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“While Finding My Virginity is about my life, the underlying theme is about how you should never lose the thrill of trying something new for the first time. I’m always learning new things in business and in life and have revealed how I’ve made a success (and occasionally a mess) of things over the past 20 years.” - Sir Richard Branson, Founder at Virgin Group Photo courtesy of Virgin.com

Virgin Group - October 10, 2017 and LinkedIn Pulse - October 6, 2017

By Sir Richard Branson
Founder at Virgin Group

My new autobiography, Finding My Virginity, is out now.

So much has happened over the past 20 years and I’ve loved every minute of it – I hope you enjoy reading it too.

Here's an extract from the prologue:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Finding-My-Virginity-New-Autobiography/dp/0753556111

Photo courtesy of Virgin Books

You can only lose your virginity once.
But in every aspect of my life – building businesses, raising my family, embarking upon adventures – I try to do things for the first time every day.

When I first published Losing My Virginity, in 1998, I wasn’t at all prepared for the reaction.

I expected the business community, some newspaper reviewers and a few autobiography readers to pick it up, but before I knew it the book had taken off.

Photo courtesy of Virgin Books

Losing My Virginity is still the most common object handed to me (except a mobile for a selfie), usually by a person with a pen and a smile.

I have written short updates to my autobiography over the years, but so much has happened in the past two decades that I realised I needed to write a sequel.

“This is a very personal book, and I hope that makes it both useful and enjoyable to readers. When I released Losing My Virginity, a journalist said I had written an exposé on myself – well, that’s a great description for Finding My Virginity too.”
- Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group.
Photo courtesy of Sir Richard Branson

I was pondering the right time to do this when I came across my old notes for Student magazine’s launch in the archive.

I rubbed the dust away to double-check the date – the notes really were from 1967.

What better way to mark fifty years since I started out in business than by sharing everything that has happened and all I have learned over the decades?

This book highlights incidents from my early days, but it concentrates on the past twenty years, the time I have been finding my virginity all over again.

“This is a very personal book, and I hope that makes it both useful and enjoyable to readers. When I released Losing My Virginity, a journalist said I had written an exposé on myself – well, that’s a great description for Finding My Virginity too.”
- Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group.
Photo courtesy of Sir Richard Branson

Finding My Virginity kicks on from where Losing My Virginity left off, at the dawn of the new millennium.

By 1999 people thought we had done everything and there was nowhere else left for us to expand, no new challenges for me to embark upon.

But being involved in running a company like Virgin is never a question of sitting back, it’s about constant reinvention as the world changes, and as do I.

This is the story of the last two decades, told through one of the most dynamic brands in the world.

Photo courtesy of Virgin.com

My home has moved from a houseboat to a paradise island, while my company has grown from a UK business to a global brand.

My dream of flying private citizens to space has gone from a childhood fantasy to the brink of reality, and my focus has shifted from battling bigger rivals to changing business for good.

In this time I’ve experienced joy, heartbreak, hurri¬canes, business (and other) highs, grief, records, doubt and my toughest ever crisis.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride and I have no intention of getting off any time soon.

Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group.
Photo courtesy of Sir Richard Branson / Image by John Armstrong Photography

Fifteen years after Losing My Virginity’s publication, Zach Galifinakis asked me:
‘Is your book a play on the name of your company, or the first time you had sex?’
‘Both,’ I answered.

This time around, I considered giving my book an even more risqué title.
That it was factually accurate only made it more tempting.

My alternative name for the book you are reading?

Losing My Virginity: The Second Entry.

I also considered Virginity Lost, a nod to the title of John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost, but it felt too negative.

I view life as one big adventure; I’m always learning, and finding new things to try and challenges to overcome.

I’m still finding my virginity every day.

But now that I am a grand-dude to four wonderful grandchil¬dren – Etta, Artie, Eva-Deia and Bluey – I look at my life in a new way.

Whether you are running a company or simply living your life, hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and put a smile on your face along the way.

A reviewer described Losing My Virginity as the first autobiography in which the author had written an exposé of himself.

I hope Finding My Virginity will be similar.

If your life is one long success story it won’t make for a good read.

What’s more, you’re most likely a liar.

We all have ups and downs, trials and tribula¬tions, failures and triumphs: we just hope to come out stronger on the other side.

Photo courtesy of Sir Richard Branson / LinkedIn

The late Steve Jobs, the entrepreneur I most admire, said:
‘My favourite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.’

That thought has been on my mind as I write this book, thinking back to all the good times and tough times behind me, and looking forward with wonder at what lies ahead.

I’ve always lived every day as if it’s my last, fiercely loving my family and friends and trying to make a positive difference.

We only get one life, and this is mine.

I hope you enjoy finding out how I did it for the first time – all over again.

Photo courtesy of Virgin.com

You can order Finding My Virginity here and it would be wonderful if you feel inspired to share your thoughts – what have you done recently for the first time?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Finding-My-Virginity-New-Autobiography/dp/0753556111

Richard Branson

Sources:

Virgin Group

https://www.virgin.com/person/richard-branson

LinkedIn Pulse

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/

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