Trust us … you need to hear this.
You can never have too much life advice, so we dusted off some of the best advice from the more successful entrepreneurs of the world to help you be a better person.
… Because trust us, you need to be a better person.
On Risk
“It is normal for entrepreneurs to feel out of control and worry that the rug could be pulled from underneath them at any moment. These are growing pains for every ambitious founder trying to build a business from scratch, and ones that every successful entrepreneur will have experienced at some point.”
On Fear
“A touch of the jitters sharpens the mind, gets the adrenaline flowing and helps you focus. It is important not to fear fear, but to harness it — use it as fuel to take your business to the next level. After all, fear is energy. Conquering your fear will allow you to take the required risks to make your business a success and try new innovative approaches to business problems. The question is: How do you do it?”
On Entrepreneurs
“No one works harder than an entrepreneur starting a business, but if you ask one about work/life balance, you won’t hear the usual gripes about long, grinding days. Why? Because real entrepreneurs have a passion for what they’re doing, so work doesn’t feel like work. It’s energizing and fun. It might seem like crazy hours to someone else, but there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing.”
On Startups
“I would definitely not recommend trying to create two companies at once as sort of happened with SpaceX and Tesla … It’s too much. I’d really strongly recommend someone to just focus on one company and throw as many hours at it as you possibly can. Really work morning to night. Think about it in your sleep. Seven days a week. No breaks. That’s what you should do when you are starting a company.”
On building a business
“It’s so hard to catch something that everybody already knows is hot. Instead, position yourself and wait for the wave to come to you. So then you ask, Position myself where? Position yourself with something that captures your curiosity, something that you’re missionary about.
I tell people that when we acquire companies, I’m always trying to figure out: Is this person who leads this company a missionary or a mercenary? The missionary is building the product and building the service because they love the customer, because they love the product, because they love the service. The mercenary is building the product or service so that they can flip the company and make money.
One of the great paradoxes is that the missionaries end up making more money than the mercenaries anyway. And so pick something that you are passionate about, that’s my number one piece of advice.”
On the Current State of the American Dream
“It is normal for entrepreneurs to feel out of control and worry that the rug could be pulled from underneath them at any moment. These are growing pains for every ambitious founder trying to build a business from scratch, and ones that every successful entrepreneur will have experienced at some point.”
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