Stefan Ackerie Quotes

104 Stefan Ackerie Quotes (Steve Ackerie, Stefan, Stefan Hair Fashions, Stefan’s, Stefan Boating World, Jo-Jo’s, Stefan Racing)

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Believe in yourself and never, never quit.
Stefan Ackerie

People say ‘When are you going to quit?’ I say what do you mean? I’m just starting.
Stefan Ackerie

We’ve been in business now 45 years. Do you know how many businesses survive under the same owner for 45 years?
Stefan Ackerie

Sometimes you get a flat tyre and sometimes you blow up your engine, but you’ve just got to keep moving.
Stefan Ackerie

When you are driving a car in the road and you hit a pothole, just because you don’t see it, you can’t say ‘I didn’t put the pothole there’, you should have seen it… We all have something happen to us.
Stefan Ackerie

What you need to know to be a success, you learn in kindy.
Stefan Ackerie

When God gives you a talent you must not waste it.
Stefan Ackerie

[In June 2009] It is an amazing thing when you are lucky to help so many young people, and the end result is that they are helping you on your journey.
Stefan Ackerie

[In October 2009] If you want to succeed, there’s only one way to succeed – have staff take care of your clients.
Stefan Ackerie

Don't let anybody outwork you…
Stefan Ackerie



Some people may be smarter than you and there's nothing you can do about that, but you can choose whether you work harder than them…
Stefan Ackerie

You can only be successful if people want to work with you…
Stefan Ackerie

Success is a responsibility and a privilege.
Stefan Ackerie

If I take something on – I like to commit myself… until I achieve it.
Stefan Ackerie

I wouldn’t want anyone to do business with us and not be happy.
Stefan Ackerie

[On his shops not having electricity for six months.] Tell me how you can blow-dry hair and wash people’s hair and turn the lights on for six months? Not one shop but 50 shops? … it lasted six months, but we survived that and learned from that and grew from it.
Stefan Ackerie

We should contribute to the place where we live and contribute to the people we come in contact with.
Stefan Ackerie

If you don't contribute to a garden, it won't grow. If you don't contribute to the moment, it won't grow.
Stefan Ackerie

[In July 2009 on his ‘Rainbow Van’ charity project.] If you want avocado, you have to plant a tree and look after it. Seven years later, if you're lucky, it will bear fruit.
Stefan Ackerie

We train our people to make people happy.
Stefan Ackerie



[In August 2011] Hairdressing is not about cutting hair. It's about communicating, smiling, making the person comfortable and you can't do that if you are not comfortable. We train our staff to feel positive.
Stefan Ackerie

The happiest day of my life was when I found Queensland…
Stefan Ackerie

People say to me, ‘Hairdressing is easy, everyone needs to have their hair cut.’ But I’m not the only haircutter in the world: in Australia alone there are six thousand hairdressing salons.
Stefan Ackerie

If you don’t believe in yourself and you quit, then it can’t happen because life is a journey.
Stefan Ackerie

Sometimes it’s nice, sometimes, it’s tough, sometimes it’s uphill, sometimes it’s raining and sometimes there’s a pothole in the road. Sometimes you get a flat tyre and sometimes you blow up your engine, but you’ve just got to keep moving.
Stefan Ackerie

The main secret to success is you must have a nice team of people who believe in your vision and want to be part of the journey with you. If they don’t believe then it can’t work, if they’re not happy then it can’t work. If they don’t respect you and you don’t respect them, it doesn’t work.
Stefan Ackerie

You are nothing without your staff.
Stefan Ackerie

So many people think the hero is the person and the name. It’s not; the heroes are the people who make it happen. Your team is priceless. So many people think they can do it alone and they can’t. If you have a great team, well you deserve success; if you don’t, then don’t complain, or make one.
Stefan Ackerie

[On his business high’s and lows.] The highs are where I am now. The lows, I’m proud to say I don’t have many.
Stefan Ackerie

You always have incidents in life. For example there was no electricity in Brisbane for six months and that did incredible damage… but we managed to cope and survive. Imagine having a business with five hundred staff and having no electricity for six months. That was a low. Some lows you cause, some are caused for you and they are worse because you say ‘I didn’t do this’ but I guess when you are driving a car in the road and you hit a pothole, just because you don’t see it, you can’t say ‘I didn’t put the pothole there’, you should have seen it. No one escapes, we all have something happen to us.
Stefan Ackerie



My very first boat was a Lewis Skiff. A 17 when I had no money I still bought the Lewis, it was an amazing boat. I am Phoenician, and it’s in our DNA to be boat people. My father loved boats and I like boats and I have been fortunate to race boats for thirty years.
Stefan Ackerie

[On building a new racing boat called ‘Stefan Shampoo’] It was a brand new design from Italy and was way, way ahead of it’s time. It was half airplane, half boat, it half floated and half flew. With a cat if the wing design is clever in the middle you actually lift and when you land it’s not like a stone hitting the water – it’s like cotton hitting the water.
Stefan Ackerie

[On his boat the ‘Rainbow Rose’] She is an awesome boat.
Stefan Ackerie

I’m not really a pure yachtie, I like to build the, I like to design them, I like to make them happen, and then, I like to do the next one.
Stefan Ackerie

I love going on boat’s but I’m not one of those people who has every weekend out on the boat, get on board Friday, come back Monday. I used to do that a long time ago but I don’t do that now.
Stefan Ackerie

There’s no question that everything is getting dearer, but I believe that boats don’t have to be as expensive as they are. It’s up to me to see how clever I am [with the business], and if I’m clever I succeed and if I’m not I don’t. I’m under no illusion that what I’m doing with Stefan Boating World is a walk in the park.
Stefan Ackerie

A friend of mine once said, ‘There’s a lot of waste in boats,’ and I’m trying to avoid the waste. I want to get boats that are clever, from manufacturers who are clever, so I can offer dealers boats that are very competitive and a range that is comprehensive.
Stefan Ackerie

I just don’t think that superyachts should be so complicated to use. In a house, you turn the switch and you get light. On a boat you’ve got to turn this, and that, and it’s complicated. But I guess in a house you have a city that supplies you with things. On a boat you are the city, you are the provider, you are the sewage plant, you are everything. So maybe superyachts have to be complicated.
Stefan Ackerie

[On the ‘Rainbow Truck’ to help feed homeless people.] I used to ride my bike [through the city] every morning and I would see homeless people and I thought it would be nice for them to have something to eat and a nice cup of coffee in the morning instead of wondering where they were going to get their next meal from. Sonny, and I thought let’s do it. So we thought of the name and got the van and we haven’t missed a day in the past five years.
Stefan Ackerie

[On the Make a Sick Kid Smile (MASKS) Foundation that he setup in 2006 and runs in conjunction with the police.] We deliver toys to sick kids in hospital. It masks the pain and you get a smile. I remember when my little boy was sick in hospital and whenever I gave him a toy there was no pain.
Stefan Ackerie



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