“Entrepreneurship is working 80 hours a week for yourself to avoid working 40 hours for someone else” is a saying (in various forms) that has been printed on many images.
 
“It’s easier working 60 hours a week for myself than 40 hours a week for someone else” was printed in the Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL) on February 3, 1974. “Like the saying goes, he said, ‘self-employment is when you give up working 40 hours a week for someone else to work 80 hours a week for yourself’” was printed in The Sun (San Bernardino, CA) on December 7, 1980. “This definition of self-employment—working 80 hours a week for yourself so you don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else” was printed in the Los Angeles (CA) Times on November 8, 1987. Authorship is unknown.
   
“Being in your own business is working 80 hours a week so that you can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else. - Ramona E.F. Arnett” was printed in The Great American Bathroom Book (1991) by Stevens W. Anderson. “Ramona Arnett, president of Arnett Enterprises, says, ‘Being in your own business is working 80 hours a week so you can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else’” was printed in the book A Seat at the Table:  An Insider’s Guide for America’s New Women Leaders (1994) by Patricia Harrison.
   
“‘Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.’ - Lori Greiner via @EntMagazine @ABCSharkTank #MBA848” was posted on Twitter by Josh Lopes on November 20, 2012. Lori Greiner is an investor on the reality TV show Shark Tank and its spin-off Beyond the Tank.
         
     
Newspapers.com
3 February 1974, Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL), “Rainmakers make jewelry” by Jim Michels, sec. 6, pg. 29, col. 2:
“I just don’t like working for somebody else,” was the reason (Bill—ed.)Jezzard gave for his participation in the new business. “It’s easier working 60 hours a week for myself than 40 hours a week for someone else.”
 
Newspapers.com
7 December 1980, The Sun (San Bernardino, CA), “Their new life is making toys” by Cathy Armstrong,  pg. B-2, col. 4:
Like the saying goes, he (Re Ralston—ed.) said, “self-employment is when you give up working 40 hours a week for someone else to work 80 hours a week for yourself.”
 
Google Books
The Firm Bond:
Linking Meaning and Mission in Business and Religion
By Robert Lawrence Kuhn and George T. Geis
New York, NY: Praeger
1984
Pg. 19:
Entrepreneurs would rather work 60 hours a week for themselves with less a pay than 40 hours a week for someone else with more pay.
 
Newspapers.com
8 November 1987, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Letters,” pt. VI, pg. 16, col. 4:
Sylvia Gentile probably hasn’t heard this definition of self-employment—working 80 hours a week for yourself so you don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else.
(...)
STEVE ROBERTS
Northridge

Google Books
The Great American Bathroom Book
By Stevens W. Anderson
Salt Lake City, UT: Compact Classics, Inc.
1991
Pg. 143:
Being in your own business is working 80 hours a week so that you can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.
- Ramona E.F. Arnett
 
Google Books
A Seat at the Table:
An Insider’s Guide for America’s New Women Leaders
By Patricia Harrison
New York, NY: MasterMedia Ltd.
1994
Pg. 64:
Ramona Arnett, president of Arnett Enterprises, says, “Being in your own business is working 80 hours a week so you can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.”
 
Google Groups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Opening a Machine shop
Robert Bastow
May 15, 2000, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
It has often been said..“Having your own business means working 80 hours a week for yourself..so you don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else” That can be a very true statement.
       
Newspapers.com
22 July 2001, The Sun (Baltimore, MD), “A Message from Your Program Host,” Entrepreneur of the Year sec., pg. 3:
As entrepreneur Ramona Arnett once commented, “Being in your own business is working 80 hours a week so that you can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.”
 
Google Groups: comp.games.development.industry
In the Industry? Now What?
Brandon Van Every
Apr 15, 2002, 3:52:30 PM
(...)
Of course, ducking the games industry begs the old addage: why work 40 hours a week for someone else when you can work 80 hours a week for yourself?
 
Newspapers.com
8 September 2003, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), “Be realistic in business expectations” by Jim Blasingame, pg. B3, col. 3:
This is actually true—you will work much harder. Corporate CEO Ramona Arnett said it best: “Owning a business is when you work 80 hours a week so you can avoid working 40 hours for someone else.”
 
Google Groups: questia
The Top 7 Things Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Employees >>QUESTIA
SIBU BABU
Feb 17, 2006, 7:49:14 AM
(...)
2) They don’t want their worth determined by the number of hours they are at work
 
I once heard a business owner say, “An entrepreneur is someone who will work 80 hours a week for themselves so that they don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else.” I have found this statement to be very accurate.
     
Twitter
Jeremiah Trnka
@PLAmusic
Entrepreneurs will work 80 hours a week for themselves, so they can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else. ~Eve Hogan #ceospace
8:29 PM · Mar 18, 2009·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
Dan Wallace
@Ideafood
Entrepreneurs will work 80 hours a week for themselves so they don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else. Old saw I heard.
9:41 PM · Sep 13, 2009·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
Rae A. Stonehouse
@RaeStonehouse
“Being in your own business is working 80 hours a week so that you can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.” -Ramona E.F. Arnett
8:30 AM · Jun 2, 2010·Hootsuite
   
Twitter
XOHandworks
@XOHandworks
Entrepreneur (n). A person who would rather work 100 hours a week for herself than 40 hours a week for someone else. (from Allie Hafez)
1:15 PM · Jun 15, 2011·Facebook
   
Twitter
Josh Lopes
@Josh_Lopes
“Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.” - Lori Greiner via @EntMagazine
@ABCSharkTank #MBA848
5:10 PM · Nov 20, 2012·Buffer
   
Twitter
Josh Carroll
@joshuacarroll83
“Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.” -Lori Greiner #Entrepreneurship
6:20 PM · Nov 20, 2012·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Tony Jimenez
@MicroTechCEO
“Entrepreneurs are the crazy people who work 100 hours a week so they don’t have to work 40 hours for someone else” #RichardBranson
6:47 AM · Nov 22, 2017·Twitter Web Client
     
Twitter
Charles Miller
@writingtoriches
Myth:
“Entrepreneurship is working 80 hours a week for yourself to avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.”
Reality (My Schedule):
- Wake up with no alarm
- Work 6:30-8:30 AM
- Gym, walk, relax
- Work 2:00-4:00 PM
- Stop til tomorrow
4 focused hours is all it takes.
8:13 AM · Mar 12, 2022·Tweet Hunter Pro
 
Entrepreneur
So Your Business Just Slowed Down. Is It Time to Panic?
If there is one thing I have learned in more than 20 years of running my own company, it is that at some point, your business will slow down. Let’s discuss what to do when that happens.
By Lesley Pyle June 7, 2022
There’s an old joke that always makes the rounds when you mention being an entrepreneur. You’re probably very familiar with it. It goes something like this: Entrepreneurs are the only people in the world that will work 80 hours for themselves, just so they do not have to work 40 hours for someone else. The joke has been so overdone, I’m not entirely sure who even said it to begin with, but I personally first heard it from Lori Greiner.