You don't do business with an institution. You do business with people.

People don't always realize they're running a business. You're actually on call 24/7. If a pipe breaks, your tenant will need to be able to contact you.

I use nothing but the best ingredients. My cookies are always baked fresh. I price cookies so that you cannot make them at home for any less. And I still give cookies away.

One good lesson is not to be afraid of failure because failure was kind of obvious in my life.

[But when, at age 20, she broached the idea of baking cookies for a living, her parents and husband balked.] They said it was a stupid idea, it will never work, it would absolutely fail, ... They said you have no money, no job experience and no formal education.

You know, Mrs. Fields was never a business. It was a part of me. It was an extension of me... I was never 9-to-5. And I never separated, oh, well, business from personal because to me they all blended together.