With a lot articles published alluding to guesses as to why I joined The Apprentice, I thought it would be helpful to set the record straight.
I realise the leading reason to put yourself through the ordeal of boardrooms and breakdowns is driven by money. And when that is no longer an obvious motivation (I sold my last business in 2016), everyone seems quite perplexed as to why I did it.
Having started a business on a shoe string in my bedroom in 2010 to growing it large enough to have quite a lot of turnover to play with as I navigated its growth, I know first-hand that money isn’t the reason a business is successful nor the reason it fails. You need a lot more.
These are the Top 3 things I realised I needed to make my second business even more successful than the first and some of the reasons why I joined The Apprentice:
- Network: it’s is imperative to have a network who can support your vision, to help support you when times are tough, and to put clients your way. Without this network you are basically doing everything the hard way. So building your network is absolutely vital. Having done The Apprentice, I now know 16 budding entrepreneurs and three very amazing visionaries. It’s a good start.
- A platform: getting your product or service is all part of the marketing. Marketing can be exceptionally expensive and by utilising all channels available to you, you are that much further along. We are very fortunate to live in a time with social media – meaning there is less need for cash, and more of a need to understand you audience and how to be creative to catch their attention.
- Experience: as much experience as I have (I’m one of the ‘mature’ candidates), I have not done a number of the things I got to do on The Apprentice. Being able to get experience on a wide variety of things helps you build your confidence and also your skill set – a hugely valuable thing if you want to grow as a business leader.
Tune in Wednesdays on BBC1 at 9pm to watch!