Screw It, Let’s Do It

In Screw It, Let’s Do It, the Virgin Group founder Richard Branson shares all the important lessons, good advice and inspirational adages that have helped him along the road to success.

‘Screw It, Let’s Do It’ is one of Branson’s favourite sayings.

Whenever anyone asks Branson how they can make money, he always tells them the same thing: ‘There is no secret, and there are no rules to follow in business. You just have to work hard. Believe that you can do it and have fun!’

From starting a student magazine to forming a chain of record stores and launching an airline, Branson managed to establish the Virgin Group that we all know today.

Screw It, Let’s Do It comprises the secrets of Branson’s success and ideas that won’t only help you achieve your individual goals. In this book, Branson shares his aspirations to lead the way in a more holistic approach to business. In Screw It, Let’s Do It, Branson will also be looking forwards to the future, where he intends to expand his business to the next level, venturing into new and exciting areas.

How It Started: Student Magazine

When Richard Branson was aged 15 in school, he started Student magazine with his schoolmate Jonny Gems. He did his sums with care, working out how much it would cost for paper and ink to print the first batch of copies for his first edition. Then he worked out the income he would need to generate from selling advertising space.

Branson and Gems ended up generating €8,000 in ad revenue on the first edition. After two years of writing to famous celebrities without any replies, they finally managed to secure interviews with some of the biggest names in music—like John Lennon and Mick Jagger. Aside from the fun side of celebrities popping into their basement for interviews, Student magazine also had a serious side. They sent their own freelance reporters to cover big issues like the Vietnam War or the famine in Nigeria. Once the magazine had built up some momentum, they expanded their operations and branched out to selling cut-priced records by mail order.

However, a mail strike stopped their entire business. Branson and Gems had to find a way around it, so they persuaded an old man with a shoe shop into letting them rent the back half of his shop off them to turn it into a record store. They made it a cool place for young people to come and listen to (and buy) music. Soon enough, they outgrew the back of the shoe shop, and they expanded to a second store, then a third. Before they knew it, they had a store in almost every town, and Branson wasn’t even 20 years old yet.

Branson’s Lessons:

• Believe it can be done
• Have goals
• Live life to the full
• Never give up
• Prepare well
• Have faith in yourself
• Help each other

Have Fun

First Money Making Scheme

When Branson was 9 years old, he came up with the idea of growing Christmas trees and selling them. The seeds were cheap and he just had to wait until they grew into trees before selling them at a ridiculous profit.

Branson’s first lesson in business was in maths and figures and projects. He was no good at school, but the sums in the real world of business made sense to him. Branson and his mate planted 400 seeds in the empty lot next to his house. Then all they had to do was wait 18 months for the trees to grow. He bought a bag of seeds for €5 and if he sold them all for €2 each, he’d make €795 profit. That’s a 16,000% ROI!

His second lesson in business was that money doesn’t grow on trees! As soon as a seedling popped up, a rabbit would come long to eat it. It wasn’t looking like they were going to have any trees left at this rate. The Christmas trees plan wasn’t going to work out, so the boys pivoted. His third lesson in business was to plan well, but be flexible. They got their revenge by shooting the rabbits! Then they took the rabbits to the butcher and sold them for a few cents each. In the end, they got their money back plus a tiny bit of profit.

Virgin Airlines

Fast forward to 1977—Branson had started Virgin Records and gone on a signing spree. He’d been travelling the world, looking for hidden gems and unsigned talents on a budget. By the end of his trip, he was exhausted and needed a break, so he planned a trip to Puerto Rico. However, when he got to the airport they found that his flight had been cancelled.no one was doing anything, so Branson took action. he chartered a small private 50-seat plane for $2,000 then he wrote up a sign: ‘Virgin Airways—Single Flight to Puerto Rico: $39′

Branson had never chartered a plane before, but he saw an opportunity and took action to seize it. Just like he had done with signing musicians from around the globe, he was always on the lookout for opportunities.

And, as you know today, Virgin Airlines was a success. When the book was written, they were flying to 30 destinations around the world. they’d also splintered off divisions like Virgin Australia, Virgin Europe and Virgin Nigeria. they were also in the works with Virgin America.

Branson’s Lessons:

• Have Fun, Work Hard and the Money Will Come
• Don’t waste time and grab your chances
• Have a positive outlook on life
• When it’s not fun, move on!

Have Respect

One of the best lessons Branson learned was when he did something illegal.

Virgin was known for selling cool, cut-price records and they got a large order from Belgium. If you exported records to Belgium, you didn’t have to pay tax on them. So Branson bought a heap of tax-free records direct from the record companies and hired a van to take them over the channel on a ferry.

His plan was to land in France before driving up to Belgium. Branson didn’t know that in France you had to pay tax even though you were just passing through. Since he didn’t want to pay the tax, he got on the next ferry and returned to England. As he was driving back to London, it dawned on him that he now had a van of tax-free records— he even had a customs stamp to prove it. he realised that he could still sell them in his Virgin stores and charge the amount including tax. He ended up making an extra €5,000 on those tax-free records (more than he would’ve made from selling them to Belgium anyway).

Once he got away with selling the first vanload, he figured he could do it again.

However, Branson didn’t know that he was being watched. The cops found the illegal records on a raid and Branson was thrown in prison. As he lay on the bare plastic mattress in the cell that night, Branson vowed he would never do anything like that again.

His lesson to anyone starting a business: ‘Be fair in all your dealings. Aim to win, but don’t cheat.’ This rule extends to your personal life as well. Never do anything if it means you can’t sleep at night.

Stand On Your Own Feet

By 1986, Virgin had become one of Britain’s largest private companies with 4,000 staff and a year-on-year increase in sales of 60%. Branson’s advisors convinced him that going public would bring in more cash and expand the business. When Virgin officially went public, 70,000 people signed up for the share offer by mail.

Before long, Branson hated the life of a public company. Instead of having a casual meeting with his partners on a houseboat to discuss who to sign, he had to submit requests to the board of directors who would meet at the end of every month.  Instead of being on the cutting edge and signing an up-and-coming talent, he had to wait 4 weeks for the board meeting. By then, one of their rivals had already snapped them up. Branson had always made quick decisions and relied on his instinct, but now he was stifled.

The company doubled their profits in the first year, but after that, sales started to slip. Then there was a stock market crash and Virgin shares dropped hard. For the first time in this business life, Branson felt like he wasn’t standing on his own two feet. He’d lost control and he was getting depressed. Branson made a decision that he would buy back all of the shares and take the company private again. He personally borrowed €182M for the share buyback. It was a massive expense, but he said it was worth it to keep his good name and to get back his freedom.

Applying Lessons From Screw It, Let’s Do It In Your Life

The ultimate lesson we can take from Screw It, Let’s Do It  is ‘just do it.’ The beginning is the most important part of any work. If you look ahead to the end and all the weary miles between, you might never take that first step. If you don’t make the effort you’ll never reach your goal. So take that first step. There will be many challenges. You might get knocked back, but in the end, you’ll make it. So Screw it, and let’s do it!