“Go confidently in the direction of our dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Being an entrepreneur is not so much about the end result, it’s about the journey you create on as you pursue your dream. In order to succeed, you have to be open a wide spectrum of possibilities.
1 – Sara Blakely (Founder Of Spanx) : « To me, failure means not trying; failure isn’t the outcome. »
2 – Gurbaksh Chahal (Author & Serial Entrepreneur) : « Find something you love and do it better than everyone else. »
3 – Jeff Weiner (CEO of LinkedIn) : «As a child, I can’t recall a day that went by without my dad telling me I could do anything I set my mind to. He said it so often, I stopped hearing it. »
4 – Chad Hurley (Co-Founder Of YouTube) : « Be prepared to adapt. Also, being lean and mean helps you build something more efficient. You may have initial thoughts or ideas on how something will work but you need to observe how you and the community are using it. Don’t be afraid to change direction mid course.
5 – Caterina Fake (Founder of Flickr & Hunch) : « Entrepreneurs need to start building today. The Internet has amazing powers of distribution. You can test your ideas. You can see if it works, if it doesn’t work, whether it’s fun, and whether you’re sufficiently motivated. »
6 – Evan Williams (Founder of Blogger & Twitter) : « Surround yourself with great people, try hard things, say no to distractions and remember to care for yourself. Failure of your company is not failure in life. »
7 – Richard Branson (CEO of Virgin) : « My mother always taught me never to look back in regret but to move on to the next thing. I have fun running all the Virgin businesses — so a setback is never a bad experience, just a learning curve. »
8 – Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman Of Google) : « Find a way to say yes to things. Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learn something new. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids. »
9 – Kevin Rose (Founder of Digg, Pownce & Milk) : « If you really believe in something, you should just build it. »
10 – Mark Cuban (Shark Tank Investor & Owner of the Dallas Mavericks) : « One thing we can all control is effort. Put in the time to become an expert in whatever you’re doing. It will give you an advantage because most people don’t do this. The beauty of success is that it doesn’t matter how many times you have failed, you only have to be right once. »
11 – Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) : « I talk about my hopes and fears and ask people about theirs. I try to be myself–honest about my strengths and weaknesses. »
12 – Matt Barrie (CEO of Freelancer.com) : « The time is now! Time and tide waits for no man. No one is going to hand you your future on a plate. »
13 – Jordan Belfort (Best Selling Author & Motivational Speaker) : « In business you should always offer value first and then get the money afterwards. Monetizing value is easy; it’s a matter of building that value first. »
14 – Daymond John (Founder of FUBU Clothing and Investor) : « Try to make all the mistakes with your own money and on a small level so that when you are responsible for a partner’s money or assets you’ve learned and you don’t make bigger mistakes. Try to go as far as you can without anybody else’s help first. »
15 – Ben Huh (CEO & Founder of Cheezburger) : « Failure and risk are something entrepreneurs should understand well, and learn to manage. »
16 – James Caan (BBC’s “Dragons Den” Investor) : « Never stop asking yourself whether you can do things better. The tougher you are on yourself now, the tougher your business will be out there in the real world. »
(inspired by Tom Cooper )
The Driven Gentleman 