Your Values, Virgin and Richard Branson.

Your Values, Virgin and Richard Branson.

This month we are going to get into your Values – What makes YOU happy? What is important to you? For my part ; what a particularly buoyant month! I’ve also had time to reflect on how blessed I am to have the life I have. I do what I love, assist others to succeed, spend time with the people I care about and one of my most favourite indulgences – I get to dine out frequently in rather tasty restaurants! (Hence my health goal has not been reached yet…Im still 1.5 dress sizes above where I want to be! But I am getting there – the pool every morning IS making headway!)

It was not always like this – I did have a full on corporate job and worked extremely hard to achieve and prove myself within my companies. Due to having such strong values and not always adhering to authority, I did struggle somewhat when fixed into a corporate structure – whereas now I dip in and out, I assist corporates, individuals and small businesses so I have a more expansive view and still get the ‘big business’ buzz. You may be working in a company already and be doing well, you may want to change. Are you prepared to step up, re-evaluate your values and take the next steps to a new career or business? Or to take more calculated risks with your wealth strategy?! If you look at many of our heros who have succeeded, they had values that were so important to them it drove them to success and wealth. Not always for the money, prestige or fame – but because they wanted to and the love what they do. Life is time sensitive in this particular form so there is no point in working 10 hours a day at something you really don’t want to do. It takes courage to make the change, but in most cases, following your heart does lead to wealth.

Back in the late 90’s I fancied doing something completely different. At the time, we had a pilot called Matt living above us who was working for BMI. He seemed to have such a fabulous party, stress-free lifestyle. I thought – thats it! I should work as an air hostess for Virgin Atlantic! I can have fun, travel to exotic places, party, get paid and work for a great company! I was such a fan of Richard Branson and the Virgin Brand I figured I should just work for him. Somehow, someway. What appeals most about this billionaire is his VALUES! He values PEOPLE, TIME, MAKING A DIFFERENCE and FUN!

I was having fun in my corporate job at the time, but giving it all up to be an air hostess seemed very attractive – until I found out the salary from HR in Crawley. It was a quarter of the salary I was already on! I wasn’t exactly nineteen, I was nearing my thirties, so it was not quite the same proposition. I had a long chat with Matt and he said  I should stay where I am but just book lots of holidays away! That way I could be on the plane, have fun and party but still have four times the amount of money left at the end of the month! So I took his advice….I do wonder though what would my future have been if I HAD put that red uniform on and worked for Richard??!

I met him very briefly at a conference a few years later and managed to get one questions in ‘ Richard, If you had to give one piece of advice on how to be successful in life – what would it be? (I’d been preparing it for months!) His answer was ‘JUST DO IT, TAKE ACTION‘ Shortly afterwards, I followed his example, became an entrepreneur and started doing things ‘my way’. It worked and that first company became one of the best in its niche because ‘ we delivered!’.

Richard Branson is a fantastic example to us all, in life and in business. I adore his books and straightforward thinking. After reading one of his shorter books ‘ Screw It, Lets Do It’ for the third time, I wanted to share a few more notes from the book to inspire YOU to take action and measure up your values this month! These come from his ‘Fun’ chapter! ” I didn’t set out to be rich. The fun and the challenge in life were what I wanted – and still do. I do not deny that money is important…..we must have money to survive. I once said I only need, one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner a day. I still live by those words. I never went into business to make money – but I have found that, if I have fun the money will come. I often ask myself, is my work fun and does it make me happy? I believe that the answer to that matters m.o.re than fame or fortune. If something stops being fun, I ask why. If I can;t fix it I stop doing it!’ MARVELOUS! He didn’t actually set out to be wealthy. It came out of WHO he was as a person, he had fun and treated others with respect along the way.

Our philosophy is the same! So my challenges to YOU this month ARE:

• Are YOU still having FUN in what youfrc do? If not – can you fix it? Or do you need to stop doing it?
• Have you made time this month to reflect on how lucky YOU are in as many areas of your life that you can think of?
• How wealthy are your values? What ARE your most important values?
• Looking at some of Richard’s values – how could you apply these or your answers to the above question, to your life, company or financial decisions?

Have a fantastic month!

To your health, wealth and happiness

Amanda Steadman