Humor and Hardships: The Unexplored Layers of Richard Branson

Ever found yourself munching on cabbage alongside a pet rabbit? Well, one of our hosts has, and it's a story you have to hear to believe! This week, we are back to tickle your funny bone with more hilarious tales and thought-provoking insights. We'll take you back in time and revisit the resilient spirit of a young Richard Branson, an anecdote that will leave you thinking about the true nature of tenacity. We also discuss the somewhat comical rivalry between two of the world's richest men, Richard Branson and Elon Musk. Is it simply a marketing gimmick, or does it hold some genuine competitive fire?

But wait, there's more! We dive headfirst into the fascinating world of business, particularly looking into Branson's audacious deal with Boeing and how Virgin Airlines sprouted from a frustrating event. It's a lesson in transforming obstacles into opportunities, and it's sure to leave you inspired. Our chat also extends beyond Branson's empire, discussing the broader implications of billionaire lifestyles and the nuances of different entrepreneurs. So, buckle up and get ready for an episode filled with laughter, inspiration, and some downright odd rabbit antics.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to a new Needle Movers podcast episode. On this episode, we're going to go slightly different and, rather than discussing a direct book topic, we're going to continue our conversation from last week. Valeria and myself noticed that we tend to just continue talking after the episode stopped recording and we've completed, but we figure it may be of value and if so, here it is. If you like it, let us know. If you want more like it, please let us know. We've done an episode previously to this taste and find it more, I guess, off the cuff, candid and still informative, hopefully. Oh, and one thing to note these episodes tend to have even more explicit in their tone. So yeah, if you're not sensitive to explicit language, feel free to switch off. With that being said, we hope you enjoy.

Speaker 2: 0:54

Like big money fucking sits shut, the fuck up.

Speaker 1: 0:58

Every fucking time we just talk afterwards and then never record it. Say what you're saying anyway.

Speaker 2: 1:04

There was this one particular story from the book which was hilarious, which is obviously like I mentioned, that, branson, I think he was neurodiverse, I think he had this like safe, I remember correctly, and it was a bit of a handful, to say the least. And one time his mom wanted to teach him a lesson so he put him in the car and drove into this place and kept on driving, and driving, and driving and then she stopped the car. She was like we're here, was like okay, we're away. He gets out of the car, she closes the door and be like make your way back home. She left him in the mood when she drove back home and she wanted him to make his own way back home, to be self-sufficient.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Wait, what Is that? Child abuse? You just explained how old was he.

Speaker 2: 1:50

I think he must have been like eight or nine or 10, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:54

Oh, okay, that's not wild at all. Prior to phones being existing. Wow, how far was it? Was it very far? Tell me that I don't remember this story.

Speaker 2: 2:04

Well, clearly he made his way back, but he looks back at it and now it's like oh yeah, it's a lesson, I learned like a bunch of things from it, but nowadays that lady will get like crazy.

Speaker 1: 2:15

Crazy. I love that. He's like yeah, it's a lesson. Like I said, there's mindsets to have about these things. You were abandoned by your mother. She gave you an option and there was a chance of failure. That was oh right. But I think that's testament to his mindset, if you think, like the fact that his mom left him somewhere at eight and not only did he make it home, but he uses it as a yeah, this is, this is well, I guess that's it. Isn't our minds like the most malleable at those ages as well? So we take that and be like this is gonna shape me.

Speaker 2: 2:45

She's made a person out of me it is, but it can go the wrong way as well. Right, Like, from that point on you can have like abandonment issues for the rest of your life.

Speaker 1: 2:53

Not even abandonment. He was abandoned. It's not an issue, it's a fact. Also, I thought you could have had kidnapping issues, just a lot of other version issues.

Speaker 2: 3:03

I guess that was before Stranger Danger, which happened in the 80s right?

Speaker 1: 3:07

Just cause you're not aware. You know it's funny, that's our campaign. Stranger Danger existed before the 80s. Unless you talk about it, it's not real. Imagine someone had pulled up with like sweets in a van, like, hey man, I'm a nice keen truck. You, sir, look like a big white van. Mm-mm, I'll do it, I'll do it. That's all wild as shit, oh my gosh, but still you can laugh about it now because his story is a successful one. It pulls, pulled forward. I'm trying to think of other stories I like from it. Like there was two more lessons I think that you had that we didn't even get into. One was about passion, of course, which was kind of like start with why, if you think about it, teamwork, listening, tea. I really just said.

Speaker 2: 3:55

I mean the failure. The failure one was huge because I'm a drama correctly when he's virgin galactic exploded and he killed a crew dinner.

Speaker 1: 4:05

Was it him, I couldn't tell him or bezels is a weird competition.

Speaker 1: 4:09

The time just a slight tangent. The time we're living in, where billionaires are just showing their dicks, is fucking weird as hell. Him and bezels were both racing rocket ships and suck and fucking musk are like oh yeah, we'll literally fight in a Roman Roman Coliseum, which is hilarious if you go back, because all I see even though I know what I'm seeing like suckers gone ripped and he's like doing proper fights. But I'm seeing like two guys to nerds who like really like fancy fighting, like yeah, let's take this to the, to the stage. And if this was like back in school days they probably have wooden sticks and chill to be like get back, no, and it'd be the most fragile fight. It's about to be a uproar like proper, proper, which I'm expecting to. Like I was tempted to get tickets but I'm just like, oh, the billionaires are gonna have a cage match, basically.

Speaker 2: 5:00

May even even be like sticks and shield. It would be like Dungeon and Dragons.

Speaker 1: 5:13

I've heard a lot of differences, like men, which is female, billionaires, and, of course, this it wasn't Fred's right, this was before Fred's. Maybe it is about Fred's. Is this just a marketing campaign that they agreed on? Everything's marketing? If I look too hard to close to it, it's fucking wild. I don't know. But, yeah, branson. On the other hand, yeah, I'm pretty sure one, either him or I think it was Francis, I think I remember that. And then I remember when he did his flight, he just like skimmed, like it was like he skimmed space, and he was like, yeah, you did it.

Speaker 2: 6:02

But I mean like and I know you refer to it as a I don't know a dick contest, but it really is that if you look at best of this space rocket, it literally looks like a dildo.

Speaker 1: 6:14

Honestly, everything's a dick. What is it? Dick measuring contest. But it's funny because all of it like jokes included. That's what's gotten us a lot of boosts in technology, like the space race. What is that? Are you gonna get this? I'm gonna get the space first. We're gonna make a figure out how to cure cancer quickly. This bitch is looking at me with two eyes and I don't like it. It's just such a wild. But then we like make such advancements. We get to so many like new discoveries along the way. Scientists must get so excited when rich people get angry and give them carte blanche to just go go crazy, go ham, especially when the rich people are smart themselves in this case, like they're undeniably smart. It's funny that we and this funny they make products and they're like they've proven themselves to be modern day geniuses and we're like that's dumb, that's stupid as hell. What is this book of faces? I don't want to get involved.

Speaker 2: 7:15

What is this X?

Speaker 1: 7:17

Oh yeah, this man changed the whole name. I really forgot he did that. I was out the loop and then one day I kept seeing it like it's called X, like I am well, he after. Well, do you remember what he called his child? Because I don't, but I remember it was like a hard mass equation that I don't think I'd have passed in uni. So who knows?

Speaker 1: 7:40

Any case, back on topic of Mr Branson. What was he? Okay, so I know that there was a cruise, just a pivotal different story, not even about anything besides the fact, well, kind of. So I have friends who went on a cruise, this couple and one of them is an engineer, but he's an artist and he has this whole sustainability business that he's trying to run and he's got this great idea. And he was on the cruise and, lo and behold, who did he see on the cruise? But Richard Branson. And they were like crossing paths on some stairs and he took that as his opportunity to say hey, how you doing. I want to pitch a thing to you. Not in those words. It weren't, like, you know, a rapper. Hey, man, listen to my demo tape. But not only did he give him the time, he then said I heard you do records.

Speaker 1: 8:38

But he set him up with people in his business the company to talk about it and follow through it. Now, I've not caught up with that friend yet, I'll get back to them, but it was like they talk about shooting your shot. But yeah, that was. It's kind of weird Because, you know, I feel like how many things do you have to forego to maintain the steadiness to do that? You've come across an extreme billionaire who can probably make dreams come true. You're like not only am.

Speaker 1: 9:05

I, yeah, what is it? Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. Yeah, so at that point he was prepared, he stayed composed, he was like this is just another thing, and managed to shoot shots in the way that others would just maybe scream stand still. You know, they don't have anything planned for me and, yeah, I feel like that's testament to it. Now, I don't know if it goes nowhere, maybe that's a failure which isn't bad, because, like, if you take his well, him being Richard Branson's mindset, then it's a great step for you to get back off, dust yourself off and pull from, but otherwise it's just a great success. And the worst case that could have happened there was he didn't do it and lived with regret, right, exactly. So it's just curious to me. It's interesting, but that's why it's funny with Branson.

Speaker 2: 9:53

And I think people fear more. I know I do as well, Like people fear more rejection than or how can I say this? Like, yeah, they fear rejection, right? So just the thought of being rejected is what stops them from doing the act, Whereas if you actually did it, there's a possibility 50-50 possibility, depending on your preparation that things would go right. But things could go wrong. But also, if they go wrong, they're probably not even going to remember you.

Speaker 1: 10:20

Yeah, but what makes me well? This feels like to me. So have you ever had those kids that come with those little pricks that you have to inject your finger with to get blood out?

Speaker 1: 10:32

Oh yeah, I had that yeah same Timest pinch, done it many times, super tiny pinch. However, for me it's such a heavy hurdle. I've got better with time, but I will never forget the first few took me forever. I'd go in the bathroom. I'd be like I'd be there for ages. I was like, ah, let me shower, maybe I need to make this Now. I need to dry, naturally, Okay, and I'm just holding my finger, pushing it, trying to get as close to this thing as possible, just to get a tiny prick that will open it up and let me get blood out. I hate it so passionately.

Speaker 2: 11:04

Oh, you're just like that, holding it in place.

Speaker 1: 11:06

You're like, okay, I want to do it, I want to do it, I want to do it Exactly, literally, just all I need to do is push harder, nope, and you just want it to do it itself. Maybe they should make an auto one, so you don't get a choice. They probably have that, but it's just funny, just holding like maybe I'll do it. And that's what it feels like to me when you take something so small and make it the biggest thing, like there's opportunities like this and you're like, nah, I can't, it's too big. And it's like, literally, it's just a prick.

Speaker 1: 11:34

Like once you've done that, you could solve so much. You could find out your history, your ancestry, you could find out what's right with you, you could resolve whatever issues you're having, you could give a blood test, whatever it is. All of that, all that's holding you back is a little. It's pressure, literally a slight pressure that could help you out. And that's what comes to mind when you're thinking. I was like that is the exact feeling where you're just, just like you said, pushing down but not right, like getting to the point where it will just give you a small uneasiness and it heals by itself. It gives you plasters, but you don't even really. Okay, I'm not a doctor, but me personally, I don't really need the plasters, because it closes up immediately.

Speaker 2: 12:14

You got a booboo man. You just got a booboo. You got a plaster.

Speaker 1: 12:18

Slime, take care of it. But it's true, I think. Do you think you're an adrenaline junkie in any way?

Speaker 2: 12:27

I don't think so no.

Speaker 1: 12:29

Do you think that holds you back? Maybe I've never considered the two or likened the two, but I don't think everyone who's like successful is an adrenaline junkie. But I do feel like you know there's risk. Actually, there's a film I've started which is old Uncut Gems, adam Sandler. He's been doing these films of recent where he's playing a much more serious roles, and this is one of them, but in the beginning of it spoiler alert he basically he owes 100K. He like goes into a place and still bets like 24K Because he's like I've got to win. And it's like the opposite.

Speaker 1: 13:08

There's people who's risk averse and there's people who just don't care a risk, like took a watch, no, took a took like some jewelry from someone very famous and immediately went and pawned it, thinking he can get his money back, like. There's just so many aspects that are just wild to me which like okay, some of them are just you know you're not being what's the word smart, or you know you're not having a plan or whatever, but it's still there's that mentality because you're risk big, you win big, basically, and so I wonder if that's a mindset as well where it comes to business, that some people have that work out for them, like you know about one way and two way doors. So we introduce a lot of concepts that make us feel a bit more relaxed, and I think that comes back to like Richard Ranson's one about you know risk but have a. It's not a backup. I think he called it like a safety net, something that you can fall on and it doesn't need to be too high. So what was the one about where he did? Oh, I'm trying to think of what he does. He's launched a venture, but he already had something as a backup to it. Give me a moment, I'm actually going to look this up. It was well, I think you told me about it, yeah, so, yeah, I was protecting the downside. So when, yeah, I think, we talked about Virgin Atlantic, he'd already made a deal with Boeing. So when he started his flights flight company, he'd already made a deal with Boeing.

Speaker 1: 14:45

So to return the plane if the business didn't work out, was he the person who, like, rented a plane, yeah, and he was like, if, in case, this doesn't go anywhere, I can return it. And now Virgin Airlines is like that and British Airways are like, so same same to me. Anyway, there's so many others, but Virgin Airlines seems very much in place as a standard flight operator and whereas British Airways is British Airways, virgin is just, you know, international, it's global. They used to be in Nigeria just doing between two areas within Nigeria, like mobile areas within Nigeria. It wasn't like he tried to fly out there, was that as well. But I was like there's this and there's this, and so it's like yeah he takes the risks.

Speaker 2: 15:30

The Virgin Airways one is really interesting because that literally started from him taking a flight either I think it's from Puerto Rico, trying to get back to England, and his flight got canceled. And instead of throwing out a tantrum and instead of like throwing a hissy fit around the situation which is what all other customers were doing he went and chartered a plane and then he sold tickets to every single passenger that was supposed to be on the canceled flight plane and as a joke, he just put on a sign saying welcome to Virgin Airways or something along those lines, and people just bought the ticket. They flew. And then someone went up to me and said you know what? This airline isn't too bad. Just polish up a little bit, give better meals and I think you'll be in business. And that's literally what it did. He polished up, it gave like fancy red uniform to everyone that worked in Virgin and it became a huge success. From that one charter plane I've got too many questions.

Speaker 1: 16:36

Firstly, he bought out his flight because he just wanted to do. Was it with the intention of making sure that people have to buy a different flight instead?

Speaker 2: 16:43

Well, it was with the intention of getting people home, so he was actually offering a solution to a bad situation.

Speaker 1: 16:48

It's like you can come on this flight but you'll have to pay for the ticket. And then when he did that, someone did the you know, gave you some input and he took it the Michael Jordan way of. I took it personally. He was like, oh, you say I should polish this up, I'll polish this up, I'll make a whole industry out of it. That's wild and it's. It's crazy. And honestly I do like I have a secret passion for like off the cuff statements that make a good, positive impact. I'll say positive because some people try and use it for, you know, powers for evil. But I do like that where someone's like this is really good, you know, just if you just did a few things different, it'll be really business. And he's like" Not only is that facts, but I'll do exactly that. Do you know what? The color, the reason why Virgin and Red like match so much, like what's that about?

Speaker 2: 17:40

I've got no idea. I've got no idea.

Speaker 1: 17:41

That's why I'm just expecting you're the Virgin Guru.

Speaker 2: 17:44

No, I've got no idea. I'm sure Red is somewhere, but I've got no idea.

Speaker 1: 17:49

Do you miss Virgin Cola? Neither do I.

Speaker 2: 17:55

It was the best color in the world, mate.

Speaker 1: 17:58

But no, yeah, I think it's the lives of billionaires. So there's I don't know if he has a film. There is Air and there is Tetris. Have you watched either of them? Because I've not yet.

Speaker 1: 18:09

Nope, okay, but if you read what's it called Fill Night, what is it? The Mikey story, yeah, shoe dog Shoe dog, that's the one which I think is depicted potentially in Air. So I'm going to check it out and see if it's like it. We should definitely. This is just behind the scenes at this point. I don't care. We should do an episode on. I think we have it lined up right.

Speaker 2: 18:35

Yeah, at some point this year we're doing shoe dog, I think.

Speaker 1: 18:38

I think that's going to be super interesting to listen to because it's I like that book a lot, especially to hear he was. So I'll say this billionaires are not like the same. You can clearly tell this. We're talking about them racing. Okay, yeah, they will want to go to space or they want to start their airlines.

Speaker 1: 18:54

I'll tell you, though, not even billionaires. This is because there's so many. These are just the ones in the limelight, right, they're specific ones that stand out in the limelight, and some want to fight and some, but they're not the same. And so, hearing the Mikey one, where he's like he didn't like the name, he didn't like the like, the bless you, bless you, the image and stuff, and still he accepted it. You know that disagreeing commit piece where it's like, yeah, I don't want this, I don't want that, okay, and he. Well, look up Nike now. It took me so many years to say Nike. By the way, uk really teach us to say like it's hard to have it to change. But yeah, it's a interesting, I guess, difference, and I think you can tell Branson's different from them, right.

Speaker 2: 19:42

Yeah, that's true, and what's interesting about Nike, though, is that the the Nike founder, miss Knight, forgot his first name yeah, phil Knight. He actually came from a privileged background, so that's that's what is interesting about it. It kind of always goes back to what's your unfair advantage, and I think his unfair advantage was that he came from a privileged background. He was actually able to go traveling in between I think, some sort of a gap here between school and and getting a first job, so it's always interesting to see those, those different perspectives.

Speaker 1: 20:24

I almost forgot that he did come from a privileged background.

Speaker 1: 20:27

But it also makes me remember that part of your unfair advantage might be the personality that you are, maybe your environment or your family or whatever you're shaped into, because, again, you could have that privilege go take a gap year, but then how you then go about it and what you do next and that passion that you have because of it or like the way that.

Speaker 1: 20:53

That's why I even asked you the question of the what's that thing, adrenaline junkie, because that in this context, in this specific context of the Virgin way, seems like an unfair advantage. Having that as your you know what I mean as that you're driving factor, and then also having the blanket to fell, like hey, bo, and I'm gonna negotiate the contract so good that I get to get the plane back if this fails. I've had color happen. I don't want it again. Like, yeah, that's an unfair advantage and I'm wondering like there's ways or other ones that we don't see. I do like uncovering them, though, because I wouldn't assume that you just think being a adrenaline junkie works out if you want to be like a I don't know paraglider, bungee jumper you know people like that, but no, it could work in all aspects of life.

Speaker 2: 21:43

But anyway, I've just been eating that cabbage like this, you'd not mention anything.

Speaker 1: 21:47

Yeah, because you're a rabbit and you're weird, so I just expected it from you. I figured your bunny ears were going to pop out at any point. But why are you eating cabbage? Is this just your habit?

Speaker 2: 22:04

Yeah, yeah, I was hungry man. There was an early thing in the fridge.

Speaker 1: 22:08

That's our cue, so I'm going to close whatever this episode's called, after hours or whatever. I'll figure out a name at some point. But yeah, if you're still here with us and you haven't got bored listening, thank you. Find us on social medias. I've still been your host, mark Jason.

Speaker 2: 22:24

Oh, and I've been your co-host for the very the bunny to my sir. And if you wonder why I call myself, that is because I was eating cabbage running from the marketplace recording. Oh good, lord until next time and going. This is cabbage from my garden, from our allotment. This is homegrown cabbage.

Speaker 1: 22:42

Okay. So there's two things about that I wanted to like we're gonna keep this rolling, purely based on two things. Firstly, I was like, oh, that's cool, it's your own cabbage. But then I saw what you were eating from a clear glass tray, uh, with plastic over it, which means you literally took out a home. I thought you had like which is weirder to me, it was fine if you just had the bowl of cabbage and you were just peeling it off and eating that. I was like, yeah, he was starving, he's weird. Fine, but instead you have shredded, cut down cabbage, made for the explicit purpose of just being consumed by you and your rabbit life. Oh, you're right, it was shit. I, I literally thought you're feeling it. I'm like that noise was him just bunching them together in tune, jesus Christ. Okay, we asked no questions. He'll tell no lies. Okay, that's been us. Bye, bye.