How To Be An Overnight Success by Maria Hatzistefanis

The GUVU girl is hardworking, knows what she stands for, knows what she wants and is ready to take risks to get there. She believes you can have your cake and eat it too. And she’ll bloody well do whatever it takes to get there. It turns out, Maria Hatzistefanis, the founder of Rodial and Nip + Fab is a GUVU girl too! She is exactly what we aspire to be and more. Her book, How To Be An Overnight Success, takes you through her journey from the very start when it was just Maria in her tiny office up until her massive success as a key player on the beauty scene.

What we loved about the book is the raw truth about just exactly how much graft, perseverance, positivity and discipline is required to slowly and steadily build a company. Contrary to the title of the book, she shines a light on how often things can go wrong and how nothing is an overnight success. The book has a lot of tips on how her attitude of “make it happen” has gotten her to where she is. It’s also a good reminder to stop comparing  yourself to others and focus on your own plan.

The book is complete with actionable items at the end of every chapter encouraging you to self reflect and steering you toward the dream you desire.

5 lessons we learned from this book:

• Maria actually got fired. But she wasn’t down and out. Instead she used that to push herself in the direction she saw her future. When one door closes, another opens.
• Believe in yourself and go with your gut feeling. Trust your intuition because only you know what you are trying to do/create/achieve.
• Hard, strategic work is key. You need to be willing to roll your sleeves up and get stuck into anything. And if you’re not, you need to take a step back and ask yourself if this is truly what you want.
• Invest in your own personal brand. It’s important to take the time to build your identity and have clarity around what you want to be known for.
• Even Maria had a daily cappuccino and pastry habit she had to wean herself off. Everyone loves a sugar hit but she inspires us to also kick the habit and swap it for green smoothies, espressos and exercise. She looks incredible so we’re definitely taking note.

We highly recommend this humorous light read, it’s full of so many transferable nuggets of wisdom despite the industry you’re in. Let us know what you think.