Michelle Phan's Top 10 RULES for Success | Discover the Best!

No one is perfect at everything, and we're all made to be perfectly imperfect. I was rejected, but it was the best rejection ever for me to lead me in a different direction, the direction where I'm heading towards right now. You learn way more when you fail than when you succeed. That's something I can guarantee you on. You want to tell stories and you want something that can last longer than just a one-hit wonder.

What's up, Believe Nation? It's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe that you have the ability to do something special that can change the planet. So to help help you on your journey today, we're going to learn from YouTuber and entrepreneur Michelle Phan and my take on her top 10 rules for success. Rule number 6 is my personal favorite, and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best.

I came from a mother and father who are both immigrants, didn't speak English, so I had to learn English on my own. I had to learn it through TV, and through school and had to learn how to speak Vietnamese at home. Everything that I know of today, I had to teach myself. I had to learn from other people, bring on mentors, and also adapting, silencing my mind and just observing quietly and adapting to that. Even when I was doing YouTube, everyone thought I was crazy. Everyone thought I was stupid. They literally said, "Oh, that's so dumb. You can never make money on YouTube. Why would you do that? Why not just—" "Go get a corporate job." I followed the beat of my own heart, and that beat led me here. Find your qualities. Instead of focusing on the negative, which I know can be hard, focus on the positive. And it doesn't have to be a physical thing. Maybe you're amazing at Mario Kart, or you're a brilliant pianist, an amazing painter, a singer, you make great grades at school. No one is perfect at everything, and we're all made to be perfectly imperfect. Kinda like this crystal. See? It's not perfectly cut like a flawless diamond, but it's beautiful in its own unique way. There won't be another crystal like this one, and just like you, it has many, many facets, and you'll be discovering more of them as time goes by. And if you don't think you have a quality, just ask yourself this simple question: What am I good at? Everyone is good at something. And if you don't know what it is, well, take this opportunity to find it. Sign up for cooking classes, painting classes, learn how to sing, play some sports. Pick up on a passion and nurture it because this helps build self-worth. It gives you something to do and strive for. I was rejected, but it was the best rejection ever for me to lead me in a different direction, the direction where I'm heading towards right now. And that was back in 2007. I applied for a job at a Lancôme counter at a department store because I wanted to— I really wanted to work in the beauty industry. I wanted to be a makeup artist and I wanted to empower women through just the art of beauty. And so I went in, they were looking for a sales associate and I applied for the job. I filled out the application. I did the sit-down interview. I answered all the right questions. I mean, they were very impressed with my knowledge and my passion. And the last question she asked me was, "Have you ever worked in sales?" And I said, "No." I'm a waitress. I know how to host. I know how to make people feel good. And I know how to really understand and read the fine lines and details of people. Because when you're waiting tables, you really have to see what someone wants without them needing to say anything to you. So it wasn't good enough for her, though, because she said, well, unfortunately, we do need someone that has experience in sales. And I said, but I can learn. Please give me a shot. Just give me a chance. I'm willing to learn. And I know I can sell beauty. I mean, I love it. I'm passionate about it. 2 weeks later, I never got the callback and I was really devastated because it's a rejection. It's tough because I think we're all programmed to wanting to have positive reinforcement. We want positive reinforcement. We want people to say yes. We always want yes. I mean, no is such a negative— I feel like sometimes we think no is something bad, but sometimes we need nos in our lives to kind of shift us in a different direction. You know, I always find that in life, like the universe, there's always 3 answers when you want something. It's either yes, not yet, or I have something better. So in this case, in this case, I knew that, I knew that there was going to be something better. I didn't take that rejection. I didn't just, I didn't drop my love for beauty. In fact, I opened another door for myself, and that was through YouTube, my webcam. And I said, "You know what? I may not be able to have a job as a sales associate at a department store selling makeup, but at least I can still fulfill my passion in beauty by filming these tutorials and helping girls and inspiring girls to try new beauty looks." And that's what I did. And 2 years later, Lancôme calls me, and they wanted me to become their official online spokesperson. I realized, you know, had I have gone back in time and and told myself, "Hey, you know what? This rejection is something that you need to take and it's not a bad thing." I think that was the best thing that ever happened to me, was that rejection. So I absolutely agree with you, Andrea. Sometimes rejection is a blessing in disguise. What do you do when you start a business but it fails? Well, hopefully you can learn from all the mistakes, all the good things and all the bad things, and reapply it to your new business or reapply it to your new job or your new career destination. Look at Apple. Apple is one of the most prestigious, bankable companies in the world, and they had a lot of failures. They had a lot of launches that didn't work. They had a lot of things that just didn't click with the audience and their customers, but that didn't stop them from having a thriving business. You learn way more when you fail than when you succeed. That's something I can guarantee you on. I didn't prepare myself to become a beauty guru. It didn't just happen. It was something that I knew fit for myself. I started filming on YouTube on my webcam in college in my room, like, just doing makeup tutorials. And now, now, like, I work with L'Oréal, and I have, like, 3 companies that I'm CEO of. So it's incredible how that all happened because I had a passion, and it all started from a webcam. And it doesn't matter how small your beginnings are. It doesn't matter. It just— all that matters is how big your passion is. If I had to choose one thing that really motivates me that I can recommend to a lot of young entrepreneurs, it's having that Finding and understanding why you're doing what you're doing. You know, having a sense of purpose. Because oftentimes I meet so many aspiring entrepreneurs and they have these great ideas, but they don't even know why they're doing it. Money should be a byproduct of what you love to do. I just want to really inspire the youth because I've always believed in teaching and sharing. Not coming from an authoritative point of view like, "You have to use this or use that." Like, this is what works best for me and it might work best for you. And if it doesn't work for you, then just comment and let me know what works best for you because there might be someone here watching this that you can help. My biggest thing I would tell myself is really to just focus on what makes you happy. You know, like, don't listen to what everyone else is telling you. Like, your parents are pushing you in this direction, your friends are trying to get you to do this. Ask yourself, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what do I want for myself? You know? And that was— when I was growing up, it was always me pleasing my parents, pleasing my friends, trying to fit in. But I never once asked myself, what makes me happy? What do I want to do? And I think my biggest advice is really just taking the time and really just finding quiet time, giving yourself moments to reflect on where you want to see yourself in the next 10 years. And really like being really realistic, not about I want to impress my friends, I want to have a nice car and have an amazing career. It's not about what everyone else wants. It's about what you want. I want to inspire girls and show them that you don't have to do one thing and stick with it. Like if you love music, you don't really need to be a musician if you're you're not a good singer. You can manage musicians, or you can work doing like sound effects or stuff like that. Like there's so many different things you can do that you really love. And for me, mine was beauty. I love art, but I also love beauty, and I found a way to combine the two together and create makeup tutorials and show girls how to become their own artists and become their own makeup artists. And in a sense, teaching other girls to wake up every day and apply a red lipstick to feel confident again. What I recommend usually when anyone is starting on YouTube is to really focus on storytelling because storytelling has a longer shelf life than just doing a funny viral video. Like, you want to tell stories and you want something that can last longer than just a one-hit wonder. It's like any business you build. I mean, before you start, you have to know exactly what are you selling, what are you projecting, what's your message, what's your vision, what's your brand identity. And from there you can work. I wanted to make this video to remind you guys that it's okay to feel stressed. It's very natural. But the thing is, you can't feel stressed all the time. Even something like this, a phone, a machine, messes up. And remember guys, we also have to charge these things. They don't just run on forever. Even they need a break. And so if something like a cell phone, a machine, needs a break, imagine us. We need to give ourselves time to relax, to recharge, to find and seek that inner peace. In this day and age where everything is moving so fast and we're always wanting to be in the know, we're trying to keep up with everything, there's this pressure to always be on, but there's nothing wrong with just turning everything off.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because MJ Illustrates asked me to. If there's someone you'd like to vote on for the next top 10, check out the link in the description and go and have your say. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Marian Lizzi, who was my publisher from Penguin Random House. Marian, thank you so much for your support on this one-word book journey, and I really appreciate the picture you took on Instagram and shared it with your following as well. Thank you again. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon.

I know not everyone in the world has the luxury to do their dream job because they have to make money, they have to hustle, they have to accept a job that they might not want to do or they hate. Every idea has a million different roadmaps. If you love origami, have you perhaps thought about going to engineering, learning coding, developing an app, designing even? There's so many different paths that you can take, and there's no one-size-fits-for-all rule for your dream job. There's so many different things you can do with your giftings. If you do have a dream job idea, have that as a goal, but leave room for yourself to grow and explore different options. [SPEAKING SPANISH] It's easy, just engage. Engage with your viewers. Actually go out and talk to them and show them that you are talking to them and you are interested in what they think. You just really have to have a two-way conversation with people who are watching your stuff because traditional media, it was just a one-way street. With new media, when you're watching the content, you start seeing all these comments from other viewers and that in itself creates a new content too. Sometimes they're debating, sometimes they're adding value, sometimes it's just really funny comments, but I think now it's really just having a social aspect to the content. That you're creating. Consciously think positive thoughts, especially during moments when you're feeling down. So take a deep breath and remind yourself that life is too short and you got to make the best of it. Listen to music that will lift your mood. A good beat and sound has been proven to help people in a positive way. Music and sound has been known to help the growth of plants. That says a lot. You want to have a healthy habit of maintaining this mental muscle, but you also don't want to overdo it. Everything in moderation. Balance is key. It's good to remind yourself from time to time how worthy and how, you know, awesome you are, but you also want to leave room to grow and improve. I mean, we can all change and evolve for the better.