5 Top Tips for Success

Up until a couple of years ago I didn't realise that there is a formula for success.  Success has a touch, feel and smell.  If you study any of the greatly successful men and women there are a few things you will hear over and over again that they relate their success to. 

1. Follow your dreams

If you are going in to business, be passionate about what you are going to do.  This will get you through the tough times.  Success is hard, it takes blood sweat and tears, if you aren't in love with what you do it will be all to easy to quit when the going gets tough.

2. Get Comfortable With the word 'No'

Not everybody will want the service or product you have to offer, and thats ok.  Sometimes no doesn't mean never and it is more often that not, not personal.  Take the emotion out of it and get comfortable with hearing the word no.  You will also have to be ok with saying no yourself, apparently women find this harder to say than men.  Practice makes perfect!

3. Be Persistent

Success takes stamina, patience and a massive amount of persistence.  There are hundreds of stories of successful people who had to hear 'no' or got things 'wrong' before they succeeded, but they persisted and that persistence paid off.   The secret.. never give up.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas.

 

In one of Fred Astaire's first screen tests, an executive wrote: "Can't sing. Can't act. Slightly balding. Can dance a little.

 

While developing his vacuum, Sir James Dyson went through 5,126 failed prototypes and his savings over 15 years.

 

4. Wake Up Early

It is no coincidence that successful people wake up early.  Research actually shows that early risers tend to be happier and more pro active.  Starbucks' President Michelle Gass wakes up at 4:30 every morning and goes running. Vogue editor Anna Wintour is on the tennis court by 6 every morning before work. Square ceo Jack Dorsey is up at 5.30am to meditate and go for a 6 mile jog.  There is even a book about it "What the most successful people do before breakfast".

5. Set Goals

"The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score" - Bill Copeland.  Goals propel you forward, having a goal written down means you are 80% likely to achieve it, a goal in your head has only an 8% chance of success.  The more specific your goals the better.  This is a great article with a more in depth look at goal setting.

I hope you found this useful.  What are your top tips? Do you agree with these?

Ashly xx

Thinking of giving up on your dream?

The other day I randomly started chatting to a younger girl (18ish).  She told me about her hopes to be a fashion designer.  She spoke about the brands she loved, the colours, fabrics, her passion shone through immensly, practically bursting out of her veins.  It was so refreshing.  However, she then went on to tell me sadly all the reasons she wouldn't ever 'make it'.  "It is so competitive", "I live all the way up in Scotland, it all happens down south", "I don't have all the money to invest", "there is always somebody better".  As I sat and listened, I began to realise all these reasons were not actually her own, they had come from others.  And in fact were making her quite sad.

We spoke for about an hour.  I told her about my own experiences in fashion, in the end she promised to never give up and follow her dreams.  I gave her my email address and said "email me when you've made it".

This conversation resonated so much with my own experiences.  It is funny how the most random of meetings between people can mean so much.

I wondered how many of us give up on our dreams because of the thinking of others?  So many times people told me I couldn't.  You can't make it as a model, you can't live in London, you can't be successful on your own...  instead of taking on these thoughts as my own, I used it as amunition to prove them wrong.


You see I belive we all have that small flame inside,  call it passion, your dreams. What ever it is,  it's there for a reason.

Ever since I was small I've had a passion for entrepreneurship, it fascinated me. I would make peppermint icing animals, selling them outside my house. I set up stalls in my lane selling old toys, persuaded my mum to take me to car boot sales. I would often save my lunch money up so that I could buy something I really wanted. 

This passion branched in to the fashion industry and building my own business' through trial an error, mostly error.  When modelling I would question the photographers, the stylists, the owners of the brands... how did their business' work, how did they start? I wanted to be around successful people.  I watched my dad build his own businesses and saw his hard work and dedication.  Whenever I found something I loved there was no stopping me.

You see I think part of the problem, when it comes to SUCCESS, is that we might look at somebody successful like Richard Branson or Steve Jobs and see their huge successes, essentially their results. What we don't see is the journey they took to get there. The ups and downs, the determination, set backs, knock backs and many many failures.  Because when Richard Branson created Virgin, it didn't happen over night.  It took time.

So what I want to share with you are these amazing quotes and 'success principles' shall we call them that inspire me everyday to NEVER GIVE UP ON MY DREAMS!!!!

So never ever ever give up on your dreams!!!  They are there for a reason, and so are you :-)

Lots of love Ashly xxx