100 Small Business Quotes To Inspire & Motivate You In 2024

The most successful entrepreneurs offer unique insights into how small business owners can develop a distinct service that stands out from the crowd.

This selection of quotes for small business owners demonstrates how to develop a successful business strategy, providing tremendous service to local communities.

If you're a small business owner looking to deliver excellent customer service or expand your list of clients, these quotes will help inspire your evolution.

100 Small Business Quotes To Inspire & Motivate You In 2024

Small businesses can be challenging, whether you're developing businesses that run themselves or providing in-person services.

These quotes prove that making ideas happen shouldn't be difficult, and you don't have to be Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to find the best business strategy.

By referencing these concise quotes, small business owners can gain clear insights into the mindset that fosters success and how to achieve their goals.

Their relevance is universal, whether researching the best service business ideas or investing in a new startup providing digital solutions to clients.

That's why we've compiled a broad selection of quotes from industry leaders and highly successful entrepreneurs across multiple domains.

So, with that said, here's our list of 100 small business quotes to help motivate and inspire you in 2024:

100. “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Writer, Poet, & Journalist

99. “Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.”

- Seth Godin, Author & Former Dot Com Business Executive

98. “Make a Customer, Not a sale.”

- Katherine Barchetti, Owner of K. Barchetti Shops

97. “You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing.”

- Dale Carnegie, Writer and Lecturer

96. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

- Peter F. Drucker, Management Consultant, Educator, & Author

95. “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.”

- Margaret Thatcher, British Stateswoman, Former British Prime Minister

94. “Patience: This is the greatest business asset. Wait for the right time to make your moves.”

- J. Paul Getty, British American Petrol Industrialist

93. “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr., American Author

92. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

- Walt Disney, Entrepreneur, Animator, & Film Producer

91. “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.”

- Michael LeBoeuf, Business Author and Motivational Speaker

90. “Satisfaction is a rating. Loyalty is a brand.”

- Shep Hyken, Author & Speaker

89. “Business is all about relationships, how well you build them determines how well they build your business.”

- Brad Sugars, Chairman & Founder ActionCOACH

88. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.”

- Sam Levenson, Humourist, Writer, Teacher, Television Host, & Journalist

87. “Don’t give up, the beginning is always the hardest.”

- Kemmy Nola, Motivational Speaker

86. “The biggest mistake a small business can make is to think like a small business.”

- Aruna Bhayana, Lawyer & Digital Marketer

85. “There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.”

- Jason Fried, Founder & CEO Of Basecamp

84. “Don’t count the days, Make the days count.”

- Muhammad Ali, Professional Boxer

83. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

- Mark Twain, American Writer, Publisher, & Lecturer

82. “There are no working hours for leaders.”

- James Cardinal Gibbons, American Prelate of the Catholic Church

81. “Plan for what it is difficult while it is easy, Do what is great while it is small.”

- Sun Tzu, Chinese Strategist

80. “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.”

- Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father Of The United States

79. “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.”

- Scott Belsky, Entrepreneur, Author & Early-Stage Investor

78. “The well-satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts.”

- James Cash Penney, Founder Of J.C. Penney

77. “Setting Goal is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”

- Tony Robbins, Author & Business Strategist

76. “In order to succeed. We must first believe that we can.”

- Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek Writer

75. “The heart and soul of a company is creativity and innovation.”

- Robert Iger, CEO Of Walt Disney

74. “Customers may forget what you said but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”

- Anonymous

73. “If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”

- Zig Ziglar, Writer & Salesman

72. “Customer service is an opportunity to exceed your customer’s expectations.”

- John Jantsch, Author Duct Tape Marketing, Speaker and Author

71. “Everything starts with the customer.”

- Lou Gerstner, Chairman & CEO Of IBM

70. “To be successful, you must act big, think big and talk big.”

- Aristotle Onassis, Greek Shipping Magnate

69. “The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.”

- Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart

68. “Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.”

- Kevin Stirtz, Author

67. “Great customer service is a critical competitive advantage for a business.”

- Steve Benson, Editorial Cartoonist

66. “Always give your best effort even when the odds are against you.”

- Arnold Palmer, American Professional Golfer

65. “Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.”

- Henry Ford, Founder Of Ford Motor Assembly

64. “A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader.”

- Fred Wilson, Co-Founder Of Union Square Ventures

63. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

- John D. Rockefeller, Industrialist & Philanthropist

62. “Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.”

- Donald Porter, Actor

61. “Make the customer the hero of your story.”

- Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, Speaker & Author

60. “The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works.”

- Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon

59. “Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”

- Rikki Rogers, Writer and Marketer

58. “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

- Helen Keller, American Author

57. “Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.”

- Walt Whitman, American Poet

56. “Every company’s greatest assets are its customers because without customers there is no company.”

- Michael LeBoeuf, Business Author

55. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: The fear of failure.”

- Paulo Coelho, Brazilian Lyricist & Novelist

54. “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.”

- Chris Grosser, Sales Advisor

53. “Small opportunities are often beginning of great achievements.”

- Demosthenes, Greek Statesman

52. “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

- Albert Einstein, Theoretical physicist

51. “Never ever give up! Constant effort is the key to success.”

- Xavier Davis, American Music Educator

50. “The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.”

- Aristotle, Greek Philosopher

49. “Great things in business are never done by one person.”

- Steve Jobs, Founder Apple Inc.

48. “There’s no luck in business. There’s only drive, determination and more drive.”

- Sophie Kinsella, Author

47. “You can’t be successful in business without taking risks. It’s really that simple.”

- Adena Friedman, President and CEO of NASDAQ

46. “When you serve the customer better, they always return on your investment.”

- Arnold Palmer, American Professional Golfer

45. “Never give up. Great things take time.”

- Unknown

44. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

- Bruce Lee, Actor, Director, Martial Artist

43. “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

- Walt Disney, Entrepreneur & Film Producer

42. “The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others.”

- Hasidic Proverb

41. “Your Customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

- Damon Richards, Professional DJ

40. “Action is the foundational key to all success.”

- Pablo Picasso, Spanish Painter

39. “One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.”

- Michael Korda, Writer, Editor-In-Chief Of Simon & Schuster

38. “What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.”

- Ralph Marston, Professional Football Player

37. “I find that the harder I work the more luck I seem to have.”

- Thomas Jefferson, Former U.S. President

36. “Work 9-to-5, spend a couple of hours with your family, 7 to 2am is plenty of time to do damage.”

- Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman Of VaynerX

35. “You must not only aim right but draw the bow with all your might.”

- Henry David Thoreau, American Essayist

34. “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”

- Steve Jobs, Apple Founder

33. “If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.”

- Bob Hooey, Author

32. “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”

-— C.S. Lewis, British Writer

31. “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”

- OG Mandino, American Author

30. “You don’t need to have a 100–person company to develop that idea.”

- Larry Page, Co-Founder Of Google

29. “Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.”

- Tony Hsieh, CEO Of Zappos

28. “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.”

- Chris Grosser, Photographer

27. “Business is the salt of life.”

- Voltaire, French Writer & Historian

26. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”

- Robert H. Schuller, Televangelist, Pastor, Motivational Speaker, & Author

25. “Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea.”

- Mark Pincus, CEO Of Zynga

24. “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.”

- Sam Levenson, Humourist, Writer, Teacher, Television Host, and Journalist

23. “When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue.”

- Josh James, CEO & Co-Founder Of Omniture

22. “Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.”

- Wayne Huizenga, Serial Entrepreneur

21. “A winner never stops trying.”

- Tom Landry, American Football Player & Coach

20. “Know what your customer want most and what your company does best. Focus on where those two meet.”

- Kevin Stirtz, Author

19. “An obstacle is often a stepped stone.”

- William Prescott, Military Commander

18. “If you don’t understand the details of your business you are going to fail.”

- Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder

17. “Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.”

- James Cash Penny, Founder J.C. Penney Stores

16. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

- Steve Jobs, Apple Founder

15. “To be successful you have to have your heart in your business and your business in your heart.”

- Thomas J. Watson, Chairman & CEO Of IBM

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

- Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder

13. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

- Henry Ford, Founder Ford Motor Assembly

12. “Where do you put the fear when you choose to innovate? The fear is there, but you have to find a place to put it."

- Seth Godin, Writer & Business Visionary

11. “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr., American Author

10. “The most successful entrepreneurs I know are optimistic. It’s part of the job description.”

- Caterina Fake, Founder Of Flickr

9. “The Golden Rule for Every Business is this: Put Yourself in your Customer’s Place."

- Orison Swett Marden, American Inspirational Author

8. “It’s not an experiment if you know it’s going to work.”

- Jeff Bezos, Founder, Chairman, CEO, & President Of Amazon

7. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”

- Steve Jobs, Co-Founder Of Apple

6. “To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.”

- Bill Gates, Founder Microsoft Corporation

5. “If we did all the things we were capable of, we would astound ourselves”

- Thomas Edison, Inventor

4. “Never Give up. Today is hard and tomorrow will be Worse, but the day after Tomorrow will be Sunshine.”

- Jack Ma, Founder Alibaba Group

3. “Capital isn’t scarce. Vision is.”

- Sam Walton, Walmart Founder

2. “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

- Walt Disney, Entrepreneur, Animator, Voice actor and Film producer

1. “If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.”

- Mark Zuckerberg, Founder Of Facebook

Summary

The leading figures in the world of big business all started near the bottom, and these inspirational quotes highlight the thought process behind their success.

Whatever type of small business owner you are, you can fine-tune your operations and reach more customers by following their guidance.

With a combination of dedication and an understanding of small business trends, companies can overcome any challenges and take control of their future.