Telephone 0800 032 1127

The Apprentice – a lesson on how NOT to do business

16th April 2008

Scottish lawyer turned entrepreneur, Karen Bremner was 34 (with an 18 month old son) when she found she’d been selected as a contestant in the BBC 1 hit series The Apprentice.

Karen lasted just three weeks before Sir Alan Sugar pointed his famous finger and uttered his famous phrase. But did the experience give her an insight into the world of Big Business? Not exactly, admits Karen. In fact, she firmly believes that her previous career as a qualified lawyer in the Royal Air Force gave her a better grounding in starting a business than watching the Amstrad boss in action.

But what’s it like to go through the cauldron-like experience of The Apprentice? What the TV audience doesn’t see is the three-month long interview process which cuts 14,000 hopeful applicants to just 12 apprentices – an experience Karen describes as “just as interesting as the actual show”.

Karen said: “People were disappearing left, right and centre, mainly the ones who were thinking ‘I’ve got to be the person the producers want me to be, instead of being who I really am’. I went into it thinking, no game-play, no putting on a personality for the cameras, I’m just going to be myself because it’s a long time to have to pretend to be someone else.”

One of the most important lessons she learnt from the show was, that in business, you don’t get very far trying to be someone you’re not. “If you try to start up a business thinking, I’m going to be this very vivacious, entrepreneurial person, when that’s not who you really are, then you can’t sustain that and you won’t get very far. It just wastes everyone’s time, especially your own.”

Apart from that, Karen warns anyone thinking of starting up a business to be very cautious about taking tips from the show. “It is essentially a lesson in how not to do business, there’s no two ways about it. It shows everything that can go wrong in a team exercise rather than how people work to their best. You’ve got Sir Alan Sugar, the guy at the top of the tree, self confessed belligerent, angry man who doesn’t take any prisoners and that’s who you’re meant to be looking up to as your mentor. He feeds that down so everyone tries to be like him, being aggressive to others and 12 people trying to be like that just isn’t going to work.”

“Working with Sir Alan, I learned that his methods are extremely detrimental to a lot of people. Although some people thrive in the kind of atmosphere where everything is very negative, there was no positive feedback from him. If you did something well, it was just expected of you, but if you did something badly, by God, you’d know about it and so would everyone else! It was a very old-fashioned, almost 1980’s style of management that was very counter-productive.”

As one of the 11 apprentices fired, Karen missed out on the £100,000 job, so was it for the money that she entered? “Working with Sir Alan showed me that money does not make you happy. Although it’s important, it isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything. Sir Alan is reportedly worth around £800 million but he’s miserable! It seemed that life was a bit of a chore for him and he was always grumpy. It emphasised to me that being hugely successful doesn’t mean you’re hugely happy.” Wasn’t his moody persona an act for the cameras then? “No way, that is 100% him, he’s like that all the time! There was no act there. I actually felt quite sorry for him, he’s done so well in his life and he just looks so fed up.”

So why does Karen think she was fired? “Sir Alan didn’t scare me and I don’t think he liked that. He’s used to being able to intimidate people but I’ve been in front of very high ranking military officers who are much scarier than he is!”

And it’s Karen’s military experience that has helped her set up her own business. Months of management and leadership training as well as time management, self-awareness and discipline skills have been a great base for her new venture, karenB, a fashion boutique in Broughty Ferry.

Karen said: “After the apprentice, I felt at a loose end and didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I’d never thought about starting my own business, no-one in my family has, it always seemed like too much of a risk. But after taking a risk on The Apprentice, where I could have made a fool of myself in front of millions of people as well as being fired in front of all those people, I’m still here, it hasn’t destroyed me. I decided to take the next step in a risky environment and launched my own company.”

With help from Business Gateway in the form of classes and assistance in putting a business plan together, Karen launched her new business in August this year with her own savings. Providing contemporary clothing for women in the area who don’t want to have to travel into Glasgow and Edinburgh, Karen says things are going great so far, although she’s looking forward to getting along to the newstartscotland exhibition in March where guidance and support is offered to all entrepreneurs, regardless of age or industry sector.

“My eyes have been opened so wide over the past year. Scotland needs to support its small business owners 100% better. Speaking at the National Business Awards for Scotland, which is a great opportunity for businesses to gain recognition, MSP John Swinney said the Government is very keen to support small business, but that’s nonsense. I was on my own starting my business, paying huge amounts of rates. Even a six month rates-free period for new start businesses would give startups a chance to get themselves going, without any noticeable damage to the economy”.

“Ageism is alive and well in Scotland. I feel that people are left slightly high and dry when starting their own business. If you’re under 30, then there seems to be a lot more support than if you’re slightly older, despite the fact that you have a lot more life experience and perhaps more business acumen. The Scottish economy should be more helpful with small businesses instead of throwing millions of pounds at attracting large organisations into the country. We know what happened to NEC, Chuinghwa, Motorola…the list goes on. A few thousand pounds to help small businesses would make all the difference to our nation, and get Scottish people building Scottish businesses to help the Scottish economy.”

So who would Karen’s dream apprentice be? She said: “I’d love to employ Elvis Presley – he could sit in my shop and serenade me, he would be my muse!”

karenB will be hosting a fashion show at end of November, showcasing their latest design range. For further details, contact:

T: 01382 774446
www.karen-b.co.uk

telephone 0800 032 1127 | email info@axismediagroup.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales | 4375076
website designed by stream media | sitemap