12 Growth Secrets From Enormously Successful People

Before Twitter, Biz Stone was a college dropout handling boxes at a publishing company on Beacon Hill. 

Before Whole Foods, John Mackey was a twenty-something college dropout running a tiny natural foods store in Austin with his partner Rene Lawson Hardy.

Before Dell, Michael Dell was a college dropout armed with an idea and a thousand dollar investment. 

To answer your question, no, the moral of this blog is not to advocate dropping out of college (that's just a coincidence) but rather the point to be made here is that success doesn't discriminate. 

In fact, the people behind some of the most successful businesses didn't always have it all, but what they did have was an entrepreneurial spirit. 

So to help inspire your marketing efforts, we've pulled insights from a variety of resources including HubSpot's The Growth Show, interviews from The Great Discontent, even a SlideShare or two, to shed some light on how successful businesses achieve growth. 

12 growth secrets from enormously successful people:

1. “Make your team feel respected, empowered and genuinely excited about the company’s mission.” - Tim Westergen, Founder of Pandora 

2. "Never hire someone you wouldn't have dinner with." - Will Dean, CEO of Tough Mudder 

3. "It's clear that selling is something that can be pretty offensive when done at the wrong stage." - David Skok, Matrix Partners 

4. "Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back. Learn to create your own opportunities." - Sophia Amoruso, Founder and Executive Chairman of Nasty Gal 

5. "If you look your 'big dream' right in the eye, it’s enormous and vague. You have to break it down into bite-size bits that you can conquer one at a time." - Casey Scieszka, Entrepreneur / Illustrator / Writer 

6. “You just have to pay attention to what people need and what has not been done.” –Russell Simmons, Founder of Def Jam Records 

7. "How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top." - Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia 

8. "We find comfort among those who agree with us – growth among those who don’t." - Frank Howard Clark, American Screenwriter 

9. "Growth demands a temporary surrender of security." - Gail Sheehy, New York Times Bestselling Author 

10. "I did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow." - Marissa Mayer, CEO at Yahoo! 

11. "The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow." - William Pollard, Writer 

12. "Growth is a spiral process, doubling back on itself, reassessing and regrouping." - Julia Margaret Cameron, British Photographer