Liz Elting quotes: on how she made millions starting a biz from her dorm room with no funding.
“Find something you can enjoy doing, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
“Believe in the value of honesty, integrity and authenticity. I don’t think you can have real success without those qualities, and I think that nothing is more important than being honest with others and true to oneself.”
“Reevaluate your experiences… realizing there is meaning in every moment of life, even in the low points… appreciate everything you have, and understand the importance of identifying a purpose and striving toward it with hope.”
“Being able to see your business provide a positive change to the world is one of the greatest forms of success in my book. I also think doing what you love and helping others with that passion is another major factor for real success. I think on some level that inherently requires being true to yourself.”
“Tis better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all.”
“The most common mistake entrepreneurs make is expecting success to be a given or to happen overnight. Setting achievable goals and continually reevaluating and setting new ones once those are met is very important when starting and building a new business.”
“Every entrepreneur should remember the adage ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.'”
“New entrepreneurs will always overestimate their numbers, whether it is sales, product or clientele. Having a realistic understanding about the needed commitment, time and hard work, and then having the fortitude to go above and beyond that is key.”
“I’d tell young entrepreneurs that it’s okay to dream big, but just understand that there is a process to building a business, along with a lot of time, dedication and hard work. Set concrete goals, put them down in writing, collaborate with others, take things one step at a time, and be ready to work your tail off.”
“Hold people responsible, you are empowering them; they have ownership of a specific task, and they become personally motivated to achieve those goals.”
“The same quality that makes entrepreneurs successful is also what creates some ‘near-death’ experiences – and that quality is ambition.”
“Listen to your clients. Focus on their needs. That means making the improvement of what you do a continuous priority. We elicit feedback from our clients and our employees on a regular basis, and it has enabled us to address important issues that we might otherwise not even know about.”
“This may sound simple, but it has produced significant results for me: set clear goals for yourself and your employees, and meet them.”
“Making sure you have the right people. This was particularly challenging… because it’s really all about the talent, and if you find the right people, then you can deliver the best quality and service. I’m a big believer that the first million is, by far, the toughest, and certainly getting to that point… as far as having both the right team and the right clients… is certainly the biggest challenge early on.”
“Focus your efforts on building the best team, finding the right salespeople and hiring the most skilled project managers.”
“A great leader understands the value of the team that they lead. A great leader can inspire their team to do the best work they possibly can through positive reinforcement, encouragement, and, above all, through leading by example. A great leader understands that the people they are leading come from different walks of life and can appreciate the unique perspectives and solutions their team can offer to a problem and to the company.”
“One of the toughest things about starting out is that you don’t yet have a track record and relationships with clients and potential clients. Make it your mission to begin making and building upon those relationships. Really focus on bringing in business as quickly as possible.”
“Most business comes from repeat business, previous clients and referrals. Work very hard over the years to build relationships with your clients and to ensure that you do the best possible work for them. In the long run, all of your extra efforts continue to pay off. Many of your clients will refer you to other people within their company, as well as to friends and colleagues at other companies.”
“Diversify to balance it all out. I think it certainly helps. There may be other ways you can survive but it definitely helps.”
“Today’s technology has created an expectation for much faster and much more cost-efficient delivery; clients expect and need things much faster and at lower costs because of what technology can offer.”
“I am truly excited by the use of technology to bring global content to life.”
“During my junior and senior years in high school, I worked at a dry cleaning chain in Toronto. The overall experience instilled in me an awareness of overcoming challenges and taking responsibility seriously.”
“While in college, I spent my nights – from ten at night to six in the morning – working as an overnight campus security guard while spending my days in class and any other time I had working in the campus kitchen. I also did administrative work at an investment management firm. And after receiving my MBA in finance and international business from NYU, I very briefly worked in the proprietary trading division of a French bank, doing equity arbitrage, before focusing on TransPerfect.”
“Given my family’s extensive travel and having lived in several different countries, I discovered early on that I had a passion for languages and connecting with people across the globe. I won a language award in high school, and while in college I majored in modern languages, spent a year living and studying in Spain, and then worked in Venezuela.”
“Effective communication isn’t just about translation. You really have to understand your client, their business, the world they’re in, and the lens through which they view it. Realizing that a translation company had to be more than simply a translation company, I went back to school and got my MBA from NYU, and while I was there I began developing my idea of a comprehensive and holistic language solutions company so that I could make it into a reality.”
“TransPerfect was a startup, with no funding whatsoever, that literally began out of a dorm room. So needless to say, the first year involved a great deal of hard work, including a whole lot of phone calls and mass mailings. My goal was to be able to move into an actual office within six months, with enough revenue to pay for an office, and we indeed hit that goal right at the end of six months. So it was tough, but the hard work paid off.”
“Early on, I knew I needed to work crazy hours for the first few years and do what no one else was willing to do in order to create something unique in the industry. I was very aware that it was going to be tough at first because we were building a company without any outside funding, but my hope was that it would all pay off.”
“Giving up, no. It’s just not in my DNA and has never been an option for me. Being frustrated beyond belief though, yes, definitely. There have been some incredibly difficult days, between having insane hours, demanding projects and a host of crazy things that I could have never imagined. So there has been a lot of excitement and a lot of drama, but giving up never even crossed my mind.”
“There were definitely some sacrifices made in those early years, but I feel quite fortunate in that they really paid off.”
“I grew up living, studying, and working in five different countries. I studied four languages, and that’s really what led me to do what I do.”
“I always had dreams. I always set goals, and I always knew that I was willing to work as hard as I possibly could in order to achieve them. That said, beyond hard work, I was raised to be independent and was always encouraged to believe in my ideas and my own self-worth.”
“I had the privilege of being raised by really remarkable parents, both of whom have always been my biggest mentors, advocates and role models. They both taught and reinforced certain values that I think had a profound effect on who I am today: integrity, respect, and hard work were paramount. When it came to hard work, my parents led by example, and I followed enthusiastically from an early age; I started working when I was 10, and I always had some sort of job from then on, including throughout high school and college. It became a passion, so naturally, I never stopped working, even during maternity leave.”
“I also tend to be a perfectionist (for better or for worse).”
“I’m incredibly goal-oriented, so one thing I’ve always done is to actually take the time to write out my goals on a regular basis, both short-term and long-term, for both myself personally and the business. It’s really remarkable how key making a habit of pinpointing, naming and actually putting down in ink your goals can be to succeeding.”
“Another habit that I’ve made part of my daily routine is that I always walk to work when I’m in New York, unless I have a good reason why I can’t. It’s about 60 blocks, or three miles. I love it and find it to be a great stress reliever and a very helpful way to clear my mind and stay focused.”
“Be grateful for what you have. I try to take the time each and every day to think about what I’m grateful for.”
“Positive things happen to positive people. I actually have these quotes on my wall. Growing up, my dad and I used to discuss quotes that we love, from literature and fiction to great thinkers and entrepreneurs.”
“[Greatest lessons learned so far] The first is to never depend on anyone else for anything. And the second is simply to know that I, as a strong, working woman, can have both a family and my career, and that I don’t have to sacrifice my goals or dreams of either for the other.”
“Know that bossy and difficult are labels given to women who have the courage to lead and the gall to speak their mind. So be bossy, be difficult, and don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you should be quiet or apologize for your strength and ability to lead. Don’t ask permission, and if you aren’t given the space to be a leader, go create that space yourself.”
“I believed in myself, stayed true to what I knew was right, didn’t ask permission or apologize for being a strong, intelligent leader, and simply got down to work forging my own path forward.”
“My passion and drive always keeps me moving forward, as well as everything I have to be grateful for, which is really a great deal. At the end of the day, even when faced with challenges, I’m still doing what I love to do, and I consider myself incredibly fortunate.”
“There is so much opportunity in this country. So much innovation, brilliance, passion and heart, and we are only getting better each and every day. I am very optimistic about the future of this country. I truly believe that this country has a special quality that undeniably makes it the greatest country on earth. And that quality is the vastly diverse and unique people that make it up and the dreams they have, their optimism, their hope, and their fight for an even better tomorrow. I believe that is the American Dream, and that is something that can never die.”
