A look at the most helpful advice for entrepreneurs from the celebrated billionaire.
Billionaire entrepreneur and best-selling author Richard Branson has become an icon in the eyes of many aspiring business owners. His inspirational advice has helped steer many startups, simply by learning from his vast experience building the Virgin empire of businesses. Here, we capture nine of Branson's best strategies for success -- from branding and customer service to leadership and learning to let go.
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On Inexperience as an Asset
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Branson's Advice: "How does your approach differ from that of other businesses? How will you reach out to target markets? Why should people choose your products and services over your competitors'? Present prospective partners with a fresh take on a tired industry, and you will grab their attention."
More: Richard Branson on When Inexperience Is an Advantage
On Customer Service
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Branson's Advice: "Good customer service begins at the top. If your senior people don't get it, even the strongest links further down the line can become compromised. No company can train its front-end people to handle every situation, but you can strive to create an environment in which they feel at ease 'doing as they would be done by.'"
More: Richard Branson on Customer Service
On Branding
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Branson's Advice: "When creating your first ads, designing a logo and reaching out to potential customers for the first time, you may be tempted to create a brand that's very corporate and remote. As a consequence, these brands acquire no texture, no character and no public trust. Whatever you decide your new brand will stand for, deliver on that promise. And beware: Brands always mean something. If you don't define what the brand means, your competitors will."
More: Richard Branson on Branding
On Leadership
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Branson's Advice: "Rather than focusing on mistakes, a leader needs to catch someone doing something right every day. If this culture of fostering employee development through praise and recognition starts at the top, it will go far toward stamping out the employee fear of failure that can stunt a business, particularly in its early days. When mistakes happen -- which is inevitable -- you have to learn from them, not dwell on what went wrong. It's almost always better not to go over the obvious with the people involved. They know exactly what happened."
More: Richard Branson on the Power of Your People
On Handling Success
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Branson's Advice: "When a business does well, many start to focus solely on increasing profits, no matter what the cost -- leaving behind everything that originally made the business special. If you are mulling over an expansion, tell all your employees about your plan – include everyone from the truck driver to your senior team -- and ask for their input. If you can, it would be best to work out the details of the expansion plan together, taking into account the challenges faced by your employees, and incorporating improvements they would like to make."
More: Richard Branson on Thinking Big
On Delegating
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Branson's Advice: "Stepping back frees the founder to focus on the bigger picture -- to dive in when there are problems or to help close a deal. When your team is in place and the launch phase is over, take the time to conduct a test to see how well the company performs without your help. This can be a very revealing exercise: It will show you where the problems are and, most important, how well you have learned to delegate. So make sure you hire great people and find ways to keep them on your team for the long term."
More: Richard Branson on the Art of Delegation
On Selecting Investors
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Branson's Advice: "When you are evaluating a proposed partnership, do not focus only on the capital you need to kick-start your business. Ask: Will this person or group give us the space and time we need to build a great business? Bear in mind that a dictatorial financial partner can dim the spirit and enthusiasm of a new enterprise, muffling the spark that prompted you to launch this project – the spark that is most likely to make your venture different from your competitors."
More: Richard Branson on Finding and Selecting Investors for Your Startup
On Staying in Touch
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Branson's Advice: "Take time to find out what the staff is actually doing on a day-to-day basis. Spend at least a few hours observing operations, and if you are qualified, borrow a desk, grab a phone and lend a hand. Then, ask yourself: What are the employees' working conditions? Do people seem energetic and creative? And ask employees: Do you have the resources you need? If you could, what problems would you fix? What ideas of yours has your manager followed up on? Ensure your staff is consistently encouraged to contact you with ideas and problems. Re-energize employees by showing them change is possible and action is valued. Just remember you are not always going to hear pleasant news."
More: When All News Is Good News
On Taking Risks
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Branson's Advice: "There is little point in entering a new market unless it provides the opportunity to really shake up an industry. Almost all our new ventures come about from our thinking up a product or service that we believe people really want. Then, if our entry has the potential to make waves, we're going to look at it very closely. But we always protect the downside and make sure we have a way out if things go wrong. If a new business has the potential to damage your brand in any way, you should not invest in it."
More: The Art of Calculated Risk
Comments:
Wonderful advice. I wish more internal cultures of companies actually facilitated their compaines this way.
I agree with him, what you lack in experience you can make up for with insight. :)
Its good to have this kind of guy around you.
Cheers, Great Insight ! Back to Coding - Thank you.
Very helpful. Your wisdom is much appreciated.
Great insight and guidance. It can easily be put into action. Thanks.
Clear and helpful guidance and advice - presented very well too
Simple but great advice. I especially like what he said about Branding. If you don't define it your competition will.
Great article!
Some great pointers from an undeniable pro here, good stuff!
Glad I found this... Interesting points. I am sure it will be useful for the next 1000 years!
This guy is one of the best people that will ever give an advise to a small business entrepreneur. He is just awesome.
I meant to say why bother? to checkout your article that is. All you seem to do is put out a lot of negativity about articles on Forbes and Entrepreneur. I completely understand about starting a business with little capital, but your articles are not really helpful. I suppose you do have a very distinct style.
Why?
check out what we thought on Brokepreneur dot com
I choose the way Mr. Bronsonran his businesses. First he picked top notch people told them what he wanted and let them go. He trusted them to do a good job. He treated his people like valuable assest to his companies. He ask all his employees for advice from the top guy to the truck driver. He had meetings with them about how to build his companies. I feel that because he got everyone involvoed that it became their company. The were proud and worked harder to succeed.
I love the guy! Just like his quote: screw it, lets do it!
Great advice Mr Branson - Useful for budding, nascent & established entrepreneurs.
I would propose Richard to close operations in Russia. It is a big mistake and complete failure. The reason of that is absolutely unprofessional management of the Swiss based company that started the operation in Russia without any understanding of local regulations, absence of technology knowledge and cheating of the main shareholders of the finance and operational results.
these people are have their own class getting tips and experience from them is matchless experience and undoubtledly rewarding experience
A man at the top who hasn,t lost the human touch. That why he stays there, cheers for Richard branson
preparation + opportunity = success
Fantastic. Thank you, Richard!
Customer service and staying in touch are two very important aspects to produce a successful business. They go hand and hand because they illustrate that the business is operating on efficient terms and is focused on acheiving an excellent customer experience, which is especially important in our current times. entrepreneurialambitions.com
A see inexperience as a plus since sytems can be assessed as concepts in their pure form without necessarily knowing all the conventions and rules around it that often become obsolete or ineffective through time.
Branding is so important. We specialize in video marketing for businesses and representing a clients brand in a creative way is a hard yet fun process.
Love listening to Richard. If anyone, he's the guy to listen to.
live it, love it, do it.
You got everything in this post to create an amazing company. I think Mr. Branson has revealed all the secrets of a successful business here. It's up to us how we take it and practice it. Thank you for a great post.