Great people often convey such valuable messages and teachings in a line that ordinary people can’t convey such messages in their life. These lines are inspirational, visionary and are written / said after years of experience by these people. If we, as entrepreneurs, understand and implement these teachings in our lives, then we’ll definitely be successful.
Here’s a list of our personal favorite quotes said by some of the biggest names in the world; let’s analyze each of them closely.
1. I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways of doing it – Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison was one of the greatest inventors the History of mankind has ever seen. While trying to invent the electric bulb, Edison failed thousands of times, quite literally! Entrepreneurs fail and fail again. But they have an attitude towards failures that nobody else does.
They consider failures as a stepping stone towards success. They learn from them and respect failures. If you do it for the first time and don’t fail, then you’re doing something wrong (in the long-run). But if you make a mistake, then you learn from it and take that inspiration to eventually succeed.
2. The only place where success before work is the dictionary – Vidal Sassoon
This is one of the best quotes for all those who think success is an overnight phenomenon. No, it is not! Success requires a lot of work. Creator of Angry Birds, the famous mobile game said, “it took him 8 years and 52 failed games to become overnight success.”
What he meant was – success takes a lot of time. Obviously, every business takes its own course of time to get successful but it definitely is NOT 1 or 2 days. Depending on how smartly you work and hard you work, it can vary anywhere between 3-8 years for people to start recognizing you.
3. Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune – Jim Rohn
We love this quote. Jim means, formal education and help you find a job. Lead a stable life. And earn enough to make a good living.
What Jim Rohn means by self education is – in order to be successful things to have is – the ability to be self-motivated and self-education. Self education is nothing but the education that will guide you in building a business empire. It is something that nobody can teach you; even if someone has taught you something, you learn by experiencing it.
So, if you intend to make a fortune, you need to be willing to take the risks and learn while you’re in your journey.
4. The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said – Peter F. Drucker
Running a business is all about people. Be it your employees or your customers. And, people are emotional and always require someone to listen to them. As an entrepreneur, you need to be extremely patient and clam while dealing with others.
What Peter means is if you’re good listener, you make great relationships that can help you have a great career in the long-run.
Do not be rude if someone doesn’t respond to you well or someone don’t perform his tasks well. Always, ask questions and learn how you can help him perform better. If he has any concerns, not only listen to them but ensure that his concerns are resolved.
5. As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big – Donald Trump
Donald Trump needs no introduction. He is one of the richest real estate giants in the country. Donald has the most amazing buildings in the US and key to all his success is – he never thought small.
Steve jobs was called the visionary. He once said, nothing that I planned happens before 7-8 years. That’s how visionary he was. That’s how big he always thought. He never thought small and always wanted to change the world.
So, when you think of starting a business, think big and work for it.
6. Nothing great has ever been achieved without enthusiasm – Ralph Waldo
According to Ralph Waldo, one of the most important aspects of building a successful business or doing anything big – enthusiasm. Ralph supports his point by the above quote. And, that is absolutely true.
If you want to make it big, then you need to have the enthusiasm as babies and ensure that you follow through it. Someone else suggested, ‘success is going from failures to failures without losing enthusiasm.’
So, this is one trait you need to develop as an entrepreneur.
7. Coming together is beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is progress – Henry Ford
Henry Ford is perhaps the greatest entrepreneur in American history. In the above quote, Ford has clearly explained his views on the importance of building great teams and then making them work.
Like we said above, business is about people and people make it successful. As an entrepreneur, you need to build teams and never take it trivially. The more people you get, the more effectively they work, the sooner/better results you would drive.
8. Vision without action is daydreaming and action without vision is a nightmare – Anonymous
You know the biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people? It’s their ability to take action and convert their dreams into rigorous actions. The above quote by this person explains just that – you need to work hard on your vision.
Convert your vision into consistent action. Make yourself an action-taking machine and don’t compromise on your consistency. Because if you have a vision but don’t take the required action, then it would turn into a huge nightmare.
9. Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning – Bill Gates
For businesses, customers can be the biggest source of learning. This is what Bill Gates has to say and he says it with years of relevant of experience of his work at Microsoft. For businesses to be successful, they need to listen to what customers have to say about the product or service.
One great way to learn what customers are saying about your business is – conduct surveys among your customers. See what they have to say; while most of them won’t care, few of them would give you genuine feedback.
And, as an entrepreneur, you cannot afford to neglect their concerns/feedback.
10. If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary – Jim Rohn
Always aim for doing things with highest value. You know, being ordinary is normal but being extraordinary requires taking risk of time, money and energy. However, when that high quality work fetches you returns, you would be totally surprised with it.
Always be dynamic and be ready to take calculated risks. Just refuse to settle for anything that’s not the best. That is how you can create a brand that people love. That’s how you can build a huge company like Apple.
The above are quotes that I believe every entrepreneur should take at heart and making them the principles of how they work and build businesses. What are your personal favorite quotes on entrepreneurship that you get inspired from?
Very useful post. Hope to see more entries soon!
Glad you liked it! Thanks for reading!