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I’m out for the weekend, headed to Orlando, FL for some serious sun-and-fun at the beautiful beac–… wait, Orlando doesn’t have any beaches. Well, it does have Disne–… No, actually that’s in Kissimmee. Man what gives? Actually I’m headed to Orlando for a conference, which, though not a beach, I expect to thoroughly enjoy and learn from. And no, I’m not planning to blog it. Sorry about that. In the Meantime, Enjoy one of my favorite books, presented here for free, James Allens’ As Man Thinketh (in one page!), one of the cornerstones of every business and success library out there.

This little volume (the result of meditation and experience) is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much-written upon subject of the power of thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of the truth that -

They themselves are makers of themselves

by virtue of the thoughts which they choose and encourage; that mind is the master weaver, both of the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.

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This is the follow up to the postThoughts on Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson. Here I continue with what I’ve learned while reading this book.

When I first started reading this book, Richard Branson seemed to me like just a more successful version of just about every pampas, big-headed business jerk I’d ever met. It was easy to juxtapose his name with that of every other jackass I’ve ever seen whose idea of keeping a good name was “I’ll sue your ass of if you write anything bad about me or my company”, instead of — you know — actually being good for their word. (It should be noted that Branson was never quick to pull out the legal teams. Those jackasses I remembered tended to be quick on the trigger, like if it was some kind of hobby to sue and get sued.)

By the time I finished, I could see the amount of personal growth Branson had gone through throughout the years. Indeed, the book shows that aspect of his life rather pointedly. On top of that, by the end of the book I realized better than I ever have before how a visionary entrepreneur — that special breed of people that can make enterprise after enterprise after enterprise with seemingly nothing more than the wave of his hand — sees things, how that type of person looks at a situation and with what confidence they go forth, believing fully that they can make a change, that there’s always room for competition. In Branson’s case, he believes he can change the world. (Stuff like Virgin Galactic may just ensure that dream becomes a reality.)

Anyway, as I said, this is a follow up post so I’ll just continue with some of the lessons I learned while reading this. (As I said before, I highly recommend everyone who is interested in entrepreneurship in any way, the airline industry, ballooning, the history of modern music, or anything else Virgin has gotten into to read this bool.)

• Personal relationships are vital in business and that people should be directly accountable for their actions. Throughout his career, accountability has been huge for Branson. Without accountability, proper relationships cannot be built, and the foundation for creating something greater than yourself cannot be set. In a specific example, during the early 90’s, during the first Gulf War, a number of rumors started flying about regarding Virgin Atlantic’s financial position, namely that it was about to go bust. These rumors had been started by the head of British Airways in order to bring Virgin Atlantic down. (This was because Virgin got a ton of free publicity when they volunteered to use a 747 to deliver aid to Jordan and rescue hostages held in Iraq. This cast a great light on Virgin — who did this for no other reason than to help — while making British Airways look less than stellar, seeing as they had been asked for help repeatedly, but had never given it.) To quell some of these rumors, Branson had tried to talk to BA’s Lord King (yes, that’s his name), in order to resolve this situation. Lord King answered indignantly. That confrontation gave Branson all he needed to start to turn things around via a long-avoided lawsuit. BA was doing everything in its power — almost to the point of sabotage — to ensure that Virgin would go bust. As Branson later found out, BA had set up a special team to undermine Virgin. (This all came out during the trial.) This all ended in the awarding of a contract of operations from Heathrow to Virgin.
• Healthy competition benefits even charities sometimes. “When I returned to Britain [from Iraq], William Waldegrave told me that he had just had a call from Lord King, chairman of British Airways, who had been surprised to see the Virgin Atlantic flight to Jordan featured on [the news]. ‘We should be doing that,’ Lord King had told Waldergrave. William had pointed out to Lord King that I had just offered to help and Virgin Atlantic happened to have an aircraft available to make it possible. The next week British Airways fles osme supplies out to Jordan and brought back some more nationals. Christian Aid told us that they were amazed: over many years they had unsuccessfully appealed to British Airways to help them, but ever since the Virgin Atlantic flight to Amman, BA had been practically suffocating them with offers of help.” This is a bit like a small trick I use when I drive. Sometimes I want to go faster but am being blocked by a car on my side and one in the front. Knowing that the car on the side won’t let me pass, I speed up as if to get in front of him. When he speeds up, I slow back down and get behind him. He usually keeps going and ends up passing the guy that was blocking me from the front. I quickly step back into my lane and go at the speed I want to go, no faster.
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained. A magazine, a record store, a studio, a music label, a chain of mega-stores, an airline, an island, a cola company, a lottery, and countless of other things which didn’t make it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
• Don’t let people walk all over you. Virgin’s entry into Heathrow was being fought tooth and nail by British Airways. Since they effectively had a monopoly on Heathrow they called the shots, so everything — from the flight time slots to the baggage carriers — had to be fought for by Virgin. Although in theory Heathrow was open to Virgin, in practice it wasn’t.
• However tight things are, you still need to have the big picture at the forefront of your mind. Branson has made it a lifestyle to stay one step ahead of the banks: no more, and usually no less. Still, never once has he let his financial situation get in the way of his dream. To quote him:
  

  The most vivid proof of this came during the depths of the recession in 1992. At the time, I was trying to raise money to install individual seat-back video terminals in all of our aircraft — I have always believed that Virgin should offer the best in-flight entertainment. We needed $10 million to install the equipment. Nobody at Virgin Atlantic could raise the necessary funding, and we were all in despair down at the Crawley one day and on the point of giving up when I thought I would try one last gamble….I called Boeing…[and asked] whether [they] would throw in the individual seat-back videos in economy if we bought ten new Boeing 747-400s. Amazed that anyone was thinking of buying planes during that recession, [Boeing] readily agreed. I then called…Airbus…[and they] also agreed….We discovered it was easier to get $4 billion credit to buy eighteen new aircraft than it was to get $10 million credit for the seat-back video sets. As a result, Virgin Atlantic suddenly had…the youngest and most modern fleet in the industry.

• Some of the best ideas come out of the blue, and you have to keep an open mind to see their virtue. This is how Virgin Atlantic came to existence; an American lawyer called Branson to suggest setting up an airline in 1984. The rest is history.

The following lessons come from the last chapter, which I think is probably the most important to anyone looking for tips on how to be effective as an entrepreneur.

• “I have always lived my life by making lists — lists of people to call, list of ideas,lists of companies to set up , lists of people who can make things happen. Each day I work through these lists, and that sequence of call propels me forward.”
• “Whenever I’m on a flight or a train or in the record store, I walk around and ask the people I meet for their ideas on how to improve the service. I write them down, and when I get home, I look through all the comments, If there’s a good idea, I pick up the phone and implement it.”
• I also insist that we continually ask our staff for their suggestions, and I try my hand at their jobs.” (This helps bring about the best service and methods, suggestions which come directly from the people who work with those methods on a daily basis and best see their faults and strengths.

Obviously there a ton more lessons, but if you want to get those you have to pick up a copy for yourself. (At only $10.40 on Amazon, this is one deal you can’t afford to pass up. Knowledge potentially worth billions of dollars for less than the cost of three frappuccinos at Starbucks. I never understood why someone would pass up a deal like that.)

I’m currently in the middle of reading Sir Richard Branson’s autobiography, Losing My Virginity. The book is both fun to read and extremely educational, if you know what you’re looking for. Although I haven’t yet finished the book (I’m just over half-way through), I thought I’d go ahead and post these lessons learned. Any entrepreneur and anyone wishing to be one (to be someone in the “B” quadrant) should read this book, maybe a few times over. I highly recommend it.

Note: Losing My Virginity is an updated version to Branson’s autobiography, Screw It, Let’s Do It. You can read the first chapter his autobiography at the Virgin website.

• Don’t ever go into a business purely for money. If that’s the sole purpose you’re better off not doing it. A business should be involving, it has to be fun, an it has to exercise your creative instincts.
• Image. Is. Everything. When starting to expand the Virgin Records stores, Branson had one rule: No Andy Williams. In this vein, Virgin also didn’t stock Garry Glitter or any other “Glam Rock” stars, or mass market teenyboppers such as the Osmonds or Sweet, even though they were storming the charts. “If we stuck to our image, we would keep our integrity and build up more customers.” This was advice given to him by his cousin, music advisor Simon Drapers.
• May all your stab wounds be in the front, and never in the back.
• Don’t tell yourself you can’t afford something. Ask yourself how you can. While in the Virgin Islands, Branson found an island he wanted to buy, Necker Island. Asking price: £3,000,000. His offer: £175,000, considerably less than the asking price. He found the man who was selling the island and found out that he was selling it to finance his new £200,000 home. (This was the 70’s, ok?) After talking to Branson — and being desperate enough for long enough — he decided to sell the island for £180,000. Another situation involved the Rolling Stones. Virgin wanted to sign the Stones but was told that they were too small and couldn’t afford the band’s asking price of $3,000,000. After digging around for a while and looking for investors — to the point of jeopardizing the company — Branson was able to offer $4,000,000. He didn’t get the Stones (EMI won the bidding at $5,000,000), but he did what he had to do to get them. Lesson: Don’t tell yourself “I can’t afford it,” but ask yourself “What can I do to afford it?”
• Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. Virgin Records was trying to sign a band, 10cc. The deal was in place, bar the signature, even to the point where Branson was calling about the cutting process for the new album. The next day, when they were supposed to officially signed, Branson was told that 10cc signed with another label. Oops.
• Develop a mastermind group. Branson, as great a businessman as he is, needed help to build Virgin. Over the years he slowly built up a core team of people who had proven time and time again that they knew what they were doing and those folks became the cornerstones of the Virgin empire.
• You can either play it safe and survive, or you can be willing to risk everything in order to be successful. If you want to be great, only the later will do.
• Once you’re firmly established in what you do, try vertical expansion. When Branson started out, he started with Virgin Records. From there, he realized that bands were getting a raw deal in the recording biz so he created the Manor studios. From there he realized that a music label could offer a better income stream so he developed Virgin Music, the musicians of which would record in the Manor — for a small fee — and whose music would be sold in Virgin Record stores. The growth continued until Virgin had developed what software companies would refer to as “end to end solutions.” If you’re good at your work have you ever thought about becoming a supplier for others who do what you do? And who supplies the suppliers? Think about it.
• Vertical expansion is good, but doesn’t always work. Vertical expansion is why Virgin went from record store to studio to record label to magazines, etc. But sometimes it backfires on you, sort of like when Branson had the idea of manufacturing CDs within the actual store. The cost was higher than if they just let someone who specialized in manufacturing CDs do it for them, transportation costs and all. To add insult to injury, the process was not as big a tourist attraction as Branson envisioned. Eventually his advisors were able to convince him that the money and space would be better spent on inventory.
• If you find a need, don’t be afraid of filling it. Branson and a number of passengers were left stranded in the Virgin Islands after their flights to Puerto Rico got cancelled. He found out that he could charter a plane for $2,000 and could make a profit if he filled it for $39 a seat. He quickly chartered the plane, drew up a sign on a board that said “Virgin Airlines, Flights to Puerto Rico for $39″ and was able to make his money back, plus a profit. Oh yeah, and he pretty much created Virgin Airlines right there on the spot.
• Failure is integral to succeeding. At various points through the book Branson points out how close he came to losing it all: his company, his empire, his name, and even his life. Yet, every single time, without fail (no pun intended), he kept doing what he knew was the right thing. For a long time he couldn’t sign a good band under the Virgin Record. It was Mike Oldfield and everyone else, or the Sex Pistols and everybody else. During that time he made just enough not to go bankrupt, and a couple of times not even that. But he kept going because he believed in what he was doing. He also believed that it was all or nothing. He either was a great success or was a great failure. In either case, he wanted to be great.
• Never ever ever ever surrender. When Branson was first forming Virgin Atlantic Airways, on the maiden flight (the one before passengers are allowed onboard, where an airline/plane must get certification), a freak accident involving a flock of birds and a jet engine turbine cost him £600,000. If he bought the engine he would be him £300,000 over his overdraft limit with his bank, and the Virgin companies would be bankrupt in days. If he didn’t, Virgin Atlantic would never fly. He decided to spend the money. He had £6,000,000 in place to come in from MGM after they bought the distribution rights to one of his films and had projected profit earnings of £32,000,000 within the next two years (so this wasn’t a “gut” decision, but a well thought out one), but this was money not on hand, and therefore money the bank didn’t count. After spending the money the bank told him that they’d bounce his checks. Within one day, Branson was able to get the money needed to pay off his overdraft and within a couple of days he found another bank to fund Virgin, this one giving him a £30,000,000 overdraft ceiling. Virgin survived, profited and Virgin Atlantic flew (and is still flying today).
• If you fail once, get up, adjust your strategy and try again. This is a lesson that’s displayed over and over again with Branson, especially in his adventurous expeditions. If you live, you can try again. And never be afraid to try almost anything, at least once.
• Everybody screws up. When Branson got funding for a trans-Atlantic trip in a catamaran, he decided to thank his sponsors in a celebratory lunch:
  

  “I want to thank you all very much,” I said sincerely. “It’s going to be a great trip, and we’re really going to advertise BP as much as we can.” I thought that I heard a collective intake of breath, but I plowed on regardless. “We’re going to plaster BP on the map. Nobody will ever confuse you with that old rival of yours…” Then, looking at the wall opposite me and noticing the huge Esso logo, I realized my mistake. The Esso top executives looked at me with horror as if I were a ghost. I fell down to the floor and crawled under the table. “I am sorry,” I croaked, and started to spit and polish their shoes. Remarkably, Esso, as good as their word, went ahead and sponsored the trip.

• If you own a brand, do whatever you have to to get the brand into people’s heads. I’ll say it again, if you own a brand, do whatever you have to to get the brand into people’s heads.
• Your name and reputation are everything. During the 1987 stock market crash, Virgin decided to buy back all their stock and privatize their company again. Their stock value had gone from £1.40 to 70p. Although the company could have bought the shares back at that price, Branson decided that the people which had put their faith — and savings — in his company shouldn’t lose all their investment. He decided to buy back the shares at the opening price of £1.40. Your name and reputation are everything. Without those you are nothing — or worse.
• Take a long view. After taking the company public, the biggest problem Virgin PLC had was that investors were looking for short term gains (dividend payments). Instead, Branson had always found himself focusing on the long view. This was one of the things that exited him when he was expanding to Japan; the Japanese focused almost exclusively on capital growth. “It reminds me of the Chinese leader Deng Xiaopnhing’s remark in the 1980’s,” noted Branson. “When he was asked what he thought the implications were of the French Revolution in 1789, he replied, ‘Too early to tell.’”

In retrospect, Branson reminds me a lot — as in “more than just passing similarities — to a number of people I’ve worked with in the past. All of these have been entrepreneurs. Those I’ve been friends with I’ve learned a lot from. Those I’ve worked under I usually ended up sick of. I honestly feel now that I understand those folks a bit better (even if I still don’t like them).

I’ll add to this list (or create another post) as I finish the book.

I’ve just finished reading Jon Gruden’s Do You Love Football?!, which is essentially his autobiography up to right after winning the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2002. (w00t!) The book talks about his experiences with football over the years, especially in the coaching aspect, since he was never a particularly great player (by his own admission).

While not a Pulitzer Prize winner, I found the book to be rather interesting in the areas of leadership and growth within your field. The following points stuck out at me:

• Gruden convinced his defense that they should be scoring 9 touchdowns a season. Most defenses think about one thing: stopping the offense. This defense thought not just about stopping the offense, but “how will we get points on the board.” Like Robert Kiyosaki says, your thoughts are your reality. If you think “I can’t afford it,” you can’t. If you think “How can I afford it?” you’ll be on your way to affording it, because you’ve mentally opened up the opportunity. Think outside of the box. Don’t presume you won’t do it because you don’t have to or can’t. Ask yourself how can you do it? The answer probably won’t come the first time, the second, or even the tenth, but it will come. You’ll be thinking differently, and your thoughts will become your reality.
• It’s important to note that towards the end of the book, I did a lot of speed reading. Why is it important? Most of the important stuff — the formative experiences, the networking and interconnecting with people — happened while no one knew who “Jon Gruden” was, at the beginning. That’s when you see his work ethic taking shape and the steps he took to ensure that he kept his passion and level of competition up. Before all the glory of being the head coach of the Raiders and the Bucs, there was a lot of time spent learning lessons and overcoming a lot of crap. It’s really easy to get lost in the “I’ve done this much for this long. It’s my turn to be successful.” I know. I’ve been there and done that: bitching, whining — the whole bit. Reading this helps me realize “Dude, you’re not the only one burning the candles at both ends with not many people noticing.” When success comes then growth slows. When everyone notices you succeeding it’s because you’ve been slaving for a long time, trying to impress the right people, so to speak.
• It’s important to focus on what you’re doing. Be passionate, have fun. You may lose some sleep, but so long as you’ve got your health and pay attention to your family, you keep doing what you have to.
• Find the most successful people you can in whatever you’re trying to get ahead in and never let them go. Don’t annoy them, but once you’ve established a connection make sure you nurture the relationship. (God only knows how many times I’ve violated this rule. The loss here is most definitely mine.) Spend time with them. Learn from them. Treat them well. Be honest with them. Take advantage of any time they’re willing to give you. It never hurts to ask, and it’s up to them to say “no”. Develop that relationship with them and keep it for the long haul. This way you can create a virtual Harvard-level education for whatever you’re doing. Gruden did this by getting around the most successful coaches he could, doing whatever he could to get around them and study them. Mostly this involved doing a lot of work for very little money.
• Don’t be one of those people that moves just to move, making a bunch of lateral moves and never getting anywhere. If you move — quit your job, start a business, break up with your girlfiend, whatever — make it count: move forward.
• Sometimes you have to destroy something to build it up. If a proper foundation isn’t set, what use is there in trying to build a huge house on top of it? You have to destroy whatever you’ve built, re-build the foundation, then build on top of that. (This was a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way. It’s why I burnt out recently with a lot of the stuff I was doing; I had been trying to build a tower on the foundation of a shack.) This may cost you a few months, maybe a few years initially. In the long run, however, it will be worth it.
• Don’t try to be a Lone Ranger. Everybody needs a lift sometimes. You can’t fight all your battles on your own. Sometimes you need an army. Sometimes you just need a wingman. To lead, Gruden counted on not just himself, but also those coaching connections he had made over the years, as well as those coaches and players under him. He was not alone, and never pretended to be. Most people think they can’t do something when, in fact, they can. They just need some help. The problem is they put this wall around themselves and try to be Lone Rangers, fighting battles they have no need to fight on their own. What one can do a thousand times, two can do ten-thousand times.

Note: You can read the first few pages here.

Well, this is my quarterly posting on why I’ve been so quiet for over a month. Simply put, it comes down to one thing: burnout. Too many urgent needs and not enough focus on the important things. (I’ll write about it more later.)

As such, I’ve taken to some badly needed reading. I’ve just ordered a number of books I plan to go through over the next couple of months, during which time I hope to pull myself back together and get ready to charge forth. On my immediate book list are the following:

• Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary, by Linus Torvalds
• They Call Me Coach, by John Wooden
• My American Journey, by future President of the United States Colin Powell
• Einstein : A Life
• iCon: Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in American Business History
• Gandhi: An Autobiography: The Story of my Experiments with Truth, by Mahatma Gandhi
• Losing My Virginity, by Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin Group of Companies)
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King
• War As I Knew It, by George S. Patton
• Sam Walton: Made In America, by Sam Walton

This is my first list. I have a few others, such as Trump’s The Art of the Deal, Ray Kroc’s Grinding it Out, Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, and Iacocca, an Autobiography which will likely come next, but for now these will do.

Edit
I just got through More than Money by Neil Cavuto (which is an excellent book), and am in the process of reading Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way by Pope John Paul II, and Do You Like Football?! by John Gruden.