I’ve always steered away from learning about Lord Sugar’s business ventures…

Because I’d let false impressions (probably by the press) flood my thinking.

Believing he just bought cheap electronics from japan and china and sold them on for a profit.

After reading his autobiography ‘What You See is What You Get’ I must apologise and eat a whole bowl of humble pie.

Lord Sugar was the real deal. What do I mean?

Amstrad was a great British manufacturer of electronic goods, competing and winning against the biggest brands in the world.

Yes, he started off buying and selling imported electronics, but soon realised his future was in manufacturing and designing his own products.

Lord Sugar had a knack of spotting what was the next big opportunity, designing and building it the Amstrad way, and then massively undercutting the competition.

The product line was endless including televisions, Hi-Fi’s, Word Processors, before hitting the big time with personal computers, even buying the rights to Clive Sinclair’s Spectrum.

Amstrad personal computers could have been as big as IBM, if it weren’t for a batch of dodgy hard drives supplied by Seagate, which ruined Amstrad’s name in personal computers.

Not to be deterred, Lord Sugar once again found the next big thing and started manufacturing satellite boxes for Rupert Murdoch, eventually being bought by BSKYB for £125 million.

Obviously, the book also covers his childhood, Tottenham Hotspur and takes things right up or date with his time filming the Apprentice, all of which are fascinating too.

Although, learning how he designed and manufactured his own stuff, and how he negotiated deals with the like of Comet and Dixons fascinated me the most. It’s a great book.

‘What You See is What You Get’ gets a thumbs up and 5 stars.

You can watch all business book reviews at https://mytotalofficesolutions.co.uk/business-book-reviews/

…thank you, any questions please connect and message me.