Traffic & Conversion

What Does “Success” Mean to You? (With Mari Smith, Dennis Yu & More)

by Ezra Firestone




What does “success” mean to you?

Is it your job title? The balance in your bank account?

Maybe it’s the lives you touch, or the freedom to do what you want when you want.

Whatever it means to you, the best way to achieve success is to first define it.

That way, you have something to work toward. You can look at your actions and ask, Is this in line with my values? Is this action putting me one step closer to the life I want, or one step further away?

I sat down with some super sharp marketers to ask what success means to them.

Here’s what they had to say.

Nicole Walters – Sales Expert & Income Strategist

“It’s so easy to define success as being something that is monetary or tangible, whether it’s having a bigger home or more freedom with your work, but for me, success is measured in lives impacted.

We all have the ability to take our knowledge, our experiences and the things we’ve done in our life and use that to influence the world…

So I measure success by how many people I am able to take my story, my tools, my strategies to and help them unlock their own and create a wider impact.”

Dennis Yu – CTO, BlitzMetrics

“Success for me means being able to help other people, because what matters to me is mentorship, and creating a system to help other people do the same thing is my life’s dream.

The thing that’s made the biggest impact on me is when I was 21, I had Al Casey, the CEO of American Airlines. He opened doors for me. He would let me run internet marketing that was just getting going…

And I thought, How do we pay back other people in the same way?

Erica Martin – Founder, Sales That Don’t Suck

“Success to me means financial freedom for myself and all the people that I help.

It also means being able to have the quality of life that I want, and empowering others to have that same quality of life…

And being able to help as many people as possible.”

Laura Hanly – Content Marketing Expert

“For me, success is about autonomy and being able to have the impact that I want to have in the world, work on meaningful projects, and help a lot of people in the process.

But also have a lot of fun.

And success for me is encapsulated in the freedom of being able to work on the things that matter.”

Lindsay Marder – Co-founder, Digital Strategy Boot Camps

“Success means fulfillment, whether that means monetary, happiness or life balance.

Success is just meeting goals and achieving new things and meeting new people and creating new relationships… Whatever feels good, and whatever feels like accomplishment.”

Mari Smith – Facebook Expert

“Success is living life on my own terms and feeling good about myself — when I wake up first thing and when I go to sleep.

Now, of course, to qualify that in business terms, that means I’m doing what I love every day and getting paid well to do it.”

Mav Barrena – Sales Funnel & Email Marketing Expert

“To me, success means that I get to spend time with my family. I get to work with clients. That I feel I’m helping to make sure that the people I’m working with are making the world a better place, and contributing to their clients the way that I like to contribute to mine.”

John Lee Dumas – Entrepreneurs on Fire Podcast

“Success to me means the freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it.

I love being able to wake up in the morning and look at my calendar and say everything on my calendar is something that I put there — that I chose to do… That’s going to light me up inside.

And if I’m living most of my days like that, that’s success to me. You can’t always do everything that you want to do all the time, but if you’re doing it most of the time, you’re living a life of success.”

Highlights:
0:01 Nicole Walters discusses what success means to her
0:26 Dennis Yu discusses what success means to him
0:51 Erica Martin discusses what success means to her
1:05 Laura Hanly discusses what success means to her
1:24 Lindsay Marder discusses what success means to her
1:42 Mari Smith discusses what success means to her
1:56 Mav Barrena discusses what success means to her
2:15 John Lee Dumas discusses what success means to him

Click Here For Video Transcript

Nicole: It’s so easy to define success as being something that is monetary or tangible, whether it’s having a bigger home or more freedom with your work. But, for me, success is measured in lives impacted. We all have the ability to take our knowledge, our experiences, and the things we’ve done in our life and use that to influence the world. So, I measure success by how many people I’m able to take my story, my tools, my strategies, and help them unlock their own and create a wider impact.

Dennis: Success, for me, means being able to help other people, because what matters to me is mentorship. And being able to create a system to help other people do the same thing is my life’s dream. The thing that’s made the biggest impact is, when I was 21, I had Al Casey who was the CEO of American Airlines. He opened doors for me. He let me run internet marketing at a company that was just getting going. And I thought, “How do we pay back other people in the same way?”

Erica: Success means, to me, financial freedom for myself and for all of the people that I help. It also means being able to have the quality of life that I want and empowering others to have the same quality of life, and to be able to help as many people as possible.

Laura: For me, success is about autonomy and being able to have the impact that I want to have in the world, work on meaningful projects and help a lot of people in the process, but also have a lot of fun. And success, for me, is really encapsulated in freedom and being able to work on the things that matter.

Lindsay: Success means fulfillment. Whether that means monetary, happiness, life balance, success is just meeting goals and achieving new things and meeting new people and creating new relationships, whatever feels good and whatever feels like accomplishment.

Mari: Success is living life on my own terms, feeling good about myself when I wake up first thing, and also when I go to sleep. Now, of course, quantify that in business terms that means I’m doing what I love every day and getting paid well.

Mav: To me, success means that I get to spend time with my family, I get to work with clients that I feel I’m helping to make sure the people that I’m working with are making this world a better place, and are contributing to their clients the way I like to contribute to mine.

John: Success, to me, means the freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I love being able to wake up in the morning, look at my calendar and say everything that’s on that calendar is something that I put there, that I chose to do, that’s going to light me up inside. And if I’m living most of my days like that, that’s success to me. You know, you can’t always do everything that you want to do all the time. But if you’re doing it most of the time, you’re living a life of success.