Peter Jones quotes: no-nonsense advice from the British businessman.
“Believe in yourself, never give up and go about your business with passion drive and enthusiasm.”
“Make time to daydream and ignore anyone who mocks you. The mocking will stop when you’re able to make your dreams a wonderful reality… and they’re not.”
“Every young person has the potential to achieve great things and the right to a brighter future.”
“If you don’t try, you can’t succeed.”
“I passionately believe that you should start a company that you really believe in. Don’t start something that you have no interest in; start something that you’re passionate about.”
“Develop the right attitude. Before writing a business plan, finding finance and launching forth, entrepreneurs must have the right attitude. As an entrepreneur, you must prepare yourself and your mindset. Those who think, ‘I can’t do that’ or ‘I’ll never be able to do that,’ will create a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“A great entrepreneur will shift their mindset to realize there’s no reason why they can’t achieve something. They believe, ‘I can do that!’ Consequently, they continuously prove themselves right. The right attitude and balance between self-belief and caution are vital tools for entrepreneurs. To achieve that balance, believe you can achieve your goals, don’t race forward with blind arrogance. Be prepared by minimizing the risks involved to maximize confidence. And listen to your instincts. They can protect you from making poor decisions.”
“The bottom line? If you don’t have confidence and belief in your business idea, why should anyone else? As an entrepreneur, your greatest ally is yourself.”
“Entrepreneurship is a skill that can be taught.”
“Behind every ‘no entry’ sign there’s a door.”
“Not all entrepreneurs have self-confidence from the outset. By gaining experience, polishing their skills in weaker areas and working for others in a variety of roles, they elevate their confidence. Indeed, knowing that you have the ability to take on any task and do a damn good job is a great confidence booster, just as success is itself.”
“Confidence helps entrepreneurs to get on with it, rather than moping about rejection or a temporary setback; it helps them stay focused. And having focus is a crucial entrepreneurial tool.”
“The most successful, confident and focused entrepreneurs have something else in common: their attitude to failure. This is one incredible way that many entrepreneurs have boosted their self-confidence, by removing the fear of failure or, as I have, by removing the word completely from my vocabulary.”
“If you want to be successful, you need the courage to risk failing. Doing nothing means you’ll avoid failure, but it will also mean you’ll avoid success. Failure… what’s that? Failure is feedback. I believe, there is no such thing as failure; there is only feedback in business. Any successful business person who is still successful today will know this to be true. Whatever the outcome of a situation, there will always be a great deal of value within it.”
“‘Real failure,’ so they say, is not ‘the falling down.’ Real failure is ‘not getting up again.'”
“It’s easier to be passionate about the future if you can visualize where you want to go and how you are going to get there. Like all journeys, you need a map. Vision is about having a clear understanding of where you are going which is absolutely vital in business. What unites truly successful entrepreneurs is that they all have a vision of where they want to get to, and they all take action to take them there.”
“An idea is just an idea until action is taken to turn that idea into a reality. Your business plan and action plan will provide you with the maps you need to realize each goal within that idea. But there’s little point taking action that isn’t driven by results. By focusing on results-orientated tasks and strategies… you can create a blueprint for your long-term business success.”
“Being results-focused is vital to turn your vision into clear action. Where entrepreneurs win over others, is in the energy and focus they put into their ideas. Being results-oriented brings clarity to the goal for everyone involved.”
“Show smart ideas, passion and an ability to execute.”
“Success in business only happens to entrepreneurs who spend time improving and optimizing each area of their business. From the initial idea, the product and the market potential; to the plan and vision, sales and marketing, the finance and growth strategy; each factor needs attention. But a business is nothing without its people. It is the team who helps the entrepreneur drive the vision forward.”
“Success is a team effort. Your people will represent your brand and help you achieve your objectives, so this area needs particularly close attention. Success in business always comes back to people. Employing and retaining the right people is key.”
“Successful entrepreneurs know that a strong team is a critical success factor in business and realize they can save time, money and increase productivity by hiring properly. Success in business always comes back to people. Employing and retaining the right people is key. It can also be a considerable challenge for entrepreneurs. Perhaps the most challenging of all the factors for success.”
“The best product in the world won’t sell well if the customer doesn’t hear or understand what’s in it for them. And, to state the obvious, no customers equals no business. In getting an idea to the marketplace, successful entrepreneurs know they must communicate what they’re offering in a clear, compelling and concise manner.”
“To have the right words for a sales pitch, marketing messages and literature, the key benefits of the product or service need to be uncovered and honed in on. Be utterly explicit about the advantages and benefits your product or service will provide. Dig deep. How can you add value to beat the competition?”
“Be different and burst through the noise to grab attention. Make it clear why buying from you is a far better choice than buying from anyone else. Magnetize your messages so your customers are drawn to you.”
“My 10 rules for entrepreneurial success: vision, influence, confidence, commitment, result-oriented, timing, perseverance, caring, action and intuition.”
“Coming up with a boundless supply of ideas is the greatest tool you have. But you need to make sure that each idea is workable and viable. Strengths need building upon, weaknesses need to be checked and improved upon, and evidence needs to be uncovered to substantiate the idea. Your idea needs backing up.”
“Get insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your idea. Seek out bestseller lists, contact the Office of National Statistics, read financial papers, contact trade associations, subscribe to trade magazines and do your homework to uncover the size of the market your idea fits within. Find out about the demand for a product or service like yours. Seek out press stories about problems your idea solves or opportunities being created in your market.”
“Review competitors in the market. Go online. Look at failures and successes. How have other people implemented their ideas? What can you do differently? What can you do safer, faster, better and cheaper than anyone else out there? Who and where are your potential customers and target audience?”
“Assess the idea from all angles. Can you honestly implement the idea? Pad the idea out. What needs to be done to get it off the ground and make it happen? Is it still possible? Evaluate hard. If an idea is not researched properly before it is turned into a business then it is likely to end in failure.”
“If you can make something work and stand on its own two feet in a downturn, then you know you can reap the rewards when the economy picks up. You need entrepreneurs to help dig the economy out of the doldrums, and that is one of the many reason why I commit so much energy to teaching the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
“From the age of eight, I knew I would be in business.”
“Imagination is the most important tool in the world when nurtured, developed and properly used. Imagination is a powerful force that we possess from our earliest years. My childhood imagination fueled my ambition to be a success in business. As a seven-year-old, I would walk the three miles from school to my father’s office in Windsor where I would spend hours sitting in his leather swivel chair, imagining my future and cultivating my dream of running a multi-million pound company.”
“Aged 12, I imagined what it would be like to run a tennis academy. I was helping a teacher at my school to teach tennis and he inspired me later when I was 16 to set up my first business, a tennis academy. My imagination ran riot when I gained experience from another coach during the summer holidays. That was a real watershed moment in my life I think. At the time, I had the chance to improve my game with a view to becoming a professional, but there was something in me that wanted to take that talent and develop a successful business from it rather than, say, win Wimbledon. I made the most of my two interests: sport and economics. I followed my imagination.”
“Business is about making money but it is also about having fun, so get your character across.”
“I’ve got my own businesses I run every day and I like to think I’m a nurturer rather than a firer, but the reality is, if somebody continues not to succeed and do the right thing for the business they lose the job because they are affecting the livelihoods of others.”
“I’m not a guy who plays political games, and I believe absolutely in one method, which is directness. If someone comes onto Dragons’ Den and annoys me, I’m going to tell them exactly what I think.”
“We’ve all seen those spoiled little brats that end up being given everything and on their 17th birthday get a Ferrari. That whole thing, I just can’t bear it.”
“My kids certainly aren’t going to have the money. They don’t need it.”
“My smartest business idea? As a young businessman, I would have said spotting a gap in the mobile telecoms market that enabled me to build a multi-million pound company. But now I believe the smartest decisions are about the people I employ.”
“And my worst business idea? As a younger entrepreneur I trusted some companies too much and so extended credit. This cost me a lot. Now I ask more questions.”
“Dragons’ Den has been a very important part of my life and has helped me achieve a number of personal goals, not least the creation of the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy.”
“Everything that I sat and visualized in my father’s office became my reality. There was nothing that could dampen the resolve of my inspiration in becoming an entrepreneur. Businesses collapsing couldn’t stop me, expensive cocktail bar investments couldn’t stop me, sleeping on my office floor couldn’t stop me. Nothing can stop Peter Jones, that is what makes me successful.”
“I will continue to give back and develop young, entrepreneurial talent and continue to take calculated risks and laugh in the face of any adversity. I will continue to teach about the value of self-belief and persistence.”
Related: Mark Cuban quotes.
