理查德·布蘭森——“富貴險中求”

Ｊｏｎａｔｈａｎ?。樱簦澹欤欤椋睿?/p>

There are only a handful of billionaires that are easily nameable by people without resorting to Google or some other fount of information. Try naming just ten of the top 50 richest people in the world and you will find it surprisingly difficult. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are Americans who quickly spring to mind, but Britain also has its own famous billionaire in the form of Richard Branson.

若不借助于谷歌或其他信息渠道,人們能叫得出名字的億萬富翁寥寥無幾。你會發現,要說出全世界最富有的50人當中的前10名竟然十分困難。比爾?蓋茨和沃倫?巴菲特這兩位美國人會馬上映入你的腦海,但英國也有其出名的億萬富翁,理查德?布蘭森就是其中之一。

Branson like his peers, has that all important ability to see where there is a gap in the market and capitalise on it. Born in 1950, his entrepreneurial spirit was first raised at the tender age of 16, when he founded a magazine called Student. The difficulty in keeping it running helped him to get his first serious taste of business and was no doubt confidence boosting. As a young man with dyslexia and poor academic results, who had recently dropped out of high school, he was not expected to do much with his life. In 1970 he set about proving everyone wrong and started up a mail order business selling records and a short while later opened his first record store on Oxford Street in London, called 'Virgin'. You've probably heard of this brand before, it's hard to miss these days. In classic entrepreneurial style, Branson had seen a gap in the market and followed a simple but effective business model - provide the best service, at the lowest price.

跟其他億萬富翁一樣,布蘭森有一種很厲害的本事,可以發現市場上哪里有缺口,并從中獲利。布蘭森出生于1950年,早在16歲那年,他創辦了一份名為《學生》的雜志,企業家精神初露端倪。經營雜志的困難使他第一次真正體驗到經商的滋味,但他的信心因此倍增。由于患有閱讀障礙癥,且學習成績差,他中學都沒有讀完,別人都認為他這一生都不會有什么成就。1970年,他開始證明他們是錯的,他成立了一家唱片郵購公司,稍后在倫敦牛津街開了自己的第一家唱片店,名為“維珍”。你可能已經對這個品牌有所耳聞,想不知道都難。布蘭森本著傳統企業家的作風,發現了市場上的缺口,奉行著簡單而有效的經營模式——以最低的價格提供最好的服務。

From selling records he expanded his operations into actually signing and recording artists. Building a recording studio under his 'Virgin' brand in 1972, his timing was perfect yet again. His first signing, Mike Oldfield, proved to be a huge success, with his album Tubular Bells, staying in the charts for 274 weeks. Later he would sign the Sex Pistols and the Rolling Stones; bands that other labels felt were too hot to touch.

布蘭森從賣唱片起家,之后又開始同藝人簽約,并錄制唱片。1972年,他開辦了一家名為“維珍”的錄音室,這次他又把握住了時機。他簽約的第一位藝人是麥克?歐菲爾德,首張專輯《管鐘》在榜停留長達274周之久,取得了巨大成功。之后,他又簽下了性槍手樂隊和滾石樂隊,這些樂隊由于太紅,其他唱片公司都不敢碰。

Since those early days, he's slowly extended Virgin's reach around the world with his launching of 'Virgin Atlantic', 'Virgin Mobile', 'Virgin Internet', and of course, 'Virgin Radio' whose syndication to countries far and wide, makes it instantly recognisable. His largest new endeavour is, 'Virgin Galactic' - Fancy a trip to Space? Yes, I do mean Outer-Space! At a relatively cheap $200,000 dollars, the first fully commercial enterprise will take space-tourists for a brief few minutes beyond our planet's atmosphere on board Space Ship One.

以上都是他早年的事,之后他逐漸擴張“維珍”的版圖,推出了“維珍航空”、“維珍移動”、“維珍網絡”,當然,還有“維珍廣播”,維珍集團的足跡遍布全世界許多國家和地區,為人們耳熟能詳。最近他的最大手筆是“維珍銀河公司”——想進行太空旅行嗎?沒錯,我指的是外太空!這是第一個商業性太空旅行計劃,游客只需花20萬美元,就可以乘坐太空飛機在幾分鐘之內離開我們星球的大氣層。

As the self styled 'Rebel Billionaire', Branson works hard at his public image of being an adventurer; this slightly wild, carefree spirit constantly seeking new goals. To be fair, while this guarantees him huge free publicity, it is not all just image. You don't seek to circumnavigate the world in a high altitude balloon, risking your very life, if you just want publicity. He's had to be saved at least four times by helicopter when his escapades have gone wrong. That's the thing about Branson, he continuously refuses to conform to how most people expect a billionaire business man, running an empire, who is also extremely hands on, should act. Naturally, he surrounds himself with his friends and family, many of whom are his trusted advisors, but it's his refusal to sacrifice his personal enjoyment in life for this work that really stands out. In fact he seems to do the exact opposite of most other workaholics and lets his personal life and desires, dictate what work or business he chooses to embrace. Whatever fascinates him he researches and then jumps straight in, feet first with a huge splash.

布蘭森自稱為“叛逆的億萬富翁”,他一直努力保持著自己冒險家的形象——有著一顆放蕩不羈、無憂無慮的心,不停地尋找新的目標。說句公道話,雖然這給他帶去了大量的免費宣傳,但這不只是形象問題。如果你僅僅是為了宣傳,就不會冒著生命危險,乘坐高空熱氣球環游世界。由于遇到事故,他曾經至少有四次被直升機救回來。這就是布蘭森,坐擁億萬財富、經營著一個商業帝國,但這樣的一個實干家總是與別人心目中的此類人物有很大不同。他喜歡跟朋友和家人在一起,許多人還是他信賴的顧問,但他拒絕因為工作而犧牲自己個人的快樂,這也是他與眾不同之處。其實,他的做法總是與大多數工作狂不一樣,他讓自己的人生和渴望決定自己想做什么工作,經營怎樣的生意。無論是什么,只要自己感興趣,他就一頭扎進去,加以鉆研,但總會取得很大影響。

In business, as well as in his personal life, he loves a challenge. It is when there are only a few big competitors on the field, then he is invariable at his best. He knows that the average corporation's actions are mostly dictated by their drive for profits, especially publicly traded entities and that they all too often cut corners. Branson's companies being mostly private, gives him a huge advantage, as profits are not as important in the short-term. For Branson, money really does seem to be a secondary objective. As long as a company is slightly profitable or simple breaks even, then that's fine as long as it does what he wants it to do. Being the best, not the most profitable is his aim. This is bound to give his investment partners a headache now and again.

無論是在商業上,還是在其個人生活中,他都喜歡挑戰。即使一個領域中只有幾個大的競爭者,他也一定要做到最好。他知道,公司的行為通常都是以盈利為目的,因此會偷工減料,尤其是上市公司。布蘭森的公司大多沒有上市,這給了他巨大的優勢,因為不上市便意味著短期內是否盈利不太重要。對于布蘭森來說,金錢是他的第二目標。只要公司有著薄利,或者勉強收支平衡,但按著他的想法運作就可以。他的目標是做到最好,而不是最能賺錢的。但有時這卻令投資伙伴頭疼。

Following his desires so absolutely, has meant accepting his share of failures. Virgin Cola was little threat to Coca-Cola and even Virgin Atlantic went to the brink, before becoming the success it is today. Bouncing back from his few miss-steps, appeared almost effortless, due to Virgin's diversification, he has the added safety net of having multiple different revenue streams to draw on.

由于太執拗于自己的想法,他也就得接受一些失敗。維珍可樂幾乎無法構成對可口可樂的威脅,而且維珍航空也在有今天的成就之前,一度瀕臨倒閉。他很少失敗,而且由于維珍的多樣化經營和多渠道的盈利途徑,他幾乎很輕松地就從失敗中走出來。

Not too surprising for a rebel with a dislike of authority, for all his desire to provide a fair service to the consumer and deliver a quality product, he has skirted a little too close to the law on a few occasions. His only conviction to date is for tax evasion in the 70's, when he sold records that were priced for export only, in the domestic market. His parents re-mortgaged their home to cover the resulting costs, allowing him to continue with his 'Virgin' start-up. Probable the best business decision ever made in the Branson family! More recently in 2006 'Virgin Atlantic' was involved in discussions with 'British Airways', to fix prices illegally. Virgin Atlantic tipped off the authorities about this themselves and notoriously escaped with only a warning, whilst BA their biggest competitor was fined 271 million pounds. Such actions only added to his roguish persona, though how much he had to do with the affair is unknowable.

也難怪,由于他叛逆,不喜歡權勢,希望為消費者提供滿意的服務,生產優質產品,有時便打了法律的擦邊球。到目前為止,他只在上世紀70年代因逃稅被定罪,當時他在國內銷售僅供出口的唱片。他父母將家里的房子作為抵押來償還罰款,讓他繼續經營“維珍”。這應該是布蘭森一家最明智的商業決定。前不久,在2006年,“維珍航空”同“英國航空公司”進行談判,違法操縱價格。維珍航空將此事透露給了當局,只受到了警告的處分,而其最大的競爭對手英國航空公司卻被罰款2.71億英鎊。雖然沒人知道布蘭森與此事有多大的聯系,但諸如此類的行為使布蘭森多了幾分痞氣。

Branson once said, 'My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them ... from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it.'

布蘭森曾經說:“我生活的興趣源于為自己定下極高且看似無法實現的挑戰,然后努力征服它……想活出人生的極致,我必須努力去做?！?/p>

When he finally leaves this mortal coil, hopefully far off in the future, no one will ever claim that Sir Richard Branson did not live his life to its fullest.

很久之后,當他離開人世的時候,不會有人說理查德?布蘭森爵士沒有活出人生的極致。