How to Turn Bad Experiences into Business Opportunities | Richard Branson'sAdvice in 17 Minutes

Business is creating something that you believe in. Most of the best entrepreneurial ideas come out of frustration. I think if you can run, if you can run one business well, you can run any business.

He's the founder of the Virgin Group, which controls over 400 companies. The Virgin brand grew rapidly in the 1980s as he set up the Virgin Atlantic airline company. In 2016, Forbes listed his net worth as $5.2 billion. He's Richard Branson, and here's my take on his Top 10 Rules for Success Volume 2. Rule number 2 is my personal favorite, and I'm curious if you're grow— which one you guys like the best. Also guys, as you're watching, if you hear something that really resonates with you, please leave it down in the comments below, put quotes around it so other people can be inspired by your sharing, and also when you write it down, you're much more likely to lock it in for yourself too. Enjoy!

I think the important thing to think about business is, is that business isn't really business. Business is creating something that you believe in. I mean, the most successful entrepreneurs are people like Larry Page and Sergey who had an idea in their garage and felt they could create something called Google. In all of these examples, they are filling a niche in different areas. And just making living for most people a lot more pleasant than it was before. I think it's a mistake when people think of business like they're ringing up a till in a shop. For most entrepreneurs, business is very creative and a great adventure. I think if you believe in what you're doing, many people will tell you why you're mistaken, why it'll never work. But if you really believe passionately in what you're doing, just keep going, keep pushing on, keep pushing on until you either succeed or at least you realize that it's just not going to happen. And then if you don't succeed, pick yourself up and try again. And ultimately, if you're that determined, you will succeed in life. And if you don't, you'll have a lot of fun trying. I started literally in a really small way, you know, like handing out leaflets outside concert halls and selling, you know, selling music, getting, you know, getting the money in from the leaflets and then sending the music out. And, you know, just one thing led on to another. So you don't have to dream big straight away, just try to get the the nuts and bolts of your business going. You know that whatever job you're doing in life, you know, if you're a switchboard operator, if you're cleaning the floors of a building, you know, if you're collecting eggs for an incubator, you know, whatever it is, if you're positive about the job you're doing, you're going to be a much happier person, and the people around you are going to be a lot happier, and it's likely that you won't forget never ever be a cleaning lady. You know, because, you know, because you're smiling, because you're happy, people will, you know, promote you and you'll, you'll go on and do great things in life. Um, so I think a positive attitude is essential in life, whatever your position.

Looks like, um, you always go out of your comfort zone, right? Coming onto an island that was completely deserted, no fresh water, you didn't even have the money to buy it, and, um, and now you're sleeping on a tent on the beach trying to figure out how to get freshwater here. You do that often. You did it with the airline.

I mean, I was just somebody that experienced the bad experience of traveling on airlines. I was actually trying to get to the BVI, the British Virgin Islands, one day from Puerto Rico, and the same lovely lady was waiting for me, and I'd been away for 3 weeks, and American Airlines bumped the flight. And, and so I went to the back of the airport, I hired a plane, I hired a blackboard. I wrote Virgin Airlines one way, $29 to the BVI, went around all the people who'd been bumped, and I filled my first plane. And that got me thinking, you know, that airlines do bump people. They don't care about you or me particularly in the air. And so we— so I then rang up Boeing and said, do you have any secondhand 747s?

Okay. I mean, it was literally that you just sat in the airport and said, I'm starting an airline right now because I'm frustrated.

Exactly. And I think most, most of the best entrepreneurial ideas come out of frustration. I think, you know, if you're frustrated about something, the best way of sorting it out is get out and do it, and you've got yourself a business. Life is short. Life should be fun, and it should be fun not, you know, it should be if the chairman of the company is having fun. You know, if you go to a party and, you know, if I let my hair down and I'm the first to be thrown in the swimming pool and I'm not just standing in the corner of the room sipping sherry or something, then everybody will have a laugh and everybody will have fun. If you're chairman of a company, be the first to dance on the table. Just get everybody else up dancing on the table and make sure the party's a laugh. So play hard, work hard, and follow certain principles in life. You know, love people, make sure you make a positive difference in this world while you're on it. Over the next 5 years, we plan to take on the banking community, we plan to take on the cosmetics industry, we plan to take on the clothing industry and telecommunications and one or two other industries and see whether we can give them a run for their money and do it slightly differently than it's been done before. And why do you think you can do it? Mainly because I think we've got a fantastic team of people. We attract good people and their skills are translatable to whatever the industry is. It's creativity, it's risk orientation, it's what I think. If you can run, if you can run one business well, you can run any business. If you know that what matters in business is a good team of people, well-motivated team of people, incentivized well, given a lot of freedom to go ahead and prove themselves, you can pretty well achieve anything. The key, the key to, I think, being a good business leader is how good you are with people. I think if you can care, genuinely care about people, not just your fellow directors, but, you know, the cleaning lady, the switchboard operator, you know, everybody throughout the company, You know, if you're a good, you know, if you praise and don't criticize, you know, people will flourish. And so I think, you know, it's really your people skills that will set you apart. And I don't think that can be overemphasized. I think you just got to You know, if I get— if I'm on a Virgin plane, I will make sure that I always have a notebook in my back pocket. Um, you know, make sure I get out and talk to all the staff, you know, if they've got issues, you know, make sure I don't just, you know, hear the issue and not write it down. Make sure those issues get written down, you know, talk to the passengers, uh, if they've got issues, make sure those issues get written down. I honestly just don't think about mistakes, but let me see if I can chime in. I, I just like If I make a mistake, I put it behind me and I just move, move, move, move forward. But, but, but, you know, and, you know, yes, you know, I mean, there have been, you know, musical bands that I've missed trying to sign, like Dire Straits. You know, there have been companies that have fallen flat on their face, like Virgin Cola. You know, but, you know, but, you know, that's just part of— that's just part of, you know, being an entrepreneur. You've got to have these things happening all the time. So I don't really see them as mistakes. They're just, you know, they're just, you know, if you're an entrepreneur, you know, some things are not going to go right. Some things are going to go, right? Tea, coffee, or me? Ladies and gentlemen, can I produce you AirAsia's newest crew, Sir Richard Branson. You can't look at me. They're gonna teach me everything to do. It's, um, you know, exit is that way. What do you think about the legs? Come on, I mean, they're not bad, are they? I mean, really. Oh, Tony! You can't pick me up, can you? I'm always picking girls up. I can open the door. I'm not meant to. Hello! Hi! Happy birthday to you! Hello, mate. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Hello, this is Richie. I just want to say thank you very much for flying with us today. It's been delightful working with all the cabin crew, and I just want to say thank you very much for flying AirAsia X, and we hope to see you back again soon. I don't think I'm going to be allowed to come back on the plane again, but it's been great fun. Thanks very much for being with us. Thanks for raising lots and lots and lots of money for Starlight. And yeah, thanks a lot. See you soon. Cheers. Please give a warm Malaysian welcome to our new flight crew, Sir Richard Branson. Hi, we won't be hiring him. Since I own the company, Richard will not be hired. In fact, right now I'm firing him. It's great, we raised lots of money for the Starlight Foundation. We had a wonderful flight. And while I'm here, I'd just like to congratulate Tony and all the wonderful team at AirAsia and AirAsia X for the incredible job they've done. They've transformed transformed traveling out of Malaysia and around Asia, and they deserve all the credit for it. And it was— I'd always wanted to be an air hostess, but it looks like, looks like I'm just gonna have to get back to normality. But anyway, thank you very much for coming out. Cheers!

Thank you guys so much for watching. I'd love to know what did you think of this video, and in general, what do you think of our Volume 2 series? Please leave a comment down below. I'd also love to know what did you learn from Richard today? What was your favorite clip and why? What lesson are you going to immediately apply to your life or to your business? Leave it down in the comments below. I'm super curious to find out. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Shimon. Thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. It really, really, really means a lot to to me, and I hope you're enjoying the read. So thank you guys so much for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon.

I think, you know, it's sort of foolish to spend your life not becoming expert at your passions. If you're passionate about something, you're going to give it you're going to give it your all, and you're going to enjoy learning about it. Whereas if you have no interest in it, you're not gonna lap it up. I was flying from the British Virgin Islands— no, sorry, from Puerto Rico to the British Virgin Islands, and I was 28 years old, and I'd been away from home for 3 weeks, and I had this gorgeous lady waiting for me, and American Airlines announced that they're not going to fly the flight till the next morning. They didn't have enough passengers. And I was damned if I was going to wait till the next morning. So I went to the back of the airport, and I borrowed a blackboard, and I scribbled Virgin Airlines as a joke, $39 one way to the British Virgin Islands. And went around all the passengers, and I managed to fill up my first flight. And when I got to the BVI, the guy on my left, you know, turned to me and said, you know, "Sharpen up the service a bit, and you could be in the airline business." And the next day— anyway, the night went well. The next day— the next— She's now my wife, 40 years, still 40 years later. Thank you, thank you, please. Yes. And they, the next day I rang up Boeing and I said, I'm thinking of going into the airline business. In fact, I've just had my test flight. They, do you have any secondhand 747s for sale? And the person who took the phone call, I thought he was going to put the phone down on me, but he, you know, he hung on in there. So he said, well, you know, what does your company do? And I said, well, you know, we're a record company. We got the Rolling Stones. We got the Sex Pistols. And again, he didn't sound very, very, you know, and he said, what's the name of the company? And I said Virgin. And there was a long pause and he said, well, look, we'll send a salesman to see you, but with a name like Virgin, I just hope your airline goes the whole way. Things that frustrate you and if you think you can do it better, then you have a business. Get going. Get it going. So I think, you know, all I can say is don't get down at the moment. I mean, all of us did get down at school. Look forward to when you leave school and you can follow your dreams. Concentrate on things you love. I mean, if you love, you know, film or theater or art, you know, put more effort into that rather than the things you don't— you don't— you're not good at.