LS said this in the boardroom after the winning team's profits were announced, and it irked me a little- he gave them much more than that. Lord Sugar believes he's "sending a message to Britain". Anyone can do this and make money, he seems to be saying. I don't buy it. Martin Lewis put it well on twitter-

"It may be £750 but what's real profit after cost of van, pitch[es], tax, the mics used, petrol, and the labour of five people."

I think he's sending out a false message. What do you think?

I agree, how many times will the candidates have been able to secure a sale or a pitch simply by mentioning The Apprentice or Sugar's name? They must benefit quite a lot by this.

I think he's probably using his role on The Apprentice as part of his remit as his government job. As you said, it's a far too optimistic message to send out.

Several of the tasks shown so far wouldn't have broken even just by paying the candidates minimum wage. That comment on Wednesday night really bugged me because there's no way those pitches (esp. Lakeside) were cheap. There is also the skewed aspect of people buying things just to be on tv or to say they bought something from people on The Apprentice.

I do wonder what was in the folder that both teams had.

And regarding costing, it has always struck me as odd that if this is trully about business then cost of fuel, pitch costs and labour would be factored in.

Heh! Granted, Sugar has simplified it hell a lot but what he said is essentially true. Just a van and £150 can create a profitable business within a year, but only if you have a good instinctive feel for products and customers' needs.

That's how my great-granddad got his start as a junk (then antique) dealer, anyway, with just 12000 yen (£90 in 1902, which is like £670 today) to his name.

The only message this programme is designed to send to Britain is "Alan Sugar is great." That is why he does it!

@thombo1 - Well said. Definitely a far too optimistic message in my opinion. In these times, when many people seem to be on their uppers, it seems to be a simplistic message that if you're not earning, it's because you're not out there selling. No disrespect to Lord Sugar, but it just feels a bit of a flawed message to me, that ignores the fundamentals of capitalism.

@BlueSpike - Yes, absolutely.

@Takae - Yes, it can be done gradually by someone who knows what they are doing, but to suggest that anyone can do it, or that you can make a lot of money instantly I think is very misleading.

I was thinking more about it today, and there are other things that came to mind. Not everyone has £150 in their pocket to even take the gamble of making money this way- I certainly didn't for many years. £150 was like a fortune to me! The other thing is that you need membership of a wholesalers, which would mean already having a business I think. You can't just walk in and buy stuff.

I think to create a business in this way, you need talent, tenacity, and luck. Lord Sugar clearly has those things, but it's not easy even then. I'm all for enterprise and autonomy, but his comment smacks to me a bit of blaming people for their unfortunate financial situation and/or unemployment.

Phew, I've just staggered home from the Cash 'n' Carry with a boot load of great stuff, loads of fake tan and small toys, cleaning products, mops etc.
It was a fair way to travel but worth it I'm sure, I borrowed my mate's van but I think I got a speeding ticket on the way back, how much are they these days?
Anyhow I'm off to sell my stuff later, not quite sure where as it's pretty quiet in my semi rural location on a sunday, plus it's raining a bit. The Farmer's Market could be good though, the country folk round here would love a fake tan I'm sure, and it obviously goes down well.
After that I might go to the local shopping centre, I thought I would put my table up outside John Lewis, the folk who shop there always seem to have spare cash.
Well wish me luck, any tips would be appreciated.

I completely agree theres far more to it than that.

And the fact that it's a team of people bringing in a few hundred pounds means that even before you factor in all the costs associated with it, it would still be difficult, if not impossible to take minimum wage for each person for the hours worked on most if not all of these tasks.

This always irks me too, they never take into account the cost of wages and the hire of premises e.g. kitchens when they make food products.

Exactly!

I mean they're given so much which isnt even deducted from the takings!

I mean at the very least - they've got transport to anywhere they need to go - free. To the extremes like access to industrial kitchens...

It's the fact that even with all that, it's arguably implied that anyone can just do it...

With just a van, this time next year they'll all be millionaires.

quoting an old post but i thought this was hilarious when i read it when you first posted, but forgot to reply well done

lol...

It's actually very irresponsible to not put across the running costs of a business. That's why a lot of start-ups fail, they know how much money they will take in but are ignorant to the everyday costs.

Plus going into central London costs a fortune, what with the congestion charge and the last time I checked £4 an hour parking. Plus you can't just turn up say in places like Covent Garden and pitch a van. These are premium sites and near impossible to do any selling.

And as for trying to get a pitch at Romford market...

You make a good point OP, in that payment of wages is never considered into the equation.
I'm sure that you could make a few hundred pounds in these tasks. But unless it's voluntary work for a charity where would a team of about 5 people or over do it all for nothing?

I put my hands up and admit that I never even noticed that until right now in this thread.

Me and a few of my mates have a great business plan.

We're going to turn up at a jam factory and use one of the experts there to help us make my jams.

Then we're going to go to a design company and tell them to make one of their designers create a website for us and some leaflets for marketing. I guess they'll print them for us too.

Then we're going to go to a TV production company and tell them to help us make a TV advert that will be shown on national TV...we'll be directing it.
We'll also tell an agency to send us some actors, dancers, and models over too while we're at it.

We can't wait to pocket the few hundred quid profit. It can't go wrong.
Anyone can do it.

It did also raise some fundamental questions why everyone pays a mark up of 100-1000% when we could all go to the cash and carry and buy it ourselves?

That IS a point in Lord Sugar's favour. Yes, you can't swan into somewhere like Romford Market and demand a favourable pitch for nothing. But once you have negotiated a pitch somewhere, you can develop an eye for what people will buy and how much they will pay over the Cash and Carry price. Stuff like fake tan is a shrewd move because the cost of it in shops is so variable, and because with beauty products people have a vague, irrational feeling that if they pay more they must be getting something better, a suggestion that does not work nearly so well with things cutlery and crockery or towels.

The other thing is that most successful businesses are built on return business and customer retention.

I'm sure many of the people who buy junk at inflated prices would have no intention of repeating the experience.

Not only that, but youve also got BBC camera crews milling about ......... of course that will boost sales and interest alone.

Plus the fact half the pitches are just the company going for one team over the other, I'd imagine in reality they'd tell them both to hop it.

I guarantee that most of the sales that they do are just people wanting to get on tele

Do any of these apparent sales every get to market?

Do we know this? Are there examples where a company really has put on sale a few thousand items of some product or invention that a team from The Apprentice has sold to them?