What’s your definition of success?

What steps do you need to take to reach the pinnacle of success?

Those answers will be different for everyone but the important thing is to revisit these answers every now and then. What we considered important or successful back in our 20’s will most likely be different now that we’re in our 30’s.

If you have a family, are you spending enough time with them and developing a close relationship or are you driving yourself into the ground, working 16-hour days?

What do you want your closest friends and family members to remember about you?

… How much you worked?

… How much money you made?

… Or how much time you spent together and the happy memories you created?

A few years ago I purchased a website called Small Business Branding.

This site was already successful in terms of having thousands of readers and I earned money from onsite advertising but I had dozens of new ideas of how to expand its reach and make even more money.

So I went about writing business articles and recruiting guest authors who helped me craft content that any small business owner could use. I had a virtual assistant on staff to handle the advertising placements and small technical issues.

But something just didn’t feel right.

After some time I lost interest in this topic and it became more and more difficult to create my articles. I found myself procrastinating about doing certain tasks but at the same time I had to force myself to work because of the monetary investment I had made when I purchased the site.

It was then that I realized that my ideas of success had changed. By many standards, I was successful because I had a website making good money.

And yet, the work wasn’t making me happy anymore.

Why should I use money as the only standard of success?

So I sold Small Business Branding and began to focus my attention on MYSELF.

When was the last time you really thought about what you wanted in life and if you were happy?

It’s one thing to answer the questions and dream about your perfect life but it’s something else entirely to TAKE ACTION and make that ideal life become a reality.

I really focused on strengthening my faith and spending more time with my children. I wasn’t the mom who was glued to the computer everyday; now I was more relaxed and the mom who loved to play games and laugh with my kids.

It’s very cliché to call your self-discovery a “pathway” or a “journey” but that’s the only way I can accurately describe it. Just because I sold Small Business Branding didn’t mean that I was giving up an online business.

My mind was still churning out ideas so I created Click Create Share.com.

Yes, it’s a website and yes, I still write business articles but it’s geared more towards those who have a calling in their lives.

They are not striving for the almighty dollar but are working to make money to help others.

Instead, they have a message to spread, a passion to help others, and I can help them by providing comprehensive marketing advice that will help them tell the world about their mission.

Now I wake up raring to work.

Knowing that my own mission is more authentic to who I am made all the difference to my own mindset and focus.

There certainly is nothing wrong with making money because we all need a place to live and food to eat; but the difference is my new audience is not driven by money.

They are driven by their God-given passions.

Does this mean I’m excluding those business owners who want to earn lots more money? Certainly not. I still plan to share my own business experiences and the marketing advice is almost the same, no matter who your audience is.

Now I’d like to leave you with an interview I did recently with a 20-year-old CEO.

I loved speaking with her because her excitement was contagious and she reminded me of myself at the same age. I was only 21 when I opened my first retail store and over the years that one store grew into 5 different retail locations.

This real-life experience and knowledge is what I hope to share with you at Click Create Share.

You’re Never Too Young to Start Your Own Business, Says 20-Year-Old CEO

With the tough times and in a competitive job market where recent college grads have difficulty finding work, Adylia-Rhenee decided to cut to the chase and create her own job while still in college.

Why did you decide to start your own business?

To be honest, I have never thought about anything else. I never knew exactly what specific field I wanted to go into but I always knew I wanted to be my own boss.
A year ago I wanted to be able to put my passion of philanthropy, inspiring and uplifting people into a business. That is what I did and how I got Yhorlife.com

Were you nervous at all because of your age?

No, because from my schooling I felt completely competent. I went to a prep-school since the age of 4 where the structure was all about taking the students from “dependent to independent learners.” I prepared myself that other people might not receive my age as positively but that is something I could not control or focus on.

Did your family & friends support your decision?

I only told my family members initially that I wanted to start a business. They were very supportive because they knew that if I focus on something I will work hard to achieve what I have set out to achieve.

Please tell us what Yhorlife.com is about.

Yhorlife.com is where people can join together and focus on a positive direction for their lives. It’s for people who imagine a world where intelligence, creativity, and hard work is recognized, celebrated, and rewarded. That reality would uplift everyone to inspire to be better, and be the best that they can be.

To have a life where you are in control and aware of your choices. Yhorlife.com is the answer. We believe it’s your life, take control of it.

We are an online community that celebrates hard work, shared values , and offer sound advice to those searching for a higher standard. As a member you have access to articles, interviews and discussion designed to solve problems, build relationships, empower, and have fun in the process. Industry experts, men and women of all ages provide a variety of perspectives in life, relationships, careers, entrepreneurship, education, parenting, and more.

Tell us about how your company gives back.

Yhorlife.com gives 10% of the membership proceeds to the Dreams of Simon Bolivar Foundation which supports the children and craftsmen of Grenada, Nicaragua. I choose Nicaragua because about 4 years ago I was on vacation with my family in Grenada, Nicaragua.

I was walking around and this boy about 8 years old whittled me a grasshopper from a banana stem. I didn’t have any money to give him but he didn’t care he just wanted me to have the grasshopper. What amazed me was how happy that little boy was with what appeared to be very little.

That’s why I choose to give back to Grenada, Nicaragua so that the young kids can go to school instead of helping their parents. Providing the craftsmen with tools to continue making incredible jewelry.

What are your biggest dreams for your business?

I would say that my business makes a difference and inspires people all over the world.

What would you tell someone about following their passion in life?

I would tell someone that before you follow your passion make sure that you can handle giving up some things you love or getting negative comments etc and if a person wouldn’t be affected by other people’s opinions then I would say go for it. To me business is like show business. You have to believe in yourself and your product/ business 120% before anyone else might jump on board. That’s the beauty of the journey so when you reach your goal you truly appreciate everything.

You can follow Adylia-Rhenee’s Journey Here

About Yhorlife.com

YhorLife.com is an online community that celebrates hard work, shared values, and offers sound advice to those searching for a higher standard. YhorLife.com members gain access to articles, interviews, and forums designed to solve problems and build relationships. Industry experts, and men and women of all ages provide a variety of perspectives on life, relationships, careers, entrepreneurship, health, parenting and more.

Adylia-Rhenee Gutierrez decided to start Yhorlife.com to develop a community of shared ideals – a society comprised of people who want to reward hard-work, determination, intelligence and ethics.

“I wanted to start Yhorlife.com to remind people that there are others who are looking for smart, dynamic content that can impact their lives in a positive way,” says Gutierrez, who was born and raised in Los Angeles and now resides in Philadelphia/ tri-state area, where she studies finance at Temple University.

“When you surf the web or watch television today, you get the sense that our society is being dumbed down. Celebrities who are famous just for being famous are glorified and are now outnumbering the true heroes impacting the world in a positive way.”

We all know metrics are important. You need to know which ad is pulling sales, which emails are getting clicks and so on. But sadly, many people I talk to still don’t track their efforts. When they finally need to come up with some data to make decisions, woo an affiliate or show results, they don’t have it.

I have a feeling it is because people feel intimidated. ‘Tracking’ sounds so complicated and so technical they are afraid it will take so much time technical know how so they don’t do it. I’m here to tell you, it can be as easy as sending an email. This is particularly true if you use a system like WordPress to manage your website.

We use Pretty Link Pro. It is a plugin that can automatically create ‘short’ links for all your posts. But you can also create short links for anything. Including links you want to include in your emails. Because these shortened links are redirects, you can also track them and the plugin has statistics for you to review. Using it is easy. Paste your destination URL and hit create link. You’ll get a new URL that you distribute. Any traffic going through that is tracked.

If you don’t use WordPress, you can also use third party services like Linktrackr.

But my point is this. Track everything and track it now.  This is a hard lesson I learned. Tracking or any type of data collection is time based. Which means, the information it gives you gets better or more accurate with time. The earlier you start, the better it is for you.

It doesn’t matter if you’re ready or not. Every email you send out, every link to a product or affiliate recommendation or anything that is important to you – use a tracking link. You may not know what you want to use it for just create a tracking link and pass all your traffic through that link. What is important is, you are collecting data.

When we started tracking, we did just that. We weren’t sure how we were going to use that data or even use it at all. But you know what? When we needed it, it was right there waiting for us. Some links, we didn’t even look at until 2 years later and by then, the data was much more reliable and the fact that we have a history to compare with, was priceless.

Yes, eventually you will learn to track things in finer detail and have specific trackers for more definite things. However, in general – there’s no better time to start than now.