GATEWAY SHIPPING SDN BHD: March 2013

copy paste from somewhere......for your reading pleasure..........

If there’s one thing that Richard Branson has taught us over the years, it’s that finishing this sentence is an almost impossible task. The Virgin Group Founder has broken down so many barriers, achieved so many firsts and trail-blazed in so many different sectors that it’s unthinkable to sum up his achievements in just one single soundbite.

However the guys at Ask Men have done their best to whittle down his many quote-worthy insights into 10 top business tips. Take a look at the first five and let us know which one resonates with you.

1. Forget the office
"When I’m working, I don’t like to waste my time. When I’m on holidays, I like to waste my time a little bit. I’ve always worked from home, I’ve never worked from an office… I work from a hammock."

2. The early bird catches the worm
"I get up quite early in the morning - maybe 6:30. I will maybe go kitesurfing, maybe play tennis, maybe go for a swim. It’s the advantage of working from home and working from Necker Island."

3. Eat a real lunch
"I don’t believe in sandwiches for lunch. I like to eat from my balcony. I’ll have good food. Having said that, I do drink far too much tea and coffee."

4. Take risks
“If you try to achieve things that people say are impossible, it does involve taking risks. People said it was impossible to take a hot air balloon around the world, and we had great adventures proving them wrong. Fortunately, we survived it. We were the lucky pilots. A lot of pilots lose their lives trying these things."

5. Plan ahead
“In any adventure, we try to figure out beforehand, if we hit the water, how will we survive? How will the company survive? Luckily, we have always survived, and we’re here to tell the tale."

6. Screw it, just do it

"My philosophy in life is that you only live once. Live life to its fullest. It’s a lot more fun. Don’t say no. That’s the way I’ve always approached things. As one of my book titles says, Screw It, Let’s Do It."

7. Plan for the future

"One of the advantages of always taking adventure-type risks is that I have to make sure that I have a good succession plan and have lots of great people in place and have delegated well.”

8. Don’t waste time on unnecessary travel

"One of the advantages of working from home is that you’re not wasting a couple of hours of the day commuting and travelling. By working from home, I can get people to come to me instead of having to go to them. I’ve always managed to do that."

9. Delegation is key

“From a very early time, when we went from one company to two companies, I realised I couldn't do everything myself. I had to learn the art of delegation and try to find people who are better than me to run the companies – that wasn't that difficult!”

10. Love your children

"The most important thing is to bring your kids up with tons and tons of love - lots of praise and little criticism. They should be able to talk to you about anything and have a completely open relationship.”