Latest / The BEYOND Podcast / Adam Hosker: Five Apprentice Boardrooms and a Life in Sales

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Adam Hosker: Five Apprentice Boardrooms and a Life in Sales · The BEYOND Podcast

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  Unknown: Adam hoska oh Adam hoska this interview gets into the dirty detail of how low
• 0:09
  The Apprentice can go Katie Hopkins who you will remember didn't like a
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  certain person a lot on her time on The Apprentice Adam hoska the two of them it's
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  safe to say despise each other Adam now has his say and revenge on Katy Hopkins
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  [Music]
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  welcome to beyond the borom podcast where we discuss all things apprentice and Beyond
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  you've had some uh controversial moments on the show you were contestant on season 3 yes
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  of BBC's The Apprentice which add in 2007 there was some serious rivalry between you and Katie
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  Hopkins we'll talk about her yeah how would you introduce yourself you have 30 seconds I've been
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  as a salesperson or a sales leader for the last pretty much since the apprentice and I've always
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  worked in Industries where I'm really interested in the products and I'm really passionate about
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  it so I've gone from the motor industry into technology particularly artificial intelligence
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  and analytics and insights and I get to it with some really exciting Brands like globally all
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  manner of Brands fashion and and consumer products and and that kind of thing at the moment it's yeah
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  it's fun that's actually perfect timing that's literally 30.7 you didn't really want that a
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  Media train good you are properly media trained no because it is it's like public speaking training
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  you've got to know when you're on that 3 second Mar so why did you agree to do this podcast with
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  me part of the reason I did The Apprentice is is because I was a fan so I've obviously watched a
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  lot of the other series um there are definitely series that I've missed over the years but um
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  no I remember yours um there there were you and Fran were two the contents I liked and then you
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  were just like yeah no I've had enough I'm out com me do anything I don't want to do okay I'm
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  yeah no I just yeah is podcasting something I know you've got your own podcast but is it
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  something you you want to do now and you like it you're obviously not a shy yeah I think it's a
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  case of of using skills that you've got right so i' I'd make music videos as a hobby so I've got
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  these like skills as far as like making content concerned and as far as the way that I do my job
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  as far as reaching out to new customers and that kind of thing some of those people end up becoming
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  customers some don't but I just think rather than sending out 200 emails a day like a lot of people
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  do in sales I'd much rather have a conversation but I think the thing that people forget in sales
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  is it doesn't start with a lead it starts with a conversation and when I really drilled that
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  down and thought about it and thought what's the best way to have a conversation in this day and
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  age what's the the most beneficial thing with the podcast cuz when you're on camera and everything
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  it's like it's a vulnerable place to be and I tell you like having done this now quite a bit
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  I've noticed that anyone who's brave enough and I do use the word brave it's quite interesting
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  because you do have to be brave you do have to be pretty confident in yourself to sit there and
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  have someone asking you questions especially if you've not seen the questions which you haven't
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  MH so T guts maybe I'm naive sometimes but yeah um I don't know I just I like having conversation
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  with people it's why ourselves person it's why I went under The Apprentice I like to try new things
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  I'm not scared of giving things a go and I have this really weird ability to look at something
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  and think I could probably do that so yeah maybe a little bit of overconfidence sometimes we'll
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  see we'll see we'll start with something nice no but your mom said something so nice about you on
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  your fire oh my God she's so well she's spoken about how when you were 9 years old from nine
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  you were really into business and you cleaned car and you did the paper rounds and you sold
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  programs you did all this stuff you were always keen on making money there was always even in the
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  rain like unpleasant situations where everyone want to go home and snuggle up you were like no
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  let's make money so your family is pretty like supportive of you I would say and shocked half
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  the time with the things that really yeah my mom always says she's no idea where I got it from but
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  yeah I grew up in a small miltown in the North in Blackburn there's not a whole lot of opportunity
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  in a place like that there certainly wasn't in the 80s growing up my mom's a nurse we certainly
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  weren't well off and I think there were I was that kid that always wanted something I wanted
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  the new Matchbox car I wanted the new computer and I remember my my stepdad just saying you better go
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  out and get yourself a paper around and earn some money and if burn half the amount I can't remember
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  what the thing was yeah I don't remember what the thing was I want at the time but he said if you
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  earn half then we'll buy it for you yeah so yeah I went out cleaning cars on the estate that we lived
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  on and got a paper around what I liked as well about what your mom said is she never had to wor
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  about you and as a mom like I've got three kids that's just that's just amazing she just you were
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  independent from day from 9 years old yeah from really young but I think I've thought
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  about this a lot over the years and I think cuz I had a stepdad and I'm mixed race so I
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  guess from being really young I always felt like I was one out on my own where's your mom from and
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  your dad so my mom is English Irish yeah born in Blackburn my natural dad or biological dad
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  is from Morocco they broke up when I was super young I was still a baby when they broke up and
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  then my stepdad he's from Malawi and his dad's from India so like my family pities growing up
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  with like the United Co of beniton adverts um but yeah but I think it's super interesting having
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  that kind of diversity when you're mixed race you feel sometimes like you don't belong in any
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  Camp you flaw around everything and I and I think that just made me think a little bit differently
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  and it made me independent really early and I think going through school and some of the
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  bullying that I got from all angles I realized at one point that no matter what I did everybody had
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  a problem with it so it didn't matter what I did I just did my own thing and I've just been singing
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  my own tune ever since really so you didn't let it beat you down in a way you were just a bit like no
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  I was just like that's me doesn't matter what I do so I want to do I'd rather fail at something
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  I want to do than try and keep people happy I guess I've never necessarily like followed
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  specific fashion trends or music trends like the the music that I'm into is Broad ranging
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  I've always had friends that very different as well friends that I had at high school had
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  disabilities had different sexual preferences at a time when that really wasn't as accepted as as it
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  is today a couple yeah a couple of my friends have have always commented like I always seem to find
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  the Freaks and weedos but I really like the Freaks and weos like I work with a lot of musicians now
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  as a hobby and yeah and I think you put them into some of that sort of like different category I
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  think I've always I've always admired difference in people standing on two feet and not just trying
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  to follow the creatives as well yeah yeah I love creatives they just they think differently don't
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  are you you proud of where you're from or you do you have that sort of inner sort of Pride and
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  you care about where you're from and you want to learn about the cultures and you want to
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  talk about them or is it a bit like yeah I think what's your attitude to I I think I'm super proud
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  of being from where I'm from but I'm also proud of busting through a few of those glass ceilings
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  of kind of the expectations of somebody that that would have been born where I was born went to the
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  kind of school that I went to I've been quite happy to push through that but I've always felt
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  really rooted in that but also I think I'm I am I'm drawn to difference often I am really drawn
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  to people that think different that like artists musicians like that's just something that I just
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  I find people fascinating again like probably the reason I do the podcast I do and the reason I work
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  in sales when I go and see a customer I'm just asking them about everything that but not just the
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  business about them about the family I just find people fascinating really yeah I listen I love
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  sales as well but like when there's a customer a client whoever it is and and I'm just being honest
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  now it's for me it's yes they could be very nice they might not be nice or whatever but it's like
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  when I sell what I think about and I become almost that's my thing I become obsessed with it is
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  whether what I'm giving them is something that's going to really help them oh yeah that's it that's
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  and I almost I have to in my own brain separate their personality because I almost feel like if I
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  let that get involved I'm getting distracted so I almost don't it's really weird yeah I almost don't
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  think about it it's like a different approach but I wish I was a little bit more yeah I'm
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  I'm probably the Other Extreme yeah to the point where if I don't if I don't like somebody yeah
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  I probably don't want to work with them yeah like I've I have definitely been to meetings certainly
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  in the earlier part of my career or had customers when I was selling cars where I was just like this
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  person's an absolute like the yeah I actually also found that the the customers that were really hard
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  work that I didn't get on with we never met any money out of them there's always problems mhm
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  and the ones that I got on with we made margin we made good money but also I made some friends along
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  the way with it as well and I don't know I think I I've always struggled to separate work Adam and
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  private Adam yeah there isn't there there there is really a very blurred line between it like
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  it encroaches on both areas so I'm completely I'm like total opposite of this so I have a work mode
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  where I'm begin to describe it that is my work mode and I'm going to do everything in that way
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  and I almost it's almost it is like a bit of an obsession and I have a goal and I I will
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  do that and then I have my at home more chilled and in work I'm extroverted and at home I'm bit
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  more yeah I have iird I certainly have a goal I certain have that drive to to win a deal but
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  also I I really do look at if someone's going to need the products even before I go and speak to
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  them so I'm usually there's a drive and the passion there to do that but one of my best
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  friends Simon I met him when he bought a car from me I've got a bunch of customers that I met if I
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  ever do eventually get married there there's probably eight or nine customers that will be
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  on the invites to the wedding nice but it just it makes you day easy doesn't it if you get on
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  with the people that you're okay like you're in account manager for them or something but if the
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  nice people that you get on with that you you want to spend time with you want to take them out for
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  meal and that kind of you don't want it you don't want sometimes you might have a client though
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  that they're just awkward personalities and maybe they're not necessarily the people that you want
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  to hang out with but I I almost feel like for me again I I have to take the personality out and I
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  look at what are you offering to the world what's your product that you're offering to the universe
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  and do I believe it like you were saying do I buy into that do I want to spend my energy helping you
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  promote that yes or no and if it's yes you're doing really I I actually I'm on board and I'll
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  even go and seek out the companies that I think I love it I want to be involved please can I be
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  involved cuz I want to Champion that thing but if they're doing something corrupt or they're
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  selling some stuff that I don't like or cheap dangerous materials or the quality is not there
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  they're trying to skimp any hint of that I'm gone yeah I've still never sold anything to a
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  company that makes tobacco products or good good for you anything that that's controversial but
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  I can understand that right boardroom yeah what was it like in the boardroom for you do you know
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  what probably yeah i' probably said the boardroom is one of the most stressful things I've ever done
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  and I think it's really great now that I'm mat at a point where I can talk about the production
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  side of things and I think juicy I think the way the prod I think the way the production
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  works and for your listeners of viewers the way that day works when you're in the board you get
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  up super early you get ready and you do interviews to camera about the task that's just happened but
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  you kept completely separate from all the other candidates the whole time the whole day you're
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  then takeen to the studio you're not allowed to talk to each other in the car because they want
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  everything to come out in the boardroom so fair but it creates this pressure cooker so then you
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  get put in a green room everybody's there nobody can talk to each other everybody has a a runner
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  like a production assistant that follows them everywhere literally take you to the toilet
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  and stand at the door so that's not talking to anyone yet yeah so you spend about 3 or 4
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  hours before you even go into the boardroom just mulling things over and the stress levels just
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  increase and increase and then you go into the boardroom and Alan Sugar's a very sharp man the
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  assistance at the time when Nick Huer and and Margaret now I loved Margaret and Margaret was
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  very smart very intuitive Nick not so much but the three of them were formidable in the way they were
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  going to ask questions there's always a chance that you're going to go it's a bit of a lottery
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  and everybody's teach other aren't they so it's just I just found it a they RI it to each other
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  and and then I had I think it was five boardrooms back to back oh it's exhausting yeah so the only
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  time you really get get any time off is if you win the task on you're going and get to do you
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  don't get dragged into the bottom three yeah so I was in the bottom three like five times
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  in a row so poor soul that that that by the last one I was like do you know what just send me all
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  Ione need a STI a bottle of wine and a sleep yeah God God yes no it's awful it's awful so
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  did you find sugar quite scary then the Lord sugar I wouldn't say scary I just think he's
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  very sharp he he doesn't for the information he has he doesn't really miss a beat and he's you
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  can see that his mind works incredibly quickly so you can't really pull the wool over his eyes
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  he's just very astute he's just is a formidable operator but also difficult to read I'd probably
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  say that I'm I'm pretty good at reading people most of the time and form a bit of a Rel ship
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  but he was just difficult yeah I found I found him quite hard to read I didn't really know where it
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  was going some of the times I thought i' been F the three episodes leading up to me actually
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  going did you find something different yeah I I think he's quite an open book I do I think it you
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  can see it on his face I think but maybe I don't know maybe it's female Intuition or something I
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  can I could sense what he was uh thinking I could also sense when he was uncomfortable I wish that I
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  could have access to footage that didn't make it to the ACT yeah me too God love I'd make a whole
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  another thing but we won't go there we'll go to Katie Hopkins so Katie Hopkins appeared alongside
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  you in season 3 mhm and for people that don't know she is a very controversial polariz ring
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  figure who has since become pretty famous in the UK for her right-wing controversial views M and
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  her sharp tongue and she's wound a lot of people up around the country she's also got quite a big
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  fan base yeah she's been cancelled on certain shows hasn't she um but then brought and entire
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  platforms and entire platforms but then brought back and unfortunately you were met with her
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  and there's something between the two of you your personalities don't quite know what it is but the
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  two of you despise each other it's super simple no swearing okay well I I'll do my best not to swear
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  okay and probably in the interviews that I did post Apprentice I I held back quite a lot okay
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  and perhaps part of that was some aspirations that I had to maybe do other things with the
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  BBC at the time which went by the wayside and and but yeah I think you answer me right before you
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  answer me I'm going to put out some of the things she said about you go I hope you'll be okay mhm
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  it's a long time since since this has happened this is quoting her so she called you a negative
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  Soul cocky arrogant she said you have onee speed setting which is slow she said as well that she
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  wanted to secure your exit out of the process so that you can go back to your Northern Chums that's
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  pretty rude what are your thoughts Katie spent hours writing little sound bites to insult people
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  not just you me and other people the majority of it wasn't really founded in reality I think
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  perhaps some of the things in the edit backed up some of the things the speed setting thing I do
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  talk quite slow it's an nor an accent but the interesting thing about what she was doing is
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  she particularly picked out myself and Christina who ended up in the final and she was just really
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  trying to pick Halls out of the people she saw as competition so from that point of view
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  you could say in a game quite clever as far as a person and the reason that we clashed it's super
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  simple we had a really big row I was absolutely Furious the other thing that happened after that
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  and was a conversation the back of the car where I I said I find it astounding that that you some of
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  the things that you're saying but I also find the way you talk reminds me of an intelligence officer
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  and she said what would you know about that and I said I trained with the Royal Navy to be a Warfare
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  officer and she looked at me went you're working class how could you have done anything with the
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  military at officer level you're working class and it's something that I talked about a little
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  bit at the time that perception that I had really seems to come to the four in more recent years the
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  more time's gone on the more she yeah but the more she stayed in the media it wasn't just me
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  feeling that at the time she's come out and said these things do you feel Vindicated in
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  some way that you've you've said that my my grandfather always used to say that there's
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  no point responding to somebody who's a horrible person because eventually everybody will figure it
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  out so I did sit back and let hang self and there was a time where measurably you could say she was
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  more successful she was still on TV she was doing the ITV Morning Show she was doing a a radio show
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  with one of one of the London radio stations and I bumped into in the K West and said you don't want
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  to speak and I no not really and then there was I can't remember the exact wording but the part
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  of the conversation was you're just jealous cuz I'm doing better than you and I just said and I
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  said that it's a marathon okay the race isn't over yet and then you're fast forward to today and I I
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  went off and did what I did I didn't go chers in media things I've been working my backside off as
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  a salesperson in in tech companies and I'm happy with the progress that I've made Happy I've done
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  thank God we'll see what I say today but maybe the extreme right might cancel but they're welcome too
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  because that's not really the way that I view the world but you can have different views politically
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  or whatever but yeah there is a way that you don't treat people yeah but there's like but
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  then there's extreme political views isn't there I have friends that would consider the themselves to
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  be more conservative in the leanings and I've got friends that would consider themselves to be very
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  liberal in the leanings and I like a conversation the best I think one of the saddest things about
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  Society now is it's Polar Opposites and the two never meet and never discuss anything because I
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  think the more that I travel and I'm mostly just traveling around Europe but wherever I
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  go people are the same they speak a different language there's some cultural differences but
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  but I'm always interested in like the different foods that people eat the different music that
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  people listen to the different way they view the world like when you go out there and you
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  meet people you find that we're all we're all pretty much the same we want our families to
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  be safe and happy we want our children to have opportunities we want to live a good life now
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  whether it's people in Israel Palestine Russia the Ukraine France Germany we're all the same
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  and when I meet people like KY that feel that they are better than other people who are from a
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  different place I just find them super misguided and yeah so so yeah I think just intrinsically
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  as a person she just just I felt like a lot of the things that she said violated me at a at a
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  really deep personal level did they yeah what did she say to you that was the most hurtful you read
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  some you readful thing for it was just the most hurtful the dismissiveness of but you're working
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  class how how could you have done anything with the Royal Navy just absolutely dismissive of
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  you're from the north you work in class how could you have done something that I can do
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  I've sat in the car and Apprentice with us that's another thing that she could do that I could do
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  but yeah what is interesting for me and I don't know how you've managed to have such selfcontrol
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  and composure and I respect you for it is like how did you not lose your mind where she was
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  literally saying those things to you like how did you not if she dared speak like that to me I I'm
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  really not sure what would have happened but I didn't anyone but yeah I mean I I didn't very
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  yeah I am but I also didn't want to explode because the the problem then is it's he said she
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  said if you explode it becomes a gray area when you start having a massive argument about it all
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  of a sudden people take sides and it's a gray area whereas I just rather people just carry on doing
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  that thing that I find ab barant and let them do more of it and then eventually people figure
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  it out so if she's watching she might not be she might be you never know she might be interested in
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  what people think about her what would you want to say to her or if you bumped into her again
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  what would you want to say to her go traveling K go traveling go traveling and meet people get in
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  the mix get off the Beaten Track go to India go to the African continent go and meet people from
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  different places and you'll start to realize that actually we've got a lot more similarities than
• 22:56
  we've got differences and then maybe you can then go and talk to people that are in these right-wing
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  extreme groups that you once thought that way too and now you've realized things are a little bit
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  different do you know what I if I may think that you can't actually change people fundamentally I
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  think unless there's some major crisis they can change the selves I don't even think they can I
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  think that maybe no they can there are some signs at your brain there's some neuroplasticity and you
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  can change certain connections personal FAL yeah I just spending energy on asking her to Value this
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  or that is is almost like CU if I look at that sort of situation if I see someone speaking like
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  that or acting like that or whatever I don't see that as someone that I'm that I care to convince
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  of anything because I see that as she talks about class and things that's not showing class or
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  or anything that's just being rude for being rude's sake it just I'm not interested in in
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  in changing that around you know what I mean I don't have that time for that it's not so much
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  that I'm suggesting that she changes do you want her to change what I'd suggest to a young man or a
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  young woman that was starting to lean that way and I think it would be massively beneficial for any
• 24:21
  young person to finish their air levels and before they go to university get a rook sack go travel
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  and meet people and I just think the people that I know that I've met through my life that have done
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  that they seem to have much more understanding about the human condition and Society yeah and
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  the implications of those kinds of thoughts I just find them to be kind to people yeah and I just
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  think alls I can suggest for her or for anybody else that might somehow think that they hate other
• 24:53
  people they probably hate the themselves so they should probably go go and do some kind of count
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  yeah they should probably go and do some travel and meet other people and just so those opinions
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  that they formed can be tested really yeah and they can start to understand things but I guess
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  you've got the what you're saying people might not change but I've seen people change over the years
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  and you've got personality and you've got Behavior behavior is very easy to change we do that in
• 25:16
  organizations all the time we do that through marketing campaigns and we've seen Behavior change
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  through the years when I look back to the 1980s the things that were acceptable to do and say and
• 25:26
  the ways to act are no longer acceptable to today so people at an individual level or at a societal
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  level do change yeah fundamental personality it yeah it does need a shift sometimes it needs
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  trauma but what it really needs is experience so I'd suggest the same thing to KY or to anybody
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  else and also if you're watching things on social media and something's making you hurt a group of
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  people really question why somebody's feeding you that information and I always think you should
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  follow the money as well like why do we need to hurt people because it it increases clicks is a
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  lot of it is a game and she probably doesn't hate people as much as she's making out she does no no
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  she does coming back to the behavioral thing you can change some behaviors because of situation
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  but there is the saying that a leopard doesn't change its spots and you can take a leopard and
• 26:20
  you can move it to Antarctica it's still a leopard it's in Antarctica it's going to have to change
• 26:24
  its behavior in some way it will always remain a leopard I hear what you're saying but I think with
• 26:30
  some people you have to put energy into the right places and and if someone's got such views it is
• 26:38
  about them and there's something not quite there's an insecurity there I think but it's like an issue
• 26:43
  with them I think there's neuroplasticity to all of us but there are people that have severe mental
• 26:49
  health conditions that means they are evil there are people in Broadmore prison who have murdered
• 26:57
  multiple people people there are people with really severe mental health conditions those
• 27:02
  are illnesses that they they don't even know but I think they're the only people that you
• 27:06
  really truly would struggle to change yeah they probably the people that you can because a lot
• 27:12
  of you've got a schizophrenic for example who's committing these atrocities these murders like a
• 27:16
  catatonic schizophrenic so an aggressive you can give them medicine and it rebalances does it yeah
• 27:24
  literally does it rebalance it'll rebalance some of chemical elements of the brain but it
• 27:29
  usually numbs them that's what those medications would usually do I'm no expert on psychology or
• 27:36
  psychosis or any any of the other conditions that that people might suffer from but my rudimentary
• 27:41
  understanding from my M being in the in the health service for 40 odd years is that some people's
• 27:47
  brains are through for lack of understanding of the the technical terminology just wide
• 27:53
  up a little bit different yeah there are people that just have some IDI syncrasy that lead them
• 27:59
  to thinking very differently and sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes that's a bad thing but
• 28:04
  there are some people that if they really can't change and they fill with hurt then my first step
• 28:10
  would always be that they should look at the C and then they should look at the wider world but
• 28:14
  but it is within them yeah but I think that the odd person that that perhaps can't change I would
• 28:20
  hope that KY one day does go and see a counselor and because it's nothing to do with people coming
• 28:26
  across on boards from other countries that's a little bit like the old adage of the red ant and
• 28:31
  the black ant right you get red ants and black ants you put them in a jar and they will coexist
• 28:36
  perfectly fine you shake the jar and they'll kill each other but it's because they think
• 28:42
  the other ones shaking the jar but someone else is shaking the joy we just need to figure out as
• 28:46
  a society who's really shaking The Joy because let's be honest the reason that you can't get
• 28:53
  a doctor's appointment in the UK is because of funding it's nothing to do with the fact that
• 28:59
  people are coming from another country the reality of it is the majority of people that are coming
• 29:05
  from other countries are coming because they need a better life because the cities and towns have
• 29:10
  been bombed to pieces and if it happened in the UK the Russians invaded tomorrow and bomb
• 29:15
  the hell out of London we'd all be heading south to try and find safe a for a children and I dare
• 29:23
  anyone to say that they wouldn't be doing that if we've created situations at a global level
• 29:27
  that that has led to mass migration then we need to look at the root cause of the problem
• 29:32
  and solve that we need to put investment back into these countries that we've caused problems in so
• 29:38
  people don't need to leave and actually we've we sold a story around the world as a nation right
• 29:45
  back into the Empire that we were the motherland that we were the international police force that
• 29:50
  we were the good guys so when your city is being rocked by bombs and blown to pieces and you're
• 29:56
  like where can I go that's safe with my children will be safe where they'll get health care where
• 30:00
  they'll get opportunities and then you look at the implications of the people that have come
• 30:05
  here a couple of generations ago and where the children are now the majority of them are super
• 30:10
  high performers because they value what we have here the parents value what we have here I just
• 30:15
  find the views that somebody like Hopkins has just to be utterly misguided and really
• 30:20
  ill-informed and very one-dimensional and just not looking at the bigger picture of why these
• 30:25
  things are happening and just having sympathy for those people my God imagine walking and
• 30:30
  hitchhiking from Syria to the French border with a 7 yearold and a three-year-old and
• 30:38
  having barely any money and then getting on a raft and risking the lives of your
• 30:42
  children to say you haur those people and you want them to drown we're going to move away
• 30:51
  from [Laughter] politics did you lie in the boardroom um it yes or no answer just for now
• 31:02
  not intentionally so no certainly didn't I think there were a couple of things happened that day
• 31:10
  and I was pretty convinced that something happened with a particular product but it happened with a
• 31:16
  different one was I in acccurate yes did I do it intentionally no it was do you lie yes or no I
• 31:23
  was inaccurate I cuz to lie is to be absolutely aware I was unaware were so you know too like
• 31:29
  yeah so did I say something that was inaccurate yes I absolutely did did I do it but did I do
• 31:33
  it intentionally speaking or or or providing the wrong inform inaccurately informed or confused I
• 31:38
  was confused but there's lying is lying lying is deliberately Mis deliberate did you do that did I
• 31:43
  deliberately mislead no no because Lord sugar claims that you did and he said that was the
• 31:49
  final nail in the coffin and the ultimate reason for your firing so that's not accurate then then
• 31:56
  so what what what he said when he fired me was it was a little bit like somebody up there was
• 32:02
  telling him something cuz I was in the boardroom every week that was his ultimate reason because
• 32:05
  I've been in every week yeah yeah and it was like I think he was probably looking at it that like if
• 32:10
  the candidates don't like him and they're dragging him in then there's something that might mean that
• 32:16
  he's not the ideal candidate for me they have to make excuses for why they get rid of people anyway
• 32:20
  there has to be a timate to be fair when we did a rap party he apologized said he have watched it
• 32:25
  back there's no way he would have got rid of me so that was a bit of to medication so what's the main
• 32:31
  thing that Apprentice taught you for me I think so the way the tasks work 6 o'clock in the morning
• 32:40
  you're given a dossier and it's today guys you're going to go to London Zoo and sell sweets or today
• 32:46
  guys you've got to set up a coffee business or a food business and go and sell it on the street
• 32:51
  the fact that with a group of people and a seed fund of sometimes a few hundred maybe a thousand
• 32:58
  pound between 6:00 a.m. and midday we've created a company bought the supplies and gone out on the
• 33:06
  street and started selling something is phenomenal and I think that's the lesson that the sh really
• 33:13
  fails to deliver to the public because if I was a 13-year-old kid at school in Blackburn watching
• 33:18
  that I'd be like I could do something yeah it's easy to start a business I just need a couple of
• 33:25
  quid some stock and off I go and then build from there you say that but most businesses fail don't
• 33:32
  they they do they do and I think most people that start a business they're either not really worried
• 33:41
  about risk or they don't have anything to lose so a lot of businesses that are started to buy
• 33:47
  young people because they don't have MS to feed at home but yeah they do fail other businesses
• 33:52
  fail because people go into something they don't know anything about and Alan sugar talks about
• 33:56
  that often I stick to what you know and there's definitely something in that if you if it's not
• 34:02
  something that you know about You' certainly got to learn about it and and learn as you go so I
• 34:05
  wouldn't say that if you don't if you got a great idea and it's not something that you know enough
• 34:10
  about then you've got to go out and talk to a lot of people if you just start something you don't
• 34:14
  know what you don't know so you're not so you're not going to be in the best position but there's a
• 34:20
  lot of businesses out there that that are started by people a little bit further into the cre that
• 34:24
  do succeed so if you look at the average age of an entrepreneur that has a net worth above a million
• 34:30
  it's about it's between 42 and 45 that's accurate so I think go out there and learn if other people
• 34:36
  that them pay you a wage while you learn and then set up your own business would probably
• 34:40
  be the advice I'd give to a young person but also I would never put someone off starting something
• 34:44
  because actually if you start simple you can go and buy some stock and get a license to sell on
• 34:50
  a street cor somewhere and go and start selling something do some stuff so your old boss actually
• 34:55
  because you're now in sales and you're pretty much at the top of the the pack with that you're
• 35:00
  doing really well your old boss said that nobody doubts your talent hard work or your skills so
• 35:09
  taking that into account how would you rate your success today on a scale of 1 to 10 one bad 10
• 35:15
  amazing probably a six oh there was a middle part of my career where I don't think put work first
• 35:29
  what did you put first friends music women all the classical distractions yeah yeah I think that yeah
• 35:40
  there was a there there was definitely a period there where I was ambitious I wanted to do well
• 35:46
  um you got distracted I got distracted but also from where I'm from the expectations that I felt
• 35:51
  like I proved the people I wanted to prove wrong at one point I think that self-actualization piece
• 35:58
  I really struggled with post Apprentice a couple of years after getting some good jobs the things
• 36:03
  that people told me I couldn't do i' then gone and done and then it was like really struggling
• 36:10
  with purpose and I had to spend quite a bit of time and really look at what my purpose was and
• 36:15
  then kicked on so I think I possibly lost a few years there um I've been involved with a couple
• 36:21
  of businesses that haven't quite worked out I've taken some big risks I've put some big money into
• 36:24
  a couple of companies that haven't quite worked out do I feel like I fulfill my potential not even
• 36:29
  close I regularly meet with C Level Executives at massive multi-billion dollar organizations and I
• 36:38
  feel like I could mix it in roles at that level and I'm not at that level so I do rather feel that
• 36:47
  I could have probably done more so why why aren't you at that level I'm working towards it still I'm
• 36:54
  far from a finished article but regardless of any titles that I have now or I've had in the
• 37:00
  past I'm ultimately still just a Salesman is the way I look at it when I do feel that I've
• 37:06
  got great capability as being a Salesman but I've also got capability above and beyond that that I
• 37:12
  don't feel like I I am either able to access due to my role or that anybody would want me
• 37:19
  to access so there's times when I probably feel a little bit handcuffed by the role that I'm in
• 37:24
  like I need to stay on task I need to bring the deals in and it's a lot of work and there isn't
• 37:28
  time to do other things it's a lot of work sales especially at top level yeah so there isn't really
• 37:33
  the time to do that but do I have but do I have aspirations of getting to the point of being like
• 37:37
  a chief sales officer or chief sales and marketing officer at some point yeah absolutely you can
• 37:42
  earn huge do this is the other problem this is the other problem with being in sales isn't it
• 37:47
  because so tempting to chase the yeah cuz I can earn a CEO salary oh yeah doing a sales rooll
• 37:53
  yeah of course so and not have the pressure and not have the pressure of running a business yeah
• 37:57
  but you do have the pressure of bringing the bacon home to feed everyone else they all relying on you
• 38:01
  waiting for their steak but that was a problem Fe them but that was a problem in Korea yeah the
• 38:06
  problem with ker was I was earning really good money and finishing work at 6 o' some nights and
• 38:15
  just dropping it forgetting about it whereas when I ran my own company it was 24 hours a day like
• 38:21
  I was dreaming about it it was just non which do you want which do you want this is the you
• 38:26
  want to be dreaming about a business 24 hours a day this is the thing isn't it I think what
• 38:31
  I found the second you think you've got there you go backwards the really top companies in
• 38:37
  the world value their top sales people yeah big time and the top sales people are amongst that
• 38:44
  sort of the elite crowd because they realize that without them there isn't much are you happy do you
• 38:53
  know what mostly am I completely satisfied with everything everything no um I have a really great
• 39:00
  life I'll be honest with you like the role that I'm doing today I travel around seeing customers
• 39:07
  all the time so my dayto day don't get me wrong it's sales it's high pressure it's very difficult
• 39:12
  to win business these days I haven't seen anything not be signed off by a CEO and an entire board in
• 39:19
  years so there's pressure but like from a from the role that I do from the job that I do super
• 39:24
  happy with where I am what I'm doing I feel like I can do a lot better but it's the stuff outside
• 39:29
  of that as well so like the podcast that I do as well I really enjoy doing I like having a
• 39:32
  creative Outlet I film music videos with a lot of musicians in Manchester and try my best to help
• 39:38
  them with marketing and go to market strategy and all the stuff that you wouldn't naturally
• 39:42
  be able to do as a musician they never listen to me because they're creatives they've always
• 39:47
  got a vision for doing that and then as soon as I start talking about sales funnels or marketing
• 39:52
  funnels they like no disgusting but yeah I've got that I've got a fantastic group of friends like
• 39:58
  especially at the age that I am now like mid 40s and I've still got a really big group of friends
• 40:02
  a really diverse selection so yeah and I I I get to see a bit of the world and yeah but do I feel
• 40:09
  like I'm there yet no I want to earn enough money to buy a house in Italy and do more things yeah so
• 40:16
  I worked in Italy for a year with a a company called Wonder Flor and just loved the country
• 40:21
  and the people and yeah it's just beautiful isn't it and the food the wine like just the way people
• 40:28
  are like I said before I like having people around I like that social engagement I like
• 40:33
  going to the bar and having drinks with friends after work Italians like that too socializing so
• 40:36
  you'd probably be in the right place maybe not so much some other countries fit fit in fit in there
• 40:41
  pretty well what about your health I need to lose a bit of weight how much how much weight do you
• 40:46
  want to lose I need I probably need to lose about two Stone to be honest so just getting in that
• 40:50
  routine is super difficult you know what I'm going to say to that you've got to make time for it
• 40:55
  there's no excuse you got to travel your skipping rope or your whatever it is Peter that I work with
• 41:01
  takes his running shoes and shorts you can run anywhere in the world yeah that's my problem
• 41:07
  anywhere in the world you can anywhere so I can't run I've got a a a [ __ ] knee do you yeah and to
• 41:16
  be honest with you I I studied sport management at University running and jogging are wor some of the
• 41:23
  worst things you can do for your health exercise is super important endurance exercise particularly
• 41:30
  things like hit training super useful but the human body is not designed for a constant paer
• 41:34
  your heart's not designed for it your joints aren't designed for it we're designed to hunt
• 41:39
  so we're designed to walk and track animals and then Sprint and capture animals that's what we've
• 41:44
  evolved to do to run at one pace for a long period of time we're not we're just not physiologically
• 41:50
  designed to do that what if we're hunting an animal for 5K we need to we need to speed up
• 41:55
  yeah you would so if you look at the the the the tribes in the savannah of Africa that still do
• 42:00
  that they don't run they will walk and they will jog and they lean like they are still what we are
• 42:08
  supposed to be as a species but it's akin to hit training it's the change of pace and actuallyy
• 42:15
  yeah and and and if you want to lose weight because this is the problem with me being a little
• 42:18
  bit overweight at the moment is I know exactly what I'm supposed to do of course you do so what's
• 42:23
  next for you so I think yeah there's a couple of things like obviously getting back in share that
• 42:28
  are really important but at the moment the big thing that I'm thinking about is just secure my
• 42:35
  future financially and I'm obviously mid- 40s I'm looking out as far as Retirement and making sure
• 42:42
  that I own a house in the place I want to retire to so at the moment I'm living in the city center
• 42:49
  of Manchester I've got an apartment in the city center and it's perfect because I'm easy to the
• 42:53
  train station the airports we're traveling I love music I'm out in Manchester watching bands and
• 42:59
  musicians all the time so for now it's great but you want your yeah but when I retire I'm thinking
• 43:04
  like a Maly call store or something like that so yeah so I need to bring in some business and earn
• 43:10
  some money to be able to afford to do that and retire by the time I'm 60 or 65 but then I do
• 43:16
  lecturing at University of Leeds as well there's a guest lecture and I've really enjoyed that so
• 43:20
  the other thing that I'm looking at is getting my masters finished off and then potentially doing a
• 43:26
  PhD because I I wouldn't want to be an active when I retire I think I'd like to give something back
• 43:32
  so I'm looking really at like on that long-term scale of buying a house somewhere else yeah it's
• 43:39
  been brilliant having you on Adam oh you loved hearing all the stories all controversy and I
• 43:45
  really hope that you get that beautiful house in Italy I'll be held accounted by everybody
• 43:49
  on YouTube that exactly now that you said it that's what I love about it you put yourself up
• 43:53
  there you make yourself comfortable boom I like it I like it thanks much thanks for having me