A Sugar-coated message: life sucks

Some of the people who went to hear Alan Sugar talk business in Nottingham yesterday might have come away wondering what hit them.
There they were in the presence of a genuine business icon hoping to lap up some pearls of wisdom which they could then use to achieve business success.
And what they got was a genuine Sugar-coated message – but not, perhaps, the one some of them might have been expecting.
You can sum it up like this: "Got a problem? Well sort it yourself – there's no magic wand."
Anyone who knows what makes the now Lord Sugar tick shouldn't be surprised at his blunt message. The bristling intolerance which sometimes boils over on The Apprentice is no act – it's a natural part of the self-made multi-millionaire's make-up.
If you think about it, his help-yourself message should be a natural part of the approach for anyone who has a burning desire to make it in business.
If you look at people like Alan Sugar the formula is not complicated. Over decades, what he has done is identify a market, source the right product or service and then do nothing other than push, push and push again.
One of his most telling comments yesterday came when people started moaning about the amount of red tape they have to get round these days.
"Imagine yourself as a baseball bat. Every time someone puts something in your way, whack it out of the way!"
In other words, don't waste time complaining: either comply with it or do things differently. Either way, get on with it.
As a Government business ambassador, Lord Sugar did the decent thing and said people could use the Government-funded Business Link service to find advice if they wanted.
But I bet he's never been near it. In his view, you don't need an expert to tell you why a business succeeds or fails. And if it does fail?
"Life sucks, that's the way it is."