In all arenas, being an entrepreneur is difficult. It requires intense devotion and focus, to forge your own path. Rather than trying to draw inspiration from within – we’ve curated some of our favorite quotes on entrepreneurship, to help our readers become entrepreneurs! Here are some of my favorite quotes on entrepreneurial thinking:
•“The good and the bad always ends up on the bosses desk.” Dr. Gil Lederman
•“The one big lesson I learned above all else, though, is that no matter what you’re working on — no matter how glamorous it seems to the onlookers and armchair quarterbacks — nothing comes easy, especially when you’re self-employed.” Jason Saltzman
•“Entrepreneurship is hard, no, real entrepreneurship is hard, I say real because many young people call themselves entrepreneurs, but they really don’t know the half of it.” Gordon Swaby
•“There’s always talk about the end game in the form of an acquisition, funding announcement, or eventual flame out. Hollywood has even made a movie about the founding of Facebook that glamorizes startup life instead of showing what it really is: a day in day out marathon of work with very little glamor. We rarely hear about the harsh realities that entrepreneurs face and the journey that this entails.” Jason Baptiste
•“Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs are undisputed heavyweight champions of lying to themselves, because denial is more comfortable than action. The suffering is what makes entrepreneurship great. It’s supposed to be hard.” John Brubaker
•“Running a business is damn hard. If it was easy, then everyone would be doing it.” Natalie Sisson
•“It takes a lot of time and hard work over the long haul to be successful. It just does. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to quit slacking off all the time. Simple as that.” Steve Tobak
•“Genuineness in an enterprise comes from a passion for a product, a breakthrough, or a disruption of some kind…and if you don’t have courage and passion to do it—because God knows the odds are against you—I can promise you no amount of money will ultimately give you that.” George Bell
•“Most entrepreneurs who succeed are working much, much harder than their employees. That is the simply fact.” Gennady Barsky
•“Being an entrepreneur is really hard. And we are really hard on ourselves. We are afraid to show any weakness, because we’ve been taught being weak or vulnerable is to be shunned.” Jason King
•“There are many characteristics that an entrepreneur must possess in order to be successful. It takes determination, hard work, passion and drive.” Brittany Schuler
•“No one that opens a business is going to get everything right. That person has to work hard to correct mistakes and learn not to do it again.” Willie Owens
•“An entrepreneur is a person who can see a problem and find a solution. An entrepreneur is a person who is will to take on risk, work hard, and be innovative.” Paul Ostering
•“Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Cook, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer – those are just a handful of entrepreneurs and executives who are famous workaholics. The truth is, every successful person I’ve ever known – and I’ve known plenty – had to work ridiculously hard to get there.” Steve Tobak
•“There is a lot written on customer service, leadership, sales and innovation, but not a lot about the most important aspect of being an entrepreneur — suffering. Or should I say, learning the value of suffering.” John Brubaker
•“The most successful entrepreneurs are those who work for it.” Sandra Swanepoel
•“It is amazingly difficult work – you have no life balance, no family time, and you will never work harder in your life. It really can be brutal.” Phil Libin
•“Starting up a new company requires an incredible level of commitment and determination over a very long period of time. You pretty much have to clear your calendar for the next 10 years, and be focused on just one thing – your business.” Aaron Levie
•“As an entrepreneur you have to not only be willing to live with uncertainty and the fallout from mistakes, but you also have to be resilient, learn quickly, let things go and move forward. This later part doesn’t always feel good.” Danae Ringelmann
•“There are downsides to being an entrepreneur. People begin to look at you as a meal ticket, and a person who is incapable of having personal problems. Equally the long hours begin to take [their] toll on your health. I think the saddest part of it is losing friends… because this barrier of success seems to be in place.” Jamal Edwards
•“You may as well reset your body clock. The reality is you can’t have a nine-to-five attitude when your income is entirely in your own hands.” Doug Richard
