Updated: Nov 3, 2022
Anyone can start a business, just like anyone can be a manager. Your effectiveness as a leader and entrepreneur are what set you apart from anyone else. Here I've gathered a list of my favorite inspirational quotes from black entrepreneurs and leaders, across the spectrum of time.
1. “If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you’re going to get, you become a more successful person. In other words, if you want to make money, you have to help someone else make money.” – Russell Simmons, Co-founder of Def Jam Recordings
2. “I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” – Madam C.J. Walker,
3. “Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” — Wilma Rudolph
4. “You are where you are today because you stand on somebody’s shoulders. And wherever you are heading, you cannot get there by yourself. If you stand on the shoulders of others, you have a reciprocal responsibility to live your life so that others may stand on your shoulders. It’s the quid pro quo of life. We exist temporarily through what we take, but we live forever through what we give.” — Vernon Jordan
5. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” — Barack Obama
6. “Five days a week, I read my goals before I go to sleep and when I wake up. There are 10 goals around health, family, and business with expiration dates, and I update them every six months.” — Daymond John
7. “If you have a dream AND you have a job. That’s amazing! You can learn how to navigate both. Your employer, or as I like to call it your ‘investor’, gives you the money to invest in your dream, and pay your bills while you chase your dreams.” — Lisa Nichols
8. “If you approach 100 people for seed capital, 99 of them may say no, you just need that one.” — Dr. William Pickard
9. “Many of us stay up until 2 a.m. watching stuff on Netflix, but you get off of work at 6 o’clock. So, what could you do from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. that can prove this company is worth it.” — Candice Matthews Brackeen
10. “Women of color are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs, so this is an excellent time for us. I think getting the mentorships and training you need to go where you want to go is important.” – Angela Benton, founder, and CEO of NewME Accelerator