Children In Need fund fantastic projects which help make positive changes to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people right here in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
When I was asked to take part this year I didn’t have to think about it – the answer was yes!
It’s for a great cause and it’s not often that I become the butt of jokes. My colleagues and staff would have loved it.
Being part of Children In Need gave me the opportunity to call some of my entrepreneur buddies that I haven’t spoken to in ages to try and get them to make a pledge.
For those of you who missed it, I was in Pudsey’s Jail and had to rely on my fellow entrepreneurs, friends, family and associates to bail me out.
Calling them reminded me of all of the qualities and traits of an entrepreneur, and why this strong and vibrant group is the lifeblood of our economy.
Dundonian Mike Souter, CEO of Shortlist Magazine, knows how to drive a hard bargain.
He offered me a grand but upped it to a very worthwhile £2,000 if I braved the Glaswegian weather to hand out his publication at Queen Street station.
Shortlist’s slogan is ‘for men with more than one thing on their mind’.
The only thing on Mike’s mind was making a Dragon seem foolish and cold – I agreed!
My old mate Oli Norman, Glaswegian entrepreneur and PR guru showed his competitive streak.
He was locked up in Pudsey’s Jail in the morning and called me for a pledge.
I pledged £2,500 to get Oli his bail on the proviso that I would call him if I was stuck.
Twenty minutes after being locked up myself I had a call from Oli who pledged £2,501, £1 more than I pledged to him.
Oli’s extra pound didn’t make a difference as my team beat his team by an extra £30k! Secret Millionaire star Kavita Oberoi has an even more competitive streak.
She offered me the opportunity to name my pledge size but wanted to race her Maserati against my beloved Aston Martin.
I told her to come back with a serious offer – she’d be eating my dust in that old heap.
She quickly got her own back with a more reasonable offer… £1,800 to keep me locked up.
Westpoint Homes boss Stephen Cullis, head-hunter Neil Irvine and Diane Cartwright, the lady who runs the local kiddies’ nursery, heard about my predicament on the radio and telly and called me out of the blue and made a pledge.
Jim McColl, Clyde Blowers supremo, demonstrated how he became Scotland’s most successful businessman by using his ability to think outside the box when he said he would up his £500 donation to £1,000 if I agreed to help distribute his staff’s Christmas presents. That was a no-brainer.
Thanks for the grand Jim, and I guess I’ll be seeing you in my Santa Suit in December!
Business Networking guru Beth Edberg displayed some strong leadership qualities and an ability to motivate others.
She was one of the first calls that I made. She asked if I would call her back last and began emailing all her friends and associates and came back within the two hours with a respectable £1,050 pledge.
Not bad for emailing a few people in your address book.
Chris Bishop, founder of online marketing agency 7thingsmedia, showed what a risk-taker he was when he decided he would push me out of my comfort zone.
He said he wanted a video of me rapping and dancing to Hammertime by MC Hammer.
He pledged 50p for every view once it had been put on YouTube.
I refused to take him seriously and asked him to make a decent pledge and he came back with £500.
So thankfully Scottish Sun readers will not be subjected to my dancing just yet.
Even in the midst of the worst economic depression we have known entrepreneurs are willing to make sacrifices to benefit others and their generosity helped me raise £46,812 during my two hours’ jail time.
Overall, the morning jailbirds – Taylor Ferguson, Tessa Hartman, John Amabile, Oli Norman, Jim Gellaty and Scottish Sun columnist Martel Maxwell – raised £31,220, whilst the evening jailbirds of Neil Butler, Alison Craig, John Quigley, Scottish Sun Fashion Editor Janis Sue Smith, Fiona Best and myself raised £61,856.
Not bad for few hours’ work.
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