As a school pupil I sat through many of these prize giving ceremonies without a chance of getting a prize, yet I stand here this evening because I am deemed successful.

My success was to start a business in Suffolk back in 1999 and grow it to become of the largest digital advertising companies in the country, selling it in 2007.

Between the ages of 24 and 33 I had built a business from the ground up, with the help of my wife and business partner.

At its peak we employed 30 people and turned over about £12m a year. The sale of the business and my subsequent exit deemed me successful in the eyes of my peers.

Yet, if they had met me just ten years earlier, at the age of 14 they would have not defined me as successful. In fact, completely the opposite. As a pupil I was regularly at the bottom of the year with little real interest or effort in my work.

This was reflected in my school reports which I thought would be interesting to share,

Jamie has had a very lazy term. Once again the mournful, almost reproachful look has been in evidence and that is a sure sign he is not engaging himself in the work. His exam was awful and showed a complete lack of care..

That was in 1986

It was no better in 1990.

Jamie has achieved a modest start to his sixth form career. His academic tutor has highlighted strengths, and particularly, deficiencies.”

Not what you would call a successful school career. Yet, less than 10 years after leaving school I set up my own business which became a success.

I was interested in this word success, so I looked it up in the dictionary, which gives me two definitions:

1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.
2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

If we went with just those definitions most of us would not be deemed successful. It also may not inspire us to become successful because the goal is so far away.

Looking at my career it was never simply a measure of success or failure, nor was the only success the ultimate sale of my company.

Along the way there were many small successes that built towards the big one.

• Meeting the right girl
• Moving to Suffolk
• Paying my salary for the first year
• Finding great staff to work with
• Winning the right clients
• Being listed in the Sunday Times list of fastest growing technology companies, twice

And more, but there were failures along the way

• Paying the staff for 18 months but not paying myself
• Losing some major clients and needing to find new ones
• Ending up in a legal battle with another company

However, these did not have to be just failures. In fact these were opportunities to learn, to improve. They only became failures if we didn’t learn from them.

All of these elements contributed to what ultimately became a success and along the way many factors were involved including risk, judgement, skill and luck.

So I am successful, but what does that actually mean?

By the dictionary I am successful, having achieved the prosperous termination of an endeavour. But there has to be more to success than simply attaining wealth.

I asked a number of people what their definition of success was, this is what I got:

• “Being master of your own destiny and always having options.”

• “Being happy, excited and giving something back along the way.”

• “Money, Power, Respect.”

• “Happiness & time to have proper family time! Enough cash helps.”

Success will mean different things to different people, and the measurement will not always be the same.

To some people the only definition of success is the attainment of money. Being rich with fast cars, big houses and swimming pools. If you watch too many music videos you could be fooled into thinking that was the only definition of success.

For me, success is the ability to choose my own path. I get to choose what projects I work on, where I live and what I do. Success means I get to speak to you this evening. Success means I get to spend time with my family.

That success has come from the success of my business, another step along the way.

For some of you success may mean having the most friends on Facebook.

It may mean winning your race or completing that difficult level on the Xbox.

In school it may mean improving one extra grade, or running one second faster. It may mean scoring a goal, even if you don’t win the match, or winning a prize this evening.

Back when I was at school, success was not getting into detention. That small success meant I could have a lunch break, spend time with my friends or go home on time.

So we can find successes in everything we do.

If you sit there feeling unsuccessful, do just take a moment to think about what you define as success, and remember it may be a different definition to the person sitting next to you.

If you want to find success then make yourself some goals.

Can you get one more mark in your exam?  Can you run that little bit quicker?

They don’t have to be huge goals, but enough for you to measure success.

And like my business, you only class failures if you don’t learn from them. If you didn’t get that extra mark in maths, did you learn how to achieve it next time? If you can then count it as a success.

And remember every little success is like a snowball, keep it rolling and adding more little successes and you too could achieve even greater success, however you define it.

But before finishing I must raise the question? What is success if it isn’t health and happiness? Sometimes all the money in the world won’t make you happy and what value is success if you are not well enough to enjoy it?

So think about success. Think about how you define success and how you can measure little successes every day. But think about it only as part of your life, where health and happiness are also strong factors.

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What does success mean to  you?