Richard Rawlings Quotes

Many businesses fail because the owner wasn't willing to invest and wasn't educated on the difference between spending money frivolously and investing money into the business for growth, and the risks and rewards of that cash infusion.

As a businessman, I know that businesses need certainty.

When I first got into business, I made a lot of bad decisions.

When you're talking about capital and financial things, which I certainly pay a lot of attention to, I base those decisions on one question that I typically ask myself, which is 'Does it help us to build a better company?'

If you're not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.

The economics of setting up a new restaurant are scary in good times and terrifying in bad ones.

If your business is the right business, then money will never be an issue.

For resourceful tech founders, finding capital is rarely a problem; making the best use of it is another story. A few years slinging pepperoni pies and chicken wings - on tiny margins and with minimal investment - might not be the worst fiscal training.

I already have enough apparel businesses that are either doing well or not really doing anything at all, and I'm looking to broaden my portfolio.

One way to mitigate our risk is to invest in companies with understandable business models.

Leave no stone unturned to help your clients realize maximum profits from their investment.

You have to manage money. Particularly with market economies. You may have a great product, but if your bottom line goes bust, then that's it.

Many entrepreneurs think that cash is the ultimate solution to all of their problems: the one thing standing between them and their dreams.

Start small; get to know the landscape. We take risks but not major risks. We always started with small capital - €4m in Holland, $10m in Russia - and as we get to know the landscape of a country, we think about other businesses.

If you are not making any mistakes, you are being excessively risk-averse. Investing involves risk, and that means you will occasionally be wrong. And although it is okay to be wrong, it is not okay to stay wrong.

I consider each business investment based on concept and revenue.

You just can't get too focused on worrying about what's going to happen in the next quarter. You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

With the world changing fast, we needed capital for investments. There's only so much bandwidth in your own balance sheet.

You can be far more aggressive when you're making good profits.

Investing in a poker game and investing in stocks, at least the way I do it, it's a very similar skillset.

After decades of studying the men and women that make the decision to open their own Great, Growing Company, I'd have to say it comes down to the Vision they have for that business - do they expect to build the company or just have some income for the short term?

The successful entrepreneurs on the free market will be the ones most adept at anticipating future business conditions. Yet, the forecasting can never be perfect, and entrepreneurs will continue to differ in the success of their judgments. If this were not so, no profits or losses would ever be made in business.

It's important to understand economic trends, but, in my mind, it's more important to understand how to buck the trends.

I never expect business to be easy.

One thing I never thought about in my big-company job? Cash flow. When your business has billions of dollars in revenue, you can make a lot of mistakes and still have a viable business. But in a startup, make a few hiring mistakes, and you can find yourself in real jeopardy fast.