Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" In my early teens, I was working in a Wimpy Bar and delivering cab company cards to make cash. I also ran a tuck shop at school. I struggled academically because of being dyslexic. When I saw other families and what they had, it inspired me. I thought, 'I can get that, too, if I work hard.' "

Related Quotes:

" What the entrepreneur gets on 'Dragons' Den' is direct access to people with masses of experience who can actually make quick decisions. "

Theo Paphitis

Experience

People

Quick

" Take calculated risks and limit your downside. "

" My parents divorced, my brothers and I ended up living with my mother, and we were living with the choice of heating or eating. My mum was working, but she needed financial support to make ends meet. I had to have free school dinners and free school uniforms. "

" The high streets I remember best were Seven Sisters Road in north London and then sunny Peckham in south London after we moved there. They were where my parents used to shop. They were great, part of being a teenager. "

" Great customer service does not come by chance. It is the result of training and ensuring there are enough assistants to serve the customers. "

" I'm a traditionalist, a family man. I love my kids. I believe I have brought them up the right way. They are all very different: they have different drives, different ambitions. They are never going to be me. They are going to be themselves. "

Theo Paphitis

Love

Way

" Retail is my game. I spend every waking hour thinking about it. I started in the industry at the age of 18 after trying various other things that were mind-numbingly boring to me. "

Theo Paphitis

Age

Thinking

" I've always maintained the basic business principles of keeping it simple, doing your homework, hard work, and common sense. "

" The reality in business and in 'Dragons' Den' is you win some, and you lose some. "

" Both my sons are dyslexic, and so, too, in a much milder form, is one of my daughters. "

" I try to support local traders. The service makes up for any extra cost. "

Theo Paphitis

Cost

Local

" I'm a shopaholic. I really am. I can't help myself. I do go into, browse, and purchase from my own shops, too, although the CEOs who run my businesses wish I didn't. "

" I'm an avid sailor, and my first time exploring the Dalmatian Coast and the Croatian islands was very special. "

" Business isn't complicated; we complicate business. "

" The statistics for investing in small businesses are such that the vast majority fail. "

" Businesses might have been helped by the ability to promote themselves on the Internet, but they have also been hit by the web's encouragement of time-wasting by their staff. "

" My family's challenges meant we lived hand to mouth. There were weeks when we had neither electricity nor heating. "

" I'd like to think people know what I stand for, which is straight-talking honesty and telling you not just what you want to hear but where it is at. "

" A small business can survive for a while without making a profit, but if its cashflow dries up, the impact is fatal. "

" I am for a transactional tax at the point of purchase for both online and physical retail. "

Theo Paphitis

Tax

Retail

" The eight years I spent at Millwall were among the best times of my life. "

" Immigration has been good for this country; I know the value of it - hopefully I've given something back. "

" It's called common sense, but it's not common. Most people don't have it. "

" Small does not mean insignificant. "

" Entrepreneurship can be taught to people with average academic abilities - the proof of that is everywhere you look. "

" The minute I stepped foot on the shop floor and started serving in a retail environment, I knew it was the career for me. I was a shop assistant for just one day, and I thought, 'This is it. This is the rest of my life. This is all I want to do.' "

" When making an investment, the people are more important than the product. "

" No major technological change has ever been instituted by mankind without an array of negative consequences. The motor car has meant liberation for millions, but it has also caused congestion, environmental damage, and a disturbing death toll on the roads. "

" Making the first million is hard; making the next 100 million is easy. "

Theo Paphitis

Million

Making

" The wider the exposure that we give children of the real working world, the better. "