Just Imagine… You and Sir Richard Branson on a Flight Together!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
This is exactly what happened to one lucky passenger, Jason Murphy, who found himself sitting in the most coveted seat on a plane, 1A.
As you’ll read in a moment, Jason was asked to move over and make way for a VIP passenger, and little did Jason know at the time, that he was to share his journey with hyper-successful, billionaire-entrepreneur - Sir Richard Branson.
Jason, who was shortly to start a new business venture in Australia, could not have had a better travelling companion who could give him the benefit of his own remarkable business career, and fill Jason with encouragement and advice as he prepared to start his new venture.
Here is Jason’s own account of that now infamous flight.
This is the story as I recall it…
I had looked at a failed business in Australia after spending many years working in the UK. I totally believed that it was not the business that had failed, but the people who had failed the business. They simply did not have the right ‘mindset’ at the top level.
At the time, I was travelling around Australia and on my way to Adalaide to relaunch the failed company and give it a new focus. I’m quite tall (over 6 ft), so asked at the check-in desk for some extra leg room, and was delighted when I was given seat 1A.
I’d only just sat down when the stewardess approached me and asked if I could move seats. She explained that there had been a mistake. Seat 1C was still available, so I asked if I could move there, which she said would be OK. I moved up two seats, and was happy to still have the extra leg room. We were just about to take off, and I remember having that smug feeling that I’d got the whole row to myself!
With seconds left before the stewardess closed the door, a familiar looking man boarded the plane and sat down in the seat I’d just given up. I thought to myself, ‘What makes you so special?’, but when I took another look, I realised that it was none other than Sir Richard Branson, one of the owners of the airline!
Once I had caught my breath, I wondered what on earth I would talk to him about, if indeed he would even want to talk to the likes of me!
Although Australians are not best known for their love of ‘British poms’, I was amazed when the whole plane of Australians cheered and clapped as they noticed Richard Branson had boarded.
I now know why. He is a tremendously confident and warm guy, who was sincerely interested in my own business and ambitions. We chatted during the flight as if we had known each other all our lives. I appreciated the respect he gave me.
I’ll remember this chance encounter as one of the most inspirational and pivitol events in my life. From this day forward, I decided that whoever I meet with, I would treat them with the same respect the Richard Branson had given me. Regardless of whether you are the rubish collector or the Chairman of the Board company, everybody in the company needs to know that THEY are all important.
With this new mindset firmly in place, we’ve turned a failed business into a successful one, and one which is on schedule to invoice some $25m (10m) in the coming year. Our business is called Penny Miller Pty Ltd and we sell household products throughout Australia.
We have, in the last month, launched the same business in New Zealand, and are currently looking at other international markets.
The story of Jason Murphy and his encounter with Sir Richard Branson was the inspiration for the best selling business book, Millionaire Upgrade: Lessons in Success from Those Who Travel at the Sharp end of the Plane.
This book tells the story of Tom, a frustrated employee who gets upgraded on a plane and finds himself sitting next to Michael, a self-made millionaire entrepreneur. During the course of the flight, Michael shares with Tom his own secrets for business success. Millionaire Upgrade has been translated into over 10 languages, and is a regular Amazon top seller.
