How did I end up here? #ClimbCon

I first heard about the ClimbCon event back in March this year and it sounded like a big fat farce. I wasn't at all interested in spending a few bobs￡￡￡ to join a room full of over enthused entrepreneurs and socialites.

Lets face it, I could just jump on the tube into Battersea and speak to a handful of people in Starbucks to get the same results. How could he expect people to spend all day Friday at his event?

However, as the weeks role on by, more and more videos came to light showing all the things to expect from ClimbCon with the opportunity to meet and learn from Lord Sugar, even the notorious Piers Morgan was one of the prestigious headliners, along with Mark Wright, and lots of other revered business leaders like Robin Deller, Michael Howard and so on. Could I really afford to miss out the opportunity to meet Lord Sugar? One of my all time business idols.

If that's not enough to entice you it sure was starting to peak my interest. I mean come one how often are you going to get the opportunity to meet such influential people in the business world?

Now ClimbCon is told to be more than a business eXpo, more than a Networking event. ClimbCon is said to be the answer to struggling business owners looking to scale their business, to learn from extremely successful business owners and experts that have done the same in their business. I've been in business for little over a year now, so I asked myself, "Am I struggling to scale?".

After much deliberation and consideration of the likely outcomes I took up the opportunity to attend the highly anticipated event of the year and grabbed my gimble (google it) and got into my car to make my way down south from Wolverhampton, what a mission! 2.5 hours and 2ltrs of coffee later. I arrive at Heathrow airport and made my way to the Sofitel hotel in Heathrow as instructed on my invitation. The morning sky filled with a molten orange hue and a air of promiscuity for where the day would lead me. Let's just say I was starting to get excited at what was about to come being at the airport, I started to think about why he would have the event at the airport? is it because he's got surprise guests arriving by jet or chopper; is it normal for these types of events to be held here? whatever the reason is, I hope it was good enough to justify ￡25 for parking!

I made my way down to Sofitel with a spring in my step, I think it must be the feeling of being in the airport and seeing people heading on their holidays or flying off for business etc. It gave me a sense of adventure as I tried my very best to navigate the various different buildings& terminals.

Finally! After 72 different turns and 8 wrong floors on the elevator, I made it. I could see Edwin one of the ClimbCon reps. He was wearing a white T-shirt with big massive ClimbCon printed on it. He's their directing the hoards of suited and well styled business people through the grand hallway of the illustrious Sofitel hotel. The energy was low key, the place was well lit and stylish. As I made my way through I came up to a few familiar faces from the ClimbCon team and as usual the pleasantries, as security checked me in and search my backpack for sharpies. Finally I get the nod, "You're ok, head down the stairs and enjoy ClimbCon!"

On the way I go, down two levels and the anticipation it starting to get the better of me as I hear the buzzing sound of chatter and laughter from the 100's of delegates attending the event. There was such an immense energy that I could feel from entering into the main conference hall and the excitement started to pour in as I looked around and could see so many business men and women all attending to learn, build relationships, network, I truly felt like this concentration of people arrived with a purpose.

I settled into my seat as master of ceremonies finessed the stage and warmed up the audience for our first business influencer of the event, Mr Michael Howard. At first glimpse around the room I could see that the seating was sectioned off with VIP at the front and on tables lined with refreshments and sundries, then you had the gold section, standard and then general seating. I was surprised at the level of security placed around the room, you would think the Prime Minister was in the room.

On our seats was a tiny notebook from Sofitel and a cute slim line pen. Security provided by Bravo Security Ltd

You know when you're at an event right, and there's that one person that is just more excited and pumped for the event than everyone else combined? You know what i'm talking about. Well, she was there today and she had a friend. They both sat directly behind me, just off to my right a bit. She had a kind of half American/Australian accent. Now I know it's good to get involved but these two had a remark or adlib for everything the speaker had to say.

Our first segment of the ClimbCon event, "Motivate Your Team and Scale to a ￡120 Million Turnover" Let me tell you this. It was nothing short of inspiring!

Michael Howard is a classic rags to riches story. He started from less than nothing and rose through the ranks of a business that he barely liked to end up being in a position of buying the business. The startling thing I learnt from Mr Howard, a quaint essential, astute British business man, that swore a lot and despised optimism, in his own words. He mentioned that he frequently attends Tony Robbins seminars where he's expected to jump around with a bunch of strangers, hug and embrace each other, scream out positive affirmations as well as walking on fire!! I was like, "come again?" Bearing in mind all of the things I mentioned earlier about this guy, it seamed so unlikely that Tony Robbins was his cup of tea. What is it about Tony Robbins that all the top performers find so irresistible?

Then I started thinking about the number of people in this room and what links us all together, "Why are we all here?" We all want success in business; We want to be the next big thing; the next solution that solves real world problems; or is it just making tonnes of money?

Whatever it was I was determined to find out, so I went around speaking to people at the first break and met with some interesting people from all walks of life. I spoke with PA's, Plumbers, IT solutions experts, recruitment managers, telecoms directors, digital marketeers and the list went on. I have to say what an absolutely diverse audience, I've never seen anything like it and everyone said the same thing they were thrilled to bits with the event.

As we all walked back into the main conference hall to take our seats for the next part of the event which is what a great deal of us came for and that's to hear from Lord Sugar and Piers Morgan. Let me say what an entrance! They both rock in like heavy weight boxers stepping in the ring with some serious theme song playing and the crowd went wild! People were on their tip toes to catch a glimpse; Camera phones were all at the ready to capture the moment, it was a huge rush and pure applause.

All of sudden, Piers started out with a tirade of insults aimed at Lord Sugar. It was truly shocking and hilarious the things they came out with one after the other and more often than none, Mark was sat in between the two titans trying to referee while they were going head to head and trust me it was gruesome! Marks face was a picture, with his jaw on the floor. As I looked around the room the audience were split into people that were utterly shocked at the level of abuse exchanged between the two men and the other half were in stitches. I was fascinated by their relationship and the reason behind the insults was it a case of banter, or did they truly admire each other and have nothing better to do than hurtle abuse after abuse at each other?

It was now question time and I took the first opportunity to get up and head down to the stage with camera in hand and a ticket with destiny here's my opportunity to show my respect to Lord Sugar for his achievements and inspiring me through his program the apprentice and his book that I read which was a gift from Mark Wright, when I met him earlier on in the year, thank you so much buddy it was such a great gift. My question to Lord Sugar was about a certain part in the book when he encountered the Nigerian business man, this was of interest to me because I've got an interesting project that's taking place in west Africa and wanted to know if he still has any business over there. As I approached the mic I look over at his face sombre and tanned like his been on holiday and bemused by the fact that he had to turn up for this event. My first statement of gratitude, was shrugged off wow tough crowd. I could feel the sweat trickling down the side of my cheek. He wasn't at all entertained by such gestures and wanted to use his time wisely to get down to the deep root of business to help people. My reference to the book sparked an interesting response and just as he warmed to the topic, BAM! Piers comes swinging with a low blow comment saying "What!? You read his book?" to which I replied "Yeah, it's was a bit intimidating, it's a thick book" and before I could get another word in, Piers says "He is that thick!" and the room erupted in laughter. I could see Lord Sugar getting wound up and already calculating his next move. I was later shut down when he said that he's got no interest or intentions of doing work in, Africa. Gutted, I was half expecting him to say "Yeah, sure I've got the perfect project for you to come work with me on." Yeah right! As I walked back to my seat, thinking I should have placed that better or asked an even better question, nonetheless I was pleased with myself for going up despite the mounting pressure to not make a tit of myself. What could I have done better?

As the day rolled on it was lunchtime and boy oh boy did I screw up! My ticket didn't include lunch! gutted and confused. I made my way outside the hotel looking for places to eat and I kid you not it was cheaper to book a ticket to Amsterdam and eat on the plane than it was buying a meal at the airport! What? I wasn't going to pay that type of cash for a cold sandwich and a lukewarm smart water. I've got standards and a budget so as I went around for wonder in the hotel I managed to disguise myself as a party guest at another event which had plenty of food on and some interesting people I got to network with, Win! Shh that's between me and you right ;-D

So the event went on until 18:30 and the amount of advice and golden info I gained were priceless it literally provided tonnes of value in such a intense day.

• Business planning
• Staff training
• Sales solutions
• Pyramid of clarity
• Did you know that a hiring the wrong person can cost your business approximately ￡132k (based on a salary of ￡42k)
• Be ruthless with your time
• Persistent planning prevents poor performance
• Business is survival of the fittest

Once it was all over we all packed up, said our good byes and made our way out the door as the VIPs and Gold card members made their way upstairs to the dinner and private network area for all the uber exclusive indulgences, gutted! To make matters worse I had a 2.5 hour trip back to the midlands at peak time, the traffic is going to be manic! As I dragged my miserable self through the doors, like a school boy reluctantly leaving the disco, head in the ground and feet dragging against the floor slowly as if weighed down. Who do I bump into?... Mark of course! After all the commotion and excitement, he looked pumped! I couldn't thank him enough for a great event and just as I was about to make my way back to my car, he said "You're not leaving now, are yah mate?" I hope that sounded Australian in your head with his wild accent. He wasn't having none of it and made a quick call to one of his team and said get yourself some grub from upstairs and join us for the evening. I swear this guy has a heart of gold and can't do enough for the people around him. Top bloke, even though he didn't have to do it

I appreciated the gesture and took the opportunity to eat as much as humanly possible, the food was delightful and the desserts oh my word! there was an exceptional jar of chocolate fondant with a thick cream, topped with fruits and berries, made my toes curl had to lick my lips twice after the fifth jar. Drinks were flowing and the mood started to mellow out as we all tucked into our food and beverages it was an incredible night.

Look out for the vlog coming soon!