I've been in business long enough to know there isn't one secret to being successful.

There isn't one marketing strategy, one social media platform or one decision that suddenly changes everything.

But there are a handful of things I have learned over the years that I genuinely believe have made a huge difference in my business and my career.

And most of them aren't particularly exciting.

In fact, the first one is something I say all the time:

1. Do the things you know you need to do but don't want to do.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Those things that have been sitting on your to-do list forever. The part of your business you keep avoiding. The thing you KNOW would help your business, but there is always something else you'd rather work on.

Spend more time doing those things.

I've found that two things happen when I do.

First, they get easier. The more consistently I tackle the things I don't particularly enjoy doing, the less intimidating they become.

Second, I enjoy the parts of my business I actually love even more because I don't have all of those unfinished things lingering in the back of my mind.

I think another reason we avoid this work is because it often doesn't produce income immediately.

I can spend an hour doing something for a client and get paid for it. That's easy to connect.

It's harder to spend an hour improving a system, writing a blog, learning something new, updating my website, planning content or working on some other behind-the-scenes part of my business when there isn't an immediate return on that time.

But not everything you do in your business will have an instant ROI.

Sometimes you're doing something today that will make your business better six months from now.

That's part of owning a business.

2. Get really good at what you do. Then get really good at marketing it.

I think sometimes we get this backward.

Marketing is important. Obviously. You can be incredibly talented at what you do, but if nobody knows you exist, it's going to be difficult to build a successful business.

But before you spend all of your energy figuring out how to market what you do, make sure what you're marketing is actually GOOD.

Become an expert at your craft.

Learn.

Practice.

Make mistakes.

Figure out what works and what doesn't.

Create an experience your clients want to come back to.

Then learn how to market the heck out of it.

I see business owners sometimes become really good at marketing a mediocre business. They know how to make the reels. They know what to post. They know how to get attention.

But marketing can only take you so far if the actual product or service doesn't live up to it.

Do what you love. Learn to do it really, really well.

Then make sure everybody knows about it.

3. Give more than you take.

This one goes beyond business for me.

I think it's part of being a successful person, too.

I want to be able to look at my life and my business and know that, in general, I have given more than I have taken.

That doesn't mean saying yes to everything. It doesn't mean working for free. And it definitely doesn't mean running yourself into the ground for everyone else.

For me, giving happens in seasons.

There are busy seasons in my business when I simply don't have as much to give. And then there are slower seasons when I have more time, energy or resources and can intentionally look for opportunities to use them.

Sometimes it's my photography. Sometimes it's my time. Sometimes it's helping another business owner. Sometimes it's supporting something happening in my community.

It doesn't always have to come back to me.

I actually love knowing that sometimes it won't.

4. Show up in your business.

If you've followed me for any amount of time, you've probably heard me say this before:

Show up.

About two and a half years ago, I made the decision to start showing up more personally on my business social media.

Not just my work.

Me.

I started talking to the camera. Sharing what I was doing. Sharing pieces of my life. Talking about my business. Letting people get to know the person behind M.Gioeli Photography.

My business has completely changed since then.

And now it's something I encourage other business owners to do, too.

People want to know who they're doing business with.

You don't have to share every detail of your life. You don't need to turn your business page into a personal diary. And you certainly don't have to become an influencer.

But I think there is tremendous value in allowing people to see the human being behind the business.

Show your face.

Talk about what you know.

Share what you're working on.

Let people hear your voice.

Give them a reason to connect with YOU instead of just the product or service you're selling.

5. Learn how to handle adversity and become a problem solver.

If you're going to own a business long enough, things are going to go wrong.

Actually, lots of things are going to go wrong.

Plans will fall through. Equipment will break. Clients will cancel. You'll make mistakes. Something you were sure would sell won't sell. You'll spend money on something that doesn't work. The economy will change. Social media will change. Your personal life will change.

You can spend a tremendous amount of energy being frustrated that the problem exists.

Or you can get really good at asking:

Okay. What am I going to do about it?

I think becoming a problem solver is one of the most valuable skills I've developed as a business owner.

I don't expect everything to go according to plan anymore.

I expect that sometimes I'm going to have to figure it out.

And every time I do, I become a little more confident that I'll be able to figure out the next thing, too.

Success Usually Isn't the Exciting Stuff

When I look back at the things that have made the biggest difference in my business, most of them aren't flashy.

Do the work you keep avoiding.

Get really good at what you do.

Give.

Show up.

Figure things out when they go wrong.

None of those things are a shortcut.

And maybe that's the point.

I've built my business one decision, one client, one mistake, one opportunity and one next right thing at a time.

And I think that's what a successful career actually looks like.

Not one big moment when you've suddenly "made it."

It's showing up over and over again and doing the things that move you forward — especially the ones you don't really feel like doing.