“To be a success in business: Be daring, be first, be different” has been cited in print since at least 1970. “Marchant” was credited in 1981, “Henry Marchant” was crtedited in 1996, and the date “1789” was added in 2005. There is no evidence that American lawyer Henry Marchant (1741-1796) ever said this; it’s possible that a 20th century person had the same name.
 
“To be a success in business, be daring, be different” was credited to McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc (1902-1984) in a 1985 McDonald’s advertisement. “Be daring, be first, be different, be just” was credited to Anita Roddick (1942-2007), founder of The Body Shop, in 1999.
     
 
Google Books
The Complete Art of Public Speaking
By Jacob Morton Braude
New York, NY: Bantam Books
1970
Pg. 52:
To be a success in business: Be daring, be first, be different.
 
19 October 1978, Hutchinson (KS) News, “Glickman for small business” (UPI), pg. 11, col. 6:
‘It was once said that ‘to be a success in business, (a firm must) be daring, be first, be different,’” Glickman said.
(Representative Dan Glickman, D-Kansas.—ed.)
 
23 January 1981, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Who Said That?,” pg. 2D, col. 5:
To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different.”—Marchant
 
22 December 1985, The Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA), pg. B-16, col. 1 classified ad:
“To be a success in business, be daring, be different.”
Ray Kroc,
Founder, McDonald’s Corporation
 
Google Books
Time-Out Leadership:
Daily Reflections to Maximize Your Leadership Effectiveness
By Donald Luce
Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers
1996
Pg. 331:
“To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different.”
HENRY MARCHANT
 
Google News Archive
3 August 1996, The Daily Reporter (Spencer, IA), “Full-service gas stations give way to convenience” by Carole Achterhof, pg. 5, col. 4:
While doing some casual research for this week’s topic—gas stations—I found a quote by someone named Marchant. I have no idea who this Marchant person was. For all I know, he or she was an entertainment celebrity, following the one-name gimmick used by Prince, Madonna and Liberace.
 
Marchant noted, “To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different.”
   
Google Books
Best Practice:
Process Innovation Management
Edited by Mohamed Zairi
Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann
1999
Pg. 305:
If you do things well, do them better, Be daring, be first, be different, be just.
(Anita Roddick, founder and Managing Director, Body Shop International)
   
Google Books
Pride Matters
Edited by Lorraine A. Darconte
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Pub.
2001
Pg. 152:
If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just. — Anita Roddick, founder, The Body Shop
 
Google Books
Multiple Streams of Income:
How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth
By Robert G. Allen
Hoboken, N: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2005
Pg. ?:
To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different.
HENRY MARCHANT, 1789
 
Twitter
Julie L Rich
‏@Juliecares4u
To BE A SUCCESS in business, be DARING, be FIRST, be DIFFERENT!  Don’t SETTLE for second BEST!  Think POSITIVE!  #character RT
11:11 AM - 28 Oct 2014