….for me it was havng the exciting  stuff….the right stuff..my actual  content  was the key…….  it was  good stuff at   reasonable price….and at the right time…i  tried hard to   give  good  deals even  if the market  could pay more…for  the  sake of   heavy repeat  business….  ended up with   a  few   people who  spent  over  100k  with us  over a few yr  span…….AND   following the  policies of  the   most  successful  guy i knew…

and the   blessing/terror  of a  failed business   , which  taught me that the  customer is king…they have to want whatever  you are trying to sell…

@deairby I love what I do!

@deairby, I think 3 things.

First, as @claudiapoeckl said, passion & defining that passion deeper is an endless desire to “see what’s around the next bend” [learn] & help others understand [teach].

Second, an intense focus on being professional in every aspect & providing impeccable customer service.

Third, while my business could be national or international, I’ve chosen to have a local focus. And, I’ve made it a point to be involved in my community.

Not sure how one should define success (there’s another story), but on the road towards it I would say the ability to embrace change and make it your friend.

@deairby

If I have to choose one of the four items you lay out, I’m going with #1. While I’m not sure I have a guiding manta ray, I do have a guiding principle: luck favors the prepared.

In other words, I take advantage of every reasonable opportunity that comes in front of me. (These days I’m balancing that with saying “no”, as they haven’t legalized cloning yet.)

When I look back on how I got to where I am, a lot of it was luck. For example, we get a lot of free publicity because I am the “tech expert” on Maine’s NBC affiliates. I got that job because I sat on a panel years ago where one of my co-presenters had a gig as the “style guru” on the evening news program over there.

Because I did a good job on the panel, when they asked her if she had any connections to the tech community she suggested they talk to me. I prepared for my first 5 minute segment for three or four hours. 

For every presentation I do that’s an hour long I easily put in three to four hours of practice, not including the six or so hours to create the presentation in the first place. (I often try to repurpose presentations for just this reason.)

Life is constantly giving opportunities, but mostly to people who have already taken advantage of previous opportunities. Always give your best, even when it’s a small audience. You never know who’s in the audience, and what doors they may open for you.

I read Obama’s autobiography (don’t stop reading just b/c you may have different political beliefs than me, this next part is important): He often gave presentations to near empty halls and often spoke to just one or two people at a kitchen table. He believed that you give 110% whether you’re speaking to a sold out $1K a plate dinner, or just to a single person.

Likewise, Kurtis Blow, the original rapper recently came to town I saw him. Sadly, I was one of the few. In a place that easily can hold 800 people, maybe 20 showed up. 

Embarrassing for everyone, to say the least.

Although he acknowledged the show wasn’t quite sold out, he put on an amazing show, even jumping into the “crowd” at one point and busting a move with the audience.

I promised myself that I would always try and give the same level of energy to any presentation I gave, regardless of how many or how few people showed up.

@jeremyknight  – I like the ‘change’ point b/c everything is always changing.

For us the key factor in our newly budding business would be the customer service.  Working local and creating a relationship that people will refer to other people.  We have had incredible feedback for our services and it just pushes us to the next level.

I would say
 2) Was it an “action steps   Not just one step but several.

deciding this is what I was going to do and giving up was not an option. Setting goals, find people who were way beyond where I wanted to go. Listening to those what knew what it would take to get to my goals.  putting into action those step needed to progress, staying away from negative people. and not F.T.I ( Fail To Implement)

#1!

Being I started developing Web sites before many even knew what e-mail was I knew that I had to do so with ethics, honesty and integrity — and mentor others interested in my line of work to do the same. 

Over the years family and friends have joked about how much more income I could make taking advantage of what potential clients didn’t know.  One client even commenting that she had to turn me to the dark side when I refused a project she wanted me to work on…

This approach has kept my business healthy for over 17 years in an industry of “here todays and gone tomorrows.”  I can look myself in the mirror every day and know I did right by everyone I came in contact with. 

Of course the fact I love tech, code and playing with new software, snippets and apps helped a lot too!