"The Apprentice" is a reality TV show which is like an extended job interview. Candidates for the job of apprentice are interviewed and given a chance to show that they are effective and teachable business people. The least effective are sacked each week.

In the USA, Donald Trump is the potential employer of the winning apprentice. In the UK, Sir Alan Sugar is the potential employer. Both shows give fascinating insights into what makes a successful business man or woman.

Sir Alan Sugar was born sixty years ago in Hackney, East London. At the age of twenty, he started his first business selling car aerials. He had £100 and a white van.

He now owns £800,000,000 and a property portfolio in Mayfair in the West End of London. In the third episode of the 2007 Apprentice UK series, he wanted to answer the question that he is often asked:

"Can anybody in modern times start a business from scratch with little or no money?"

Sir Alan's answer is: "Absolutely. Yes!"

He gave £200 to each of two groups of aspiring apprentices with the instructions to make as much money as they could in one day in the wealthy London Borough of Richmond.

They could work all day till 10 p.m. They could also change to a second business after 6 p.m. if they wished.

The team that made the most profit would win. The task would start at dawn so any preparation must be done the night before.

The groups would be observed by Margaret Mountford and Nick Hewer, Sir Alan's trusted lieutenants.

Tre Azam was the project manager of the mainly male team. His group chose gardening as their service business for the day.

The girls' team chose Naomi Lay, an attractive advertising manager, as project manager. They selected face painting as their business. Gerri Blackwood was put in charge of locations.

Nick Hewer was not impressed with Tre's team of gardeners:

"The strategy is appalling. They are wandering around aimlessly where most of the gardens are already well kept. No pricing. It is hit or miss. Badly organised. Nice day to waste your time but they'll not get anywhere."

In fact, they got enough work to keep them busy for most of the day and made £25 for each half hour's work.

Occasionally, their ignorance shone through. Simon Ambrose tried to preserve a weed which he thought was a plant by wrapping it round a tree! The owner looked on bemused!

Tre felt happy as long as he was working hard physically with some of the team to help him but he had only contempt for Paul and Katie who were getting the jobs for him as he felt that they were flirting rather than working!

He also refused to allow Paul and Katie to arrange an evening DJ business until the daylight work was finished. They had to sweep leaves instead!

Tre seemed to hold the view that a project manager is a dictator who must be obeyed at all costs. However, he did not hold this view unless he was, himself, the project manager!

The girls' team of face painters began well and set up their first pitch at a town centre café. One group set out their paints and another went looking for customers.

Quite a few mothers were out and about with their toddlers and some keen customers were soon available. One child, Jack, was painted by Jadine to resemble a tiger. He started roaring ferociously.

Margaret Mountford, Sir Alan's aide, was impressed by the face painters' early achievements:

"Once you get one child, the rest are attracted. Hope they can keep going."

Unfortunately, the girls' team failed to keep going as they ran out of customers. They looked for more suitable locations but there was not a toddler in sight. Much trading time was wasted.

Naomi, the team leader, wanted to go for older children, but had her hands full arguing with Jadine who felt her leader was being dominated by her friend:

"Unless Kristina agrees, Naomi doesn't want to know!"

The arguing slowed the team down and they were too late to catch the kids leaving school.

Meanwhile Katie and Paul, the alleged love birds, were working for the gardening team accompanied by a disgruntled car sales manager, Adam Hosker,

Katie Hopkins was energized by Paul but deflated by Adam who tended to look on the downside of all her suggestions about making money. She commented:

"In life, there are energizers and there are sappers of energy. Adam, can sap the energy out of me by just sitting next to me."

Paul Callaghan, an ex-army lieutenant, saw Adam as "a bit of a grumpy teenager, kicking his heels and sitting in the corner."

Adam rang Tre frequently with comments like: "!t is not happening" or "Paul is smitten by her and is just following her around."

Maybe Adam was right. After all, Cleopatra distracted Marc Antony into following her away from a battle which he might well have won! Distraction from the job in hand can ruin any venture.

Both groups, then, were held back by internal discord, apparent favouritism and potential romance.

In the evening the girls were split. One group favoured kisso grams and the other car washing. Naomi at first declared that she was a business woman and not a prostitute but eventually agreed to the kisso gram project.

Jadine thought that this was because Kristina had decided that doing kisso grams was their best option

In the gardening group, Tre had told Paul and Katie to clear leaves from drives. Adam shrewdly noticed that there were no leaves to clear and suggested singo grams instead.

Tre sensibly agreed to this. He and Adam had probably built friendly relations by complaining to each other on their mobiles about Paul and Katie!

In the evening both groups seemed to do well and to thoroughly enjoy themselves at the same time.

Queues of men wanted to kiss Kristina and Natalie, two of the girls who agreed to this 'tough task', and the singers attracted enthusiastic audience participation with songs like:

"I always look on the bright side of life."

In the board room, the results were revealed:

The girls had £265 - a profit of £65

The boys had £389 - a profit of £189

The boys had nearly doubled their money and had earned their reward of a relaxing night out.

Sir Alan commented: "It just goes to prove that you can in this day and age, provided there is a little bit of money, you can, if you want to, drum up a little bit of business. There are no excuses."

Tre, later, enjoyed a cigar as he reflected on his day. He felt pleased that he had made some tough decisions: "As a project manager, I think I have nothing to learn because I think I did an awesome job."

The losing girls' team, on the other hand, had to face some tough questioning:

Sir Alan asked:

"Didn't you realise that your market of kids would be limited since they would be at school?"

The girls were then asked what they thought of Naomi, their project manager.

The more ambitious and canny members of the group would not say anything at this point because, if they did, they would alienate Naomi and be brought back with her to a final interview to say why they should not be fired.

However, two of the group did not seem to care or knew that they were already in the firing line. Gerri Blackwood said:

"Nothing was managed!"

Jadine had been especially frustrated by Naomi's leadership style:

"Naomi, you didn't make any decisions. You asked Kristina all day: 'What shall I do? What shall I do? What shall I do?'"

Naomi replied: "I've worked with Kristina before and trust her and Kristina wasn't trying to form divisions in the group."

Most of the group agreed that location and attitude were the causes of their failure. By attitude they meant Jadine!

Kristina said: "Jadine, you shut up and listen for a change!"

Another team member said: "Jadine, you have some valid points but it is the way you say them."

Sir Alan asked:

"Jadine, are you ever wrong?"

"Sometimes, I am," admitted Jadine reluctantly.

Sir Alan did not sound convinced:

"I don't need people that create aggravation."

He turned to Naomi:

"Naomi, you have shrivelled into a shell here. Who are you bringing back?"

"I'll bring back Jadine and Gerri."

While the girls were out, Nick Hewer gave his view: "Jadine is a nightmare!"

Naomi, Jadine and Gerri returned for the final verdict.

Naomi tried to defend her leadership role:

"I potentially could have made more sensible decisions and made them more quickly if there hadn't been an attitude of bitching in the group."

Jadine defended herself and promised reform:

"I have come here to learn about myself and my business skills and I want to apply these points."

Gerri was gunning for Naomi and realized that she had to promote herself:

"The project manager was weak. You haven't seen the best of me."

Nick Hewer asked a leading question: "Are you a bit of slow starter?"

Gerri's reply did not deal effectively with this: "No. Not when it comes to actually doing things. I just wanted to bide my time."

Biding your time is not part of Sir Alan's philosophy. He summed up his views:

"Naomi, you were out of control - that shows a poor team leader. The responsibility lay with you to have your troops operating all day. The location issue was a disaster.

"Jadine, you continually undermine and argue and disrupt. I'm wondering whether I need a disruptive person.

"Gerri, you contributed nothing to any of the tasks. You told me you were a slow starter. I don't need slow starters. Gerri, you are fired!

"Naomi, you have something in you. You lost control of this task. Learn!

"Jadine, you also learn!

Gerri was not downcast by being fired. She felt her time as a potential apprentice had been an empowering one. She realised that she could get up tomorrow and make money:

"Bring it on. I can do anything I want to do!"

What lessons can business people and others learn?

1. You can get up tomorrow with hardly any capital and start a business service and make some profit in one day.

2. Alleged high flyers are not that clever. They may lack planning and relationship skills. The field is wide open. The competition may not be as good as you think but remember that it is easy to criticize from the sidelines.

3. Spend more time planning rather than rushing into hopeless situations.

4. Feeling physically tired does not mean you have done a good job.

5. Team relationships can create or destroy success. Get rid of disruptive and negative people from your team or keep them under control.

6. Work, don't flirt! Or flirt after work!

7. Choose your location and market carefully. Don't garden where everyone has a gardener already. Don't face paint when the kids are in school.

8. Focus on your strong points and not your weaknesses. "Think highly of yourself, for the world takes you at your own estimate." Don't admit you are a slow starter. Turn yourself into a fast starter. Believe in yourself if you want others to believe in you.

9. A project leader is not a dictator but an enabler and a leader who can inspire people to work as a team.

10. Don't retire into your shell. Show some passion and excitement and don't drain the energy from others with a negative attitude.