Great advice from one of the greatest entrepreneurs ever –

Even in a big business like the Virgin Group, I sit down now and again and sign every single cheque that goes out, and I ask my managing directors to do the same. For a month. Sign everything for a month every six months and suddenly you’re asking: ‘What on earth is this for?’ You’ll be able to cut out unnecessary expenditure quite dramatically when you do that.

As a small-business person, you must immerse yourself 100 per cent in everything and learn about the ins and outs of every single department. As you get bigger, you will be able to delegate, and when people come to you with their problems, they’ll be surprised how knowledgeable you are and how much practical advice you can offer.

The reason you’re knowledgeable is because in the early days of the business, you learned all about it. This is how business leadership is achieved. There are no short cuts.

Money’s only interesting for what it lets you do.

Via Derek Sivers notes on “Business Stripped Bare” by Richard Branson via 37signals