The Apprentice

Last night the Apprentice candidates were given, in my opinion, a somewhat lame task–  or maybe it’s just that this year’s group IS lame.  They were to promote the opening of a new haircut salon (it looked like a TGF, but I think it was somewhat more high end than that). 

So, the task wasn’t that exciting and the methods of promotion were a COMPLETE snore.  Synergy printed up flyers and handed them out.  Gold Rush printed up flyers and put them on cars.  (Yawn!)  The only entertaining part was Sean’s monologues about trying to avoid messing up because the girls were out to get him.  Even the flirting with Tammy was pretty, well, boring.

What happened to the days of circuses and email blitzes from past seasons?  I would even have settled for a blimp from the beginning of this season.  I mean seriously I could have come up with print up flyers.  Donny Deutsch would have given them what-for and told Donald Trump to fire them all.

Donald Trump’s message was “Watch Your Back”.  That was a great lesson for this season, as this is the cattiest bunch I’ve ever seen.  I guess they have to do something to make up for a relative lack of talent.

As it turned out, Synergy’s tactic of pushing product to customers put them $300 ahead, with a complete unstunning $1000.  That put Gold Rush in the boardroom. 

Lee was pretty determined not to be in the boardroom, so he encouraged Charmaine to attack Tarek, encouraged Michael to attach Tarek, and encouraged Tarek to attack Charmaine.  The funny thing was that everyone seemed to think Lee was their one ally.  No, Lee’s one ally is Lee, which is sort of how it should be at this stage.  But, the truth is if anyone was really putting forth a great effort and coming up with fantastic ideas, they wouldn’t have to be so concerned about politicing and stabbing each other in the back.

He needn’t have worried so much, as Charmaine and Tarek have hated each other for some time and tried to tear each other apart in the boardroom, in an attempt to convince The Donald that the other should go home.  They both achieved their goal, as they were both fired.  I actually think Donald Trump just got some sort of perverse pleasure out of making them leave in a cab together   (That, by the way, was the quietest cab ride ever.)

Next week, there will obviously be some reshuffling.  From the previews, it seems obvious that Sean will be going to the boys to get away from the scary, scary girls, so it will be boys versus girls.  I have to say I’m rooting for the boys.

See you next week.

This evening on the Apprentice Donald fired both Charmaine and Tarek, who would you have fired? Last week you told us that you would have fired Allie instead of Andrea.

 Take this weeks poll and let us know who you would have fired.

What is so interesting about this week’s business lesson is that it is very similar to what I said last week in my extra business lesson.

In this week’s business lesson Donald Trump taught that you can and should excel in more than just business. He brings up the importance of having strong (successful) relationships with your family. He says that just because you are working hard on being successful in business does not mean that you can’t be successful in other things.

Donald stressed that it is very important to have balance in your life. This one of the best business lessons you can learn.

BTW- You can go here and take a look at any of Donald Trump’s business lessons from Season 5 of The Apprentice.

It looks like the majority favor a British Apprentice.  I have to say, at this point in time, I agree. 

At this point in the show, who do you think should be the Next Apprentice?
Lee: 8% (1)
Sean: 33% (4)
Roxanne: 17% (2)
Charmaine: 8% (1)
Tarek: 8% (1)
Michael: 0% (0)
Allie: 0% (0)
Andrea: 8% (1)
Tammy: 0% (0)
Nobody: 17% (2)
Total Votes : 12

I do not know how Allie continues to hang on–  well, last night was the first time in quite some time that she was even up for being eliminated. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself–  here is the recap.  The group was assigned the task of creating and marketing a limited edition program for Ellis Island.  The task was underwritten by Ameriquest, and the proceeds went to the Ellis Island Foundation. 

Gold Rush was lead by Lee who knew that he needed to do well or pack his bags.  You can only have so many return trips to the boardroom before this becomes a reality.  Synergy was lead by Allie. 

Both teams needed to go to Ellis Island to take photographs and gather information for the programs.  Lee sent Tarek and Michael (whose name I always forget because he seems like the “unmember”), while he stayed home with Charmaine to make sales calls to try to sell bulk amounts.  Allie took the whole team, which meant half of them just sat around twiddling their thumbs.  Andrea got very annoyed with this and tried to tell Allie how to do her job (as usual).  Tammy was taking copious notes.  When the group got to the boat, they realized that Tammy had left behind her notebook with all the notes.  So Tammy got off the boat, and Allie went with her (for reasons unknown to me).  Well, of course, as you probably know from the previews, the boat left without them.  So, the project manager was no longer with the group.

 It was unclear how far behind the group Allie was but far enough behind that Andrea had practically designed the whole program by the time Allie arrived.  Allie was displeased with the product, and Andrea (uncharacteristically) threw up her hands and said, fine, you do it.  Tarke, meanwhile, had completely usurped Lee’s authority as project manager and put together the program pretty much singlehandedly.

The next morning, Lee got his group up and out the door and staked out the ferry landing where people leave for Ellis Island.  They had an established spot before Synergy arrived at the same location.  After a brief attempt to sell competing programs, Allie made the not so brilliant decision to go to the island to try to sell programs.  Of course, practically every person they tried to sell to already had a program.

When it was time for the results to be revealed, it was no big surprise that Gold Rush had made almost twice as money as Synergy.  They were off to play golf with the Donald and Vijay Singh.  Synergy, meanwhile, was off to stab Andrea in the back.  Allie, Tammy, and Roxanne did their best recreation of “Mean Girls”, while Sean wondered why on earth he was on a team with all women.

I really thought Donald Trump would see through the girls’ shenanigans in the board room, but he somehow seemed to think that the loss was due to lack of chemistry, so Andrea was out.  Now, let me explain that I’m not a huge fan of Andrea, but I certainly didn’t think she was responsible for this loss.  (Of course, I also think she’d make a lousy apprentice, as I think she’s best suited to running her own business.) 

In any case, I guess Allie and her minions–  um, I mean teammates–  just bring back bad junior high flashbacks.  I think Tammy and Roxanne are okay.  As a matter of fact, I quite like Roxanne, but I think when they’re lumped together they definitely have that pack mentality, and that just irks me.

So, it’s another week of the Apprentice.  Next week it looks like we’ll see Sean in a romance with Tammy and Charmaine in charge of the boys.  Sounds like a good one!

According to this newsweek article, winning the Apprentice is not all it’s cracked up to be. All the former winners still appear to be working for Donald Trump, however their jobs are less than Dream Jobs.

I have always wondered what motivates some of these Entrepeneurs to apply for the Apprentice. Quite a few of them seem to be doing real well for themselves. If you owned a multi-million dollar business of your own why would you go on the show?

As Jill wrote in a previous post The Apprentice was not on last night. So obviously there was no business lesson from Donald Trump this week, right?

Well… the fact that The Apprentice took a vacation Monday night inspired me to write a weekly business tip anyway. This week’s tip is:

Sometimes you have to stop to smell the roses.

Even Donald takes vacations. All of us need time off from our routine. I recently wrote about this on my other blog here. However, The Apprentice made it clear to me how important this business lesson really is. We all need to take a break from our business.

So be sure to take time every now and then to change your routine, take a vacation, take a break from your work, stop to smell the roses, enjoy your family and friends. Do something (besides working on your business) that is relaxing and/or fun.

If you need more inspiration, check out what I think is the best blog post ever on this topic. Alice Seba wrote about this very same topic and I highly recommend you read this post (especially if you’re not convinced that everyone needs a break)…

Well, The Apprentice was pre-empted by the celebrity cooking challenge show, so no one got fired last night.  I guess that’s why there were two shows last week, huh?

So, in the absence of any recap, I thought I’d pass along this spoof site.  Just type in what you want The Donald to advertise, and he’ll happily oblige.  Now, mind you, it needs to be a real product.  I tried to get him to advertise this website, but he just said he didn’t know what I was talking about.  He will advertise things like Burger King, though.

I hadn’t really thought about the visit last week with Senator Charles E. Schumer as political exposure for the Senator.  I mean, it’s highly likely that appearing on a reality t.v. program could be viewed negatively by constituents.  But the N.Y. Times has an article which briefly explores the free air time that certain politicians receive through their appearances on The Apprentice.  What do you think?  Is this a problem?  I’m inclined to think no.

If you watched Season 1, you might be wondering what happened to Kwame Jackson. Kwame has been a very busy man. He has a website http://www.kwamejackson.com/ where you can keep up to date on what he is doing.

From reading through the news on his website it seems like Kwame has become quite the public speaker.

Week 8′s business lesson from Donald Trump was “Know Your Customer”.

There could have been other business lessons like “listen to your people”, “listen to your boss” (Donald), “make sure the price is right”…

The thing is that the Project Lead of Gold Rush (Leslie) made the fatal flaw of not knowing her customer. She knew the customers were college kids, and yet insisted they would pay 7.99 for a sandwich??? Ummm, I don’t think I would pay 7.99 for a sandwhich from 7 Eleven, why would a college student?

Anyway, you have to know your customer to succeed in any business. It’s as simple as that.

Well, week 8 came upon us quick (the same day as week 7). In week 8′s episode, the teams were tasked to help 7-Eleven sell and promote their new P’EatZZa sandwich.

After week seven’s victory, all of the members of Synergy confronted Michael and told him what a horrible job he did. When Donald announced the task and that one member of Synergy would need to join Gold Rush, Michael jumped at the chance and volunteered to join them. It was a really smart move on Michael’s part, because he knew if he stayed on Gold Rush he would have been a target in every boardroom (not that team Synergy ever goes to the boardroom).

Leslie became project lead for Gold Rush, and Andrea became project lead for Synergy.

When I saw that Andrea was going to be project lead for Synergy I really thought Gold Rush had a great chance to win. I don’t know why I doubted team Gold Rush’s ability to lose, but I really thought they had a great chance.

Andrea didn’t let me down, by being the polar opposite of Michael (domineering). She didn’t listen to her people and that could have been really, really bad. The problem is that Leslie (the project lead for Gold Rush) didn’t listen to her customers and one of her people.

Anyway, Andrea chose to giveaway a baseball as the promotional item. No one on her team liked that idea, neither did Donald and co. but it didn’t matter. They priced the sandwhiches to sell at 4 dollars a piece. Also, Sean had a great idea to pass out fliers the night before and tell people to come back for the exciting new sandwhich. That really paid off for them as well.

On the other hand team Gold Rush came up with a great promotional item (a free cooler), but…

Well, Lee went and talked to the manager of the 7-Eleven. He convinced the manager to take ALL the sandwhiches off the shelf and put only the P’EatZZa sandwiches. That was brilliant!While he was there he also asked the manager what was a good price to set for the sandwhich, he said 4-5 dollars. That evening the team discusses price points. I am not sure who suggested 7.99 but it wasn’t Lee. He then speaks out and says that 7.99 is too high, how about 6.99 (assuming they wouldn’t go for 4-5 dollars). Leslie says no way! Lee tells them that the manager of the store told him it should be cheaper. Leslie still doesn’t care (what the customer wants), she chooses to go with this random number of 7.99.

The next day, both teams do a decent job selling the P’EatZZa sandwiches. At the beginning of the day Lee overhears two of the workers complaining that the price (7.99) is too high. He tells Leslie, but Leslie and Charmaine get on his case and say 7.99 is a good price. At one point Lee is missing for about 45 mintues. It turns out he is out on the street trying to make a mega deal. He almost does with a chance at selling 1000 sandwhiches, but it doesn’t work out. Leslie gets on his case about not being there, but if the deal had gone through she would have been cheering him on because it would have meant a huge win for them.

At this point, (in our living room) Jill and I are talking about how we think Leslie is going to make a huge mistake and bring Lee into the boardroom, after performing way above anyone else on this task including members of the losing team. Now back to the show…

In the boardroom, Donald and co. make it clear that the reason they lost the task was the price point. Lee was the only one who had said the price point was too high (he did so twice), but the rest of the team (who defended the price point) insist that Lee is to blame for the Loss. Knowing that Leslie is going to bring in Lee, Donald says to Leslie, you can bring in 1 or 2 people to the boardroom with you, you SHOULD bring in 2. Leslie brings in just 1, Lee.

Fatal boardroom mistake, when Donald tells you that you should bring in two people, bring in two people.

I thought that Lee almost talked himself into going home. He broke the boardroom rule of “don’t talk too much”. But Leslie didn’t listen to Donald. If you aren’t going to listen to him how in the world can he hire you?

Also, her decision about the price lost them this task, so Leslie went home and on her birthday of all days…

BTW – I kind of like Lee, I am not sure if it is because he has a lot of energy and is very creative or if it is because he remind me a little bit of Scott Baio.

So at this point in the game who do you think is going to be the next apprentice?

Week 7′s business lesson from Donald Trump was “Be Decisive”.

Despite being indecisive Michael’s team won the task in Week 7. The reason he won is because they followed Donald’s business lesson for week 8, “Know your Customer”.

However, being indecisive drove the rest of Michael’s team crazy! They just couldn’t stand it.

Once you have gone over all the options and you get a pretty clear idea of what is the best thing to do, you need to “JUST DO IT”. Don’t keep going back and forth about your decision. You have to be decisive in business.

You don’t want to overanalyze things. Being indecisive is actually a problem I struggle with, and when you have this problem you just have to look over the facts and make quick decisions. You aren’t always going to be right, but everyone makes mistakes and the longer you agonize over a decision the less fun you are to be around and the more stressful every decision becomes. Eventually you will just stop making decisions altogether. And that is no way to run a business.

The first episode Monday was the episode for Week 7. The task for week 7 was to remodel a special Boy and Girls club room to help promote an Ace Hardware community outreach program.

Team Gold Rush started off on the wrong foot. Lenny got caught up in what he wanted to do, before meeting with the Ace Hardware execs. He failed to prepare any questions for the execs. Not only that, but he didn’t ask the Ace execs what they wanted. He just went full steam ahead with his plan. Boy was that a bad mistake.

Synergy had their own problems. The project leader Michael was very indecisive and it almost cost them. However, they did listen to the Ace Hardware execs and managed to make a room that was exactly what the execs at Ace were looking for.

It was pretty easy to pinpoint Lenny as the one that would be going home. Right before the boardroom, Lee was telling Lenny how he would stick up for Lenny. While it was admirable, I think Lee could have talked himself off the show in that boardroom. I get the feeling that Donald really likes Lee. He can probably see a little bit of himself in Lee.

Anyway, Lenny went home as expected and Gold Rush probably lost the weakest player they had left (which was good for them).

Not much voting yet, but here are the results of our last poll:

Who do you think should have gone home Monday?

Bryce: 50% (3)
Lenny: 33% (2)
Lee: 17% (1)
nobody: 0% (0)
Total Votes : 6