There are so many factors that can play a role in determining our results, performance and ultimately our success, but some factors matter more than others. We asked folks what they felt was the most important factor driving their success.

Jessica Winans | Spiritual Life Coach, Intuitive Biz + Social Media Strategist and Yoga Teacher

The most important factor behind my success so far, and the success of the Ultravioletly Aligned community, has 100% been alignment with love, and service; above all else. To me, acting and moving from a place of love is a way of being. So many of us in business can get caught up in the amount we want to make or the lifestyle we want to lead; that we forget service, and all that requires of us. When I switched my mindset from creating income revenue streams or launching with a dollar-amount as my quantifiable goal; and moved into the mindset of: how can I be of service?; my entire life changed, my clients began to soar, and I attracted more opportunity and financial abundance in the process. Read more>>

D. Boyle | Dcompress Owner

When you book a service with Dcompress, you’re not just getting a treatment, you’re getting a family. At least that’s how we hope you feel. Even before COVID, we structured our appointments with a 30 minute break between each one to allow time to really get to know our clients – who they are, why they’re here and what we can do to help. After working for years at high-end spas, I realized it was impossible to build any kind of lasting relationship with my clients for two main reasons: 1. The majority of our spa clients were out-of-town guests, and 2: We only had 10 minutes between each session. Not only was it stressful trying to set-up, clean-up and learn everything about our clients in a few short minutes, but our clients felt rushed and unheard – definitely, not the most relaxing start to a massage. With Dcompress, I wanted to change how businesses within this industry are structured. Read more>>

Emily & Ryan Burhop | Owners, Emry Photography

We launched our wedding photography business, Emry Photography in San Diego in 2015 and couldn’t have imagined it taking off so rapidly. It’s been a wild and amazing ride the last few years. We never tire of photographing hundreds of weddings in San Diego, across California and the U.S and we feel so blessed the business has grown so quickly. We truly believe Emry’s success is due to the way we treat our couples. Both Ryan and I (Emily, the owners) and our team of wedding photographers and videographers place an emphasis on the way we show up to serve our couples. Crafting beautiful images that will become a piece of a couples visual legacy is only half of it. For us, having a servants heart is paramount. We thrive at giving our couples a heartfelt and flawless experience from beginning to end. Read more>>

Kaleigh Boe | Owner of The Lily Pad

I think the most important factor in the success of our brand is that we truly love what we do! We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve been able to choose our profession -working with children isn’t easy and it certainly isn’t for everyone but we love our work and can’t imagine doing anything else. I think the kids can feel that we’ve “chosen them” and it’s really the driving force behind our success. If you love your job you do it well! Read more>>

Victoria Cunanan | Branding Photographer, Creative Director, Yoga Teacher

One of the most important things that has to be present in me throughout this journey of creativity and entrepreneurship, is trust and patience. Back when I decided that I wanted to spend more time focusing on photography, I was so far from confident and also thought that I would start getting gigs overnight. I am constantly learning my crafts and expanding my creativity to become a full time photographer and creative director therefore, I have to fully trust the process. I know that the more I push myself to this commitment of working for myself and collaborating with others, the closer I get to making my dreams a reality, even if at times I feel like I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. Another really important thing that I have reminded myself countless times is to have fun and enjoy the creative process. Read more>>

McLain Harvey | CEO & Co-Founder

The most important factor to Pixster’s success is our people. We simply have the best people in the photo booth industry. From our incredible leadership team to our attendants who are on the front line, our team is the glue that holds it all together. We were one of the first players in the photo booth rental space to create a scalable business model without franchising. In order to accomplish that vision we knew that our managers had to be incredible leaders and die-hard company advocates. As a result of growing along side those people, we now we have locations in San Diego, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin. The best part is it is all of the managers running those locations are home grown and all of them started as photo booth attendants. Read more>>

Pat Gallagher | Professional Dog Trainer, APDT, ABCC

Our success has been due to the time we take and the transparency we have with our clients. We create human relationships before we build relationships with the dogs. Our clients trust us with their most prized possession because we take the time to create these relationships. We are not about selling our services but more about selling ourselves as people that our clients can trust to tell the truth no matter what and take the best care possible of their dogs. We’ve turned new business away if we feel that we are not a good fit for the dog and advise the client as to why we are not. If the dog is overly stressed in our environment, we recommend an in house pet sitter as apposed to an environment like ours. Read more>>

Ariel Chiu | Luxury Paris Wedding Planner and Designer

Success can be defined in many ways, and is different for every person. For me, I view success as working with only a handful of couples each year, and providing a tailored and exclusive wedding planning experience. When my couples choose to work with me, I recognize how much they are investing in someone they just met — I want to invest the same amount of effort into them, if not more. By being exclusive with my services, I am able to provide my couples with an elevated experience that not only gives them a framework for their wedding, but also gives them back time. Whether that’s time for each other, or time for themselves, time is such a precious commodity that we are all constantly trying to acquire more of. I work diligently to gift my couples treasured time during their engagement, and I think that is one of the reasons behind my success. Read more>>

Jacey Gillette | Stylist & Salon Owner

The most important factors behind the success of Crow Salon is kindness. When I first opened my salon January 2015 I wanted to create a place that I wanted to work, I wanted to create a place where equality was felt when you walked in wether you where a client or a stylist. A place where a client can come and didn’t feel judged for not knowing how to pronounce Balayage, or a stylist can come and not feel out of place because she didn’t feel as perfect as the owner or other stylist. Now I don’t have any business training and to be honest barely made it through school. But I care about everyone of my clients and everyone of my girls that works at Crow Salon on a deeper level that I believe has made it successful because we all know it’s not the not so trendy random name of the salon that brings people in.. Read more>>

Uzoma Albert O. | Graphic/Web Designer

The most important factor behind the success of Uzo Design is having a good understanding of different marketing techniques or practices that enable businesses to achieve their goals by being visible to their audience. Being able to have a system that I can incorporate these marketing practices into further enhances it. My business is a work in progress, therefore I am always looking for ways to improve upon what I already know. Read more>>

Kris Anacleto | CEO of Booze Brothers Brewing Co.

I like to think we’ve come as far as we have by adapting and embracing change. We started with the idea of being a small tasting room, but have grown into a production brewery with two beer brands, a wedding venue, 2 tasting rooms, etc. If we would have stayed rigid in our thoughts, we would be a lot smaller than we are today. Read more>>

James Neal | Chiropractor & owner of Comprehensive Spinal Care

I believe the success of our office is strongly connected to our eagerness to help as many people as possible, with a caring, individualized approach to their health. We don’t take for granted the commitment of our patients to our office, which is reflected in them sending referrals weekly! I believe by being invested in our patient’s health and their lives, it has created a professional, but comfortable environment for patient’s to ask questions, provide education to patients, and create a culture of making healthy choices when it comes to improving their overall well being. Read more>>

Rachel Jennings | Entrepreneur / Creative Design

The most important aspect of my business and the success of my brand is the success of others & to inspire other to be themselves. I love helping others find those unique pieces to add to their wardrobe which makes them feel amazing because we all know when you look amazing, you feel amazing and when you feel amazing you can’t help but attract others to your positive energy. The world always needs more of that! Read more>>

Ray Drasnin | National Publicist

Most important factor behind my success? Be unique. Build your personal brand. When I moved to San Diego from Los Angeles, virtually no other PR firms were doing national PR. I had been trained to do celebrity PR and already worked with a number of pro athletes. So that’s exactly what I emphasized. I went after the biggest clients I could target and began landing the big boys (Debbie Fields of Mrs. Fields Cookies, Hang Ten, American Express, 1-800-Got-Junk, NFL players, professional sports teams, etc.). Soon, my brand began emerging as a hip, young publicist bucking the trend to be based in LA. Instead, clients loved visiting my San Diego office and I treated them like kings when they came to town. As their brands grew, my brand grew. I started doing public speaking engagements, did a TEDx talk, and garnered thousands of dollars to give speeches. Read more>>

Magic Mike Stilwell | Professional Magician

I’ve been a professional Entertainer since 1980. There are 2 words that I believe in, both personal and professional “Givers Gain” Special events don’t always start on time. You need to be flexible. The # 1 one thing that I feel that has made me the success I am today is my reputation for always arriving early and staying longer than contracted. I’m not fond of entertainer’s that walk in 5 minutes before they start and are looking at their watch just before they leave. In our world of entertainment all acts should arrive and check in with the client 15 to 30 minutes before they perform. Read more>>