Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography

by Richard Branson

‘Wisdom is the reward you get for a

lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.’

‘I don’t. I now spend far more time on our charitable work; it’s not that I enjoy Microsoft any less – it’s just the right thing to do.’

to fold upwards. This would effectively turn the ship into a giant shuttlecock as it began re-entry into the atmosphere. Rather than

life is too short for enemies and the spirit of forgiveness is far stronger than the spirit of revenge.

‘What is there to stop you?’

When it comes to deals like this, or any negotiations really, the key is to display passion, know-how and determination. Get to the point quickly, be persistent and consistent, and don’t rely too heavily on prompts, statistics, and certainly not PowerPoint slides. I

went into the meeting with my notebook in my back pocket, armed with beautiful spaceship pictures, a lot of enthusiasm and belief in the project. Investors buy into people and ideas, not numbers alone.

I’m always getting my thoughts down on paper. The trick is to make it part of your daily routine. You have time to eat, drink, brush your teeth and do dozens of other things every day – just add writing to the list. I

jot down ideas, thoughts, requests, reminders and doodles every single day; if I didn’t, I would forget them before I could ever put them into action. It doesn’t matter if you use a notebook

Asking for support is a strength, not a weakness.

2013

Humour is usually the best way to deal with a crisis,

don’t believe that everything happens for a reason. But I do believe that, whatever happens, you can learn from it and create something really positive. Better things can come out of adversity. Like a phoenix from the flames, I was sure the Great House would rise up again even more beautiful than before.

think the key to lasting love is listening, making sure you act upon your feelings and giving your partner the enormous respect they deserve.

I get down, whether about business or an argument with a friend, I try to remind myself that time heals and it will pass.

We treated the whole project exactly as if it was any other start-up company. As a non-profit, budgets were minimal but we had plenty of imagination. The energy and enthusiasm surrounding the idea

We knew that by thinking big, while not forgetting the little details, we could find a winning formula. For example, to come up with a nationally successful model we needed to think regionally. What specific gaps in the market were there in Norwich? What new opportunities did young people in London want?

Whenever you are setting up a new project, the most important thing is to surround yourself with people who are better than yourself, have different skills and a healthy...

I

Making the extra effort to say thanks in a genuine, personal manner is pleasurable and goes a long way.

delegated the areas I struggled with to people who also believed in the project. This freed up my time to focus on what I was good at –

you don’t get top grades, remember there’s a lot more to life than some letters on a piece of paper.

entrepreneurs

‘All human beings are born as entrepreneurs. But unfortunately, many of us never had the opportunity to unwrap that part of our life, so it remains hidden.’ Now, as you do have the opportunity, don’t waste it.

It may be controversial to say it but there is no job more important than being an entrepreneur. When you analyse everything about the world and all the improvements that get made, almost without exception it is an entrepreneur that has made them. It

‘I often find the sand between one’s toes helps to calm things down.’

Two

finding markets that need shaking up, coming up with ways to make people’s lives better, then finding brilliant people to bring it to life.

It doesn’t matter how fit you are, sometimes sickness can overwhelm even the best prepared body.

As I raced over to the US, George was already bringing

Sometimes being calm and strong is the only choice.

In critical moments such as the one in Mojave, the crucial thing is to hold yourself together and try to avoid breaking down.

The thing is to not think selfishly, put yourself in other people’s shoes and try to do your best for them. Sometimes you have to rely on sheer emotion. ‘I t...

The future rests, in many ways, on hard days like this. But we believe we owe

truly believe that humanity’s greatest achievements come out of our greatest pain. This

That

‘Sadness yes, but much more encouragement to honour the journey covered so far, and embrace the way ahead with the same courage, determination and optimism.’

‘We owe it to all of those who have risked and given so much to stay the course and deliver on the promise of creating the first commercial spaceline.’

is not length of life, but depth of life.’

Sometimes long-term investments like this can only happen in private companies where an owner has a vision. It may not make perfect sense financially in the short term, but I only have one life and if we can pull this off it will be extraordinary and make so much difference to so many people.

But if people didn’t want to test themselves in an extreme way, progress wouldn’t happen and the world would be a sadder, smaller place.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet”, but

With

My worry is that people will get bored of onions and move on to carrots instead, putting your onions out of business. So I enjoy trying to be the person selling carrots before anybody else does.

‘Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.’

Hotels

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