Challenge yourself

Richard's first big challenge came when as a five years old kid he wanted to swim in a beach but could not do so as he did not know how to swim. Inspite of trying his best , suffering cold water and swallowing whole lot of sea water, he lost out the bet with his aunt who offered ten shillings if he could learn swimming by the end of the holiday.

While return he was obviously very unhappy as he hated losing when he saw a river, he decided to give a one last try and pleaded his father to stop the car. The river looked deep and fast, running over rocks but he dared and took the risk. With active encouragement from his parents he stepped into the river , almost got drowned before he relaxed and started floating and then swimming awkwardly and thus won the bet.

Richard Branson in the world hot air baloon race

Stand on your own feet

His first lesson on self sufficiency was when he was four years old . While on his way back from somewhere his mother stopped the car at a little distance from the house and told him to get down and find his way home across the field.

Richard loved these challenges and these lessons from his parents became tougher ,once he was asked to bicycle 50 miles to south coast with only a map for guidance when he was 12 years old .These early lessons made him strong and rely on his own self thus making him independent.

When everything seems lost

Richard found out the easy way of making money by selling records domestically which were meant for exports. He started making an enormous profit as tax was not paid on these music records but this was illegal. He was caught and thrown into the prison. He could somehow escape by agreeing to pay penalty which was three times the illegal profit which he has made.

He had no money but slogged without moaning and paid the penalty in installments in three years. He realized that the reputation is everything and his advise to all new business startups is " be fair in all the dealing, do not cheat but aim to win."

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