Richard Branson: Success Comes From Delegating, Risk-Taking, And Having A Good Team

When an aspiring 12-year-old entrepreneur reached out to Richard Branson and asked about the key enterprising skills he used to get ahead, Branson posted his reply to her on LinkedIn.

"The key enterprising skills I used when first starting out are the very same ones I use today: the art of delegation, risk-taking, surrounding yourself with a great team and working on projects you really believe in," Branson writes.

"I delegated the areas I struggled with to people who also believed in the project," he says. "This freed up my time to focus on what I was good at - the strategy of the magazine, making contacts and developing marketing."

Branson says that that to get his magazine off the ground in the early stages, he had to take risks, meaning calling big names like Mick Jagger and David Hockney, or big brands for advertising. He secured these deals by telling companies that their "rivals were already advertising and playing them off against each other," says Branson.

"It was all great fun, and we learned so much about business by taking chances, getting things wrong, and getting up to give it another go," Branson writes.

Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.