Richard Branson Images

My number one rule in business, and in life, is to enjoy what you do. Running a business involves long hours and hard decisions; if you don't have the passion to keep you going, your business will more than likely fail. If you don't enjoy what you are doing, then you shouldn't be doing it.

One key to entrepreneurial success is to get a great group of people around you who believe in your idea.

Don't wait till you are big before you begin building your brand. Build a brand from scratch alongside your business.

As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation. I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me.

If you run a business, put on top your employees, then your consumers, and then your shareholders.

For a successful entrepreneur it can mean extreme wealth. But with extreme wealth comes extreme responsibility. And the responsibility for me is to invest in creating new businesses, create jobs, employ people, and to put money aside to tackle issues where we can make a difference.

I will work day and night to avoid failure, but if I can't, I'll pick myself up the next day. The most important thing for entrepreneurs is not to be put off by failure.

The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them - preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.

All successful people - not just entrepreneurs - have got things wrong over and over again before finding the right solution.

Dream big by setting yourself seemingly impossible challenges. You then have to catch up with them.