1. Richard Branson
Founder of Virgin Group
Instead of paying rent young Richard Branson promised foot traffic
At the age of 16 Richard convinced his parents to let him leave school in order to pursue school newspaper which he and a classmate had started together. While running the Student from a basement in London, Richard noticed that stores were not discounting records. Richard began to run ads in the Student offering records at discount prices.
The orders began to flood in and they were more lucrative than magazine subscriptions. Richard rounded up the staff of Student and recruited them to spin off a discount music business. They found an empty shop above a shoe store and persuaded the owner to let them build shelves and move in a couple of old sofas for their first store. In lieu of rent, they promised that they’d bring so much traffic that the shoe store’s business would pick up too.
“My mother drummed into me from an early age that I should not spend much time regretting the past. I try to bring that discipline to my business career. Over the years, my team and I have not let mistakes, failures or mishaps get us down. Instead, even when a venture has failed, we try to look for opportunities, to see whether we can capitalise on another gap in the market.”