Protect your reputation. Don't be afraid of making mistakes.

It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside.

And ever since then [I] have set up businesses basically out of frustration. I mean, I set up Virgin Atlantic with one second-hand 747 because I hated the experience of flying on other people's airlines. And I thought, you know, I could try to create the kind of airline that I'd like to fly on. And people liked it.

I set up this magazine called Student when I was 16, and I didn't do it to make money - I did it because I wanted to edit a magazine. There wasn't a national magazine run by students, for students. I didn't like the way I was being taught at school. I didn't like what was going on in the world, and I wanted to put it right.

I have learnt so much over my 40 years of business which would have been valuable to me when I was younger.

Flowers flourish when they're watered, and shrivel up when they're not. People are no different. The best leaders are the ones who look for the best in people.

What matters is working with a few close friends, people you respect, knowing that if times did turn bad these people would hold together.