10 Best Motivational Speeches for Entrepreneurs

Who couldn’t use a few of the best motivational speeches for entrepreneurs?

Business can be hard. Heck, life can be hard.

We’re all on a journey, and we’ve all been down in the dumps before, wondering if what we’re doing is really worth it.

Wondering if what we’re doing is really making an impact.

But, it’s important that we’re always moving forward. This is a lesson that I learned early in life.

I remember I was around 4 years old, and I was learning to ride my bike with my uncle and my father.

Of course, I fell off multiple times while I was learning to cycle, and I remember I one time I cut my knee pretty badly.

At that point I really just wanted to quit and go home. But, my family told me: “you can’t quit now, you’re almost there. Just try it once more!”

You’ve probably heard that before too, right?

So, I got back on that bike. I didn’t want to, but you just need to power through and face your challenges head on.

Sure enough, that was the first time that I rode that bike without any help.

After that, I was so glad I kept moving forward, and that I never gave up.

Now, that probably wasn’t the motivational speech that you expected when you clicked on this article, but it’s evidence, if you ever needed it, that we can do so much more than we think we’re capable of when we’re spurred on by others.

And that’s exactly why I’ve created this article — I’ve listed all of my favorite motivational speeches here, because I already know how much more you can achieve with a little bit of extra motivation.

Will Smith — Pursuit of Happiness

Considered one of the best motivational speeches, this famous motivational speech from the 2006 film, Pursuit of Happyness, features Will Smith and his son playing basketball.

At the start of the clip you’ll see Smith’s son (his actual son, Jaden Smith) playing around with a basketball, and he shouts out “I’m going pro!”

After hearing this, Smith decides to try and level his son’s expectations, mentioning that he himself never really excelled at basketball, so his son shouldn’t expect to either.

His son is visibly disappointed by this comment, and Smith notices this.

Smith then proclaims:

“Don’t ever let somebody tell you that you can’t do something, not even me. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. You want something, go get it. Period.”

This motivational speech is a special one. Even though both Will and Jaden Smith are acting, they’re still father and son, and you can see how this scene reflects their own family dynamic.

It’s a short motivational speech, but it’s one of the best motivational speeches of all time, in my opinion.

Al Pacino — Any Given Sunday

Al Pacino’s speech from American Football drama, Any Given Sunday, is next up on my list.

This famous motivational speech really gets your blood flowing — perfect to watch before you tackle a difficult day.

The motivational speech revolves around the idea of inches being so important in American Football, even if we have the tendency to overlook them.

He talks about the different ways that his team can gain advantages on their opponents, even if it’s only an inch at a time.

He proclaims: “when we add up all those […] inches, that’s what makes the difference between winning and losing”.

This point is applicable throughout life too — it’s the people who go the extra mile who tend to find success more often than not.

And sometimes, you won’t notice it at first, but like Pacino mentions, it’s the sum of all the small parts which lead you to victory.

Motivational speeches like this one pump you up when you need it most.

Steve Jobs — 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech

Steve Jobs, one of the key figures behind tech giant Apple’s success, is next up on my list of the best motivational speeches of all time.

In his 2005 Stanford commencement speech the former Apple CEO dives deep into his own journey as an entrepreneur, and he speaks openly about the issues that he’s faced along the way, and how he overcame them.

During this classic motivational speech Jobs talks about how he was actually a college dropout, and that this was one of the most important times of his life.

Why?

He mentioned that he dropped out of college to take classes which he was truly interested in, rather than studying topics which he wasn’t deeply passionate about.

One of those classes that he took up after dropping out was calligraphy. He was so compelled by the high standard of handwriting.

To many, this might seem like a strange choice, but he connects his experience that he gained from that class to the font choices that he installed in Apple computers.

If Jobs had never taken that calligraphy class, he wouldn’t have cared so much about a seemingly small detail, like fonts, but Apple was the first company to add different typefaces to their operating systems.

He goes on to say:

“You can’t connect the dots if you’re looking forward, you can only do it looking backwards. So, you need to keep moving forward and hope that the dots align somehow.”

The key message from this famous motivational speech is that we’re always learning. We’re always growing and finding out new information. It’s all about what we choose to do with that information which really defines us.

As Jobs said:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Matthew McConaughey — University of Houston Speech

Next up on my list of motivational speeches is Matthew McConaughey, with his commencement speech at the University of Houston.

The oscar-winning actor delivers some very pertinent points during his speech, but the one that stuck out for me was how he spoke of joy being a “constant approach”.

McConaughey said:

“Joy is always in process, it’s always under construction.”

He spoke of how he was previously judging his success on metrics which he thought were important to him, like the number of academy awards he won, or the amount of money that his films grossed.

But, it was only when he decided to focus on the whole process of creating a film, and enjoying every aspect of it, that he found true success in those metrics.

It turned out that, when he took everything one step at a time, and truly enjoyed his craft, he found that things just fell into place.

“Define success for yourself.”

Find what you want to achieve, and enjoy the entire journey — not just the high points, but the lows too.

Matthew McConaughey ended up delivering one of the best motivational speeches from the past few years.

Sheryl Sandberg — Harvard Business School Motivational Speech

Sheryl Sandberg, the American entrepreneur, tech executive, author, and current COO of Facebook is the next addition to my list of the best motivational speeches with her talk at the Harvard Business School in 2012.

Aside from talking about her own experiences as an entrepreneur, and her work at Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg mentions a very pertinent idea. One that we can all do well to remember.

“Motivation comes from working on things that we care about.”

This is certainly true for entrepreneurship — those who are running businesses and working to tackle problems which engage them are more likely to find success.

And, according to Sandberg, it’s so important that we continue to work, because that’s the most important thing.

All in all, this is one of the best motivational speeches for students that we’ve seen.

Sylvester Stallone — Balboa Speech

Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone, is a famed character who is best known for his courage, hard work, and determination.

In Rocky Balboa, the sixth film in the Rocky franchise, Stallone delivers one of the hardest hitting motivational speeches of all time.

Stallone starts off the motivational speech by saying that: “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.”

He goes on to talk about the value of hard work and commitment.

“It ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

As an entrepreneur, this motivational speech really hits home. There will be struggles on your journey to success, but as Stallone says, it’s all about “how much you can take and keep moving forward, that’s how winning is done.”

Remember this when your back is up against the wall — winners never give up!

Arnold Schwarzenegger — Famous Motivational Speech

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-American actor, entrepreneur, politician, and former My Olympia is next up on my list of the most famous motivational speeches for entrepreneurs.

He starts his motivational speech with a simple, powerful message.

“Work your ass off.”

Schwarzenegger then goes on to talk about how having a goal was so pivotal for him on his journey to success in a variety of fields.

He also talks about how “only a quarter of people really enjoy what they’re doing in life.”

Schwarzenegger also believes that everybody should be constantly working to get closer to their main goal, and should be properly utilizing every hour of their day.

“Imagine if you worked on a business every day for an hour. Imagine how further along you would get.”

This is perhaps the most important message from this motivational speech — it’s down to us to make the most of our limited time on earth. And this message, which is one that everybody can get behind, is why I believe this is one of the best motivational speeches of all time.

Richard St.John — 8 Secrets of Success

This TED talk from Richard St. John is one of the shortest motivational speeches that I’ve ever seen, but it sure is impactful.

St. John mentions at the start of the video that this talk is a condensed version of 7 years of research (including research from more than five hundred interviews with successful professionals).

One of the most interesting points that St. John mentions is that if you want to be successful at something, you need to “Put your nose down in something and get damn good at it.”

But, the most motivational part of St. John’s speech for us was when he talks about passion.

“If you do something you love then the money comes along later.”

This section of the motivational speech is especially relevant for entrepreneurs — if you’re building a brand then try and be invested in it as much as possible — commitment to the cause will really help you to find success in the long run.

When you’re trying to find success you need to love what you do!

Eric Thomas — I Can, I Will, I Must

Eric Thomas is a fantastic speaker, and in this classic motivational speech he empowers us to believe that we can always get through adversity, no matter what the challenge is.

Thomas repeats this line throughout the speech:

“I can get through this. I will get through this. I must get through this.”

He also cleverly uses our loved ones as a source of inspiration in this motivational speech.

He asks us to focus on the 3 people we love the most, and challenges us to question our own decisions when it comes to motivation.

“You gotta think about those people every day. You have some days when you think about hitting the snooze button? […] The days you don’t feel like getting up, just think about them.”

Instead of being lazy and complacent, we need to think about our loved ones, and question what they’d think if we were slacking off.

Honestly, it’s fine doing something for yourself, but knowing that you’ve made your loved ones proud just makes everything feel 10 times better. This is one of the main messages from this motivational speech.

And that’s why this is one of the best motivational speeches of all time. It takes the onus away from working for yourself, and instead focuses on putting in the work for people you couldn’t bare to let down.

Denzel Washington — Fall Forward

“You will fail at something. Accept it.”

In the last entry on my list of the best motivational speeches, Denzel Washington discusses failure.

But, Washington doesn’t shirk away from failure, he embraces it.

He says that “every failed experiment is one step closer to success.”

This is certainly true when it comes to entrepreneurship. You learn so much from everything you do, whether it’s a win or a loss.

But, the most important thing isn’t necessarily winning or losing. It’s about getting out there and giving it everything you’ve got. That’s why this is one of our favorite motivational speeches about life.

“Never be discouraged. Never hold back. And when you fall in life, remember this: fall forward.”

The Key Takeaways 🔑

So that’s my list of the best motivational speeches for entrepreneurs.

I hope you enjoyed those clips. But before you go, I wanted to highlight a couple of key points that are present across all of these motivational speeches.

• It’s important that you love what you do. Be invested. Be present. And be the best you can be.
• Failure isn’t a bad thing. If you learn from it, and continue to move forward, it can lead to great things.
• You need to want it. Entrepreneurship, along with many things in life, can be tough. You want it bad? Prove it.

This story was originally published on the Oberlo Blog.