How to Become a Successful Person + Be Your Own Boss

Success in Life

I have been a female entrepreneur for many years, and have had what I consider to be a fair amount of success in that area. Success will always mean different things to different people. To me, success is achieved when you are genuinely happy with yourself and your current situation. If you are just starting out as an entrepreneur and are trying to figure out how to be successful, the first step is determining what you will measure your success by. Otherwise, how will you know if you have achieved success in your life?

My Definition of Success in Life

At the core of my definition of success in life, is the ability to be able to take of yourself. A successful person should be able to be who they are and make their decisions for themselves. Success to me is paying my own bills and not having to depend on anyone else to support my home, my family, my love for gardening and interior decorating. I have been able to achieve my definition of success because of my determination, because of my ethics, and drive.

A Successful Person is Self-Motivated

I worked from home for a lot of years, and my photography studio is on the bottom level of my house. Even on days when I don’t have photoshoots or appointments, I will get up and get dressed and do my makeup. On days where all I might be doing is editing photos, I don’t stay in my PJs. When I was younger my grandpa instilled in us a principle which I attribute to my discipline. Regardless of days off, I was to get out of bed and be “up and attem”! A successful person understands the importance of this, because you can let your situations dictate how you act, or you can act in a way to dictate your situation. So get up! Curl your hair, swipe some gloss on your lips –even if you don’t have any scheduled appointments!

A Successful Person Self-Assesses

To become a successful person you have to be self-motivated, because there is no one behind you saying, “what did you do today”? As my own boss I like to do a daily self-assessment to keep my motivation on track. I will mentally go through all the goals I had set for the day and ask myself how much I got done. If I assess and I feel like I deserve to go to bed or sit down, then I will. Sometimes I tell myself, “you sit down and have a glass of wine, you deserve it”! Some of the questions you can ask yourself:

1. Do I feel accomplished today?
2. Do I feel like I earned my salary today?
3. Did I complete at least half of my goals?

Ask yourself –being truly honest with your answer – do I deserve to go to bed? Most of the time for me, the answer is yes.

It’s not always possible to accomplish everything on your list. There are days where you aren’t going to be productive, those are the days you need to take in stride and put in a little extra brain power. Setting goals are important, but if you aren’t evaluating your progress, how will you know if your daily routine is working for you?

Successful People Aren’t Victims

I think it’s easy for people to fall into a rut, and once you get into that ‘woe is me’ attitude, you become less accomplished. Once you start slipping on your daily accomplishments, the end-goal of success becomes a distant memory. That self-pity turns to laziness.

Successful People Achieve Balance

Coming from a low self-esteem background, I feel better about myself when I am accomplishing a lot. However, that tends to put me in situations where I feel I am spread too thin. I do try to learn my balance and limitations, and over the years I have learned a lot. I say no to jobs that I wouldn’t have said no to before. Successful people realize they need time for themselves too – you can’t say yes to everything. When you spread yourself too thin you aren’t able to maintain the quality of your work. There is nothing that will put you out of business faster than doing a half-ass job for 20 people rather than doing a phenomenal job for 5 people.

You need to learn that balance, that will make or break you as your own boss and successful person.

Successful People Set Rules and Don't Waiver

As your own boss, you have control over how many clients you can handle. As a wedding photographer I could book 50 weddings a year, however, I could never edit that amount of wedding pictures and create a wedding album for each of those brides! In my many years as a professional photographer in Milton, NY, I have created and stuck to one rule. My brides receive their wedding pictures no more than four weeks from their wedding day. I do not waiver from this rule any more than a day or so.

Word of mouth is a very large part of how you will receive business. Setting a rule to produce quality work on time is crucial to being a successful person. Set your rules and don’t waiver from them, because you might risk losing credibility with your clients, and word of mouth travels fast. Be true to what you say.

Always Make Healthy Choices...Vivian