Common Sense, An Uncommon thing

I think I may have mentioned before that I don't watch much TV (every time I tell someone that I proceed to describe several different programs in detail!) but there's a program that I'm absolutely glued to when it's on, having only watched it for the first time 2 weeks ago.  That program is BBC 2's Dragons' Den:

"Dragons' Den is a series where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to secure investment finance from our dragons - elite business entrepreneurs."

I am completely amazed by the lack of some of these entrepreneurs' preparation.  It makes for compulsive and sometimes cringeworthy viewing but honestly, what are they thinking?  The very first guy I saw had come along to present his idea to the dragons, only to completely lose it when questioned about his figures, both for staffing and projected turnover.  I mean, he had absolutely no idea and even said, "I'm sorry, I haven't prepared for this". What???  This is all despite Duncan Bannatyne's top pitching tip, "Know your numbers, know your percentages."

Having read-up on the dragons (something which the entrepreneurs would be well-advised to do) I found a great part of Theo Paphitis' story and how he became so successful:

Theo returned to the insurance industry in sales at 20, where he discovered his natural ability of pointing out the obvious and applying common sense (which is not common)

With so many people to listen to for ideas, in any field, it's very easy to think that one person has all the answers and that what they are doing is 'right'.  It's easy to completely miss some very common sense judgements that could have been made all the difference to your health, wealth, relationships and just about anything you can think of, if only you would open up to the possibility of there being more than one right answer.

Comments

[Emma Mihill]

you are tooooo funny!! Who? Me? TV? No, I don't watch TV, no not me...evil I tells you, evil! x

[Russell James]

Rumbled!