“I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.”
Winston Churchill
BY THOMAS KOULOPOULOS Founder, Delphi Group
The attitudes of success are timeless and guide every entrepreneur’s journey.
While there’s an abundance of contemporary entrepreneurs worth quoting, I’ve long had a fascination with legendary entrepreneurs who built many of the early cornerstone industries of the 20th century and earlier. From Henry Ford to Ray Kroc and Coco Chanel to Estee Lauder, they all faced enormous odds in not only creating new business models but in changing the very trajectory of a society. And they did it from ground zero at a time when raising capital was far less efficient than it is today.
I’ve selected a quote and a little known fact from my 11 favorite historical entrepreneurs. This is clearly not an exhaustive list, and I’d love to hear about your favorites, but they are the ones who I’ve come to know in my writing and research.
What’s most fascinating about these individuals is that their challenges do not differ much from yours and mine. They were all imperfect people with outrageous ideas and they were often surrounded in controversy. They were each very different and yet they all shared common attitudes about doing over thinking, persistence, unbending confidence, motivation, and an ethos of never ever quitting.
Perhaps drawing on their words will give you the inspiration you need to keep moving forward, with the knowledge that while every entrepreneurial journey is unique, all success is based on some basic immutable attitudes that govern your trajectory as surely as physics governs that of a rocket.
- “You must keep your mind on the objective, not on the obstacle.” —William Randolph Hearst
One of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in history; his fortune in today’s buying power would be $5 trillion!
- “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”–Benjamin Franklin
Although a prolific inventor, he believed that new inventions should not be patented and instead should be available for the benefit of all.
- “Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”–Thomas Edison
His Menlo Park Lab, which existed for only six years, from 1876 to 1882, produced over 400 inventions and became the role model for R&D for the next 150 years.
- “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”–Henry Ford
He didn’t give the world what it asked for; he gave it what it needed. And he also didn’t invent the assembly line, as most of us were taught. Instead, he made it move and doubled the wage of his workers to attract and retain the best talent.
- “It is no achievement to walk a tightrope laid flat on the floor.”–Ray Kroc
He grew McDonald’s into the world’s leading fast-food franchise through relentless drive, and once also said, “I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.”
- “People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”–Andrew Carnegie
One of the five wealthiest men in history, he gave away the entirety of his fortune to charity long before Gates and Buffet made it popular.
- “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.”–Coco Chanel
Best known for her eponymous perfume, she was as controversial a figure as she was a shrewd businesswoman.
- “The difference in winning and losing is most often not quitting.”–Walt Disney
Few people have had such vision, but it was his wife, Lillian, who convinced him to change Mortimer to Mickey Mouse!
- “Persistence. It’s that certain little spirit that compels you to continue just when you’re at your most tired. It’s that quality that forces you to persevere, find the route around the stone wall. It’s the immovable stubbornness that will not allow you to cave in when everyone says give up.”–Estee Lauder
She built a $5 billon business, which she started in her kitchen!
- “What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.” –Alexander Graham Bell
His patent for the telephone was filed just hours before a competitor, Elisha Gray, filed his caveat for a patent. Sometimes minutes matter in charting the course of history.
MORE:
- “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!” –Madame C. J. Walker
Born to two former slaves, she worked her way out of poverty to become the first female African-American millionaire, building a hair care empire, including a diploma-granting college for hair culturalists.
I am actively looking to build relationships with Real Estate Investors and Owner / Users for Phoenix – Scottsdale – Tucson – Maricopa County – Pima County – Pinal County – Cochise County – Santa Cruz County –Yavapai County – Gila County – Arizona , USA
Walter Unger CCIM – walterunger@ccim.net – 1-520-975-5207 – http://walter-unger.com
WHY PHOENIX ARIZONA : ???
http://walter-unger.com/?p=13391
1
Timeline of Phoenix, Arizona history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Phoenix,_Arizona_history
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona
3
Facts of Arizona – year 1848 to 2013
http://walter-unger.com/?p=9507
Feel free to contact Walter regarding any of these stories, the current market, distressed commercial real estate opportunities and needs, your property or your Investment Needs for Comercial Properties in Phoenix.
1-520-975-5207
http://www.loopnet.com/profile/14101172900/Walter-Unger-CCIM/Listings/
Investors and owner/users need to really know the market before making a move in commercial investment properties as the market has a lot of moving parts today. What’s going on socio-economically, what’s going on demographically, what’s going on with location, with competing businesses, with public policy in general — all of these things affect the quality of your commercial properties/investment properties. Therefore, you need a broker who understands commercial properties. Please go to my web-site and get all the newsflashes and updates in Commercial Real Estate.
Check out my professional profile and connect with me on LinkedIn.
https://www.facebook.com/ungerccim
https://twitter.com/Walterunger
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/114560883588623379451/
Walter Unger CCIM, CCSS, CCLS
I am a successful Commercial / Investment Real Estate Broker in Arizona now for 20 years. I am also a commercial land specialist in Phoenix and a Landspecialist in Arizona. If you have any questions about Commercial / Investment Properties in Phoenix or Commercial / Investment Properties in Arizona, I will gladly sit down with you and share my expertise and my professional opinion with you. I am also in this to make money therefore it will be a win-win situation for all of us.
Please reply by e-mail walterunger@ccim.net or call me on my cell 520-975-5207 or Office:480-948-5554
Walter Unger CCIM
Associate Broker, Kasten Long Commercial Group
2821 E. Camelback Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85016
Cell: 1-520-975-5207
Fax: 1-602-865-7461
walterunger@ccim.net
View my listings and my profile at:
http://www.loopnet.com/Profile/14101172900/Walter-Unger-CCIM/
a little about me and my expertise – video
commercial-investment real estate adviser-land specialist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPs3kpKR4nY
Delivering the New Standard of Excellence in Commercial Real Estate
- Commercial Real Estate Scottsdale
- Commercial Real Estate Phoenix
- Commercial Real Estate Arizona
- Commercial Investment Properties Phoenix
- Commercial Investment Properties Scottsdale
- Commercial Investment Properties Arizona
- Land Specialist Arizona
- Arizona Land Specialist
- Land Specialist Phoenix
- Phoenix Land Specialist
- Land For Sale Phoenix
- Land for sale Arizona
- Commercial Properties For Sale Phoenix
- Commercial Real Estate Sales Phoenix
- Commercial Properties Phoenix
- Commercial Properties Arizona
- Commercial Land Specialist Phoenix
- Commercial Land Phoenix
- Multifamily land Phoenix
- Retail Land Phoenix
- Industrial Land Phoenix
- Land Commercial Phoenix
- Land Retail Phoenix
- Land Industrial Phoenix
- Land Multifamily Phoenix
- Industrial Land for sale Phoenix
- Land Industrial
- P
- Investment Real Estate
Disclaimer of Liability
The information in this blog-newsletter is for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this e-newsletter are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided “as is,” with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.