Bobbi Brown wasn't always a household name in the beauty business.

"I didn't always know that I would be successful in the makeup world," Brown told "Good Morning America." "I'm so glad that I didn't know what was going to be the story of my career because that's how you learn."

"I asked if I could major in makeup and they said yes," Brown said.

"My mom said, 'Forget about what you want to do with your life. If today was your birthday, what would you want to do?' I said I want to play with makeup."

Brown didn't attend beauty school but she majored in makeup at Boston's Emerson College in a program that now bears her name.

"Everything that you go through, there's a reason," said Brown. "Why it's so difficult you don't understand at the time, but that's how you learn."

2. Don’t be afraid to make your own path.

PHOTO: Bobbi Brown on the job at her first fashion show for Ford's model of the year event.
Courtesy Bobbi Brown
Bobbi Brown on the job at her first fashion show for Ford's model of the year event.

Getting ahead in the beauty biz was certainly a challenge for Brown in the '80s.

"The makeup industry, when I first entered it, was really different," she said. "There were not a whole lot of freelance makeup artists and there were not a lot of well-known makeup artists."

Enter Brown, who, by the time she was in her mid-30s, launched what would become one of the most successful cosmetic companies in the world.

She credits her success to not being afraid to blaze her own trail.

"I never had a job, I just started knocking on doors and building a portfolio," she said. "I learned how to be an entrepreneur without even knowing it at the time."

3. Marriage takes work.

PHOTO: Bobbi Brown dances at her wedding with her husband Steven Plofker.
Courtesy Bobbi Brown
Bobbi Brown dances at her wedding with her husband Steven Plofker.

Brown has been happily married to her husband Steven Plofker for 30 years.

"This picture makes my heart sing," she said. "I still love my husband as much if not more today then the day I met him."

Brown had a whirlwind romance. She said she fell in love with her husband the day they met and the lovebirds were married six months later.

Her advice to a successful marriage isn't such a secret: It takes work.

"If you love who you're with, even if it's difficult, you've got to figure out a way to work with someone who is completely different than you are."

4. Life is all about choices.

She remembers being anxious about the future at that age and would tell her younger self to put those nerves at rest.

"All these great things are going to happen to you if you just go out and get them."

6. Beauty is from the inside out.