What I've achieved with Boux Avenue is what I always wanted to achieve with La Senza.
— Theo Paphitis
I'm a very considerate spender. I'm a shopper, and I do spend money, but I think about it first.
I am the most conservative person you will ever come across, and that's because I'm good at reducing risks while leaving the potential rewards high.
It's called common sense, but it's not common. Most people don't have it.
I'm not a risktaker. I'm the total opposite.
Online is not contributing in the same way as the high street in terms of business rates and to the local community.
If you really want to sort out the High Street, you ask someone like Kate Swann at WHSmith, who has done a fantastic job of running profitable shops.
The statistics for investing in small businesses are such that the vast majority fail.
Becoming a campaign representative for the somewhereto_ re:store campaign was a simple choice.
My parents divorced, my brothers and I ended up living with my mother, and we were living with the choice of heating or eating. My mum was working, but she needed financial support to make ends meet. I had to have free school dinners and free school uniforms.
I am for a transactional tax at the point of purchase for both online and physical retail.
I know I have been lucky in business, and I am keen now to spread goodwill to others, of course not forgetting that very often, you make your own luck by making use of every opportunity.
If the cash runs out, it's like a heart attack for you and your business. Keep that front and centre of your mind, and you will have financial security and not be struggling to pay the bills.
The decisions you make when you leave school define the rest of your life. So, in terms of making the right choices for your financial security as you get older, my best advice is to do something you have an interest in and are passionate about, as you'll be working for a long time.
Great customer service does not come by chance. It is the result of training and ensuring there are enough assistants to serve the customers.
The great virtue of the web, its ease of communication, has also become its Achilles' heel in that it has polluted the air with meaningless babble and egomaniacal drivel.
The Internet has heralded a revolution in our society. It has transformed the way we do business, entertain, communicate, and travel. In many ways, the change has been positive. The web has brought new freedoms, spurred economic growth, and extended the boundaries of knowledge.
Immigration has been good for this country; I know the value of it - hopefully I've given something back.
Save money; never rely on other people to lend you money. We call it having 'walking the streets' money - money in your back pocket or bank account that belongs to you.
My whole business philosophy is based on a risk-reward ratio. But it's got to stack up. If it doesn't, don't do it. You might as well go to a casino.
Take calculated risks and limit your downside.
In the 1960s, my first-generation immigrant parents were gifted the olive branch of a blue British passport when working for the British Army in Cyprus. It completely transformed the Paphitis story.
I'm not massively academic. I'm a commonsense person.
We survived for hundreds of years under the old banking structure. You'd have clearing banks, then merchant banks doing the racy stuff, and then building societies where you'd join a waiting list for a mortgage. But then banks started buying stockbrokers, doing mortgages, and you ended up with these big banking groups doing everything.
What the entrepreneur gets on 'Dragons' Den' is direct access to people with masses of experience who can actually make quick decisions.
My family's challenges meant we lived hand to mouth. There were weeks when we had neither electricity nor heating.
There are huge misconceptions about people on benefits. They are labelled scroungers or cheats. The reality is that many who need that level of support are working, but their income is not enough to get out of debt or pay for basics like food and household bills. It's so close to the way I grew up.
I was absolutely astonished and could not believe my eyes at the outrageous interest rates that people in need have to pay to get loans.
I admire people who have passion and energy.
Ultimately, if you don't have an interest in what you do, it will be so much harder to make money from it.
A small business can survive for a while without making a profit, but if its cashflow dries up, the impact is fatal.
What's crucial in a High Street store is a compelling reason for people to shop there. Shops must offer excellent customer service - and 'theatre' is a must.
Businesses might have been helped by the ability to promote themselves on the Internet, but they have also been hit by the web's encouragement of time-wasting by their staff.
Young people are the entrepreneurs of the future, and we should be looking to them as one of our sources of innovation for the high streets of tomorrow.
People in emerging markets want to do business with the U.K. I don't see why the U.K. should be penalised for this.
It's very difficult for an entrepreneur to let go. It's very hard to sell a successful business. People sometimes hold on until the business has no value at all.
I am a great believer that the risk should reflect the reward.
Stack the cards in your favour, and in a casino, you'll get arrested and put in prison, but in business and in life, it's the right thing to do.
When making an investment, the people are more important than the product.
Politicians are elected to do what is right, but too many are just doing what is right for the party.
If you look at all the investments made during 'Dragons' Den,' the ratio of those that make it to those that don't is actually extremely high.
A lot of multinationals have long, drawn-out processes and are pretty useless at putting products on the shelves quickly.
Without hope, the very fabric of our society will fall apart.
The government must recognise that taxing retailers differently is reckless.
My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS retweet from me becomes part of a friendly club. Like-minded individuals can share successes and learn.
If you cannot bore your friends to death about your own small business, then something is seriously wrong.
I was lucky enough to find my passion early - in retail - and I have done well but, most importantly, loved doing it.
Small does not mean insignificant.
Good businesses will survive good times and bad times.
No major technological change has ever been instituted by mankind without an array of negative consequences. The motor car has meant liberation for millions, but it has also caused congestion, environmental damage, and a disturbing death toll on the roads.
