When Maddalena Satragni married Stefano Riboli in 1946, she became involved in the Riboli family winemaking business. A decade later, the husband-wife duo assumed ownership of the San Antonio Winery, which is now LA's longest-running winery.
Much of the company's success can be credited to Satragni's passion and vision — so much so that The Riboli family launched the Maddalena wine brand in her honor, and today, she remains the matriarch of the century-old family business.
The secret to lasting success, says the 94-year-old entrepreneur, is to not get complacent: "Keep on driving yourself to always do more. Don't be afraid. Always keep expanding and have new ideas."
Even if people call your ideas crazy, "just go ahead and do what you want to do," she tells CNBC. "I would always tell [Stefano], 'Let's do it.' I wasn't thinking of what would happen. I never thought of bad things. I would just think good things would happen."
It's a similar mindset to that of Nike co-founder Phil Knight. "The world is made up of crazy ideas. History is one long processional of crazy ideas," he writes in his memoir, "Shoe Dog."
"Let everyone else call your idea crazy … just keep going. Don't stop. Don't even think about stopping until you get there, and don't give much thought to where 'there' is. Whatever comes, just don't stop."
Don't miss: Warren Buffett's best advice for young people has nothing to do with business
