Reid Hoffman Quotes

While still working for others, your goal at some point must be to carve out little areas that you can operate on your own, cultivating entrepreneurial skills.

Once you're an entrepreneur you're always an entrepreneur, and you need that fix.

Well, you know, I've always been an entrepreneur. I've had it out of necessity.

I had been an independent entrepreneur from the beginning, and I felt I could do it myself. I didn't want to get a job.

I started working at age thirteen. I'm a product of public schools, I'm a product of a public university. I started my first company when I was 21. I've subsequently never worked for anybody else. I started that first business when I was still in college.

My father always said working for somebody else never amounted to anything. You have to be an entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur was the furthest thing from my mind. I actually had an identity crisis when I realized I had become one.

I had no intention of being a film producer, and I knew I wasn't passionate about engineering. I was always set on having my own business, controlling my own destiny.

Being an entrepreneur is my dream job, as it tests ones tenacity.

Nobody does just one thing. But the real difference between being an entrepreneur and everyone else in the world is the ability to monetize. I am an entrepreneur in the classic mold.

My father was a chef but hadn't owned his own business. I didn't like that. In my heart of hearts, I knew I wanted to be in business.

I don't have any great ambition to go out and make money. But I am still fascinated in starting up businesses and starting it in a way and running in a way that I want to do it.

I have always thought of myself as an inventor first and foremost. An engineer. An entrepreneur. In that order. I never thought of myself as an employee. But my first jobs as an adult were as an employee: at IBM, and then at my first start-up.

My father certainly believed that one could make a living outside of an office, as he did. And that if I didn't want to work for other people, there wasn't any reason why I had to. He conveyed that very strongly to my sister and I - that smart people can make their own livings.

I thought, if I went into business I'd be able to control my own destiny.

I believe for the first time in history, entrepreneurship is now a viable career.

At age 28, I had no retail experience, no consumer marketing experience and no real Internet experience. But I decided I wanted to work for myself. I felt starting a company would enable me to get the responsibility I deserved and that I couldn't do that within the confines of a bigger company.

Starting your own business isn't just a job - it's a way of life.

I was an entrepreneur myself and often say that I'm on loan to public service.

For me, I've always been an entrepreneur.

We always saw ourselves in careers as entrepreneurs or angels.

If I can encourage other women to think about setting up their own businesses and being entrepreneurs and making a contribution then I think that's a good thing.

I didn't have the patience to wait to take a degree before starting work, because I wanted to run my own business.

I had never created my own business before. I had always been the gun to hire... But I had to finally say, nobody is going to give me my dream job, so I better figure it out myself.

Part of the American dream is 'I can own my own business, I can control my destiny. I can have the opportunity to work for myself.'