Fun is at the core of the way I like to do business and it has been key to everything I’ve done from the outset.
What matters is working with a few close friends, people you respect, knowing that if times did turn bad these people would hold together.
We spend most of our lives working. So why do so few people have a good time doing it?
To have created one of the most respected companies in the world. Not necessarily the biggest.
There isn’t a flight goes by when I don’t stare out of the window and thank my stars for what I’m seeing and feeling.
Unless you dream, you’re not going to achieve anything.
A business can be started with very little money.
One key to entrepreneurial success is to get a great group of people around you who believe in your idea.
I have always believed that the only way to cope with a cash crisis is not to contract but to try to expand out of it.
Having colleagues nearby, whether at the beach or in a crypt, means the ideas are always flowing.
A generation ago, the image was that you had to trample everyone else down to succeed; but I don’t believe that makes good business sense.
When we start a new venture, we base it on hard research and analysis. Typically, we review the industry and put ourselves in our customer’s shoes to see what we could do better.
Choose great people and shine in their shadows.
Whatever business you are in, every company can shoot for the start in their own way.
My general attitude to life is to enjoy every minute of every day. I never do anything with a feeling of, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to do this today.’
Growth does not always lead a business to build on success. All too often it converts a highly successful business into a mediocre large business.
With the casino and the beds, our passengers will have at least two ways to get lucky on one of our flights.
Like getting into a bleeding competition with a blood bank.
The funny thing is people won’t let me pay for things. I’ll be in a restaurant and the manager will say, ‘Oh no, it’s on the house.’
We’re introducing separate rooms with double beds in all of our planes so people can actually go with their partner and have a proper night’s sleep.