Big dreams open great opportunities, small dreams question your capabilities. But a long-term goal won’t lead you anywhere without enthusiasm, desire, and commitment. Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, an English business magnate, sets an example how a true entrepreneur should look. By launching his first small magazine business at the age of 16, he managed to become one of the most wealthy British businessmen today. His fortune is worth an estimate of $5.1 billion and the Virgin brand is prominent throughout the world. But not all his start-ups were as worldwide famous.
Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited
Launched in 1984, British Atlantic was initially planned to fly between London and the Falkland Islands. Shortly after the rebranding to Virgin Atlantic Airways, the disagreement among the co-founders took place, which resulted in the redemption of the company by Richard Branson. Nowadays, the Virgin Group holds 51% of shares of Virgin Atlantic, which is the seventh largest UK airline, in terms of conveying people. The airline transports both cargo and people to North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The operating income of the company is estimated at £153 million whereas the revenue is about £2,7 million.
Virgin Galactic
Alongside with SpaceX, Virgin Galactic aims to take people into space, as well as launch rockets for the purpose of science. Created in 2004, the company planned to start the engine of its first spacecraft SpaceShipTwo in 2009. But due to various problems Virgin Galactic faced, the launch was postpone no sooner than 2010. Since this year, more than a dozen of aircrafts were sent into space. No signs of trouble were seen until October 2014, when SpaceShipTwo crashed, which resulted in the death of Michael Alsbury. The accident didn’t stop Branson from achieving his goal, and after a two-year pause, the company launched VVS Voyager.
Virgin Hyperloop One
With the development of new technologies, transportation moves to a new level. Conveying either people or cargo is becoming cheaper, faster, and safer. In simple terms, Hyperloop is a tunnel built underground, which is capable of transporting people or items at the speed of a plane, but at a fraction of the cost of air travel. The design of Hyperloop was released by Tesla and SpaceX and the first to introduce the new way of transportation was Elon Musk. The main goal of Hyperloop One is to commercialize the Elon Musk’s innovation.
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is a resort located in Paradise, Nevada. By offering more than 600 Las Vegas slot machines, Race & Sports books, and variations of table games; the venue is one of the top casinos in Las Vegas. If you get tired of 24/7 casino games, you can rest in the hotel which has about 1,500 rooms. In the end of 2017, Virgin Group redeemed the Hard Rock’s rights and added one more facility to Virgin Hotels. It appears that the resort’s name is temporary, since there are rumors that Hard Rock Hotel and Casino will be rebranded as Virgin Hotel soon.
Virgin Records
Founded by Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and Tom Newman, Virgin Records Limited was a British record label. It didn’t take long for the company to become worldwide famous, since performers like Paula Abdul, Roy Orbison, Devo, Culture Club, the Smashing Pumpkins, and more were on the list of artists. Positioning itself in the market as a thriving company, it was sold to Universal Music Group in 2012.
Conclusion:
Richard Branson teaches us a lesson that a true entrepreneur should not stick to a one-way business. His ventures are worldwide known and it appears that he is not going to stop with his start-ups.
