I think its hard not to say something along the lines of "I will have made it when I'm a millionaire and I am the guy with the most fame in the industry!" That's just what success has been equated with.

Truthfully, I don't think anyone will ever "make it". Because no matter how old you are or how much you've done in this business, someone will always top you... eventually.

So I've tried to move away from the idea of "making it" to the idea of "doing it". “Doing it” would equate to doing what you want done in your life.

I've got a long list of things (milestones) I want to do in life. But they all equate to what I value - Family, learning, and teaching.

Family
Like Jabez and others, my family is very important to me. So I try to make sure everything I'm doing is somehow going to benefit my family and bring them closer to me. Sometimes those results can't be seen immediately, but I have to keep that in mind.

Learning
I do want to learn everything there is to know out there, but that's impossible. So instead I try to learn as much as I can. There's always new languages, styles, techniques that are being developed that I can learn from and improve myself from.

Teaching
Once I've learned something I try to teach it to someone else. Whether its dealing with clients or its a new way to do websites, I try to pass on any useful knowledge I get to others.

Anyway, if I can die having put those three things as first priority in life, then I would say that I made it.

-scott
http://scottmanning.com