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There Are Quite A Few Things I've Done That Even I Thought Might Have Been One Step Too Far. But If You Are Willing To Make A Fool Of Yourself And Make People Smile, As Long As You Do It With A Sense Of Fun, You Can Get Away With It.

-Richard Branson

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There Are Quite A

Richard Branson

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There Are Quite A Few Things I've Done That Even I Thought Might Have Been One Step Too Far. But If You Are Willing To Make A Fool Of Yourself And Make People Smile, As Long As You Do It With A Sense Of Fun, You Can Get Away With It.

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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 Risk Is Worth Taking As Long As It's For A Good Cause, And Contributes To A Good Life.

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

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.

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

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

When You Are Ready To Make Your First Hires, Look For People Who Understand Your Passion, Want To Add To Your Ideas And Can Envision Ways To Make Improvements.

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

Self Improvement

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

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

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

Those Who Achieve Great Things Are The Ones Willing To Be Scared But Not Scared Off. If You Dream Big And Take Risks, Impossible Becomes Just A Word.

To Stand Still Today Is To Go Backwards...and Quickly...!

Learning And Leadership Go Together. Too Much Credit Goes To Me For What We Have Achieved At Virgin But The Successes Happen From Working And Learning With Some Of The World's Most Inspiring And Inspired People.

I Do Believe The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get.

If You're Bringing Up Kids, You Just Want To Smother Them With Love And Praise And Enthusiasm. So I Don't Think You Can Mollycoddle Your Kids Too Much Really.

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.

Believe In Yourself And Back Yourself To Come Out On Top. A Fulfilling Career Is Waiting For Those Brave Enough To Find It.

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.

We Need A New Way Of Doing Business To Get Out Of The Present Crisis ... Absolute Greed Has Come Close To Bankrupting The World. Thanks To The Crisis That Certain Businesses Have Dumped On Everyone A Lot Of People Are Going To Suffer On A Global Scale. All Of Us Must Learn. It Is All The More Important That Those Business Leaders That Are Left Standing Try To Be A Force For Good.

Our Model Is To Develop Each Business Separately With Its Own Shareholder And Management - This Way We Can Concentrate On The Job In Hand, Rather Than Be Part Of Some Enormous And Faceless Conglomerate.

Learn To Raise Capital By Any Means Necessary. That's Your Primary Job As An Entrepreneur. You Must Continually Raise Capital From Family And Friends, Banks, Suppliers, Customers And Investors.

By Working Hard, By Making The Right Moves, You Can Create Your Own Luck, I Think. But Certainly Luck Plays A Part.

The Years I Would Have Spent At University, I Spent Building Student Magazine And Virgin Records. For Me That Was Far More Fun And Satisfying. I Have Treated Everyday As The University Education I Never Had And Think I Learnt More About Business And Life Than I Would Have At University In The Process.

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

Bad Experiences

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

Engage Your Emotions At Work. Your Instincts And Emotions Are There To Help You.

Good Customer Service Begins At The Top. If Your Senior People Don't Get It, Even The Strongest Links Further Down The Line Can Become Compromised.

I Think Bands Will Actually Make More Money Without Record Companies; A Much Bigger Share Of The Money Will Go To The Bands. You Won't Have Record Shops Taking 40 Percent Of The Money. You Won't Have Record Labels Taking 40 Percent Of The Money. So They Don't Have To Sell As Many Albums As They Used To In The Past. So It's Not Necessarily A Bad Thing If Record Companies Disappear.

Red Tape Will Often Get In Your Way. It's One Of The Reasons I Often Carry Scissors!

Screw It, Just Do It!

Chance Favors The Prepared Mind. The More You Practice, The Luckier You Become.

Well, The Odds Must Be Against Anybody Being Able To Fly Around The World In A Balloon On The First Attempt. All Of Us Who Are Attempting To Go Around The World In Balloons Are Effectively Flying In Experimental Craft Because These Craft Cannot Be Tested.

To Achieve Consistently Terrific Customer Service, You Must Hire Wonderful People Who Believe In Your Company's Goals, Habitually Do Better Than The Norm And Who Will Love Their Jobs; Make Sure That Their Ideas And Opinions Are Heard And Respected; Then Give Them The Freedom To Help And Solve Problems For Your Customers. Rather Than Providing Rules Or Scripts, You Should Ask Them To Treat The Customer As They Themselves Would Like To Be Treated - Which Is Surely The Highest Standard.

Many Assume My Business Success Has Brought Me Happiness. But The Way I See It, I Am Successful Because I Am Happy.

Business Success

The War On Drugs Has Gone On For About Forty-five, Fifty Years - And It's Been A Complete Failure. If You Had A Business That Was Failing So Badly, You Would Change Course. And It's Just Incredible That Governments Continue Along The Same Course.

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.

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

I Think The Thing About Capitalism Is It's An Evil Necessity, Capitalism. Communism Has Been Tried And Failed, And Socialism, That Doesn't Work Very Well. Capitalism Works, But The Problem About Capitalism Is It Does Mean That A Few Individuals Become Very Wealthy. Therefore, I Think Those Individuals Have Enormous Responsibility To Redistribute That Wealth Either By Creating New Businesses Or Creating New Jobs And Making Sure That Money Just Doesn't Lie In A Bank Account For Future Generations.

There Isn't A Flight Goes By When I Don't Stare Out Of The Window And Thank My Stars For What I'm Seeing And Feeling.

And If After All This You Eventually Fail; Don't Take It Personal. Don't Be Ashamed To Start All Over Again.

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.

Never Go Into Business Purely To Make Money. If That's The Motive You're Better Off Doing Nothing.

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.

I Am A Believer In Trying To Treat People Properly And Trying To Respond And Making Sure That I Find The Time To Be Courteous.

My Parents Brought Me Up With This Philosophy. You Must Do Things. You Mustn't Watch What Other People Are Doing. You Must Not Listen To What Other People Are Doing.

I Was Fortunate Enough, After Many Visits To Many Wonderful, Weird People To Come Across Burt Rutan, Who Is A Genius In The Mojave Desert. And Spaceshipone Was Born And Had Three Flights Into Space That Won Something Called The X Prize. And From There, We're Building Spaceshiptwo, Which Is ... A Beautiful Spaceship That Is Very, Very, Very Nearly Completed And Will Be Ready From About Next Christmas Onwards To Start Taking People Into Space.

Perhaps My Early Problems With Dyslexia Made Me More Intuitive: When Someone Sends Me A Written Proposal, Rather Than Dwelling On Detailed Facts And Figures I Find That My Imagination Grasps And Expands On What I Read.

Don't Think About Making Money, Think About Making A Difference, Spot Where Others Are Doing It Badly And Do It Better

Self Improvement

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.

For A Successful Entrepreneur It Can Mean Extreme Wealth. But With Extreme Wealth Comes Extreme Responsibility. And The Responsibility For Me Is To Invest In Creating New Businesses, Create Jobs, Employ People, And To Put Money Aside To Tackle Issues Where We Can Make A Difference.

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.

If Something Can't Be Explained On The Back Of An Envelope, It's Rubbish.

Don’t Just Play The Game – Change It For Good.

Lead By Listening - To Be A Good Leader You Have To Be A Great Listener.

We'd Love To Be Involved With The Creation Of Something Very Special, Something Quite Large And Something Quite Exciting.

If You Don’t Enjoy It, Don’t Do It. You Must Love What You Do.

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.

I Just Like To Enjoy Life And Push Myself. Of Course, There Is Method To My Madness. When You Are Entering Into A New Industry, For Example, It Helps To Do Something To Get Your Name On The Front Pages.

You Can Never Go Too Far Wrong By Thinking Like A Customer Who’s New To The Business.

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.

People Are No Different From Flowers. If You Water Them, They Flourish. If You Are Not Nice To Them, They Shrivel Up

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

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

Whatever Business You Are In, Every Company Can Shoot For The Start In Their Own Way.

Two Bricklayers Work Side By Side. The First Lays Bricks. The Second Builds Magnificent Cathedrals. Think Small Vs. Think Big.

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.

Your Employees Are Your Company’s Real Competitive Advantage. They’re The Ones Making The Magic Happen-so Long As Their Needs Are Being Met.

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.

When I Started Virgin From A Basement In West London, There Was No Great Plan Or Strategy. I Didn't Set Out To Build A Business Empire ... For Me, Building A Business Is All About Doing Something To Be Proud Of, Bringing Talented People Together And Creating Something That's Going To Make A Real Difference To Other People's Lives.

When I Started Virgin From A Basement Flat In West London, I Did Not Set Out To Build A Business Empire. I Set Out To Create Something I Enjoyed That Would Pay The Bills.

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

The Best Way Of Learning About Anything Is By Doing.

I Think Because I Have Great Difficulty Saying The Word, 'no,' Almost Every Day's A Different Adventure.

Having A Good Network Can Be Invaluable. It Opens Doors For You And Allows You To Enter Into Opportunities That Are Beneficial To Your Business.

I Would Not Be Able To Change A Sparking Plug And I Would Not Be Able To Fly A Spaceship Or Build A Rocket Or Whatever. But What I Am Good At Doing Is Finding Brilliant People And Surrounding Myself With Brilliant People.

I Have Enjoyed Life A Lot More By Saying "yes" Than By Sayings "no".

As An Entrepreneur, You've Got To Protect Against The Company Going Bust. And As An Adventurer, You've Got To Protect Against Losing Your Life. It's Even More Important As An Adventurer To Get It Right.

The Best Way Forward Is To Give More People Everywhere Greater Power To Build Their Own Destinies.

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

Being Successful

Doing Good Is Good For Business.

On Conflicts, Generally Speaking, The World Is A Hell Of A Lot Better To Live In Today Than It Was Thirty Years Ago, Despite What's Going On In Syria. There Are Definitely Hopeful Signs That The World Is Moving, Decade By Decade, In The Right Direction.

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

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 See, It's Essential That One Of Us Stays Awake During The Flight [ballon]. So, Rather Than Using The Comfortable Virgin Seats Which We Used To Cross The Atlantic, We've Asked British Airways For Two Of Theirs.

I Moved Into A Nice Houseboat In Little Venice When I Was 15 Years Old. I Found A Girlfriend Called Monday And A Houseboat Called Friday, So I Had The Week Sewn Up.

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.

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.

If You Take Care Of Your Workers They'll Take Care Of Your Business.

I've Obviously Been Born Fortunate. I Love People. I Enjoy Every Single Minute Of My Life.

In Business, As In Life, All That Matters Is That You Do Something Positive.

Meaningful Work

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

Not Enough People Realize The Satisfaction You Can Get From Really Pushing Yourself To The Limits.

Your Brand Or Your Name Is Simply Your Reputation, You Have To Fight In Life To Protect That As It Means Everything. Nothing Is More Important.

There Are No Quick Wins In Business - It Takes Years To Become An Overnight Success.

Overnight Success

I Think Sometimes When You Come From A Conservative Background, You Want To Rebel A Little Bit. I Dropped Out Of School At 15 And Learned Early In Life That Saying Yes Was A Lot More Fun Than Saying No. If You Have The Opportunity To Explore The Skies And Attempt Something People Haven't Done Before - Well, I Was Damned If I Was Going To Sit Around Watching Television While Someone Else Was Doing It.

An Exceptional Company Is The One That Gets All The Little Details Right.

The Way You Treat Your Employees Is The Way They Will Treat Your Customers

Employee Appreciation

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

It's All About Finding And Hiring People Smarter Than You. Getting Them To Join Your Business. And Giving Them Good Work. Then Getting Out Of Their Way. And Trusting Them. You Have To Get Out Of The Way So You Can Focus On The Bigger Vision. That's Important. And Here's The Main Thing....you Must Make Them See Their Work As A Mission.

If You Are A New Startup Company, Try Not To Arouse The Interest Or Suspicion Of Your Competition; Especially If They Are A Bigger Company. They Can Crush You While You Are Still In Your Startup Phase. Lie Low While Still Strengthening Your Bottom Line.

Well, I Think That There's A Very Thin Dividing Line Between Success And Failure. And I Think If You Start A Business Without Financial Backing, You're Likely To Go The Wrong Side Of That Dividing Line.

When Employees Tell You About Their Good Ideas For The Business, Don't Limit Your Response To Asking Questions, Taking Notes And Following Up. If You Can, Ask Those People To Lead Their Projects And Take Responsibility For Them. From Those Experiences, They Will Then Have Built The Confidence To Take On More And You Can Take A Further Step Back.

Asking Questions

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.

Life Is A Helluva Lot More Fun If You Say Yes Rather Than No

Having A Good Network Can Be Invaluable. It Opens Doors For You And Allows You To Enter Into Opportunities That Are Beneficial To Your Business. In This Sense, 'who You Know' Is Undoubtedly Important, But To Me 'what You Know' Is More Important Because Once An Opportunity Shows Itself, It Is Up To You To Make The Most Of It, And This Is Down To Your Knowledge And Skill.

The First Thing To Look For When Searching For A Great Employee Is Somebody With A Personality That Fits With Your Company Culture. Most Skills Can Be Learned, But It Is Difficult To Train People On Their Personality.

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

Train People Well Enough So They Can Leave, Treat Them Well Enough So They Don't Want To.

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.

I Was The Kind Of Entrepreneur That Never Really Felt I Made It. When Mike Olefield's "tubular Bells" [virgin Records' First Release] Sold 8 Or 10 Million Copies, I Suppose, At Age 19, I Could've Possibly Retired On The Money. Instead, I Immediately Pushed The Boat And Took That Risk Again.

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

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.

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.

I'm A True Believer In Working Hard And Partying Hard. I'm Fortunate To Be One Of Those People Who Can Have Just As Much Fun Partying Without Alcohol.

Unless You Dream, You're Not Going To Achieve Anything.

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

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

Every Great Movement In The World Starts With A Tiny Group Of People Who Simply Refuse To Accept A Situation.

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.

I Like To Take Chances On People, And Whenever Possible, Promote From Within - It Sends A Great Message To Everyone In The Company When Someone Demonstrates A Passion For The Job And Leadership Skills At Every Step Along The Way And Is Rewarded With A Leadership Role.

I Believe That Today's Businesses - Regardless Of Their Size - Must Be Prepared To Do Good In Societies Around The Globe. I Am Cautiously Optimistic That We Can Make The World A Far Better, Safer And More Equitable Place - But Business And Enterprise Must Sit At The Heart Of This Process.

Fun Is One Of The Most Important - And Underrated - Ingredients In Any Successful Venture. If You're Not Having Fun, Then It's Probably Time To Call It Quits And Try Something Else.

Seek Out Strategic Alliances; They Are Essential To Growth And Provide Resistance To Bigger Competition.

I Never Set Out To Be A Businessman

I Never Really Felt Secure Until I Was Well Into My 30s, Because Anytime I Had Success, I Would Invest In New Projects.

It Is Important To Remember That Life Is Not A Dress Rehearsal And That None Of Us Should Waste Our Time On Doing Things That Don’t Spark Fires Within Us. My Golden Rule For Business And Life Is: We Should All Enjoy What We Do And Do What We Enjoy.

Explore This Next Great Frontier Where The Boundaries Between Work And Higher Purpose Are Merging Into One, Where Doing Good Really Is Good For Business.

Surprisingly, A Large Number Of People Who Fell Out With Their Partners Contacted Us, Saying That They Would Love To Fly On A Virgle Spaceship. But Out Of April Fools' Jokes Come Real Things, And I Wouldn't Be Surprised, Within The Next 50 Years, [if] There Are One-way Trips Heading Out Into Space With People On It. It Would Be Very Exciting.

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

Entrepreneurial

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.

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

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.

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.

As Much As You Need A Strong Personality To Build A Business From Scratch, You Also Must Understand The Art Of Delegation.

Life Can Seem Rather Unreal At Times. Alive And Well And Loving One Day. No Longer There The Next.

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.

I Truly Believe That Capitalism Was Created To Help People Live Better Lives, But Sadly Over The Years It Has Lost Its Way A Bit. The Short-term Focus On Profit Has Driven Most Businesses To Forget About The Important Long-term Role They Have In Taking Care Of People And The Planet.

No Failure Means No Risk, Which Means Nothing New

Life Is A Series Of Ups And Clowns. Make It Worth Your Wild!

The Most Important Thing For Entrepreneurs Is Not To Be Put Off By Failure.

Important Things

Remain Focused On Fulfilling Your Business Mission. Never Allow Adversity Divert Your Attention And Efforts.

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.

There Are Millions Of People Out There Who Would Love To Become Astronauts, Who'd Love To Go To Space - They'd Love To Look Back At This Wonderful World From Space. That Will Be The Engine That Will Enable Us Then To Develop Spaceships To Transport People Around The World At Tremendous Speeds In An Environmentally Friendly Way.

If You Get Into Entrepreneurshi P Driven By Profit, You Are A Lot More Likely To Fail. The Entrepreneurs Who Succeed Usually Want To Make A Difference To People’s Lives, Not Just Their Own Bank Balances. The Desire To Change Things For The Better Is The Motivation For Taking Risks And Pursuing Seemingly Impossible Business Ideas.

When Something Doesn't Go Exactly To Plan, Money Is Tight Or A Business Is Struggling - See It As A Challenge Rather Than A Failure. Look Outside The Box And Try And Find A Solution - You'll Be Surprised How Many Great Opportunities And Possibilities Arise When Things Look Bad. You've Just Got To Open Your Mind And Not Be Afraid Of Sticking Your Neck Out!

All You Have In Life Is Your Reputation: You May Be Very Rich, But If You Lose Your Good Name, Then You'll Never Be Happy. The Thought Will Always Lurk At The Back Of Your Mind That People Don't Trust You.

Entrepreneursh Ip Is Not About Getting One Over On The Customer. It’s Not About Working On Your Own. It’s Not About Looking Out For Number One. It’s Not Necessarily About Making A Lot Of Money. It Is Absolutely Not About Letting Work Take Over Your Life. On The Contrary, It’s About Turning What Excites You In Life Into Capital, So That You Can Do More Of It And Move Forward With It.

If You Want Milk, Don't Sit On A Stool In The Middle Of A Field In The Hope That A Cow Will Back Up To You.

If You're Lucky Enough To Have A Few Hundred Thousand Dollars In The Bank Account, That Should Be Sufficient For Your Own Personal Needs, And Anything More Than That You've Got To Put To Good Use.

I've Been Taught Not To Have Any Regrets. If We Were To Add Up All Of The Hours Spent Regretting Mistakes And Use That Time To Develop New Ideas, Who Knows How Many Brilliant New Businesses Would Be Created.

I Also Know, As An Entrepreneur Myself, You Face New Obstacles Every Day And You Need To Have The Perseverance To See Them Through.

Have Faith In Yourself. Think Yes Not No. Live Life To The Full. Never Give Up.

I Don’t Think Of Work As Work And Play As Play. It’s All Living.

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

I Am Passionate About Many Things But Conserving Our Planet And Its Species Is A High Priority Of Mine.

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

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

Don't Bother Doing Something Unless You're Radically Different From The Competition.

Choose Great People And Shine In Their Shadows

It's Obviously Incredibly Important To Keep The Body Fit In Order To Keep The Mind Fit, And Be Able To Find Time For Friends.

Nothing Else Even Comes Close.

Business Is The Force Of Change. Business Is Essential To Solving The Climate Crisis, Because This Is What Business Is Best At: Innovating, Changing, Addressing Risks, Searching For Opportunities. There Is No More Vital Task

Succeeding In Business Is All About Making Connections

Succeeding In Business

If You Can Run One Business Well, You Can Run Any Business Well.

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.

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.

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.

We Have The Enormous Opportunity In Our Hands To Make A Positive Difference For Business, People, And The Planet.

Half The Art Of Ballooning Is To Make Your Crashes So Gentle That You Can Fool Yourself Into Calling Them Landings.

When You're First Thinking Through An Idea, It's Important Not To Get Bogged Down In Complexity. Thinking Simply And Clearly Is Hard To Do.

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.

People Who Work For Me Are Working For What I Believe In. The Leaders Who Run Our Companies Do So On The Basis Of Those Who Came First And Who Said, "a Company Is Its People." I Hope My Companies Are Run On The Basis Of Praising Their Workers And Looking For The Best In Them, Not Criticizing Them. In The Same Way That You Water A Plant And It Sprouts Leaves, People Flourish When You Praise Them.

Money Gives You The Freedom To Do With Your Time What You Want To Do With It

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?

Money Is For Making Things Happen.

Dream Big By Setting Yourself Seemingly Impossible Challenges. You Then Have To Catch Up With Them.

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.

We Should All Seek To Innovate, Or Be Curious About Innovation. Innovation Truly Is One Of Our Greatest Gifts.

I Just Wanted To Create Things That I Could Be Proud Of. Money Was Just An Evil Byproduct To Pay The Bills At The End Of The Year.

The Best Advice I Could Give Anyone Is To Spend Your Time Working On Whatever You Are Passionate About In Life.

Entrepreneurship Is About Turning What Excites You In Life Into Capital, So That You Can Do More Of It And Move Forward With It.

But The Majority Of Things That One Could Get Stressed About, They?re Not Worth Getting Stressed About.

We Need Government And Business To Work Together For The Benefit Of Everyone. It Should No Longer Be Just About Typical "corporate Social Responsibility" Where The "responsibility" Bit Is Usually The Realm Of A Small Team Buried In A Basement Office - Now It Should Be About Every Single Person In A Business Taking Responsibility To Make A Difference In Everything They Do, At Work And In Their Personal Lives.

The Extraordinary Thing About The Record Industry Is How Success Can Take Off Without Warning.

Extraordinary Things

I've Used The Phoenix Centrifuge To Replicate What The Body's Going To Go Through On The Flight Up. I've Also Done Some Gravity Tests With Zero-g [a Charter-flight Service In Arlington, Va., That Uses Modified Boeing 727s To Simulate Weightlessness], Which Went Great.

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.

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

A Good Idea For A New Business Tends Not To Occur In Isolation, And Often The Window Of Opportunity Is Very Small. So Speed Is Of The Essence.

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

Right Now I'm Just Delighted To Be Alive And To Have Had A Nice Long Bath.

I Am Impressed With Just The Enthusiasm For Life And The Fact That Some Of These People Are In Their 80's, Even 90's, And They're Absolutely Determined To Get Out There And Make A Difference.

Smiling Can Be A Competitive Advantage. It Makes Everyone Feel Better And Every Situation Brighter.

All Good Leaders Listen To Their People And Empower Them To Go Away And Turn Any Innovative Ideas They Have Into A Reality.

A Good Leader Leads From The Front. Don't Get Stuck In The Office. Get Out, Meet People And Listen To Their Stories.

Of Course An Individual Can Make A Huge Difference But It Is When Those Individuals Come Together With Like-minded Souls That They Can Change The World For Ever And Importantly For The Better.

Because I Don't See Virgin As A Company But As A Way Of Life And I Fully Enjoy It, I Don't Think I'll Ever Retire.

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!

When I Was Young, Every Time I Criticized Someone, My Mother Would Stand Me In Front Of The Mirror And Say: 'the Flaws You See In Others Are Actually A Reflection Of Yourself.' That Taught Me To Pay Close Attention When I Looked At Others.

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

Self Improvement

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John Buchanan Robinson

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