Success looks different for everyone, and no two start-up journeys are exactly the same. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn a lot from looking at other people’s experiences. We interviewed 6 millionaire friends of Traffic and Conversion Summit and explored what has driven their ongoing success.
1. Alisha Conlin-Hurd
Alisha Conlin-Hurd’s achievements as the Co-Founder of Persuasion Experience weren’t the result of a single life-changing event. Rather, she got to where she is today through a series of smaller actions that compounded over time. Along the way, she maintained her motivation by reminding herself of what was waiting on the other side of her journey: freedom. She knew that building a great business would set her free in other aspects of her life, particularly financially.
To grow her company, Alisha has stayed laser-focused on her goals and what she needs to do every week to accomplish them. She’s also adaptable, recognizing that changing your offer can instantly change your business. The other secret to her success isn’t a strategy but a person. She says that anyone who studies Dan Kennedy and puts his words into practice will find it nearly impossible to fail.
2. Kasim Aslam
Founder & CEO of Solutions 8, Kasim Aslam, has his daily routine down to a science. His morning habit stack includes waking up at 4:00 am, exercising, visiting the sauna, taking a cold plunge, journaling, praying, meditating, and creating. He credits those habits with keeping him on track because strong systems and schedules create consistency, whereas motivation is fleeting.
Kasim looks at every task that comes to his desk with a critical eye to determine whether he can eliminate, automate, or delegate it. That allows him to keep his own mind clear to think, dream, and lead.
Delegation plays into another building block for Kasim’s business: people. He relies on great mentors, partners, employees, and vendors to help his business thrive. Rather than feeling intimidated when those people are smarter or more skilled in certain areas, he celebrates the fact that he can hand off tasks to people he knows will do them well.
3. Aaron Parkinson
For Aaron Parkinson, CEO of 7 Mile Media, success doesn’t mean working night and day and sacrificing every other aspect of your life. He prioritizes sleep and fitness because he knows they keep his mind and body recharged and ready to get things done. Likewise, he keeps his business healthy with a steady diet of data and testing that ensures every message will resonate with his company’s audience.
Aaron keeps his phone notifications turned off to stay focused on what’s important rather than what’s immediate. At the start of each day, he lists four items and devotes at least 2 hours to them before responding to new emails, texts, or social media posts.
Beyond all else, he consistently puts his family first. He knows that business will ebb and flow, but his family will be there to support him no matter what.
4. Sara Margulis
Sara Margulis is the Co-Founder & CEO of Honeyfund, and she spends every day honoring the company’s core mission: making honeymoons happen for all couples so they can live happily ever after. Anything that doesn’t contribute to that vision gets deprioritized and set aside. That requires finding the right growth levers for her business and saying no to other distractions.
Sara has also flourished because of great people, starting with a mentor who had successfully built a business in the past. She dug deep into useful resources, like Darren Hardy’s Hero’s Journey leadership course and Matt Lerner’s LinkedIn posts.
Next, she intentionally sought out employees who were smarter than her and gave them a mission, vision, and measurable goals. While scaling her company, she tracked her team’s progress and celebrated their wins. Last but certainly not least, she made it easy for customers to link their friends and family back to Honeyfund, effectively spreading the word about what the business could do.
5. Aleric Heck
Aleric Heck, the Founder & CEO of AdOutreach, doesn’t look at his journey as having a defined endpoint. He takes every experience as a win that compounds his success or a learning lesson that helps him grow from mistakes or challenges that he faced. With this approach, he can continue evolving as a person and leader regardless of each outcome.
Aleric looks to both the past and the future to guide his decisions and seeks out opportunities to build or improve things moving forward. He knows that he’s only begun to scratch the surface of possibility and continually pushes himself to reach the next level. At the same time, he also uses his previous experiences to inform his decision-making so he can be proactive rather than reactive.
As other entrepreneurs and start-ups try to find their way, Aleric recommends focusing on video content. His business has expanded partly because of his ability to create high-converting YouTube ads based on his winning formula, which includes a hook, an education section, and a call to action. Putting compelling videos in front of the right people at the right time has been crucial.
6. Tyler Denk
As the Founder and CEO of beehiiv, Tyler Denk is hyper-competitive, driven to succeed, and passionate about his company. He describes himself as customer-obsessed because he’s deeply dedicated to helping users overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
Part of Tyler’s path to success was knowing when to say no and cutting out distractions so he could keep his attention where it mattered most. He was also fortunate to work with amazing co-founders and stellar employees. By holding out to hire the right people, Tyler built a top-notch team that grew with his business. Together, they leveraged social media to turn their startup journey into a story that people wanted to be a part of and follow.
Tyler advocates leaning into your subject matter expertise, prior experience, and social proof to get your business off the ground. He also recommends checking out the resources that served him best, including the book Traction and the podcast Invest Like the Best.
For more awesome, tried and proven, actionable content and specific tools and tactics check out Traffic & Conversion Summit where you can hear from the world’s leading experts on all things Tools & Tactics. Traffic & Conversion Summit is the BIGGEST digital marketing event in the US for entrepreneurs and agency owners. Check it out here!
