Business Owner Quotes & Sayings

I was a small business owner, father, and husband just living out in the suburbs. I kind of had a boring life until Post Secret came and turned that upside down. I printed up 3000 self-addressed postcards and handed them out to people on the street, inviting them to write down a secret on that postcard anonymously and mail it to me. I got a lot of surprises. — Frank Warren

After several trillion dollars of stimulation by the Obama Administration and the Fed, one might think the economy would be chugging along at a pretty good clip. But, it just isn't so, and the light at the end of the tunnel is pretty dim. Just ask a small business owner. — Bob Beauprez

As the owner of the Arison Group, a philanthropic and business enterprise that spans across 40 countries in 5 continents, my ongoing challenge is to bridge the gap between what I envision and its understanding and practical implementation. The Arison Group operates to realize the overall vision of Doing Good. — Shari Arison

We select such investments on a long-term basis, weighing the same factors as would be involved in the purchase of 100% of an operating business: (1) favorable long-term economic characteristics; (2) competent and honest management; (3) purchase price attractive when measured against the yardstick of value to a private owner; and (4) an industry with which we are familiar and whose long-term business characteristics we feel competent to judge. — Warren Buffett

Any feeling of security is only in your head. Anything could happen at any time. As long as you are strictly someone's employee at one company, you're a liability on the balance sheet. I say that as a business owner. We cannot trust any government to provide us with what we need, nor is that its responsibility. We cannot trust most employers either. Insulate yourself with multiple incomes either from different companies or by working for yourself in addition to one main source of income. Diversify and protect yourself. - Chris Lutz, Modular Career Design — Chris Lutz

I started my first business when I was 19. I learned a valuable lesson as a small business owner. You are the first one to work, last one to leave, and last one to be paid. — Kevin McCarthy

You like doing certain tasks, you might be good at doing them. The question is, should you BE doing them, as the business owner?!! — Chris C. Ducker

I'm the guy who's started businesses, I've been a small business owner. I've employed hundreds of Pennsylvanians. I know how to get jobs moving in the private sector, rein in the excesses in Washington, and bring some balance to a town that's lost all balance. — Pat Toomey

We have a greedy cycle where Human Rights Commissions fine citizens in order to pay their own salaries so they can employ more Human Rights Commissions. It's a bounty system where the prizes are business owner's heads. And so as restaurants go broke, tourists get stabbed. That's human rights in New York. And perhaps America. — Greg Gutfeld

As a former small business owner, I recognize both the important role small businesses play in our economy and the broad universe of challenges that small business owners face in trying to make ends meet. — Sue Kelly

Any business owner or entrepreneur knows that there is no luck or good fortune about keeping a company up and running. It's nothing but hard work, consistency, determination, courage, staying focused, accepting failure, making changes, and simply keeping on with the grind. — Enaka Yembe

We very much hope that as we get growth that we can reduce the burden of taxation, that we can reduce income tax and increase the amount of genuine free enterprise and business enterprise ... This is going ... toward the restoration of the personal responsibility, the independence, with every man a property owner, every man a capitalist. — Margaret Thatcher

But America was built by optimists. Optimists like my friend Amanda, who recently started a small business. When she went to buy her website address-her first and last name-she found that someone already owned it, but wasn't using it. So my friend emailed the owner of the site to ask if she could buy it. The owner wrote back. — Eva Longoria

Any small business owner wears many hats. We [New View Window Cleaning] are the salesman, bookkeeper, scheduler, cleaner, customer complaint department, etc. If you aren't organized and willing to do all these things (at least in the beginning) you are better off working for someone. — Tony Evans

I'm sure there will be business ventures and things down the road, but I definitely don't want to be a team owner. — Scott Dixon

The first thing about Houston is it's an organization run from a different perspective. In Cincy, the team lives off money it earns from football. Houston's owner has other business interests, and he controls the money. — Johnathan Joseph

A business owner can become rich exponentially and people who work for wages become rich incrementally. — Robert Kiyosaki

It's far more difficult being a small-business owner starting a business than it is for me with thousands of people working for us and 400 companies. Building a business from scratch is 24 hours, 7 days a week, divorces, it's difficult to hold your family life together, it's bloody hard work and only one word really matters - and that's surviving. — Richard Branson

To obtain financial freedom, one must be either a business owner, an investor, or both, generating passive income, particularly on a monthly basis. — Robert T. Kiyosaki

like a stormy sea at best. 81. Making Cents of It All With over 1,500 projects under my belt as a freelancer and business owner, saying that I've experimented with pricing structures may be the understatement of the year. In my early years, nearly everything was based on a fixed bid. As my client list grew, I began landing some hourly gigs, retainers, and some dedicated resource structures. Each of these pricing structures has pros and cons, for you as a designer as well as for your client. Understanding these pricing structures, explaining them clearly to your clients, and choosing the right one for the job can make the difference between a blissful client experience and your worst nightmare. Fixed Bid Fixed-bid pricing is a set scope of work with a fixed price. You tell — Michael Janda

Social Media Strategy isn't rocket science...but it might as well be if you don't know what you're doing. — Sherree Mongrain

A business owner is the boss, but it's a job, a place that is stable and profitable. An entrepreneur is an artist of sorts, throwing his/herself into impossible situations and seeking out problems that require heart and guts to solve. Both are fine, but choose. — Seth Godin

My precept to all who build, is, that the owner should be an ornament to the house, and not the house to the owner. — Marcus Tullius Cicero

The ultimate proof of confidence for a small-business owner is, are they hiring employees? — Brad D. Smith

In a way, if you are the data-driven marketing business owner, your position is similar to the owner of a football team. You don't get to train the players or call the plays, you just get to pay the bills but really need results to sell tickets and keep the stadium full. — Mark Jeffery

Buy cheap and sell high is a rule of business, and when you control enough money and enough banks you can always manage that a stock you want shall be temporarily cheap. No value is destroyed for you - only for the original owner. — Ida Tarbell

Our investments continue to be few in number and simple in concept: The truly big investment idea can usually be explained in a short paragraph. We like a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people. When these attributes exist, and when we can make purchases at sensible prices, it is hard to go wrong (a challenge we periodically manage to overcome). — Warren Buffett

I had been thinking about becoming a business owner for some time, but I didn't have the confidence to pursue it. My parents encouraged the idea, and I had scoffed at them irritably. I wanted the job security that a nine-to-five would provide me. But now I could see that security, both in the office world and beyond, was a myth. You could do everything right, but nothing would come to you if it wasn't Krishna's will. — Samita Sarkar

Busy Building FUND$ While Y'all Have FUN. — Stephanie Lahart

In addition to being a nurse, I'm also a small business owner and I taught at a local community college. I'm also a proud mother of three and grandmother of six - all of them wonderful. — Diane Black

After twenty years of studying millionaires across a wide spectrum of industries, we have concluded that the character of the business owner is more important in predicting his level of wealth than the classification of his business. But — Thomas J. Stanley

A study of project and risk management in software projects in the public sector found that an informal partnership between the project's business owner and the project manager was seen by the latter as providing more effective project proprietorship and governance than the project steering committee [1]. This suggests that the application of governance may be more important than its form. This paper, however, focuses only on formal and explicit governance — Anonymous

Phunny Business is a breezy, vivid, funny, star-studded and delightful valentine to comedy, entrepreneurship and the All-American impulse to make something out of nothing. The story of comedy club owner/inveterate dreamer Raymond Lambert and his heroic quest to create a safe, productive place for black stand-up comedians to hone their craft and find their voices isn't just a great Chicago story and a great comedy story: it's a flat-out great story, lovingly and engagingly told. — Nathan Rabin

That Steuben, who needed a translator, what with his English vocabulary consisting almost entirely of swear words, ended up being the perfect hire to upgrade the Continental Army should rattle every search committee, small-business owner, casting director, college admissions officer, headhunter, and voter. — Sarah Vowell

About as much business as a cat owner has selling dog food. Or an Olympic swimmer has advertising for downhill ski equipment. Or a nun writing hard core erotica.
Abso-fucking-none. — Laurel Ulen Curtis

Shares are not mere pieces of paper. They represent part ownership of a business. So, when contemplating an investment, think like a prospective owner. — Warren Buffett

As a member of the House Committee on Small Business and because of my own experience as a small business owner, I am appreciative of the impact these small businesses have on our local economies. — Melissa Bean

In 2007, Michael Grimm, former Marine, former FBI agent, accountant and attorney, was poised for success as a small business owner. Instead, as alleged, Grimm made the choice to go from upholding the law to breaking it. In so doing, he turned his back on every oath he had ever taken. — Loretta Lynch

Believe it or not, the biggest obstacle for a business owner with any size business is the internal response to the question - 'Now what?' Often this question is followed by a - deer in the headlights - response, which is then followed by stagnation. Following stagnation comes fear. — Darren L Johnson

Building a business is like building a home. If the foundation rests on an unstable setting or is constructed with subpar materials, it doesn't matter if the rest of the home is perfect. It will never be a joy to its owner — Thomas J. Stanley

I now have 10-year-olds asking me about how to become successful, how to become a business owner, which is crazy - at 10 I was trying to figure out which Barbie I wanted. — Michelle Phan

Most small businesses failed because the owner was under skilled, not under capitalized. — Robert Kiyosaki

There are few experiences in life as painful and brutal as the failure of a small business. For a small business conceived and nurtured by its owner is like a living, breathing child. Its loss is no less traumatic than losing a loved one. — William Manchee

Ask yourself, are you an artist, or are you an art business? You can be both, but to be successful you need to think and act like a business owner. — Dave Conrey

Everything in business is to get you face to face with people to respond to your offer. You have to realize the Internet is merely a door opening, and it has to be followed up by aggressive sales activity by the business owner. — Brian Tracy

Any business owner can tell you that if their company isn't performing profitably and up to standards, one of two things will happen: either you make changes to improve its efficiency, or a competitor will drive you out of business. Market forces have a way of cutting to the chase rather quickly. — J. B. Pritzker

Step one: The CEO or owner has to open the door. The only way to do that is to admit that they don't know how. It's a moment of vulnerability. It's only one moment, but I've seen CEOs put it off for decades. All it is is this: "Hey guys, I really want to make this a great place to work. And, as you know, I've tried a lot of things over the years. But the truth is, even though the business has gotten better in some ways, when it comes to the culture - how people feel about coming to work here - I know it hasn't changed in the ways you need it to. I don't know how to change it but I want to start a new conversation with you about it. Okay? — Jonathan Raymond

You wouldn't get in a car and drive around aimlessly, hoping to eventually arrive at a pleasant destination. So why would you even consider doing this for your business? — Koos Kruger

It's a great discipline to have to report to somebody, even if you're the sole owner — Tim O'Reilly

I have a hard time believing athletes are overpriced. If an owner is losing money, give it up. It's a business. I have trouble figuring out why owners would stay in if they're losing money. — Reggie Jackson

I'm looking forward to being a mom and a wife and a business owner. — Melanie Roach

The path to success involves two parts. Part One is all about imagination and dreaming up a big idea. Part Two is all about having the diligence, the determination, and the tenacity needed to turn those dreams into reality. First comes the inspiration, then comes the perspiration. — Clay Clark

A polarizing mission statement forces the reader to choose between two sides of a line drawn in the sand. Rare is the business owner who has the courage to craft such a statement. — Roy H. Williams

Charity work. Any smart, ethical business owner is going to be involved with something that gives back, whether it is at the community level, in the fight against a specific disease, or in a broad campaign to address another social issue. If you are willing to take the time to roll up your sleeves - first, to find out what groups your targeted mentor works with, and second, to start giving your money, time, or resources to that same group - you can find inroads to business mentors very quickly, and all while pursuing a worthy cause. — Ryan Blair

Some people say, "What difference does it make what color the winemaker is that made the wine? Judge the wines off their own merit." Like, of course. And I do believe that my wine is judged off its own merit. But the fact is that when you walk into places and people can't believe that you're the principal or you're the owner or you made the wine, it's mind-blowing to me some days. It's like, wow. That's why we need to continue talking about it. — Andre Hueston Mack

The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don't bother thinking about becoming a business owner. — Robert Kiyosaki

She'd been lax in her responsibilities as the building owner because her tenants were her friends. Emmylou rented out the left half of the bottom floor space for her massage studio. Chaz rented the tiny center section for his various artistic enterprises. Amery's graphic design business was on the right bottom half and she lived in the loft that spanned the length of the two-story building. — Lorelei James

I don't see how that is any of your business. Stupid, shiny Volvo owner. — Stephenie Meyer

Business owners are like joggers. If you stop a jogger, he goes on running on the spot. If you drag an owner away from his business, he goes on running on the spot, pawing the ground, talking business. He never stops hurtling onwards, making decisions and executing them. — Jean Baudrillard

Blue collar workers cannot hire each other. White collar workers cannot hire each other. You have to have a businessman or a businesswomen, a business owner to hire you. And you cannot make the environment so unfriendly to them or so unprofitable or so burdensome that they go out of business,because if they go out of business, you are out of a job. — Duncan Hunter

First, in order to build a business, you have to be able to sell because Sales = Income. When income is lacking, it's usually because the owner doesn't like to, doesn't know how to, or is simply reluctant to sell. Without sales, however, you have no income. — Robert Kiyosaki

As a small business owner for the last 15 years, when I think of what truly changed my life, it was my faith, a strong family, my mom did a really, really good job of encouraging me in very clear and discernible ways. — Tim Scott

An investor should ordinarily hold a small piece of an outstanding business with the same tenacity that an owner would exhibit if he owned all of that business. — Warren Buffett

To have a healthy and thriving business, there must be healthy relationships with the C.E.O.S. in the organization and I'm not referring to the Chief Executive Offficers. I am talking about the Customers, the Employees, the Owner (or stockholders), and the Suppliers. — James Hunter

When the sun sets at night and you lay your head down on your pillow, you must believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that your business will be successful. More than anyone, you, the business owner, should have incredible faith that you will experience prosperity. This journey is not about following a popular path that leads to fame and fortune, instead, it is about creating an extension of God's kingdom right here on earth. As beacons of light and salt of the earth, Christians should provide an example of what true victory means to the rest of the world. — V.L. Thompson

I am a local economic revitalization strategist. But I am also a TV/radio host, and a small business owner. I find ways to use money more efficiently to realize positive goals for everyone. — Majora Carter

As a small business owner, you must sell or you will go out of business. Therefore, you must prospect (it's an integral part of the process). You have to bring people to your business, not just wait for them to show up. — Diane Helbig

My construction business represents 10 or 20 times what I'll ever invest in football. But from the moment I bought the Chargers, I would become forever known as the owner of that NFL franchise. — Alex Spanos

Warren Buffett said that he would not invest in any business where the owner hasn't failed at least twice. I love that truly wealthy and successful people understand that failure is part of the process. — Steve Harvey

As any small business owner knows, starting a business is not glamorous work. — Kevin McCarthy

We do not view the company itself as the ultimate owner of our business assets but instead view the company as a conduit through which our shareholders own assets. — Warren Buffett

God's Word is your owner's manual for life. It contains principles for health, finance, marriage, other relationships, business, and much more. — Rick Warren

You could also say that a precious brand often has rituals associated with it. They reinforce the specialness of the brand. And of course the brand owner can help ensure those rituals are created. — Andrew Doyle

Ms. Ellie Bockert Augsburger, owner of Creative Digital Studios, did a most excellent job. I feel compelled to mention that she had great ideas for Storm Warning. When asked to switch, she did so with ease, for this and many other reasons, I highly recommend her. In addition to cover art, she does graphic designs for businesses. She did a silhouette of an eagle similar to the one on Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Wings of Eagles) for our business logo. — Lynn Hallbrooks

As a business owner don't think your limitations, think business; it's all about business. — Vernita Naylor

These people hadn't just lost a job; they'd lost an identity. They'd spent countless hours demonstrating loyalty to the business, knowing, of course, that they were only as valuable as their last deal. But this is the trick that a job can sometimes play on us: we know we're working at the pleasure of a manager, an owner, a corporation, but we're human and can't help but develop emotional attachments to the work we do. We begin to identify ourselves with our employers and believe that a business can return our loyalty. Sometimes businesses do. But when it comes down to it, a corporation's first allegiance is to its own survival. Everyone benefits from the idea that we're all in it together - until suddenly we're not. — Wes Moore

If you want to succeed in business in any capacity - employee, manager, or owner - you must have a solid, comprehensive understanding of what business principles actually are and how they actually work. — Josh Kaufman

I am excited to rise today to support National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day. This celebration honors the husband and wife business owner teams whose work helps drive the economy and fuel job growth. — Melissa Bean

It's the job of any business owner to be clear about the company's nonnegotiable core values. They're the riverbanks that help guide us as we refine and improve on performance and excellence. A lack of riverbanks creates estuaries and cloudy waters that are confusing to navigate. I want a crystal-clear, swiftly flowing stream. — Danny Meyer

Being general manager is like being the de facto owner. It's like wearing the crown of 'Restaurant Man' without being 'Restaurant Man.' You're trying to run the business, but you're running the ranch without riding the big horse. — Joe Bastianich

When it comes to busines ... I mean your business. Always remember you are the leader of your businesnot the Manager. You are the inspiration of your organization, you are the core that moves your business forward ... and this is your added value as a business owner. — Sameh Elsayed

The average small-business owner uses 18 apps to run their business every day, and if those applications don't allow data to flow seamlessly and they don't integrate, it's going to become a point of friction. It's going to prevent the small business from being successful. — Brad D. Smith

If any proof is needed of the importance of having a good understanding of business, all you have to do is look at what often happens when the owner of a business decides to retire and turn it over to one of his or her children. More often than not, when this happens, the son or daughter who takes over has spent a few years working in the business and a few more helping the owner run it. But a lot of family businesses don't do as well when they are passed on, and one of the primary reasons for this is that, even though the new owner has some experience in the business, he or she often doesn't understand the various facets of business and how they are all interrelated. And the result, unfortunately, is that a perfectly viable company, one that its original owner spent years building up, now has a questionable future. — Bill McBean

A business owner who is liberal probably inherited the business. — James Cook

I've built employee perks programs before and it's impossible to manually build a program that makes everyone happy. I'd make a deal with one gym then hear about another gym an employee would prefer. As a small business owner, I didn't have the time or leverage to negotiate and manage dozens of vendor relationships. — Paige Craig

Like any small business owner, I experienced the pressures of building a company from the ground up - developing a business plan, balancing the books, meeting payroll and building a customer base. — Gavin Newsom

To be successful as an investor or a business owner, you have to be emotionally neutral to winning and losing. Winning and losing are just part of the game. — Robert T. Kiyosaki

He who before was the money owner, now strides in front as capitalist; the possessor of labor-power follows as his laborer. The one with an air of importance, smirking, intent on business; the other hesitant, like one who is bringing his own hide to market and has nothing to expect but a hiding. — Karl Marx

Many businesses fail because the owner wasn't willing to invest and wasn't educated on the difference between spending money frivolously and investing money into the business for growth, and the risks and rewards of that cash infusion. — Carol Roth

As a business owner or manager, you know that hiring the wrong person is the most costly mistake you can make. — Brian Tracy

We need to get out of the way of the small business owner - and big business owners - and allow them to do what government can only dream of doing: creating jobs and thereby creating wealth. — Diane Hendricks

The lesson of the Ford story is that managers and management are the specific need of the business enterprise, its specific organ, and its basic structure. We can say dogmatically that enterprise cannot do without managers. One cannot argue that management does the owner's job by delegation. Management is needed not only because the job is too big for any one man to do himself, but because managing an enterprise is something essentially different from managing one's own property. — Peter F. Drucker

Rich dad always said, "To be successful as an investor or a business owner, you have to be emotionally neutral to winning and losing. Winning and losing are just part of the game." Quitting — Robert T. Kiyosaki

Why - because as a oil and gas small business owner - I know if someone is not doing their job, they should not get paid. Again leadership by example. — Jeff Landry