Richard Branson by Jasmin P.

 

Think of the person you look up to, and it can be guaranteed that they have faced adversity in their life. Adversity can be many types of problems like disorders or hardships like a car crash or everyday work. This can affect people’s choices in a good or bad way. Those who keep trying use their adversity to overcome obstacles in their daily life. In fact, Richard Branson is one such person who faced adversity at a youthful age and then became a billionaire.

At an early age Richard Branson faced some adversity. According to biography.com in the section “Young Entrepreneur,” Richard Branson was born on July 18, 1950, in England to a barrister and a flight attendant. This middle-class family had a good chance of sprouting success. Yet, Branson struggled with dyslexia and had a tough time with education. With dyslexia making it hard to learn, he still managed to become a billionaire. Almost failing an all-boys school, he transferred to another school and dropped out at age 16. He started a youth-culture magazine that sold for $8,000 worth of advertising, which shows he could still become successful with dyslexia. Even though he has dyslexia and struggled with learning, he managed to do business dealings.

Next, Branson took a toll from an unfortunate occurrence. According to Biography.yourdictionary.com, a British postal strike forced Branson to turn his mail-order supplier to a discount record retailer. His business debt shot up to $20,000, so he devised a scam to evade tax payments of his merchandise but was caught and went to jail. The debt stressed him, so he evaded collectors to not collect more debt. It cost $45,000 to secure his freedom and $90,000 of business debts, fines and taxes owed which he did pay back. Because of his reckless actions, he was put him in jail and more debt piled on, but with time he paid everything back. Despite his reckless action putting him in adversity’s way, he succeeded in overcoming it.

Branson kept expanding his business interests. According to biography.yourdictionary.com in section “Virgin Records” and “Virgin Travel Interests,” He established Virgin Records to help a friend and then signed the Sex Pistols who had a hit and attracted multiple popular artists. With his business attracting multiple popular artists and signing contracts with companies to boost sales, was moving up in life. Branson established an international airline, but sold his Virgin Music Group for 1 billion to save Virgin Airlines. The courage that Branson had to sacrifice his Music Group for his airline in financial disaster was astounding. Over 200 Virgin Megastores worldwide and thousands of employees from different companies, including an income of 5 billion each year from the entire Virgin Group, were at stake. With his troubles he was still determined to succeed. His courage to sacrifice the Music Group brought him to billionaire status.

To sum it up ,Richard Branson has had a rough and successful business. His dyslexia made it hard to learn and he still made a successful magazine when he was young. He changed his business during the postal strike, went to jail and paid a huge debt. He then sold his music group for his airline and soon became a billionaire. Richard Branson is an amazing entrepreneur and thrill-seeker who overcame many obstacles in his business life.