I keep anywhere between 5-10 percent of my net worth in venture ideas. Kevin O'Leary More Quotes by Kevin O'Leary More Quotes From Kevin O'Leary What are the most important qualities that make a successful entrepreneur? The ability to communicate. The ability to express your idea with certainty. That's how you become a leader-even if you are unsure, your ability to explain your vision and your direction is the attribute you need the most. ... Articulate your idea in 90 seconds or less. Kevin O'Leary entrepreneur successful ideas Business is war. I go out there, I want to kill the competitors. I want to make their lives miserable. I want to steal their market share. I want them to fear me and I want everyone on my team thinking we're going to win. Kevin O'Leary team winning war I actually think being an entrepreneur is a state of mind. If you're going to be an entrepreneur, my thesis is that you have to sacrifice everything for some period in your life to be successful. You have to be myopic and completely focused and unbalanced in every way. Once you've achieved success, you're free to do whatever you like. Kevin O'Leary sacrifice successful thinking You may lose your wife, you may lose your dog, your mother may hate you. None of those things matter. What matters is that you achieve success and become free. Then you can do whatever you like. Kevin O'Leary hate dog mother I have had some great successes and great failures. I think every entrepreneur has. I try to learn from all of them. Kevin O'Leary entrepreneur trying thinking My partners... taught me that in order to create wealth, I needed to pair up with people whose strengths compensated for my weaknesses. Kevin O'Leary pairs order people Nobody forces you to work at Wal-Mart. Start your own business! Sell something to Wal-Mart! Kevin O'Leary own-business sells force Vision is nothing without a plan to execute it. Kevin O'Leary plans vision We need physical exercise to prepare our brain for long periods of concentration Kevin O'Leary exercise brain long The road to riches is never straight and narrow. It can be riddled with financial land mines. Kevin O'Leary riches financial land I never, ever, ever let emotion get in the way of an investment. Kevin O'Leary investment emotion way The only reason to do business is to make money; that's the only reason for doing business. Kevin O'Leary making-money reason Downturns are the best time to start businesses because you develop discipline that's very lean and mean in terms of how to spend money. And those habits serve you very well in good times. Kevin O'Leary good-times discipline mean I'm not a tough guy. I'm just delivering the truth and only the truth and if you can't deal with it, too bad. Kevin O'Leary deals tough guy If I were the president of the United States, I would make unions illegal. They no longer serve a functional purpose in democracy, in my view. Kevin O'Leary democracy president views Money is my military, each dollar a soldier. I never send my money into battle unprepared and undefended. I send it to conquer and take currency prisoner and bring it back to me. Kevin O'Leary battle military soldier I'm not trying to make friends, I'm trying to make money. Kevin O'Leary making-money trying All businesses require capital, management and labor, and business executives, wanting to grow and maintain profitable enterprises, have a strong incentive to keep costs, including labor, as low as possible. Kevin O'Leary incentives cost strong The practical reality of managing cars in the family - I do 36-month leases. I think they're horrible investments. And you want to give them back after their warranty is over. Kevin O'Leary giving reality thinking Life is hard, money doesn't care, your tears don’t add value Kevin O'Leary life-is-hard tears add
