If there’s anyone qualified to lay out the blueprint for dreaming big, living life on your own terms and turning your passions into your career, it’s the iconic Richard Branson. He’s fearlessly and boldly disrupted one industry after another as the founder of the Virgin Group, from publishing to airlines to creating Virgin Galactic (the world’s first commercial spaceliner), building an empire of more than 100 companies and 60,000 employees in over 50 countries.
Richard is an explorer and adventurer at heart, which has lead him on some great journeys, including being involved in over 400 companies…. wow. We get into not just the how he’s done that, but how he’s overcome challenges, work/life balance, and his life philosophies that anyone can apply.
It’s foolish not to become an expert at your passions.
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Some Questions I Ask:
- Talk to us about your decisions to do something instead of nothing. [1:28]
- Was the decision to take on the risk of flying around the globe connected to your entrepreneurial pursuits? [3:39]
- Is taking great risks while protecting the downside a mantra in all of your businesses? [5:48]
- What was the start of your entrepreneurial career? [6:39]
- What role did school play for you? [7:40]
- What are the benefits of leaning into your passions? [9:30]
- What’s the story of starting Virgin Atlantic? [10:43]
- How important is play to you? [13:09]
- What are the challenges of trying to go into space? [14:17]
- What inspired your quest for space travel? [16:14]
- What advice do you have for people who are just trying to start? [17:06]
- The fear of failure can be paralyzing. What kinds of failures have you had? [18:54]
- Are there some things that have kept you especially grounded? [20:36]
- How do you get your information? [23:23]
- What is your view of creativity and how important is it in business and life? [25:00]
- How important is it to find an area in your industry that hasn’t been thought to change, like you did with the safety video for Virgin America? [27:14]
- How important is maintaining energy when you’re starting a new business? [32:07]
- What do you do for inspiration? [33:02]
- How has dyslexia shaped you? [36:10]
- What is something that people don’t know about you that they’d be surprised to hear? [28:17]
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- Richard’s greatest fear in life. [2:18]
- What Richard considers the most important part of business; protecting that down side. [4:43]
- Richard’s advice to me when he decided to invest in CreativeLive. [5:38]
- Richard’s quick guide to bullshitting (and selling advertising). [6:45]
- Richard’s approach to what businesses to pursue. [10:18]
- Where the best businesses come from and how YOU can start the next one. [12:04]
- The two part plan for taking your first step into your entrepreneurial idea. [18:07]
- Why Richard likes working from home and how it helps him stay close to his family and on top of his health. [21:54]
- Why Richard doesn’t listen to his own voice, and chooses instead to listen deeply and take notes. [23:45]
- How business people and artists have more in common than you might think. [25:20]
- Why you should travel and how it’ll benefit your current or next business. [33:30]
- What to do if you can’t seem to come up with your own great ideas. [34:50]
- How Richard’s mother used tough love to shape the man he is today. [35:28]
- What happens when you delegate. [36:20]
- The most creative way to get out of a speeding ticket. (Caution: It might cost you a friend) [38:39]
This podcast is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world’s largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker, money/life and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts — Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.
