Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal, and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again. Failure is only the end if you decide to stop.
Richard BransonRead
If you get into entrepreneurshi p driven by profit, you are a lot more likely to fail. The entrepreneurs who succeed usually want to make a difference to people’s lives, not just their own bank balances. The desire to change things for the better is the motivation for taking risks and pursuing seemingly impossible business ideas.
Interpretation
True success in entrepreneurship comes from a desire to positively impact others rather than merely pursuing profit.
This quote by Richard Branson emphasizes that the core motivation for successful entrepreneurship is the intent to create meaningful change in people's lives, rather than just focusing on financial gain. Entrepreneurs who prioritize making a difference are more likely to take risks and overcome challenges, as their passion and purpose drive them beyond personal profit.
In practice
During a motivational talk, you might say this quote to inspire budding entrepreneurs in your audience.
Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal, and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again. Failure is only the end if you decide to stop.
It's a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur's metric for success. It's not, and nor should it be.
Some 80% of your life is spent working. You want to have fun at home; why shouldn't you have fun at work?
Values cannot be speedily forgotten if it is inconvenient or commercially expedient. Values have to have meaning and longevity; otherwise they are valueless. You cannot embrace innovation up to a point or only sometimes. Branding demands commitment; commitment to continual re-invention; striking cords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful.
Please don’t get hung up on this question of whether you need to have experience in an industry before you launch your startup.
What's the most critical factor in any business decision you'll ever have to make? Basically, it boils down to this question: If this all crashes, will it bring the whole house tumbling down like a pack of cards? One business matra remains embedded in my brain - protect the downside.
The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’. They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.
The goal, then, isn't to draw some positioning charts and announce that you have differentiated your product. No, the opportunity is to actually create something that people choose to talk about, regardless of what the competition is doing.
Luck is the residue of design.
I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.
It is not sufficient that I succeed - all others must fail.
The true measure of success for the U.N. is not how much we promise, but how much we deliver for those who need us most.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.