To start off my list of crazy ones, I introduce to you, Sir Richard Branson. And I have to say this is the perfect person for my “The Crazy Ones” series to lose its virginity to, get it.

“My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.”

I read Richard Branson’s “Screw it let’s do it” about two years ago, (re-reading it now) I have to say it was an amazing read, incredibly motivational and inspiring. Richard’s life has been an amazing adventure and he has never put a limit on himself. Always ambitious, always willing to go for the gold, always wanting to go beyond what was thought to be possible. He has a laundry list of achievements under his belt and amazing stories to tell, from staring into the face of death to starting a magazine at 15, buying an island to building an airline, there’s nothing this man won’t try.
He faced death on his first attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean as Virgin Atlantic Challenger capsized but he them tried again a year later with sailing expert Daniel McCarthy, and this time the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II broke the previous record by 2 hours. He then ventured to skies with the Virgin Atlantic Flyer making it’s journey across the Atlantic a year later, they made the journey but it almost ended on death. That was Richard the Daredevil.

A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.

As for Richard the Entrepreneur, he made his debut in boarding school at about age 15 with an attempt at creating a magazine for students regarding big issues that the media did not want to talk about. The magazine, ‘The Student’, was relatively self sustaining but was eventually put down some years later. This was then followed by the birth of Virgin. The Virgin brand has now expanded from selling records to music, airlines, books, mobiles, energy, racing and most the exciting of all, space travel via Virgin Galactic. This little piece of mine really cannot justify the achievements of Sir Richard, so please read the book I mentioned, it is an amazing and easy read.

I am prepared to try anything once

He truly does live by the concept of “Screw it, let’s do it“, never doubting his ability to bring an idea to life, and actually putting work into making his idea a success. Yes, not all of his ventures may not have been successes, but does that truly matter? Like all the Crazy Ones, he never let failure discourage him or kill his passion, he picked himself up and kept moving forward.

I’ve had great fun turning quite a lot of different industries on their head and making sure those industries will never be the same again, because Virgin went in and took them on.

Being successful doesn’t mean not failing or making mistakes, it just means not letting them stop you from reaching your goals, not letting them kill your ambition, not letting it get to your head and doubt yourself and lose your self-belief.

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay6