Every day I see so many people that have a different perspective on what it means to be successful. Most of them are pretty consistent on tying success to making more money. Some of them even worry me because they are willing to do things that go against their own values to achieve those goals.

What is Success?

Since I started my own business CIMA IT Solutions in 2008 I have had my ups and downs (like every small business owner has, its part of the learning process). The only thing that has gone up is the level of commitment (work load) and time I dedicate to my clients (I am very grateful that I have a more clients than when I started), projects, and the community around my business. I am very passionate of what I do and how I interact with my clients and my community. In able to make my business survive I have been obligated to cut back on many things I thought where necessary but where real luxuries.

I strive every day to be successful, but in a different way. Years ago I met John, he had lived in Puerto Rico for more than a decade and had set up a very profitable business, he was from Oklahoma and was older than my dad. I would meet with John to talk about the local economy and little by little I realized that his tid bits of information where very practical and with a lot of wisdom. John worked himself up from being a construction worker to owning a pretty large construction company and to my understanding only finished high school. His character was very aggressive when he did not agree but he was always extremely loyal protecting those who where part of his small community.

John gave me a few phrases which I have used every day since he spoke them to me. I remember one of his phrases was regarding success.

“Success is doing the things you are passionate about, and not having to be part or execute things you don’t like.”

Ever since that moment I have used very simple metrics to measure my success and I will share the key ones with you:

I don’t cut the Grass – If I don’t have enough money to pay someone else to Cut the Grass I consider myself not having such a good month . I always try to improve upon my work and the time it would take me to get the grass and my yard looking like I want it to look would be longer than it should. I rather focus on taking care of my clients and building my business than what spot I need to trim or cut next.

I don’t wash my car – It takes me so long to make my car look right and I really don’t enjoy washing my car that I make sure someone else does it. With this one if I am having a bad month economically the car does not get washed my grass keeps on growing so I guess I have no way around cutting the grass if I have a bad month.

I am still working on making enough money to have someone come by the house and help me clean as of right now I work with a terrific team which I have depicted one of the members in the picture below.

One thing I really enjoy doing is grooming my Dog Juanga this is something that although I know I can take him to a Groomer I rather do myself. It brings me memories of my first business RJ Pet Service in which I started grooming dogs at the age of 15. So taking the time to groom Juanga brings me back good memories of when I started working to build my 1st business. (Let me not forget that is also gives me quality time with Juanga).

As I prepare for 2011 I had the opportunity to read a great post THAT SENSE OF OVERNIGHT SUCCESS and watch this awesome video from @chrisbrogan which gives the reality of what success behind the scenes really is:

So to all of you as my 2011 goal I don’t plan to have to cut the grass or wash my car. Let’s see if we can get some assistance on other house chores during the year.

How do you measure success?

What things would you like to do more and does you want to do less?