Mark Wright: 'You say crazy stuff to be entertaining on The Apprentice'

In this episode, Anna Jordan meets Mark Wright – entrepreneur, TV personality and winner of The Apprentice in 2014. 

We talk about work-life balance and maintaining a strong online presence for your business post lockdown.

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Hello and welcome to Small Business Snippets, the podcast from SmallBusiness.co.uk. I’m your host, Anna Jordan.

Today we have Mark Wright – entrepreneur, TV personality and winner of The Apprentice in 2014.

Born in Armidale, Australia, Mark’s entrepreneurial family inspired him to go into business himself.

He was backpacking when, with £172 in the bank, he decided to get to an English-speaking country to start earning. After coming to the UK, he found a job selling digital advertising services. Unfortunately, he was unable to secure a bank loan to start a digital marketing agency of his own, so a friend suggested he entered The Apprentice instead.

Since winning the show, he’s launched five businesses and is the only winner to turn over in excess of £1m within one year.

We’ll be talking about stress management and maintaining a strong online business presence post lockdown.

Anna: Hi, Mark.

Mark: Hey, how are you?

Anna: Yeah, I'm really good, thank you. How are you?

Mark: I'm really good. Thank you so much for having me today. I really appreciate it.

Anna: Of course, of course. How is it down where you are?

Mark: Listen, it's pretty good. We're pretty lucky considering everything that's going on in the world. I mean, not compared to my family in Australia. They think we're like aliens over here in the UK.

Anna: Oh, I know. I’ve got a lot of family in Brisbane and they were just going about like everything's normal and I'm just going, ‘I’ve forgotten how that how that functions.’  

Mark: I'm so jealous. People always say to me, ‘Why are you living over here? I've always had a good answer, but I'm not so sure right now!

Speaking of you coming over here, there's a little bit I wanted to know. In the intro, we've talked a bit about you backpacking and you coming to the UK to start work. I know that this backpacking adventure has been pivotal to where you are now. But I'm wondering, what was the intention of it when you set out? Was it part of your broader plan to become a business owner?

Mark: Well, it's a bit of a sad story really. I was dating a girl in Australia, and I had sort of found my passion for digital marketing, had my self-discovery of what I was going to do in life. And then I got my heart broken.

I decided the best revenge was to go out and get out in the world. I got my backpack, packed it up with like three pairs of jeans, a couple of shirts, and off I went around the UK and around Europe, as a backpacker. And it started off as a well-intentioned holiday, with the view of being a tour guide, having some fun, seeing the world, seeing some different cultures. I loved it. I visited London, I fell in love with London, I love the UK. As I continued my travels, and started to