What Really Happens After Winning The Apprentice?
The Beyond the Boardroom Podcast with Aleksandra King is where ambition meets unapologetic truth. In this episode, Aleksandra sits down with Mark Wright—winner of The Apprentice 2014 and founder of a multi-million-pound digital marketing empire. From partnering with Lord Sugar to surviving lawsuits, burnout, and the spotlight, Mark shares the unfiltered reality of building, scaling, and selling a business for £10 million.
The Beyond the Boardroom Podcast with Aleksandra King is where ambition meets unapologetic truth. In this episode, Aleksandra sits down with Mark Wright—winner of The Apprentice 2014 and founder of a multi-million-pound digital marketing empire. From partnering with Lord Sugar to surviving lawsuits, burnout, and the spotlight, Mark shares the unfiltered reality of building, scaling, and selling a business for £10 million.

What life is really like after winning The Apprentice
The unique challenges and benefits of having Lord Sugar as a business partner
How Mark scaled from 230 small clients to a £10 million company exit
The personal toll of fame, lawsuits, and burnout
Why his focus now includes work-life balance, mindfulness, and starting fresh in Australia
This isn’t just another Apprentice success story—it’s a brutally honest look at entrepreneurship, resilience, and redefining success beyond money. Aleksandra’s fearless interviewing style pulls out Mark’s story of grit, growth, and designing life on your own terms.
Key Chapters
| Chapters | Timestamps |
| From Backpacking to Stardom: Winning The Apprentice | 00:00 |
| High Stakes and Hard Lessons: Selling for £10 Million | 08:41 |
| Engineering Happiness: Designing a Life in Australia | 16:48 |
| Trolls and Truths: The Correlation Between Success and Haters | 24:32 |
| Sacred Time vs. Trade: The Logic of Working Through Holidays | 32:12 |
| Resilience and Results: Redefining Ruthlessness in Business | 41:01 |
📲 Connect with Aleksandra:
YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@AleksandraKing
Instagram → https://instagram.com/king.aleksandra
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandraking
TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@king.aleksandra
Website → https://aleksandraking.com
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💌 Business inquiries → aleksandra@aleksandraking.com
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📢 The views expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of Aleksandra King, the podcast, or its producers. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
0:00:00.120,0:00:06.720 you won BBC The Apprentice I think I I won it almost easily I said hi my name is Mark Ry and 0:00:06.720,0:00:13.440 I'm the winner of the 2014 apprentice and she was like she just laughed anyway on the night 0:00:13.440,0:00:19.240 that I won the show the lady from the reception came in to the your HED show and she said do you 0:00:19.240,0:00:23.720 remember me I'm the lady from reception and you said Your name's Mark R and you're going to win 0:00:23.720,0:00:30.960 the show and you want it what are you afraid of in life are you running from anything [Music] 0:00:37.640,0:00:42.560 I'm Alexandre King and I'm the host of Beyond The Boardroom podcast in this episode we look 0:00:42.560,0:00:49.120 at what happened after Mark won The Apprentice how much help did Mark actually get what actually 0:00:49.120,0:00:57.460 happened and why did he land up selling his business and walking away tune [Music] 0:00:57.460,0:01:11.960 in so you go in you then win 250,000 investment how do you feel it felt like a madeup fairy tale 0:01:11.960,0:01:19.480 sort of moment it was like all my family was there and the sort of there was so much happening and 0:01:19.480,0:01:25.520 uh you know I my social media following went through like went up hundreds of thousands in 0:01:25.520,0:01:31.280 one day people on the street were asking me for selfies I mean you you you you'll know this it's 0:01:31.280,0:01:38.360 just I went from being a regular person that's backpacking in the UK to like everyone asking 0:01:38.360,0:01:44.640 for photos hundreds of thousands of people on social media um people wanting me to pay me 0:01:44.640,0:01:52.480 to go here and do this and it was just so much it was too much I couldn't um process it at the time 0:01:52.480,0:01:59.840 I probably haven't even processed it to to this day it was amazing it was a once- in A- lifetime 0:02:00.680,0:02:07.280 incredible enjoyable experience and I I I'll look back on it when I'm sitting in a nursing home and 0:02:07.280,0:02:13.960 I think no matter what happens in my life before that point or or to the day I die that will be 0:02:13.960,0:02:21.200 one of the things I think about on my death it's a moment of elation of complete ecstasy must be 0:02:21.200,0:02:28.120 so you then have Lord sugar as a business partner you're one year in you're turning over 1.7 million 0:02:28.120,0:02:34.720 you've got over 30 members of sta you've got 230 odd clients that's a lot of clients by the way to 0:02:34.720,0:02:38.920 cope I mean I know a thing or two about digital marketing companies agencies such as such as the 0:02:38.920,0:02:46.480 one you were running my husband runs the same and it's like 230 clients so how are you coping 0:02:46.480,0:02:50.680 with the pressure and then you've got Lord sugar and his accounting team and you got meetings like 0:02:50.680,0:02:57.520 how are you even surviving not not well not well I made a lot of mistakes in the first two years 0:02:57.520,0:03:03.560 the first three years particularly uh my main mistakes being exactly what you just highlighted 0:03:03.560,0:03:12.320 I I got way too many staff on low salaries so the quality of the employee was was was not fantastic 0:03:12.320,0:03:19.160 and that caused its own issues uh we got way too many customers on low retainers on on small 0:03:19.160,0:03:25.120 budgets so it sounds great to say 230 customers not if they're all paying A1 pound each that's 0:03:25.120,0:03:31.040 that's terrible so the numbers and it all sounds great on paper there was some issues like the old 0:03:31.040,0:03:36.440 duck you know smooth on the surface and the legs were going crazy underneath and if you looked at 0:03:36.440,0:03:45.680 my agency when I sold it we had like I think we had like 43 customers uh 45 customers but they 0:03:45.680,0:03:52.600 were enormous yeah and we had you know uh not many more staff than than the numbers you read out okay 0:03:52.600,0:03:58.800 there quite a few more but it was a long time on big bories and you know it was just working more 0:03:58.800,0:04:05.640 harmoniously um so the things the stress of winning the show having the money having Alan 0:04:05.640,0:04:11.760 sugar as your business partner um and the and it was the first time I'd ever own and ran a business 0:04:11.760,0:04:15.560 so I'm a business owner for the first time I'm business partners with Lord sugar for the first 0:04:15.560,0:04:22.600 time I've never seen 250,000 PS before that's all new that's at this point are you getting advice is 0:04:22.600,0:04:26.600 Lord sugar saying listen like you need to scale back you you you're growing too quickly the 0:04:26.600,0:04:32.040 retainers are tooo small I mean are you getting advice or is it all on you you it's all on me 0:04:32.040,0:04:40.240 100% 100% all on you and he tells you at the very start you are going to do this on your own boy I'm 0:04:40.240,0:04:45.920 going to look after the accounting the finance you bring to me legal stuff but I don't want to 0:04:45.920,0:04:50.800 know about digital marketing I don't want to know about you know this that and the other I'll see 0:04:50.800,0:04:54.680 you once a month at the board meeting but you are either going to make it work or you're not going 0:04:54.680,0:05:00.640 to make you're in hot water you've got this public following you're now public figure and you better 0:05:00.640,0:05:10.040 succeed or else yeah and it you feel it I felt every ounce of the pressure people we got sued 0:05:10.040,0:05:16.000 we had other digital marketing agencies hacking our website hacking our server hammering us on 0:05:16.000,0:05:23.320 SEO hammering us giving us negative reviews we had I mean it was a lot I was stacking on weight 0:05:23.320,0:05:31.240 um and eating and drinking really unhealthily working just hours that were un unbelievable 0:05:31.240,0:05:41.240 for a sustained period it was a hard hard hard time um I it was it was thank God I was 24 and 0:05:41.240,0:05:47.120 young and didn't have many obligations because I pretty much lived in the office yeah um you have 0:05:47.120,0:05:53.320 to you have to and and I just made it I made what it I made the opportunity work but it it took some 0:05:53.320,0:06:02.160 working you see you definitely have to be at that right stage in your life I mean yeah I I knew that 0:06:02.160,0:06:10.800 that would have been as a 30y 34 yearold person I knew that the outcome would be all of that 0:06:10.800,0:06:18.000 and you would have to literally give everything without any scope because it's all on the table 0:06:18.000,0:06:24.880 and it's like all on nothing situation so you you have to your life you you you have to you have to 0:06:24.880,0:06:30.960 submit you give your life for that opportunity and The Apprentice winners that haven't been as 0:06:30.960,0:06:36.200 um successful with the opportunity that I have they haven't and it might be the right decision 0:06:36.200,0:06:40.920 for them in their life and the place they're at they haven't given their life to that opportunity 0:06:40.920,0:06:45.840 and it hasn't worked yeah yeah I I could kind of tell that that's the direction it's going in 0:06:45.840,0:06:50.920 and when I met Lord sugar in person he reminded me of my own dad who has the same work ethic my 0:06:50.920,0:06:57.520 dad's also in business and like crazy strict and totally like that you know and I I had already 0:06:57.520,0:07:03.440 had my kids and I was thinking I'm not sure I want to necessarily work in that way now I had 0:07:03.440,0:07:08.040 wanted it when I was the age when you went into The Apprentice because that's how I was working 0:07:08.040,0:07:12.240 in in what I was doing you know Building Systems implementations and things so I would do crazy 0:07:12.240,0:07:18.080 hours and I loved that in the middle of nowhere in a in a gambian jungle or whatever you know but 0:07:18.080,0:07:23.320 as your life changes it's like how much are you going to give and also how much can you physically 0:07:23.320,0:07:29.320 give so so you're now putting on weight you're now you're drinking you're not sort of balancing the 0:07:29.320,0:07:33.640 world work life thing and you're getting stressed so what's what's going on now what's happening to 0:07:33.640,0:07:40.920 you and how how are you managing it wasn't it wasn't good it it manifested in um me having 0:07:40.920,0:07:48.760 fainting episodes where I would like black out or um like just faint um which was new that was that 0:07:48.760,0:07:56.440 something I had seen before um and I was just so stressed and I was under so much uh pressure uh 0:07:56.440,0:08:04.880 from myself from the media from the board of my company um and it was it was challenging 0:08:04.880,0:08:08.680 there's no doubt about it and that's what I say to people who who message me and stuff they're 0:08:08.680,0:08:13.760 about starting a business okay you're not going to be maybe have the same public profile I have and 0:08:13.760,0:08:19.680 maybe Alan Sugar's not your business partner but it's going to be tough the first 12 to 18 months 0:08:19.680,0:08:27.440 of a startup business is Relentless you need to live and breathe it and uh really ride the ups 0:08:27.440,0:08:32.760 and downs for it to get to where needs to go and look later in my career it was not like that at 0:08:32.760,0:08:41.400 all but certainly for the first three years it was it was pretty rough yeah okay but then you kind of 0:08:41.400,0:08:50.400 work through that somehow and then you sell the business for 10 million so why why did you sell 0:08:50.400,0:08:58.000 Mark uh why did I sell well first of all I got an incredible offer um to to for my company to 0:08:58.000,0:09:03.760 be sold the average digital marketing agen in the UK sells for two to three times ebit D we sold for 0:09:03.760,0:09:10.280 N9 and a half times e ebit d so that's a pretty good offer uh the other the other side of that 0:09:10.280,0:09:14.960 coin is um I wanted to be spending more time in Australia which is where I'm doing this from I'd 0:09:14.960,0:09:23.760 missed every friends's wedding funerals birthdays uh births of children I'd missed everything and I 0:09:23.760,0:09:28.880 was starting to be forgotten amongst my friends and family at at home I'd sacrificed 12 years of 0:09:28.880,0:09:35.000 my life to building up my career and and and all of that good stuff so I felt it was time to spend 0:09:35.000,0:09:40.720 more time um with the people that mattered most to me so the offer came at a good time and the 0:09:40.720,0:09:47.040 other businesses I own and manage are either in Australia or can be done um you know Visa V over 0:09:47.040,0:09:52.800 here so um that that that's what led to that decision so a bit of work life balance which 0:09:52.800,0:09:59.320 we'll get to in a second so um your work ethic like from the email correspondents that we've had 0:10:00.280,0:10:05.440 you know LinkedIn whatever you're very good at responding to emails I quite like that you know 0:10:05.440,0:10:14.320 you're very professional is that super important to you yeah yeah my email inbox uh and all my 0:10:14.320,0:10:22.680 inboxes are U meticulously organized I respond to everything within within the day I receive it 0:10:22.680,0:10:28.200 um everything I'll have we we have the Sundance rule in my my offices where anything that comes 0:10:28.200,0:10:34.840 in the day we respond to to before we before we leave um because that is part of the service you 0:10:34.840,0:10:39.880 get from working with me at any level I answer my phone quickly and professionally I write back to 0:10:39.880,0:10:44.880 you quickly and professionally and I'm honest with you and that's that's a guarantee that I 0:10:44.880,0:10:50.560 give the people that I that I work with and even organizing this podcast or anything that I do is 0:10:50.560,0:10:56.200 we do it properly we do it fast we do it organized and we we do it that way and where where does that 0:10:56.200,0:11:04.960 come from does that from from did Lord rub off on you in that way is he similar oh gosh he he's he's 0:11:04.960,0:11:11.120 he's probably a bit more than me but um probably my dad my my dad always had a theory you know how 0:11:11.120,0:11:16.760 you do anything is how you do everything whether you're washing a mug whether you're cleaning your 0:11:16.760,0:11:22.800 car he always said you can tell a good employee from how they keep their car you can tell a 0:11:22.800,0:11:27.480 employee from how they keep maintain their house you know all of this stuff and and and Lord sugar 0:11:27.480,0:11:34.640 was exactly the same he would comment to me on how I was dressed how I was shaved uh you know stuff 0:11:34.640,0:11:42.040 that maybe you shouldn't do these days let's say he doesn't uh give give a stuff about that no his 0:11:42.040,0:11:50.160 brand of mentoring is um direct old school let's call it old school and direct but my dad is a hard 0:11:50.160,0:11:56.680 bastard he is a hard hard bastard so I grew up in a household with a with a tough dad and then I 0:11:56.680,0:12:04.040 went into business with a tough guy and I Lov look getting sworn at to me is it's just a Monday let's 0:12:04.040,0:12:08.880 rock and roll some people get really offended by that and they want to you know take it to the 0:12:08.880,0:12:14.600 employment tribunal or have a winge that's I love that stuff that brand of mentoring works for me 0:12:14.600,0:12:20.720 it doesn't work for everybody you know I I got a business partner that was right for me believes in 0:12:20.720,0:12:28.880 competition believes in working hard believes in tough love uh and it works for me right so do you 0:12:28.880,0:12:38.000 ever ghost people not I will tell them I'm going to ghost them I find ghosting so rude it's so I 0:12:38.000,0:12:43.480 don't get that ghosting thing I don't get it um there's only I can only think of one or two people 0:12:43.480,0:12:49.560 I've ever ghosted because I don't think they're cognitively got all the stuff going on upstairs um 0:12:49.560,0:12:54.360 but most people I'll say look I'm not interested in what you're selling here or what you're doing 0:12:54.360,0:12:59.480 here or your podcast is a load of Tosh I'm not interested and then they'll write back and say 0:12:59.480,0:13:05.880 I told you I'm not interested don't write to me again but so with me um some of my ex-girlfriends 0:13:05.880,0:13:11.360 will might attest to this you always know where you're at you'll always know if you can send 0:13:11.360,0:13:16.960 another message or not yeah I love that and I love you know in this podcast your honesty is coming 0:13:16.960,0:13:22.000 across as well you're talking about you know those numbers that that I read out you know that are on 0:13:22.000,0:13:27.360 from the different magazine articles so like well that's a bit inflated or that wasn't a good number 0:13:27.360,0:13:31.880 because of you know you are super honon that comes across and it's life is too short right 0:13:31.880,0:13:36.040 especially with things like partners and that why would you why would you stay in a relationship 0:13:36.040,0:13:41.640 with someone when you're not like feeling it why can't you just have the courage to tell them you 0:13:41.640,0:13:47.200 know to their face like listen like it's you know I don't I don't get why people don't do that but 0:13:47.200,0:13:53.840 yeah I I I I don't I don't understand it and um I think it better you know I used to be the best 0:13:53.840,0:14:01.120 uh bullshitter in the game when I was younger uh and as I've gotten older and more um refined more 0:14:01.120,0:14:07.640 mature uh more professional I've just learned that if telling the truth and being direct with people 0:14:07.640,0:14:13.800 and being honest with people is is the best policy it gets me the best results in business it gets me 0:14:13.800,0:14:21.440 the best results in my personal life um and do you know the people left in my life after I'm direct 0:14:21.440,0:14:27.160 with them are the ones I enjoy being with anyway so it's the results great yeah they've accepted 0:14:27.160,0:14:32.160 you for who you are and they love you for that so that's that's amazing right so let's go to 0:14:32.160,0:14:39.760 where you are now you're in property I mean that's that's where you want to be right that's um that's 0:14:39.760,0:14:45.400 a sweet spot I would say well Lord sugar uh used to say to me pretty much at every board meeting 0:14:45.400,0:14:55.480 Mark we do uh business for fun and property to make money and uh I agree um it's it's I love it 0:14:55.480,0:15:03.440 um I love it because it's challenging but it's fun I love it cuz I'm good at it um and it's different 0:15:03.440,0:15:09.080 and I can do it anywhere in the world so there's there's so many elements to it that I'm working 0:15:09.080,0:15:14.320 um with and I have lots of new stuff happen every week and that that keeps me interested but it is 0:15:14.320,0:15:19.040 it is good for the back pocket as well if you get it right if you get if you get it right it 0:15:19.040,0:15:23.840 can work so I've just I'm starting a new property company in New Zealand at the moment I'm doing one 0:15:23.840,0:15:31.560 in Australia at the moment I've got one in the UK that's that's doing very well um so it keeps me 0:15:31.560,0:15:37.480 interested and it's a good place to you know hone the stuff that I learned from Lord sugar who's a 0:15:37.480,0:15:44.600 massive property Tycoon um if you know I might as well uh if I've seen success go and have a bit of 0:15:44.600,0:15:53.600 that myself okay so are you happy oh definitely yeah and what's the best thing about your life 0:15:53.600,0:16:01.480 right now I've set my life up I've designed my my life is by Design uh I live in a house on a lake 0:16:01.480,0:16:11.640 in Australia which only has 20 plus Degree Days uh I have uh a fantastic uh fiance who I'm about to 0:16:11.640,0:16:19.720 marry I have an amazing son who uh is very healthy and and doing developing well and I have an office 0:16:19.720,0:16:26.160 down the road which is amazing um I have a great office I have businesses where I go to the board 0:16:26.160,0:16:30.600 meetings I drive to the meetings and I enjoy the people I'm working with and that's not always been 0:16:30.600,0:16:37.040 the case so I've set up my life where I love my house I go to a gym I enjoy an office I enjoy so 0:16:37.040,0:16:48.080 I'm in this phase of my life of doing hard stuff but that I enjoy and um that makes me happy yeah 0:16:48.080,0:16:53.120 okay so in terms of your work life balance I mean are you doing anything to do with like 0:16:53.120,0:16:58.840 mindfulness or journaling or anything like that for your mind and you mentioned working out so 0:16:59.840,0:17:06.600 how was that balance going yeah I mean I try to meditate every day um for 15 minutes at the end 0:17:06.600,0:17:14.040 of every single day um I'm a bit of a Nutter about self-help stuff um I'm always listening 0:17:14.040,0:17:21.280 to self-help books and uh different podcasts and things about improving my health um and 0:17:21.280,0:17:29.000 and wellness so I have two coaches that I pay for coaching a nutritionist um and um one that I work 0:17:29.000,0:17:33.640 with like a personal trainer type thing but it's like an exercise physiology because I have some 0:17:33.640,0:17:39.760 issues in my back so um I believe because people pay me to coach them about business why would I 0:17:39.760,0:17:46.000 not believe in paying people for their expertise to help me in other areas I need in my life so 0:17:46.000,0:17:51.360 I'm working really hard on my on my health at the moment um to complement the other stuff that I'm 0:17:51.360,0:17:56.320 doing in my businesses I love that I love the fact that you say you engineer your life it's 0:17:56.320,0:18:01.000 like drawing your ideal life and then you go for it I love that I love it right we're now going 0:18:01.000,0:18:08.000 to move on to your LinkedIn posts okay so I'll start with this one this is what you're saying 0:18:08.000,0:18:13.760 I've always been different whenever I've tried to cover that up and act more normal I found 0:18:13.760,0:18:25.480 less success what do you mean by that um I I I'll give you a reference to The Apprentice actually 0:18:25.480,0:18:32.200 the candidates that uh watch the previous series before they go on the series is before them and 0:18:32.200,0:18:38.800 they try and act like or take on the personality of a contestant that's been in years past always 0:18:38.800,0:18:44.520 fail because you cannot fake being someone you're not for 12 weeks impossible situation 0:18:44.520,0:18:51.320 it's too tiring yeah you you can be you and that's either going to be accepted by Lord sugar and the 0:18:51.320,0:18:57.800 public or it's not but at least you're going to be realistic and go on to be successful in whatever 0:18:57.800,0:19:06.760 your realm of life is that is the same I've had times in my life where I have felt the need to 0:19:06.760,0:19:14.480 act differently against my my will or against who my my nature is or my ethics and it's always 0:19:14.480,0:19:23.320 turned out badly differently how to fit in maybe you know to fit in at school or to fit in to try 0:19:23.320,0:19:31.680 and uh date a girl or to get a job or to work in a team or an organization and I've always done it 0:19:31.680,0:19:38.640 to try and get some form of success or a goal and it's I've either got it and it's not felt right 0:19:38.640,0:19:46.440 or I've either not got it and burn crashed and burned miserably and it's I've Trace that back 0:19:46.440,0:19:54.840 like an air crash investigation to always acting not in a reflection of who I really am not being 0:19:54.840,0:20:02.680 who I am at my core value and whenever I've done that I've failed so my theory is if you are just 0:20:02.680,0:20:09.680 you we're all weird we're all messed up let's just agree to that and be who you are and I agree that 0:20:09.680,0:20:14.960 sometimes people will come into my life hate who I am and they leave and sometimes I'll come in 0:20:14.960,0:20:20.080 and love who I am and stay and that's all fine and if you just do that you're going to have 0:20:20.080,0:20:24.640 better people around you you're going to get into the opportunities that are right for you you're 0:20:24.640,0:20:29.280 not going to get into the ones that are wrong for you and the net positive of that is going to be a 0:20:29.280,0:20:34.800 better life yeah cuz if you look at someone like Lord sugar as well he's completely and utterly 0:20:34.800,0:20:41.520 unashamedly and unapologetically himself isn't he yes let's let's be clear about and like your 0:20:41.520,0:20:47.760 dad and my dad you know it's people with strong personalities that don't apologize for who they 0:20:47.760,0:20:54.320 are they're not and they they tend to live the best lives I to I need to be honest with the 0:20:54.320,0:21:00.280 more you Flex to other people's will you know Lord sugar probably always gets to go and eat where he 0:21:00.280,0:21:05.040 wants to eat because not too many people are going to argue with he he's picking that restaurant you 0:21:05.040,0:21:10.800 know I've Got Friends where I know when I'm out with them they've got very strong Wills 0:21:10.800,0:21:15.880 they picked the restaurant they picked the bottle of wine you know they just get what they want in 0:21:15.880,0:21:22.280 life and that they seem pretty happy when I saw my husband at work um I mean I was on holiday at 0:21:22.280,0:21:26.000 the time and he joined the company while I was on holiday and he walked into the office I was 0:21:26.000,0:21:30.320 like I'm definitely going to marry him and then the night yeah yeah the next night we went went 0:21:30.320,0:21:35.360 out you know I just was like you know do you want to have kids one day and d d he was like yes and 0:21:35.360,0:21:38.960 then I went home to my friends I was like I'm gonna marry him and that's exactly what I did 0:21:38.960,0:21:46.000 and I'm very happy you know because if you do what you want to do in life and you you know you like 0:21:46.000,0:21:51.960 you're saying Mark like you engineer your life then you can you have to be happy because you're 0:21:51.960,0:21:59.960 doing what you want so the outcome is going to be more in your favor yeah and and I don't understand 0:21:59.960,0:22:07.040 I cannot comprehend people who you see them like I've got some some family members like this who 0:22:07.040,0:22:12.480 say you know oh you know I think about I'm not so unhappy in my career I'm so unhappy in my life 0:22:12.480,0:22:17.760 I'm so unhappy I'm so unhappy and I just think you mustn't be that unhappy because why would 0:22:17.760,0:22:24.400 you just not change it it's so easy to there's so many companies to work for there's so many 0:22:24.400,0:22:30.560 gyms to go and improve your like there is so many ways to be not where you are but you just mustn't 0:22:30.560,0:22:37.040 be uncomfortable enough because you I literally I call it with my partner we call it braining it 0:22:37.040,0:22:45.320 out we brain out every element of our house of our life of you know I want every bit of my house and 0:22:45.320,0:22:51.120 life and business thought about it brained out I want to just I want to design it so and people say 0:22:51.120,0:22:58.720 wow this is amazing it's on purposely amazing yeah but some people are also on purposely they have 0:22:58.720,0:23:04.040 victim mentality because they kind of like and that sounds really horrible to say but I have 0:23:04.040,0:23:09.600 seen it in people where they like the sort of the being miserable because they get attention from it 0:23:09.600,0:23:15.000 and every go oh no and you know you can do this and they get a lot of feedback and in a way that 0:23:15.000,0:23:20.120 feedback is rewarding which which sounds horrible but there are some people like and you're right 0:23:20.120,0:23:26.800 they obviously don't like it dislike it enough to change um but no one's coming to change their 0:23:26.800,0:23:33.520 life like no one's going to magically wand them out of that situation except for them and a lot 0:23:33.520,0:23:38.320 of the time it it it doesn't change I I'll give you another example I'm getting married in the go 0:23:38.320,0:23:44.040 Coast in December and we sent congratulations thank you thank you and obviously a lot of my 0:23:44.040,0:23:48.920 friends live in the UK and my partner's from Finland and um so there's a lot of invitations 0:23:48.920,0:23:54.960 G out across the world and some people have said to my to my partner and I it's I wish you would 0:23:54.960,0:24:01.320 hot the wedding until we can afford to come for the ticket or whatever you know some close 0:24:01.320,0:24:07.200 members of family the issue is which I said to my partner they'll never be able to afford to come 0:24:07.200,0:24:14.080 in my experience poor people are always poor and rich people are always Rich because it's in here 0:24:14.080,0:24:20.080 nothing to do with what's in your bank account it's a way of thinking and uh once you change that 0:24:20.080,0:24:26.600 way of thinking everything else changes and it's that's the hardest bit of the process to change 0:24:26.600,0:24:34.800 in most people yeah that's a very interesting one okay so another LinkedIn post go for it you hit 0:24:34.800,0:24:43.600 me with them okay if you don't have haters trolls and enemies you aren't doing anything worthwhile 0:24:43.600,0:24:53.520 really in my experience there is a direct the more people that have trolled my posts uh attacked me 0:24:53.520,0:25:00.440 on Google reviews on LinkedIn on uh Twitter and all of these various places there has always been 0:25:00.440,0:25:08.600 a direct correlation between the better I'm doing and the more haters I have right so when I was 0:25:08.600,0:25:15.360 broke flat broke as a pancake working at a steak restaurant sleeping on the floor I had no haters 0:25:15.360,0:25:21.520 I had no trolls I couldn't get any likes on my Facebook posts then I won The Apprentice and I 0:25:21.520,0:25:26.240 had hundreds of thousands of followers and all of a sudden people were saying he looks funny 0:25:26.240,0:25:30.960 he speaks funny he doesn't deserve to when I know more about digital marketing than me hang 0:25:30.960,0:25:37.520 on that person doesn't know me and all that had had changed was I was doing better I was doing 0:25:37.520,0:25:42.080 something worth doing I was doing other people I was doing something that other people were jealous 0:25:42.080,0:25:48.120 of and that made them dislike me because I was being successful at it and I found whenever your 0:25:48.120,0:25:54.040 business is doing better you're more healthy you're earning more you're doing better people 0:25:54.040,0:26:02.720 start to say things about you and comes from a place of jealousy in their own circumstances get 0:26:02.720,0:26:10.200 I get some pretty Savage stuff um mainly about just you know I don't know what I'm talking 0:26:10.200,0:26:17.320 about I've only been successful because I was in business with alen sugar um uh all of that sort of 0:26:17.320,0:26:24.360 stuff you know I get all of that you know go kill yourself and all of that sort of stuff but it's 0:26:24.360,0:26:30.760 it is water off off a duck's back and um sometimes I'm going to be completely honest with you I'm at 0:26:30.760,0:26:38.920 a place in my life now where I'm so content with it sometimes I do posts just to upset the um the 0:26:38.920,0:26:46.400 trolls because it amuses me okay I've got one of those I've got one this must be one of them this 0:26:46.400,0:26:54.240 is you responding to an article okay headlined how to get 55 days off this year while only just using 0:26:54.240,0:27:03.240 25 days annual leave Mark replies what a time to be alive this is the new culture that goes hand 0:27:03.240,0:27:11.880 in hand with nonsense like a 4-day working week and working from home holy guacamole I mean this 0:27:11.880,0:27:18.360 there's a lot in this post okay are you bringing this up because you don't agree with my my my 0:27:18.360,0:27:26.560 viewpoints and and and they they've upset yourself um I'm bringing it up for two reasons I can see 0:27:26.560,0:27:32.520 that the response from the public public was meaningful like there there was a response people 0:27:32.520,0:27:41.320 had a lot to say um I also bringing it up because I guess the way it's worded it's definitely trying 0:27:41.320,0:27:46.800 to annoy some people because obviously it's very generalized and you you can't possibly 0:27:46.800,0:27:51.840 make a statement like working from home isn't good at all because like you know people work 0:27:51.840,0:27:56.560 from home and very effectively obviously there's people that work from home and they work from home 0:27:56.560,0:28:03.800 like we know we know so it's a very general thing but um it was just one of those Mark moments I 0:28:03.800,0:28:09.680 think where I'm not sure you is that a windup or do you actually think this I intentionally word 0:28:09.680,0:28:16.560 some things to create conflict because the the best way to increase social media visibility is 0:28:16.560,0:28:24.440 engagement so it is a windup so it's not up well let me let me finish by saying I completely stand 0:28:24.440,0:28:29.440 by that post and I agree with all of the things that I said and and let's break it down one at a 0:28:29.440,0:28:36.880 time I don't I fundamentally at my core believe a 4-day work week will be a disastrous situation 0:28:36.880,0:28:42.720 if big companies enter into it yeah I believe that working from home full-time working from 0:28:42.720,0:28:48.160 home kills the culture of a company and it's hard to build a brand and a company culture and retain 0:28:48.160,0:28:57.080 staff and un for them to understand the values of a company that they don't go into but I need a way 0:28:57.080,0:29:05.200 of communicating with people who don't really want to hear me out so I sometimes go for the jugular 0:29:05.200,0:29:12.080 on one liners that I know will really upset them because if you're sitting at home in your pajamas 0:29:12.080,0:29:17.280 taking the biscuit getting a full salary and you you're one of the people who really take the 0:29:17.280,0:29:24.320 Mickey and you see my post you are going to be up you're going to be fearful that your way of living 0:29:24.320,0:29:34.640 is going to leave uh and so they come hard in the paint at me and I I absolutely love it yeah I mean 0:29:34.640,0:29:39.520 I suppose it does depend on the type of business I mean I work with teams that you know they just do 0:29:39.520,0:29:46.960 work from home but my word do they do a brilliant job because for those guys like a designer that's 0:29:46.960,0:29:53.480 doing a specific logo or some sort of you know print that you're doing and either they deliver 0:29:53.480,0:29:58.320 it or they don't I couldn't care less what pajamas they're wearing or what biscuit they eating it I 0:29:58.320,0:30:03.000 literally don't care what time I do what I care about is what ends up in my inbox is something 0:30:03.000,0:30:07.560 that I like and like you've done a good job and it better be on time it better be on time and 0:30:07.560,0:30:12.360 also you better respond you know when I send that text reply like that efficiency like you 0:30:12.360,0:30:17.160 can be on the moon I couldn't care less as long as it comes in but I obviously get your point 0:30:17.160,0:30:21.640 that there's some businesses where you've got to have that brainstorming session and you need 0:30:21.640,0:30:29.320 that culture I completely understand so that's why it depends definitely I for for me the way 0:30:29.320,0:30:36.920 you build a company is by having a good brand a good culture and good values it's very hard to 0:30:36.920,0:30:45.600 instill a culture values and all of that good stuff if you never see the person uh that you 0:30:45.600,0:30:52.560 you know that you're working with and I think my concern is people can do what they want no one's 0:30:52.560,0:30:58.120 waiting for Mark Wright to tell them what to do let's be completely honest but with the develop 0:30:58.120,0:31:05.520 M of artificial intelligence and the ability now out of places like India the Philippines and all 0:31:05.520,0:31:13.720 of these places the US the UK Australia they need to be very careful what you wish for you might 0:31:13.720,0:31:19.520 wish for a four-day working week it won't be long before you have a zero day working week because Ai 0:31:19.520,0:31:26.760 and the Philippines are willing to do your work for you and that's I'm you might hate me these 0:31:26.760,0:31:34.600 folks out there but I'm on your team I'm trying to foresee what is coming and make sure that we 0:31:34.600,0:31:41.080 all have jobs and money for the future yeah I I'm I'm totally with you on the four- day working week 0:31:41.080,0:31:46.680 I mean that's nonsense I agree about that that's silly you've got to just at least work your five 0:31:46.680,0:31:53.720 working days please every everyone it's not that hard if you if you're upset about working five 0:31:53.720,0:31:59.120 days a week you need to change jobs you're in the wrong profession you're in wrong career because I 0:31:59.120,0:32:05.080 love I want to work I race to the office on Monday I can't get there quick enough because I love I 0:32:05.080,0:32:12.880 love it if you're not doing that change jobs this brings me on to a very very very controversial one 0:32:12.880,0:32:21.120 where you say you don't understand businesses that close between Christmas and New Year's Eve 0:32:21.120,0:32:31.240 and that you sell more when others are closed yeah uh it's just that really upset the uh the 0:32:31.240,0:32:39.000 wokies that one that run really got that Lit the touch fire on the um on on the people in the cheap 0:32:39.000,0:32:49.360 seats and the reason basically I um I went to do I was doing something I don't know sending 0:32:49.360,0:32:54.200 oh was moving house and I was trying to get some quotes for some stuff for the house and everyone 0:32:54.200,0:33:02.960 I removal company internet this thing this thing we're closed from the 20th of December till the 0:33:02.960,0:33:13.280 17th of January what oh so I can't have internet until then or I can't remove my stuff and whatever 0:33:13.280,0:33:20.640 whatever whatever now and people were like oh yeah good luck working on your deathbed good luck you 0:33:20.640,0:33:25.320 know blah blah blah blah blah listen people need a break people need to go on holidays people need a 0:33:25.320,0:33:30.720 weekend one of the best pieces of business advice I ever forgot maybe the best was from Alan sugar 0:33:30.720,0:33:36.640 that he's never worked a weekend he finishes at 5:00 on a Friday he doesn't start again till 9:00 0:33:36.640,0:33:44.400 on Monday I was not saying don't have a break I was saying that organizations should be able to 0:33:44.400,0:33:53.080 take orders process customers and still trade to help people and and create Revenue through holiday 0:33:53.080,0:33:59.400 periods now there is much more than there's 52 weeks in a year the week between Christmas and New 0:33:59.400,0:34:05.600 Year is one week There's still 51 other weeks you can go on holidays or some staff could still work 0:34:05.600,0:34:12.080 that week and go on a holiday at different time my companies do it we do record trade in those 0:34:12.080,0:34:16.720 times maybe there's something that when other people are closed people go to the you know if 0:34:16.720,0:34:21.240 there's all the cafes are closed and there's one who's open who's selling all the coffees 0:34:21.240,0:34:27.880 sometimes just being the only game in town is a is a pretty powerful sales strategy okay again you've 0:34:27.880,0:34:31.960 you've explained it so the controversy was there on purpose because you're not saying don't go on 0:34:31.960,0:34:36.360 holiday over Christmas because obviously parents you know you've got to go when your kids have a 0:34:36.360,0:34:39.560 holiday they've got a break which is normally over the Christmas period you're going to go with your 0:34:39.560,0:34:44.840 son you're gonna you know you want to that that family time is really important and it normally 0:34:44.840,0:34:50.240 comes around that period but you're not saying don't do that you're just saying keep business 0:34:50.240,0:34:54.360 operating especially if it's critical business I mean obviously hospitals and all that you know 0:34:54.360,0:35:00.080 that's a no-brainer but like you're not saying just work you know work over Christmas you're 0:35:00.080,0:35:04.320 just saying Christmas is my favorite time of the year it's my favorite day of of the year 0:35:04.320,0:35:09.840 it's my I love it I absolutely love it I love sitting at the Christmas table with my family 0:35:09.840,0:35:16.720 and my friends and it's it's the most beautiful sacred time in my in some of my life is being at 0:35:16.720,0:35:23.280 the Christmas table but that doesn't mean my business is shut down that's all I'm saying 0:35:23.280,0:35:27.640 and uh and this is what I'm saying business isn't for everyone I think what I'm saying 0:35:28.480,0:35:33.600 is the best business advice I can give you it might sound uncomfortable maybe you your business 0:35:33.600,0:35:40.600 doesn't want to open then but my businesses do and I still enjoy Christmas but I'm just saying spread 0:35:40.600,0:35:48.400 it out have C you might have Muslim employees that work that Christmas period and you give them that 0:35:48.400,0:35:54.800 Christians that time off and you work over Eed or what what whatever it is exactly yes so you be 0:35:54.800,0:35:59.600 more flexible you see Mark which is what I what I wanted you to explain about your post because that 0:35:59.600,0:36:04.760 that makes more sense to me than what you posted because obviously I agree with that but I wouldn't 0:36:04.760,0:36:09.720 agree with the just flat posts which says you know just basically work over Christmas go if you go 0:36:09.720,0:36:14.320 like Mark you as well forget your kid go work over Christmas but obviously these posts are designed 0:36:14.320,0:36:21.840 for um yeah no they they're interesting here we are talking about them and uh I get so many 0:36:21.840,0:36:27.560 uh messages and and stuff but look my this is my true beliefs and when you ask me to explain them 0:36:28.120,0:36:33.160 tell me if you disagree yeah no I I I actually agree with that now that you've explained it I 0:36:33.160,0:36:40.960 agree I agree with everything pretty much that you've said so maybe maybe accept this one this 0:36:40.960,0:36:49.000 is the one post it's the last LinkedIn post um all right you talk about the fact that you have never 0:36:49.000,0:37:01.200 met a business person a good business person that isn't ruthless that triggers some uh emotion in 0:37:01.200,0:37:09.240 me um obviously I come from entrepreneurship it's like it's been in the family like I've I've grown 0:37:09.240,0:37:16.480 up living and breathing everything that business is you know from the ground up all that Journey 0:37:16.480,0:37:24.560 up and down all of it um there is something about the ruthlessness in business that I have a like 0:37:24.560,0:37:33.560 a problem with you know um I had an exboyfriend once that I wonder if he's listening he lied on 0:37:33.560,0:37:38.640 his application to go to to do an MBA you know these Business Schools they're very tough you 0:37:38.640,0:37:44.840 know the application process and he lied that English you know wasn't his first language um 0:37:44.840,0:37:52.160 so he sort of you know manipulated the the whole thing about his mom and so on for this application 0:37:52.160,0:37:57.440 and and got in and would write the exam that's easier in English and that really bothered me 0:37:58.040,0:38:05.480 because I was like well that's dishonest you've you don't really deserve to be in that position 0:38:05.480,0:38:11.280 you've cheated and you know what he said to me he goes you know people like me are going to get 0:38:11.280,0:38:19.640 ahead in life because I I know how to play the system I know I'm ruthless I you know because 0:38:19.640,0:38:25.600 there are people out there that will sell their kidney to get ahead in business and he was sort 0:38:25.600,0:38:32.000 of saying that to me and never have I ever been so put off a man in my life you know human like I 0:38:32.000,0:38:39.840 couldn't understand you know I don't relate that I think you did well making him an ex-boyfriend 0:38:39.840,0:38:47.520 let's let's uh say that um and the the answer is what he was doing was not ruthlessness it was 0:38:47.520,0:38:57.440 dishonesty um and when I talk about ruthlessness I mean resilience and I mean toughness um 0:38:59.080,0:39:05.440 every successful business leader I've worked with or ever met speaking doing podcasts on 0:39:05.440,0:39:12.240 my journey across board room tables to be successful you need a level of resilience 0:39:12.240,0:39:19.920 and toughness and decision-making ability that is I deem ruthless and it comes down to what the 0:39:19.920,0:39:28.800 definition of Ruthless actually means and it is not being dishonest it is not taking advantage of 0:39:28.800,0:39:37.120 people it is not doing anything at all costs it's making the tough decisions at the right times and 0:39:37.120,0:39:45.440 doing what needs to be done and if you do it with a resilience and an honesty and an Integrity that 0:39:45.440,0:39:50.880 is ruthlessness that makes you successful and I truly believe you can't be successful without 0:39:50.880,0:39:57.200 that right okay so let's unpack the definition of ruthlessness which is actually according to 0:39:57.200,0:40:05.920 the Oxford dictionary having or showing no pity or compassion for others well then then then I 0:40:05.920,0:40:12.520 I've used the wrong word I think you've used the wrong word I think you used the wrong word I if I 0:40:12.520,0:40:19.840 was looking for one word it's toughness toughness is ruthlessness sounds better than toughness right 0:40:19.840,0:40:28.800 it does it sounds sounds more robust yeah uh so I I don't mean at all cost costs absolutely not 0:40:28.800,0:40:34.200 because um you you could go and set up a Ponzi scheme and just steal money if you wanted to be 0:40:34.200,0:40:40.040 successful make money that but that to me is not successful that that's that's just making 0:40:40.040,0:40:45.440 money at at any cost and that's ruthlessness and that you know that that's not the right way to go 0:40:45.440,0:40:49.960 about it yeah I think I'm be I'm being a little bit tough on you there because of you know I've 0:40:49.960,0:40:55.280 read ahead of this I was doing research on this and especially this post and I actually came 0:40:55.280,0:41:01.080 across so many articles you know business articles you know the entrepreneur there that credible you 0:41:01.080,0:41:06.840 know journalists writing about ruthlessness in business but in a very very positive way so it's 0:41:06.840,0:41:14.360 not like it's un unheard of and unusual for you to say that I will just say um when you talk about 0:41:14.360,0:41:22.400 ruthless business people I would consider one of those to be Steve Jobs you know I think the way 0:41:22.400,0:41:29.400 that he operated was a little bit ruthless not just with the people his team like come on why 0:41:29.400,0:41:33.360 aren't you working later hours let's go let's go we need to get the product out I don't care that 0:41:33.360,0:41:38.400 you haven't eaten I don't care that it's 3:00 in the morning you got to work and he was also 0:41:38.400,0:41:45.800 incredibly ruthless with himself he had no pity or compassion with the fact that maybe he didn't eat 0:41:45.800,0:41:49.960 breakfast he's been in the same clothes for three days that these are real stories he would not 0:41:49.960,0:41:55.640 even get changed sometimes because why why would you there's no time you have to work so he was 0:41:55.640,0:42:01.560 incredibly ruthless and I feel like that there's going to be a price right and he paid I think with 0:42:01.560,0:42:10.360 his life he gave his absolute health for this I agree you know I agree I love Steve Jobs um 0:42:10.360,0:42:17.760 for for for for multiple reasons but he was he was ruthless in probably every sense of uh the word um 0:42:17.760,0:42:22.200 you know if you even look at the way what he how he was with his daughter and all of that sort of 0:42:22.200,0:42:29.440 stuff he he really he really was ruthless um but he was a incredible businessman if you read the 0:42:29.440,0:42:37.640 Glass Door reviews for Elon musk's company he is a ruthless guy he is there is no doubt about the way 0:42:37.640,0:42:44.920 he operates he's he's a ruthless guy but coming back from that I believe you have to be tough 0:42:44.920,0:42:50.040 and resilient to be successful in business I I've just seen too many people there's too much that 0:42:50.040,0:42:57.480 happens to you on a weekly basis for if you cannot handle pressure stress to to make it it's just too 0:42:57.480,0:43:05.800 difficult and um that's what I was trying to get across in that post yeah um well I think there 0:43:05.800,0:43:11.320 was one thing he said as well which I quite liked because obviously I walked off The Apprentice I it 0:43:11.320,0:43:16.760 wasn't for me so I I will always do what's right for me and maybe there's a ruthlessness about me 0:43:16.760,0:43:20.360 because it's like oh you took other people's place and someone else could have something something 0:43:20.360,0:43:26.520 but then the ruthless side of me is like well hang on a minute I got myself in I will get myself out 0:43:26.520,0:43:30.800 if that's what I feels right for me no one is going to tell me what I'm like a cat you can't 0:43:30.800,0:43:35.840 make me do anything I don't want to do like there is no way on God's Earth I'm going to do something 0:43:35.840,0:43:42.440 I don't want to do um and he was the same in the sense that he was like if you w to get out of 0:43:42.440,0:43:48.200 something if something isn't working if it's not aligned with your your deep values then you've 0:43:48.200,0:43:57.520 got to change course like in that way I agreed but I can tell in two minutes of meeting you on this 0:43:57.520,0:44:03.440 podcast tonight you you are what I would call a ruthless tough person without a shadow of a 0:44:03.440,0:44:10.760 doubt I know that you are a certain type of person that can handle pressure that can handle stress 0:44:10.760,0:44:16.840 that can handle tough conversations I know that straight away by talk by talking to you in in in 0:44:16.840,0:44:23.200 two minutes and my friends have this like joke about me they call me Houdini because as soon as 0:44:23.200,0:44:29.080 I'm in a situation where I don't want to be there a meeting a night out a dinner I don't even say 0:44:29.080,0:44:36.160 goodbye to people I'm just not there anymore and um and and and like you with The Apprentice or or 0:44:36.160,0:44:41.200 or or or anything as soon as I'm in a situation I think this isn't for me I'm off I'm out I'm out 0:44:41.200,0:44:46.320 the door it's just a waste of time isn't it Mark I've taken up a lot of your time I've got three 0:44:46.320,0:44:51.440 last very quick questions and this has come from the public so I've just chosen the top three um I 0:44:51.440,0:44:56.720 said I'm interviewing you let's see what have you guys got so first one have this is really funny 0:44:56.720,0:45:05.800 have people ever got you confused with Mark Wright from Twi the only way is I know know yeah I mean 0:45:05.800,0:45:12.720 this is probably the number one thing I get asked now and um all the all of the time we get confused 0:45:12.720,0:45:19.840 I get letters for him I get emails from him I get social media DMS from people that certainly think 0:45:19.840,0:45:27.240 I'm him uh that we get confused all the time I've met him and um he's a Charming guy he's a lovely 0:45:27.240,0:45:34.560 Guy and um he he's done incredibly well and he's a lot more uh famous uh quote unquote well-known 0:45:34.560,0:45:41.200 than I am and uh but he deserves all of his success okay and what was your favorite task on 0:45:41.200,0:45:52.080 The Apprentice and why we had one at a farm show the uh bath West Farm Show and I sold 11 hot tubs 0:45:52.080,0:45:58.480 and it was my favorite task because I did well and we won but but I just loved the selling and I 0:45:58.480,0:46:04.160 loved being out in the public um selling to people and it felt like when you're trapped in that house 0:46:04.160,0:46:10.360 with the same people I felt like I was getting a bit of like um like a bit of like being in jail 0:46:10.360,0:46:14.800 you know like I felt like I was trapped almost like you said before and when I was out at the 0:46:14.800,0:46:20.040 farm show selling with the public I kind of felt like I was normal again like I was like part of 0:46:20.040,0:46:25.560 the people again and there was there was something nice to that as well okay last question how much 0:46:25.560,0:46:34.040 time do you really get to get ready in the mornings people love this why is this can I ask 0:46:34.040,0:46:39.680 you because this is the out of all the questions I get asked the two biggest questions are what's 0:46:39.680,0:46:45.360 Alan sugar like yes and when the phone rings do we really have 20 minutes to I must have been asked 0:46:45.360,0:46:53.000 this $1,000 they want to know loads of people yeah and I as you will know it's true yeah you don't I 0:46:53.000,0:46:58.280 mean obviously because I couldn't sleep so I I was like next to I slept next to the window so 0:46:58.280,0:47:03.080 I could hear them sneaking by and parking their little cars and I knew I knew they were on their 0:47:03.080,0:47:09.560 way so I was kind of like mentally I was mentally prepared for them anyway so sort of yeah but it is 0:47:09.560,0:47:17.080 really short isn't it it's just so really really short and it's really really early like 400 a.m. 0:47:17.080,0:47:24.840 in the morning I just remember it being so early and uh but like I said I loved every minute of it 0:47:24.840,0:47:30.800 brilliant mark thank you so much much for coming on this podcast like you've been absolutely 0:47:30.800,0:47:37.760 amazing thank you for your honesty like it's been super interesting thank you thank you for your 0:47:37.760,0:47:42.880 tough questions and inviting me on it's been a pleasure to be with you and here my LinkedIn posts 0:47:42.880,0:47:48.160 read out loud that's the first time that's ever happened but I I I wish you every success I know 0:47:48.160,0:47:56.960 it's going to be a great podcast and thanks again for having me on thank you and likewise [Music] 0:47:56.960,0:47:57.600 he

Entrepreneur / The Apprentice Winner
Mark Wright is an Australian-born entrepreneur best known as the winner of the tenth series of The Apprentice in 2014. His journey began with significant hurdles; undiagnosed dyslexia and poor vision hindered his education, and the loss of a professional football contract left him financially "down and out," sleeping on a mattress in Brisbane. Seeking a fresh start, he moved to the UK, where his natural communication skills eventually led him to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment for his digital marketing agency, Climb Online. The first years of business were grueling; the pressure of rapid scaling—initially managing over 230 low-value clients—caused significant health issues, including fainting spells. Mark eventually refined his strategy, focusing on high-value retainers and quality staff before selling the business for £10 million.
Now living a "life by design" on a lake in Australia, Mark manages property ventures across Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. He is a vocal advocate for accountability and "toughness" in business, crediting his success to a relentless work ethic and the ability to make difficult decisions. Today, he balances his professional life with his role as a father and fiancé, prioritising wellness through meditation and health coaching.