Quotable Quotes: About Entrepreneurs
by Miki Saxon 
Everywhere you turn these days you see ‘entrepreneurs’, whether it’s the kid on the corner with a lemonade stand, the owner of the new cupcake shop or Mark Zuckerberg—they are all entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs aren’t a new phenomenon, some five centuries ago Niccolo Machiavelli offered a definition that still holds true, “Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.”
Victoria Claflin Woodhull put it a bit differently, “Entrepreneurs are risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputations on the line in support of an idea or enterprise.”
Roy Ash offers a shorter, pithier description, “An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.”
Ted Turner, a successful entrepreneur himself, offers a slightly cynical take on the current love affair with entrepreneurs, “My son is now an “entrepreneur.” That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job.”
Pete du Pont points out something of which many people aren’t aware, i.e., the entrepreneurial path is rarely straight line, “That’s the way it is with entrepreneurial people. You try one thing, it doesn’t work, you try another.”
Nolan Bushnell doesn’t mince words in stating the most important entrepreneurial trait, “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.”
Most people enjoy stories about accidental entrepreneurs, but few realize that Richard Branson is one of them, “I wanted to be an editor or a journalist, I wasn’t really interested in being an entrepreneur, but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going.”
That’s all for today; be sure to join me tomorrow to hear about a universal truth that might surprise you.
Image credit:Amber Strocel
