“If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business— you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic! “And, besides, that’s not the purpose of going into business. “The purpose of going into business is to get free of a job so you can create jobs for other people.””

“That most people who go into business don’t have a model of a business that works, but of work itself, a Technician’s Perspective, which differs from the Entrepreneurial Perspective in the following ways:

• The Entrepreneurial Perspective asks the question: “How must the business work?” The Technician’s Perspective asks: “What work has to be done?”
• The Entrepreneurial Perspective sees the business as a system for producing outside results— for the customer— resulting in profits. The Technician’s Perspective sees the business as a place in which people work to produce inside results— for The Technician— producing income.
• The Entrepreneurial Perspective starts with a picture of a well-defined future, and then comes back to the present with the intention of changing it to match the vision. The Technician’s Perspective starts with the present, and then looks forward to an uncertain future with the hope of keeping it much like the present.
• The Entrepreneurial Perspective envisions the business in its entirety, from which is derived its parts. The Technician’s Perspective envisions the business in parts, from which is constructed the whole.
• The Entrepreneurial Perspective is an integrated vision of the world. The Technician’s Perspective is a fragmented vision of the world.
• To The Entrepreneur, the present-day world is modeled after his vision. To The Technician, the future is modeled after the present-day world.”

“Said another way, the Entrepreneurial Model has less to do with what’s done in a business and more to do with how it’s done. The commodity isn’t what’s important— the way it’s delivered is.”

“A systems-dependent business, not a people-dependent business.”

“Pretend that the business you own— or want to own— is the prototype, or will be the prototype, for 5,000 more just like it. That your business is going to serve as the model for 5,000 more just like it. Not almost like it, but just like it. Perfect replicates. Clones.”

“Go to work on your business rather than in it, and ask yourself the following questions:

• How can I get my business to work, but without me?
• How can I get my people to work, but without my constant interference?
• How can I systematize my business in such a way that it could be replicated 5,000 times, so the 5,000th unit would run as smoothly as the first?
• How can I own my business, and still be free of it?
• How can I spend my time doing the work I love to do rather than the work I have to do?”

“I believe it’s true that the difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next.”

““The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man sees everything as either a blessing or a curse.”