People ask, ‘Are entrepreneurs born, or are they made?’ I think it’s a combination of both.
I came from a communist country where there are no luxury cars.
I was raised by my grandmother on a farm, where we were really poor – we had dirt floors – but so did everybody else.
Cash is the lifeblood of your business. There are very few things in business that will kill you, but running our of cash is one of those things. You can recover from almost any other mistake, but if you run out of cash you’re dead.
Some people will lie to you because they mean to. Others will do it to tell you what you want to hear.
When I was a waiter, I wanted to be the best waiter I could be and worked to be better at it every day.
You can never be satisfied as an entrepreneur, and the basis of any successful, growing business is new clients.
I balance my meals. I have never been a big dessert guy.
Older cars tend to drive like older cars. That is not for me.
Don’t ever be enamored by what something sells for. It’s more important what you get to keep in your pocket.
I have my mother’s hips. The minute I eat it, it ends up on my hips.
I own a Ferrari race team, and we race all over North America.
I never dreamed I could build a $100 million company. I just happened to build a $1 million company that became a $5 million company, and so on.
I was one of those guys who never wanted to start their own business. I never saw myself as a leader. I saw myself as a great No. 2.
Just like any business is a living, breathing thing, an entrepreneur has to be able to adapt over time.
I’m really inspired to build a billion-dollar company. The hardest part is building the vehicle to get you there.
What is great about entrepreneurship is that entrepreneurs create the tangible from the intangible.
Successful businesspeople retain a quality most others not only lack but often fail to comprehend, and that’s the unrelenting drive to convert a vision into reality. They are driven to realize this goal in a manner that appears to defy logic among others who lack this drive.
I’m intrigued that the same letters from the alphabet are used in the word silent and in the word listen. Perhaps it’s evidence that the most important part of listening involves remaining silent.
Long before I had money, my passion for cars was there.
Without the ability to visualize a goal and believe it will be reached, nothing of substance will be achieved. Not by anybody. Not at any time. Not in any place.