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1-Page Summary of Losing My Virginity

Overview

How can one person be the driving force behind multiple companies and still find the time to break world records?

Richard Branson is a unique man. He’s an adventurer who has faced many challenges. It was his determination and fearlessness that led him to be successful in the music industry and airlines, among other things. If you think business is tedious, this book will change your mind by describing how he made it exciting and unpredictable through stories of his life experiences, such as flying into Baghdad during the Gulf War to capture British hostages from Saddam Hussein; buying an island for less than half its asking price; or ballooning across the Pacific after losing half of his fuel on day one.

Big Idea #1: Branson’s family pushed him to test his own limits, once even almost causing him to drown.

Born in 1950, Branson was pushed by his family to test the limits of possibility.

As a result, young Branson developed an adventurous spirit. He eagerly rose to challenges that life presented him with. When he was only eleven years old, his mother sent him on a fifty-mile bike ride without directions. This was meant to teach him stamina and orientation skills. And when he finally returned home the next day, instead of a hero’s welcome he chopped some logs for the vicar as punishment for being gone so long

However, this wasn’t the first time he’d been challenged. When Branson was a four-year-old child, his family went on vacation in Devon and bet him ten shillings that he couldn’t learn to swim by the end of their trip. He accepted the challenge and spent hours swimming every day. Unfortunately, when it came time for them to leave, he still couldn’t manage to stay above water while swimming.

However, he didn’t see it as the end of his journey. When he saw a river during a 12-hour car ride home, he asked his father to stop so that he could go for a swim. He jumped out of the car and tore off all of his clothes before running to the water’s edge and jumping in.

He began to sink almost immediately.

The boy kicked his legs and arms in order to swim toward the surface. As he reached the middle of the river, he saw that his family was cheering for him and so were some people who had gathered near the river bank. His aunt waved a ten shilling note at him while shouting “Good job!”

Sir Richard Branson, after a successful dive in the river, was greeted by his father with an embrace.

Big Idea #2: Branson struggled academically, and put most of his energy into his pop culture magazine.

Richard Branson was not very successful in university because of his independent attitude and dyslexia. He decided to start a magazine with another student, Jonny Gems. The magazine started as a way for them to criticize their school but instead turned into something that celebrated pop culture and current issues on campus.

It wasn’t easy to get the magazine off the ground. One of the biggest problems was that they couldn’t find advertisers for a magazine that didn’t exist yet.

Even though most companies were reluctant, Branson found a way to convince them to invest in his idea:

A man named James Burke tried to get National Westminster Bank to advertise on his show. He told them that Lloyds Bank had just taken out an advertisement, so they should do the same thing.

They had a plan, which was to make money by selling their magazine. They were successful in getting their first check for £250. Soon they gave up on school and moved into a basement in London where they edited the magazine and distributed it to more people.

Despite his dyslexia, Richard Branson was a prolific writer and editor. He put so much effort into writing for the school paper that he didn’t do well in other classes. One of his ambitions was to report on international events like the wars in Biafra and Vietnam. So he asked the Daily Mirror if they would be interested in publishing an article about him going to Vietnam as a young reporter.