The Exchanges

Q You put these ads in saying, we will sell you records for a discounted rate, but how did you get the, how did you get the records? How are you actually able to buy them?

A Well, the record, the record, they're a good question. Record companies wouldn't supply us the records because we didn't have the credit. So we get, we'd advertise, we'd get people's money, and then we'd go to a local record shop and we'd bargain. Uh, you know, we'd say, look, you know, we can give you, you know, 3000 orders now. And, um, in the end, It became so successful that we had articulated lorries coming up behind this tiny little record shop in Nottingham Gate, and then they would be taking them off the lorries through the shop in, you know, through the shop into our vehicles the other side, and, and in the end, the record industry decided that they better deal with this directly and, and stop the charade.

AI assessment note: “we'd get people's money, and then we'd go to a local record shop”

Q around the world involved with Virgin Group, and so there are people who can telegraph and transmit what it means to be a Virgin brand, but, but when you have to do that, how have you been able to, to really make sure that people understand what Virgin means to you so that they can take that Idea, and that meaning, and translate it into a great product or service?

A Well, we have an advantage, and that is that because we were involved in so many different ventures around the world, um, if we Set up a new Virgin company. Um, I can, you know, pull in people from our trains company. I can pull in people from our airline company and, and they already know what it is like to have worked for a Virgin company. So, you know, for instance, we're just looking at maybe taking on Eurostar through the channel tunnel. Um, and the designer that I've got to look at designing trains that will You know, make Eurostar look like old trains, um, is the designer that created the Heathrow Clubhouse, um, in London, which, you know, has been there for many years, but anybody who flies with Virgin will talk about the Virgin Heathrow Clubhouse, and, um, she did a magnificent job there, so, you know, she'll do a magnificent job for our trains. What we're trying to create is a Completely fresh ideas with anything we do, so our team have to always go a little bit above themselves.

AI assessment note: “I can pull in people from our airline company and, and they already know”

Q When you're thinking about starting a business, where do the, uh, ideas come from?

A I mean, as I've said, I think the best businesses come out of frustration, so if you have a bad experience, you know, with, with another business somewhere in your life, and you think, you know, screw it, we could do it better than this, uh, even if you don't know much about it, just do it, you know, get in there. I mean, like many years ago, I wanted to invest some money, and somebody gave me a bit of paper, and at the bottom of the bit of paper, it said, bid offer spread, five percent. So I happened to say, what, what does that mean? And, um, he said, that means we take five percent of your money before we start investing it. You know, so I thought, screw this, I'm going to set up our own bank, and, and, um, we'll make sure that, you know, there isn't any jargon like that to hide the real charges, and we'll be a very transparent, very open bank, and Virgin Money is now, you know, the prime challenger bank in, in Britain. Um, and I didn't know, you know, my experience at banks was bank managers coming and banging on my door and trying to put us out of business. So, you know, I didn't know a lot about it, but I've found people who know a lot about it, who run it, and, um, left them get on with it.

AI assessment note: “I think the best businesses come out of frustration, so if you have a bad experience”

Q And was it, was it making money? Was it profitable? Were you, like,

A It was surviving, basically. Uh, we, we only brought out the edition when we had enough advertising to pay for the printing and the paper costs. We didn't have any financial backing at all. So I would, you know, ring up Coke and tell them that Pepsi was advertising, and then maybe get Coke, and then ring up Pepsi and try and tell them that Coke was advertising. So we did everything we could just to, you know, get enough advertising to get the magazine out. But, um, the magazine Became a vehicle for other things. So, I mean, through the magazine, I ended up setting up an advisory center for young people. You know, young people would contact the magazine with all sorts of problems. I mean, loneliness, suicidal, psychiatric, venereal disease, um, pregnancy issues, and so on. Um, so we set up a center that was, that gave free help and advice to young people. Um, and then one day, I just threw in a little advert saying, Uh, Virgin Records, 10 to 60% off any album on any label. And, um, got a big response. Uh, nobody had ever sold music at a cheaper price than the normal retail price, uh, and it was the start of Virgin.

AI assessment note: “It was surviving, basically. Uh, we, we only brought out the edition when we had enough advertising”

Q It's amazing. Um, uh, Richard, before we get to today's callers, um, I, I want to ask you a couple of questions. Um, When you started Virgin, right, and you started this record store, and you, and you, and you gave it this name, Virgin, at what point did you think, you know, this could be a brand that goes way beyond record stores?

A It's a good question. I mean, I, I've never really been interested in building companies with the money motive, and I've never really thought of myself as being a business person, um, and I never really thought of myself as building a brand. I just was having a lot of fun doing things, um, that, that I thought could make a difference, and, uh, and it sort of turned out that I think because we were enjoying what we were doing, we were Sticking our neck out, um, uh, doing it in a fun way that suddenly we had a brand that was, you know, perceived as one of the top, you know, top, maybe top 10 brands in the world. And, um, but it wasn't something that we planned. It was just something that, um, you know, happened over time.

AI assessment note: “I never really thought of myself as building a brand... wasn't something that we planned”

Q As somebody, I mean, who, who is such an important brand builder, right? What, what do you think a brand, what are some of the elements that a great brand needs to, needs to have, needs to, to develop?

A I think maybe the most important thing is that you, you must, first of all, never let people down. Um, so every new venture that Virgin's done over the years, we make sure that it, it's brand enhancing and it's better than what, what we did before. I mean, if I take our Latest venture Virgin Voyages. Uh, we've now got four beautiful cruise ships out there on the seas. You know, every single little detail the team got right. Um, it's, it's Virgin through and through. Adults only, you know, really fun experience. Um, and people who go on it get off, uh, singing its praises. And, um, so that, that then makes it that much more easy for us to then launch the next Virgin product. And, um, Will make it that much more likely that somebody who's been on a Virgin voyage will, will want to try a Virgin Atlantic plane or a Virgin Active Health Club. And so the key thing is just to make sure you're the best in your field. So if you're, if you launch a cruise company, it's got to be the best cruise company. If you launch an airline, it's got to be the best airline. Um, and, um, and you mustn't compromise at all, um, along the way.

AI assessment note: “I think maybe the most important thing is that you, you must, first of all, never let people down.”

Q And, and I guess this was around the time when you, uh, stumbled across a kind of a shady scheme?

A Well, it was, I stumbled across it by mistake. Uh, we had an order of records from Belgium, which we'd never had before. And, um, so we filled up our van and we, we drove to Belgium, but on the way there going through France, they said, have you got a carne? And, um, We had no idea what a car they was. I was about 1819 years old, and, um, they said that's a piece of paper to prove that you're going to leave them, you know, where you say you're going to leave them, and so they sent us back to England, but we still had the records in the boot of our car, um, and, you know, we got a 35% reduction because the English taxman thought that we'd exported them, so.

AI assessment note: “I stumbled across it by mistake. Uh, we had an order of records”

Q have had some very public failures. We talked about them when you were on the show back in 2017, I remember. Uh, but you, you keep trying out new ideas, new businesses, even now. And, and I can't, I imagine you will do this until the day you breathe your last breath. What, what drives you to keep, to keep at it, to keep starting new things all the time?

A You know, you only live once, and I think you, you, uh, you know, I've, I've had 55 years of building businesses, but also building not-for-profit organizations to try to tackle the problems of the world, and, you know, apart from our businesses, we have 20 global organizations that we run on a not-for-profit basis, looking at all issues from climate change through to the state of the planetary boundaries, uh, to conflict resolution issues. Um, to drug reform and so on. And it would be, I think, such a waste of a life if you, if you get, find yourself in a position where you can pick up the phone to pretty well anybody in the world and get through. And by getting through, hopefully get things done, you know, get, get change made. So I don't want to waste the position I'm in. Um, we'll, I will, I will continue working day and night most likely until I drop and want to be You know, want to be proud of, you know, what, you know, what our wonderful teams are creating, and, and I can sort of, you know, like I'm in Canada today, launching flights from Toronto to the UK, and, you know, I've just ziplined down the Niagara Falls, as you do, and it helps to have somebody who's, you know, the head of a company to be the icing on the cake. Everybody else has done all the hard work in getting the airline up and up and going, and, And getting the check-ins desk sorted, and the lounges built,…

AI assessment note: “such a waste of a life... So I don't want to waste the position I'm in.”

Q Um, you had dropped out of high school. Um, how did you, how did you have the confidence to, to, like, just do this, to start a record label? I mean, you didn't know anything about record labels. Was it just that you were young and you figured, you know, what the hell?

A If you can run one business, you can run any business. You know, people say, you know, how can somebody from the record business go into the airline business, or how can somebody from, you know, and so on. I mean, a business is an idea that's going to make other people's lives better. That's, that's all the business is. And if you've got such an idea, then find people who can help you turn that idea into a reality. Um, you know, find people who've got experience in that sector. Find people who don't have experience in that sector who can come and, you know, bring fresh ideas and shake up a particular sector and have a lot of fun at it. And that, that has been my philosophy.

AI assessment note: “If you can run one business, you can run any business.”