One of the most inspiring entrepreneurs that I’ve come across is Gurbaksh Chahal, aka ‘G’. If you haven’t heard of him, here’s a brief overview of his successes that led to an interview with Oprah Winfrey, being cast in hit show ‘The Secret Millionaire’ and even being invited to dinner with President Barack Obama.
- G left school at 16 to start Internet advertising company Click Agents. Two years later he sold it for $40 million.
- In 2004, G launched online advertising company BlueLithium. Yahoo! went onto buy it for $300 million.
- He is also an international best-selling author of The Dream, the inspirational tale of his entrepreneurial journey. In September 2009, Glaunched gWallet, now re-branded as RadiumOne that has valuations exceeding those of his previous companies.
Having come from a similar background to that of G, I’ve been compelled to learn as much as possible from him and here are four of my favorite quotes that will undoubtedly help you succeed:
“If you genuinely want something, don’t wait for it – teach yourself to be impatient.”
For all those that procrastinate, this is invaluable. I believe time is the most precious commodity there is and you need to use your time to progress. Wasted time equals missed opportunities.
“I’ve also learned that the biggest lessons came from my biggest mistakes.”
You will make mistakes on your entrepreneurial journey and it’s essential that you take the positive out of it. Assess what led to the mistake and adapt to make yourself and your business better.
“Find something you love and do it better than everyone else.”
This is something I really feel strongly about – do something because you really love doing it and don’t let greed be the driving factor. Sure, money is important but passion needs to coincide with that so you’re motivated to always make your business better. Otherwise, running your business will become an uphill struggle.
“People tend to think that in order to start a new business they have to come up with something new and dazzling, but that’s a myth – and it’s often propagated by venture capitalists.”
I’ve seen many people trying to re-invent the wheel whereas the most successful businesses are often those that have made incremental improvements over the competition. For example, one of my most successful businesses is a fundraising website that is differentiated through features, fees and style. Although online fundraising is nothing new and I succeeded through incremental and ongoing improvements over the competition.
Similarly, Apple weren’t the first to create a smartphone. Google weren’t the first search company. And Dyson weren’t the first to create a vacuum cleaner – they all just did it better than the competition.
By absorbing and implementing these fundamental lessons taught by G, you’ll have a greater chance at true success in whatever business you pursue.
Author Bio: Sandip Singh worked as an Investment professional before leaving his career to build a number of successful online businesses. He recently launched niche visual directories Asian Capture and Asian Adore.
