4 Successful People Reveal the Moment They Knew They Had Made It

We all have dreams of great success, but identifying the exact moment in which we’ve realized that success is a bit difficult to do.

Perhaps your goal is to build a business based on your passion for baking. At what point have you truly “made it” as a baker?

The answer might always be a bit subjective, but by studying the first-hand accounts of other successful people, we can catch a glimpse of what the process– and the moment itself– might be like.

This can help us gain clarity about what we need to do to get ourselves where we want to be. At the very least, it instills belief in us by letting us know success is possible and motivates us to take action.

Behind every successful man there's a lot of unsuccessful years.

– Bob Brown

Here are four successful people’s accounts on the moment they knew they had made it:

1. Kara Goldin, founder of Hint

According to a recent interview with Fast Company, Hint founder Kara Goldin knew she was onto something big when Coke and Pepsi Co. executives requested conference organizers to have Goldin removed from panels they were a part of.

“Leading a truly healthy beverage company among a sea of soda companies who are essentially selling an addiction to sugar and sweeteners is rough. Hearing that they are going out of their way to block the public from understanding health by controlling what the audience hears only makes me realize that the soda giants are frightened and threatened by Hint and health as a message, since that is not what they can say,” says Goldin.

2. Catherine Havasi, co-founder of Luminoso

For Luminoso co-founder and CEO Catherine Havasi, the moment she knew that she had made it was when she bumped into a new employee she had no idea about.

“I had been on the road at a trade show and meeting with customers, and when I came back, there was someone making coffee in our kitchen who worked there who I had never met. It’s a really interesting feeling, and then you realize, oh, this is not a tiny thing anymore. This is the real deal,” Havasi said.

3. Andrew Yang, founder of Venture for America

Venture for America founder Andrew Yang knew his company was onto something when he noticed his customer perception had begun to change.

For me, it’s not so much a numbers thing as it is an evolution of customer perception. When people no longer need to be sold or even educated, that’s when you know you’ve made it.

People react to the words Venture for America completely differently today than they did in 2012 or 2013. But I don’t want to sound overly self-satisfied as we’re still climbing.

Yang believes his team still has a long way to go, but the future looks very bright.

4. Adda Birnir, founder of Skillcrush

Skillcrush founder and CEO Adda Birnir knew her company had made it when revenue tripled in a month.

“It was January 2014 and we went from barely scraping by at about $12,000 to $15,000 in revenue a month, to all of a sudden doing $44,000 in one month,” said Birnir.

She continued, “I think it took me another eight to nine months of continued growth and then another month where we doubled our revenues (at that point going up to $120,00 a month) to really believe it.”

Birnir was quick to add that it took over a year and a half before the company hit that initial $44,000 a month revenue growth -- and she even questioned her own sanity for pushing on during the toughest points. Talk about persistence.