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I Always Tell Other People To Protect Against The Downside, And Not Risk Roughing On New Ventures, But I Never Stuck To That Rule Myself.

-Richard Branson

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I Always Tell Other

Richard Branson

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I Always Tell Other People To Protect Against The Downside, And Not Risk Roughing On New Ventures, But I Never Stuck To That Rule Myself.

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When People Screw Up, Give Them A Second Chance.

If People Are Crazy Enough To Dare, Impossible Things Happen.

Impossible Things

If You're Hurt, Lick Your Wounds And Get Up Again. If You've Given It Your Absolute Best, It's Time To Move Forward.

Global Warming Is Another Big Area That We Need To Get On Top Of. And Diseases In Africa, Which We're Also Working On And Seeing If We Can Make A Difference On. And There Are Lots Of Issues That Governments Seem To Be Blind About.

One Night, I Was Chatting With A Group Of 16-year-old Girls Over A Few Drinks About A Name For The Record Store ... A Bunch Of Ideas Were Bounced Around, Then, As We Were All New To Business, Someone Suggested Virgin. It Smacked Of New And Fresh And At The Time The Word Was Still Slightly Risqué, So, Thinking It Would Be An Attention-grabber, We Went With It.

It Can Be A Challenge Not To Let Failure, Or Negativity From Others, Prevent You From Going After What You Believe In And What In Your Gut You Know Can Work. However It Is Important To Face These Challenges Head On And Give Them A Go And Importantly Don't Beat Yourself Up If You Fail - Just Pick Yourself Up, Learn As Much As You Can From The Experience And Get On With The Next Challenge.

A Generation Ago, The Image Was That You Had To Trample Everyone Else Down To Succeed; But I Don't Believe That Makes Good Business Sense.

Kitesurfing Is One Of The Greatest Sports In The World. I Highly Recommend This To Anyone Who Has Access To The Ocean. There Is Nothing More Freeing Than Being Out There And Kitesurfing. When My Schedule Permits, It's The First Thing I Do In The Morning, Before I Have Breakfast. Tennis Is Also Fun, Especially Against Someone Far Better At The Sport Than I Am.

Publicity Is Absolutely Critical. A Good Pr Story Is Infinitely More Effective Than A Front Page Ad.

To Be A Real Entrepreneur You Always Have To Be Looking Forward. The Moment You Rest On Your Laurels Is The Moment Your Competition Overtakes You.

I Have Always Lived My Life By Thriving On Opportunity And Adventure. Some Of The Best Ideas Come Out Of The Blue, And You Have To Keep An Open Mind To See Their Virtue.

I Believe In Benevolent Dictatorship Provided I Am The Dictator.

All Successful People - Not Just Entrepreneurs - Have Got Things Wrong Over And Over Again Before Finding The Right Solution.

Just Watching Israel Bombarding Palestine And Palestine Sending One Or Two Little Rockets Over To Israel - It's Just Too Sad For Words.

Like Getting Into A Bleeding Competition With A Blood Bank.

You're Offering A Great Service. People Are Tuning In. So Continue To Find Great People, Continue To Do What You're Doing. And Do It Better Than Your Rivals. I Know That's Easier Said Than Done.

Play Fair, Be Prepared For Others To Play Dirty, And Don't Let Them Drag You Into The Mud.

I Have Always Looked On My Businesses Not Just As Money-making Machines, But As Adventures That Can, I Hope, Make People Better Off.

Focus On Your Business Strengths And Keep Its Weaknesses Away From The Competition Or Public.

Past Failures Unlock Future Successes

Companies Need To Have A Lot More Flexibility With Their People... . If Somebody Wants To Golf Around The World For Two Months, Okay, Well, Maybe On An Unpaid Basis, Let Them Do It. That Sort Of Flexibility I Think Is Incredibly Important Because Most Of Our Time, We Spend At Work.

Anyone Who Makes An Effort At Whatever They Hope To Accomplish Can, And Will, Seriously Improve Their Chances Of Succeeding.

If You Want To Stand Out From The Crowd, Give People A Reason Not To Forget You

My Interest In Life Comes From Setting Myself Huge, Apparently Unachievable Challenges And Trying To Rise Above Them.

You Don't Learn To Walk By Following Rules. You Learn By Doing, And By Falling Over.

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I Prefer To Have A Great Time And To Keep My Wits About Me.

Put Your Passions To Work To Make This World A Better Place.

It Is The Satisfaction Of Doing It For Yourself And Motivating Others To Work With You In Bringing It About. It Is About The Fun, Innovation, Creativity With The Rewards Being Far Greater Than Purely Financial.

We Always Enter Markets Where The Leaders Are Not Doing A Great Job, So We Can Go In And Disrupt Them By Offering Better Quality Services.

It Is Not For Me (to Decide). It Is Up To The Company To Decide Whether The Price Is Fair Or Not.

Always Think, 'what's The Worst That Can Happen' And Have Some Kind Of Strategy To Deal With It

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The Quality Of Business Communications Has Become Poorer In Recent Years As People Avoid Phone Calls And Face-to-face Meetings, I Can Only Assume, In Some Misguided Quest For Efficiency.

Age Isn't As Important So Long As You Are Surrounded By People You Love, Doing Things You Passionately Believe In.

The Best Advice I Got From My Dad? Wear A Condom.

There's No Other Way To Find Out Whether Or Not You'll Be Successful Other Than Just Doing It

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I Believe In Myself. I Believe In The Hands That Work, In The Brains That Think, And In The Hearts That Love.

My Very First Venture Was A National Student Magazine To Try To Campaign Against The [vietnam] War. And So I Wanted To Be An Editor. I Wanted To Bring The Magazine Out. And In Order For The Magazine To Survive I Had To Worry About The Printing And The Paper Manufacturing And The Distribution. And, You Know, I Had To Try To, At The End Of The Year, Have More Money Coming In Than Going Out.

Two Heads Are Definitely Better Than One And By Sourcing Ideas From Each Other, You Have A Better Chance Of Coming Up With A Strategy That Will Allow Your Business To Overcome A Setback Or Challenge.

As An Adventurer...i Try To Protect Against The Downside. I Make Sure I Have Covered As Many Eventualities As I Can. In The End, You Have To Take Calculated Risks; Otherwise You're Going To Sit In Mothballs All Day And Do Nothing.

If People Are Jumping Down People's Throats All The Time, In The End, They'll Just Shrivel Up Like A Flower Shrivels Up That's Not Watered.

Too Many Companies Want Their Brands To Reflect Some Idealised, Perfected Image Of Themselves. As A Consequence, Their Brands Acquire No Texture, No Character And No Public Trust.

My Definition Of Success? The More You Are Actively And Practically Engaged, The More Successful You Will Feel.

Screw It, Let's Do It - Just Get On With It And Do It

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Fun Is At The Core Of The Way I Like To Do Business And It Has Been Key To Everything I've Done From The Outset.

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Running A Business Is Making A Difference In People's Lives

I Never Get The Accountants In Before I Start Up A Business. It's Done On Gut Feeling, Especially If I Can See That They Are Taking The Mickey Out Of The Consumer.

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If You Don't Take Risks You Won't Achieve Anything.

Whether We're Fighting Climate Change Or Going To Space, Everything Is Moved Forward By Computers, And We Don't Have Enough People Who Can Code

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Sometimes The Riskiest Decision You Can Make Is To Do Nothing.

I Never Wanted To Be A Businessman, I Just Wanted To Change The World

Listen More Than You Talk. Nobody Learned Anything By Hearing Themselves Speak.

A Setback Is Never A Bad Experience, Just Another One Of Life’s Lessons.

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Those People Who Spend Their Time Working On Things They Love Are Usually The Ones Enjoying Life The Most. They Are Also The Ones Who Dared To Take A Risk And Chase Their Dreams.

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One Thing Is Certain In Business, You And Everyone Around You Will Make Mistakes.

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I'm Not Superstitious. I Don't Really Believe In Star Signs, Sorry, Or Superstitions.

I Never Went Into Business To Make Money, But I Have Found That If I Have Fun, The Money Will Come.

There Is No Real Difference Between Work And Play - It’s All Living.

Complexity Is Your Enemy. Any Fool Can Make Something Complicated. It Is Hard To Keep Things Simple.

I May Be A Businessman In That I Set Up And Run Companies For Profit, But When I Try To Plan Ahead And Dream Up New Products And New Companies, I'm An Idealist.

I Suspect In Most Companies, The Public Relations Person Is Down At No. 20 In The Pecking Order. But Here, He Is Fighting Incredibly Important Battles. If A Negative Story Starts Running Away With Itself In The Press And Is Not Dealt With Fast, It Can Badly Damage The Brand, And So We Put Enormous Weight On Our Pr People.

Good Brands Reflect The Histories Of The Time And The Group Of People That Made Them. They Can Not Be Copied. They Can Not Be Recycled.

If You Get Into Business Solely To Make Money, You Won’t. If You Try To Make A Real Difference, You’ll Find Success.

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To Have Created One Of The Most Respected Companies In The World. Not Necessarily The Biggest.

What's The Quickest Way To Become A Millionaire? Borrow Fivers Off Everyone You Meet.

I Never Set Out To Be A Businessman

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Taking Bold Climate Action Now Has The Potential To Unleash The Full Power Of Business And At The Same Time Lift Millions Of People Out Of Poverty. We're The First Generation To Recognize This And The Last Generation That Will Have This Opportunity.

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What Matters Is Working With A Few Close Friends, People You Respect, Knowing That If Times Did Turn Bad These People Would Hold Together.

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All In All, The Internet Is A Force For Good, Providing Young Entrepreneurs With Access To An Incredible Wealth Of Information, Has Changed The Way We See The World And Is Also A Great Source Of Innovation And Entrepreneurial Opportunities.

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I Have Never Had An Office That I Work Out Of And Work Has Become Intertwined With My Personal Life.

What Can You Do To Make A Difference? And Why Should You Do It? (...) The Scale Of One's Social Investments Doesn't Matter. What Matters Is That You Operate As A Force For Good At Every Scale Available To You.

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Clearly In The Eyes Of The Consumer; The Brand Has Not Been Diluted, But We Must Guard Against That Happening At All Costs.

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If I'm Setting Up A New Business I'll Spend Three Or Four Months Learning Everything There Is About That Business, Everything There Is About That Subject And Then I Will Find Good People To Run It On A Day-to-day Basis, But Whilst They're Running It At Least I Know What They're Talking About When They Come Back To Me.

You Need Lucky Breaks To Be Successful.

Throughout My Business Life I Have Always Tried To Keep On Top Of Costs And Protect The Downside Risk As Much Possible. The Virgin Group Has Survived Only Because We Have Always Kept Tight Control Of Our Cash. But, Likewise, I Also Know That Sometimes It Is Essential To Break These Rules And Spend Lavishly.

It's So Graceful To Be Blown By The Wind, To Go Where The Wind Takes You. Just Drifting Over Beautiful Rivers In A Balloon Is Perfect.

Entrepreneurial Business Favours The Open Mind. It Favours People Whose Optimism Drives Them To Prepare For Many Possible Futures, Pretty Much Purely For The Joy Of Doing So.

I Love The Freedom Of Movement That My Phone Gives Me. That Has Definitely Transformed My Life.

I Was Born Under A Lucky Star, And I Have Nothing Whatsoever To Regret. I Wouldn't Change A Thing About My Life.

In The '80's My Gut Feeling Was That Airlines Were Crap. I Hated Spending Time On Planes. I Thought We Could Create The Kind Of Airline I'd Like. So We Got A Secondhand 747 And Gave It A Go.

However Tight Things Are, You Still Need To Have The Big Picture At The Forefront Of Your Mind.

If You Offer People A Decent Service, If You Give Them You Know Internet Access, If Their Phones Are Not Cut Off On The Trains, You Know If You Have Plugs Where They Can Plug In Their Computers, And If You Have A Smiling, Cheerful Staff; And If You Can Travel Really Quickly, Then You Can Make A Success Out Of The Rail Business.

Internet Access

Remember The To-do List But Don't Forget The To-be List.

If Family Or Friends Are Unwell Or Ill - It's Perhaps The Only Thing That Really Can Make One Feel Vulnerable.

First Of All, If You're Setting Up A New Company, You Want To Try To Find A Brand That Can Work On A Global Basis.

It Is Only By Being Bold That You Get Anywhere. If You Are A Risk-taker, Then The Art Is To Protect The Downside.

If You Do Something For Fun And Create The Best Possible Product, Then The Profit Will Come.

My Mother Was Determined To Make Us Independent. When I Was Four Years Old, She Stopped The Car A Few Miles From Our House And Made Me Find My Own Way Home Across The Fields. I Got Hopelessly Lost.

Happiness Is The Secret Ingredient For Successful Businesses. If You Have A Happy Company It Will Be Invincible.

There Have Been Times When I Could Have Succumbed To Some Form Of Bribe, Or Could Have Had My Way By Offering One. But Ever Since That Night In Dover Prison I Have Never Been Tempted To Break My Vow.. My Parents Always Drummed Into Me That All You Have Life Is Your Reputation: You May Be Very Rich, But If You Lose Your Good Name You'll Never Be Happy.

What Is A Business? It's Simply An Idea That Makes Someone Else's Life Better

If You Can Run One Company, You Can Run Another. Running Companies Are About Inspiring And Driving The Best Out Of People.

It's Far More Difficult Being A Small-business Owner Starting A Business Than It Is For Me With Thousands Of People Working For Us And 400 Companies. Building A Business From Scratch Is 24 Hours, 7 Days A Week, Divorces, It's Difficult To Hold Your Family Life Together, It's Bloody Hard Work And Only One Word Really Matters - And That's Surviving.

Develop The Business Around The People; Build It, Don't Buy It; And, Then, Be The Best.

One Of The Best Bits Of Advice I Can Give Is, Early On, When You're Building A New Business, Try To Find Somebody To Run It On A Day-to-day Basis To Free Yourself Up To Look At The Bigger Picture.

Ridiculous Yachts And Private Planes And Big Limousines Won't Make People Enjoy Life More, And It Sends Out Terrible Messages To The People Who Work For Them. It Would Be So Much Better If That Money Was Spent In Africa - And It's About Getting A Balance.

I Wanted To Be An Editor Or A Journalist, I Wasn't Really Interested In Being An Entrepreneur, But I Soon Found I Had To Become An Entrepreneur In Order To Keep My Magazine Going.

In Times Of Recession There Are Massive Opportunities And Fortunes To Be Made, So For New Up And Coming Entrepreneurs, This Is The Time To Go And Start A Business.

Purpose Is Not An Add-on, It’s Not An Initiative. It Is A Culture Change And It Never Finishes

You Can't Do A Good Business With A Bad Person. Find The Right People To Work With And You Can't Go Wrong.

We've Got An Engaging, Edgy, Vibrant, Fun Product, ... It May Or May Not Work, But We're Going To Give It Our Best Shot.

Happiness Doesn't Come From Making A Fortune And Owning Lots Of Possessions. 'stuff' Doesn't Bring Happiness. Family, Friends, Good Health And The Satisfaction That Comes From Making A Positive Difference Are What Really Matter.

Smoking Marijuana, As Long As You Leave The Nicotine Out Of It, Is Certainly No More Damaging Than Having A Drink, And I Suspect Better For You Than Having A Drink.

Meet Regularly With Your Business Team And Brainstorm. Intricate Business Problems Are Mostly Resolved At Brainstorming Sessions.

Government And Business Must Come Together On The Interlinked Issues Of Conservation, Economic Development And Renewable Energy. There Are Literally Thousands Of Businesses, Many In The Tourism Industry, That Depend On An Intact Marine Environment For Their Long-term Survival.

Making The Extra Effort To Say Thanks In A Genuine, Personal Manner Goes A Long Way. It Is Pleasurable To Do, And It Encourages More Of The Same Good Behavior.

Coming Up With The Bucket List Is The Easy Part, But Ticking Off The List Is The Challenge. I Love A Good Challenge, Which Is Why I Strongly Advise Everyone To Come Up With A Bucket List. It Doesn't Have To Contain Out Of This World Tasks. But Once You Have Written Down The List, Screw It, Just Do It!

Commitment Is Not Letting People Down. That's Very Important In Life.

I Read A Fair Amount [of Science Fiction], And You Know It Was Certainly Inspirational. I Have To Pinch Myself To Think That We Might Be Able To Make Some Of [what I've Read In Science Fiction Books] Come True.

If You Spot An Opportunity And Are Really Excited By It, Throw Yourself Into It With Everything You've Got.

The Brand Is Only As Good As Your Products, So.. If People Have A Good Experience On Virgin Atlantic Or If They Have A Good Experience On Virgin Trains Or.. If They Have A Virgin Mobile Phone And They Can Get Straight Through To Our People And They're Well Looked After And Then They'll Try The Next Product That We Launch.

Whatever You And Your Team Decide Your New Brand Will Stand For, Deliver On That Promise. That's The Only Way You'll Ever Control Your Brand. And Beware: Brands Always Mean Something. If You Don't Define What The Brand Means, Your Competitors Will.

Making Money Never Was My Incentive. I Just Want To Fight Big Companies.

Virgin Could Never Have Grown Into The Group Of More Than 200 Companies It Is Now, Were It Not For A Steady Stream Of Intrapreneurs Who Looked For And Developed Opportunities, Often Leading Efforts That Went Against The Grain.

I Think That Marijuana Should Be Legalized. I Think The Only Reason It Isn't Legal Is Because Politicians Who Smoked It When They Were Young Men Or Young Women Just Don't Have The Courage When They Become Politicians To Legalize It.

Setting Customer Expectations At A Level That Is Aligned With Consistently Deliverable Levels Of Customer Service Requires That Your Whole Staff, From Product Development To Marketing, Works In Harmony With Your Brand Image.

Most "necessary Evils" Are Far More Evil Than Necessary.

In Syria, If [bashar Al-] Assad Had Just Been A Statesman And Handed Over The Reigns In Time, Syria Would Not Be Heading Down The Nightmare That It Is Today.

Be Creative. Innovate Consistently On The Little Things That The Big Companies Ignore. Little Things Often Make Big Differences In Business.

I Think I've Learned That If You Have A House, You End Up Living In The Kitchen, So If You Have One Big Kitchen And Then Enough Bedrooms For Your Family, That's About All You Need For A Home.

I Just Think You Need To Spice Up Life Every Now And Then With A Bit Of Adventure And Excitement.

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.

You Must Have The Courage To Trust Your Instincts And Be Ready To Question What Other People Don't. If You Do That, You Can Seize Opportunities That Others Would Miss. Believe In Yourself, And Use Everything You Can - Including The Obstacles - To Propel You Along The Road To Success. Who Knows What You Might Achieve?

Education Doesn't Just Take Place In Stuffy Classrooms And University Buildings, It Can Happen Everywhere, Every Day To Every Person.

So I Became A Publisher By Mistake - Well, Not Quite By Mistake, Because I Wanted To Be An Editor But I Had To Make Sure The Magazine Would Survive. The Point Is This: Most Businesses Fail, So If You're Going To Succeed, It Has To Be About More Than Making Money.

For A Successful Entrepreneur It Can Mean Extreme Wealth. But With Extreme Wealth Comes Extreme Responsibility.

I Have Learnt More From My Failures Than My Successes.

Most Skills Can Be Learned, But It Is Difficult To Train People On Their Personality.

Learn To Look After Your Staff First And The Rest Will Follow

I Think It's Quite Great To Set Yourself A Big Challenge And Then You've Got Another Reason For Keeping Fit.

I Enjoy The Company Of Other People. That's Where I Get Most Of My Satisfaction From

An Entrepreneur Is Somebody Who Is Taking Bold Risks, Is Often Doing Things That Have Never Been Done Before, Trying To Do Things Better. And An Adventurer Is Challenging Themselves, Often Doing Things That Have Never Been Done Before, Seeing What They're Capable Of. In Both Cases, You've Got To Protect Against The Downside.

Universities Are Fantastic Places To Gain Knowledge On A Subject, Develop A Personal Network, Explore Your Character And Learn New Techniques To Approach Problems.

Business Opportunities Are Like Buses, There's Always Another One Coming.

I Think Business Leaders All Over The World Should Not Just Think Of How We Can Make Lots Of Money, Which Is Fine, But To Take Some Of The Problems In The World And Get Out There And Tackle Them Using Business. I Think That If Businesses Do That We Can Get On Top Of These Problems.

And From, You Know, Small Ideas, Bigger Ideas Emerge. So We're Starting With Suborbital Space Flights And We'll Then Go Into Orbital Space Flights And, You Know, Maybe One Day We'll Send People On A One-way Voyage Into The Depths Of Space As Per The Science Fiction Trips.

Well, I Think That There's A Very Thin Dividing Line Between Success And Failure.

I Am Convinced That Companies Should Put Staff First, Customers Second And Shareholders Third - Ultimately That's In The Best Interest Of Customers And Shareholders.

I Was A Risk-taker As A Young Man, And I Don't Regret It. I'm Not Adventurous In Quite The Same Way Now, But I Still Love The Challenge Of Testing Myself To The Limits, Flying Around The World, Or Seeing If I Can Be The First To Fly A Balloon Across The Atlantic, Or Trying To Take People Into Space At An Affordable Price In An Environmentally Friendly Way. I'll Be Going Into Space With Three Generations Of My Family!

Most People Assume That A Record Shop's Success Lies In Selling Records. In Fact, Virgin's Success Both In Mail Order And The Record Shops Lay In Skill At Buying Records.

There Is No Planet B. We Have To Take Care Of The One We Have

To Be Successful, You Have To Be Out There, You Have To Hit The Ground Running

Being Successful

Look, I Think That When We Started Virgin Atlantic 30 Years Ago, We Had One 747 Competing With The Airlines That Had An Average Of 300 Planes Each. Every Single One Of Those Have Gone Bankrupt Because They Didn't Have Customer Service. They Had Might, But They Didn't Have Customer Service, So Customer Service Is Everything In The End.

My Biggest Motivation? Just To Keep Challenging Myself

We'll Go Into Orbit. We'll Go To The Moon. This Business Has No Limits.

The Most Breathtaking Thing About Being In Space Is Actually Looking Back At The Earth.

Brave People Don't Live Forever, But Cautious People Don't Live At All.

I'm Hopeful That After Iraq, Those In Charge Will Think Twice About Taking Us Down That Route Again.

It's Really Important To Find An Hour Or Two To A Day To Make Sure That You Keep Healthy, Keep Fit. It's Very Easy Just To Forget That Aspect. And If You're Feeling Really Good And Fit, I Think You Can Get Two Or Three Extra Hours A Day Of Hard Work In As Well.

Be Swift To Take Advantage Of Business Opportunities. Bigger Companies Are Too Cumbersome To Move Quickly; This Can Be A Competitive Advantage For You.

The Key To Generating Loyalty And Rising Above The General Noise Seems To Be All About Creating An Authentic Voice.

We Hope To Create Thousands Of Astronauts Over The Next Few Years And Bring Alive Their Dream Of Seeing The Majestic Beauty Of Our Planet From Above, The Stars In All Their Glory And The Amazing Sensations Of Weightlessness And Space Flight.

Most Entrepreneurs Are Not Doing It For Financial Motives In The First Place. They're Just People Who Love Creating.

Success Cannot Be Measured In Wealth, Fame Or Power, But By Whether You Have Made A Positive Difference For Others.

To Be A Great Leader, You Must Be A Great Listener

Self Improvement

Do Not Be Embarrassed By Your Failures, Learn From Them And Start Again.

Avoid Litigations. They Are Expensive And Consume Loads Of Time But If You Have Got A Good Case And A Better Chance Of Winning; Then Fight It Out.

Listen To The Customer's Complaint And Act Fast.

I Think Great Businessmen Are More Likely Made Than Born. I Don't Know If It's From Your Upbringing, Your Parental Background, The Struggles You Go Through. In My Own Particular Situation, I Left School At 15 And I Was Struggling To Survive In The Jungle And That Was A Great Education. So I Think Just Getting Out There, Hands On, Learning To Survive Teaches You A Lot.

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