Richard Branson is a successful philanthropist and business owner. Check out some of his most helpful business tips for aspiring entrepreneurs.
1. “You never know with these things when you’re trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental.”
Running a business means you are going to have to venture into places you have never been before. You are going to have to take many risks that may or may not lead to failure. You are going to have to experiment, so you can figure out what works and what does not work. Do not avoid that. Embrace it.
2. “To launch a business means successfully solving problems. Solving problems means listening.”
In order to succeed in business, you have to learn to listen. Not just to those around you, but to those you have never met before. The world is a big place, filled with problems you may not even know exist. The only way to solve other people’s problems is to be aware of their problems. Only then can you find creative solutions for those problems.
3. “Entrepreneurship is about turning what excites you in life into capital, so that you can do more of it and move forward with it.”
Find that one thing you want to do first thing when you wake up in the morning, before anything else. Figure out how to turn that thing into a career for yourself. Run with it and have fun with it.
4. “A business has to be involving–it has to be fun. And, it has to exercise your creative instincts.”
Don’t start a business doing something you have already mastered. Base it off of a problem you want to solve. That requires you to use the skills you have to learn and grow along with your business, which in turn allows you to use your creativity to find new solutions to the issues that present themselves before you.
5. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and by falling over.”
The only way to deal with the past is to learn from it and keep moving forward. If you try to anticipate every bad thing that might happen to you, you will never get anywhere. The only way to figure out what will work and what won’t in your business is to get out there and try something, even if it fails the first time.
6. “I think it’s quite great to set yourself a big challenge, and then you’ve got another reason for keeping fit.”
What is business without presenting oneself with a big challenge to overcome? If it were easy, everyone could do it, and not everyone can. Giving yourself challenges to conquer keeps you moving in the right direction and gives you a reason to get up in the morning and work as hard as you can.
7. “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”
Failure is just a part of success. Success is far less rewarding when you climb straight to the top without any challenge or struggle. Failure is just there to remind you that you could very easily give up, and many people before you have. What makes you strong and successful is choosing to get up and keep trying.
8. “A business is simply an idea to make other people’s lives better.”
Business is all about solving real problems that many real people face in any given day. In its true form, business is simply the product of an idea someone has to make someone else’s life a little bit easier. This is why almost anyone can start a business, if they learn how to do it right. You can, and should, use your business ideas to help other people.
9. “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”
Being successful in business does not mean you have to jump at every single opportunity that comes your way. Successful business people recognize that not every offer is worth the risk. They also know that even if one opportunity does not work out in their favor, it will not be the last one they ever come into contact with.
10. “Through the right people focusing on the right things, we can, in time, get on top of a lot if not most of the problems of this world. And that’s what a number of us are trying to do.”
In truth, one cannot succeed in business without being willing to work as part of a team. Overall, more things are able to be accomplished when more than one person is working toward the same goal. Find people who want to see the kind of changes in the world that you want to see and work toward making those changes together.
11. “To me, business isn’t about wearing suits or pleasing stockholders. It’s about being true to yourself, your ideas and focusing on the essentials.”
Succeeding in business is only possible if you are completely honest with yourself about the things you want to accomplish. If you have a dream, chase it. If you have an idea, spend time with it until you can determine its value. Business isn’t about looking good to other people, it’s about feeling good within yourself.
12. “Entrepreneurial business favors the open mind. It favors people whose optimism drives them to prepare for many possible futures, pretty much purely for the joy of doing so.”
Among the many traits of successful entrepreneurs is the need to turn passion into product. The most successful business owners out there are the ones who are willing to look at an idea from multiple angles. They are the ones who believe anything can be achieved even if you have to try something a dozen different ways in order to make it happen.
Wherever your business may lead you, always remember to find something you love to do and bring that passion to work with you every single day. Others will both appreciate and feed off that passion. It very well may transform their lives for the better.