> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How Ambition Transforms Struggle into Success | Mark Wright - URL: https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/how-ambition-transforms-struggle-into-success/ - Published: 2024-12-18T17:15:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-24T10:06:21.000Z - Description: The series opener: Mark Wright went from sleeping on a mattress with nothing to selling his business for millions. - Author: Elliott King - Tags: Mark Wright, episode, Season 1, Business, Entrepreneurship, #ep-1 **The very first episode of The BEYOND Podcast: from a mattress on the floor to a multi-million-pound exit.** For the series opener, host and producer [Aleksandra King](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/aleksandra-king/) sits down with [Mark Wright](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/guests/mark-wright/), who went from sleeping on a mattress with nothing to selling his business for millions. He shares the highs, lows and bold decisions that transformed his life, and the mindset behind an extraordinary rise. ## Episode summary The episode opens where the legend started: scaling for success, and how Mark actually won BBC's The Apprentice. Aleksandra, an Apprentice candidate herself, digs into how Lord Sugar spots the leaders in the room, and what the boardroom rewards that the outside world never sees. The backstory carries the weight. Mark arrived as a backpacking Australian carrying dyslexia and real financial hardship, and the conversation is honest about failure: accountability in high-pressure sales, the setbacks, and the snakes met along the way. The middle chapters trace the entrepreneurial leap into digital marketing, and the psychology underneath it: mindset, manifestation, and what it takes to win a boardroom before you ever walk into it. It closes on the reality of founder life that success stories usually skip: startup culture and isolation, visionary leadership, and the balancing act between perfectionism and personal growth. Resilience and ambition, Mark argues, are the ultimate business assets. ## Key takeaways - Starting from nothing is not a disqualifier: Mark went from a mattress on the floor to a multi-million-pound exit. - Accountability is the fastest teacher in high-pressure sales; own the failure and it becomes fuel. - Dyslexia and hardship shaped the drive, not the ceiling. - Winning the boardroom is psychology as much as strategy: mindset comes first. - Founder life is isolating, and admitting that is part of leading well. ## Key chapters | Chapter | Timestamp | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------- | | Scaling for success: how Mark Wright won BBC's The Apprentice | [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84) | | Overcoming failure: accountability and growth in high-pressure sales | [05:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84&t=307s) | | From backpacking to business: overcoming dyslexia and financial hardship | [10:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84&t=641s) | | The entrepreneurial leap: finding passion in digital marketing | [12:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84&t=747s) | | Mindset and manifestation: the psychology of winning the boardroom | [15:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84&t=917s) | | Startup culture and isolation: the reality of founder life | [18:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84&t=1110s) | | Visionary leadership: balancing perfectionism and personal growth | [22:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84&t=1357s) | ## The guest Mark Wright won The Apprentice 2014, partnered with Lord Sugar, and built a digital marketing business he sold for ten million pounds. His full background is on his guest profile. - [Mark Wright on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-wright-1658925a/) [Mark Wright's guest profile](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/guests/mark-wright/) ## Where to listen - [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAgpZ%5F8Y84) - [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-with-aleksandra-king/id1786173140) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/0haFQYUTnEn0fpr0LQYlhH) - [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=MPSPPL3iQHE-qteJING9jXVVuVUdDa-9qqer7J) - [RSS feed](https://anchor.fm/s/10464b2ac/podcast/rss) ## Related reading Part two of Mark's story[What Really Happens After Winning The Apprentice?](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/what-really-happens-after-winning-the-apprentice/). More from Apprentice alumni[Gene Folkes on the price of staying true to your values](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/the-price-of-staying-true-to-your-values/). ## Transcript #### Read the full episode transcript ### Cold open 00:00:00 **Aleksandra King:** I'm Aleksandra King, and I'm the host of Beyond the Boardroom podcast. In this episode I'm interviewing winner of the BBC Apprentice, Mark Wright, who went on to sell his business for millions. We're going to cover just how he did it. What tactics did he use? How did he get by all the snakes in the boardroom? Make sure you tune in, and you'll find out. ### Interview 00:00:28 **Aleksandra King:** So, 2014, you won BBC The Apprentice, and I would say against all odds, watching that series. So I'm going to jump right in there– like, how did you actually win? 00:00:44 **Mark Wright:** How– that's a very good question. I would challenge the fact "against all odds"– I think I won it almost easily. But I would say getting on to The Apprentice is the hard part, not winning it. Once you're on, you've just got to impress Alan Sugar, and I was in series 10, which had 20 contestants, not normally the 14 or 16 that this format normally has. So I was one of 20– that was better than one of 75,000 that's trying out. If you're one of 75,000, you're a needle in a haystack. Once you're in front of Alan Sugar in the boardroom, you can impress your personality, you can impress your acumen. He can see you debating and getting challenged, challenging other people. And what I noticed really quickly when I got into the boardroom is, Alan Sugar was looking to see who the other contestants look to for information. He does this really clever thing where, instead of directing a question to one individual, he asks the group– and it is psychologically genius. And then the group looks to the leader, because human beings are all, by nature– we follow the leader. We're like sheep. We can– you know, when you're in the presence of a strong person, let's say– you know when the boss is here. And you can go into a house or an environment called The Apprentice, and the leaders start emerging amongst the pack, just over time. It's just human nature– it's how all things are since the dawn of time. And they know this– The Apprentice production team know this. So they ask the group questions, and the group looks to individuals to say, no, we did do good, we could have done that better. And he's going, that's the one in that team, that's the one in that one, that one's pretty good. And out of 20 in my group, there was three that were really sharp– a girl called Roisin, a lady called Bianca, and myself. And I mean, we were– I want to say 15-fold at an acumen above the rest of the group in terms of business ability. And they were the only other two I was worried about that were seriously competitive from a business acumen perspective. 00:03:11 **Aleksandra King:** Okay, so you feel that you won it because you felt this inner confidence of sort of placing yourself, you know, in the top three already. You kind of felt instinctively that, actually, I'm quite good. And then you felt like a leader, and you were receptive to the fact that others saw you as a leader. So this was just sort of happening before you even went anywhere near winning the process. Is that right? 00:03:38 **Mark Wright:** I could feel that the other contestants were starting to see me as a threat. They would put me in the threat category, and I felt I was. And there was one moment, a pivotal moment, in about week two or three, in the boardroom. And there was a lady in our– in the other team, and we went in, and she said to Lord Sugar, I'm really struggling in this process. You know, I'm a swimming coach, I'm a swimming teacher, this is a bit too difficult, basically, I'm struggling being away from home, yada. And I said to her, that is absolutely ridiculous– you've taken someone's spot here and you can't hack it. And I looked over, and Alan Sugar was smiling. And I realised the way to his heart, the way to impress yourself on him– the more vicious you are, the more you \[unclear: go at\] the others, the more he was thinking, this is a person I can do business with. This is a person that can handle being in business. 00:04:40 **Aleksandra King:** We'll get on to that. We're going to get on to that topic, we're going to get on to it. I don't even know where to start with answering that one, but let's go back to what the viewers observed in that 2014 series. Because there were moments throughout that– you might have felt confident and whatever– I obviously believe that you felt confident– but you did come across as nervous sometimes. Do you think that's fair? 00:05:09 **Mark Wright:** Yeah, I think that's very fair. And there was times I was nervous, particularly in week one, in the first task, because everything's new. The people are new, being on TV– I'd never been on TV before– the production, having to walk through a door seven times, is all stuff that I'd not experienced. Having a microphone all the time, having cameras, and the chance of being fired. My biggest fear was being fired first– being the first person to go. Because that sort of is like, I've quit my job, I've given up my flat, I've put my whole life on the line here, and then I'm out the door after a day. It feels really not so great. So that was a big fear. And then in about week 10, I had an incident where I got, like, stage fright. I was doing a speech at Tesco's, and I opened my mouth and no words came out. I'd got myself into the situation by saying to the project manager, you know, I'm the best salesman– you don't leave your prize pony in the stable, you know, when you go to the races. Let me do the pitch. So they let me do the pitch, and I butchered it. I absolutely made a meal of it, and I thought I was going to get fired, and I was pretty nervous then. 00:06:25 **Aleksandra King:** What did you learn from that? 00:06:27 **Mark Wright:** I learned that when you're vulnerable and when you're honest, good things still happen. I always thought as a young man you had to be number one, you had to win at all costs, you always had to be first, you always had to be the strongest. And that moment at Tesco really exposed me– I'd never got stage fright before. Not only did we lose, I lost us the task. And then we went into the boardroom, and I had an option where I could say, do you know what, it wasn't my fault– in the pitch, the product was really bad– and I could push the blame on to our sub-team. 00:07:00 **Aleksandra King:** Yeah. 00:07:00 **Mark Wright:** And instead I said, I messed this up. I took the pitch on, I messed the pitch up, and I cost us this task. And that is the point where I gave him the opportunity to fire me. I put all of the blame for the whole situation on myself. So everyone– that could have been edited up so nice as, this guy's done it, he's taken all of the blame, see you later. But I think in that moment, being 100% honest, you know, taking all the responsibility, showed him– here is a business person that is tough, that is a good salesperson, but is also honest and can take responsibility. So it showed maybe I was the– a more complete picture. 00:07:43 **Aleksandra King:** That's definitely a really strong side that you showed. I mean, it's horrible to work with people– just to be around people in general– that can't take accountability, that can't see their own fault, ever. They're so stubborn that there's no room for growth. If you can't acknowledge your weaknesses and work with those– and it makes a better person all around, I think. 00:08:07 **Mark Wright:** Taking responsibility for your actions is fundamental to being successful, I think, in any area of life. And I think if you talk to somebody that's overweight, that can't see that they– they're still not ready for that journey. Same with someone who's on that level of success, on that journey for success– if they feel like, oh, I got made redundant because, you know, this happened in the business– you're not ready to be successful yet. And everyone that I know that is quote-unquote super successful, they take huge accountability all the time of their own actions, and they take responsibility for things that they've got nothing to do with. They're just huge on ownership. 00:08:49 **Aleksandra King:** Yeah– ownership, driven to see that change, and hungry for that change. 00:08:55 **Mark Wright:** Definitely, yeah. 00:08:56 **Aleksandra King:** Right, okay. So let's go back a little bit now. What was little Mark like growing up? 00:09:03 **Mark Wright:** He was a pretty interesting young man. He was dynamic, I would say. Because from a young age, I didn't realise I was dyslexic, and I didn't realise– my parent– my mum is staying with me at the moment, at my house in the Gold Coast, and she– we didn't realise that I had poor vision. I was incredibly short-sighted, and it took until I was about 12 for this to be picked up. Obviously I didn't know I couldn't see well; the teachers at school didn't pick it up. So I was dyslexic and short-sighted, so my learning was incredibly hindered at school. But what this meant was, because I couldn't read and write well, and I was a bit more challenged than the kids at school, I had to rely on what came out of my mouth– my communication skills. And I was always– at junior school, one of the cool kids; in senior school, very much not one of the cool kids. But I was always a great communicator. I was always really good at getting myself into trouble, and getting myself out of trouble. But young Mark– loves his sport, wanted to play soccer– football, as it's called, obviously, in the UK. That's all he wanted to do– was talk about girls and soccer. That was my thing, and I just love to chat– talk to anyone. 00:10:21 **Aleksandra King:** Okay, so you were a chatty, happy, cool kid, loved sport. And then just before Apprentice, you– I mean, just before you decided to apply for The Apprentice, were you making, like, money? Were you– how were you doing? Well? Were you not doing well? 00:10:40 **Mark Wright:** I wouldn't say I was doing well at all, actually. I left school and I thought I was going to be a rock star– like, I thought, I'm going to take the world by storm, I'm going to be this big super success in whatever I do. And I was just ready, because I hated school. School was not a good environment for me. I failed terribly at school. I don't like sitting in a class being told what to do, and it just– it showed through my grades. I didn't apply myself, and there's no excuse for it– I just didn't do well. But I couldn't get out of there quick enough. And then I went in and got a football contract, and I thought, this is it. And I lost that contract from not applying myself– you know, not training hard enough, going out drinking, doing all the wrong things. And I lost the contract, and then I realised life is a pretty vicious place if you're not doing well. If you're down, it can keep kicking you to a pretty low place. I ran completely out of money. I was sleeping on the floor on a mattress in Brisbane, trying to get my football career going, and I just could not get off the ground. And I completely ran out of money, I completely ran out of hope, and I was down and out– physically, mentally, financially. And that's what made me move to the UK, because things were not going great for me here in Australia. And I decided to go travelling, to see if I could broaden my horizons for what I wanted to do with my life, you know, career-wise. And I thought travelling would broaden my mind, it would help me meet new people, and maybe find a different industry or some opportunity out there. And it did. 00:12:18 **Aleksandra King:** Okay. So what made you– what possessed you, shall I say, to fill out that Apprentice application form? 00:12:27 **Mark Wright:** Well, I was working at a digital marketing company in the UK, and it was a terrible company. They were really– the way they treated their staff was awful, the way they treated their customers was awful. But I was really good at digital marketing. So it was the first time in my career– I was good at it, I enjoyed it, I was plugged in, I was starting to make some money, and I didn't feel like I was working. Up until that point, till I found digital marketing, every job I did, every time I was at work, I hated it. I felt like I was at work, I was watching the clock, and all of that stuff. And digital marketing was the first time I loved what I did. And so a friend of mine who sat at the desk next to me, called Blake– he said, hey bro, I'm going to try out for The Apprentice. And I said, what's The Apprentice? He said, it's a TV show where an old man yells at you. And I said, I've never heard of it. So he's like, come down to the tryouts with me. So he sent me the application and I filled it out, and off I went to the tryouts, in Tottenham Court Road in London. And I didn't realise the scale of The Apprentice– I'd never heard of Alan Sugar, I hadn't heard of the show. And I just kept getting through one week after the next, one layer of the auditions after the next, and I got through thousands and thousands of people. And I don't know– from the moment I got in the line to pass my documents at the tryout– this is going to sound mental, this is going to sound, like, \[unclear: airy-fairy\]– I knew I was going to win. 00:14:07 **Aleksandra King:** Stop. 00:14:09 **Mark Wright:** And I just– I've never felt like– like it. I don't know– it was like, I knew it was for me. I knew it was my opportunity, I knew this was it. I don't know– I've had opportunities where I've done stuff in the past, where I've tried things, and it hasn't felt right, and it's always been a bit clunky and whatever. From the moment I went to the tryouts to the moment I won, it felt fantastic. It just– it felt like I was in the right place at the right time. And when I handed the lady at Boundless, the production company, my CV and my business plan for– to try out, I said, hi, my name is Mark Wright, and I'm the winner of the 2014 Apprentice. And she was like– she just laughed. Anyway, on the night that I won the show, the lady from the reception came in to the You're Hired show, and she said, do you remember me? I'm the lady from reception, and you said your name's Mark Wright and you're going to win the show– and you won it. And I was like– I mean, it was so amazing. I get goosebumps just talking about that story now, because I'm not really like that. But that felt right. 00:15:17 **Aleksandra King:** But, you know, the way that you programme your mind is so important, and it does set sail in that direction. You know, if you had those thoughts right at the beginning, and you programmed yourself– I'm going to win– and you really felt it, and you can't explain why– that definitely put you on that path to winning that show. I'm a firm believer in that. Because I went through the audition process as well, for The Apprentice, obviously. I loved it. I found that really easy, and, like you, I knew 100%– I knew, I'm definitely getting in. Like, there is no question, this is easy-peasy. I love sales, I can do that any day– any day of the year. But I never had the thing in my head going, I'm going to win. I had a thing in my head going, I can win if I want to. I can. But do I want to? We'll see. We'll see– I'm not sure if I want to win, not sure if I want it. But I'm definitely 100% sure that I can easily nail this interview, and I'm going to do that challenge. Different approach to you, right? Different outcome– different outcome. But I never thought, I'm definitely winning, like you did. 00:16:35 **Mark Wright:** That– well, that– I mean, Napoleon Hill says, whatever the mind can believe and conceive, it can achieve. And, you know, that's why setting goals are so important. And this all– stuff started in this manifestation where I wanted to win. I got the opportunity to be in that process, and then I just made it happen. And obviously there was a lot in between all of the believing it and wanting it and all of that stuff. But I probably haven't had that same feeling about, you know, a business, or, you know, something like The Apprentice, in my life, where I've gone, yeah, this is– I'm just going to absolutely smash this out of the park. So, you know, Warren Buffett says you get three trips to the pie counter in your life, and you've got to know which– when each trip is. And I think that was my first or second time there. 00:17:25 **Aleksandra King:** Yeah. I mean, I've had this once before, in a running race. Because I'm big on athletics, and I started running from a young kid. And I had that once, where I stood on the track and I just knew– this race, I've got it. I'm going to win, and I'm going to win by such a long way, and it's going to be incredible. And that's exactly what happened. Like, it's this visualisation, but it doesn't always come. You're right– there's, like, there's moments, you know. 00:17:49 **Mark Wright:** Yeah, and you've got to– oh, when you get that feeling, it's like– you know when you know. You know when you know. Have you ever read the book The Alchemist? 00:18:01 **Aleksandra King:** My husband has read that book and told me about it many times, yes. 00:18:04 **Mark Wright:** Oh, it is– I mean, it's a game-changing book. But they always talk about omens, and listening to your body, and feeling for– like you with the running race, me with The Apprentice, whatever– is, sometimes you just get this– they call it, you know, your gut instinct– and you just think, this feels right to me. And, you know, I think– you know, not to get too mystical with all this stuff, but I think it's an important element to all the other stuff that goes into business. 00:18:30 **Aleksandra King:** Okay. So you then got into The Apprentice. You're in that house– which I found– I found being in the house really stressful. Like, I didn't like the idea of being trapped, because I want to be able to go where I want to go. I don't like someone else controlling my schedule. I can't sleep with people snoring. Like, I just– I find it really– like, even my husband– it's like it's like a dinosaur and the house is moving, and it's like, I can't– and I've got to run away and block my ears. And I really struggle, you know, without sleep and all of that. So I found The Apprentice– even though I was in boarding school– that was fine, it was different– but there's something about the Apprentice candidates, because they're all such high intensity, and it's just– it's so much, and you can't leave. Like, how did you find it, stuck in the house with them? 00:19:21 **Mark Wright:** Well, I think, had– if I was to do it again now, I would really struggle. I'm a 34-year-old man, I have a family, I live in a lovely house, and I'm really lucky in my life. At the time, I was 24, and I'd been backpacking for two years, living in dorms with 12 people snoring and doing all sorts of things. So the Apprentice house was just like another dorm room for me at the time. It wasn't too far from my tenure of travelling. So I sort of coped with it really well, but I would really struggle now. So I think it came to me at a right– in the right time of my life. I was a single man, I was a young man, and I was sort of on it. The other thing that I did when I was in there is, I wasn't really friendly with the other contestants, and that was a conscious decision. I don't know if– what year were you on the show? 00:20:16 **Aleksandra King:** 2016. 00:20:17 **Mark Wright:** 2016\. So there was a– as the show years went on– in my time, 2014, they were really strict about– we weren't allowed social media and all of this sort of stuff. And inside of the house there was, like, lots of rules. We had these chaperones to make sure that we wouldn't do task talk and all of this sort of stuff. 00:20:39 **Aleksandra King:** Yeah. 00:20:41 **Mark Wright:** And I knew– I kind of gauged quite quickly, I think these chaperones are reporting back to the production who's a good and bad contestant in here. So what I'm going to do is just be on all the time. So I'm going to be the first in bed, I'm going to be the first up, I'm going to not drink. Because if that's getting fed back to Alan Sugar, surely that's another tick in my box. So I was using the– I was playing the whole game. I was playing the whole game when the cameras were on, and even more so when the cameras were off. 00:21:19 **Aleksandra King:** Yeah. And the main thing is that you wanted to play the game. You were in the right time phase of your life, you were hungry for that investment, you were in a position that made you really need it as well. It's like, you know, you were trying to make it, so you were incentivised– it was like, there was the motivation, and you were in the right place at the right time. And like you're saying, it wouldn't have worked necessarily now– or maybe as well– it probably would have worked, but maybe in a different way. Because, like, for me, I was 34, I had three little children under the age of 10, we were moving house from north London– it was the worst timing on the whole planet. So my mindset, my motivation was like, why am I– why am I here, when my kids aren't in school? How is my husband coping? And then, of course, you can't communicate with them, and you're worried, so you're distracted. It's not the same. Even though obviously there's this pull, because you think, actually, I can do it– I'm doing well in all the tasks, I'm selling, I can nail this if I want to. But then also, because you're 34, you're not handling maybe the sleeping right, and you're maybe not handling the food– like, if you're not getting food right, and there's all of that, you know. So when you said in the beginning, Mark– when you said in the beginning there, that, like, you said to that woman, oh, you know, you can just– there, you know, just get on with it, carry on, you know, you're fine, you know, proper business people will do that. Yes, like, of course, you know, proper business people– we're professional, we can do it, we can put in the graft. But it's like, you've also got to be in the right frame of mind for that thing– want it, you know, in the right way. And maybe– yeah. 00:23:01 **Mark Wright:** There's so much to this, that I mean– I've recently had a child, and it will– it has made me 10 times better boss, 10 times better manager, because it's given me a different perspective. And you can only see perspectives from where you are in your journey. And at that time, I was a young, hungry, broke 24-year-old. I had no girlfriend, I had no obligations outside of that house. And I used to give my phone call to the other people in the house that had kids, cos I had no one to call, really. So I was at a great time in my life. And, you know, now, if I think about where I am in my life now, The Apprentice is a terrible opportunity for me. I wouldn't give away 50% equity in any of my companies, I don't need 250 grand, and I don't want to sleep in the house with, you know, stinky people trying to be famous on \[unclear: Sky Sports\]. So– 00:23:58 **Aleksandra King:** Yeah– thank you for entering my world that I was in when I did that– that challenge. And I did that because my daughter had a dream, and I was like– oh, you were on The Apprentice– and I thought, oh, okay, that's a sign. Let me go and apply to The Apprentice. I mean, seriously. I was going to ask you– you know, you've got, like, a nice sort of relaxed attitude about you, sort of calm– I mean, maybe not on the show so much, but, like, outside of that, when you're doing business, you're quite a chill person. Was that fair to say? 00:24:27 **Mark Wright:** I think it's very fair to say. My mum always said I'm happy-go-lucky– don't really understand what that means, but she's always said I was always happy-go-lucky, and I always wear my heart on my sleeve. However– that's all true, and I'm very relaxed– that might be some of the Australian in me. The other side is, I'm fanatical about getting everything just right, getting everything perfect. Everything needs to be done perfect all the time, in the stuff that I do, and the stuff that my employees do, in the stuff that happens in my companies. So although I'm relaxed, I'm a stickler for detail, and I'm a stickler for quality. And I think it serves me well, because the way I communicate is relaxed. And yeah– so I think, yeah, I don't know– I am a relaxed person. 00:25:24 **Aleksandra King:** Yeah. So even though you're a relaxed person, then– what scares you? What are you afraid of in life? As you navigate life, are you running from anything? 00:25:40 **Mark Wright:** Gosh, that– that's a deep– that is a deep– that is a deep question. We're all scared of something deep inside, I find. I think my biggest– I'm scared of myself, I think. I'm my own biggest supporter, and my own biggest enemy. I mean, my fear– because I hold myself to a bar that is unbelievably high, that I'm unable to meet. And after all the amazing things that I've achieved in business or whatever, I still– I never think about it. You know, I never look back, I never take time to reflect on, you know, the things that I've done. I'm always thinking about, what am I going to do tomorrow? And I think in a way that is great, because I'm pushing myself all the time. But at the other time– at some point, when do you stop, and what– when is enough? And, you know, it's just getting enjoyment out of life, and slowing down. Obviously, I don't want my parents to die– I mean, that's a fear I think everybody holds; I always think about that. But since being– becoming a father, my world has completely changed. It is– you know, the only thing– if someone put a gun in front of my son today, I'd just take the bullet without a second thought. There's no– nothing comes in comparison. Nothing more important on the entire planet, is there? There's– ### Outro teaser 00:27:08 **Mark Wright:** Nothing– that sounds really horrible to say, but I have seen it in people, where they like, sort of, the– being miserable, because they get attention from it. In my experience, poor people are always poor, and rich people are always rich– because it's in here. It's nothing to do with what's in your bank account. It's a way of thinking. 00:27:27 **Aleksandra King:** You talk about the fact that you have never met a business person– a good business person– that isn't ruthless. 00:27:40 **Mark Wright:** That triggers some emotion in me. ## Follow Aleksandra - [Instagram](https://instagram.com/king.aleksandra) - [X](https://x.com/aleksandrabking) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandraking) - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@AleksandraKing) - [Aleksandra's Inner Circle](https://laylo.com/aleksandraking) Business and collaborations: [aleksandraking.com](https://aleksandraking.com) | [aleksandra@aleksandraking.com](mailto:aleksandra@aleksandraking.com) *The views expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of Aleksandra, the podcast, or its producers. This podcast is for entertainment only.*