To work for oneself and see the fruit of your own labors through owning your own business is a truly beautiful and powerful thing that more people should have the opportunity to experience. Almost all of us have one gold mine of an idea or another bouncing around in our heads, the difficult part is executing them. Getting bogged down in the monotony of life and bills can quickly extinguish the entrepreneurial dreams of many; however, we shouldn’t let it. Many of the most well-known and successful businessmen and women began their journey during times of extreme strife or financial hardship. Remember, even starting small is a start! Here are a few quotes from incredible entrepreneurs to help inspire you in your own endeavors:
1. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs
2. “Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession.” – Mark Cuban
3. “Real adventure is defined best as a journey from which you may not come back alive, and certainly not as the same person.” – Yvon Chouinard
4. “Life is like business, 20% of what happens to you is 80% of how you react.” – Daymond John
5. “All your ideas may be solid or even good, but you have to actually execute on them for them to matter.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
6. “I got my start by giving myself a start.” – Madame C.J. Walker
7. “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” – Henry Ford
8. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
9. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
10. “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estee Lauter
11. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
12. “The biggest challenge in business isn’t your competition, it’s what goes on inside your own head.” – Barbara Corcoran
13. “The reason why I’ve been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, ever for one minute been on money.” – Oprah Winfrey
14. “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well. – Jeff Bezos
15. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
16. “You don’t build build a business, you build people, then people build the business.” – Zig Ziglar
17. “Do not be in the selling business, the worst thing you could ever do is just want to sell something to somebody. You want to be in the reorder business” – John Paul DeJoria
John Paul DeJoria is the perfect example of a never-give-up entrepreneurial attitude and a shining example of the American dream personified. DeJoria was a first generation American on both sides of his family with his father immigrating from Italy and his mother from Greece. They divorced when John Paul was just two years old forcing his mother to provide for him and his siblings as a single mother. He struggled throughout his life bouncing through careers in the Navy and as a door-to-door salesman. He was a middle-aged father of four homeless and living out of his car when he took out a $700 loan to form haircare company Paul Mitchell Systems with hairdresser Paul Mitchell in 1980; the rest is history. Now he is worth $2.9 billion dollars across a number of businesses he owns and has invested in. John Paul DeJoria can serve as an inspiration for all of us that no situation is impossible to overcome with hard work, determination, and a good idea.
18. “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
19. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
20. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
21. “I will fail many times, and I will be really right once” is the entrepreneurs’ way. You have to give yourself a lot of chances to get lucky.” – Sam Altman
22. “Play by the rules, but be ferocious.” – Phil Knight
23. “Wherever smart people work, doors are unlocked.” – Steve Wozniak
24. “Business opportunities are like busses, there’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson
25. “A great business at a fair price is better than a fair business at a great price.” – Charlie Munger
26. “Every problem is a gift – without problems we would not grow.” – Anthony Robbins
27. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
28. “I don’t know the word ‘quit’. Either I never did, or I have abolished it.” – Susan Butcher
29. “People respond well to those that are sure of what they want.” – Anna Wintour
30. “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rodgers
31. “Excellence is not a singular act; it’s a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.” – Shaquille O’Neal
32. “The first one gets the oyster, the second gets the shell.” Andrew Carnegie
Whatever your million-dollar idea is, it’s time to execute it. Nobody ever got anything done by just sitting around and now is your time you shine bright and demolish your goals. Hopefully some of these quotes from entrepreneurs throughout history will serve to inspire you to take the first step towards your own business empire. Who knows? Maybe your company will be the next one to make it onto the trillion dollar company list.