What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur, Genius Networking, and More With Richard Branson

Episode Summary

In this Episode, you’ll hear from Richard Branson, Marie Forleo, Yanik Silver and Joe Polish in an inspired conversation about what makes a successful entrepreneur, the business principles that have worked really well for Virgin, the one piece of advice Richard wished he had when he started his first business and more.

Here’s a glance at what you’ll learn in this episode:

  • What makes a successful entrepreneur?
  • How to create a great company culture with a fun DNA
  • The one piece of advice that Richard Branson wishes he had received when he started
  • How to take your business to the next level
  • A simple yet often overlooked marketing strategy that may get you on the front page of the news – and it’s free
  • Why Entrepreneurship helps solve global challenges
  • Why entrepreneurs fail – and how you can think differently to protect your downside
  • How Richard Branson leverages smart people to grow his businesses
  • What makes Richard Branson, Richard Branson
  • How does Richard Branson balance work, life, and family
  • The Three Phases of Growth in a Business
  • The Things Richard is most proud of
  • And much more…

WHAT'S IN IT FOR THEM?

Get the first chapter for FREE and a limited-time viewing of "Connected: The Joe Polish Story"

Show Notes

  • Joe Polish introduces friends, Yanik Silver and Marie Foleo
  • Joe introduces Richard Branson—founder of Virgin Group
  • What makes a successful entrepreneur?
    • Have a desire to make a difference to other people’s lives
    • Try to fill the gap in the market
  • What are the business principles that have worked really well for Virgin?
    • It is like painting a picture—create something to make a difference in other people’s lives
    • Make sure that the people you’re working with believe in what you’re trying to do—100%
    • Make sure what you’re trying to do is worth spending your time on
    • At the end of the day, you want to be sure people’s lives have been positively affected.

“Affect them and benefit them” – Richard Branson

  • What is one piece of advice you wish you had when you were just starting your first business?
    • Be a great people person. If you genuinely care about people, you can surround yourself with people who genuinely care about you.
  • What did you do to take it to a whole next level?
    • Be a great delegator—delegate tasks to people who are better than you, then think about the next big picture
    • An entrepreneur is not a manager
    • An entrepreneur is someone who is great in conceiving business ideas but then handing over those ideas to great managers
  • On Marketing…
    • Be confident and definitive about your product—if you don’t believe your product is worth shouting about, no one else will
    • Use yourself to put the company on the map—the cheapest form of marketing is self-promotion—try to get yourself on the front page of the newspaper 
    • Offer ideas that make people smile
  • On uniquely fun DNA, Branson infuses his companies with…
    • The chairman of the company need not take themselves too serious when it’s time to have fun.
    • Employees enjoy working for a company and perform better when the companies they work for are both fun and energetic.
  • Never forget that a big part of business is having fun
    • If you’re having fun with people and getting to know people in fun situations, you can unveil a lot more about them and their wants than you could during a formal meeting
  • Richard Branson believes social and economic problems can be solved in many instances by entrepreneurship
    • Business can solve social problems
    • Entrepreneurs create jobs and help take people out of poverty
  • Is there any consistent mistake that entrepreneurs make in business that they could possibly avoid?
    • 8 out of 10 businesses go bust because of gambling
    • People fail to think about the worst case scenario and properly guard against the downturn
  • Virgin Mobile
    • “We have a strong brand and we can piggyback on other people’s infrastructure using our brand.” – Richard Branson
  • How do you manage everything? Time management? Priority management?
    • Delegation—making sure everything runs without you
    • It is essential to stay healthy and fit
    • 50% of my time is sort of setting up “for profit” organizations to tackle some of the bigger problems of the world.
  • Balancing family and business
    • Richard always works from home—his kids grew up with him and Virgin
    • Given advances in modern technology, no one should be confined to an office.
    • Spend the majority of your time time with family and friends
  • What makes Richard Branson, Richard Branson?
    • The fun. The energy. The electricity.
    • People need to enjoy life more than they think they should
  • Being powerful, influential, and persuasive  
    • “I’ve managed to build a good reputation—I’m someone people can trust”- Richard Branson
    • Richard loves people, and loves spending time with them
    • The fun adventure side also helps the brand be more interesting
  • On social entrepreneurship and charitable philanthropy as the second phase of entrepreneurship?
    • Any business is fully focused on survival in the early years
    • After survival, the next phases are growth and altruism
    • Charitable philanthropy is absolutely a legitimate industry
  • The thing Richard is most proud of in his businesses…
    • Virgin Galactic—which will be the first business to make commercial space flight a real thing.
    • Virgin Galactic will make it easy and affordable for families to go to space
  • Why Richard started with Virgin Unite, and what he hopes to accomplish with it?
    • To make sure commercial organizations are committed to making a difference.
    • Virgin Unite will be run exactly like a business. There will be no room for foolish waste. Each penny will need to be well spent rather than wasted.  
    • Virgin Unite will support organizations for generations
    • Visit www.Virginunite.com and get involved

Tell Us What You Think, Leave a Comment Below

[/gravityform id=17 title=false ajax=true/]