Clear And Unbiased Facts About SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE START BEFORE THEY FEEL READY (Without All the Hype)
Successful people start before they feel ready
In 1966, a sixteen-year-old dyslexic child dropped out of school. With the help of a friend, he started a student magazine and made money selling ads to local businesses. With just a little money to start, he ran the operation out of the crypt inside a local church.
Four years later, he was looking for ways to grow his little magazine and began selling mail-order records to the students who bought the magazine. The records sold well enough to build their first record store next year. After two years of selling records, he decided to open his own record label and recording studio.
He rented the recording studio to local artists, including one named Mike Oldfield. In that small recording studio, Oldfield created his hit song, Tubular Bells, which became the label's first release. The song went on to sell more than 5 million copies.
During the next decade, the young man grew his record label by adding bands like Sex Pistols, Culture Club and the Rolling Stones. Along the way, he continued to create companies: an airline business, then trains, then cell phones, and so on. Almost 50 years later, there were more than 400 companies under his direction.
Today, that young man who dropped out of school and began to work despite his inexperience and lack of knowledge is a multi-millionaire. His name is Sir Richard Branson.
How I Met Sir Richard Branson
Two weeks ago, I entered a conference room in Moscow, Russia, and sat three meters away from Branson. There were 100 other people around us, but it seemed like we were having a conversation in my living room. He was smiling and laughing. His answers seemed impassive and genuine.
At one point, he told the story of how Virgin Airlines began, a story that seems to capture his whole focus on business and life. Here is the version that he told us, the best I can remember:
"I was in my twenties, so I had a business, but no one knew who I was at the time, I was heading to the Virgin Islands and I had a very pretty girl waiting for me, so, umm, I was determined to be on time.
At the airport, my last flight to the Virgin Islands was canceled for maintenance or something like that. It was the last flight that night. I thought this was ridiculous, so I went to rent a private plane to take me to the Virgin Islands, which I did not have money to do.
Then, I took a small slate, I wrote "Virgin Airlines. $ 29 ", And addressed the group of people who had been on the canceled flight. I sold tickets for the rest of the seats on the plane, used their money to pay for the charter plane, and that night we all went to the Virgin Islands. "
-Richard Branson
I took this picture right after he told that story. A few moments later, I stood shoulder to shoulder with him (he is about six feet tall) and I thanked him for sharing some time with us.
The habits of successful people
After speaking with our group, Branson sat on a panel with industry experts to discuss the future of the business. While everyone around him filled the air with business words and talked about complex ideas to chart our future, Branson was saying things like, "Screw, just go ahead and do it." Which was followed closely by "Why can I 'Are we asteroids?
When I looked at that panel, I realized that the person who seemed the most simplistic was also the only one who was multi-millionaire. Which led me to ask myself: "What is the difference between Branson and everyone else in the room? "
This is what I think makes all the difference:
Branson does not just say things like: "Fuck, just keep going and do it." Actually, he lives his life that way. He leaves school and starts a business. He signs the Sex Pistols to his record label when everyone else says they are too controversial. He leases a plane when he does not have the money.
When everyone else resists or finds a good reason why it is not the right time, Branson gets going. He discovers how to stop procrastinating and take the first step, even if it seems extravagant.
Start now
Branson is an extreme example, but we could all learn something from his approach.
If you want to summarize the habits of successful people in a single sentence, it is this: successful people start before they feel ready.
If someone ever incarnated the idea of ?? starting before they feel ready to do so, it's Branson. The very name of his business empire, Virgin, was chosen because when Branson and his associates started, they were "virgins" when it came to business.
Branson has started so many businesses, businesses, charities and expeditions that it is simply not possible that he felt prepared, qualified and ready to start everything. In fact, it is unlikely that you were qualified or prepared to start any of them. He had never flown an airplane and did not know anything about aircraft engineering, but an airline started anyway. It is a perfect example of why the "elect" chooses themselves.
If you are working on something important, you will never feel ready. A side effect of doing a challenging job is that you are attracted to emotion and confusion at the same time.
He is bound to feel uncertain, unsuspecting and unqualified. But let me assure you this: what you have now is enough. You can plan, delay and review everything you want, but trust me, what you have now is enough to start. It does not matter if you are trying to start a business, lose weight, write a book or reach any number of goals. who you are, what you have and what you know at this time is good enough to get going.
We all start in the same place: without money, without resources, without contacts, without experience. The difference is that some people, the winners, choose to start anyway.
No matter where you are in the world and no matter what you are working on, I hope you start before you feel ready.
