The Empire Strikes Back...

When you were growing up, did you ever know a kid who could find a quarter laying on the ground, and then walk around the block and come back with a $10 bill in their pocket? Those kids were amazing. They just seemed to have a knack for making money.

This story is all about one of those amazing kids, and how his money making ventures started when he was 15 and continue on to this very day!

Our hero entrepreneur's name is Richard Branson. His mother tells us that the fact that they never had any money when Richard was growing up was probably a very good thing, because their humble situation helped to inspire her son to do all he could to help their family.

Richard initiated his first major success at the age of 15 when he started a magazine called Student. His mom and dad thought Richard was working on a simple school newspaper. They were surprised to find out that he intended to launch a private magazine after he went to London to sell advertising space. Richard's father Ed, was not certain what his son was up too, but didn't want to destroy his son's excitement and thought that since Richard only had about $150 to his name, it would be good for him to learn a lesson about the challenges of making it on his own.

To everyone's surprise, Richard sold about 50,000 copies of the first issue of Student. The whole venture turned out to be so successful that Richard quit school at 17 to run his magazine business full time. Not long afterwards, Richard launched his next major undertaking with a company named Virgin Records, because, he says, he was so new to the music industry, it was like being a virgin.

Virgin Records originally started out as a mail-order record company. A new law had just been passed that allowed people to sell records at discounted prices, and Richard was one of the first to jump at the chance. Like his magazine, Richard's new company was a great success. Sales took off and Richard scrambled to find workers to keep up with the tremendous order load. When a postal strike crushed the mail-order endeavor, Richard did not give up. He responded by changing his strategy. In 1971, he opened a small discount record shop that was also a hit, and a string of Virgin Record stores followed.

Now, Sir Richard Branson of England has opened and succeeded with one company after another for the last 30 plus years. When Virgin Record music label became a great success, helping great but unknown musicians reach the pinnacle of their future fame, Sir Richard moved on to start an airline company called Virgin Atlantic.

Richard has started and built up other major successes which include such notables as: the manufacturing and distribution of Virgin Cola, Cosmetics and Beauty supplies, electronic shopping and mail order houses, line haul railroads, book publishers, movie theaters, radio stations, tour operators, vacation companies, hotels, and even a space travel company. Today, there are over 400 different kinds of companies, all started and run under the Virgin label.

And what is source of this success? "My interest in life comes from setting huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them. From the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it." -Sir Richard Branson

The next time you hear someone talk about how rich people never have to work for their wealth, remember how a young man came from humble beginnings and worked hard to create the great wealth he has today. Not too shabby for a kid who came from a poor family inside the British Empire... that created an EMPIRE of his own.

Solid Gold Performance...

It is aimed at a lofty goal, producing an every growing spiral of greater and greater success. Just ask Sir Richard.

How Did Virgin Become a Gold Mine? By Superior:

Marketing...     Innovation...     Financial Management...

Click on Function... Insert a Do It in your Strategic Plan... then Just DO IT!

Your Thoughts and Observations...

"As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation. I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me." ~ Richard Branson