We asked rising stars from the community one of our favorite questions: other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?

Melissa Van Oss | Founder of Trust the Process Book Marketing Program, Bestselling & Award-Winning Author, as well as an Award-Winning Speaker

For me, one of the things that has contributed to my success was something I did when I was a child, something many other people do as well. Learning to read was one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made and has never let me down, no matter what I was facing in life. Read more>>

Hillary Applegate | Founder & CEO of Digital HQ

From the time I graduated college, I spent my career focusing on continually refining my own skill sets. When I started Digital HQ, I made an intentional decision to not limit the company to just my capabilities. The only way for the agency to become what I envisioned it to be was to embrace bringing in a network of contractors that would offer entirely new expertises to best serve clients. The choice to do that not only helped the agency grow into a strong community that delivers scalable solutions in an ever-evolving digital space, but has allowed me to focus on being an effective leader for my team as well as the brands and agencies we represent. Read more>>

Dale Thomas Cizmadia | Film Director

“Success” is a funny word. For a creative person it is a mix of these objective accomplishments open to subjectivity. Did I make a film? For sure. Was it good? Who knows, right? Read more>>