This happened about the same time I decided to split Virgin Records into two. I had been involved with the day-to-day decisions at Student magazine and our record stores for years, but as we moved into the recording business, I decided to take a step back to give my managers space to make decisions. That's when I learned that the most successful entrepreneurs are those who find people who are at least as good as, or better than, they are at running their businesses. Stepping back frees the founder to focus on the bigger picture; to dive in when there are problems or to help close a deal. This is how I manage our diversified group: I am not involved in the daily business of any Virgin company, unless I need to be. When your team is in place and the launch phase is over, take the time to conduct a test to see how well the company performs without your help. This can be a very revealing exercise: It will show you where the problems are and, most important, how well you have done at learning to delegate. So make sure you hire great people, then find ways to keep them on your team for the long term. Encourage them to pursue their ideas and then give them the tools that they need to succeed: promotions, assistance, or perhaps a new company! If you get this right, you will also have more time to look after body, mind, family, friends and children. Basically, you'll have to time to have a blast.
Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group and companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Active. He maintains a blog at www.virgin.com /richard-branson/blog. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/richardbranson. Questions from readers will be answered in future columns. Please send them toRichardBranson@nytimes.com. Please include your name, country, e-mail address and the name of the Web site or publication where you read the column.