I’d been looking forward to this week almost all year! Certainly since February when I first bought my VIP ticket to Business Empires Conference where Lord Sugar was confirmed as the Keynote Speaker.

I’m a regular attendee of Business Conferences and exhibitions both across the UK and further afield both as a keynote speaker myself, but also as part of my own personal and professional development.

I’ve admired Lord Sugar’s NO BS style of leadership for a long time and was quickly on the phone to confirm my ticket the moment I heard he was headlining this event.

Last year Gary Vaynerchuk had drawn an exceptionally large crowd as keynote speaker, and as he left the stage to an ovation, people asked how it could ever be topped, so to see Lord Sugar on the bill, I knew the event organisers had worked extremely hard to continue to impress and build on their reputation for bringing the top names to this arena.

Lord Sugar was for all intents and purposes exactly as I had assumed him to be.  No real fist pumping and hype as he calmly walked onto the stage and took a seat, but more the very considered, thought through business professional there to provide answers to the audiences many questions.

Over the next hour, he shared his thoughts and idea’s with us, alongside answering a barrage of questions posed by the various audience members.  And in that moment I learned 2 very valuable lessons:

• Many business owners still ask £10 questions about £Million opportunities!

I was both astounded and bemused at the level of questioning some of the audience members posed to one of the UK’s most successful business owners.  He had been on the bill for the past 6 months or more, plenty of time for people to stop, consider, research and make every opportunity to really consider the RIGHT question to get the very most from the opportunity to ask Lord Sugar one question, which when answered could have made the BIGGEST impact to them and their business.

But instead, it was either a self-promo sales fest, or a question that appears to have been thought up on the spot, and one you might ask your accountant, your sales manager, or your coach!

Your future shall ultimately be determined by the quality of questions you learn to ask of yourself.

There were a couple of questions where Lord Sugar simply shook his head in disbelief! and politely replied “I’m not sure I’m the right person to be asking that question, shall we move on” It was a blatant example of how we continually self-sabotage us and our business, by failing to step up and think big!

• There’s no magic wand, or fairy dust, every successful business, comes with years of experience, dedication, and bloody hard work.

Others in the audience appear to have pinned their overnight success, on a magic word, or phrase or idea from the man himself. As if by some divine intervention attending this event was going to fix all their current business flaws and create this overnight success story in partnership with Mr. Apprentice!

Lord Sugar was very quick to point out to all, “People ask me whats going to happen post Brexit? and I simply answer How the bleedin’ ‘ell am I supposed to know that when it appears the PM and all of either side of the cabinet don’t know either?”

Before leaving the stage and back to the comfort of his car, he did, however, share the secret to business success:……..

There is no SECRET, it comes from a good idea, hard work, and continual dedication.

If you’d like to know more about my time with Lord Sugar, what I learned from the other speakers at Business Empires, or how to apply this to you and the growth of you and your business? Simply click here and book your complimentary success strategy call.