Chat Ed : Welcome to this evening's Make Me A Million chat with millionaire mentors Ivan Massow and Emma Harrison. Two thousand five hundred budding entrepreneurs applied to be part of Make Me a Million, answering an ad asking "do you want to make a million in one year?". The applicants had just three rules: have a business partner, be armed with an idea and find £30,000 between them. In return, they were teamed up with a successful mentor to guide them through that first crucial year of business life. Ivan mentors Karen for Halos N Horns – a new children’s shampoo and Emma mentors Kate and Fergus with their revolutionary FreshBed idea.
Emma Harrison : Hello, good evening to everyone.
Ivan Massow : Hello everyone!
stuarthazell : evening
Kayum : Good evening all
luke addis : hello emma
Chris007 : Hi
Chris16 : Thank you for a brilliant hours viewing...
Emma Harrison : Kate and Fergus do very well in the end I promise!
Ivan Massow : Well done Emma, that was a difficult situation I wouldn't have wanted to be in your shoes in tonight’s episode.
mg : how long did it take you to make your first million and did it mean a lot to you?
Domalip : How old were you both when you made your first million?
Gee : Good evening Ivan and Emma - great programme
Emma Harrison : It took me about seven years. The fact is that you're more worried about how you're going to build visitors than making your first million. It did mean a lot to me but you're more bothered about the future.
Ivan Massow : I was 21 when I started my business. It became successful very quickly because I was helping gay people who couldn't get life insurance and there was a massive need for it. All my businesses have been issue-led. I love it when you are solving difficult problems and a business is as much a crusade as it is a way of making money.
mark999 : How different was your expectation going into the prog compared to the actual experience?
Emma Harrison : It was an enormous amount of work and enormous emotional energy but it was all worth it.
Ivan Massow : I was terrified when I was asked to do the programme.
Emma Harrison laughs
Ivan Massow : Because I didn't want to fail in front of an audience. But the idea of proving that a young mum effectively working from her kitchen could turn £45,000 into more than a million, i felt, would be inspirational for people watching. I also needed the challenge myself.
KarenSmith : It's very clever, watching the program makes me want to buy the products for my son, and it is inspiring
Ivan Massow : I was becoming complacent and bored with my life. This whole experience has been re-invigorating and I've loved every minute, except for when I had to sack Karen.
ada : i like the programme, inspiring
simcott : i have a brilliant idea that could be used world wide i need to know what are my first objectives this idea will potentially make millions
tarijnstar : Ivan - i am positive i have a winning idea, where do i go from here
Aks : Hi, Im 16 years old and have an original idea, I designed it for my DT GCSE and am currently working on my DT A-Level, I believe along with the review of many others that my product is original and will do well on the market but i don't have the money to fund this. Do you have any tips on how i could do this despite my lack of resources please? Thanks
Ivan Massow : Just start doing it and stop asking for permission, simcott!
Emma Harrison : Yeah if you really want to do it, you will. Get yourself a mentor - I heard Ivan is available! He's really good!
Ivan Massow : Thanks Emma. Just what I needed.
Emma Harrison : Aks, get yourself a mentor, go around asking people if they have any money and some good advice and keep asking until you find somebody.
adam villa : How is your confidence in your pupils at this stage, in comparison with the beginning?
Willow : do you have a close relationship with your pupils, and do you trust them?
Ivan Massow : Leila was very frightened going into all-male meetings. She stopped being a victim and now is better than I am.
Emma Harrison : At this stage Kate and Fergus have grown enormously over the year and I'm very proud of their achievements.
Ivan Massow : I send Leila in when the deal is too big to lose by me saying the wrong thing! I'm very proud of her.
Jim : I'm forever being bombarded with 'business opportunities'. What would you say are the most important criteria that distinguish a good business idea from a bad one?
Ivan Massow : I'm looking for someone who has drawn their idea from their life's experiences and is passionate and is going to do it anyway. What I'm sick of are people who are just trying to think of money-making schemes - forever dreaming them up at the pub and never waking up on a Monday morning and putting them into action.
Silvah : What for you are the danger signs that signal a start-up business won't make it?
Emma Harrison : Silvah, lack of marketing, lack of clarity, fantasy and not having a grasp on the important numbers. And I absolutely agree with Ivan, they have to have a passion in their heart for what they are doing and if all they want to do is make money they will inevitably fail but if they want to change the world a bit then they've got half a chance.
SAIMA : Is karen still taking to you Ivan?
tartan : Ivan do you regret asking Karen to leave the business?
s neale : Ivan, what has happened to Karen?
Ivan Massow : I've called Karen possibly three times since the programme aired, trying to encourage her to take advantage of her situation. She looks great, she comes over well, but at the end of the day she just wanted to be on TV. I thought this was her opportunity to perhaps get some work in presenting. She takes my calls and as yet hasn't followed-up, which seems sad. I had no alternative but to ask Karen to leave the business. The programme-makers had no alternative other than to simplify a four-month process in the 17 minutes of airtime we get in a programme, but she really wasn't cut out to be an entrepreneur and simply didn't show up.
GarethTP : Emma, Have you ever had a relationship with a business partner that caused the business to struggle, or did you take your fathers advice!!!
Emma Harrison laughs!
Emma Harrison : My husband is listening! I can only keep saying my husband is listening! I have taken my father's advice though J
Clare : has having a lot of money made you happier?
Emma Harrison : No, my friends and my family make me happy. Money gives you choice and you can still make bad choices.
Ivan Massow : It disappears as quickly as it comes - not spending it frivolously, but in un-wise choices when you start to become complacent. I don't think people would know I have money to look at me. I cycle and drive a Golf. What makes me happy is feeling I've achieved something. I think this comes from not having achieved at school.
Sarahhayden : do you think your product has to be something someone has never done b4?
lubbilu : how can you protect an idea?
Emma Harrison : No I don't. If you have the best marketing and there is something unique about it then you stand a chance.
Ivan Massow : I admire people who copy others' ideas but have no appetite for it. I'm only interested if I feel I'm breaking new ground. I always get confused by people who are content to rip me off. They are the ones only interested in money.
Emma Harrison : Patent and trademark new ideas though.
DH : Which traits do you think separate entrepreneurs from the rest of us?
Ivan Massow : Only their passion to be an entrepreneur or becoming a great artists, musician or academic is equally valid, fulfilling and beautiful. I can't imagine any of them wanting to do the other.
charlie-364 : do you see your role continuing long term with this project?
Emma Harrison : Yeah absolutely. The filming has stopped and I'm absolutely involved in it. In fact Kate is on the other line as we speak! We had an order for several hundred orders this week.
Ivan Massow : Stop plugging! I view Leila as my business partner now (and possibly my pension!). Thank goodness - we all get tired and old.
twilight : would you recommend any books to read, to help in starting your own business??
Ails : What are the three most important qualities of an entrepreneur?
Emma Harrison : I've never read any - get yourself a mentor! And meet real people. Get started and get advisors but don't pay them anything.
cmcc : What is next for you guys??
Emma Harrison : I'd like, as well as running FreshBed, to help a community business - help them establish.
Ivan Massow : I will continue helping Leila to grow in her business and somehow filter through the hundreds of proposals I've received in the last week alone.
DoyLeon : Ciao
Ivan Massow : Thank you and goodbye.
SilhouetteChefs : thank you
Harry Rotherham : Goodnight Emma and Ivan! Thanks
Greggy : bye!!
Emma Harrison : Thank you for watching and being so interested! Up the entrepreneurs!
Emma Harrison leaves the room
Ivan Massow leaves the room
