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There’s this guy I want to tell you about.  His name’s Richard and he was born dyslexic.  During his early school years, despite his best efforts, he just could not keep up in class.  All those numbers on the board wouldn’t make  sense. This was long before teachers knew about ‘dyslexia’ and he had been sent to one of those ‘stiff upper lip’ boarding schools, so he suffered daily trips to the headmaster for a caning.  Despite the regular punishments, he had a very determined personality and the flames of entrepreneurship appeared quite early on during one of his first businesses attempts – breeding budgies. Through this he found that when he thought about numbers in terms of how many budgies he could sell, maths was far easier.  Later on, during his teens he set up a student newspaper – in fact he became so passionate about it that he left school to focus all his energy on the paper.  Soon, he realised that ‘Student’ wasn’t making him any money, but he decided to branch into mail order records because he noticed that the one thing students would happily pay good money for – was music.  The records sold well, but then there was a serious mail strike and his business faced an abrupt end.  Within twenty-four hours he’d taken a huge leap of faith and opened his first shop – Virgin Records. Soon, Richard saw that the real potential for making money lay in recording albums.  Virgin Music was born.  Working alongside many other talented individuals Richard went onto sign acts such as Mike Oldfield, Janet Jackson, Phil Collins, The Sex Pistols, and the Rolling Stones.  He also successfully established Virgin Blue Airlines, Virgin Books, Virgin Cola, Virgin Insurance, Virgin jeans, Virgin Mobile and these days – Virgin Galactica – space travel.  Why did he take on all these projects?  He took them on because he loved taking on the ‘big boys’ and doing a better job.  To this day he’s still proving that anything’s possible, given a little creativity. 
This month’s Happyzine is all about pitting our unique strengths against life’s challenges.  Poet – Tusiata Avia shares how she continues to perform plus being a dedicated new Mum.  Lisa and Sarah from Acumen Money tell us why it’s easiest to use our talents to achieve financial wealth.  We catch a glimpse into the life of Lynda Hallinan, Editor of New Zealand Gardener and her amazing pledge to live out of her garden plus only ten dollars per week on groceries.  This week we also feature the first of many stories about how positive thinking has transpired into delightful reality.  What ever your strengths are, here’s to celebrating them and most importantly: using them!