The British billionaire on how his publicity stunts helped build the Virgin brand.

Editor’s Note: Entrepreneur Richard Branson regularly shares his business experience and advice with readers. What follows is the latest edited round of insightful responses. Ask him a question and your query might be the inspiration for a future column.

Q: I recently became my own boss, joining forces with my brother, who has an established operation. I am very much enjoying this experience, but the challenges of finding ways to draw attention to our business and earn customers’ trust are extremely tough.

Drawing a distinction between a businessman (who usually has money as his goal) and an entrepreneur (whose goal is to create), if you had to choose one element, or perhaps strategy, that defined your success as an entrepreneur, what would it be? — Randall De Freitas, Trinidad & Tobago

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Five steps for getting your business up and running successfully.

If you’re reading this, it means you’re interested about starting a business. Now it’s time to focus your entrepreneurial spirit using the following five steps.

1. Look for that “aha” moment
Sometimes the inspiration for business ventures comes from what’s around you–or from what isn’t. Take Entrepreneur magazine’s home base of Irvine, Calif. The lack of fast-food restaurants in the business area meant treks across town for lunch, prompting two young men to ponder, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get some good food delivered?”

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It’s been a tough year for the richest people in the world. Last year there were 1,125 billionaires. This year there are just 793 people rich enough to make our list.

The world has become a wealth wasteland. Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year. Today there are 793 people on our list of the World’s Billionaires, a 30% decline from a year ago.

Of the 1,125 billionaires who made last year’s ranking, 373 fell off the list–355 from declining fortunes and 18 who died. There are 38 newcomers, plus three moguls who returned to the list after regaining their 10-figure fortunes. It is the first time since 2003 that the world has had a net loss in the number of billionaires.

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