How did you develop a strong work ethic?

We asked some of the hardest working artists, creatives and entrepreneurs we know to open up to us about where they think they got their work ethic from. Below, you’ll find some of those responses, stories, and advice.

Jevon Westmoland

My work ethic is the result of a promise I made to myself. In school, I never applied myself and never got high grades because then that’s the standard, so I always performed just well enough. I had many conversations with myself after graduating about if I ever had the opportunity to apply my full potential into something again I would.  Read more>>

Karen Lopez

Being a child of immigrants naturally comes with the automatic expectation and sense of responsibility to make your parents proud by working hard and “making something of yourself”. I can imagine many first generations like me can relate to the weight filial piety holds in our psyche. Yet, the value of hard work many times is interwoven in our cultures. This at least is my story. Read more>> 

Sonya Pannell

I inherited my work ethic from my parents. Even though they divorced when I was young, I was fortunate to still have them both as role models in my life. It’s from them I learned the importance of dependability and structure when it comes to working and achieving my goals. Read more>>

Jessica Snyder

My grandparents and parents have always had their own businesses… so I think subconsciously that felt like a normal path to take. I also started working as a kid on commercials, tv shows, etc. and “going to work” has always been something I’ve loved and been excited and proud about. I have never put it into a “dread” or negative category. I think it may also be a genetic deformity. Read more>>

Sophia Parigi

My work ethic, like most personality traits, was developed in my younger years by balancing academics and music study with other aspects of my life. But more importantly, my work ethic comes from my deep commitment to being the truest, best version of myself. Read more>>

Erica Diloreto

My work ethic comes from within, I just know what I want for myself and I want to be the best version of myself and show up at my business 100% every day. I know it takes hard work and consistency. Nothing worth having comes easy! Read more>>

Meghan Carrasquillo

My parents instilled a really strong work ethic in myself from a young age. They definitely helped pave the way with my journey through life and this industry. My mentality with anything I do is to be the hardest worker in the room. I also believe my faith has made me become more self disciplined even when it comes to my own motives. Read more>>

Stephanie Jacques

I would say I learned what work ethic is from my parents. They helped to shape mine over the years and I am forever grateful. They have worked hard their entire life to be able to provide the life my brother and I grew up with. My dad worked as a Chief Engineer (Aerospace) and my mom was a Vice President, Member Investment. Both were phenomenal in their careers and very well respected. Read more>>

Justin Dauer

My work ethic is a result of my values—a focus on growth, the need to be challenged, and a desire to foster connection, among them. For as long as I can recall, I’ve been ambitious and driven. I think the secret sauce amongst everything in play is letting this energy be a complement to other meaningful things in my life, rather than overtaking them. Read more>>

Renee Vargas

When reflecting on the driving force of my work ethic, I immediately think of my incredible mother. Her tireless dedication and unwavering commitment to every task, every business venture she pursued, and every dream she brought to fruition have left a lasting impression on me. From her, I learned the true value of hard work, integrity, and persistence.  Read more>>

Thomas Swafford

This might sound like a generic response but i get my work ethic from my parents. My dad was a recon sergeant in Vietnam which means he was on the frontlines and experienced horrific tragedies and saw some pretty bad stuff. I often asked him about his experience and he would always revert back to “i just tried to make the best out of everything i went through so i could make it back”. That stuck with me… Read more>>

Jazzmen Johns

We developed our work ethic through our drive and determination to foster a better environment and life for our children. This keeps us motivated and always striving to improve. Read more>>

Siraj Saeed

My work ethic was instilled through my parents and their self-sacrificial approach as immigrant workers pursuing their dream in the United States. Both of them pursued careers they were passionate about and encouraged me to fuel the same fire within myself. The first job I ever had was at the age of 12, grading papers at learning center.  Read more>>

Wayne Tucker

I get my work ethic from watching my parents and my older brother. They were both teachers, but they also both played the piano. Even in retirement my mother is as busy as anyone I know with things like tutoring, combat sports, and many artistic pursuits. Read more>>

Addie Pecord

I feel my work ethic came from a long line of hard working family members. Watching them work hard to build a life for themselves was always inspiring. My grandfather started his own business years ago and then I watched my uncle start a business and create a success story of his own. My goal in life was to create a life that I was proud of and I can say that I have done that, but it would not have happened without putting in the work and being committed to my goal. Read more>>

Amanda Sanders

I grew up in the most dilapidated home on our block. It had no insulation and no sink in the bathroom. Coming from a household where self employment is the norm, I was used to having my parents around all the time. That being said, we didn’t have much and were blessed if we ate more than one meal a day.  Read more>>

Krista Ripma

Work ethic is so interesting and is something many people reflect back to me, “my work ethic is amazing”, “it’s people like you that make the world go round”, “it’s people like you that make capitalism happen”, and on and on. I do love how hard I work though, how much presence and focus I put into what I do. It shows and I think it makes me stand out as a business owner and coach too. I really go all in with everyone. Read more>>

Pavel Gazdyuk

Work ethic is very important in the film industry and I feel like it’s one of those things that cannot be taught at school. You can most effectively learn that from personal experience. You can find out about the general ethic rules but because every time you come to set to a film set you deal with different people, different characters, different attitudes, different experiences, different backgrounds, and different cultures, especially in LA where there are so many people from all over the world. So sometimes those general rules don’t apply to everyone. You have to adjust. Read more>>

Uriah Garrett

I believe, I received my work ethic from both my parents. The first years of my elementary schooling, I was able to witness & experience my mother taking the last couple of semesters of her college stint. She went through a lot of trails & tribulation between taking her final exams and raising a toddler. This was my first encounter with resilience; seeing it first hand. Seeing failure & triumph. Read more>>

Jarris Akins

When I became a single father, I overcame financial obstacles by developing diverse skills that enabled me to generate legal income and maintain stability for my daughter despite the absence of conventional employment options and child care. Read more>>

Jessica Mathison

My mother was a single mom for most of my life, raising three kids on her own. She worked as a Speech Pathologist, but most of the time, that income was not enough to keep up with the rising cost of living and the rising costs associated with growing kids. She wasn’t eligible for any kind of assistance from the government, so she worked extra jobs in the evenings and during the summers to make sure that we had what we needed. Read more>>

Ike Kawaguchi

Skateboarding throughout the years has taught me one very important thing: if you fall, get back up and try again. This has pushed me forward throughout my career. Read more>>

Wyatt Norton

There are many areas where I’ve slacked in life, but music was never a hard thing for me to be motivated towards. I was always one hundred percent positive that I wanted to be a musician in life. Not because I thought it was cool, but because of the release and pure bliss you get from creating or playing a song. Read more>>

Tori Marie

I love to write and am also motivated by the fact that I want to make a living doing it. My goal is to write novels that get my readers hooked and excited for my next book. I owe it to the readers who support me, and to my family who has encouraged me to do what I love. Read more>>

Kirsten Larsen

My mother is the exemplary hard worker. She had my sister at 18 years old and put herself through college to go on to teach Chemistry and AP Chemistry (endorsed to teach physics and calculus as well) for 41 years. She lived in a one-bedroom trailer with my sisters sharing the room and utilized food stamps until she got herself to a stable place, re-met my dad years later, and had my brother and I.  Read more>>

Nathan Jackson

I think I owe a lot of my work ethic to my parents. I was raised with the mentality that you have to work hard to get what you want. Things were never handed to me. I had a paper route and shovelled driveways when I was a young boy, and I saved all my money up to buy my first acoustic guitar. This same mentality drives my current work ethic today. Read more>>

Beth Kaufman

I am old school, I grew up in a time that if you said you were going to do something, you did it! My father instilled two words in me during my bowling days as a kid which I have applied to the rest of my life, which are,follow through “ I see everything to the finish whether I am in the mood, or not. Because of this, people build trust in you and your business. Read more>>

Christina Kalfaian

Work has been ingrained in me since I was a tiny kid! I remember practically bursting through the doors of my parents’ restaurant at four years old, ready to lend a hand. My parents, both incredibly dedicated, really instilled that work ethic in me. My father is a Greek immigrant who’s been cooking up amazing food since he was practically a teenager by opening his restaurant at 17.  Read more>>

QPZ

I most certainly got them from my parents. Both having served in the military, they were always doing what they can from what little they had and making a difference in their community. Especially my Dad since I have taken some of his leadership qualities to incorporate them into my skillset as a Director.  Read more>>

Katt Lyons Berg

Myself but also how I grew up. I got my work ethic from my mother she was all about working hard as a single mom of 6 kids. She worked full time and had to rely on herself so seeing that from a young age inspired me to work hard and to work hard for the things I wanted in life. From age 17 I worked and I do love making my own money . To this day I work multiple jobs and have multiple sources of income. Read more>>

Sandra Nelson

As a child, I watched my parents work hard for what they had in their lives. Both my parents worked for Oscar Mayer’s in Chicago. My mother worked in the hot dog department and my father was VIP on nights. My parents worked for Oscar Mayer’s for over 35 years. The position my father had was very demanding.  Read more>>

Dr. Sarah Doyle, PT, DPT, CFMP, DACBN

I was raised in the Midwest where I literally had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to school. It’s not just a euphemism in Wisconsin! I knew I wanted more for my life than to live simply and go to work for some company. I knew I had to work hard to get out of that cycle. I remember going to City Hall when I was 14 to get my worker’s permit and registering with the Red Cross to start babysitting. Read more>>

Anna Kidd

Growing up my dad was a Golf Pro for various top rated golf courses around the country, which was an extremely demanding and taxing position with long hours we would not see him during the golf season. My mother worked just as hard to raise me and my two siblings while he was away at work. Read more>>