Make Yourself Investible! What We Can Learn From The Apprentice

Make Yourself Investible - What We Can Learn From The Apprentice

I love a rags to riches story, and Lord Sugar is an inspiration. The tasks that are set for the contestants in The Apprentice are a reflection of the Lord Sugar's personal journey to business success. That's all good and well, and it's a very entertaining TV show, but it took a while for me to figure out the method behind the madness.

If I went to a venture capitalist with a fashion business idea, I'd be shocked - to say the least - if they asked me to set up a food stall in a market for the day. Something that is seemingly so unrelated to the business plan. That's what the whole process of BBC's The Apprentice (or 'Lord Sugar's Wheeler-Dealers & One-man-bandits') looked like to me, until quite recently.

When I need a bit of inspiration, I go to the Playbook, and have it running in the background whilst I work. It's kind of like a bitesized TED Talks, but it's just for business. Now that I am running my own business, and I work remotely most of the time, I like to maintain a sort of business energy to keep me going and keep my mind fresh. Playbook does that for me.

Something caught my ear a few weeks ago, and I wish I knew who the speaker was so I could recommend the video. This person invests in business start-ups and he was sharing the secrets as to how he decides what to invest in. What struck me was that he said it's not really the business that he's investing in. It's not the what, but it's mostly the who. He invests in exceptional people. The business may or may not succeed, but he is confident that the person behind the business will be a success. He will invest in those people time and again because he knows they have the right attitude and the aptitude for success.

Although the winner of The Apprentice will hopefully not be expected to put up shelves or head to France with a random shopping list, they will be expected to get stuck in. Lord Sugar is not looking for an employee, he is looking for a business partner.

When you are starting your own business, you have to know the whole business inside and out. In most cases, you don't get the million dollar investment capital, so you have to be the whole business! The receptionist, the bookkeeper, the van driver, etc. If you cannot get stuck in and do things that are outside of your comfort zone - get your hands dirty - you won't get far. So what looks very silly and entertaining from the outside, is actually a brilliant business and general life-skills bootcamp that anyone would benefit from.

So, venture out of your comfort zone and Make Yourself Investible!

Make Yourself #Investible! What we can learn from #TheApprentice @bbcapprentice @Lord_Sugar https://t.co/kixhu5dz4e pic.twitter.com/H23CJPpR2u

— Danielle Curio (@DanielleCurio) November 12, 2015