Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate, investor, and author.
In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called Student. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972.
Branson’s Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997, Branson founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015 to 2018.
In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism.
Richard Branson’s Success Lessons:
Here are some of Richard Branson’s success lessons that he has passed on to entrepreneurs, colleagues, to succeed in both business and life.
1. Be Brave Enough to Do What Others Won’t
Anyone can run a mile, some can run 10 miles, but nobody will try and run for 100 miles.
Success is about doing the things that others don’t; in order surpass the level that others won’t. In order to outperform them with every task you complete and outmatch them with every project you undertake.
A change maker is someone who comes out of the whirlpool and swims back to the shore. Of course, it won’t be the easiest challenge to do, but doing it the way nobody else will, ends up pushing you in the direction of your dreams.
“Once a change maker, always a change maker but only a few swim against the tide.” – Richard Branson
2. Perfection is Unattainable
Richard Branson has the right attitude when it comes to perfection, and this point made is a truly genius one. Many people think that once they believe they’ve perfected something, they can sit back and relax.
Whilst you’re slacking, others are working very hard and they will soon surpass you if you just lay back and let them.
3. Business is About Being True to Yourself
It’s become a stereotype that businesses are about showing off their status to their employees & staff.
It isn’t; in fact, it is simply about working on your concepts, attempting to implement them and seek the perfect platform to execute them on. Business-doers are busier than the job-doers as they become more realistic and lively in achieving their dreams.
Isn’t it better to decide to take the charge of your life?
“To me, business isn’t about wearing suits or pleasing stockholders. It’s about being true to yourself, your ideas and focusing on the essentials.” – Richard Branson
4. Pick up the Phone
Phone calling may seem a little dated now, what with email and SMS technology having advanced so much in recent years, however it still remains as a critical method of communication.
Branson thinks that people have been avoiding phone calls in “some misguided quest for efficiency.” Problems can be solved a lot more easily with a quick phone call, than having loads of emails bouncing around at random times.
“There is nothing efficient about letting a small problem escalate.” – Richard Branson
5. Don’t Do it if You Don’t Enjoy it
It’s no secret, running a business isn’t just a nice easy project you take up because you’d like a little bit more income on the side.
It takes a lot of extra work than you’re used to, it requires late nights and early mornings, and most importantly it requires determination and patience.
Branson had the right attitude towards building a business, which is that he would rather think of the idea as something that could help change other people’s lives and an achievement that he could be proud of.
Similarly to other very successful companies such as Google and Facebook, Branson didn’t set out to build an empire. He did it for the pure love of it, which really helps when it comes to the tough times of running one.
6. Have a Sofa in the Kitchen
This piece of advice from Branson was quite an intriguing one. To be honest, I’m still not 100% sure I fully understand it, but here’s what he had to say on the subject.
“The truth is, so long as you’ve got a kitchen which has space for a sofa, and a bedroom, and a partner that you love, you don’t necessarily need the add-ons in life.” – Richard Branson
7. Loyalty in Business is Crucial
At some point, you’re business is likely to suffer if your partners, or employees are not loyal to you. Loyalty is crucial in business.
Although loyalty is often underestimated, entrepreneurs should keep this in mind when they’re hiring people. Only the right team can take a company to it’s pinnacle; so make sure your team is loyal, will stand by you, and won’t end up costing you your business.
“You can’t do good business with a bad person. Find the right people to work with and you can’t go wrong.” – Richard Branson
8. Invest Your Money In New Ventures
Money attracts money. That’s right. Ambitious entrepreneurs won’t just sit around and loiter.
They’ll always think of expansion, taking their business to new heights, putting in continuous efforts to try and reach new customers. Investments in new ventures is the way to continue growing and expanding.
Having money just sitting around is no good to anyone. It needs to be re-invested in order to keep that growth coming!
“My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.” – Richard Branson
9. Be Visible
A British airline tycoon once gave Richard Branson a very good piece of advice when he was setting out on starting ‘Virgin Atlantic’, and that’s this:
“You are going to have to get out there and sell yourself. Make a fool of yourself, whatever it takes. Otherwise you won’t survive.”
This is excellent advice, how else do you expect to get your name heard?
Branson took everything he heard on board, and now strives to travel as much as he can, meet new people and discuss things face to face with as many people as he can.
When you go to the gym, you’re aiming to improve your body. To build strong biceps, a big chest and get those all important six pack abs.
You’ll see others already trying to do exactly that, and yet few have been able to attain their desired body shape.
The point being? You’re unable to compare yourself to other people. You just have to be clear about ‘Who you were yesterday and who you are today.’
Setting your own par gives you the privilege to accept dramatic change. Nothing in this world can give me more joy than setting an un-achievable goal and eventually reaching it successfully.
“My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently un-achievable challenges, and trying to rise above them.” – Richard Branson
11. When People Say Bad things About You, Just Prove them Wrong
When your name starts to become even remotely recognized in the world, there will always be people who will have some sort of problem with you.
It could be because they’re jealous, they have nothing better to do, or they’re competitors that are scared you’ll soon be overtaking them.
In Branson’s words, “I think the best thing to do is just to prove them wrong in every single way”, and he’s done just that.
12. Don’t Give up
Kind of an obvious one I know, but far too many people quit because they’ve given it a go for a few months and haven’t seen any results.
If running a successful billion dollar business was easy, then everybody would be doing it, right?
There are always going to be momentary struggles where you feel like you want to give up, but you have to push through these and keep on working.
“I think I’m reasonably good at dealing with failure and not letting it get me down for more than an hour or two as long as I put everything I can into avoiding it.” – Richard Branson
13. The Best Way to Learn is By Doing
You may have heard this quote in a different way but eventually it all comes down to the same conclusion: The best teacher is the experience you get from learning.
Branson accentuates on doing things by yourself because trying, failing and repeating is the quickest way to learn where you’re going wrong, and how issues can be fixed.
You can study as much as you like, but taking action is the only way you’re really going to learn.
“The best way of learning about anything is by doing.” – Richard Branson
15. Being Optimistic is Always A Great Thing
Richard Branson is an optimist; he always emphasizes to grab the opportunities at the door.
According to him, if the mind is open and broad, it will tackle any tornado’s that come its way. Without thinking about the possibilities of winning and losing, it is far better to live and love your work completely.
It’s the positive mindset that stimulates in providing the necessary momentum to execute your work joyfully. We can’t anticipate the future, however merely sitting to wait to see what happens is probably not the best solution, is it?
“Doanh nghiệp khởi nghiệp ủng hộ tinh thần cởi mở. Nó ủng hộ những người có sự lạc quan thúc đẩy họ chuẩn bị cho nhiều tương lai có thể xảy ra, hoàn toàn là vì niềm vui được làm như vậy. ” – Richard Branson
16. Bạn không thể điều hành doanh nghiệp mà không chấp nhận rủi ro
Thế giới kinh doanh chứa đầy rủi ro, và bạn không thể trải qua cả cuộc đời nếu không chấp nhận một rủi ro nào, nếu không bạn sẽ chẳng đi đến đâu gần nơi bạn muốn.
Thật khó để có thể đạt được thành công khi bạn luôn chơi nó một cách an toàn. Bên cạnh đó, ngay cả việc đi bộ ra khỏi nhà hàng ngày cũng có những rủi ro của nó.
Một trong những câu nói yêu thích của Branson là:
“Người dũng cảm có thể không sống mãi mãi, nhưng người thận trọng không sống ở tất cả!” – Richard Branson
Đó là một câu trích dẫn rất quan trọng, không chỉ trong kinh doanh mà còn trong cuộc sống nói chung. Chắc chắn rủi ro có thể không được đền đáp, bạn có thể thất bại, nhưng thất bại là con đường dẫn đến thành công.
