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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.

-Richard Branson

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It's Far More Difficult

Richard Branson

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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.

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

I Was Dyslexic, I Had No Understanding Of Schoolwork Whatsoever. I Certainly Would Have Failed Iq Tests. And It Was One Of The Reasons I Left School When I Was 15 Years Old. And If I - If I'm Not Interested In Something, I Don't Grasp It.

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

To Succeed In Business You Need To Be Original, But You Also Need To Understand What Your Customers Want.

Of Course, A Lot Of Businesses Want To Reach Students, So I Funded The Magazine By Selling Advertising. I Sold Something Like $8,000 Worth Of Advertising For The First Edition, And That Was In 1966. I Printed Up 50,000 Copies, And I Didn't Even Have To Charge For Them On The Newsstand Because My Costs Were Already Covered.

Being Dyslexic Can Actually Help In The Outside World. I See Some Things Clearer Than Other People Do Because I Have To Simplify Things To Help Me And That Has Helped Others.

The Truth Is This: The Earth Cannot Provide Enough Food And Fresh Water For 10 Billion People, Never Mind Homes, Never Mind Roads, Hospitals And Schools.

Don't Hesitate To Seek External Help Or Advice Where Need Be. Sometimes, It Takes An External, Emotionally Unattached Individual To Detect Your Business Flaws And Render Unbiased Advice.

I Think Entrepreneurship Is Our Natural State--a Big Adult Word That Probably Boils Down To Something Much More Obvious Like Playfulness.

Breaking The Rules And Challenging Convention Is In The Dna Of Every Successful Entrepreneur. Doing Things Differently And Solving Problems With New, Innovative And Fresh Approaches Are The Very Reason Many Start-ups Are Able To Compete And Sometimes Outpace The Established Market Leaders.

I Know Enough To Know That No Man Is An Island.

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.

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Quality Brands Never Go Bankrupt.

I Have Had Fun Running All Of The Virgin Businesses, So I Never See A Setback As A Bad Experience; It Is Just A Learning Curve.

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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.

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The Risk Is Worth It. Mike Would Have Been The First To Say That.

I Drink About 30 Cups Of Tea A Day. I'm A Complete Tea Addict.

I've Been Lucky To Have Survived Balloon Trips, Boating Trips, You Know, A Lot Of Rather Foolish Things In My Life, So I Was Definitely Born Under A Lucky Star.

One Day Offices Will Be A Thing Of The Past

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

Impossible Things

And Ever Since Then [i] Have Set Up Businesses Basically Out Of Frustration. I Mean, I Set Up Virgin Atlantic With One Second-hand 747 Because I Hated The Experience Of Flying On Other People's Airlines. And I Thought, You Know, I Could Try To Create The Kind Of Airline That I'd Like To Fly On. And People Liked It.

Every Success Story Is A Tale Of Constant Adaption, Revision And Change. A Company That Stands Still Will Soon Be Forgotten. Trying To Provoke Positive Change Is A Principle We've Embedded Across The Virgin Family For More Than Four Decades.

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.

The Earth Cannot Wait 60 Years. I Want A Future For My Children And My Children's Children. The Clock Is Ticking.

Clock Is Ticking

We Went All The Way Down The Himalayan Chain For A Day And A Half. That Was Magnificent, Except The Chinese Told Us They Were Going To Shoot Us Down If We Came Out The Far End. So I Spent A Lot Of My Time Contacting Former Prime Minister Tony Blair Begging Him To Tell The Chinese We Were Coming In This Direction By Mistake And Could He Please Say We Have No Nasty Motives For Flying Into Their Territory.

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.

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

If People Aren't Calling You Crazy, You Aren't Thinking Big Enough.

I Had No Plans To Be An Entrepreneur. I Just Wanted To Be A Journalist And Write For A Magazine. At 15, I Just Decided To Leave School And Launch A National Student Magazine.

If You Have Conflicts, Everything Breaks Down In Society. Kids Can't Go To School. Basic Health Can't Be Looked After. Every Aspect Of Society Falls Apart.

We Had An Electrical Fault About 500 Miles Into The Trip And Lost More Than Half Our Fuel. We Had A Fire On The Roof. And Missed Los Angeles By 3,500 Miles At The End Of The Trip And Ending Up In The Arctic In A Snowstorm.

I Can Honestly Say That I Have Never Gone Into Any Business Purely To Make Money. If That Is The Sole Motive Then I Believe You Are Better Off Not Doing It. A Business Has To Be Involving, It Has To Be Fun, And It Has To Exercise Your Creative Instincts.

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.

It's Never Easy To Set Up Any Business, But It Comes Back To Determination And Drive And The Love Of What You Do!

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

I Make Up My Mind About Whether I Can Trust Someone Within 60 Seconds Of Meeting Them

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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.

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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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If You Want To Be A Millionaire, Start With A Billion Dollars And Launch A New Airline.

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I Have Always Believed That Business Should Be A Force For Good.

Never Take Your Eyes Off The Cash Flow Because It's The Life Blood Of Business.

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I Think That You're Going To Get So Much More Out Of Life If You Just Say Yes At Every Opportunity.

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

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I'm Sure You Get The Best Out Of People If You Look For The Best In Them. People Don't Need To Be Told When They've Done Something Wrong - They Know It Without Having To Be Told.

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Every Aspect Of Life Is Magnificent And Wonderful. It's So Important To Keep Fit And Healthy.

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I Was Trouble - And Always In Trouble. Aged Eight I Still Couldn't Read. In Fact, I Was Dyslexic And Short-sighted. Despite Sitting At The Front Of The Class, I Couldn't Read The Blackboard. Only After A Couple Of Terms Did Anyone Think To Have My Eyes Tested. Even When I Could See, The Letters And Numbers Made No Sense At All.

There Is No Point In Going Into A Business Unless You Can Make A Radical Difference In Other People’s Lives.

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

I Think You Can Get Happiness Through Making A Real Difference In Other People's Lives By Setting Out To Make Other People's Lives Better And Setting Out To Right The Wrongs In The World.

Failing Can Provide Invaluable Lessons And Making Mistakes And Experiencing Setbacks Is Part Of The Dna Of Every Successful Entrepreneur.

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.

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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.

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We Should Focus On What People Get Done, Not On How Many Hours Or Days Worked. Just As We Don't Have A Nine-to-five Policy, We Don't Need A Vacation Policy.

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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.

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

Grow Internally First. Strengthen Your Bottom Line First Before Considering External Growth.

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.

Well, We Know That People In Australia Love The Idea Of Both Impulse And Virgin Blue Getting Up And Adding A Bit Of Competition, And It's Fun To Be Able To Deliver It.

Kite Surfing Is A Great Way Of Keeping Fit. Kiting Is Great Because You're Bouncing Over The Waves And You're Surfing The Waves. I Do Quite Long Kite Surfs-50 Miles In A Day.

You Never Know With These Things When You're Trying Something New What Can Happen. This Is All Experimental.

Trying Something New

Perhaps, Therefore, It Is Odd That If There Is Any One Phrase That Is Guaranteed To Set Me Off It's When Someone Says To Me, 'ok, Fine. You're The Boss!' What Irks Me Is That In 90% Of Such Instances What That Person Is Really Saying Is, 'ok, Then, I Don't Agree With You, But I'll Roll Over And Do It Because You're Telling Me To. But If It Doesn't Work Out I'll Be The First To Remind Everyone That It Wasn't My Idea.'

To Get The Respect Of People, I Think You've Got To Roll Up Your Sleeves And Lead With Your People. The Absolute Key Is Treating Your People Well. Looking For The Best In Your People. Lots And Lots Of Praise, No Criticism.

My Philosophy In Life Is That You Only Live Once. Live Life To Its Fullest.

You Only Live Once

There's No Better Satisfaction Than Watching The People Around You, Who Have Worked Day And Night To Get Something Right, Realising The Dream.

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

Some 80% Of Your Life Is Spent Working. You Want To Have Fun At Home; Why Shouldn't You Have Fun At Work?

So Unlike Having To Convert, You Know, All The Cars' Or All The Lorries' Petrol Stations, Once You've Actually Got The Clean Fuels, It's Relatively Easy To, You Know, Get It To The Airplanes.

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

If You Want Swashbuckling Action In Your Life, Become An Entrepreneur And Give It A Go.

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.

Wine, Like Life, Is Meant To Be Enjoyed.

Never To Be Frightened Of Taking Risks And Always Follow Your Instincts!

If You're Looking To Become An Entrepreneur Then Don't Waste Your Time Going To University Or Business School - Just Get On And Do It.

Values Cannot Be Speedily Forgotten If It Is Inconvenient Or Commercially Expedient. Values Have To Have Meaning And Longevity; Otherwise They Are Valueless. You Cannot Embrace Innovation Up To A Point Or Only Sometimes. Branding Demands Commitment; Commitment To Continual Re-invention; Striking Cords With People To Stir Their Emotions; And Commitment To Imagination. It Is Easy To Be Cynical About Such Things, Much Harder To Be Successful.

I Myself Have Invested In Uber And Hailo, I Think They Offer Great Alternatives To Disrupt Markets That Have Remained Unchanged For Many Years.

The Jet Stream Is A Very Strong Force And Pushing A Balloon Into It Is Like Pushing Up Against A Brick Wall, But Once We Got Into It, We Found That, Remarkably, The Balloon Went Whatever Speed The Wind Went.

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

My Mother Always Taught Me Never To Look Back In Regret But To Move On To The Next Thing.

A Company Is Simply A Group Of People. And As A Leader Of People, You Have To Be A Great Listener, You Have To Be A Great Motivator, You Have To Be Very Good At Praising And Looking For The Best In People. People Are No Different From Flowers. If You Water Flowers, They Flourish. If You Praise People, They Flourish. That's A Critical Attribute Of A Leader.

Any Successful Entrepreneur Knows That Time Is More Valuable Than Money Itself.

We've Always Had A Pretty Competitive And Pretty Ferocious Battle With British Airways... It's Lasted Now About 14 Years, And We're Very Pleased To Have Survived It.

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.

Nobody's Ever Called Me Sir Richard. Occasionally In America, I Hear People Saying Sir Richard And Think There's Some Shakespearean Play Taking Place. But Nowhere Else Anyway.

I Just Kind Of Dive In If I Think I Can Create Something That Will Make A Difference And Then Try To Get The Numbers To Stack Up After The Event. So Most Of The Things I've Done I Would Not Have Done If I'd Have Asked The Accountants To Look At Them Before.

If You Find Yourself Stuck In The Middle There Is Only One Way To Go, Forward.

Finding Yourself

As Much As You Need A Strong Personality To Build A Business From Scratch, You Also Must Understand The Art Of Delegation. I Have To Be Good At Helping People Run The Individual Businesses, And I Have To Be Willing To Step Back. The Company Must Be Set Up So It Can Continue Without Me.

If Young People Do See Me As An Example (i'm Very Flattered If They Do!) I Hope It Is As Someone Who Will Go Out There And Live Life To The Full.

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 Find It Very Difficult To Think Of Mistakes; Not That I Don't Make Any But Because I Was Brought Up To Look Only At The Good Things In Life ... As For What Lost The Most Money, Probably Virgin Cola. It Is Still No 1 In Bangladesh Though.

I Think A Lot Of Becoming An Entrepreneur Is Something Which People Have To Learn Just From Getting Out There And Giving It A Go, And Having To Learn The Art Of Survival.

As A Leader Of People, You Have To Be A Great Listener, A Great Motivator, Be Very Good At Praising And Bringing Out The Best In People.

Please Don’t Get Hung Up On This Question Of Whether You Need To Have Experience In An Industry Before You Launch Your Startup.

Records Are Made To Be Broken. It Is In Man's Nature To Continue To Strive To Do Just That.

If A Chairman Of A Company Visits Seattle, That Chairman Should Take All The Staff Out In The Evening And Have A Few Drinks Together, Talk Together And Party Together And Not Be Embarrassed About The Staff Seeing The Weaker Side Of You.

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.

And In The Process, We Have Come Up With Fuels - Algae-based Fuels, Isobutanol-based Fuels And Other Fuels - That We Think Will Power The Planes In The Future So That, You Know, By 2020 I Hope That Our Planes Will Be Powered On Fuels That Are Clean Fuels And Are Not Polluting The Environment So That We'll Have A Green Airline And An Airline That Actually Has Fuels That Will Be Hopefully Cheaper Than The Dirty Fuels Of The Past. So [we're] Doing Good And Also Turning A Profit At The Same Time.

I'm A Lad Of The '60s. I Started A Magazine To Try And End The Vietnam War, But It Was A Number Of Years Before I Had The Profile, The Financial Resources And The Time To Do More.

We Believe That Within Five Years, 96 Percent Of British Consumers Will Have Access To The Internet, Whether It Be Through A Personal Computer, A Set-top Box Or A Mobile Phone.

And [we Hope To Sell] The Clean Fuels To Other Airlines. I Mean, The Exciting Thing About The Breakthrough With Clean Fuels For The Airline Industry Is There's Only 1,700 Pumps In The World That Fill Up The Airlines.

Above All, You Want To Create Something You're Proud Of.

Business Success

I Like Challenges In Life And Pushing Myself Out Of My Comfort Zone.

I Love Eating Meat, But I Love Our Planet Even More. So I Will Join This Campaign And Stop Eating Meat At Least One Day A Week.

With Space Travel, [it's] No Different. You Know, In 1990 I Read The Name Virgin Galactic Airways. Loved The Name. And Set Out To Try To Find An Engineer Or Rocket Scientist In The World Who Could Build A Safe, Reusable Rocket That Could Take People To And From Space And We Could Start A Whole New Era Of Commercial Space Travel.

Starting A Business Is A Huge Amount Of Hard Work... You Had Better Enjoy It.

If You Get Your Face And Your Name Out There Enough, People Will Start To Recognize You.

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

We'll Not Be Sending Anyone Into Space Before It Is Safe And The Vehicle Is Well And Truly Tested.

All Of Us Have Just Got To Find That Time To Look After Our Bodies. That Helps Us Make Sure That Our Mind Is Sharp. I Know That When I'm Feeling Great And Really Fit, I Can Get In Three Or Four Hours More Of Really Productive Work.

Productive Work

Being An Entrepreneur Simply Means Being Someone Who Wants To Make A Difference To Other People's Lives.

You've Got To Take Risks If You're Going To Succeed. I Would Much Rather Ask Forgiveness Than Permission.

Enjoy Life - You Only Get One.

When People Screw Up, Give Them A Second Chance.

No Failure Means No Risk, Which Means Nothing New

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

Screwing Business As Usual Fundamentally Recognises That Doing Good Is Good For Business.

I Was Never, Ever Interested In Becoming A Businessman Or An Entrepreneur. If I Was A Businessman, Or Saw Myself As A Businessman, I Would Have Never Gone Into The Airline Business.

Airline Business

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

Capitalism Has Never Stood Back And Examined Itself Properly. I Think Everybody Knows That Capitalism Is The Only Thing That Works, But Is The Current Form Of Capitalism The Best Way Of It Working?

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Pedro Calderon De La Barca

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