What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography by Alan Sugar Read Free Book Online Page A

of Pholcodine Linctus.
    Mr Allen was a bit of a boffin who knew all the technical pharmaceutical stuff, but in my opinion lacked a bit of business savvy. I introduced one of my marketing ideas to him and his staff. When asked by the customer for a bottle of, say, Milk of Magnesia, if you were to reply, 'Small or large?' most punters would say, 'Small.' Much better to ask, 'Do you want the small 1s6d one or the extra-value 2s 6d one?' I applied this to lots of things in the shop, ranging from Old Spice aftershave to cough syrup, and it worked nine times out of ten.
    There were exceptions to this rule. Packets of Durex, for example, came in both economy and bulk packs, but I wasn't going to ask a strapping six-foot-tall punter if he wanted the small pack - it could have been taken the wrong way.
    Now, here's a bit of trivia you may find as surprising as I did: a largenumber of married women would buy contraceptives as part of their weekly shop, on behalf of their lazy husbands. At first, as a young lad of fifteen, I was a bit embarrassed when a woman asked me for them, but after a while it was like water off a duck's back. However, when it came to Tampax or sanitary towels, I certainly wasn't going to try my 'small or extra-value' scam. Instead, it was a case of: 'They're over there, madam, help yourself That was where I drew the line. After all, there was a limit on how far you'd go for the boss!
    It was at Mr Allen's shop that I also developed my interest in photography, which was sparked by the cameras, film and developing paper he sold. I couldn't afford a good camera, but I soon picked up tips on which model was the most economic to buy. This information was going to be useful because another sideline I had in mind was to become a photographer. While I scraped together the money to buy a Halina camera, I was already working out what to say to my parents. I had visions of my father shaking his head in disapproval when I brought it home. Another waste of money,' he'd say, while my mother would shrug her shoulders and ask, 'How much was that?' All this despite the fact that I was paying for it myself!
    It was difficult for me to justify laying out PS12 for a camera when the old man got PS8 for doing a week's work, so I tried to save his pride with answers such as, 'I'm paying off for it to Mr Allen,' which, to be fair, I did do when it came to my next camera - the Yashica, a poor man's Rolleifiex.
    Not only did I buy the camera, but I also invested in an enlarger, a lens and developing equipment. Mum and Dad couldn't understand how I'd managed to buy them and the situation wasn't helped by my brother-in-law, Harold Regal, who said, 'This is very expensive stuff, Alan. How have you managed to afford all this?' I didn't need him winding the old man up.
    My father was such a worrier. I swear he thought that one day there'd be a policeman knocking at our door - I don't know why. He just couldn't accept what this young lad was up to. My only criticism of him would be that he didn't support me in any of these activities and always seemed to think there was something wrong. I wouldn't say the same about my mother though; she was quite supportive.
    Once I'd got the equipment and converted my dad's workshop (the spare bedroom) into a darkroom by putting a blanket across the window and shutting the door, I set about finding customers. It struck me that many of our neighbours had kids and grandchildren, so I decided to knock on people's doors and ask them if they'd like me to photograph the children on a 'no obligation' basis - a no-brainer, as you can imagine. 'Sure,' they invariably replied. I took the precaution of writing 'PROOF' on the corner of the photosin biro and presented them to the parents and grandparents who, of course, loved them.
    'What's this word "proof"?' they would say. 'Can't I have one without that on it?'
    'Well, that's a rough example. If you want a final, good-quality one, I'll print you off a large one for half