12 Military Mottos For Entrepreneurs

I want you to think about this stat. Ready? 60% of Fortune 500 companies in 1970 are no longer in business today. You may ask the question, “How’s that even possible?”

Just like great countries can lose their empires, great companies such as Circuit City, Blockbuster and Borders can lose their empires.

 It’s very important to be strategic in the way you build your business. When it comes to strategy, there is none better than the military, so for today’s video, I chose twelve military mottos for entrepreneurs.

#1: Stay Alert, Stay Alive

Do you want to know why about 60% of the Fortune 500 companies from 1970 are no longer around? It’s because they didn’t stay alert. And because they didn’t stay alert, they didn’t stay alive.

Blockbuster didn’t think Netflix was real. Borders didn’t think Amazon was real. Circuit City didn’t think Best Buy was real. They thought there was no way anyone was going to beat them. They had great branding, great logos, great everything. But they weren’t alert, and because of that, they didn’t make it.

As an entrepreneur you have to know what’s going on in the marketplace. You have to know what’s going on with your home office staff, with your sales force, with your assistant, with your clients, with your partners, with your vendors, with legal, with every single thing. You’ve got to know because you’ve got to stay alert. If you’re not alert, you will be dead in the water in the world of business.

#2: Whatever it Takes

As an entrepreneur, if you want to stay in business, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes. If you’ve got to stay at the office till two in the morning — it’s whatever it takes. If you’ve got to come to the office and work hard for two, three, four, five years to make your business work — whatever it takes.

If you have to work around the clock 24/7 over the weekend to learn a product and learn your competitors — whatever it takes.

If you have to drive 12 hours to go get a client that may end up paying you a $5,000 commission but may introduce you to 20 other clients – whatever it takes.

If you have to take a flight to go and do something to maintain your license, it doesn’t matter. Whatever it takes.

A lot of times I see entrepreneurs that don’t make it because they don’t subscribe to the mentality of “whatever it takes.”

#3: The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

Click here to listen in on my views on what this quote means and how it applies to entrepreneurs.

#4: Peace through Strength

President Ronald Reagan had this saying when he had a battle with the Soviet Union – Peace through Strength.

What this means is that we don’t want to fight you, because if we do, we’re going to beat you. If you want to fight, we’ll fight, but we’d rather be peaceful and not have to fight.

Now in order to have peace, you have to be strong. As an entrepreneur, you need to increase your strength so you can have peace.

#5: Molon Labe (Come and Take Them)

Molon what? Click here for the story of how this motto came about, and what it means.

#6: Better to Die, Than to Be a Coward

This motto is from the Royal Gurkha Rifles, U.K. These are soldiers that were recruited from Nepal and they were known as the bravest of the brave. What does, “Better to die than to be a coward” mean?

As an entrepreneur, what are you afraid of? It’s better to die and go face your fears, than to be a coward. It’s better to go on that sales appointment and the other person says no to you than to be a coward. It’s better to go out there and make that phone call that you’re afraid of making than to be a coward.

This doesn’t necessarily mean going to war. Are you afraid of that phone call? If you’re afraid of that phone call, what makes you think you’re going to be able to run a big business? Pick up the phone and make some calls. Don’t be afraid.

It’s better to make a phone call that you’re afraid of making and be rejected than it is to hold back because of fear. It’s better to be rejected than not make that proposal to your client.

It’s better to be rejected than going and taking the easy way out. It’s better to die than to be a coward.

#7: Facta non Verba (Deeds, Not Words)

This Motto is from Canada, Joint Task Force, which is similar to our Navy Seals. Facta Non Verba means, “Deeds, not words.”

If you tell your client you’re going to do something, do it. If you tell yourself you’re going to do something, do it. If you tell your team you’re going to do something, do it. If you tell the world you’re going to do something, do it. Don’t just talk about it. Go and do it.

#8: Si vis pacem, para bellum (If You Wish for Peace, Prepare for War)

You want to be peaceful? Then be prepared for an attorney to put you out of business. Be prepared for a company to sue you and put you out of business. But be prepared for war in order to have peace.

Save your money so you don’t have to worry about if they sue you and you go out of business because you don’t have the money.

Put your money aside in case something happens, an emergency, crisis, bad market, bad economy, bad. . . whatever.

If you’re prepared for war, you’ll have the money in place and won’t go out of business.

I can’t tell you how many smaller entrepreneurs are put out of business because they don’t pay their taxes properly, or have unpaid credit card debt.

Pay your taxes, pay your creditors, keep finances and a lot of saving in place.

Be ready for war, and you’ll have peace.

#9: Lerne leiden ohne zu klagen (Learn to Suffer without Complaining)

Listen in here for some great — and not so great examples of what it means to live this motto.

#10: No Mission too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great, Duty First

This motto is from the First Infantry Division.

As a business owner, you’re going to face a lot of different things. You’ll have to slay many dragons. But none of them are too big too handle.

For the most part, the thing that puts people out of business has to do with a lack of being prepared. If you’re unprepared and something happens, you could go out of business.

If your mission is in place, a lot of things will be difficult, but nothing you can’t handle.

You have to be mission driven. You have to make sacrifices. Duty first, to your people, your clients, your investors, that comes first as an entrepreneur.

#11: The Hard We Shall Do Today, the Impossible We Shall Do Tomorrow

I’m getting to my favorite one. This is from Israeli Engineering Corps.

The hard we shall do today, the impossible we shall do tomorrow means that the more you and I focus as an entrepreneur on doing the difficult things today, tomorrow, and the day after that, over and over again, people will end up saying,

“Man, that was the impossible. He or she did the impossible.” No, doing the impossible is a culmination of doing 10,000 hard things. That’s really what it is. So if you want to do the impossible, be willing to do 1,000 hard things on a day-to-day basis.

All of a sudden you’ll have something happen and everybody will call you a hero, but you’ve got to be willing to do the hard things day after day.

#12: Never Above You, Never Below You, Always Beside you, Oorah

Listen in here for a story about my buddy, Matt Sapaula who gave this toast, and the impact it had on me.

This article was originally published on PatrickBetDavid.com.