London is one of the most exciting cities in the world with so many fantastic pubs and restaurants. I would urge people to get out there and see as much as possible.
Take the competition seriously, but not yourself.
I just love every minute of my life. I love the variety. Every minute of every day I’m meeting fascinating new people, learning and working with wonderful teams of people creating wonderful things.
New York to Tokyo could be less than an hour. You could be traveling at 19,000 miles per hour orbitally. After we’ve done the space program, we will be producing supersonic planes, which will go far, far, faster than Concorde.
Past failures unlock future successes.
What does the name Virgin mean? We are a company that likes to take on the giants. In too many businesses, these giants have had things their own way. We are going to have fun competing with them.
Space is hard – but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together.
Although my spelling is still sometimes poor, I have managed to overcome the worst of my difficulties through training myself to concentrate.
I am a great believer that you need passion and energy to create a truly successful business. Remember many new businesses do not make it and running a business will be a tough experience, involving long hours and many hard decisions – it helps to have that passion to keep you going.
There is no such thing as a boring person: everyone has stories and insights worth sharing. While on the road, we let our phones or laptops take up our attention. By doing that, we might miss out on the chance to learn and absorb ideas and inspiration from an unexpected source: our fellow travelers.
I will work day and night to avoid failure, but if I can’t, I’ll pick myself up the next day. The most important thing for entrepreneurs is not to be put off by failure.
So I’ve seen life as one long learning process. And if I see – you know, if I fly on somebody else’s airline and find the experience is not a pleasant one, which it wasn’t in – 21 years ago, then I’d think, well, you know, maybe I can create the kind of airline that I’d like to fly on.
If you get your face and your name out there enough, people will start to recognize you.
We’re going where no one has gone before. There’s no model to follow, nothing to copy. That is what makes this so exciting.
I never really felt secure until I was well into my 30s, because anytime I had success, I would invest in new projects.
Drive, determination, passion and hard work are all free and more valuable than a pot of cash.
You can never go too far wrong by thinking like a customer who’s new to the business.
I think entrepreneurship is our natural state – a big adult word that probably boils down to something much more obvious like playfulness.
A successful business must have a sound knowledge of its market and work on how its product or service will be different, stand out and improve people’s lives. If you can ensure it responds to a real need in the market place, your business can punch well above its weight.
My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself.