I've been picking on aspiring entrepreneurs, and yet I am one... so I want to share this inspiring quote from one of America's great businessmen. I saw it on a local banker's desk one day, decades ago, waiting for a loan interview, and begged for a copy. It pretty much sums up the heart and soul of a real entrepreneur. I didn't get the loan... but came away with a sage bit of advice that has served me well ever since.
"My Philosophy"
"I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon if I can. I seek opportunity- not security. I will refuse to be a kept citizen, to be humbled or dulled by having my state and nation look after me. I want to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed- never to be numbered among those weak and timid souls who have known neither victory or defeat. I know that happiness can come only from the inside through hard constructive work and sincere positive thinking. I know that so-called pleasures of the moment should not be confused with a state of happiness. I know that I can get a measure of satisfaction from any job if I intelligently plan and courageously execute it. I know that if I put out every iota of strength that I possess- physical, mental and spiritual- toward the accomplishment of a worthwhile task ere I fall exhausted by the wayside, the Unseen Hand will reach out and pull me through. Yes, I want to live dangerously, plan my procedures on the basis of calculated risks, to resolve the problems of everyday living into a measure of inner peace. I know if I know how to do all this, I will know how to live and, if I know how to live, I will know how to die."
H. B. Zachry
