great business tips for entreprenuers

Here' some tips from these top entrepreneurs on how they've risen to success in the world of business.

1. Chase Jarvis, CEO at CreativeLive

"Scratch your own itch."

After becoming one of the world’s best-known photographers at a relatively young age, Chase went on to found CreativeLive, the world’s largest live-streaming education company. He credits much of his success to following his passions and pursuing only the opportunities that he’s genuinely interested in.

Jarvis: “Go after solving a problem that you have. Something that’s near and dear to you, not some random market opportunity. Because, when things get hard, if you’re chasing just the dollars, or a random market opportunity, you’re not going to be able to have the fortitude, the passion, to stay with it.”

2. Jon Acuff, 'New York Times' best-selling author of 'Do Over'

Image credit: Jon Acuff

"Success takes hustle."

Acuff, the New York Times best-selling author of five books, including Do Over, set out early on in his career to pursue at all costs only meaningful work. For him, that meant 16 long years of being hired and fired, before eventually finding his dream job and launching his self-employed career as a writer, speaker and brand consultant.

Accomplishing his dream of working for himself took a lot of hard work, focus and hustle.

Acuff: “Hustle is an act of focus, not frenzy. Hustle is about subtraction and addition. It’s not about doing more, it’s about focusing on the things you need to do, in order to move your business forward.”

3. Sophia Amoruso, founder of Nasty Gal, author of '#GIRLBOSS'

Image credit: sophia amoruso

"Don't give up, don't take anything personally, and don't take no for an answer."

Since founding Nasty Gal, in 2006, as an eBay store selling vintage clothing, Amoruso has transformed the business into a multi-million dollar empire with its own clothing line, which was named the “Fastest Growing Retailer” in 2012. Recently, The New York Times best-selling author of #GIRLBOSS has stepped out of her role as the CEO of Nasty Gal to become the executive chairman and to oversee the creative and brand marketing functions of the business.

Without any fashion or business experience before starting Nasty Gal, Amoruso credits much of her hard-earned success to her refusal to accept failure as an option.

Amoruso: “The people who told me no were the people who eventually told me yes."

4. Lewis Howes, author of 'The School of Greatness'

Image credit: Lewis Howes

"Follow your heart."

Howes, The New York Times best-selling author of The School of Greatness, and host of the podcast bearing the same name, is a professional athlete-turned-entrepreneur. After suffering a debilitating injury on the field, Howes faced the fact that his football career was finished. Overnight, he lost his ability to do what he was passionate about, and was forced to discover a new way to live with purpose. Today, he’s a writer, speaker and online educator who teaches entrepreneurs how to grow their online businesses.