Success is a funny thing, we all talk about success, successful people, successful projects and successful businesses, yet we all define it a little differently don’t we.  Ask any three people to define success, and you will probably get three different answers.  This month, Inc. Magazine’s cover proclaims there are “11 Rules for Success”.
I probably have a different perception and therefore definition of success than you do.  Because I realize we are all unique, I usually suggest three different books to help people decide what their definition is.  When I am hired as a business coach, or if my company is hired as a marketing agency, our first mission is to understand what our customers call successful.  I overlooked this thought process in my first book and am now re-writing the book because of it.
In business, “more business” isn’t truly successful except maybe to financial “analysts” on Wall Street who have never run a business.  Each business and business owner will define success differently.  The IRS simply defines it as more profitable, which isn’t a bad start, but how profitable is successful to you?
As a person, you can’t be something you can’t clearly define for yourself.  Therefore it is important for you to have your own clear definition of success.  Only then can you be “successful” in the eyes of the most important person in your life, you.
Success can even have different breakdowns in your life.  For example, you can have family success, financial success and athletic success.  For me athletic success might be an 8 minute mile.  You might want to run a 5 minute mile.  Maybe success is skiing at Northstar 110 days in one year.
We might both say financial success is being a millionaire or a billionaire.  What then defines a millionaire?  Is it one million in assets?  Gary Keller, a founding partner in the Keller Williams Real Estate empire, defines a millionaire as a person making a million dollars per year in income.  He is a little vague on net or gross, but he defines it as income.  So must a billionaire have a billion in income?
Success is like a puzzle, there are a lot of pieces that have to come together just right to complete the picture.  Each of us has a unique picture of success.
Defining success isn’t easy.
In the 1930’s, Napolean Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, had one of the first “Success Academies” in the United States and likely the world.  He taught a program based on his intimidatingly thick book, the Laws of Success in 16 Lessons.  The book is 1600 plus pages of wisdom.   I highly recommend it if you want to build a business that you can one day call “successful”.
Mr. Hill used the Rockefellers, Fords, Bells and Edisons as the examples of success.  His definition focused on the being the biggest in whatever field you chose.  Many people don’t equate success this way and have a hard time reading 1600 pages and remembering all of the lessons.  Since we can’t all be the richest man in the world, and might not even want to, many people who read the book only end with a view of success they don’t want.
Is The Greatest Salesman a Success?
A little later, a guy named Og Mandino wrote a series of short and easy to read books, with the most famous being “The Greatest Salesman In The World”.  He narrowed the rules of success down from 16 to just 10, and published a book of just under 150 pages.  A size just about anyone would be able to read.
Mr. Manadino’s approach is along the lines of a fable.  A story about how the greatest salesman came to be and how we can all be great at something.  The greatest salesman teaches us that success isn’t necessarily money and things.  Something that many people believe today.
The Humanetics Approach
Another great series of books that are little known for some reason are by Richard Wetherhill. Mr. Wetherhill was the founder of a business and wrote books for his employees to help them and his business succeed.  Today those employees own the business and give away the books at alphapub.com.

Humanetics is the name Mr. Wetherhill gave to his approach to life and success.  Tower of Babel is probably the best book to start with in this series.  Since the books are all free, short and easy reads, I recommend them all.  If you don’t have a tablet, here is a way to save $100.  Buy the tablet, and download all the books for free.

 In fact, the “Laws of Success in 16 Lessons” is also available as a free download if you do some digging.
 

So Now What is Success?

At the end of the day Success really is a two step process.  First you must define it, so you’ll know it for yourself when you get there.  Second you have to get there.

All of these books and articles offer some great ideas on how to get there, but until you know where you are going, getting there is nearly impossible.  Columbus was a success because he proved the earth was round, not because he missed his goal of sailing west to India.  Finding an entirely new continent was simply a bonus for being right.

When you are marketing yourself and your business, the rules don’t change.  You have to know what you are marketing and to whom.  Successful marketing isn’t any different.  You need to know what the destination is, and all of your media has to be aiming the customers in that direction.

Success starts at the beginning because that is where you define it.