Meeting Branson at 38,000ft

After a whirlwind four days in Detroit fuelled by entrepreneurial passion, unrelenting American enthusiasm (and a fair bit of champagne) I am currently sitting back in my room in London feeling incredibly blessed, inspired and mildly jet-lagged.

The trip was to celebrate Virgin Atlantic's new direct route to Detroit and three entrepreneurs, funded by Virgin Startups, were invited to join the fun and gain once-in-a-lifetime mentoring from Richard Branson and a number of other wildly inspirational people.

Here are some of my 5 most memorable takeouts: 

1. What time is it? -  Tyree Guyton, Heidelberg Project artist 

Tyree's art, if you haven't come across it, is weird. There are no two ways around it. Littered with puns and frankly, what looks like litter, it doesn't surprise me that he has his naysayers. 

However, in the midst of the old shoes, polka dots and broken dolls he had a powerful message. A lot of his art uses clocks and when asked why he responds, and repeats: 

What time is it? What time is it?

He talks about time as subjective, important, and to be treasured. He invites his audience to reflect on time. Their time. 

This got me thinking: as time is undeniably our most valuable and scarce resource we should be placing greater emphasis on it and investment in it. 

2. Write it down - Dan Gilbert, serial entrepreneur and kind of a big deal 

Where do you want to be in a year's time? Dan Gilbert says write it down and stick it on your wall. Heck, make it your screen saver, get it tattooed on your wrist for what it's worth. 

Having a clear goal written in a place that's easy to refer to will (I'm hoping) allow you to make better decisions. Every time you need to make a tricky decision you can simply reflect on which route takes you closer to that long-term objective. 

Perhaps a little simpler in theory than practice but I like the idea and shall be making my 'goal poster' today! 

3. It's a rollercoaster - Kim Rusinow, founder of Show me Detroit City Tours

Kim was talking about the city of Detroit when she said this but I think the plight of their city shares similarities with the life of an entrepreneur: 1,000mph excitement to bleak wilderness in but a moment: 

What happens when you throw something to the ground real hard? It bounces back up.

 When Kim said this in relation to the city of Detroit it's easy to see the positive outcomes: how a city that has gone through such turmoil and destruction is actually stronger for it. More resilient. Richer. Deeper. More meaningful and ultimately more beautiful as a result. 

Perhaps that's also what's so special about a small business and perhaps we need to embrace our downfalls. After all, it's what makes us who we are. 

4. Don't overthink it - Julie Deane OBE,founder of Cambridge Satchel Co 

One session with UKTI involved a lot of discussion in relation to which markets were going to be the most profitable for each of our businesses.

Given our sales and feedback to date I personally believe that Glow Away's proposition and story resonates better with a US audience and therefore was curious to know the best way to go about establishing in the States. It's easy to get into a bit of a logistical trap in these discussions and Julie Deane brought a beautiful piece of clarity to the conversation: 

Your job is to make something people want and then give it to them when they want it. 

And with a pure e-commerce sales strategy it's really pretty simple. Someone orders a product and you ship it. That's all there is to it and the market growth comes organically.

Julie's clarity of thought taught me something more important than just what my US sales strategy should be: the business world is complex. Unnecessarily complex. and we should be smart about what elements are relevant for a company of our size and stage of growth. 

5. Find someone better than you - Richard Branson, the Virgin guy 

I've been having an internal struggle regarding working full time in advertising and working on Glow Away in my mornings, evenings, and weekends. I'm surrounded by people telling me that I have to choose one or the other and often feel frustrated because I love feeling challenged, excited and fulfilled by doing both. 

I understand that to many people it might seem unproductive not to focus on one business but Richard's advice made me feel at peace with my decision: 

Find someone better than you to manage the business day-to-day. Then you can get started on the next thing.

and although that has always been the ideal in the back of my mind it was reassuring to hear it from someone I respect.