Learn to raise capital by any means necessary. That's your primary job as an entrepreneur. You must continually raise capital from family and friends, banks, suppliers, customers and investors.

Never to be frightened of taking risks and always follow your instincts!

We [Virgin Group] have been successful not by wasting time scrutinising our competitors but by looking at ourselves from the point of view of our customers do and seeking feedback through listening.

However tight things are, you still need to have the big picture at the forefront of your mind.

Early on in your career, find someone better than yourself to run the business on a day-to-day basis. Remove yourself, maybe even from the building, and from the nitty-gritty. That way, you're going to be able to see the bigger picture and think of new areas to go into.

Past failures unlock future successes

With the casino and the beds, our passengers will have at least two ways to get lucky on one of our flights.