Peter Jones’s Top 10 Rules For Success (@dragonjones)

– If I ever hear my kids say the word failure,

I’d lock them in a room for a week.

You’ve got to be able to have a very clear vision

of your business idea.

Working out of 12 foot by 12 foot was tough,

but when you happen to live there as well,

it makes it that much harder.

If a description of an entrepreneur is

that I want to do it all before I die, then I’m that.

Research and feasibility are fundamentally important

when starting a new business.

A new business venture will require the majority

of your time, effort and dedication.

I’d actually say that for an entrepreneur this is the time.

So many people talk about doing something

or say, “What if?”.

Successful entrepreneurs have two undeniable qualities,

determination and persistence.

I don’t have to work 16 hours a day,

I love working 16 hours a day.

– He’s a British entrepreneur with interest in media,

mobile phones leisure and property.

He was appointed Commander of the Order

of the British Empire in 2009.

His estimated networth is 475 million pounds.

He’s Peter Jones and here are his top 10 rules for success.

(wooshing and detonation booming)

– I mean I’ve got a real belief

and this is a true belief

and those of you,

everybody’s got kids out there,

if I ever hear my kids say the word failure,

I’d lock them in a room for a week.

I would request if we have any power in this country

that we could take that out of our English dictionary

and replace it with the word feedback.

Because that’s all failure in our words is, isn’t it?

It’s feedback, we learn from mistakes.

You’ve got to be able to have a very clear vision

of your business idea.

Without it you won’t actually know where you’re going.

So in the year 2000 I set up Generation Telecom

and Generation Telecom was a business

that supplied airtime to the rail users.

I believe that I could set up and manage this business

and within two or three years sell out

to the major networks.

Well, within three years we successfully sold it

to Vodafone making millions of pounds.

But without that vision at the outset,

my business would not have gone the way that it did.

I started my Telecom’s business in 1998

and today it’s one of the most successful businesses

of its kind.

It generates income about a 150 million pounds per annum.

All companies have to start somewhere

and my business actually started

in a tiny little office in Slough.

Starting the business was a pretty terrifying experience.

Every single penny that I had went

into starting the business.

But it kind of gave me a real edge,

it gave me the sheer determination

that actually I can do this.

And as each day and each week passed

when you get more and more opportunities,

more and more money comes into the business,

it becomes even more exciting.

(guitar music)

The size of the office that I worked

from when I started was 12 foot by 12 foot.

Working out of 12 foot by 12 foot was tough.

But when you happen to live there as well,

it makes it that much harder.

And what was quite interesting,

there were even employees in the company

that didn’t know that I was staying and sleeping

and living in the office.

Now, there are a few things that I learned personally.

One was a sheer determination.

Number two was never giving up

and number three was to be results orientated.

I had to get results,

if I wanted to get my life back on track.

I’ve been on an amazing journey since then,

but I will never ever forget those real, real tough days.

To be perfectly honest I’m a little bit confused myself.

One minute I’m running a business,

next minute I’m investing in one,

the next minute I’m seeing some crazy people come

and pitch me a toilet snake idea from Dragon’s Den.

Then I’m walking down the BAFTA’s or the Red Carpet Awards

and then I’m now trying

to build a National Enterprise Academy,

so I think if a description of an entrepreneur is

that I want to do it all before I die, then I’m that.

You need to research your idea,

so that you’ve covered off not just all the competition

in the market, but you’ve checked and double checked

whether your idea is likely to work or not.

So many people today start up a business

because they do it on a back of a whim.

They need to research the market,

they need to discuss how feasible it is

and then ask questions.

How am I going to get out of the business?

Whom I’m going to sell it to?

Who are the competitors in the market?

Who are my suppliers?

How much money do I need to start the business?

How will I market the company?

There’s a lot to consider.

But research and feasibility are fundamentally important

when starting a new business.

Number six is timing.

Supportive partners, circumstances

and good health are all what I call critical success factors

when starting a new business.

A new business venture will require the majority

of your time, effort and dedication.

Times like this are very difficult.

But I’m going to be a little bit controversial and actually say

that for an entrepreneur this is the time.

And there are many entrepreneurs that I speak to

that are out there, that are saying,

“You know what, I’m pleased this has happened.

This is a time for me now to step up.

This is a time for my business to really go up to the plate.

This is the time where the competition

that was out there, that wasn’t that good is disappearing.”

Recession in my mind can drive innovation.

And the reason for that quite simply is

because we can do more with less.

We are forced to do more with less.

Take action.

So many people talk about doing something

or say, “What if?”.

They don’t actually get up and do it.

Taking action is really, really important.

In 1998 when I was working for another company

I was umming and ahhing

of whether to set up my own business.

I didn’t have a lot of money,

but I decided to take action and I decided to do it.

But I did it in a very planned way,

I knew exactly what I was going to do,

I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve,

but the most important thing, I took action.

Within two or three years I was a millionaire again.

Probably the best thing that I ever did.

So taking action is absolutely vital.

Successful entrepreneurs have two undeniable qualities,

determination and persistence.

Develop a keep-on-keeping-on ability to be called upon

whenever you might need it.

Well, you get things like this

because being blunt I’ve worked bloody hard,

I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

And that’s the great thing

that my life has given me now.

It’s that it gives me freedom

and it gives me choice.

I can choose what I want to do, when I want to do it.

I don’t have to work 16 hours a day,

I love working 16 hours a day

because I enjoy what I do.

I get asked a lot,

“Do you really appreciate what you’ve got?”.

I know what it’s like

to have everything and love everything,

so I’m not mister take-it-for-granted.

I cherish what I have, I’m lucky to have it,

but boy, do I make good use of it.

– Thank you so much for watching.

I made this video because Amin Abdul asked me to.

So if there’s a famous entrepreneur

that you want me to profile next,

leave in the comments below

and I will see what I can do.

I’d also love to know

which of Peter Jones’s top 10 rules meant the most to you,

had the biggest impact.

Leave it in the comments,

I’m enjoying the discussion.

Thank you so much for watching.

Continue to believe and I’ll see you soon.

(wooshing and detonation booming)