70+ Small Business Quotes to Support & Inspire You in 2024

By Derek Wydra

In a world filled with big companies, small businesses shape the heart and soul of our communities. Here are 70+ small business quotes to celebrate and inspire you—the hardworking small business owner who is resilient, creative, and truly amazing. So let's not forget to support small business each and every day!

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🛍️ Support Small Business Quotes For Customers

Every purchase that goes towards a small business casts a ripple through the community, fostering growth and connection. These quotes remind us how each small choice can shape the world around us.

  1. “When you support a small business, you are supporting a dream.” — Unknown
  2. “Every time you buy something from a small business a real actual person does a little happy dance.” —Unknown
  3. “Behind every small business is a family.” — Unknown
  1. “Thank you for supporting small business. Every small purchase makes a big difference.” —Unknown
  2. “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy local and that’s kind of the same.” — Unknown

👉 Read our related post: 12 Must-Read Books for Small Business Owners in 2024

  1. “Giving a gift from a small business is giving a gift twice.” — Unknown
  2. “The best time to support small business is always today.” —Gisele Barreto Fetterman
  3. “The best compliment you can give is a referral.” — Unknown
  1. “Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.” – Anna Lappé, Author & Educator
  2. “When you buy from a small business, you’re not helping a CEO buy a third holiday home. You’re helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get his team jersey, a mom or dad put food on the table, a family pay a mortgage, or a student pay for college.” – Unknown
  3. “Celebrity makes $80+ million a year, you will never meet them. You pay them full price or extra for what they sell. A small business owner makes $25K – $100K a year, they live next door, and you want a discount.” — Unknown
  1. “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the cornerstone of our communities.” – Barack Obama, former US President
  2. “Small businesses don’t have the same buffers that larger companies do. That’s why it’s so important to support them. When they thrive, the whole community thrives.” – Unknown
  3. “Nearly one in four small businesses reported that their holiday sales will determine if their business can survive into next year. Remember that the next time you wonder if shopping small this holiday matters. It does. It truly does.” — Natalie Franke
  4. “Shopping small and supporting local businesses is not just about the economic impact but about building community, fostering unique local cultures, and creating personal connections.” – Unknown

💖 Positive Small Business Quotes

Small businesses thrive on optimism and bold dreams. These quotes capture the essence of starting small but dreaming big, lighting the way for every entrepreneur.

  1. “Never give up. Today is hard and tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” — Jack Ma, Co-founder of Alibaba
  2. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” — Albert Schweitzer
  3. “Don’t pay attention to people who say you can’t do it! They can’t do it, and they’re afraid you might try and succeed.” — Barbara Corcoran
  1. “There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.” —Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp
  2. “Success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom.” — General George Patton Jr.
  3. “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” — Sheryl Sandberg
  4. “Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.” — Simon Sinek, bestselling business author
    👉 Read our summary of his book “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek
  5. “The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake — you can’t learn anything from being perfect.” — Adam Osborne
  1. “The most successful entrepreneurs I know are optimistic. It’s part of the job description.” —Caterina Fake, Co-founder of Flickr
  2. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple
    👉 Read our summary of his biography “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson
  3. “Make something people want includes making a company that people want to work for.” — Sahil Lavingia, CEO of Gumroad
  4. “Dream big, work hard, stay focused, and surround yourself with good people.” – Unknown
  1. “First, think. Second, believe. Third, dream. And finally, dare.” — Walt Disney, founder of Disney
  2. “If we did all the things we were capable of, we would astound ourselves.” — Thomas Edison
  3. “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” — Richard Branson
  4. “If you can dream it, you can do it.” — Walt Disney
  5. “Don’t worry about being successful but work toward being significant and the success will naturally follow.” – Oprah Winfrey

🔥 Motivational Quotes for Small Business Owners

The entrepreneurial journey demands courage and resilience. Here are powerful quotes to ignite your passion and push you through challenges, one step at a time.

  1. “I never dreamed about success — I worked for it.” — Estée Lauder, Co-founder of Estée Lauder beauty products
  2. “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” — Scott Belsky, co-founder of Behance
  3. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney, founder of Disney
  4. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” — Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple
  5. “Do what you can with all you have, wherever you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
  6. “Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice.” —Steve Jobs
  7. “Give value, give value, give value, and then ask for business.” — Gary Vaynerchuk
  8. “If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life.” — Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb
  1. “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” — Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks
  2. “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” – George Herbert
  3. “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” —Dhirubhai Ambani, Founder of Reliance Industries
  4. “The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” — Barack Obama
  5. “To be successful, you must act big, think big and talk big.” — Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
  6. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
  1. “Don’t worry about failure: You only have to be right once.” — Drew Houston, Co-Founder of Dropbox
  2. “Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.” — Jim Rohn, motivational speaker
  3. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” — Stephen King
  4. “If you’re in the business of making something, be in the business of making something great.” — Robert Iger, CEO of DIsney
    👉 Read our summary of his book “The Ride of a Lifetime” by Robert Iger
  5. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” —Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
  6. “Let everyone else call your idea crazy . . . just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.” — Phil Knight, Founder of Nike
    👉 Read our summary of his book “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight!
  7. “You can’t be successful in business without taking risks. It’s really that simple.” — Adena Friedman
  8. “Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.” — Charles F. Kettering
  9. “The biggest mistake a small business can make is to think like a small business.” — Aruna Bhayana
  10. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas A. Edison, inventor
  11. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” — Henry Ford

🤗 Small business quotes about customer service & relationships

Success in small business is deeply rooted in relationships and exceptional service. These quotes highlight the magic of personal connections that build lasting success.

  1. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou, Poet & Author
  2. “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” — Sam Walton, founder of Walmart
    👉 Read our summary of his book “Made in America” by Sam Walton
  3. “The well-satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts.” — James Cash Penney, Founder of J.C. Penney
  4. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
  1. “Do not focus on numbers. Focus on doing what you do best. It’s about building a community who want to visit your site every day because you create value and offer expertise.” — Cassey Ho, Founder of Blogilates
  2. “If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” — Bob Hooey
  3. “Make a customer, not a sale.” — Katherine Barchetti
  4. “A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.” — Michael LeBoeuf
  5. “Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time, or we’ll lose them.” — Kevin Stirtz
  6. “If you build a great customer experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” — Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon
  7. “The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works.” — Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon
    👉 Read our summary of “The Everything Store” (THE book on Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s success)
  8. “Business is all about relationships, how well you build them determines how well they build your business.” — Brad Sugars, Founder of ActionCOACH
  9. “Customer service shouldn’t just be a department, it should be the entire company.” — Tony Hsieh, Founder of Zappos
  10. “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” — Steve Jobs

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