Bill Gates

12 quotes by the Microsoft founder which makes him the one entrepreneur you should look up to

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is probably the smartest entrepreneur ever.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is probably the smartest entrepreneur ever. He is also a man to be looked up to in every aspect because he’s given the world some great inventions and entrepreneurship goals. Apart from being a successful business, his work in the philanthropy department along with his wife is commendable too. His CEO blog, Gates Notes, is spectacular as it disseminates very vital information pertaining to the field for all budding entrepreneurs and will help you learn a variety of things other than just business.

Here are few quotes by Bill Gates which makes him a superstar:

I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition.

If I’d had some set idea of a finish line, don’t you think I would have crossed it years ago?

I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.

Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.

Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping – they called it opportunity.

This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.

I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot.

5 entrepreneurial lessons from Bill Gates

Bill Gates is one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever. With the success of Microsoft, he holds his position tight on the list of richest people.

Bill Gates is one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever. With the success of Microsoft, he holds his position tight on the list of richest people. However, like almost all other entrepreneurs, he didn’t have it easy and continues to be humble even after making it big.

Here are five entrepreneurial lessons every budding entrepreneur can learn from Bill Gates:

1. Innovation is the key to success

“The most important speed issue is often not technical but cultural. It’s convincing everyone that the company’s survival depends on moving as fast as possible.” – Bill Gates

With technology and the startup culture evolving at a break neck speed, one has to up their game to remain in the competition. Innovation is the basis for entrepreneurship and the idea is what makes or breaks your business. Even though he is very successful, Gates still believes in never stopping the process of innovation. From Microsoft, he switched to Bill and Melinda Gates foundation which he believes is his way of giving back to the society.

2. Time is valuable

Bill Gates has often valued time over everything else. Bill gates quotes “No matter how much money you have, you can’t buy more time” which clearly shows how much importance he gives to time on his list. Time once gone can never come back no matter how much money you make. The hours you waste today cannot be made up for with currency notes. Gates teaches us to give importance to and respect time. Like him, all budding entrepreneurs should learn to make the most of their time by investing it into importing priorities. Unimportant meetings can be sacrificed for more important things which is how an important person actually respects time.

3. Don’t be afraid to choose the road unexplored

Most people find comfort in going down a path is already taken and assures success. However, the richest man in the world begs to differ. Bill Gates once said “to win big, you sometimes have to take big risks”. He believes that if people have the courage to go down the unexplored road and venture into territories which are relatively untapped, one is bound to gain more success. His strong belief in this theory is what led him to believe in Microsoft and making it work.

4. Never stop trying

Most budding entrepreneurs tend to give up after the first sign of failure. This is the worst approach to entrepreneurship as one needs to try many time before actually succeeding and making it big in the entrepreneurial world. Bill Gates, one of the greatest entrepreneurs also faced trouble in the initial years before succeeding. People hardly know that before Microsoft, he set up Traf-O-data, started with his partner P. Allen, which aimed to process and analyze data from traffic. Unfortunately for him, Traf-O-data was a big-time failure which buried him in debts. He took this failure as a lesson and went on to start Microsoft and the world is aware of the rest. Budding entrepreneurs can learn to never give up on their dreams come what may from this man.

5. Draw lessons from dissatisfied clients

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” -Bill Gates.

Everyday, an entrepreneur has to face an array of clients some of whom are satisfied and the rest not very happy. Gates believes that the dissatisfied clients are the ones who can teach us various lessons about what is wrong with the venture and also suggest things that can be improved upon. An entrepreneur should enjoy positive feedback but at the same time shouldn’t ignore critique from an unhappy client.

We hope this article will help you on your entrepreneurial journey. Also, try and incorporate Bill Gates’ lessons wherever you can in life because it is always better to learn from superiors.

6 Entrepreneurs who failed before achieving success

Here’s a list of some industry biggies who have failed in life before making it big.

Failure isn’t the opposite of success, instead, it is just a stepping stone. Every failure may seem devastating but there are a number of things a budding entrepreneur could learn from failure.

Here’s a list of some industry biggies who have failed in life before making it big:

1. Bill Gates

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, didn’t have it easy before making Microsoft a big-time successful company. He dropped out of school at a very young age because of financial issues. People hardly know that before Microsoft, he set up Traf-O-data, started with his partner P. Allen, which aimed to process and analyse data from traffic. Unfortunately for him, Traf-O-data was a big-time failure which buried him in debts. He took this failure as a lesson and went on to start Microsoft and the world is aware of the rest.

2. Steve Jobs

This man’s story is truly inspirational as it has its fair share of failures and victories alike. Jobs dropped out of college after his first semester to make it big on his own. Very early on, he achieved success when Apple was doing well, but, the board of directors decided to fire him in ’85 due to his shortcomings. He claims that getting laid off from Apple was the best thing that happened to him as he got enough time to work on his next venture, NeXt, which was later acquired by Apple. Apple hired Jobs back and he worked very hard to get Apple to reach where it stands today.

3. Colonel Sanders

Kentucky Fried Chicken is an absolute favourite with everyone who loves fast food. Colonel Sanders is the man you see on the tub of fried chicken. He was a 56 year old aspiring entrepreneur when KFC actually worked for him. Before that, his recipe was rejected over 500 times till a restaurant finally picked it up. What one can learn from this man is to believe in your idea even if the world doesn’t agree with you.

4. Thomas Alva Edison

Every aspiring scientist wants to be like this man who is the holder of over 1000 patents and inventor of the most popular devices such as the phonograph and the movie camera. However, he had also tasted failure while trying to work on the concept of the light-bulb. He tried over 10,000 ways to make the simple light bulb work and was on the verge of giving up when a new idea suddenly struck him. To motivate more people to keep trying new things and not be afraid of failure, he claimed that during those 10,000 tries, he discovered 9000 ways a simple light bulb would never work.

5. Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is the woman behind the very successful Huffington Post. However, she is one entrepreneur who had failed miserably before her start-up could make it big. Her second book was rejected by 36 publishers which left her very dejected. When Huffpost came alive to mixed reviews, she was bothered by a few negative ones. Still, she managed not to dread failure and continue to make her venture big till she actually scraped out the negative reviews.

6. Milton Hershey

Hershey’s is the most popular brand of chocolate worldwide. The founder of Hershey’s, Milton Hershey didn’t have it all sorted from the beginning. Very early on in his life, he was fired from a printing apprenticeship. Failure hit him hard when he was forced to watch three of his candy ventures go down the drain. What’s inspiring is that he never gave up and let his love for milk chocolates drive him until he came up with a very successful venture.