A quote from Teddy Roosevelt for all the business owners out there battling their market conditions:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

I enjoyed this and thought I’d share it with you. I found it over on Mark Nickolas‘ blog. He used it in a political context, but I think it fits just as well in a small business owner’s mind.

Consider it a soothing mug of hot chocolate for your mind before you go back to battling the beast.