achieved.
It’s not just efficient. It’s empowering.
Scaling Quickly Requires Automation and Eliminating the Noise
Founders who scale quickly understand one thing: growth isn’t just about hustle, it’s about systems. TruthMetric is the system for finding great marketers at speed. No more DM’ing ten freelancers or interviewing agencies feeling like you are asking the world of them to just see some prior results. Instead you get to see the information you need to make an informed decision and plug into verified talent, all ready to perform.
This difference allows for you to match perfectly with the right talent quickly. If you’re building your business to run lean and fast, this convenience plugged in with automation can help you scale your small business right alongside your new marketing hires.
Why TruthMetric Is Also a Boon for Marketers, Not Just Founders
This isn’t just a win for founders, it is a gift for great marketers, too.
If you’re a freelance marketer who’s been quietly pulling 10x ROAS for clients while being passed over for flashy agencies, you now have a stage where your results speak louder than your brand.
TruthMetric is a true meritocracy. No fluff. No sales tricks. Just data.
If you’re tired of being overlooked and ready to stand out based on what you actually deliver, this is your home.
The Secret Weapon for Investors and M&A Operators
There’s another angle here that some of our readers might miss.
Investors, private equity firms, and M&A advisors should be drooling at the thought of having a proven talent pool they can plug and play and the ability to use TruthMetric to revive underperforming companies. Imagine acquiring a business or becoming an active investor, then dropping in a verified operator with a history of explosive growth in that niche.
It’s plug-and-play. Scale on demand.
That kind of insight has never been available before. You couldn’t do this on Upwork. You certainly can’t do it through a friend-of-a-friend referral.
And when it comes to attracting high-performing talent, here’s how to hire top talent and keep them around.
Let’s Really Drive This Home…
If you’ve wasted money on agencies or freelancers who couldn’t deliver, it’s not because you’re bad at hiring, it’s because the game was stacked against you. Trusting dreamy charismatic sales pitches over data was a doomed approach from the start.
TruthMetric levels the playing field by showing you what no other talent marketplace does and that’s proof.
Real marketers. Real results. Real growth.
It’s time to stop guessing and start hiring based on data.
Visit TruthMetric.com and make your next marketing hire the one that actually works.
Personal Development
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