In life and business alike, people believe that someone must win and others must lose.  This cannot be further from the truth, it should be about creating value.  In a deal, often both sides are not after the same benefits.  I read a book by Donald Trump book several years back and he gave one piece of advise that I base my business on.  And this business advice is also  reflected in this show more and more.

Donald Trumps advice is – In every deal, “both sides should walk away feeling like winners”.  The Celebrity Apprentice is a perfect example of exactly that, where there are soo many winners.

Lets start off with the charity, millions of dollars were raised for the celebrities different charities.  It is not relevant if you have the title of the celebrity apprentice or finished second or third.  What matters is that these charities are getting prime time exposure, building greater awareness and recognition that would have costed them hundreds,thousands or maybe millions of dollars to get.

Holly raised almost $600,000 and Bret almost $400,000 for there respective charities, and a lot more money was raised for other celebrity charities as well.  All the Charities are true winners.

Maria through Make A Wish made one little boys dream come true, if that is not a true winner, to have a child’s dream come true – to meet Donald Trump and sit next to him chatting on the season finale episode of Celebrity Apprentice, then what is more magical.  The children that Make A Wish help – they did not ask to be sick or in this difficult life struggle, however through the Make A Wish Foundation, we can change there lives by adding a sparkle, by building awareness and make their wish come true.  Now this is powerful, as Make A Wish is a charity that is closely personal to my heart as well.

Another great benefit of the Celebrity Apprentice is for the participating Celebrities to have the opportunity and remarkable chance to build there personal brand and rekindle their celebrity status to the world.  There is no doubt in my mind that being apart of the Celebrity Apprentice can take a great toll on these celebrities lives – from time, the great efforts and hard work that go into each task, however the great exposure they gain being on prime time television is well worth the costs.  Rod had guts to come back and face the public, Cindy selling a album next month, Joan Rivers fee’s went way up now she is a bigger star then ever before.

The companies that are featured during each task that sponsor the show and provide a platform for the celebrities to compete they too have a lot to gain from this show as the Celebrity Apprentice gives them greater exposure and great awareness for their brand name. And the opportunity to have such creative minds working on their products and brand awareness  is an added bonus for many of these companies.  I also liked that this year many of these same businesses felt compelled to gave to the show and the community and donate substantial amounts of their own money to the featured Charities.  Thank Snapples for the $250,000 donated towards Holly and Bret’s charities and the branding for Brett and Holly’s Charity.  This I am sure would have costed a lot more in primetime advertising, if done anywhere else other than the apprentice.  Companies like ACN or Zappos are becoming more household names after being featured on the Apprentice.

Lastly but certainly not the least, The Donald!  He is a marketing machine. He truely knows how to create a win-win situation for all and does a very good job at it.  He will sell more books, condo, ties, tours or whatever carries the Donald Trump name on it by building his brand and greater awareness of his NAME.   Donald Trump was a big name before, however now he is a even bigger and will continue to grow as the show progresses into the next season.

And Finally,  I too am a winner, because as a result of the very first Apprentice, I picked up the first book after a very long time, his book, Donald’s book and have never stopped reading professional development and self help books ever since. Another  benefit I gain from this show is the business lessons, I learnt from this show, which have helped me in my own business and everyday life.  I learnt several important business lessons from season 1 and 2 of Apprentice, a while back and applied it to my business and have seen great progress as a result of this.

One so lesson I learn was during an Celebrity Apprentice episode, where a fellow team memeber went in the golf store and asked the right question to secure the win – the question was “Have you ever given anyone a discount?” .  This simple question enabled their team to get a much better price then the other.  Simple, but effective.   I applied this same tactic into my own negotiations a few weeks ago and so the results for myself.

This show is what business is all about, creating winners in every one and in every way.  The Celebrity Apprentice has perfected this winning process and everyone is a winner especially the charities.

Cheers,

Mukul

This is people you want to be friends with, not just meet once or know, I am talking about being friends with that you can call up and be like, Hey Donald, I am in town, lets get a coffee.

To here are 5 people I would like to be friends with.

Tim Ferris – He takes a lot concepts that are pretty simple however effective when in comes to life style design, which I think is pretty cool, one of his idols which I am reading now Seneca talks about not saving it all til the end, to enjoy life and how we waste soo much of life and thats why it short.  After reading 4 hour work week, my idea on business design and life design changed.  I am not saving it til the end, Olympics here I come.

Donald Trump – If you have read or studied anything by Donald Trump, you would understand he values time, fan of quality, has extreme discipline and believes in doing what he loves.  My thought here is that if I can have a friendship with The Donald, it must mean, I am a value to his time which would come from me valuing my own time and self.

Robert Kiyosaki - He is very good at making complicated methods and making them very simple.  His books are quite often are overlaps in material of other books he has written, however to drill across the core points are values.  If you want to change your physiology, he is the man to see.   I have had 2 changing points in my life after reading his material, years ago when I picked up Rich Dad, Poor Dad and about a year back when I read Rich Dads Guide To Investing and immediately made changes for me financially which is how I am doing it now.  The concepts are simple, it takes work and are totally doable.  He does not look at easy street, doing the work and meeting his the goals.

Marshall Mathers – Also knows as Eminem, this guy understands marketing like no one I have seen before.  The image he portrays and marketing he does is just brilliant.  Lady Gaga cannot do a # on him with her outfits.  He is very open about it, however he knows how not to kill his 15 minutes and to maximize is at the same time. Marshall Lets be friends.

Will Smith – Looking at Will Smith, you may notice he has been a star most of his life right? Well what you do not see with him is that he understands mastery.  Anyone who is successful has put in there time, even though it looks simple on the surface, well Will Smith is one who I believe understands mastering a task.

Well that is 5, I can list more, but here is the short list of people.  Hey Tim, Donald, Robert, Marshal & Will next time you are in Toronto, give me a call, lets do lunch.

Cheers,

Mukul