Adam Corbally – Stop making excuses and make some money:
I can remember my first day on the Apprentice like it was yesterday, surrounded by 15 sharply dressed academics making big claims with even bigger egos, trying to hold my own, although the truth was I had never felt more out of my depth in my entire life.
The first task set by Lord Sugar was to choose promotional merchandise, brand it up, then use our marketing skills to sell them to unsuspecting tourists at different locations around London I had never even heard of. Hang on a minute, I was pretty much a tourist myself at this stage of the process and completely out of my comfort zone.
I really did feel 1,000 miles away from what I had done for the last 15 years, selling fruit and Veg on my local market stall, as we were stuffed into the back of a people carrier and whizzed off to our first location. I think that we have all been in this kind of situation at some stage in our lives and no doubt we will again.
This is when I took a deep breath and did my usual trick of looking at the task as a series of small jobs instead of one mammoth task.
It is true that Rome wasn’t built in a day and as the legendary Henry Ford said,
“Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”
The reality of the situation was the only marketing I had ever known was the kind that involves flogging Fruit and Veg, I also didn’t have a clue where we were or in fact what we were actually supposed to be doing as I had no previous experience whatsoever.
So I looked at what I did know, I knew for a fact I was passionate about my end goal, a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar and a 50/50 partnership with him as my mentor, I also knew that what I lacked in knowledge I would make up for in enthusiasm and the best way to learn in this life is to get stuck in and have a go. I went on the Apprentice to gain £250,000 investment in my business and to prove that the average Joe like me could compete with the best so long as he had the right attitude. I listened, learnt, threw myself into the task and came away on top whilst the other candidates bickered about who had the best credentials etc for the task. O.K. so hopefully you enjoyed my story but what is the point of it I hear you ask? Well, my experiences on the Apprentice saw me complete 11 completely different tasks in different industries over 11 weeks and I can honestly say that I have never learnt so much in such a short space of time.
Everyone I speak to says the same thing…..
“You are SO lucky” to have had such an amazing opportunity and experience, although those of you that know me will know I don’t believe in luck.
The morale of the story is that there are REAL life opportunities out there right now to be snapped up by anyone with the right attitude. It is the start of spring and the start of Love your Local Market campaign 2015 with countless opportunities for anyone to get out there.
Stop making excuses and make some money, whether you are a new starter who has always had a dream of being in business or a seasoned trader who wants to branch out into new lines and areas, what are you waiting for? Get stuck in and make it happen! I currently know of some great opportunities on a Saturday Market in Manchester so if anyone fancies it please do get in touch!
@Theadamcorbally