Ziad Abdelnour Quotes

No one is fearless. The difference between achievers and everyone else is that they take action despite their fears.

The only thing that is or should be equal in the creation of wealth
is the opportunity to participate. Everything else is naturally and rightfully
dependent on personal and often exclusively inherent advantages
and disadvantages. The imagined outcomes and side benefits are
impossible to guarantee. The shared human experience should have
taught us, by any objective standard, that making a mirage your focus
will undermine your chances of finding gold.

Keep in mind that pitching investors is a process that requires preparation, data, vision, and honesty. And even if an investor passes on this particular start-up, don’t burn the bridge.

One of Obama’s greatest failures will be his legacy of making millions completely dependent on government handouts, not work....So sad.

Commerce is considered by classical economists to be a positive-sum
game. The act of selling and buying always benefits both the seller
and the buyer. It is unfortunate that popular culture has propagated
the Marxist myth that one person gains in business at the expense of
another, that capitalism is evil because it is a zero-sum game — somebody
wins while someone else loses. When liberals make the argument
that capitalism is the cause of all of our problems, they are either
speaking out of abject ignorance or being totally disingenuous to
protect their interests. We have not had true free-market capitalism
in this country on any wide scale. Where we have had economic
successes in this nation’s history, it has been those times when people
have done something outside of the government’s involvement. Every
time the federal government has been involved, it has created chaos,
waste, and corruption.

There isn’t anything noble about being superior to another person. True nobility is in being superior to the person you once were.

The wise never confuse information or data, however prodigious or cleverly deployed, with comprehensive knowledge or wisdom...Be wise.

I believe the only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.

The illusion of choice is the greatest magic trick ever performed.

There are so many mistakes you can learn only by making them yourself. There is no substitute for experience.

Never look at an opportunity at face value & pass it on that basis. Examine the income vs. the profit vs. expenses then make your decision.

My book is not for everyone in the venture capital and entrepreneurial world, and that’s okay. If you try to please everybody and worry about offending anybody, nothing is going to happen. You might make some money, but you certainly won’t create wealth.

Earning an education is not the same as gaining a skill set.

I do not believe in the power of brand names or in emulating
any of the brand name investors out there. It is a fact that all — if
not at least most — of the biggest names in American finance and
industry out there today have proven after the 2008 crisis to be some
of the most incompetent people there are. Starting with the untouchable
Goldman Sachs, who was bailed out by over $5 billion from
Warren Buffett, to AIG and Citibank, who were bailed out by the
hundreds of billions of dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program
(TARP), having a name and a history does not make you the brightest
and the best. All it takes is one nincompoop with a huge ego or a
board of directors who think they are smarter than everyone else to
destroy what has taken generations to build.

Seek respect, not attention. It lasts longer.