Millionaire Upgrade Original Story
Written by Richard Parkes Cordock (the creator of Millionaire MBA Business Mentoring Programme), Millionaire Upgrade was inspired by the true story of Jason Murphy (the author's relative) who was upgraded on a flight and found himself sitting next to the billionaire entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson.
Jason Murphy's story in his own words.
This is the story as I remember 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.
I was travelling around Australia looking to inspire the people of this failed business to re-launch with a new focus, and was heading to Adelaide. Being quite tall, I asked for a seat with extra leg room and was pleasantly surprised when I found out that they had such a seat, and was consequently allocated seat 1A.
As soon as I'd sat down, I was approached and told there had been a mistake and could I move seats. I asked if seat 1C was available and was told this would be OK. I shifted up 2 seats, keeping my extra leg room in tact. As the flight was almost ready to take off, I had that smug feeling of 'looks like I have got myself a treble seat!'
Just as the stewardess was about to close the door, a guy jumped on the plane and plonked himself in seat 1A! My immediate thought was 'what makes you so special?', but when I looked up I realised that what made him so special was that he was Richard Branson, a part owner 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!
Australians are not renowned for overly appreciating 'poms', but to my total amazement the Australians on the plane clapped and cheered Richard Branson’s arrival.
It didn't take me long to realize why. Richard was confident, cheerful and genuinely interested in my business and dreams. He chatted away like he had known me all his life. He simply gave me respect.
This chance meeting gave me the greatest inspiration of my life. I decided that from this day forward I was going to treat everybody I met with that same respect. It does not matter if you are the garbage collector or the CEO, what people in business need to know is that ‘THEY’ are important.
On the back of this 'mindset' we have taken a failed business to a business that is currently on track to invoice some $25m in 2006 (£10 million). Our new business is called 'Penny Miller Pty Ltd' and sells household products throughout Australia. (We changed the trade name from Betterware Australia in July.)
We have, in the last month, launched the same business in New Zealand, and are currently looking at other international markets.
Jason Murphy, Australia 2005
Millionaire Upgrade: Lessons in Success
From Those Who Travel at the Sharp End of the Plane
