15-09-2010 VAKTAVYA August Issue

VAKTAVYA
A Monthly Career e-Newsletter of Resonance

Vol. -II Issue - 13

Hom e
Se pte m be r - 2010

SUCCESS STORY

The Making of Richard "virgin" Branson

Challenge yourself
Richard's first big challenge came when as a five years old kid he w anted to sw im in a beach but
could not do so as he did not know how to swim. In-spite of trying his best, suffering cold water and
swallow ing w hole lot of sea water, he lost out the bet w ith his aunt w ho offered ten shillings if he
could learn swimming by the end of the holiday.

While return he w as obviously very unhappy as he hated losing w hen he saw a river, he decided to
give a one last try and pleaded his father to stop the car. The river looked deep and fast, running
over rocks but he dared and took the risk. With active encouragement from his parents he stepped
into the river, almost got drow ned before he relaxed and started floating and then sw imming
aw kwardly and thus won the bet.

Richard Branson in the w orld hot air balloon race

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Stand on your ow n feet

His first lesson on self sufficiency was w hen he w as four years old. While on his w ay back from
somew here his mother stopped the car at a little distance from the house and told him to get dow n
and find his way home across the field.

Richard loved these challenges and these lessons from his parents & became tougher. Once he was
asked to bicycle 50 miles to south coast w ith only a map for guidance w hen he w as 12 years old
.These early lessons made him strong and rely on his own self thus making him independent.

When everything seems lost

Richard found out the easy w ay of making money by selling records domestically which were meant
for exports. He started making an enormous profit as tax was not paid on these music records but
this w as illegal. He w as caught and throw n into the prison. He could somehow escape by agreeing
to pay penalty w hich was three times the illegal profit w hich he has made.

He had no money but slogged w ithout moaning and paid the penalty in installments in three years.
He realized that the reputation is everything and his advise to all new business startups is “be fair
in all the dealing, do not cheat but aim to win."

Sir Richard Branson

Brief History

In a recent interview Sir Richard was asked: "did he ever let his heart rule head." He replied: "All the
time - I think that unless you do, you're not going to be a very good business person. The only really
good reason for doing things in business is based on what your heart tells you, not your head."
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When asked how a beginner should invest £1,000, he said: "My own opinion is to put it into an
Index tracking fund and forget about it - or start a business if you have a good idea." Now , that's an
idea!

At the age of 99, Sir Richard's grandmother w rote to him to suggest he read: "A Brief History of
Time" by Stephen Haw king, because she had liked it. Her advice, and this applies to us all,: "You've
got one go in life, so make the most of it. " It would seem Sir Richard heard those w ords before they
w ere said. As the head of 150 or so enterprises that carry the Virgin name, all of w hich make money,
his personal w ealth is estimated at nearly $3 billion. It seems he has follow ed that personal dream
and made the most of it.

Sir Richard still holds the record as fastest to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a boat called Atlantic
Challenger. Another goal was to be the first to circle the globe in a balloon, but here he w as piped
at the post by the Breitling Orbiter. He took this rather well. Nevertheless, he set the standard by
w hich others w ere eager to compete. Not a bad achievement for a dyslexic.

Sir Richard's talents began to show themselves during his later school years. Seeing the energy of
student activism in the late 60's, he decided to start his ow n student new spaper. Not particularly
unusual, except his paper was intended to tie many schools together. It w ould be focused on the
students and not the schools. It w ould sell advertising to big business and feature articles by
Ministers of Parliament, Rock Stars, and movie celebrities. That was the business plan that 17 year
old Richard Branson put together with his friend, Jonny Gems. The rest is history. The headmaster of
Stow e, where Richard and Jonny were students, w rote: "Congratulations, Branson. I predict that
you w ill either go to prison or become a millionaire."

After this Sir Richard turned his attention to music. The name "Virgin" came about w hen w hen one
group member said: "they w e're complete virgins at business." Virgin Airlines is very much a Richard
Branson style company offering reasonable on transatlantic flights. Once again Sir Richard spotted a
gap in the market and filled it spectacularly. Congratulations, and here's to your next Billion.

Sir Richard Branson, is the reserve pilot for the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, is one of Britain's best
known entrepreneurs w ho combines his enthusiasm for running the Virgin group of companies w ith
his love for high-risk, high-adventure world record-breaking attempts.

In 1984 Richard formed Virgin Atlantic Airw ays and in the last two decades has grown the airline into
Britain's second-largest carrier. To promote the Virgin Atlantic name, Richard became involved in a
number of high-publicity record-breaking attempts throughout the 1980s and '90s. In 1986, his boat
Virgin Atlantic Challenger II crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest ever recorded time. A year later
he flew the Virgin Atlantic Flyer balloon - the largest ever built - across the Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747

In 1991 Richard's balloon crossed the Pacific from Japan to Canada breaking all existing records and
he follow ed that w ith a number of attempts to circumnavigate the entire w orld. These w ere sadly

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thwarted by bad w eather and in 1999 a Sw iss team became the first to complete the trip. In 2002
Steve Fossett (Richard's partner for the earlier Virgin Global Challenger balloon project and now the
Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer) became the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation of the globe
by balloon. Now the pair are reunited to attempt another great aviation first - a solo, non-stop flight
around the world in less than 80 hours.

Richard received a knighthood for his services to entrepreneurship in 1999. He is married and lives
w ith Joan and their tw o children, Holly and Sam, in London and Oxfordshire, UK.

C opyright © R e sonance Eduve nture s P vt. Ltd.

To subm it your fe e dba ck m a il at vak tavya@re sonance .ac.in

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