Unexpected Surprises.
Originally sent exclusively to The Letter subscribers on July 27th. Want to be the first to get my personal newsletter in your inbox every Monday at 7am? Subscribe for free here.
One of the things I love about entrepreneurship, and hate in equal measure, is the unexpected surprises.
Surprises can be nice. They can also be like getting the shits, unannounced, no warning, and utterly ruinous for the rest of your day.
That's the life of the serial entrepreneur. We face more surprises than any other demographic known to man, the good ones and the damn right awful ones, and over time you learn to embrace them like making a cup of tea. We are the stoics.
This week, a good one came knocking.
My hero as a startup owner has always been Sir Richard Branson.
I devoured his book, researched everything I could about the Virgin Group, and have been vocal ever since about the positive force he's been, not just for me but for a generation of people starting out in business.
Losing My Virginity set the foundations for a lot of my thinking, and I still live by it today.
To many entrepreneurs, Branson is the entrepreneur's entrepreneur. For decades he's smashed records, lost companies, overcome adversity and failure, and had huge wins. On top of all that, he lives on his own island, bought for a pittance back when he was counting his first pubes.
So why the love-in? Because I've always wanted to meet him properly, not just bump into him, but actually sit down and talk. This week, that became a reality.
I, James Sinclair, former kids' magician from Essex, have been invited to that very island. To keynote alongside him and speak to entrepreneurs about my own business journey so far. My wife is joining me. A man who owns his own island and built a multi-billion-dollar global company is having me to stay, and for once Mrs S actually knows who I'm talking about. Rumour has it she's even a little attracted to me again.
That's the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur, summed up in one week. One day you win a contract, the next the taxman does you over, and the one after that you're off to meet your hero.
I know I get stuff done, more than most, pretty much like the readers of this newsletter. I reckon you're a stoic bunch too. We make our own luck through hard work and dogged persistence. I share my journey more openly than most people do, that's the path I've chosen, and I hope you pick up something useful from it along the way.
I can't wait to tell you all about it, share what I learn, and grab a selfie I'll cherish forever.
It shouldn't matter as much as it does, but he's a hero of mine, and he's taught me a huge amount over the decades.
Like every billionaire I've met, the more time I spend with them the clearer it becomes: they're products of right place, right time, who said yes and were prepared to give it a go, backed good models, worked hard, and had a healthy dash of idiosyncrasy to carry them through.
If you have people like that in your life, embrace them.
On Branson's wins and losses, the pattern is consistent: the wins came when he backed a good model, or a great one. The losses came when the model itself was weak.
If you want to hear everything I learn from Sir Richard and get ready for some serious growth, join me at my next Business Masterclass, two days in a castle with 200 entrepreneurs ready to make it happen.
To your continued success,
James
P.S. If you want to find out whether your own model stacks up, try my free quiz on my website. You'll get a report breaking down exactly where your business beliefs hold up and where they don't.