← Your daily dose of motivation
152 quotes, page 5 of 6Starting something of your own
For the van owner, the sole trader, the first employee hired and anybody building a business from a spare room. About customers and effort, never easy money.
We say who really said each one, and where the credit is uncertain we tell you. Every card is ours to share.
“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.”
Charlie Munger, commencement address at USC Law School (2007)
Read one HMRC or ACAS guide a week while the firm is small. A year later you know more than most bigger employers.
“To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want.”
Charlie Munger, commencement address at USC Law School (2007)
Want the big contract? Be the firm whose last ten customers would recommend you. Then ask.
“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.”
Charlie Munger, commencement address at USC Law School (2007)
Hire the applicant who asks the most questions in the interview. Curious people grow with a small firm.
“Invert, always invert.”
Charlie Munger, borrowing the advice of the mathematician Carl Jacobi. Jacobi's advice was for hard problems: turn them round and look at them backwards.
Ask what would make your new cafe fail: no footfall, no cash buffer, no staff cover. Then fix those first.
“I have nothing to add.”
Charlie Munger, his frequent reply at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meetings
In a meeting with a client, saying less and listening more often wins the work.
“If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent.”
Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing (2005). He meant the urge to reject the way things are done and do it your own way.
If you have always questioned how the job is done, running your own firm may suit you. Channel it into doing it better.
“How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.”
Yvon Chouinard, as widely quoted
How you treat staff and customers while you build the firm is the firm. The turnover figure is just the result.
“The more you know, the less you need.”
Yvon Chouinard, as he often says
A skilled tradesperson needs fewer tools and fewer callbacks. Spend on training before kit.
“Let My People Go Surfing.”
Yvon Chouinard, the title of his book (2005). Staff were free to leave when the waves were good, provided the work got done.
Flexible hours cost a small firm very little and often win the best applicants. Judge on work done, not hours seen.
“We have a strategic plan. It's called doing things.”
Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, as widely quoted
A three year plan is good. Fixing today's late delivery is better.
“Hire for attitude, train for skill.”
Herb Kelleher, as widely quoted. It became Southwest's hiring rule; similar lines are credited to others.
For a first hire, the person who turns up early to the interview and asks good questions can be taught the rest.
“Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back.”
Herb Kelleher, as widely quoted
A cleaner who is paid on time and treated well does the job well. The customer sees it before you do.
“The business of business is people.”
Herb Kelleher, as widely quoted
Customers, staff, suppliers: a small firm is a set of relationships. Look after each one.
“Failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success.”
Arianna Huffington, as widely quoted
The lost quote, the bad review, the van breakdown: all part of building the firm, not proof it is failing.
“Fearlessness is like a muscle.”
Arianna Huffington, On Becoming Fearless (2006). She goes on: the more she exercised it, the more natural it became.
The first cold call is the hardest. By the twentieth you are just a business owner introducing yourself.
“By any sane definition of success, I was not successful if I was lying in a pool of blood on the floor of my office.”
Arianna Huffington. She collapsed from exhaustion in 2007, two years after starting The Huffington Post.
Seven days a week for a year is not dedication, it is a risk. Plan days off into the business as you would plan jobs.
“Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.”
Brian Chesky, as widely quoted. He credits the advice to Paul Graham. Airbnb began in 2007 with air mattresses in his San Francisco flat.
A hundred loyal regulars can carry a cafe, a cleaning round or a mobile mechanic for years.
“Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with passion.”
Brian Chesky, letter to Airbnb staff (2013)
With two staff, your culture is how you all treat a difficult customer. Agree it early, out loud.
“A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011)
By that measure, a new cleaning firm or first cafe is a start-up too. Expect the uncertainty and plan small tests.
“The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere.”
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011)
Try the new lunch menu for a month, count what sells, then keep it or change it. Decide on numbers, not hope.
“If we do not know who the customer is, we do not know what quality is.”
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011)
Quality for an office client is a quiet, quick clean after hours; for a family it is a tidy kitchen and a trusted face. Know which you serve.
“The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else.”
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011)
Ask every customer one question after each job. Small firms can learn in a week what big ones take a year to find out.
“Entrepreneurs are everywhere.”
Eric Ries, The Lean Startup (2011), the first of his principles
The hairdresser renting a chair, the driver with one lorry, the student tutoring online: all of them are running a business.
“Don't worry, be crappy.”
Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start (2004). He meant: ship a first version with faults if it is truly new, then improve it.
Open with the menu you have, not the one you dream of. Customers will tell you what to add.
“Make meaning.”
Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start (2004). His first lesson: start a firm to make the world a little better, rather than just to make money.
Ask what difference your firm makes: a clean home for someone who cannot manage, goods on time for a shop. Say that in your adverts.
“A players hire A players; B players hire C players.”
Guy Kawasaki, who credits the rule to Steve Jobs. Kawasaki worked with Jobs at Apple in the 1980s and repeats it often.
Do not hire someone weaker so you look stronger. The best first hire is better than you at something.
“If you take care of your character, your reputation will take care of itself.”
Lord Alan Sugar, The Apprentice (BBC, 2009). An older saying, credited to the preacher D. L. Moody. Sugar set up Amstrad in 1968 with £100, selling car aerials from a van.
A man with a van lives on his name. Keep it clean with every customer and the rest follows.
“You're fired!”
Lord Alan Sugar, his catchphrase on The Apprentice (BBC, from 2005). A television line: real dismissals in the UK have rules of their own.
In a real firm, firing is the last step, not a catchphrase. Read the ACAS code before you dismiss anyone.
“I became an entrepreneur by mistake.”
Richard Branson, interview for Martyn Lewis, Reflections on Success (1997)
Many firms start by accident: a favour for a neighbour, a weekend job. Notice when a side job could be your trade.
“Screw it, let's do it.”
Richard Branson, the title of his book (2006)
Once the sums are done and the risks are known, there comes a point where you just start.
Other sections
- Work and keeping going (189)
- Starting a business (152)
- For leaders (41)
- Working with people (22)
- Mindset and habits (144)
- True stories of people who started small