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75 Impeccable Business Advice from 39 Billionaires

Are you an entrepreneur or a small business owner? Are you seeking business advice that will help you start a business? Do you want to become a billionaire in your lifetime? Do you want to build a successful business and become a successful entrepreneur? Do you want to learn what it takes to make a million dollars and become a millionaire in less than a year? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then read on.

Today, I will be sharing with you some small business advice from the billionaires. Some of these billionaires are drop out billionaires but they have one thing in common, they all built successful businesses. So if you are ready to learn, then sit back and read on as I share with you 75 impeccable advice from 39 billionaires.

  75 Impeccable Small Business Advice from 39 Billionaires

  • Richard Branson    – Virgin Group

1.            “As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation. I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me.” – Richard Branson

2.            “To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else’s formula.” – Richard Branson

  • Ingvar Kamprad   – IKEA

3.            “Waste of resources is a mortal sin at IKEA.” – Ingvar Kamprad

4.            “Ten minutes are not just one-sixth of your hourly pay; ten minutes is a piece of yourself. Divide yourself into ten units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activities. Most things still remain to be done.” – Ingvar Kamprad

  • Carlos Slim Helu   – Telmex Corporation

5.            “When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.” – Carlos Slim Helu

  • Aliko Dangote    – Dangote Group

6.            “To succeed in business, you must build a brand and never destroy it. One competitive advantage I had when I ventured into manufacturing was my brand “Dangote,” which I diligently built in the course of my trading commodities.” – Aliko Dangote

7.            “Manufacture, don’t just trade. There is money in manufacturing even though it is capital intensive. To achieve a big breakthrough, I had to start manufacturing the same product I was trading on; which is commodities.” – Aliko Dangote

  • Oprah Winfrey – Harpo Studios Production

8.            “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” – Oprah Winfrey

9.            “Follow your instincts, that’s where true wisdom manifest itself.” – Oprah Winfrey

  • Orji Uzor Kalu    – Slok Group

10.          “A good businessman must have nose for business the same way a journalist has nose for news. Once your eyes, ears, nose, heart and brain are trained on business, you sniff business opportunities everywhere” – Orji Uzor Kalu

11.          “A good businessman sees where others don’t see. What I see, you may not see. You cannot see because that is the secret of the business… the entire world is a big market waiting for anybody who knows the rules of the game.” – Orji Uzor Kalu

  • John D. Rockefeller    – Standard Oil

12.          “There’s no mystery in business success. If you do each day’s task successfully and stay faithfully within these natural operations of commercial laws which I talk so much about and keep your head clear, you will come out all right.” – John D. Rockefeller

13.          “The ability to deal with people is as purchasable as a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other thing under the sun.” – John D. Rockefeller

  • Bill Gates   – Microsoft

14.          “The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitors, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose.” – Bill Gates

15.          You’ve got to give great tools to small teams. Pick good people, use small teams and give them great tools so that they are very productive in terms of what they are doing.” – Bill Gates

  • Larry Ellison – Oracle

16.          “If your cash is about to run out, you have to cut your cash flow. CEOs have to make those decisions and live with them however painful they may be. You have to act and act now; and act in the best interest of the company as a whole, even if it means that some people in the company who are your best friends have to work somewhere else.” – Larry Ellison

17.          “When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for people telling you that you are nuts.” – Larry Ellison

  • J. Paul Getty    – Getty Oil

18.          “The man who comes up with a means of doing or producing almost anything better, faster or more economically has his future and his fortune at his finger tips.” – J. Paul Getty

19.          “In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.” – J. Paul Getty

  • Warren Buffett  – Berkshire Hathaway

20.          “In the business world, the rear view is always clearer than the wind shield.” – Warren Buffett

21.          “Somebody once said that in looking to hire people, look for three qualities; Integrity, intelligence and energy. If they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it’s true. If you hire somebody without the first, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.” – Warren Buffett

75 Impeccable Small Business Advice from 39 Billionaires

  • Henry Ford   – Ford Motor Company

22.          “The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all but goes on making his own business better all the time.” – Henry Ford

23.          “A business absolutely devoted to service will have one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford

  • Henry Ross Perot     – EDS

24.          “Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationship.” – Henry Ross Perot

25.          “If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.” – Henry Ross Perot

  • Ted Turner   – CNN

26.          “Do something. Either lead, follow or get out of the way.” – Ted Turner

27.          “Managing isn’t that difficult, you just have to score more runs than the other guy.” – Ted Turner

  • Michael Dell – Dell Inc

28.          “Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity.” – Michael Dell

29.          “Recognize that there will be failures, and acknowledge that there will be obstacles. But you will learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others, for there is very little learning in success.” – Michael Dell

  • Steve Jobs   – Apple Inc

30.          “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” – Steve Jobs

31.          “To turn really interesting ideas and fledging ideas into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.” – Steve Jobs

  • Donald Trump   – Trump Organization

32.          “Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you are generally better off sticking with what you know and the third is that sometimes, your best investments are the ones you don’t make.” – Donald Trump

33.          “It pays to trust your instinct.” – Donald Trump

  • Jeff Bezos - Amazon

34.          “If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.” – Jeff Bezos

35.          “Things never go smoothly.” – Jeff Bezos

  • Sam Walton   – Wal-Mart

36.          “The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want. And really, if you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking; a pleasant shopping experience.” – Sam Walton

37.          “Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton

  • J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter Series

38.          “Never be ashamed! There’s some who will hold it against you, but they are not worth bothering with.” – J. K. Rowling

39.          “Anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – J. K. Rowling

  • Ray Kroc    – McDonald’s

40.          “If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.” – Ray Kroc

41.          “When you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe, you rot. Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting?” – Ray Kroc

  75 Impeccable Small Business Advice from 39 Billionaires

  • Mark Cuban   – Broadcast.com

42.          “Do your homework and know your business better than anyone. Otherwise, someone who knows more and works harder will kick your ass.” – Mark Cuban

43.          “Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.” – Mark Cuban

  • Larry Page   – Google

44.          “But you don’t need a huge company, just a computer and a part-time person. So you don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea. You can do it in your spare time, you can really work on ideas and see if they take off — rather than trying to raise tons of money, millions of dollars for an idea that may or may not work. And once you have the product and people are using it, it’s very easy to raise investment.” – Larry Page

  • John Johnson    – Johnson Publishing

45.          “My management style is based on the art of communication. For communication is an art, not a science. It is an emotion, not a statistic. And the best communicators know instinctively that to communicate effectively you must bypass intellectual centers and tap into the deepest fears, hopes and emotions of your audience.” – John Johnson

46.          “I’m convinced that the only way to get ahead in this world is to live and sell dangerously. You’ve got to live beyond your means. You’ve got to commit yourself to an act or vision that pulls you further than you want to go and forces you to use your hidden strengths.” – John Johnson

  • Li Ka Shing   – Hutchison Whampoa

47.          “Broaden your vision, and maintain stability while advancing forward. That is my philosophy.” – Li Ka Shing

48.          “Businessmen must move with the times…the correlation between knowledge and business as the key to success is closer than ever.” – Li Ka Shing

  • Mukesh Ambani    – Reliance Group

49.          “I think that our fundamental belief is that for us, growth is a way of life and we have to grow at all times.” – Mukesh Ambani

50.          “The organizational architecture is really that a centipede walks on a hundred legs and one or two don’t count. So if I lose one or two legs, the process will go on and the growth will go on.” – Mukesh Ambani

  • Philip Knight   – Nike

51.          “Good campaigns define who you are. We have to get consumers’ attention. We don’t have six months to check with focus groups.” – Philip Knight

52           “Our job is to wake up the consumers. If we become predictable, that’s not waking them up.” – Philip Knight

  • Pierre Omidyar      – E-Bay

53.          “Build a platform – prepare for the unexpected…you’ll know you’re successful when the platform you’ve built serves you in unexpected ways.” – Pierre Omidyar

54.          “Be an enzyme – a catalyst for change. As a slogan, I don’t know if that’s ever going to be right up there with Ich Bin Ein Berliner, or “I Have A Dream,” but there’s a lot of truth to it.” – Pierre Omidyar

  • Ralph Lauren      – Polo

55.          “Your vision is very important. You should know whom you’re selling to, what your marketing and advertising says about you, and whom it’s speaking to. Me personally, I don’t try to please everyone. I understand who I am selling to and I work towards that vision all the time.” – Ralph Lauren

56.          “It’s about broadening your scope through history and living your life. Tune in and pay attention.” – Ralph Lauren

  • Rupert Murdoch    – Fox Broadcasting Corporation

57.          “In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example – and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved.” – Rupert Murdoch

58.          “The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore; it will be the fast beating the slow.” – Rupert Murdoch

  • Craig Newmark      – Craiglist

59.          “Sometimes you gotta be fast so you don’t waste the time of others.” – Craig Newmark

60.          “Follow through with basic values, and remember to provide good customer service.” – Craig Newmark

  • Dave Thomas – Wendy’s

61.          “What 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.” – Dave Thomas

62.          “Take care of your business and your business will take care of you.” – Dave Thomas

  75 Impeccable Small Business Advice from 39 Billionaires

  • Gerry Schwartz     – Onex Corporation

63.          “We’ve got customers. We’ve got suppliers. We’ve got employees. We’ve got unions. We’ve got communities. We’ve got all of these things that go into making up whether a business succeeds or fails.” – Gerry Schwartz

64.          “Investments are like trains, and if you miss one, don’t worry because another one will come down the line.” – Gerry Schwartz

  • Walt Disney   - Disney

65.          “You are dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.” – Walt Disney

66.          “Tomorrow can be a wonderful age.” – Walt Disney

  • Barry Diller   – Expedia

67.          “The world is changing. Networks without a specific branding strategy will be killed. I envision a world of highly run companies without room for all the overhead the establishment networks carry.” – Barry Diller

  • Giorgio Armani  – Armani

68.          “Remember that, in the end, the customer doesn’t know, or care, if you are small or large as an organization – she or he only focuses on the garment hanging on the rail in the store.” – Giorgio Armani

69.          “In this business you can’t have a destination, an arrival point. Otherwise your competitors will overtake you, or you become complacent.” – Giorgio Armani

  • Craig McCaw      – McCaw Cellular

70.          “Changes occur because there’s a gap between what is and what should be.” – Craig McCaw

71.          “Filling a need that others aren’t addressing has always been a focus of the companies that I have been involved with.” – Craig McCaw

  • Leslie Wexner   – Limited Brands

72.          “We are poised for accelerated future growth and we need the depth and breadth of leadership to achieve it.” – Leslie Wexner

73.          “Express is well into the process of substantial transformation and is providing itself as a significant dual gender, high quality apparel brand. While much work needs to be done, we believe the opportunities for growth across our brand are significant.” – Leslie Wexner

  • Carl Icahn   – Billionaire Investor

74.          “In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act without thought and the second is not to act at all.” – Carl Icahn

75.          “You learn in this business; if you want a friend, get a dog.” – Carl Icahn

50 Uncommon Small Business Advice from 50 Great Business Leaders

If i share with you a document containing the small business advice and strategies of 50 great business leaders; will you appreciate it? If yes, then read on.

In every endeavor of life, people are always looking for a source from which to tap inspiration. Doctors study and listen to the advice of other great doctors, artists draw inspiration from the paintings of other great artists, athletes practice to be like other great athletes and when it comes to building a business; we also have great business leaders to look up to.

“Study the past and you will know the future.” – Chinese Proverbs

As an entrepreneur, I have great entrepreneurs I look up to for business advice and inspiration. These successful entrepreneurs are great business leaders and some of them are drop out billionaires whose entrepreneurial paths were filled with challenges. But despite the business challenges they faced; they broke barriers and reached the pinnacle of success in the business world.

The utmost reason why I am compiling this list is because success is replicable. There is no business challenge you are facing now that other entrepreneurs have not faced and surmounted. Just as a saying goes, “you don’t need to re-invent the wheel.”

“When stumped for a solution to a particularly difficult problem, look to the past for a solution.” – The Mafia Manager

If you are ready to learn from the masters of the art of building a business; if you want to learn from those who have successfully passed through the entrepreneurial process, then below are 50 great business leaders whose entrepreneurial lifestyle and business advice will inspire you.

                50 Uncommon Small Business Advice from 50 Great Business Leaders

1.            Sam Walton – Wal-Mart

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton

2.            Richard Branson – Virgin Group

“When people are placed in positions slightly above what they expect, they are apt to excel.” – Richard Branson

3.            Larry Ellison – Oracle

“When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for people telling you that you are nuts.” – Larry Ellison

4.            Jack Welch – General Electric

“If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don’t have to manage them.“  - Jack Welch

5.            Bill Gates – Microsoft

“The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitors, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose.” – Bill gates

6.            Henry Ford – Ford Motor Corporation

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford

7.            Alfred P. Sloan – General Motors

“There has to be this pioneer, the individual who has the courage, the ambition to overcome the obstacles that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile, especially when it is new and different.” – Alfred P. Sloan

8.            Steve Jobs – Apple Inc

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It’s best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.” – Steve Jobs

9.            Aliko Dangote – Dangote Group

“I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me thirty years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.” – Aliko Dangote

10.          Andrew Carnegie – Carnegie Steel

“The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.” – Andrew Carnegie

                50 Uncommon Small Business Advice from 50 Great Business Leaders

11.          Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dad Company

“There are fast ideas and slow ideas, just as there are fast trains and slow trains. When it comes to money, most people are on the slow train looking out the window watching the fast train pass them by. If you want to become rich quickly, your plan must include fast ideas.” – Robert Kiyosaki

12.          Warren Buffett – Berkshire Hathaway

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and only five Minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently.” – Warren Buffett

13.          Ingvar Kamprad – IKEA

“If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the IKEA employees.” – Ingvar Kamprad

14.          Donald Trump – Trump Organization

“Well yes, I have fired a lot of people. Generally I like other people to fire because it’s always a lousy task. But I’ve fired many people.” – Donald Trump

15.          Rich Dad

“The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don’t bother thinking about becoming a business owner.” – Rich Dad

16.          Henry Ross Perot

“Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationship.” – Henry Ross Perot

17.          Jeff Bezos – Amazon.com

“There are two ways to extend a business. Take inventory of what you are good at and extend out from your skills. Or determine what your customers need and work backwards, even if it requires learning new skills. Kindle is an example of working backwards.” – Jeff Bezos

18.          John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil

“The ability to deal with people is as purchasable as a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other thing under the sun.” – John D. Rockefeller

19.          Mary Kay Ash – Mary Kay cosmetics

“People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the company’s product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” – Mary Kay Ash

20.          Oprah Winfrey – Harpo Studios

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know if you did it or not.”

                50 Uncommon Small Business Advice from 50 Great Business Leaders

21.          Thomas Edison – General Electric

“Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility and utility is success.” – Thomas Edison

22.          Thomas J. Burrell – Burrell Communication Group

“The most important thing is to enjoy yourself and continue to work. I know life is a journey, not a destination. That’s also true in business. Your objectives keep moving.” – Thomas J. Burrell

23.          James Cash Penny – J.C Penny

“Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.” – James Cash Penny

24.          Thomas Watson – IBM

“Lying dead in the water and doing nothing is a comfortable alternative because it is without risk, but it is an absolutely fatal way to manage a business.” – Thomas Watson

25.          Steve Case – AOL

“If you are doing something new, you’ve got to have a vision. You’ve got to have a perspective. You’ve got to have some north star you are aiming for and you just believe somehow you will get there, which kind of gets to the passion point.” – Steve Case

26.          Michael Dell – Dell Computers

“Our business is about technology, yes. But it is also about operations and customer relationships.” – Michael Dell

27.          Barry Diller – Expedia, Fox Broadcasting Company

“We want to be able to sell you anything, anywhere, anytime you want it.” – Barry Diller

28.          Debbi Fields – Mrs. Field Cookies

“I’ve never felt like I was in the cookie business. I’ve always been in a good feeling business. My job is to sell joy, my job is to sell happiness and my job is to sell an experience.” – Debbi Fields

29.          Harvey S. Firestone

“I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.” – Harvey S. Firestone

30.          Lee Iacocca

“I hire people brighter than me and I get out of their way.” – Lee Iacocca

                50 Uncommon Small Business Advice from 50 Great Business Leaders

31.          Dave Thomas – Wendy’s

“It all comes back to the basic. Serve customers the best tasting food at a good value in a clean restaurant, and they will keep coming back.” – Dave Thomas

32.          Madame C.J. Walker – Walker Cosmetics line

“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them” – Madam C.J. Walker

33.          Anita Roddick – Body Shop

“Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking. Running that first shop taught me business is not financial science; it’s about trading: buying and selling.” – Anita Roddick

34.          Victor Kiam -

“In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running. If you stand still, they will swallow you.” – Victor Kiam

35.          Nolan Bushnell – Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s 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.” – Nolan Bushnell

36.          The Mafia Manager

“The best thing to invest in your business is your time. To schedule, plan and use time effectively, know your turf and know your objectives. Assess the obstacles and opportunities, then devise your strategies.” – The Mafia Manager

37.          Candice Carpenter – iVillage.com

“Success is about creating value.” – Candice Carpenter

38.          Howard Schultz – Starbucks

“Dream more than others. Think practical.” – Howard Schultz

39.          Martha Stewart – Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

“It is within everyone’s grasp to be a CEO.” – Martha Stewart

40.          Pierre Omidyar – Ebay.com

“It is not really work if you are having fun.” – Pierre Omidyar

                50 Uncommon Small Business Advice from 50 Great Business Leaders

41.          Simon Cowell – American Idol

“Good is not enough. You’ve got to be great.” – Simon Cowell

42.          Walt Disney – Walt Disney Co

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

43.          Trip Hawkins – Electronic Arts

“You are nuts and you should be proud of it. Stick with what you believe in.” – Trip Hawkins

44.          Terry Matthew – Mitel

“Persistence is the single most important thing for success.” – Terry Matthew

45.          Jenny Craig – Jenny Craig

“If I make a commitment to something, I will stick to it no matter what.” – Jenny Craig

47.          Giorgio Armani – Giorgio Armani

“Remain true to yourself and your philosophy.” – Giorgio Armani

48.          Akio Morita – Sony Entertainment

“It had to be different. Something nobody else was making.” – Akio Morita

49.          Li Ka Shing – Hutchison Whampoa Limited

“Reputation is your key to success. You have to be loyal to your customers.” – Li Ka Shing

50.          Ray Kroc – McDonald’s

“Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Ray Kroc

Successful Entrepreneurs Advice on taking Risks in Business

Business is a risk and risk is something most people dread. Avoidance of risk is the reason why most people shy away from building a business; it’s also the reason why most people choose to remain the same.

But risk taking is also the reason why Bill Gates, Henry Ford, J. Paul Getty, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller became the richest people on earth. High risk bearing capacity is the reason why some people become billionaires and others remain average.

Are you a risk taker? Do you avoid risk or embrace risk as part of life? Rather than press you for answers; I will allow the successful entrepreneurs and drop out billionaires of this world share their own view on business and risks. If you are still ready to learn, then read on as the successful entrepreneurs drop share some advice on taking risks in business.

                Successful Entrepreneurs Advice on taking Risks in Business

 

1.            "He that observes the wind shall not sow and he that regards the clouds shall not reap." – The Holy Bible

2.            "The first man gets the oyster, the second gets the shell." – Andrew Carnegie

3.            "The wise man put all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket." – Andrew Carnegie

4.            "A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation." – Donald Trump

5.            “What I admire most are people who put themselves directly on the line.” – Donald Trump

6.            “It pays to trust your instinct.” – Donald Trump

7.            "To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks." – Bill Gates

8.            “We bet the company on Windows and we deserve to benefit. It was a risk that paid off immensely.” – Bill Gates

9.            “Even a mouse keeps three holes.” – The Mafia Manager

10.          “When you skate on thin ice, skate fast.” – The Mafia Manager

                Successful Entrepreneurs Advice on taking Risks in Business

 

11.          "It is better to strike while the iron is hot." – Henry Ford

12.          "If I lose a billion dollars, I will have it back in less than five years." – Henry Ford

13.          "If you see a snake, just kill it. Don't appoint a committee on snakes." – Henry Ross Perot

14.          “We rely on our own strength and our own will.” – Ingvar Kamprad

15.          "Buy when everyone else is selling and hold when everyone else is buying. This is not merely a catchy slogan. It is the very essence of successful investments." – J. Paul Getty

16.          "You must take risks, both with your own money or with borrowed money. Risk taking is essential to business growth." – J. Paul Getty

17.          "Seek advice on risk from the wealthy who still take risks, not friends who dare nothing more than a football bet." – J. Paul Getty

18.          "Without the element of uncertainty, the bringing off of even, the greatest business triumph would be dull, routine and eminently unsatisfying." – J. Paul Getty

19.          It’s very important for entrepreneurs to be realistic. So if you believe on that first day while you’re writing the business plan that there’s a 70 percent chance that the whole thing will fail, then that kind of relieves the pressure of self-doubt.” – Jeff Bezos

20.          “We are willing to go down a bunch of dark passageways, and occasionally we find something that really works.” – Jeff Bezos

                Successful Entrepreneurs Advice on taking Risks in Business

 

21.          “Things never go smoothly.” – Jeff Bezos

22.          "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." – John D. Rockefeller

23.          "The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets." – John D. Rockefeller

24.          "You have to act and act now." – Larry Ellison

25.          "Everyone thought the acquisition strategy was extremely risky because no one had ever done it successfully. In other words, it was innovative." – Larry Ellison

26.          “You realize that life is short and fragile; and when you are facing walls of water, you understand your own mortality can change and how quickly things could change.” – Larry Ellison

27.          "Dare to risk public Criticism" – Mary Kay Ash

28.          "Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try." – Mary Kay Ash

29.          "Follow your instincts, that's where true wisdom manifest itself." – Oprah Winfrey

30.          “I did 30 Minute Meals for five years on local television, and I earned nothing the first two years. Then I earned $50 a segment. I spent more than that on gas and groceries, but I really enjoyed making the show and I loved going to a viewer’s house each week. I knew I enjoyed it, so I stuck with it even though it cost me.” – Rachael Ray

                Successful Entrepreneurs Advice on taking Risks in Business

 

31.          “You have to be open-minded when those early opportunities present themselves; take advantage of them whether they’re going to make you a lot of money or not.” – Rachael Ray

32.          “Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs

33.          I started The Body Shop in 1976 simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters, while my husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas. I had no training or experience and my only business acumen was Gordon’s advice to take sales of £300 a week. Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.” – Anita Roddick

34.          "Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you are generally better off sticking with what you know and the third is that sometimes, your best investments are the ones you don't make." – Donald Trump

35.          "Starting a business is like building a ship and embarking on a voyage, armed with a plan, a map and a team. You have to sail with uncertainty against storms and unpredictable weather. If your ship sinks, it's either you quit or you swim back to shore, build a new ship and sail again." – Ajaero Tony Martins

36.          "What's coming will come and we will just have to meet it when it does." – J. K. Rowling

37.          "What's the worst that could happen? Everyone turned me down; big deal." – J. K. Rowling

38.          "If you want to go broke; go it big. I will prefer to lose a billion dollars than to lose a million dollars." – Ajaero Tony Martins

39.          It’s very important for entrepreneurs to be realistic. So if you believe on that first day while you’re writing the business plan that there’s a 70 percent chance that the whole thing will fail, then that kind of relieves the pressure of self-doubt.” – Jeff Bezos

40.          “We are willing to go down a bunch of dark passageways, and occasionally we find something that really works.” – Jeff Bezos

                Successful Entrepreneurs Advice on taking Risks in Business

 

41.          "Follow your instincts, that's where true wisdom manifest itself." – Oprah Winfrey

42.          "Screw it, let's do it." – Richard Branson

43.          “If you are trying to do something for the first time, it’s always an enormous challenge, and there is no guarantee of success. You never know with these things when you’re trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental.” – Richard Branson

44.          "Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing." – Warren Buffett

45.          Risk is part of God’s game, alike for men and nations.” – Warren Buffett

46.          “Risk can greatly be reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings.” – Warren Buffett

37 Quotes and Business Advice on Team Work and Team Building

What’s the importance of team work in building a business? What lessons do famous entrepreneurs and drop out billionaires have for me with respect to team building? Why do I need a business team? How do I build a business team? How do I impact the spirit of team work in my employees?

If the answer to any of the questions asked above interests you, then please read on as I share with you 37 quotes and business advice on team work and team building from successful entrepreneurs.

 37 Quotes and Business Advice on Team Work and Team Building

1.            “Mr. Morgan buys his partners, I grow my own.” – Andrew Carnegie

2.            “Successful entrepreneurs may hate hierarchies and structures and try to destroy them. They may garner the disapproval of MBAs for their creativity and wildness. But they have antennae in their heads. When they walk down the street anywhere in the world, they have their antennae out, evaluating how what they see can relate back to what they are doing. It might be packaging, a word, a poem, or even something in a completely different business.” – Anita Roddick

3.            “Do not primarily train men to work. Train them to serve willingly and intelligently.” – James Cash Penny

4.            I’d rather have one percent of the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent of my own efforts.” – J. Paul Getty

5.            “If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don’t have to manage them.” – Jack Welch

6.            “I hire people brighter than me and I get out of their way.” – Lee Iacocca

7.            “My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too.” – Jack Welch

“People problems must sometimes be dealt with harshly. When you make an example of someone, make sure everyone knows what the lesson is. Punish one, teach a hundred.” – The Mafia Manager

9.            “The most important ‘speed’ issue is often not technical but cultural. It’s convincing everyone that the company’s survival depends on everyone moving as fast as possible.” – Bill Gates

10.          “The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important – and then get out of their way while they do it.” – Jack Welch

11.          “My definition of an executive’s job is brief and straight to the point. It’s simply this: Getting things done through other people.” – James Cash Penny

12.          “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” – James Cash Penny  

“There will be times when you will have to be abrasive, even brutal to members of your staff. Don’t worry that your people will say bad things about you because of this. They already have. But in general, try to be pleasant and accommodating. Try to please the greatest number who work for you that you can; antagonize the fewest. Blow smoke.” – The Mafia Manager

14.          “Bringing together the right information with the right people will dramatically improve a company’s ability to develop and act on strategic business opportunities.” – Bill Gates

“The competition to hire the best will increase in the years ahead. Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge in this area.” – Bill Gates

16.          “Teams should be able to act with the same unity of purpose and focus as a well motivated individual.” – Bill Gates

17.          “I like my job because it involves learning. I like being around smart people who are trying to figure out new things. I like the fact that if people really try, they can figure out how to invent things that actually have an impact.” – Bill Gates

18.          “If you give people tools and they use their natural ability and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.”

19.          “You’ve got to give great tools to small teams. Pick good people, use small teams and give them great tools so that they are very productive in terms of what they are doing.” – Bill Gates

20.          “Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success.”

 37 Quotes and Business Advice on Team Work and Team Building

21.          “Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they are going to make mistakes.” – Henry Ross Perot

22.          “We bring together the best ideas – turning the meetings of our top managers into intellectual orgies.” – Jack Welch

23.          “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” – James Cash Penny

24.          “The five separate fingers are five independent units. Close them and the fist multiplies strength. This is organization.” – James Cash Penny

25.          “Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” – John D. Rockefeller

26.          “I have run engineering since day one at Oracle, and I still run engineering. I hold meetings every week with the database team, the middle ware team, the applications team. I run engineering and I will do that until the board throws me out of there.” – Larry Ellison

27.          “People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the company’s product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” – Mary Kay Ash

29.          “To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can’t guarantee it just by following someone else formula.” – Richard Branson

30.          “Individuals don’t win in business, teams do.” – Sam Walton

 37 Quotes and Business Advice on Team Work and Team Building

31.          We’re all working together; that’s the secret.” – Sam Walton

32.          “Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton

33.          “The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.” – Steve Jobs

34.          “Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn’t perfect at predicting the future. Based on today’s stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down and things may be different tomorrow but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today.” – Steve Jobs

35.    “I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.” – Thomas Edison

36.   “If I attack alone, I might turn out to be a wimp. But with a strong business team behind me, I am a force to contend with.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

37.  “Go to the wolf, consider its ways and be wise. A wolf will never hunt alone; it hunts in packs because it knows the power of team work.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

50 Famous Life Quotes about Success in Business

Today, I will be sharing with you 50 famous quotes about life; specifically tailored for entrepreneurs. Do you want to know the hard core truth about achieving success in business and life? Do you want to know what it takes to go through the entrepreneurial process of starting a business? Do you need inspiration to face your business challenges squarely?

Do you want to know what it takes to build a successful business and become a billionaire? Then read on as I share with you 50 famous life quotes about success in business for entrepreneurs and business owners.

 50 Famous Life Quotes about Success in Business

1.            “Share your success and help others succeed. Give everyone a chance to have a piece of the pie. If the pie’s not big enough, make a bigger pie.” – Dave Thomas

2.            “The greatest failure is not to try. Had I listened to all the people during the course of my life who said, “You can’t. You’ll fail. It won’t work. You don’t have…,” I wouldn’t be here today.” – Debbi Fields

3.            “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estee Lauder

4.            “Luck, naïveté, willingness to roll the dice to do something productive, were all individual parts of the puzzle.” – Fred Smith

5.            “There is no such thing as high returns without risk.” – Gerry Schwartz

6.            “From the beginning at Intel, we planned on being big.” – Robert Noyce

7.            “I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know.” – Harland Sanders

8.            “You must be very patient, very persistent. The world isn’t going to shower gold coins on you just because you have a good idea. You’re going to have to work like crazy to bring that idea to the attention of people. They’re not going to buy it unless they know about it.” – Herb Kelleher

9.            “I am an extreme optimist, while my husband likes to play the devil’s advocate. He wants to know the worst thing that can happen. I don’t even want to think about the worst case. I provide the discipline and stick-to-it-iveness.” – Jenny Craig

10.          “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” – Jim Rohn

11.          “I’m convinced that the only way to get ahead in this world is to live and sell dangerously. You’ve got to live beyond your means. You’ve got to commit yourself to an act or vision that pulls you further than you want to go and forces you to use your hidden strengths.” – John Johnson

12.          “When my company started really growing, I didn’t have any help in my house at all. I had the upkeep of my daily life, I had a one year old and a three year old, and I had my house. So I had to prioritize.” – Julie Aigner Clark

13.          “That’s why I am always conservative. I never forget to maintain stability while advancing, and I never forget to advance while maintaining stability.” – Li Ka Shing

14.          “It was a risk. I had a husband and I was pregnant with my oldest son. But I don’t look at risk the way other people do. When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to go in feeling like you’re going to be successful.” – Lilian Vernon

15.          “I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations….I have built my own factory on my own ground.” – Madame C. J. Walker

16.          “It’s called working your ass off. The difference is what you are willing to sacrifice. For every writer who wants balance in their life, there is a guy like me who gives up a lot to make their dreams come true. There is always going to be someone out there that knows they have to compensate for maybe having less talent with harder work and preparation.” – Mark Cuban

17.          “I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing.” – Martha Stewart

18.          “Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity.” – Michael Dell

19.          “I think those challenges are really critical and really important. What you learn from them is, of course, kind of what they say, ‘If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger,’ and it’s true. And what you learn from those challenges and those failures are what will get you past the next ones.” – Pierre Omidyar

20.          “If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.” – Ray Kroc

50 Famous Life Quotes about Success in Business

21.          “It was an extremely satisfying experience. Taking smart risks can be very gratifying.” – Reed Hastings

22.          “­Whenever I see an opportunity and a chance to change something, I go at it and I lay out all the facts to everybody…And when I come to this space, I’m going to come with talent, I’m going to come with focus. And I’m going to do the job as competitively as the next guy.” – Robert Johnson

23.          “Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.” – Sam Walton

24.          “Above all, you want to create something you are proud of. That’s always been my philosophy of business. I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive, then I believe you are better off doing nothing.” – Richard Branson

25.          “It is better to aim at perfection and miss it than to aim at imperfection and hit it.” – Thomas Watson

26.          “Do something. Either lead; follow or get out of the way.” – Ted Turner

27.          “And that’s the secret. Timing, hard work and smart partners. Using that formula, I’ve either founded or funded over 80 companies, and none have gone bankrupt. Most have done very well.” – Terry Matthew

28.          “I never thought I’d be successful. It seems in my own mind that in everything I’ve undertaken I’ve never quite made the mark. But I’ve always been able to put disappointments aside. Success isn’t about the end result; it’s about what you learn along the way.” – Vera Wang

29.          “Overcoming hardships and working around and through their obstacles to achieve an education is what I call a true success.” – Wayne Huizenga

30.          “If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just.” – Anita Roddick

 50 Famous Life Quotes about Success in Business

31.          “For whatsoever thy hands find to do, do it with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave.”  – Ecclesiastes 9: 10

32.          “You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you towards success? Or are they holding you back?” – W. Clement Stone

33.          “Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you are generally better off sticking with what you know and the third is that sometimes, your best investments are the ones you don’t make.” – Donald Trump

34.          “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” – Bill Gates

35.          “Behind every adversity is an opportunity. If you lament over the adversity, you will miss the opportunity.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

36.          “It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.” – Henry Ford

37.          “If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.” – Henry Ross Perot

38.          “Time is your most important resource. You can do so much in ten minutes. Ten minutes; once gone is gone for good.” – Ingvar Kamprad

39.          “Anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – J. K. Rowling

40.          “Patience; this is the greatest business asset. Wait for the right time to make your moves.” – J. Paul Getty

41.          “I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life’s problems.” – James Cash Penny

42.          “If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.” – Jeff Bezos

43.          “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

44.          “The most important aspect of my personality as far as determining my success goes; has been my questioning conventional wisdom, doubting experts and questioning authority. While that can be painful in your relationships with your parents and teachers, it’s enormously useful in life.” – Larry Ellison

45.          “You are nuts and you should be proud of it. Stick with what you believe in.” – Trip Hawkins

46.          “When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.” – Mary Kay Ash

47.          “You have to be open-minded when those early opportunities present themselves; take advantage of them whether they’re going to make you a lot of money or not.” – Rachael Ray

48.          “Start small and dream big.” – Rich Dad

49.          “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ 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.” – Steve Jobs

50.          “Let us do or die.” – Warren Buffett

Small Business Survival: How to Prevent Your Business From Failing

When it comes to business failures, mistakes in business and business challenges; I bet I have written a lot on this business blog with respect to those subjects. So today, I want to deal strictly on how to prevent your business from failing. If you interested in reading my published articles with respect to the subjects mentioned above; below is a quick link for you.

                10 Causes of Business Failure You Must Watch Out For

                12 Strong Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail

                13 Undisputable Reasons Why Many Entrepreneurs Fail To Succeed In Business

                10 Business Challenges Entrepreneurs Face When Building a Business from Scratch

                15 Common Business Mistakes You Must Avoid When Building a Business from Scratch

                How to Learn From Your Mistakes in Business

Since you have gotten a quick glance at the article list above, let’s get back to business. Statistics shows that 99% of all businesses started, fail in their first five years. Now what’s the cause of such high rate of business failure? I can’t answer that here because I’ve explained everything in previous articles; just check the articles listed above to find your answer.

In this article, I want to simply share with you how you can get your business off the list of the 99% failures; I want to share some tips that will help prevent your business from failing. If you are ready to learn, then below are eight ways to prevent your business from failing.

                Small Business Survival: How to Prevent Your Business From Failing

 

1.            Prepare for failure

                “Prepare for bad times and you will only know good times.” – Robert Kiyosaki

Preventing your business from failing starts with you the entrepreneur because the survival of your business rest solely on your shoulders. Get yourself ready to fail but do all within your power to avoid failure and you will never fail. One of the primary reasons entrepreneurs fail is because they fear failure and that fear of failure prevents them from trying new innovations on their business.

                “Most people say that the fear of failure is the beginning of hard work; that might be true in the world of employees and academic professionals but it’s doesn’t work that way on the street. When you fear failure, you become over cautious and over cautiousness is a requisite for failure. I believe the fear of failure is the beginning of failure. Entrepreneurs don’t fear failure; they thrive in the face of failure.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

As an entrepreneur, I will advice you prepare to face failure should in case it shows up. Preparing your mind for failure will help you bounce back quickly to success when you fall. Another way to prepare and prevent failure is to keep learning how to build a business. The business world is dynamic so you shouldn’t be static. After all, entrepreneurship is a process; a journey, not a destination. Use every free time you have to learn something and increase your knowledge; It will help your business in the long run.

 

2.            Be careful of the decisions you make

                "I have made tough decisions, always with an eye on the bottom line. Perhaps it's time America was run like a business." – Donald Trump

You are an entrepreneur and that makes you the pilot of your business. Therefore, the survival of your business tomorrow is dependent on the decision you make today. So don’t make hasty decisions; if you are in doubt over the effect of a decision you are about to take, discuss it with professionals and sleep over it. Even if it means seeking advice from external advisors; do it. A piece of advice from a seasoned professional can prevent your business from failing.

                “Before making an important decision, get as much as you can of the best information available and review it carefully, analyze it and draw up worst case scenarios. Add up the plus or minus factors, discuss it with your team and do what your guts tell you to do.” – The Mafia Manager

 

3.            Watch your cash flow

                "The most important word in the world of money is cash flow. The second most important word is leverage." – Rich Dad

Cash flow is the life blood of business and I believe you have heard that a couple of times. Always keep an eye on the cash flow and work closely with your accounting department to keep your cash flow strong. Effective cash flow management is the bedrock of business growth.

                "Know your numbers' is a fundamental precept of business." – Bill Gates

Make sure there’s a continuous flow of cash into your business even if it means making a few strategic moves on your creditors, debtors, suppliers, customers and investors. A business with poor cash flow management or a consistent negative cash flow is as good as dead.

                "There is one paradoxical characteristic every entrepreneur must possess to succeed. An entrepreneur must be able to persuade his debtors to pay their debts promptly and at the same, must tactically delay payments to his creditors." – Ajaero Tony Martins

 

4.            Move your business swiftly with the trend

                "In today's rapidly changing world, the people who are not taking risk are the risk takers." – Rich Dad

On countless occasions, I have heard from successful entrepreneurs that trend is a friend; not an enemy and I think that’s the truth. Your ability as an entrepreneur to rapidly align your business with the changing trend can be a competitive advantage for your business.

                "A company's ability to respond to an unplanned event, good or bad is a prime indicator of its ability to compete." – Bill Gates

Be swift to carry your business along with the current or upcoming industrial trend and innovation. Taking advantage of every available trend can help your business stay on course and prevent it from failing. Remember, trend is your friend.

                "Every company can choose whether to lead or follow the emerging digital trends." – Bill Gates

 

5.            Increase your sales and marketing budget

                "The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the products or service fits him and sells itself." – Peter F. Drucker

One of the silly mistakes made by most managers during a recession or decline in sales is to cut back on the marketing budget. Instead of cutting back on the marketing budget, I advice you spend more on marketing. Instead of going into hiding, I will advise you do some marketing and let your customers know you will stand by them; while at the same time letting competitors know that you are still in the game.

                "Advertising is the mouth piece of business." – James R. Adams

                How To Create A Successful Marketing Strategy That Suits Your Budget.

                How to Create a Targeted Viral Marketing Campaign that Attracts Potential Customers

                How To Write Charming Sales Letter That Holds Your Prospect Spell Bound.

 

6.            Build good relationship with your employees

                "We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you." – Mary Kay Ash

Your employees are part of your business so treat them as you will wish they treat your business. Occasionally surprise them by either sending them an unexpected birthday gift or acknowledging their extra effort in presence of other staff. If possible, give incentives and promotions to staff with outstanding performance. It will encourage them and also motivate others to strive for excellence.

                "People are definitely a company's greatest asset. It doesn't make any difference whether the company's product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps." – Mary Kay Ash

                How to Motivate Your Employees

 

7.            Hire employees slowly but fire them fast

                “If you own a butcher shop, don’t hire vegetarians. To hire the right people, you have to let the wrong people go.” – Rich Dad

Hire the right people in sensitive positions. You will know they are the right people after testing them. Never compromise the quality of your staff in the name of cutting cost; it will hurt your business in the long run. Another golden rule to preventing your business from failing is to fire employees fast.

                “There will be times when you will have to be abrasive, even brutal to members of your staff. Don't worry that your people will say bad things about you because of this. They already have. But in general, try to be pleasant and accommodating. Try to please the greatest number who work for you that you can; antagonize the fewest. Blow smoke.” – The Mafia Manager

Do not hesitate to let go of bad members of your staff. If you don't get rid of them fast, they will negatively influence or demoralize other good employees with their bad attitude and inevitably, your good employees might leave.

                "You must fire bad customers just as you would fire a bad employee. If you do not get rid of your bad employees, the good employees will leave. If I do not fire bad customers, not only will my good customers leave but many of my good employees will leave as well." – Rich Dad

 

8.            Take care of your existing customers

                "There is only one boss; the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." – Sam Walton

Do you know that your customers are your company’s greatest asset? Without them, your business will not be in existence. From analysis carried out by the marketing experts, it has been reveal that it costs more effort and resources to find new customers than to retain existing ones.

                "Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationship." – Henry Ross Perot

What if your customers abandon your business, will your business stay afloat? I leave you to answer the question. If you must know; existing customers are the most important key to small business survival. Treat them with care and they will spread the word about the wonderful experience you gave them.

                "Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement." – James Cash Penny

One of my small business survival strategies during my early startup days was to stay true to our customers. My team and I established a closer relationship with the customers; provided excellent services and dealt with customer’s complaint with utmost priority.

                "Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You will be amazed at how many companies don't listen to their customers." – Henry Ross Perot

We did this because we knew the implication of losing one customer and beside that; our competitors were looking for an opportunity to poach our customers so we had to be on guard. If you interested in learning how to keep your customers loyal and happy, the articles below will be helpful.

                "Customer service will become the primary value added function of every business." Bill Gates

                How to Keep Your Customers Happy and Loyal Using Creative Gifts.

                How to Use the Word “Free” to Influence Your Customer’s Psychology and Sell Your Products Fast

I believe with these few small business survival strategies, you can prevent your business from failing. Always remember that your chance of either failing or succeeding in business depends entirely on you, so be wise.

W. Clement Stone Quotes: Business Success Tips from a Savvy Business Man

Today, I will be sharing with you some business success tips of a savvy business man; W. Clement Stone. Clement Stone is a successful entrepreneur, business leader and founder of Success Magazine. Are you in undergoing the entrepreneurial process of building a business from scratch? Then below are some of W. Clement Stone’s quotes and business success tips to keep you going.

                W. Clement Stone Quotes: Business Success Tips from a Savvy Business Man

1.            “Aim for the moon. If you miss it, you may hit a star.”

2.            “All I want to do is change the world.”

3.            “All personal achievements start in your mind. The first step is to know exactly what your problem, goal or desire is.”

4.            “Be careful of the environment you choose for it will shape you. Be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.”

5.            “Big doors swing on little hinges.”

6.            “Bondage is subjection to external influences and internal negative thoughts and attitudes.”

7.            “Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievements.”

8.            “Events tend to recur in cycles.”

9.            “Every great man; every successful man no matter what field of endeavor has known the magic that lies in these words. Every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.”

10.          “Everyone who achieves success in a great venture solves each problem as they came. They helped themselves and they were helped through powers known and unknown to them at the time they set out on their voyage. They keep going regardless of the obstacles they meet.

 

W. Clement Stone Quotes: Business Success Tips from a Savvy Business Man

 

11.          “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”

12.          “If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.”

13.          “Like success, failure is many things to many people. With positive mental attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, and a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order to prepare to try again.”

14.          “No matter how carefully you plan your goals, they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto.”

15.          “Prayer is man’s greatest power.’

15.          “Regardless of who you are or what you have been, you can be what you want to be.”

16.          “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman; not the attitude of the prospect.”

17.          “Self suggestion makes you master of yourself.”

18.          “Success is achieved and maintained by those who try and keep trying.”

19.          “Tell everyone what you want to do and someone will want to help you do it.”

20.          “There is little difference in people but that little difference makes big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.”

 

W. Clement Stone Quotes: Business Success Tips from a Savvy Business Man

 

21.          “There’s a great joy in my giving. It’s thrilling, it’s exhilarating. It’s important to be part of sharing. It’s my love; it’s my joy.”

22.          “Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.”

23.          “To be happy, make other people happy.”

24.          “To every disadvantage, there’s a corresponding advantage.”

25.          “Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance.”

26.          “Try, try, try and keep on trying is the rule that must be followed to become an expert in anything.”

27.          “We have a problem, ‘congratulations.’ But it’s a tough problem. Then double congratulations.”

28.          “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

29.          “When we direct our thoughts properly, we can control our emotions.”

30.          “When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.”

 

W. Clement Stone Quotes: Business Success Tips from a Savvy Business Man

 

31.          “When you do the wrong thing knowing it is wrong, you do so because you haven’t developed the habit of effectively controlling or neutralizing strong inner urges that tempt you, or because you have established the wrong habit and don’t know how to eliminate them effectively.”

32.          “You affect your subconscious mind by verbal repetition.”

33.          “You always do want you want to do. This is true with every act. You may say you have to do something or that you were forced to but actually, whatever you do; you do by choice. Only you have the power to choose for yourself.”

34.          “You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you towards success? Or are they holding you back?

35.          “Your most precious valued possessions and your greatest power are invisible and intangible. No one can take them. You and you alone can give them. You will receive abundance for your giving.”

James Cash Penny Quotes: Business Advice from a Retail Mogul and founder of J C Penny

Today, I will be sharing with you some wisdom and business insights from James Cash Penny; the founder of JC Penny stores. I consider the business quotes of James Cash Penny resourceful because of his tough business standards. If you must know; Sam Walton, the founder of Wal Mart was inspired by James Cash Penny to go into the retail business. Without wasting much of your time, below are some of James Cash Penny’s business quotes.

                James Cash Penny Quotes: Business Advice from a Retail Mogul and founder of J C Penny

1.            “A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public has nothing to fear from competition.”

2.            “A store’s best advertisement is the service its goods render, for upon such service rest the future, the goodwill of an organization.”

3.            “As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for.”

4.            “Change is vital; improvement is the logical form of change.”

5.            “Clock watchers never seem to be having a good time.”

6.            “Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.”

7.            “Determine to do some thinking for yourself. Don’t live entirely on the thoughts of others. Don’t be an automation.”

8.            “Do not primarily train men to work. Train them to serve willingly and intelligently.”

9.            “Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.”

10.          “Exchange ideas frequently.”

James Cash Penny Quotes: Business Advice from a Retail Mogul and founder of J C Penny

11.          “Growth is never by mere chance, it is the result of force working together.”

12.          “Honor bespeaks worth. Confidence begets trust. Service brings satisfaction and cooperation proves the quality of leadership.”

13.          “I believe a man is better anchored who has a belief in the Supreme Being.”

14.          “I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice – in giving a failure another chance.”

15.          “I cannot remember a time when the golden rule was not my motto and precept, the torch that guided my footsteps.”

16.          “I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life’s problems.”

17.          “I never trust an executive who tends to pass the buck. Nor would I want to deal with him as a customer or a supplier.’

18.          “I was long brought up to think that it was nothing short of a crime to miss a sale.”

19.          “It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.”

20.          “It is the services we are not obliged to give that people value most.”

 

James Cash Penny Quotes: Business Advice from a Retail Mogul and founder of J C Penny

21.          “It is always my practice to train salespeople under my direct supervision and to treat children with the utmost consideration.”

22.          “Luck is always the last refuge of laziness and incompetence.”

23.          ‘Men are not great or small because of their material possession. They are great or small because of what they are.”

24.          “My definition of an executive’s job is brief and straight to the point. It’s simply this: Getting things done through other people.”

25.          “No business can succeed in any great degree without being properly organized.”

26.          “No company can afford not to move forward. It may be at the top of the heap today or at the bottom of the heap tomorrow if it doesn’t.”

27.          “No matter the position or experience in life, there is in everyone more latent than developed ability, far more unused than used power.”

28.          “No serious minded man should have time for the mediocre in any phrase of his living.”

29.          “Responsibility is given to him on whom trust rests. Responsibility is always a sign of trust.”

30.          “Salesmanship is limitless. Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.”

 

James Cash Penny Quotes: Business Advice from a Retail Mogul and founder of J C Penny

31.          “Salesmanship too, is an art; the perfection of its technique requires study and practice.”

32.          “Selling is our number one job. Never get away from selling a lot of merchandise personally. The more you sell, the more you learn.”

33.          “Success cannot come from standstill men. Methods change and men must change with them.”

34.          “Success will always be measured by the extent to which we serve the buying public.”

35.          “The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication and clear communication is necessary to management success.”

36.          “The best merchandise will go back to the shelf unless handled by a conscientious tactful salesman.”

37.          “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.”

38.          “The disciplined are free.”

39.          “The five separate fingers are five independent units. Close them and the fist multiplies strength. This is organization.”

40.          “The golden rule finds no limit of application In business.”

 

James Cash Penny Quotes: Business Advice from a Retail Mogul and founder of J C Penny

41.          “The greatest teacher I know is the job itself.”

42.          “The keystone of successful business is cooperation. Friction retards progress.”

43.          ‘The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth but men of deeds.”

44.          “The problem with the bronco is to get on and stay on. That is the problem with the golden rule to understand and apply.”

45.          “The thought in my mind was that I must be a good merchant. If I were a good merchant, the rest would probably take care of itself.”

46.          “The well satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts.”

47.          “Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless.”

48.          “There has never been a time when a career in the Penny Company was not a challenge that brought out the best in a man.”

49.          “There’s no better friend to any merchant than a fair competitor.”

50.          “Too many would be executives are slaves of routine.”

 

James Cash Penny Quotes: Business Advice from a Retail Mogul and founder of J C Penny

51.          “We can serve our customers well only if our buying jobs are right. You cannot sell if you haven’t ordered wanted goods into your store.”

52.          “We get real results only in proportion to the real values we give.”

How to Start a Business from Scratch

Today, I will be writing a different kind of article. I will be sharing with you how to start a business from scratch based on my entrepreneurial experience.

If you are expecting some kind of magical pills from this write up; I am so sorry you will be disappointed. In this article, I am not going to say anything new with respect to starting a business or building a business; all I want to do is share the business lessons and entrepreneurial experience I have accumulated over the years. So if you are ready to learn how to build a successful business from scratch; then read on.

 How to Start a Business from Scratch and Five Lessons i Learned from the Process

I have built businesses from scratch and I am still building more. It’s a game I love because of the challenges it offers. Anybody can wake up tomorrow and buy a business but not everyone has the guts to start and build a business from scratch. Now why start a business from scratch when you can buy an already established business? I will answer that question in detail in the forthcoming articles.

As I lay on my bed today, I reflected over my life and the business challenges I have faced and surmounted. As I reflected over the past, I remembered the moment when I first started out as an entrepreneur. I remembered the feeling I had inside of me; a feeling mixed with fear and excitement. I knew the step I was about to take was a dangerous one and I was afraid; because I knew I could lose it all. But I was equally excited about starting a business because it was a bold step towards a life of uncertainty; I was happy because I was taking control of my destiny.

“Nothing gives me a sense of fulfillment more than building successful businesses from scratch. Once my goal is achieved in a particular business; I exit and start another business. Building businesses from scratch is where my passion lies and I am not quitting until death.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

It seems like yesterday, when I first started out as an entrepreneur and here I am today, still grinding it out; hoping I will get to the place of my dreams.

“It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.” – James Cash Penny

“Building Oracle is like doing math puzzles as a kid.” – Larry Ellison

Looking back over the years I have spent as an entrepreneur, I have been able to extract five lessons that will help you in the entrepreneurial process of building a business from scratch.

This article is not only about the business challenges I have faced; it’s about my entrepreneurial experience in general and the lessons I picked up along the way. If you are looking for an article that deals intensively with business challenges and how to handle them; you can check the archives.

My ultimate aim of writing this article is to get you prepared. Yes, i want you to be prepared in advance for the unknown. Just as an old saying goes: “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.” Without wasting much of your time, below are five hard core business lessons I have learned over the years of building and exiting businesses.

 How to Start a Business from Scratch and five Business Lessons I have learned from the process

Lesson One:     The fastest way to build a successful business from scratch is to fail fast

What the hell is this guy saying! That’s usually the exclamation I hear from my protégés when I tell them lesson one. Nobody wants to fail; neither do they want to be associated with failure and maybe that’s why most people will never start a business successfully.

“Success is a poor teacher. We learn the most about ourselves when we fail, so don’t be afraid of failing. Failing is part of the process of success. You cannot have success without failure.” – Rich Dad

To build a successful business, you must be willing and prepared to fail. Though your ultimate aim is to succeed and not fail, but if failure comes; accept it, pick up the lessons and move on.

I have not seen a successful entrepreneur without a stint of past failure. Just as Rich Dad said above, failure is part of the process of success. All great entrepreneurs have had one or two experiences of failure. As an entrepreneur, I have hit ground zero a couple of times but I don’t think I am alone in this ordeal.

“The business empires built by successful entrepreneurs were erected on the foundation of past failures.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

a)            Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he invented the incandescent bulb and this is what he has to say;

“I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison”I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison

b)            Henry Ford had two business failures and with the experience gathered from those business failures, he went on to build Ford Motor Company and became one of the richest men in history.

“Failure is just a resting place. It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

C)            Sir Philip Green had four business failures before he hit his first million at the age of 33.

d)            Robert Kiyosaki had a major business failure when his Nylon and Velcro wallet company crashed; and with the experience from this failure, he went on to build the Rich Dad Company.

“Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.” – Robert Kiyosaki

From the illustrations provided above, you will come to agree that failure is not as bad as it’s painted to be. Human perception towards failure is the major reason why I hate talking about my successes. Success stories; though inspiring, seem to attract fools and lazy bums into the world of business and investing. I believe you will learn more from my failures than my successes. Have I had my own share of business failure? My answer is a resounding yes.

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I cannot accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan

  • The very first seminar I organized was a flop. We advertised heavily, the response and inquiry rate was good; and my expectations were high. But on the D-day, it rained heavily and the expected attendees failed to turn up. I lost 100 percent of my invested capital including that of my partner.
  • I have lost money in a couple of online investments that didn’t yield a dime.
  • My first information product flopped even after investing heavily in buying ads. No single sale was made, not even a dime. But that did not stop me from creating other information products.
  • I once signed up for a multi-level marketing company. The company was great; the products were excellent and the compensation plan was superb. The company had a proven track record of success and successful distributors to show for it. Everything was perfect but once again, I failed to breakthrough. I think I will share the lessons learned from this particular experience and if you must know; the company I signed up for was GNLD, I still have their membership card with me. The card reminds me of the time spent with great men and women, who rose from grass to grace.
  • I have been a distributor for two different companies that ended in liquidation.
  • My first major online business flopped because I lacked experience and the technical know how to run it.
  • I have being shut out of good business and investments opportunities simply because of my nationality. I want to state categorically that I am a Nigerian to the bone and I am proud of it; I love my country.
  • I have had good business ideas that i failed to bring into reality and i also had some businesses launched but failed to break even.
  • I was a shareholder of a bank that went bankrupt. The bank ended up being nationalized and my shares became worthless.
  • On several occasions, i was offered the opportunity to invest in some startup companies but i turned them down and these companies became big companies.

“Get mocked at for as much as you can, fail as much as you can but don’t quit. Let every mockery, every failure, be a source of inspiration for you to reach for greatness and that greatness will silence your critics.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

Despite my massive failures, the experience i gathered from these failures is priceless. You’ll never know what works and what doesn’t, if you don’t fail. You will never know your limitation and capabilities until you risk failing. Am I a failure? I don’t think so because I haven’t quit the entrepreneurial process; I am still in the game. I alone can declare myself a failure and since I haven’t declared it; I am not.

“For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a road block, take a detour.” – Mary Kay Ash

I believe these illustrations have opened your eyes to understand the importance of failure on the road to business success. Your ability to accept failure as a learning process is a way forward in the process of building a business.

“How many people are completely successful in every department of life? Not one. The most successful people are the ones who learn from their mistakes and turn their failures into opportunities.” – Zig Ziglar

Lesson Two:       Starting and Building a business is a process; there’s nothing like overnight success

“In the game of entrepreneurship, the process is more important than the goal. When you start building a business, you begin a journey, a process. This process has a beginning and an ending and between the beginning and end are a lot of challenges. You will win only if you remain faithful to the process.” -  Rich Dad

Have you ever heard of the phrase “overnight success? I bet you have and the concept may sound good to your ears. Most people are attracted to business world with tales of overnight success but the earlier you get your mind off becoming an overnight success, the better for you.

“A short cut is the longest distance between two points.” – Anonymous

Everyone wants to be the next Bill Gates, Larry Ellison or Mark Zuckerberg. Every Nigerian wants to start a business and be the next Aliko Dangote; who is the currently the richest black man in the world but not everyone is willing to go through the process these men went through.

“I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me thirty years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme.” – Aliko Dangote

“The height attained by great men is not by sudden flight. For while their companions lay asleep, these men were toiling in the night.” – Anonymous

All business begins from the planning phase before proceeding to the startup phase. When starting a business, you can never bypass the planning phase to the startup phase. My most respected mentor “Robert Kiyosaki” has this to say with respect to building a successful business overnight.

“Most people say the Rich Dad Company is an overnight success and I admit, we are an overnight success but it took us 10 years to get there.” – Robert Kiyosaki

Becoming a medical doctor is a process that comes with a lot of study and hard work; same goes with building a business, it’s a process. I don’t know how best to stress this point but what I want you to carry along is this: overnight success will not happen; I have gotten first hand experience of it. Abandon the “get rich quick” or “overnight success” concept and you will save yourself a lot of headaches.

“I started and built a business from scratch. One thing I love about the entrepreneurial process is this; no matter my level of fame and success today, the thought of my early days in life, when I had nothing; will always keep me humble.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

It took Aliko Dangote approximately 30 years to become a billionaire and richest black man in the world. It took John D. Rockefeller 25 years of oil drilling and distribution to become a billionaire. It approximately took 10 years for Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jerry Yang and David Filo to become billionaires. But Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest billionaire in the world in less than five years.

Can everybody successfully go through the entrepreneurial process? My answer is a resounding yes but there’s a catch to it; you must be adequately prepared to undergo the process.

All successful entrepreneurs went through a process to get to their present status. Now I can’t tell how long it will take you to complete your own process and you will never know because you don’t have a crystal ball to foresee the future. All I can tell you is that everybody’s entrepreneurial path is different. It’s up to you to find yours and you will never find it except you start the entrepreneurial process.

“The most important thing is to enjoy yourself and continue to work. Life is a journey, not a destination. That’s also true in business; your objectives keep moving.” – Thomas J. Burrell

Lesson Three:    There will never be a perfect time to start a business; all lights will never go green

“Without the element of uncertainty, the bringing off of even, the greatest business triumph would be dull, routine and eminently unsatisfying.” – J. Paul Getty

I was reading an article on YoungEntrepreneur.com and in that article, the writer emphasized the need to make proper calculations and make sure that everything is in its rightful place before launching your business. A commenter wrote in supporting the writer’s point of view.

The commenter claimed the reason he hasn’t started a business was because he’s a perfectionist. He wants to make sure everything is right before taking a leap into the world of business; he was waiting for the perfect time. Though I commented on that article and challenged the view, one truth I never told that commenter was this; he may never start a business.

“My best advice to entrepreneurs is this; forget about making mistakes, just do it.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

My mentor Robert Kiyosaki once said that there are three components to starting a business. One is the right plan; two is the right team and three is the money. He said that rarely do these three components come together when starting a business. But the most important point he made was this;

“It’s the duty of an entrepreneur to grab one piece and start the business, the remaining two pieces will be found along the way. Finding the remaining two components may take a year or more than 10 years; the point is, start with what you have.” – Robert Kiyosaki

“You stick it out. You’ve just got to.” – Steve Case

Once again, I restate my lesson number three: “There will never be a perfect time to start a business; all lights will never go green.”

I have a lot of friends who are enthusiastic about starting a business; sometimes, they share their plans with me and I can tell you that their plan sounds great. But when I ask them why they’ve not started the business despite the wonderful plan on ground?

The reply I usually get is this: “Don’t worry Tony; I am waiting for the right time to start. You know I can’t afford to make the wrong move; I just can’t afford to make mistakes.” Whenever I hear this; all I do is shake the hands of this friend and wish him/her good luck.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

“You have to act and act now.” – Larry Ellison

But the sad news is that these friends never get to start their dream business. Year after year, I still see these friends of mine keeping their jobs and when I remind them of the wonderful plans they shared with me in the past; I still hear the same old pitch from them. “I am waiting for the perfect time to start a business.” My question now is; when will this perfect time come?

“Screw it, let’s do it.” – Richard Branson

The truth is there will never be a perfect time to start a business; there will never be a perfect business opportunity and there will never be a perfect investment opportunity. There’s no perfect economic environment and perfect business plan.

Entrepreneurship is all about risk taking; calculated risk to be precise. It’s the risk involved that makes starting a business or building a business exciting, worthwhile and rewarding. You don’t need to have everything in place before you start a business; start with what you have and you will pick the rest up along the way.

“Risk — If one has to jump a stream and knows how wide it is, he will not jump. If he doesn’t know how wide it is, he’ll jump and six times out of ten, he’ll make it.” – Warren Buffet

Amazon was started in the garage by Jeff Bezos; so also was Ford Motor Corporation. Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Dell computers were started in the dorm of various schools. The entrepreneurs behind these companies had great business ideas but had little capital and no business team. But did lack of startup capital and a business team stop these men? The answer is no. If these men hadn’t started with what they have; they wouldn’t have been approached by partners, investors and Venture Capitalists.

“Begin to weave and God will provide the thread.” – Anonymous

Now take for instance when I started my first blog, I never knew what a cPanel or plugin was. I never knew WordPress or blogger existed and I was a total novice when it comes to search engine optimization. But I still went ahead to start a business blog because I believe in active learning; I believe in learning while undergoing the process.

(That blog was hosted on Tripod’s server and it was neither hosted on WordPress, Blogger, Drupal or Joomla platform. Sincerely speaking, I never knew these platforms existed back then because I was a total novice). As expected, my first blog flopped but with the experienced gathered, I started this business blog you are reading now.

Notwithstanding, this blog had and still has flaws which I am constantly working to improve and correct. For instance, when I started this blog; I was so deeply involved with my offline businesses that I was strapped for time. I had much work on hand and less time to write but I still went ahead and started the blog.

So based on the nature of my startup, my initial articles were poorly written and it was only recently that I re-edited them. If I had waited for the perfect time to begin working on my blogging idea; I am not sure this blog will be where it is today. Secondly, i have crashed this blog several times by messing up the code; just because i wanted to make some changes and improvement. But i wasn’t discouraged; after all, i was learning from the process. So take the risk and start something today. Just as my lesson number three states: “There will never be a perfect time to start a business; all lights will never go green.”

“In today’s rapidly changing world, the people who are not taking risk are the risk takers.” – Robert Kiyosaki

Lesson Four:      Preparing for the best is important; expecting the worst is most important

“Prepare for bad times and you will only know good times.” – Robert Kiyosaki in his book Conspiracy of the Rich

The basis of this lesson four was formed after I read the book “Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich” As humans, it’s normal to pray and always expect good times. Even in school, we were instructed to always prepare for the best but never was it mentioned that we should expect the worst.

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” – Anonymous

As an entrepreneur, I can confidently tell you that the business world is filled with bed of roses but you have to go through the thorns to get to the bed of roses. Business ideas are interesting to behold on paper; building a business is exciting in the planning phase because of its future prospects.

“Things never go smoothly.” – Jeff Bezos

But the reality of starting a business manifests the moment your business is launched; and this reality is the major reason why most entrepreneurs give up after the failure of their first business startup. They wish they never started the process and they vow never to repeat it. At this stage, I want you to take a glance again at my lesson number four.

“Preparing for the best is important; expecting the worst is most important.”

To successfully start a business and navigate the harsh business terrain, you have to be adequately prepared but most importantly, you must also expect the worst. When I am approached by budding entrepreneurs who are over enthusiastic about their self proclaimed “fool-proof business idea,” I politely remind them about the 50-50 probability of success and failure. No matter your level of success, the odds will still be there.

“Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.” – Henry R. Luce

The ultimate reason I advocate you expect the worst is because when you expect the worst and prepare towards it, the worst will never happen.  You may go bankrupt or lose your investment capital. To the outside world, you are finished but deep down in you; you know it’s not the worst. Why? The reason is because you expected and prepared towards it. Donald Trump has gone bankrupt twice but he roared back after each bankruptcy because it wasn’t the worst situation for him.

When I organized my first seminar, I had very great expectations. I worked closely with my partner to make sure everything was in place. We advertised heavily and the response from interested attendees was encouraging but on the D-day, it rained heavily and nobody showed up.

I was devastated, all our initial investment capital went down the drain with the rain and we became indebted to some individuals who were supposed to collect their balance from the profits of the seminar organized.

But this incident didn’t stop me from organizing other seminars because I prepared for the best but expected the worst. Unfortunately, my partner and friend quit the process and went looking for a job; he wasn’t prepared for the worst and that was why he quit the entrepreneurial process.

Building a business is not like having a job, where you can predict your time of promotion and expected pay. In business, you must thrive on uncertainty. Employees expect the best, entrepreneurs expect the worst and when the worst finally come to entrepreneurs, it won’t be the worst.

“Starting a business is like building a ship and embarking on a voyage, armed with a plan, a map and a team. You will have to sail against storms, unpredictable weather and uncertainty. If your ship sinks, it’s either you quit or you swim back to shore, build a new ship and sail again.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

Now how do you prepare for the worst? I definitely don’t have the answer to that question because I can’t teach you how to expect and prepare for the worst. But a great way to start is by having a contingency plan; or better still, an exit strategy or plan B.

 “Always start at the end before you begin. Professional investors always have an exit strategy before they invest. Knowing your exit strategy is an important investment fundamental.” – Rich Dad

Before I go into any business, I prepare and plan for the best; after which I prepare for the worst by putting a contingency plan in place. A contingency plan is always my landing haven should in case I’m eventually hit by the worst. It’s the sole reason why I still have the audacity to start new businesses even after a business failure.

Most hunters go hunting inadequately equipped, praying they don’t come across a lion. Experienced hunters go hunting with the expectation of being confronted by a lion. So which hunter do you want to be? The business world is just like a forest, you can never know what’s ahead of you so it’s best you are prepared.

“In the business world, the rear view is always clearer than the wind shield.” – Warren Buffett

Lesson Five:       Your successes or failures in business are all hinged on one important factor; YOU

“The biggest challenge you have is to challenge your own self doubt and your laziness. It is your self doubt and your laziness that defines and limit who you are.” – Rich Dad

“You are the architect of your own fate.” – Anonymous

This is always my final lesson and advice to those who want to start a business or those already in the process of building a business from scratch. It’s not just a lesson; it’s also a fact. Everything to succeed might be in place but if you are not prepared, if you are not in the right mindset; you will fail even when presented with a perfect idea and business team. My lesson one to four will be useless if you lack the mindset to undergo the entrepreneurial process.

“Getting rich begins with the right mindset, the right words and the right plan.” – Rich Dad

Being in the right entrepreneurial mindset means being prepared to fail; it means being prepared to go beyond your comfort zone and finally, it means being prepared to give your business everything it requires to make it a success. Being in the right mindset means being prepared to hold on to your dreams even in the face of criticism.

“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dream and how you handle disappointment along the way.” – Rich Dad

After analyzing my past experience, I can confidently tell you that starting a business or building a business from scratch takes pain and sacrifice. A time will come when you will need to give up certain things just to get your business off the ground.

A time will come when you will need to put in at least 60-80hours per week to see your business get through the small business startup phase. A time will also come when you will experience sleepless nights, emotional stress and critical business challenges. As a result of all this, you will be disappointed because things are not going the way you expected and eventually; you will have a strong urge to quit.

“You must not only learn to live with tension, you must seek it out. You must learn to thrive on stress.” – J. Paul Getty

“You can always quit so why quit now.” – Rich Dad

Now how do I know all this? I know because I have had the same experience. When I started out as an entrepreneur, I gave up most of my old friends and gained a new set of friends; new friends who play the same game I play.

I gave up my lifestyle and I had to automatically become humble because I knew nothing with respect to running a business; and I stood to lose all. I denied myself some pleasures of life including sleep, just to make sure my first business gets off the ground. The experience wasn’t pleasant as I expected but it was worth it.

“I enjoy myself a lot but I derive more joy in working. I believe in hard work and one of my business success secrets is hard work. It’s hard to see a youth that will go to bed by 2am and wake up by 5am. I don’t rest until I achieve something.” – Aliko Dangote

Building a business from scratch needs everything you’ve got. You must be prepared to sacrifice some things to breakthrough in business. Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Richard Branson, Michael Dell and Mark Zuckerberg sacrificed their education to build the business of their dreams; others gave up their job security. I am not asking you to do any of these; all I want you to understand is that it’s up to you to do it. Entrepreneurship is a personal undertaking, only you can decide whether or not to go through the process.

“And obviously from our own personal point of view, the principal challenge is a personal challenge.” – Richard Branson

In conclusion, these are the five main lessons I have picked up over the years in the process of building a successful business from scratch. I know more lessons are still forthcoming and I am prepared to learn. I know more business failures await me in the future but I am not afraid to fail. Rather, I am afraid to quit the process having come this far.

As a final note, the ultimate key to building a successful business from scratch is you; so my last advice to you is this: Be yourself, stick to your philosophy, believe in your dream, pursue that dream with undying determination and I will see you at the top.

“You are nuts and you should be proud of it. Stick with what you believe in.” – Trip Hawkins

“Remain true to yourself and your philosophy.” – Giorgio Armani

“Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Ray Kroc

Famous Bill Gates Quotes: Strategic Business Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

Today, I will be sharing with you some strategic business advice and quotes from Bill Gates. But before we dive into the famous Bill Gates quotes; let’s have a quick look at his bio.

Short Bio of Bill Gates: Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft corporation; the largest software company in the world and at the time of writing this article, he is the richest man in the world. Bill Gates has held the coveted position of the world’s richest man more than 12 consecutive years and he’s not letting go of that position. His wealth have crossed the $100billion mark; peaking at an all time high of $101billion.

Bill Gates is number one on our list of the richest school drop out billionaires; having dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft. Though he has faced massive media attack and several anti-trust lawsuits; Bill Gates is best known for his quiet, unpretentious nature and huge donations to Charity. Below are Bill Gates business quotes and advice to young entrepreneurs.

 50 Famous Bill Gates Quotes + Strategic Business Advice for Entrepreneurs

1.            “We were young, but we had good advice good ideas and lots of enthusiasm.”

2.            “Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning.”

3.            ” This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world because business is going to change in the next ten years than it has in the last fifty years.”

4.            “The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitors, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose.”

5.            “A bad strategy will fail no matter how good your information is and lame execution will stymie a good strategy. If you do enough things poorly, you will go out of business.”

6.            “Information flow is the life blood of your company because it enables you to get the most out of your people and learn from your customers.”

7.            “Information work is thinking work.”

8.            “Business people need to shake off the notion that information is hard to get.”

9.            “Better information can expand the role of sales managers from being closers of big deals to being business managers.”

10           “Bringing together the right information with the right people will dramatically improve a company’s ability to develop and act on strategic business opportunities.”

11.          “A self service approach can handle 90 percent of employee administrative needs.”

12.          “Customer service will become the primary value added function of every business.”

13.          “The pace of change and the need for more personalized attention to customers will drive companies to adopt digital processes internally.”

14.          “As the internet drives down the cost of transactions, the middle man will disappear or evolve to add new value.”

15.          “Only a few businesses will succeed by having the lowest price, so most will need a strategy that includes customer services.”

16.          “An important re-engineering principle is that companies should focus on their core competence and outsource everything else.”

17.          “The competition to hire the best will increase in the years ahead. Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge in this area.”

18.          “Customers want high quality at low prices and they want it now.”

19.          “The most important ‘speed’ issue is often not technical but cultural. It’s convincing everyone that the company’s survival depends on everyone moving as fast as possible.”

20.          “How fast a company can respond in an emergency is a measure of its corporate reflexes.”

 50 Famous Bill Gates Quotes + Strategic Business Advice for Entrepreneurs

21.          “A company’s ability to respond to an unplanned event, good or bad is a prime indicator of its ability to compete.”

22.          “Strategically, a major function of the CEO is to look for bad news and encourage the organization to respond to it. Employees must be encouraged to share bad news as much as good news.”

23.          “Reward worthy failure – Experimentation.”

24.          “In three years, every product my company makes will be obsolete. The only question is whether we will make them obsolete or somebody else will.”

25.          “Sometimes, I think my most important job as a CEO is to listen for bad news. If you don’t act on it, your people will eventually stop bringing bad news to your attention and that is the beginning of the end.”

26.          “Embrace bad news to learn where you need the most improvement.”

27.          “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

28.          “Know your numbers’ is a fundamental precept of business.”

29.          “Teams should be able to act with the same unity of purpose and focus as a well motivated individual.”

30.          “To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.”

31.          “In business as well as the military, he who has the shortest procurement and deployment cycle wins.”

32.   “Every company can choose whether to lead or follow the emerging digital trends.”

33.          “I regret being the richest man in the world because that position attracts undeserved publicity.”

34.          “Capitalism is this wonderful thing that motivates people; it causes wonderful inventions to be done. But in the area of diseases of the world at large, it has really let us down.”

35.          “I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions; they will be moved to act.”

36.          “I do think this next century hopefully, will be about a more global view. Where you just don’t think, yes my country is doing well but you think about the world at large.”

37.          “I have $100billion. You realize I could spend $3million a day, everyday for the next hundred 100 years? And that’s if I don’t make another dime.”

38.          “I think it’s fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we have ever created. They are tools of communication, tools of creativity and they can be shaped by their users.”

39.          “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”

40.          “The browser space that we are in, we have about 90%. Sure, Firefox has come along and the press love the idea of that. Our commitment is to keep our browser that competes with Firefox to be the best browser; best in security and best in features.”

50 Famous Bill Gates Quotes + Strategic Business Advice for Entrepreneurs

41.          “There are people who don’t like capitalism and people who don’t like PCs. But there’s no one who like the PC who doesn’t like Microsoft.”

42.          “I like my job because it involves learning. I like being around smart people who are trying to figure out new things. I like the fact that if people really try, they can figure out how to invent things that actually have an impact.”

43.          “If you give people tools and they use their natural ability and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected.”

44.          “You need to know about the customer feedback that says things should be better.”

45.          “The people who resist change will be confronted by the growing number of people who see that better ways are available; thanks to technology.”

46.          “You’ve got to give great tools to small teams. Pick good people, use small teams and give them great tools so that they are very productive in terms of what they are doing.”

47.          “We bet the company on Windows and we deserve to benefit. It was a risk that paid off immensely.”

48.  “The vision is really about empowering workers, giving them all the information about what’s going on so that they can do a lot more than they have done in the past.”

49.  “Microsoft is not about greed. It’s about innovation and fairness.”

50.   “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the other.”