Success Advice
7 Successful People and Their Time-Tested Secrets to Success
If you’d like to learn how to be fearless in life so you can accomplish everything you want to do and become successful, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.
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!
Success Advice
Why You Shouldn’t Discount A Brick And Mortar Store In 2025
We’re constantly told about how stores are closing down and how shoppers prefer online options, but is it worth questioning this theory?
In 2024, you’d be forgiven for thinking that physical shopping is a thing of the past. We’re constantly told about how stores are closing down and how shoppers prefer online options. But is it worth questioning this theory? (more…)
Success Advice
How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements
Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.
Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.
There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.
Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.
Embed the strength of AI and ML.
AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.
Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.
ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses.
In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.
Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities
Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased.
Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information.
Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place.
In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.
Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development
You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.
You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.
Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.
Developing key skills to achieve goals
Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.
Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.
Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.
Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.
Development/Coding Knowledge
Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.
Hacking proof framework
There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.
Communication Abilities/Soft Skills
Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:
Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.
Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.
Agile Implementations
It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.
Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy
A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.
- Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds.
- Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
- Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
- Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them.
- Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.
Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy
Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.
- Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
- Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
- Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.
Success Advice
Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success
These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds
The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)
Motivation
From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone
By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality
Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)
-
Entrepreneurs4 weeks ago
5 Ways Cyber Security Planning Will Help Your Business Succeed
-
Entrepreneurs4 weeks ago
6 World Class Productivity Hacks for Entrepreneurs
-
Success Advice3 weeks ago
10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind
-
Life2 weeks ago
Here’s The Thing About Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning
-
Motivation3 weeks ago
From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone
-
Entrepreneurs2 weeks ago
How Entrepreneurs Can Cultivate Courage and Use It as a Superpower
-
Entrepreneurs2 weeks ago
5 Smart Financial Moves Every Entrepreneur Should Consider
-
Entrepreneurs1 week ago
6 Things to Do Before Starting a Business