2014’s Apprentice winner,Mark Wright, provides top tips to this year’s winner for managing that all-important initial investment. 1 – Prioritise £250,000 may seem like a massive investment, but it quickly goes and if you don’t spend it wisely you may be on route to failure before you have even really started. Prioritise your initial expenditure, only investing in what is vital for day to day success and business growth. 2 – You’ve spent months developing a business plan, so stick to it! You developed a plan to analyse how commercially viable your business is – knowing at exactly which point it should become profitable. Receiving an investment of £250,000 can quickly turn this on its head if you become dazzled by the more expensive office in the better location, for example. Stick to both your budget and business plan as closely as possible, only making changes if absolutely necessary or if more beneficial for the long term. 3 – Reach your market Though winning The Apprentice comes with a lot of benefits, such as millions of viewers knowing your business exists, you still need to work hard to attract and win those all-important sales leads. That said a percentage of your budget should be kept aside for an overarching sales and marketing strategy to aid business growth and development. In the long term this could be the real different between make or break. 4 – Hire the right people Hiring the right staff is essential in any business. Bad staff can waste both valuable time and money, which can be catastrophic for any start-up. Ensure that you take time in vetting and interviewing potential staff members, and invest in the right training and processes so that they can be developed and retained. Bad staff can break a business BUT good staff can definitely make it. 5 – Listen to the advice of your new business partner! I have always said and still maintain that although the initial £250,000 investment was an excellent starting point for Climb Online – having Lord Sugar as a business partner and mentor is the real prize. Through his guidance and advice I have learnt to deal with the pressures of a seven figure turnover business very quickly and now have plans in place to double this success in 2016. I’ll be speaking at 1pm on 3rd Feb at the Central Funding Zone so, if you have any questions, make sure to book book your ticket and I’ll see you soon