The meter of success can vary for every individual, especially an entrepreneur. The business world has its ups and downs;each day can bring on something new. Being a successful entrepreneur is not only about launching a business — it means having the right attitude, determination, and grit to achieve all your goals despite any obstacles that might come along the way.
Read ahead to see what these female entrepreneurs say about the definition of success in their lives!
Sophronia McKenzie, visuEats
Sophronia does not follow the status quo. She thinks that while the typical response for most entrepreneurs would be to go public, have X amount of dollars in revenues, and be a millionaire, she has a different view of success.
“Success for me is for each team member that joins the organization. What impact did I have? And what impact did the company have on their lives? For example, if I have a team member, I’ll call her Janice. She’s based in Colombia. She started as a social media manager back in September 2020, as a social media manager, and she’s evolved into a UX designer. The fact that she could grow, evolve, shift her career, and just be excited about building out a company product and designing an app as transformational — makes me feel good that the company has such an impact on somebody’s life like that. That’s what success means to me.”
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Nicole Deggins, Sista Midwife Productions
Nicole’s primary goal in her work is to transform lives and seeing women benefit from her training is the definition of success for this businesswoman. When she gets positive feedback from people who have come to her events, a birth story project circle, or her training and has left with a transformation or being elevated in a new way, the entrepreneur feels that she has reached success. Bringing joy to the faces of other individuals is a key part of business for Nicole.
“In my personal life, success is having the time and freedom to do the things that bring me joy, with ease and flow. So spending time with my daughter, being able to take a vacation, being able to take a day off when necessary based on any kind of circumstance that may come up, that, for me, is a success.”
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Azsuanna, Co-founder of Melanin-Is
Azsuanna has an optimistic approach to looking at success. She started her company in 2022 and already has 4+ products launched, clinically tested, and dermatologist-approved. She’s been recognized by major retailers, including Target, Amazon, black business accelerator, digitalundivided, and JPMorgan Chase. The entrepreneur looks back and thinks about how amazing the traction, followers, revenue, and full social media reach as well as hitting small milestones!
“I sent four emails this morning. That’s also traction and it matters, everything matters. I’m over ecstatic about the way that we’ve grown in such a short amount of time and super excited about the future too.”
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Shannon Morales, Tribaja
Shannon believes that success encompasses being able to maintain a certain level of financial freedom and security for herself and her family without relying on employment. The businesswoman defines success as having freedom over her own life and choices as well as having the flexibility to balance her personal and professional life.
“For me, I always wanted my time to be my own, for me to build my own schedule, for me to have enough time to stay home with my kids and be with them if I needed to. I work a lot of hours but I have the flexibility to decide what hours I want to work. So I’m now able to stay with my kids, I pick them up from school, I’m pretty much a stay-at-home mom. But I’m also running a business from my living room, which is really, really nice.”
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Georgette Luna, Sea Philly
There are not too many business owners you would find who are as excited to run their company years after as they were the day they launched it. Georgette is completely in love with her business and can’t imagine a day without working towards her passion and goals.
“Success to me is waking up each day to do a job and not feeling like it’s a job. I mean, I’m driving people in boats’! I love waking up every day and doing what I do. That is success”
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Maria Burns Ortiz, 7 Generation Games
Ultimately, we all just want to be happy at the end of the day. For Maria, happiness is the synonym for success. The leader believes that there aredifferent versions of success but happiness is common for everyone — as simplistic as it may sound.
“Being happy with where the company has been, being happy with where my life is, being happy with how my children are doing — I think if you use that as your gauge, then you know, you’re in good shape.”
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The definition of success can vary from individual to individual, but the ultimate goal is to find peace, satisfaction, happiness, and solace in the present situation you’re in. Being a business owner brings its own set of headaches in the form of competition and risk, so instead of comparing your “success” to that of another entrepreneur, work towards achieving excellence within your company and the rest will follow you.