Matt Argall Draws Inspiration From Richard Branson

Richard Branson, a world-renowned businessman and multi-billionaire, announced in an interview this week that his latest project, Virgin Galactic, will very likely be ready to send up tourists into space by this fall. Making commercial space flights a reality has been Branson's dream for many years. After more than 10 years it looks like this dream will now come true in September. So far, nearly 700 eager space travellers have bought a ticket for $250,000, excited to get on a rocket soon. Branson himself is planning on being a passenger on the first flight into space, which will launch from Spaceport America in the US state of New Mexico, a spaceport built in the dessert, 30 miles away from the nearest town. And he is clearly excited about it: "It's the beginning of a whole new era in space travel," says Branson.

Sir Richard Branson, the now 63-year old business magnate and investor from London, started his first business, Student magazine, when he was only 15 years old. In 1972, he founded a record store chain named Virgin records, later rebranded as Virgin Megastores, which experienced a rapid growth during the 1980s and laid the foundation for his world-famous Virgin Group. Branson soon expanded his business ventures into other industries. Next on his list was Virgin Atlantic Airlines, an airline that soon would prove to be a tough competitor of British Airways. Today, the founder and chairman of the Virgin Group is leading an organization that comprises over 400 companies. His innovative, enthusiastic and goal-oriented personality has been an inspiration to people around the world, especially to young and motivated entrepreneurs such as Matt Argall who operates from Miami, Florida.

Like Richard Branson, Matt Argall showed his talent for successful business ventures early on in life, at the youthful age of 17, when he partnered with his best friend to save an online company. Together they focused on the online market, utilizing the newly emerged auction platform, eBay. After gaining marketing experience from this first endeavor, Argall went on to explore different industries, again following the example of his role model, Richard Branson. When Branson was asked in an interview on the prior knowledge required to start a company in a new industry, he responded: "Don't get hung up on this question of whether you need to have experience in an industry before you launch your startup. Successful entrepreneurs tend to be insatiably curious about almost everything, and often they are good at learning by doing." Argall fits just this description of a successful entrepreneur, almost as if Branson was talking specifically about him.

In the course of his career Matt Argall has successfully launched a number of companies in various industries, ranging from the gas and electricity industry, where he had staff of more than 100 people serving customers in the United States, to a student loan debt consolidation that was subsidized by the US government, to just name a couple. Born in California, Matt spent his childhood in Canada and then moved to Florida, where he now lives with his wife and son. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family. Nevertheless he is relentlessly researching numerous new business ideas. Most recently, two particular industries have sparked his interest the water filtration systems for private homes and the greeting card industry.