9 Young & Successful Entrepreneurs Share Their Habits

Achieving success as an entrepreneur takes making a lot of silly mistakes, especially when getting started in your younger years. On the other side of those mistakes though, are endless opportunities for you to learn and grow both in business and in life. Your journey will be difficult at times, but regardless of the resistance you find along the way, the lessons you learn from failure will put you years ahead of your peers who may find themselves mindlessly working away in the back of a warehouse a few years down the line with no direction or ambition for a better future. If you’re serious about being your own boss, taking responsibility for your time and your finances, you’ll definitely find that there is a price to pay.

Improving sales skills, finding networking opportunities and finding the time to even put in any work at all can make your path difficult when young, but these are all essential steps to finding success. Getting through these challenges takes grit, persistence, and fearless confidence in your success to come. All of the entrepreneurs mentioned below have gone through the process and none claim that it has been easy. Almost all of them, however, have started at least one 6-figure business before the age of 30.

So besides that, what does it really take? Is there one magic secret to making it big before 30? A good friend of mine, celebrity publicist, talent manager, and realtor, Brendan Ehrhart and I spoke with 9 other young and successful entrepreneurs, so I’ll leave the answer to them.

1) Take Risks

“One of the most important habits that have contributed to my success so far as a young entrepreneur would definitely be learning how to master the art of taking risks. Everything since the start of my first business has been a huge financial risk. Regardless if you fail the first time, you have to learn from the failure in order to get better.” – Emilio Lucero, 17, Founder & CEO of Royal Lux Media

2) Build a Strong Network

“My networking habits have contributed the most to my successes. Everyone has heard the line ‘your network is your net worth’ and that’s because it’s true! I’m constantly surrounded by people who go after what they want in life. I support them and in turn they support me in my journey as well. You can’t help to be pulled up or down by those you surround yourself with consistently!” – Justin Caballero, 25, Founder & CEO of Social X Events

3) Stay Focused

“Being a young entrepreneur most definitely has its challenges, especially in verticals where you have to deal with other business owners who don’t understand how much success you can find at a young age with the power of social media. I started my career in Real Estate where everyone else was much older than me. I found my success by making it clear to all potential clients that without a doubt I was more committed to results than anyone else they would interview. I don’t drink, I don’t go out, only focus. Whenever other realtors were watching the game of thrones with their wife and kids I was studying social media algorithms and how to get more eyes on my listings.” – Brodie Kern, 25, CEO of Wake Up Wealthy & Brodie Kern Group

4) Deliver Results

“I believe the market really doesn’t [care] about how old you are, what color your skin is, or your gender, at least not on a macro scale. The only thing people care about is if you can get the job done. so although I do coach and work with people 2-3X my age, they are happy to work with me because of the results I can deliver… I think persistence is the cure to every problem an entrepreneur has, young or old. It’s simply doing what you don’t want to do until you love doing it… Now, whenever I’m starting a new business or a new venture, if there is something I don’t want to do, something I’m putting off, I make it a point to do a little bit of that every day. Success always follows.” – Ravi Abuvala, 25, CEO of Prospect Social

5) Learn From Your Failure(s)

“When I was getting started it was a constant cycle of taking one step forward and five steps back. When it comes to your failures or mess ups learn from them and be happy that you have just learned something new. Think of achieving your goals as driving to a specific location in your car. When you get into your car to go somewhere you already know exactly where you want to go. What you don’t know are the road conditions in which you’re going to face in order to get there. Be as stubborn as you can about your goals and as flexible as you need to be with your methods in which you achieve them. Set up clear metrics in which you can measure your goals and mark your progress daily. Doing all of this and changing your mindset will ensure you have the best shot in making your dreams a reality.” – Aaron Platt, 22, Founder & CEO of Social Summit Inc.  

6) Follow Great Leaders

“I believe the biggest habit I’ve had to learn is to always have a student mentality, always be willing to intake new information… from the right people of course. I heard this story of a guy who received a map that was determined to go and find gold. Super motivated, had the proper work ethic, nothing could break him, he went and asked around the neighborhood where he should begin looking on the map, and some guy sitting behind a fast food restaurant drunk out of his mind told the guy [he] knows where the gold is. He said, start right here, and he placed his finger on the map and told him to work his way through a difficult area. But the guy motivated as ever took the challenge and ran with it. Took the guy 3 years of pushing, not quitting, determination to realize that where he had been lead to was wrong. All that energy, all that focus, all that will be wasted on false information from the wrong source. You see if you want to be an expert in a specific area, you need to go and find someone who has your desired result. Because if you do what they do, you’ll get what they get every single time”. – Antonio Rivodo, 23, CEO of Perfect Partner Consulting  

7) Build Your Personal Brand

“Building a personal brand in 2019 is mandatory. I have been fortunate enough to grow my network through social media platforms at a young age. It’s been the most lucrative move I’ve ever made.” – Casey Adams, 18, CEO of Build Your Empire

8) Stay on Top of Your Work

“I think the most important thing for me has been to stay on top of everything, whether it’s posting for brands, reaching out to different companies, or making meaningful connections with like-minded people. One thing about being in this line of work is that people are constantly judging you and criticizing you, for virtually everything you do.For me what, has helped me the most is realizing that i can’t please everyone and that I just have to think of myself— or how I can better myself and be more successful.” – Kiki Passo, 22, Instagram Influencer

9) Build a Strong Base Around You

“So I’m just starting on a different journey now, in life. My father started a fitness business 28 years ago so, as a family, we have a very good base right there. We knocked a branch off and started Gronk Fitness and that’s really the first entrepreneurial venture I’ve gotten into and we started that 5 years ago… But, as an athlete, I’ve been playing for 9 years, I never really put full time into it because you know I was playing a pro sport and that was coming first obviously… Having a background in athletics, I believe that background can lead you a long long way in the real world and in the working world… Take your values and your goals of how to come together as a team… how to make a team better, how to accomplish team goals in order to achieve things greater than ourselves to best serve our higher purpose. Then bring that mindset to the real world regarding how to work together with your business partner(s), how to work together with your customers and how to work together with your employees. Focus on how to make your business better, how to keep on building a better foundation a stronger foundation. Keep on building up and up all with positivity until you can blow the roof off. I mean yes, I’m at the beginning of that but I definitely am blessed to have a base and even greater family around me. I’m excited to see where everything leads!” – Rob Gronkowski, 30, Founder of Gronk Fitness

Do you practice habits like these in your daily life? Young or old, mastering these habits will surely put you miles ahead of your competition.