Running a business can be stressful, overwhelming, and down right draining. If you are an entrepreneur going at it alone, it can also be isolating. If you are struggling with your business, take a look at the advice from these business authorities.
Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!:
“I realized in all the cases where I was happy with the decision I made, there were two common threads: surround myself with the smartest people who challenge you to think about things in new ways, and do something you are not ready to do so you can learn the most.”
Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors:
“It’s OK to have all your eggs in one basket, as long as you control what happens to that basket.”
Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dreamworks Animation:
“Observe your environment. Invite people into your life that don’t look like you or think like you.”
Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari:
“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.”
Drew Houston, founder and CEO of Dropbox:
“Sometimes you just get this feeling — it’s a compulsion or an obsession. You can’t stop thinking about it… You need that hunger no matter what, because eventually the honeymoon period wears off. Somewhere between printing your business cards that say ‘founder’ on them and everything else you have to do, you realize, ‘Oh, actually this is a ton of work.”
Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA:
“The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow.”
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos:
“We believe that it’s really important to come up with core values that you can commit to. And by commit, we mean that you’re willing to hire and fire based on them. If you’re willing to do that, then you’re well on your way to building a company culture that is in line with the brand you want to build.”
Kevin Systrom, founder and CEO of Instagram:
“Every startup should address a real and demonstrated need in the world – if you build a solution to a problem lots of people have, it’s so easy to sell your product to the world.”
Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup:
“The mistake isn’t releasing something bad. The mistake is to launch it and get PR people involved. You don’t want people to start amping up expectations for an early version of your product. The best entrepreneurship happens in low-stakes environments where no one is paying attention, like Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room at Harvard.”
