Virgin Atlantic founder. Biography of Richard Branson - success story, quotes, photos. This became one of the starting points for my further personal growth and change in thinking, understanding and views on my future life.

Photo: http://www.mann-ivanov-ferber.ru/authors/richard/

Biography of Richard Branson

In 1966, he and a friend founded their first successful business- Student magazine, for which several illustrations were made by the famous artist Gerald Scarfe. Two years later, the first issue of the magazine was published.

A year later, the Student magazine was closed due to difficulties in its distribution. The publishing of the magazine was not a profitable business, but it was invaluable in terms of the experience gained.

At the age of seventeen, he opened his first charitable organization, the Student Advisory Centre.

Record sales and Virgin Mail Order Records

The next business project was the distribution of records Richard and his friends sent out records by mail. It was this direction that was called Virgin ("Virgin").

Virgin Mail Order Records quickly became popular. In 1971, the first Virgin store on Oxford Street opened, providing an ideal haven for rock lovers. Soon after, he launched the record label Virgin Records with Nick Powell. Branson made enough money from a record store, bought an estate, where he equipped a recording studio. The studio was rented out to up-and-coming musicians, including multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield.

In 1992, in order to continue developing the airline, Branson sold the Virgin label to EMI, but regretted the sale. He soon founded V2 Records to get back into the music business.

Airlines and rail business

Branson created Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984, launched Virgin Mobile in 1999, Australia's Virgin Blue in 2000, and then failed in 2000 in a bid to buy National Lottery.

On July 4, 2006, Branson sold his Virgin Mobile company to the UK cable network providing broadband access and telephony services NTL/NTL:Telewest, for £1bn.

In 1997, Branson embarked on what seemed to most to be one of his risky business ventures, entering the railroad business. Virgin Trains wins sector franchises railway in crossed countryside Intercity and West Coast in the British Rail system. Virgin Trains soon began having problems with the rolling stock and infrastructure inherited from British Rail.

Virgin acquired European short haul carrier Euro Belgian Airlines in 1996 and renamed it Virgin Express.

In 2006, the airline was merged with SN Brussels Airlines, formerly Sabena. The combined company was named Brussels Airlines. She also founded a national airline based in Nigeria called Virgin Nigeria.

Another company, Virgin America, began flying out of San Francisco International Airport in August 2007.

Branson also developed the Virgin Cola brand and even Virgin Vodka, which were not particularly successful ventures.

Virgin Galactic

On September 25, 2004, Branson announced a deal that new company space tourism agency, Virgin Galactic, is licensing the technology behind SpaceShipOne.

Virgin Galactic (wholly owned by the Virgin Group) planned to make Scaled Composites White Knight Two flights available to the public by the end of 2009 for tickets worth about $200,000.

Virgin Fuels

Branson's next venture with the Virgin Group will be Virgin Fuels, which should be the answer to global warming and fuel price spikes by offering revolutionary, low-cost fuel for cars and, in the near future, aircraft.

Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation

In 2006, Branson founded the entertainment companies Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation, focused on creating new stories and characters for a global audience. The companies were set up with author Deepak Chopra, director Shekhar Kapur and private entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra.

Branson also opened Virgin Health Bank on February 1, 2007, offering prospective parents the chance to store stem cells in their children's cord blood at private and public stem cell banks after the baby is born.

virgin money

On October 13, 2007, Branson's Virgin Group found a way to add Northern Rock to their empire after signing an agreement that resulted in Branson personally owning a 30% stake in the company, changing its name from Northern Rock to Virgin Money.

Virgin

In March 2009, Virgin became a sponsor of the rookie Formula 1 team Brawn GP, ​​but the team began to win and the sponsorship contract increased significantly in price. As a result, the partnership was limited to only one season. In September 2009, a Motorsport.com source revealed that Richard Branson had purchased another rookie team, this time for the 2010 season, Manor and renamed the latter to Virgin F1.

At the end of 2010, a 49% stake in Virgin F1 was bought by the Russian automobile company Motors, headed by. The new alliance was named Marussia Virgin Racing.

Richard Branson world records

In January 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific from Japan to Arctic Canada 6,700 miles (10,800 km) hot-air balloon with a volume of 2.6 million cubic feet (74,000 m³). Thus, he broke the world record, setting a new one at a speed of 245 miles per hour (392 km / h).

In March 2004, Branson set the record for the fastest amphibious English Channel crossing by sailing from Dover to Calais in a Gibbs Aquada in 1 hour 40 minutes and 6 seconds. The previous record - six hours - was set by two Frenchmen.

In September 2008, Branson and his son attempted to set the record for sailing across the Atlantic Ocean on the 99-foot (30 m) sloop Virgin Money. The attempt ended in failure when the boat docked in Bermuda after the sail was broken in a violent storm.

Personal life of Richard Branson

The first marriage was to Kristen Thomassy Branson, but did not last long due to Branson's dedication to business. Kristen first began to cheat on him in protest, and then went to another.

Branson is married a second time to Joan Templeman and they have two children, Holly and Sam.

The couple married in 1989 on Branson's Necker Island.

With Joan

With Holly

With Sam

Photo: http://lichnosti.net/pset_8884.html

Books by Richard Branson

• Richard Branson. "My rules: Listen, learn, laugh and be a leader"
• Richard Branson." To hell with "business as always"
• Richard Branson. "Reach for the sky. Aeronauts, bird people and space launches
• Richard Branson. “Losing innocence. How I built a business doing things my way and enjoying life.”
• Richard Branson. "To hell with all of it! Take it and do it!
• Richard Branson. "Naked Business"
• Richard Branson. "Losing Innocence", autobiography

Richard Branson is a bright personality, a man who is used to challenging. He did poorly in school due to dyslexia and created his own magazine. He crossed the Atlantic in a hot air balloon and dressed as a woman. Now owns more than 350 companies worldwide, united under the Virgin brand.

 

He has traveled around the world, broken speed records, sent people into space, lived on a houseboat, built a submarine, performed in a wedding dress, competed in Coca-Cola, showed a bare butt in advertising, rescued British hostages and helped Kuwaiti refugees... And this is not a complete list of extraordinary actions of Richard Branson. The history of business development is riddled with eccentric antics and rebellious acts.

Who is he: Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is a well-known British tycoon who was worth $5.1 billion in 2016. Founder and owner of the diversified corporation Virgin Group, under the brand of which more than three hundred different companies are united.

In the photo: Richard Branson builds a business in the style of Virgin by his own rules

In Russia, Richard Branson is known for his books that talk about business, describe his biography, give motivating advice and share his own rules for success. His most famous books are: “To hell with everything! Get on and do it!”, “Losing Your Virginity”, “Reach for Heaven”, “Virgin Business”, “My Rules”, “To hell with business as always”, “Naked Business” and others.

Diaper businessman

The future billionaire was born on July 18, 1950 in the Blackheath area of ​​London. Branson's mother constantly came up with ways to earn extra money: she organized a business in her own garage and at home. Her irrepressible will and perseverance in achieving goals had a huge impact on Richard.

Childhood photo of Richard Branson - the future billionaire

Branson studied at a private school, and teachers considered him behind, and even lazy. The reason for this was dyslexia - it was difficult for the boy to master the skills of reading and writing. At the age of 8, he could not even read. Henry Ford, the world legend of the automotive industry, suffered from the same ailment.

At the age of 9 (!) Ricky decided to go into business selling Christmas trees. With a friend, they bought seeds, dug holes and planted spruces. But the rabbits dug up the seeds and ate them. Then Richard realized that money does not grow on trees.

The next Christmas, he got the idea to breed and sell budgerigars. The father even built an aviary for these purposes, but even here the boy failed - the demand was low, and after some time the rats attacked the aviary and destroyed the birds.

At the age of 15, he decided to leave school and implement another business idea with a friend - to create a magazine for young people. The parents supported the boy, deciding that he would attend only the lessons of ancient history, which brought him pleasure.

His motto in life is to do what makes you happy. He admits that he never made plans to become rich. All he wants is to enjoy life and overcome trials.

In the photo: Richard Branson: "I achieved everything I dreamed of at 20 years old"

The first success in entrepreneurship was the magazine for British youth "Student", on the creation of which Branson and a friend worked in the basement of a friend's parents' house in London. For days on end, Richard called potential advertisers from a pay phone and offered placements in his as-yet-defunct magazine. Together with a friend, they sent hundreds of letters offering advertising space (Richard's mother gave money to buy stamps).

They met celebrities and interviewed them. Branson was able to talk with James Baldwin, Jean-Paul Sartre, Mick Jagger, John Lennon and many others.

Back then, Branson didn't think about how celebrities of this stature would agree to talk to a 16-year-old and get published for free in Student magazine. He just took and did, however, like everything else in his life and business.

In the photo: Branson with the fruit of his first serious undertaking - the magazine "Student"

About those times, Richard writes that their life turned into a brilliant chaos, into a party that never ends. They drank beer, dated girls, and interviewed celebrities, but they also worked hard.

Branson hasn't read business books or gone to business school, he's convinced rules are made to be broken. It is recognized that if he began to delve into all the pros and cons of entrepreneurship, he would never have dared to start a business. For several years, Branson and his wife lived on a houseboat. The main places to work were: house, yacht, hammock.

Advertisers appeared, the first thirty thousand copies of the Student magazine that came from the printing house had to be sold. Branson hired students by offering them half-price packs of magazines they could keep the profits for themselves. Some students took magazines for sale and often forgot to repay the debt. But it didn't matter. The main thing is that the magazine gained popularity, people learned about it.

When the circulation became huge, the friends decided to expand the business and sell records. They placed the first ad in the latest issue of the magazine. It was decided to open a record store. Friends agreed with the owner of a shoe store to give them free space ...

The birth of a "virgin"

The question arose of how to name the future record store and the brand as a whole. Comrades sorted out options. Thus was born the name of the legendary brand - Virgin, which translates from English as "virgin".

At a party in the late 70s, Branson was asked if he named his business after the Virgin Islands? He replies that at that time he had never been to the Virgin Islands, but called his company that because he himself was a virgin in business at that time. Later, the businessman bought Necker Island, located in the Vergina Islands.

Regions of presence of Virgin Group companies: Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Russia (Internet provider), Great Britain, USA.

The total turnover is in the tens of billions of dollars and continues to grow ($24 billion in 2012).

Personal life

Branson is married for the second time and has two children. He admits that his wife Joan, with whom he has been together for over 40 years, supports all his crazy ideas and undertakings and he is happy that he met such a woman in his life. He has two children: daughter Holy and son Samuel.

Pictured: Richard Branson and Joan Templeman's wedding

How Richard Branson built a conglomerate of 300 companies from scratch

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The site browser studied the history of the formation of Richard Branson and his Virgin group of companies, which is engaged in many business areas - from mobile communications to space flights. The material tells how adventurism, love of risk and perseverance made Branson one of the most talked about entrepreneurs in the world.

Richard Branson is perhaps one of the brightest entrepreneurs of our time. His company is akin to a billionaire himself - the clearest example of success, created with the help of an unconventional culture, risky business models and a clear understanding of the necessary trends.

On the this moment The Virgin Group is a conglomerate of record labels, music stores, an airline, space tourism, in-house publications and more. The founder of the company did all this, in fact, on his own, fulfilling his main rule - “to hell with everything, take it and do it”.

One of the main advantages of the company was the use of the latest British Class Z90 Pendolino trains. However, in 2007, Virgin Trains was in serious trouble when a train crashed near the city of Greyrigg. 88 passengers were injured and one died. This incident caused a serious resonance in society.

In order to soften the blow to the company, Richard Branson hastened to pay compensation to the victims, and he himself made a statement in which he promised to improve infrastructure and trains. These promises were kept, which increased the level of public confidence.

Gradually, the number of Virgin Trains flights grew - largely due to the increase in the number of transport trains to 86. The company continued its growth as part of the Virgin Rail Group. In 2014, the income of the group of companies in this area reached $465 million per month.

Virgin Trains is currently one of the best UK rail companies and is looking to further extend its contract with state department transport, which ends in 2017.

In 1999, another conglomerate company, Virgin Mobile, began its work. The reason for its founding Branson called the need to ensure quality cellular communication around the world. The company is the world's first virtual mobile operator, which, without having its own towers, uses the networks of existing ones.

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson - English entrepreneur and investor, co-founder transnational corporation Virgin Group, made up of over 400 companies in different countries peace. Forbes magazine estimated his financial fortune at $5 billion.

The businessman is famous for his participation in the space tourism project, his love to shock the public, his passion for extreme travel and his penchant for adventurism.

Among his extravagant acts are the appearance at the opening of his company's honeymoon salon in a women's wedding dress, a record hot air balloon flight across the Pacific Ocean, a high-speed crossing of the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle, shooting in a provocative photo shoot for Vanity Fair magazine.

Said photograph took place in the Caribbean off the coast of Sir Richard's Necker Island while kitesurfing with a fully nude South African supermodel Danny Parkinson on the back of the business mogul.

Childhood and youth of Richard Branson

The outrageous billionaire was born on July 18, 1950 in southeast London in the Blackheath area with a lawyer-barrister and a former flight attendant on airplanes. In addition to him, the couple had two more younger daughters. Branson's father belonged to the noble class. He was the son of a Justice of the Supreme Court of England and a Privy Councillor.

Mrs. Branson had a great influence on the formation and formation of the strong character of her son. Although the methods of her upbringing were not entirely unambiguous. So in childhood, she gave him serious tests. For example, one day a woman dropped her 4-year-old son out of a car a few kilometers from home and told him to look for his dad, while she left.

Branson received his education in closed educational institutions, as it was supposed to be for a child from a family of a hereditary aristocrat. He first attended Scaitcliffe, a boarding school for boys aged 6 to 13, in the small village of Egham, Surrey. Then, until the age of 16, he attended the Stowe boarding school, located a hundred kilometers from London in Buckinghamshire.

Having problems with the ability to learn due to dyslexia, he studied poorly, but even then he showed a penchant for extraordinary initiatives, which were strongly supported by his mother. For example, he made proposals for the reform of existing school traditions and organizations to the director of his privileged educational institution Robert Drayson.

In particular, the young man defended the idea of ​​organizing a bar for high school students, converting the canteen into a buffet, saving on the number of employees, abolishing the rule that all students attend football matches, citing the fact that it is unethical to make weaker students look at the success of strong players . As a result, when the young man graduated from school in 1967, the director, saying goodbye, noted that in the future he would either go to prison or become a millionaire. As it turned out, the teacher was not mistaken.

Early career of Richard Branson

The first successful project of the current oligarch was the release of a free magazine for the youth audience Student in 1968. Richard, along with a friend, managed to organize his payback at the expense of advertisers, attract attention and interview famous personalities, including Rolling Stones vocalist Mick Jagger, Scottish psychiatrist Ronald Laing, Beatles co-founder John Lennon. Although the publication had to close after about a year due to low profits, Branson gained invaluable business experience.

In addition, in parallel with the publishing business, the young entrepreneur opened a charitable Student Counseling Center, which still exists, providing assistance in various fields (legal, psychological, medical).

Richard Branson and the Virgin Group

Branson's next business project was the mail-order sale of popular sound recordings. The name of the company Virgin ("Virgin") was coined in the circle of his colleagues from Student.

The year 1970 was a successful year for the company. But the next one is unprofitable due to the strike of postal workers that swept the country. As a result, Richard had the idea of ​​​​opening his own music store, which he implemented in 1971, together with his school friend Nick Powell, having bought an estate north of Oxford as a studio.

19-year-old multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield's debut album, Tubular Bells, was released on Virgin Records' first release in 1973. It became a bestseller, the leader of the British charts and received a Grammy music award, laying the financial foundation for the further successful development of the company.

Virgin signed contracts with such dubious acts as the controversial Sex Pistols, but at the same time opened up to the public the non-commercial experimental rock that is present in the bands Faust and Can, the melodic pop of the new wave collective Culture Club. The company also collaborated with Sting, Janet Jackson, Phil Collins, Rolling Stones, Belinda Carlisle and other performers. In 1982, the company acquired the gay nightclub Heaven ("Heaven").

Richard Branson business

In order to develop new areas of activity of the consortium, since 1983, the tireless entrepreneur has created many other companies of various profiles under his own brand. He opened businesses in real estate, insurance, trade, film production, credit, mobile services, tourism, retail sales books, alcoholic beverages, investments in environmental, health projects and others.

In 1984, the businessman decided to establish his own airline, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, then organized Virgin Express, Nigeria, America. Due to financial difficulties and for the development of Atlantic, in 1992 he had to sell the Virgin label to EMI for 500 million pounds (about $ 800 million). Wanting to stay in music business, which laid the foundation for the entire corporation, he later created the record company V2.

In 2004, Branson announced the participation of Virgin Galactic in a project to organize space travel. The company received applications for participation in suborbital flights from 500 potential tourists at a cost of a tour for one passenger of 250 thousand dollars. For the needs of "space tourism", they opened the world's first private "spaceport" in the desert of Sierra, New Mexico, and developed the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane.

Richard Branson and the Virgin Group: love of flying

Despite the fact that at the end of 2014, during the tests, this device crashed, during which one of the pilots died, the richest man in the United Kingdom announced his intention to develop his research. In an interview, he noted that he dreams of admiring the Earth from space, having experienced acceleration from zero to three and a half thousand miles per hour in just 8 seconds and experiencing five times overload.

In 2006, Branson announced his intention to invest profits from Atlantic airlines and Trains, a railroad company (about $3 billion) to create cleaner fuels. In 2007, he opened a company providing cord blood stem cell storage services that can serve as lifelong health insurance for customers' children and themselves.

Private Necker Island by Richard Branson

In 2008, Sir Richard, on his Necker Island in the Caribbean, hosted a meeting of world leaders to discuss concepts for combating global warming. The event was attended by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, American businessman and founder of the Wikipedia portal Jimmy Wales, developer search engine Google Lawrence Page. Branson also created a $25 million prize for technology that effectively counteracts the greenhouse effect.

Records of Richard Branson

The billionaire, who has been called both a hippie and an adrenaline junkie, has also become famous for his attempts to break some world records, despite the riskiness of such enterprises. So in 1985, he made an attempt to win the Atlantic Blue Ribbon prize, which is awarded to ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean in record time. As a result, his ship sank, and he himself was rescued by a British Air Force helicopter. A year later, he still broke the record, covering the distance 2 hours faster than the previous record holder.

Two years later, for the first time in history, he crossed the Atlantic in the largest balloon, with a volume of 65 thousand cubic meters, flying at a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour.

In 1991, he flew from Japan to Canada over the Pacific Ocean on a balloon with a volume of 74,000 corresponding units. During the flight, Branson overcame 11 thousand kilometers. At the same time, he set a new speed record (about 400 kilometers per hour).

Richard Branson dressed up as a flight attendant

In 2004, the oligarch also broke the speed record for crossing the English Channel. Moreover, he made it on an amphibious vehicle (in one hour 40 minutes 6 seconds), increasing almost 4 times the previous achievement (6 hours).

Personal life of Richard Branson

An adventurous and active lifestyle did not prevent Richard from arranging his personal life. His first marriage took place during the birth of Virgin. He married Kristen Tomassi, the marriage was short-lived. A friend could not bear the constant phone calls that accompanied the life of a novice businessman. They parted as friends.

The current second wife of the billionaire is named Joan. He met her in an antique shop, then, despite her marriage, courted her for a year. As a result, she left her husband and moved to a persistent admirer. In 1979, their daughter Claire Sarah was born, who, unfortunately, lived only 4 days. But the couple did not part and did not leave attempts to have offspring. A year later, their daughter Holly was born, and after another 4, she had a brother, Sam.

The daughter of a business tycoon is a pediatrician, the son is engaged in a film production company.

Despite the nickname "Lionheart", Sir Richard is very kind to his children. On Christmas Day 2015, Holy gave him twin grandchildren, and two months later, Sam had a son.

They have known Prince William and Harry since childhood, as Sir Richard was on friendly terms with Princess Diana. She, along with the children, loved to relax on his island.

The autobiographical book of the billionaire "Losing Virginity", published in 1998, became an international bestseller. He received a personal knighthood in 1999 for his contribution to entrepreneurship.

Richard Branson today

Richard considers his life credo to be the rule to do only what brings pleasure and arouses interest, regardless of the lack of knowledge or experience in some area. He believes that life is too short to waste it on uninteresting things.

At the moment, he sponsors developments in the field of ecology, projects for the protection of the jungle, which play a decisive role in shaping the planet's climate, as well as the Elders organization, designed to find ways to resolve world conflicts.

Virgin Galactic, in partnership with communications startup OneWeb, also intends to implement the space Internet. Branson has signed a contract to launch 39 commercial satellites that will be used to provide global access to the Web. The cost of the contract was not disclosed, but according to experts, it is in the range of $390 million. In addition, the companies reached an agreement on further cooperation and the launch of another hundred microsatellites. Virgin plans to use LauncherOne to put them into orbit. The first launches are planned for 2017. The project involves the French company Arianespace, which has pledged to make 21 launches using Soyuz launch vehicles.

Richard Branson TED interview

In 2015, the business mogul, after selling his Oxfordshire home to children, moved permanently to a luxurious mansion on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, where he owns the Necker Belle yacht, Necker Nymph submarine and does not have to pay taxes.

Live rejoicing, work from the heart, and the money will come /Richard Branson

Have you ever met people who umm.. awl in one place? Energetic, assertive, active - it seems that they have a couple of clones, because they can do several things at the same time with the same enthusiasm. Their seething energy can be envied, and the ability to direct it in the right direction can be learned.

Today you will meet one of these people - I present to you Sir Richard Branson, one of the richest people UK, founder international corporation Virgin, aeronautic record-setter, peace ambassador and own island owner.

This is one of the most brilliant and talented businessmen in the world, whom I truly admire and who is an example for me to follow.

His name is inscribed in the Guinness Book of Records, and according to Forbes magazine in March 2012, his fortune rolls over $ 4 billion, making him the 4th richest person in the UK. How does he manage to combine success in business with sports achievements and reach heights in many areas of activity? Let's figure it out.

Mine life path he started like everyone else - he was born to mom and dad. This significant event took place on July 18, 1950 in Surrey, one of the counties of Great Britain.

It should be noted that my mother's specific upbringing was remembered by our hero for a long time. For example, Mrs. Branson could have given a task to 4-year-old Richard to find his way home on his own, stopping the car a couple of miles from the cottage. For the 11-year-old son, the mother invented more difficult tasks: waking up at dawn, she supplied Richard with dry rations (“you will get water on the way”) and sent him on a bike ride to relatives living 80 km from home.

Branson admits that it was his mother who brought up determination and courage in him. To all parents, take note!

In his book Fuck It All, Get It Done, Richard proudly recalls some of her actions. It is significant that the meeting future mrs. Branson and Richard's father took place just because of her character. In the post-war years, she wanted to become a flight attendant, but here she was waiting for insidious "no": it was impossible to get this job without knowledge of the Spanish language and the education of a nurse.

Richard's mother talked to the receptionist at the airline, who quietly added her name to the list of future stewardesses. And soon she was already offering drinks to the passengers of the plane, where she met her future husband. Richard himself calls the word "impossible" miserable, and is sure that it should be excluded from the lexicon. On this I fully agree with him.

Richard's father was from a highly respected family, Richard's grandfather received a knighthood for impeccable service in Supreme Court. However, Richard himself earned this honorary title with his achievements, in 1999 he knelt before the Queen of Great Britain.

In the family, according to Richard's memoirs, idleness and laziness were viewed negatively: "My parents wanted us to grow up strong and learn to rely on ourselves." The Bransons taught their children—there were four of them in total—from an early age to think about such "adult" topics as projects for profit.

“Over a family dinner, we often talked about business”, says Richard. Personally, I think this approach in raising children is right. After all, a family, ideally, should be a friendly team in which everyone, to the best of his ability, contributes to the common cause.

Richard had an early craving for entrepreneurship, as a child he was engaged in breeding budgerigars for sale, then growing Christmas trees for Christmas. These projects did not bring the expected, however, the lack of ideas was not his main problem.

If everything was fine with his family education, which gave Richard the skills to overcome obstacles, then there were difficulties with schooling. Branson Jr. suffered from dyslexia, which manifested itself in the fact that the guy could neither read nor write normally.

Because of this illness, classmates teased Richard mercilessly, and the teachers were not enthusiastic about the weak student. However, Richard was a good football player and was kept at the school as a "sporting pride".

After Richard's injury, his football career ended. Branson could not afford to be an outsider, and began to memorize those texts that he could not read. Thus, he developed a good memory, which became a real lifesaver for him in difficult cases.

Richard did not agree to go with the flow as a teenager

He was full of ideas on how to improve the life of the students. The headmaster suggested that Richard organize the publication of a newspaper for peers, and thereby marked the beginning of the first commercial successful project Branson. Richard took the idea and transformed it in his own way - he decided to publish a newspaper for students, which could be of interest to both schoolchildren and students of higher institutions.

It was here, at the stage of creating his magazine "Student", that his adventurism manifested itself. Without a single issue in print, Branson called potential advertisers.

Richard had no money for these endless calls, but he came up with the idea of ​​​​calling from a payphone to a telephone exchange, and, complaining that the connection was cut off - in those days it was not uncommon - he demanded that the conversation be restored.

The telephone operator connected him to the subscriber and uttered the standard phrase: "Mr. Branson will talk to you." In this simple way, he killed two birds with one stone - he called for free, and created the image of a "tough boss" holding his own secretary.

So I want to exclaim - handsome!

Just think, could you do something similar? Would you have had such fortitude, adventurism and ingenuity? It would seem such a trifle, but no! It is from such trifles that ordinary people are not capable of that successful and successful people.

The methods of persuading advertisers were different, for example, he informed Coca-Cola managers that Pepsi had already placed ads with him. As for the content of magazine columns, Richard solved this problem simply: he sent letters to celebrities with a polite request to reflect on youth issues. The answers from a couple of "stars" were enough for the first issues of the magazine.

He can be safely called the Great Schemer, Monsieur Bender could be proud of his British colleague, with such audacity and passion to bring his ideas to life.

The first issue of "Student" came out when Richard was 16 years old! The magazine gained popularity, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Jean-Paul Sartre and others gave interviews in it. Well, Branson began to receive his first income from advertising in this publication. This was followed by a project to distribute records by mail.

At this time, the name Virgin was born (from the English virgin), which gave life to the whole brand. Brand positioned Branson as a "newcomer to the business", which he, however, was.

Now the conglomerate Virgin Group unites under its wing dozens of companies in the fields of sound recording, air travel, mobile communications, television, beverage production and ... this is only part of the list. Whoever demands "announce the entire list" - let him look at the company's website http://www.virgin.com.

Here are just a few of the companies Sir Richard owns:

• airline,
• rail transportation,
• mobile operator,
• chain of fitness centers
• book publishing,
• balloon flights,
• Online Games,
• radio station,
• medical services,
• Internet provider (by the way, it also works in Russia)
• cable TV,
• financial company,
• and much more…

By the way, I first heard about Branson when I listened to Bodo Schaefer's audiobook, The Art of Managing Your Time. There he cited him as an example, as a person who manages to manage more than 220 companies at the same time. True, the translators got caught by those who called our hero Rikhon Bransos.

Even then I was extremely surprised by this and, I confess, it did not fit into the framework of my worldview. I then worked for hire and it was difficult for me to imagine not only 220 companies at the same time, but how to own and manage one company.

This became one of the starting points for my further personal growth and change in thinking, understanding and views on my future life.

In 1972, together with friend Nick Powell, Branson founded the recording studio Virgin Records. The release of musician Mike Oldfield's album Tubular Bells in 1973 was Richard's breakthrough into big business.

Oldfield's debut album immediately occupied the top lines of the world charts and became the best-selling in England in 1973, having sold 2 million copies.

Richard recognizes the next contract of the Virgin Records studio with the punk band Sex Pistols as the most profitable in his life. How does he manage to make money where others see no benefit?

Large recording studios did not want to take on the "promotion" of Oldfield and the Sex Pistols. Richard Branson differs from many with an innovative look, and he is not stopped by the wording "it's not accepted" or "nobody does it that way."

In 1998, in New York, advertising Virgin Cola, Branson managed to get on the front pages of the press without paying a cent. Richard arrived in a tank (!) to Times Square, the most visited and popular square in the city, and fired pyrotechnic rockets billboard its competitor Cola-Cola. Bang bang - and the PR company is ready!

Well, about how in London “Mr. Epatage” climbed onto a construction crane and waved his mobile phone for half an hour, advertising Virgin Mobile (by the way, the fastest growing cellular operator in the UK), I generally keep quiet.

“Like an adult,” you might say, “but he does this.” But I assure you that Branson does these things not for money, but for his own pleasure.

Lust for life, the ability to rejoice and play pranks, as in childhood, distinguishes the eccentric billionaire from other owners of business empires: « I love to learn new things, I am very inquisitive. I like to take something settled and turn it upside down“. This inquisitiveness pushes Branson to new feats.

I really like this trait in Richard. In fact, he has everything he needs. He can attract dozens of experienced advertisers to advertise his businesses, but he himself takes to the streets to promote his projects.

Many businessmen, having become successful, put on a mask of importance and hide behind the doors of their offices. Richard Branson is completely different. As a man of retirement age, he lives like a reckless boy, but at the same time a very smart boy.

I would really like to have the same attitude to life at his age. The absence of complexes, the denial of habitual stereotypes and life by its own rules - this is what distinguishes our hero from other people. Remember this!

In 1986, he set the world record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on the high-speed catamaran Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. In 1987, for the first time in the history of mankind, he made a transatlantic flight in a balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer. In 1991, he broke the record for the longest flight by overcoming the Pacific Ocean. In 1999, as part of a team from Switzerland, he made a round-the-world flight in a hot air balloon. In 2004, Branson set the speed record for crossing the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle in 1 hour and 40 minutes. But this time can easily be spent just to get to work ...

Sometimes only a miracle saved Richard Branson from inevitable death, but our hero strives to surpass himself always and everywhere, on vacation and at work: man to surpass himself.

I liked the way Oleg Tinkov described Branson in the preface to Richard Branson's autobiographical book Losing My Virginity:

They were crazy. Rebels of the spirit and troublemakers, they did not fit into the usual. They did not recognize the rules, they were disgusted with stability. If you look closely, flying in a balloon is an illustration of Branson's fate - a daring stunt that can turn into a dizzying success or complete collapse.

Branson is unique! Possessing tenacious business acumen and a free flight of dreams, not constrained by rules, he easily and naturally proves to us that there is no limit. People like him can change the world. Read the “rebel bible”, admire and follow the example! As long as such people are born, life is not boring.

This bright showman, a self-made person, never looks for reasons, but looks for opportunities, and does not stop at imaginary barriers. Perhaps your mind sometimes whispered to you that dreams are “impossible”, but for “not enough money / talent / courage / health (underline as appropriate)?

Branson will answer all doubts simply: "To hell with everything, take it and do it!"

Virgin Group employees nicknamed their boss "Mr. Yes":

– Can you fly over the ocean in a hot air balloon?

- Yes! - Branson answers, and sets new records.

– Can you compete with British Airways?

- Yes! Branson replies and founds the competitive airline Virgin Atlantic Airways.

– Is it possible to run commercial flights into the space?

- Yes! Branson replies as he prepares to launch into space aboard his first passenger spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, built by Virgin Galactic.