đ 100+ Inspirational Quotes from Influential Entrepreneurs
The nature of success requires ambition, a hard work ethic, inspiration, and motivation. The words of great business owners showcase the tools they have used to inspire themselves. An entrepreneur should hold onto the vision of their business persistently; having a few phrases or words that motivate you to work harder to achieve maximum growth can give business owners the support they need to thrive. Having successful mentors to look up to can help you keep your concentration, and avoid making the same mistakes they did. Every entrepreneur and small business owner need a helpful nudge every once in a while, so we have compiled 100 quotes from efficacious Entrepreneurs that will give you the incentive to push for success.
Famous entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have been quoted as saying some of the most inspirational words in the world, and they have some of the most successful companies in the world! Their words encompass their experiences, successful and failed, and their work ethic; without this motivation and hard work none of them would have been able to start their company. Whether you need a motivational, inspiration, life, moral or hard work push in the right direction these inspirational quotes are sure to trigger innovative ideas and keep you going in the right (successful!) direction.
Motivational Quotes
To become an entrepreneur you must be determined and ambitious. Motivation is a social or psychological call to action or an innate drive for success â success requires motivation.Â
1. â Your time is limited, so donât waste it living someone elseâs life. Donât be trapped by dogma â which is living with the results of other peopleâs thinking. Donât let the noise of otherâs opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.â
â Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO, Chairman Apple Inc.
2. âMy biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had â every day Iâm learning something new.â
-Richard Branson, founder Virgin Group
3. âEvery time you state what you want or believe, youâre the first to hear it. Itâs a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Donât put a ceiling on yourself.â
â Oprah Winfrey, media proprietor
4. âYour work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.â
â Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO, Chairman Apple Inc.
5. âI knew that if I failed I wouldnât regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.â
-Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO Amazon
6. âWhether you think you can, or think you canât â youâre right.â
â Henry Ford, Founder Ford Motor Company
7. âDonât limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.â
â Mary Kay Ash, Founder Mary Kay Cosmetics
8. âYou donât learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.â
â Richard Branson, founder Virgin Group
9. âWhen you find an idea that you just canât stop thinking about, thatâs probably a good one to pursue.â
-Josh James, co-founder and CEO Omniture, founder and CEO Domo
10. âItâs not about ideas. Itâs about making ideas happen.â
â Scott Belsky, co-founder Behance
11. âEntrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create.â
â David Karp, founder and CEO Tumblr
12. âThe only thing worse than starting something and failing⌠is not starting something.â
â Seth Godin, founder Squidoo
13. âWhen Iâm old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say âwow, that was an adventure,â not âwow, I sure felt safe.ââ
â Tom Preston-Werner, co-founder Github
14. âThe fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.â
â Reid Hoffman, co-founder LinkedIn
15. âI donât look to jump over 7-foot bars â I look for 1-foot bars that I can step over.â
â Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO Berkshire Hathaway
16. âIn the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination.â
â Steve Case, co-founder AOL
17. âFearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.â
â Arianna Huffington, president and editor in chief The Huffington Post Media Group
18. âEmbrace what you donât know, especially in the beginning, because what you donât know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else.â
â Sara Blakely, founder SPANX
19. âRisk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.â
-Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO
20. âThe way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.â
â Walt Disney, founder Disney
21. âHigh expectations are the key to everything.â
â Sam Walton, founder Walmart
22. âDonât be afraid to assert yourself, have confidence in your abilities and donât let the bastards get you down.â
â Michael Bloomberg, founder Bloomberg L.P.
23. âThere are lots of bad reasons to start a company. But thereâs only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: itâs to change the world.â
â Phil Libin, CEO Evernote
24. âEverything started as nothing.â
â Ben Weissenstein, founder and CEO The Entitled Group
25. âThe important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.â
â Debbi Fields, found Mrs. Fields Cookies
26. âYou shouldnât focus on why you canât do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions.â
â Steve Case, co-founder AOL
27. âEmpower yourself and realize the importance of contributing to the world by living your talent. Work on what you love. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.â
â Catharina Bruns, Founder WorkIsNotaJob
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Quotes about Hard Work
Building a company from the ground up and successfully running it is hard work. Without the right work ethics, your business will never thrive and grow.
1. âThe price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.â
â Vince Lombardi, executive, head coach, player NFL
2. âIâm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.â
â Steve Jobs, Co-founder, CEO, Chairman Apple Inc.
   3.âIf youâre passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you will be successful.â
â Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman eBay
4. âMake every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.â
â Jack Dorsey, founder Twitter
5. âIdeas are easy. Implementation is hard.â
â Guy Kawasaki, co-founder Alltop
6. âI never took a day off in my twenties. Not one.â
â Bill Gates, co-founder Microsoft
7. âSo often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.â
â Caterina Fake, co-founder Flickr
8. âIt is always the start that requires the greatest effort.â
â James Cash Penney, founder and CEO J.C. Penny
9. âIf hard work is the key to success, most people would rather pick the lock.â
â Claude McDonald
10. âHave the end in mind and every day make sure youâre working towards it.â
-Ryan Allis, co-founder and CEO iContact
11. âThe critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. Itâs as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.â
-Nolan Bushnell, founder Atari and Chuck-E-Cheeseâs
Quotes about Mistakes, Failure and Success
Mistakes and failures are remarkable learning mechanisms, especially when it comes to business. Most famous entrepreneurs will tell you that they didnât get to where they are now without hitting a few bumps in the road.
1. âI have not failed. Iâve just found 10,000 ways that wonât work.â
â Thomas Edison
2. âSuccess is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.â
â Winston Churchill
3.âDonât worry about failure; you only have to be right once.â
â Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO Dropbox
4. âFail often so you can succeed sooner.â
â Tom Kelley, founder Ideo
5. âThe most valuable thing you can make is a mistake â you canât learn anything from being perfectâ
â Adam Osborne
6. âFailure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently⌠A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.â
-Henry Ford, founder Ford Motor Company
7. âIâve learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success.â
â Jack Welch, chairman and CEO General Electric
8. âShow me a person who never made a mistake, and I will show you a person who never did anything.â
â William Rosenberg, founder Dunkinâ Donuts
9. âThe secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world.â
â Marc Benioff, CEO Salesforce
10. âSuccess is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.â
â Dale Carnegie
11. âThe most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrowâ
â Ingvar Kamprad, founder Ikea
12. âOnce you say youâre going to settle for second, thatâs what happens to you in life.â
â John F. Kennedy
13. âWhen times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge.â
-Robert Kiyosaki, founder Cashflow Technologies Inc.
14. âMost great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.â
-Napoleon Hill
15. âIf what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then itâs moving you away from your goals.â
â Brian Tracy, CEO Brian Tracy International
16. âSuccess is not in what you have, but who you are.â
-Bo Bennett, founder eBookit.com
17. âFailure is not about insecurity, itâs about lack of execution.â
â Jeffery Gitomer, business trainer
Business Quotes
Having an idea is one thing, running a business is a completely different thing. It is always helpful to have a basic understanding of business ethics and principles when starting your business.Â
1. âWhat do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.â
âDave Thomas, founder Wendyâs
2. âMake your team feel respected, empowered and genuinely excited about the companyâs mission.â
âTim Westergen, Pandora Founder
3. âYour most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.â
-Bill Gates, founder and CEO Microsoft
4. âIf you just work on stuff that you like and youâre passionate about, you donât have to have a master plan with how things will play out.â
âMark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO Facebook
5. âWonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Donât tell.â
âLisa Stone, co-founder and CEO BlogHer
6. âMoney is like gasoline during a road trip. You donât want to run out of gas on your trip, but youâre not doing a tour of gas stations.â
â Tim OâReilly, founder and CEO OâReilly Media
7. âChase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.â
â Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos
8. âGet big quietly, so you donât tip off potential competitors.â
â Chris Dixon, co-founder and CEO Hunch
9. âDonât play games that you donât understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.â
â Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos
10. âAlways deliver more than expected.â
â Larry Page, co-founder Google
11. âWe are really competing against ourselves, we have no control over how other people perform.â
â Pete Cashmore, founder and CEO Mashable
12. âYou just have to pay attention to what people need and what has not been done.â
â Russell Simmons, found Def Jam Records
13. âNo matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if youâre playing a solo game, youâll always lose out to a teamâ
â Reid Hoffman, co-founder LinkedIn
14. âYou canât ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, theyâll want something new.â
â Steve Jobs, founder, chairman and CEO Apple Inc.
15. âHire character. Train skill.â
â Peter Schultz, founder and director GNF
16. âThe difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says âGo!â â a leader says, âLetâs go!â.â
-E.M Kelly, U.S Army
17. âA business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.â
â Henry Ford, founder Ford Motor Company
18. âItâs almost always harder to raise capital than you thought it would be, and it always takes longer. So plan for that.â
-Richard Harroch, Venture Capitalist
19. âThe things we fear the most in organizations- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances â are the primary sources of creativity.â
â Margaret Wheatley, management consultant
20. âEffective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.â
-Jim Rohn
21. âStay self-funded as long as possible.â
â Garrett Camp, founder Expa, Uber and StumbleUpon
22. âTurn a perceived risk into an asset.â
â Aaron Patzer, founder Mint
23. âItâs more effective to do something valuable than to hope a logo or name will say it for you.â
â Jason Cohen, founder Smart Bear Software
24. âDonât worry about funding if you donât need it. Today itâs cheaper to start a business than ever.â
â Noah Everett, founder Twitpic
25. âData beats emotions.â
â Sean Rad, founder Adly and Tinder
26. âBe undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.â
â Anthony Volodkin, founder Hype Machine
27. âMake your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.â
-Mark Cuban
Entrepreneurship Quotes
Entrepreneurs are typified by high self-esteem, risk-taking personality, aggressiveness and above average intelligence.Â
1. âDonât be cocky. Donât be flashy. Thereâs always someone better than you.â
âTony Hsieh, CEO Zappos
2. âAll humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA.â
â Reid Hoffman, co-founder LinkedIn
3. âDonât take too much advice. Most people who have a lot of advice to give â with a few exceptions â generalize whatever they did. Donât over-analyze everything. Â I myself have been guilty of over-thinking problems. Just build things and find out if they work.â
â Ben Silbermann, founder Pinterest
4. âBefore dreaming about the future or making plans, you need to articulate what you already have going for you â as entrepreneurs do.â
â Reid Hoffman, co-founder LinkedIn
5. âAn entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping heâll quickly learn how to chew it.â
â Roy Ash, co-founder Litton Industries
6. âNobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but thatâs exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; itâs about trading: buying and sellingâ
â Anita Roddick, founder The Body Shop
7. âBut as an entrepreneur, you have to feel like you can jump out of an aeroplane because youâre confident that youâll catch a bird flying by. Itâs an act of stupidity, and most entrepreneurs go play because the bird doesnât come by, but a few times it does.â
â Reed Hastings , CEO Netflix
   8.âChase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.â
â Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos
9. âOpenly share and talk to people about your idea. Use their lack of interest or doubt to fuel your motivation to make it happen.â
â Todd Garland, Founder BuySellAds
10. âGet in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.â
-John Lewis
11. âDesign is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.â
-Steve Jobs, founder, chairman and CEO Apple Inc.
12. âNothing can stop the power of a committed and determined people to make a difference in our society. Why? Because human beings are the most dynamic link to the divine on this planet.â
-John Lewis
13. âIf you want to be an entrepreneur, itâs not a job, itâs a lifestyle. It defines you. Forget about vacations, about going home at 6 pm â last thing at night youâll send emails, first thing in the morning youâll read emails, and youââ wake up in the middle of the night. But itâs hugely rewarding as youâre fulfilling something for yourself.â
-Niklas Zennstrom, founder Skype and Kazaa
Quotes about Ethics and Morals
Running a successful business also requires that you are keeping your customers and employees happy. Running an honest business is the mark of some of the best entrepreneurs of all time.Â
1. âKeep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.â
â Mark Twain
2. âYour reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career.â
â Ryan Freitas, co-founder About.me
3. âAssociate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad companyâ
â Booker T. Washington
4. âIt takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, youâll do things differently.â
â Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO Berkshire Hathaway
5. âHow you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.â
â Yvon Chouinard, founder Patagonia
6. âIf you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself â your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers.â -Dee Hock
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Whether you are starting your own business, expanding or simply trying to grow, connecting with other entrepreneurs can help you navigate the difficult road to success. Inspirational quotes can encourage you to work hard, and be innovative which are both key tools for success. Owning and operating your own business is very challenging and can wear a person down quickly, to achieve the success you must be focused and above all you must believe in yourself. If you are in need of funding, Kabbage small business loans are here to help. With ongoing access to a line of credit, a small business loan offers the financial support your business needs to grow and thrive long into the future.