Motivational quotes from EO Members from around the globe

“When things get exceptionally difficult to handle, I often fall back on quotes that I’ve saved or memorized for inspiration and hope.

I’ve been saving quotes for years — they’re scribbled in the inside of matchbooks, or highlighted in yellow, gems of light gathered in well-worn notebooks.

Sometimes they’re fortunes from cookies, often they’re arranged and rearranged on a bulletin board stretched on a canvas with beige linen fabric.”

- Kalika Yap, Founder and CEO of Citrus Studios and

EO Global Communications Committee Member and Member of EO Los Angeles

Quotes. We all love them. And they often come in handy when we are facing our best or even our worst situations.

A great way to start the new year is to take inspiration from entrepreneurs who have faced so many challenges and made through them with their passion and determination. Whether it’s a little push to keep you going, a new idea that you can bring to your journey or a thought that will let you take a giant leap, these nuggets of wisdom will help guide you to move forward towards your goal.

Entrepreneurial insights

It’s always good to hear the experience and learnings of other entrepreneurs, especially those who have taken the journey ahead of you. If you will browse through various EO online resources, you will find inspirational insights from EO members across the globe.

“Corporate culture is the most important asset in any business. It needs to be defined and deliberately nurtured to avoid a default culture that doesn’t serve your goals or your team.”

- Will Scott, Founder, Culture Czars® and

Finance Chair and President-Elect of EO Wisconsin

"As an entrepreneur, you have to be quite visionary. But not just visionary, you have to be willing to drive it. You have to drive it.”

- Dean Cherny, Founder and Director at Marketing Melodies and

Past President (2018-2019) of EO Melbourne

“I would tell myself: Trust yourself; have confidence in yourself. But also surround yourself with people who give you confidence — because they are so highly capable and confident themselves.”

- Melissa Harris, the CEO and founder of M. Harris & Co. and

Member of EO Chicago

“Always put one foot in front of another. Keep chipping away and pushing forward no matter how daunting things may get. Hard work pays off. As they say, if you don’t fail at something every now and then you may not be trying hard enough.”

- Andrew Pharo, CEO of Cahaba Brewing and

Strategic Alliance Chair of EO Birmingham

“ ‘You have no idea how amazing it’s going to be to see your employees grow personally and professionally.’ This has been my greatest joy in being an entrepreneur. I aggressively invest in people. And seeing them hit their stride, find their passion and thrive in our culture is beyond fulfilling.”

- Tracy Call, founder of Media Bridge Advertising and

Member of EO Minnesota

“Surround yourself with exceptional people and turn them loose. Avoid the temptation to do everything yourself and be everything to everyone. Focus on your strengths and leverage your team.”

- Kevin Tucker, CEO of SOLitude Lake Management and

Member of EO Southeast Virginia

On joining EO

Many of these entrepreneurs found great benefit and opportunity in joining the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. It has helped them in their personal and professional growth as business leaders. Read below how members from various chapters find EO relevant in their entrepreneurial journey.

"Being an EO member for almost 5 years now has been priceless to me. I have learnt to share things I couldn't before - and I didn't know the way to do it! I have gained value from entrepreneurs' experience and not from their advice - and this is the most expensive school! I have served as a Chair in the Chapter - and I have explored new ways of leadership. When I joined EO, I was thinking of it as a high-end business network. After almost 5 years in the EO, I have realized that is just the minimum!"

- Rebecca Pitsika, CEO of People for Business and

Member of EO Greece

“I joined EO because it’s a powerful international community in which I could adopt worldwide perspectives. The most important EO experience for me has been expanding my horizon on different cultures.”

- Aditya Burman, Director of Oncquest Laboratories Ltd and

Member of EO New Delhi

“EO membership inspired me to improve in every aspect of my life and to reach a better version of myself. Encountering fellow entrepreneurs enables us to consult and learn from the experience of others, which sharpens our thinking and motivation. Being part of an international organization like EO enables us to meet with entrepreneurs from around the world who are facing the same challenges, learning & growing together.”

- Galit Bar-Tal, CEO and Owner of Sycamore Group and

Member of EO Israel

“We help each other get through the trials and tribulations of starting businesses, owning businesses, and dealing with the realities of who we are and what it takes to become a successful business entrepreneur.”

- William Palisano, Lincoln Archives & LACyber and

Member of EO Western New York

“EO helped me get my business and personal goals aligned and energized me to grow my business. It has helped me with small things like dealing more efficiently with daily issues and more transformational ones like how to restructure my business to be less dependent on me.”

- Benjamin Knopp, Founder of V Coffee and

Membership Chair of EO Tokyo Metropolitan

How about you? What inspiring entrepreneurial insight can you share with us? We’d like to hear from you through the comments section below.

Celebrating small successes to motivate your team - our members share their experiences

It often takes a lot of hard work to get your staff and team members to be passionate and driven in their jobs. There are great advantages and satisfaction when your team are motivated and inspired by what they do as this contribute to the overall culture of your organisation. One way to fuel their zeal and keep them happy at work is to celebrate small wins with them, as some of these entrepreneurs have come to recognise its importance.

Recognising individual works and team efforts

“In our current COVID situation, celebrating small successes in business is high on the agenda of our business leaders. Business is tough at present, and what we determined as success previously has probably changed somewhat now. The little wins that we glossed over before have now taken on greater importance and acknowledgement amongst our teams to boost morale and build up momentum again to achieve the bigger targets,” shared Gary Lorden, Director at Monitor Consulting.

With a team of around 50 internal staff members, Gary noted that “we have people that are coping better than others to our change in workplace and ability to fulfil roles and duties, particularly in Sales positions. Communicating the ‘wins’ and acknowledging the work of individuals amongst the team has been a big focus.”

They have three team Zoom meetings a week for each state and division where they have a presence. At the start of the day, everyone has a couple of minutes to talk about their commitments for the coming days and their achievements since the last catch-up. “By completing key business activities that the individual highlights, we have found this to be a good way to celebrate the small wins, and build business momentum,” he stated.    

On Friday afternoons, there is a final catch-up for the week on Zoom for each State, where everyone brings their drink of choice and a roundup on individual successes are acknowledged. “Everyone takes a turn to highlight their wins no matter how big or small. The final Friday of the month is a ‘monthly wrap’ where everyone gets a turn on the virtual spin-the-wheel competition for prizes. Staff will get awarded with points throughout the month for key activities completed. And with more points, the more spins they get.”

They also have Quarterly Awards, nominated by the staff themselves, which align with their company values. “We believe peer acknowledgement is probably our most powerful form of positive feedback amongst our team,” he added.

However, Gary admits, “we have had our ups and down with team culture and it never stays constant, particularly in these times. How we acknowledge the small wins will no doubt need to be refined even further as we get into stage 4 lockdowns in the coming weeks.”   

Learning from good results as well as not-so-good jobs

BNR Partners Director – Franchise & Business Services Jason Bertalli conceded that up until about a year ago, they had not celebrated much of their wins. “During that time, I neglected the team in this regard. We would get caught up in the doing, and once completing a job or project, we simply barged headlong into the next. After a discussion at a forum one day, I decided to change it up a gear.” 

With offices in several cities in Australia and several teams handling many clients and specialising in estate taxation, business accounting and financial services, there is a need to keep everyone on the same pace and direction, which is no easy feat.

To achieve this, Jason shared the changes they have to institute in their internal environment. “We implemented a daily stand-up to both keep up to date on what jobs were happening and also recognise what we had done well recently.”

It kept everyone on the loop of what’s going on throughout the organisation as well as made them feel good with their achievements. Moreover, the interaction made them learn from one another, both the best practices and the missteps that happened. “This leads to a monthly team lunch where we similarly acknowledge the good results and the potential lessons from not-so-good jobs. The change in camaraderie and bonding of the team since this implementation has been hugely positive. Buy them lunch, it's worth it!” Jason avowed.

Leading your team through difficulties

There is no doubt that the current pandemic has affected many business and lives, putting a huge dent on the economy worldwide. “For us, to keep fighting our way through, we have to be very agile, we need to always be listening to the market. We've got to be thinking long-term whilst also watching what's happening in the short-term, always keeping our eyes at the horizon whilst still keeping a very, very close range of what's happening in the here and now. I think that's also important for our teams as well because, as a leader, it's our responsibility to lead our people and our teams through that,” HungryHungry Co-founder Mark Calabro remarked.

The pandemic has brought many realisations to Mark. “Firstly, I used to think I was busy. It now has a whole new definition, especially in a startup which has doubled the team size in three months and just secured funding. I have learnt more about what being a leader means and also new skills to manage people in a time where things are not stable. Team members over-worked and overwhelmed whilst isolated at home has been a real struggle to navigate through.”

But what the current challenges have taught him is one thing – resilience. “I think you keep reaching that ‘next level’ in your life or journey, and I have certainly hit more of these in the last few months than I have in many years leading up to the present. I am fortunate to have a business which is in real need right now. We have gone from losing 6-figures a month to break even, before going on a hiring spree for growth,” he said.

Surviving the crisis is already a win for him. But more than that, what keeps him and his team motivated is the sense of purpose in what they do. “We've had to pivot on some instances through COVID, and we're in another lockdown here in Melbourne. But what's next for us is that we see a broader opportunity in the marketplace to create something for business owners as well as consumers by leveraging the data and technology that we have. So, how do we pair up consumers and fit them into places that they’re going to love and vice versa for business owners to be able to engage and communicate and attract more people to come to their stores? It’s around search and discovery and about personalisation and relevancy of food. We firmly believe that every meal should be an amazing meal. We have the vision to create a world where people live to eat. We just think that every meal should be a memorable meal for a good reason.”

Reaching out to communicate and serve your people better

Tristan White, Founder and CEO of The Physio Co, believes that the best way to celebrate small successes is to celebrate them when “in” the moment. He cites one example that happened recently.

“We're all working from home at the moment like many people are, so it’s very difficult to see people and to celebrate things because we're in different places. Because of that, I've got a regular rhythm of calling one or two of our clients every Monday and asking them what's working, what's not working and how we can keep serving them better and improving our services. This morning, I did that and spoke to a client,” he narrated.

The client was very happy with the physiotherapy that a member of Tristan’s team, his name is Daniel, is doing. “She scored the service that we're providing to her mum with a 9 or 10 out of 10, which I was excited about,” Tristan disclosed.

Right after that call, Tristan shared the good news to Daniel to celebrate it with him and celebrate it as quickly as he possibly could. In return, Daniel replied, “Tristan, thanks so much for taking the time to call me. I feel much more connected to the team and also to the work we're doing. I feel supported by having these regular calls and regular check-ins.”

Tristan found great value in that scenario. “I think it’s important, especially when things are changing. For example, in Melbourne, we've gone from stage two to stage three of lockdown, and then now we're in stage four. It's very easy for us leaders to be very reactive around what do we, which usually have to do from a legal and a health perspective. If we're not careful, we won’t be able to prioritise the checking in on a personal and human level with our team members. We can become very reactive and only call people when there's a problem as opposed to calling them to support them and to find out how we can help serve them better,” he pointed out.

“We work hard for the leaders of our teams to make sure that we're checking in with our team members not only about what's working or going on professionally but also how they're coping, how they're surviving, and how they're dealing with a challenging time personally. We encourage our leaders to be vulnerable and to share how they are feeling, as well as to ask, support and get involved respectfully with our team members. Also, if we notice something that's not quite right and we know there's a challenge in that person's life, we do our best to support them by allowing them to have a bit more personal time or sending something or a little gift to recognise their tough time and help them make their job easier,” Tristan recounted.

Establish your support system

Supporting your team members is crucial at this stage when everyone is affected by the global crisis. Take note of every positive thing and celebrate the wins in your organisation, big or small. Acknowledge the significance of each person in your team and show you care for them.

If you have a similar experience or if you have other insights on this topic, please feel free to leave us a comment below.

Playlist for busy entrepreneurs

Busy entrepreneurs need to unwind to relieve themselves from the stress of work and other responsibilities. Whether it’s spending a day at the beach, hiking to the mountains or simply listening to songs while you do your day-to-day chores can help you rejuvenate and recharge. Music has a deep effect on the emotions. Ballads can make you feel mellow, while upbeat songs may tend to energise you.

You may not listen fully to the entire lyrics of a song, but some portions may jump out and connect with your innermost being. If you’re looking for this type of songs, here are some suggestions that you can include in your playlist. Note the highlighted lyrics that may motivate you when you’re feeling down and out.

Billionaire – Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars

“I wanna be a billionaire so freakin' bad, buy all of the things I never had. Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine, smiling next to Oprah and the Queen.” There’s no harm in dreaming, and this song encapsulates the vision of someone who wants to make it big.

The Distance – Cake

“Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course, he's fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
He's going the distance.” Entrepreneurship is like a wild race. Motivation, persistence and determination are needed to keep you going to reach your goals.

The Story of Your Life – Matthew West

“This is the story of your life. You decide how the rest is gonna read. This is your chance between the lines to redefine what kind of legacy you leave.” The song reminds you of the legacy you want to leave behind as an entrepreneur, family person and business leader.

Firework – Katy Perry

“Cause baby, you're a firework. Come on, show 'em what you're worth. After a hurricane comes a rainbow. Maybe a reason why all the doors are closed so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road. Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow. And when it's time, you'll know.” If you need some boost of confidence, Katy Perry’s song can give you a good dose of encouragement.

I Believe I Can Fly – R. Kelly

“I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. I think about it every night and day. Spread my wings and fly away. I believe I can soar. I see me running through that open door.” Believing in yourself is key to surmounting any challenge that comes your way.

Rise Up – Pennywise 

“Well, your point of view it belongs to you, no one can take it away. Dare to envision, hold on to your decision, take control of each passing day.” The song’s words are a reminder that you have to own up to your vision and stay committed to it.

The Time Of My Life – David Cook

“But now I'm risin' from the ashes. Finding my wings. And all that I needed.” Mistakes and hardships are part of the journey. They are the spice of life that makes you learn and become stronger and better than before. Failure happens only when you give up.

Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield

“Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.” You chart your course, and you carve your path. As a business leader, you go where others fear to tread and create something that will actualise your vision.

Survivor — Destiny’s Child

“I'm a survivor. I'm not gon' give up. I'm not gon' stop. I'm gon' work harder.” The business space is a cutthroat world. It takes guts and determination to survive the competitive journey.

Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson

“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Stand a little taller.” Learn from every experience you go through and turn the negative into positive.  

Now, you may opt to include in your playlist genre that you prefer to listen to and songs that you can relate best. There are millions of music that you can select for your different moods. Check which ones can motivate and inspire you in your entrepreneurial journey.