The Apprentice
Quest for The Apprentice
One
of my biggest passions in life was to get on to the show "The
Apprentice". Donald Trump has always said that passion for what you
do is one of the most important determinants of your success. I have
a lot to be thankful for to both Mr. Trump and producer Mark Burnett
because in trying to get on to "The Apprentice" I really got in
touch with how truly passionate I can be. To get on to the show I
auditioned eleven times and spent almost $30,000.00. I traveled to
Seattle, Tacoma, Anchorage, Los Angeles, Los Vegas, Boise-Idaho, San
Antonio-Texas, and Chicago.
In
order to stand out from the crowd I pulled some of the most
incredible stunts. I had a design team create a poster that was 3
feet by 8 feet with my picture on it and the signatures of nearly 100
people who wanted me to be on "The Apprentice". I mailed it to
Mark Burnett productions. I spoke to one of the people who saw the
poster and they really liked it.
CTV National News Item 1
Another
stunt that I pulled that made me very unpopular with some of the
casting people was when I auditioned in Chicago. I knew that the
auditions consisted of a casting person interviewing 10 people at a
time and talking about different topics from my previous auditions.
The most creative thing I could think to do was to hire 10 actors to
go into the audition with me. I called an acting agency in Chicago
before I left Seattle. I hired the 10 actors for the entire day and
told them to meet me at the NBC tower in Chicago. I met them in the
line and gave them all a copy of my CV and showed them my audition
video. We went through the entire interview process and the actors
did an amazing job. They made me look like a rock star and pointed
out a number of my previous successes from what they had read on
my CV.
It was quite funny at the end of the interview when I told the person that the entire group of people I was with were actors. The audition person was "not amused"!
CTV National News Item 2
The very next weekend they were auditioning up in Anchorage. I did a little bit of research in Anchorage to find out if they were doing anything different for the auditions. It turned out that a local radio station was giving away 2 free VIP passes to the auditions which meant you wouldn't have to line up and that you could have a one on one interview with the casting people. I wanted that VIP pass so much I could taste it.
I flew up to Anchorage a day ahead of time to get familiar with the area. I called an old buddy of mine from university and told him what radio station and show I would be on the following day. We talked about success strategies and decided to get some information about the host of the talk show. Just before we went on the air he called me with the hosts biography and told me a lot of his personal information that he had obtained from doing a Google search.
When
I went into the interview there were nine of us that wanted to play
the radio stations version of "The Apprentice". I had talked to a
few people ahead of time and one of the girls saw me as a big threat
so in true "Apprentice" style she suggested that I should go
first. Two other people volunteered and we went in to meet the host.
I had my Stetson cowboy hat on and the first thing the host said to
me is "I like your hat". I replied "Thank you, does it remind
you of Beaumont, Texas?" He looked like he had seen a ghost. He
said, "What do you know about Beaumont, Texas?" I explained that
I knew that it was the site of his first interview with Eddie and
Bubba at the local Baptist Church taking down Christmas tree lights.
At this he grew even more flustered and said "nobody knows that
story up here-what else to you know about me?" I repeated some of
the information that my friend had just given me 10 minutes before
and the host was already thinking that I was some sort of stalker.
When
we went on the air he explained to the audience and the program
director that he would be going long on the segment because he felt
the best candidates were in the first group. The first person that he
asked a question of was me. He said, "Ron, we talked briefly before
the show and you seem to know an awful lot about me. Are you some
sort of stalker or something?" I explained to him that in business
you need to be prepared and knowledgeable about the people that you
talk to. It did little to suspend his fears and he asked the other 2
contestants what they knew about him. They both responded with "I
don't know anything".
I was not a native from Anchorage and so I was the first person fired from the show but in the following three segments that it took to get the final two winners I was always talked about first.
The
next day the casting people were on the radio show. I was on my way
to see the ice fields close to Anchorage and listened to his show. To
my surprise the first question the host asked was "Do you know a
fellow by the name of Ron Shore?" Their response was "Yes, he
interviewed last weekend in Chicago with a friend of ours." The
host responded, "He was on the show yesterday and sort of surprised
me with all the information he knew about me." I thought it was
interesting that none of the other contestants had done any research
on the host.
I have been invited to the last three finales of The Apprentice including the last Celebrity Apprentice. It was interesting to talk to the executive casting director at one of the after parties. What I found out after talking to the executive casting director for the show that out of the million or so people that applied to get on to the show I was the only person known by all of the casting agents by face and by name. I thought it was a great compliment to my tenaciousness and marketing acumen. Unfortunately what works in business doesn't necessarily work in show business. All in all I have nothing but great things to say about Mr. Trump and The Apprentice and the people who actually got on the show, many of whom I have met personally and become friends with.