Richard Branson Has 2 Valuable Pieces of Career Advice

How to think like Richard Branson

British business magnate, Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group was 4-years-old and a mile from his grandparent's house when his mom pushed him out of the car and drove off.

Why?

Richard Branson suspects he was being a bit of a brat, and his mother was the type of person who tried to teach him to stand on his own two feet.

Contrary to what I thought would happen, Richard Branson said he got lost in a field and ended up being rescued by a farmer.

I’m sceptical.

I don’t think little Richard Branson was lost. His mum sounded her horn for him to come back to the car. I think Richard continued to be a brat, and hiding was his way of getting back at her.

He thumbed his nose at authority and has been doing it ever since.

I wouldn’t recommend you dump your child at the side of the road. That is the type of behaviour that might get you arrested these days. But it doesn’t do you any harm to have a pinch of attitude.

Whether you are starting your own business, running a side-hustle or plotting to kill your boss (in a book), start with the right attitude — thumb your nose at the norm.

You don’t have to do it the way it’s always been done. You don’t have to give a flying fook what other people think.

You just need to solve a problem.

Branson continued to thumb his nose at the established way of doing things. When his flight was cancelled, he chartered an aeroplane to his destination and sold tickets to other travellers — this gave birth to Virgin Atlantic.

He solved his problem and in doing so he solved the problem of paying customers.

How many of us would have accepted the cancellation, bemoaned the airline, and believed the world was against us? Not Branson, his success is tied to his attitude and the second reason:

Richard Branson ignored failure

• He didn’t do well in school; he dropped out at 16.
• His student magazine failed — he wanted a publishing house to buy him out, and they ran a mile.
• They slapped Virgin Records with a £60,000 fine after he tried to avoid tax.
• Virgin Cola got crushed when he went up against Coca Cola.
• His entire Virgin Drinks subsidiary got poured down the sink.
• Virgin Brides failed — there weren’t any.
• His Virgin Vie line of cosmetics ended in tears.
• His VirginStudent social network was a lonely endeavour.
• Virgin Cars hit the skids.
• Nobody plugged into Virgin Pulse, his digital music player.
• His Virginware range of clothing got caught with its pants down.
• Little Red, his domestic airline, never took off.
• He didn’t have any luck either when he twice tried to take over the British national lottery — his numbers never came up.

Throughout his life, Richard Branson failed — over and over. And that’s a good thing because when the time came he was ready to fail again.

Failing = experience

Being ready to fail again = trying

Branson was inspired by a child trying to walk for the first time. No matter how many times he fell over, the child always got up and tried again. This is how we can learn to walk.

Businesses evolve in much the same way.

We all do it.

When we are babies we don’t know how to stop trying—we keep going until the day we’re running around our houses, arms wide, making aeroplane noises.

Takeaway

Whether you are starting your own business, running a side-hustle, dragging kids up to be responsible adults, or writing blogs, books or bullshit.

Have an attitude.

Cock a snook at the naysayers. Bugger the norm. Skip the line. Be a bit of a brat at times.

Allow yourself to fail.

Allow yourself to fail at something difficult. You might crash and burn at the first hurdle, but next time you might get it right.