At the end of day 3 we were set our final challenge. To start and end a business between the hours of 9 to 5. After the rules were explained to us we went for a couple of hours deliberation. We realised that if we were going to sell anything we would need somewhere to sell it. Then the most fantastic idea came to us… a carboot sale. The only problem was that the whole team was required to meet our shaparone for the day at 9am and to run the carboot we would need to be there at 6 in the morning. I went to discuss it with the organisers stressing that it wasn’t in the rules that we had to meet at 9 just that it was part of the plan. As they all discussed it amognst themselves their smiles made it obvious that they knew it was a good idea. After a slight rule amendment they agreed on allowing us to only have 3 members meet at 9 but we wouldn’t be allowed to sell anything untill they arrived.
Finding a carboot was fairly easy but finding something to sell was the hard part. We trawled through the classifieds and tried to find anything free which we could sell. We had ideas of creating our own t-shirts, selling cola and we responded to an ad about some free videos. All was looking promising espcially when we started to realise that many other teams were still struggling for an idea.
At 7 o’clock we had an hour compulsory talk but figured we could collect all the items at 8 once the talk was scheduled to finish. The clcok started to tick towards 8. The guy was still talking. The clock reached 8, past 8 and at 8:15 he finally finished talking. Then just as we prepared to fly like a plane out the door to get to Primark before 9, the question came…”has anyone got any questions”. 15 hands went up and we stayed untill each of the questions were answered. Getting out approaching 8:45 we realised that the t-shirts wasn’t a good idea and no one had eaten since lunch at 12. If only we didn’t have to wait untill the end of the talk to get the team’s money. Sitting down to lunch we discussed what we could buy so late in the evening. The we discussed what we could do instead. I think my idea of an alternative London sightseeing tour shows the caliber of ideas we had. After the meal we went back to the LSE to use the internet. As we arrived the library was closing and 2 teams came out looking tired and extremely stressed. We learnt later that neither had had an idea at that point. At midnight we had nothing to sell at a carboot sale we were attending in 6 hours. As we trawled the internet for wholesalers which we could buy stuff from in the morning and our friends to offer inspiration. Face painting became the only option which didn’t break the rules. Only trouble was non of us had done it before and our art skills weren’t very impressive. As the clock approached 1am we decided to retire hoping inspiration would come to us in our dreams.
The morning came and unless the gods were telling me Britney Spears held the answer, our dreams turned up nothing. We had a plan of action but nothing firmly set in place. We met in the canteen and Ricky (our shaparone for the day) looked at me with a puzzled face and he proceeeded to look for each member of our team. He looked confused, obviously expecting to only find 3 of us there. I shouted over “change of plan”.
Outside we met the other teams. Some with no idea and some who would obviously do well. I spoke the the Cambridge team. Surprisingly it wasn’t untill the morning that they found inspiration. If they struggled what hope did the rest of us have. I followed their response buy offering our services for 3 hours, then i asked the other teams. Our Hungarian friends all agreed that by investing in us they would help a team they liked to win. They nearly sold on the idea untill a last minute change of heart. I think the idea of being the team to lose all their money was too much of a blow to their pride. So we walked towards the station to approach Oxford St to offer the big name stores the services of “Worcester Promotions”.
Arriving at Russel sq station a sudden change of mind was us herading towards covent garden with the hope of succuring a market stall, to no avail. Although the market manager offered us good advice on where we could go and what we could sell. Back on the tube and straight to Aldgate East station to find a guy called Toby who could solve our prayers at petticoat lane market. After 20 minutes we found ourselves at the gate to the market. The stalls were empty and our hopes shattered. We approached a guy asking what was going on and we discovered that the market was a sunday market. As we turned away a voice shouted “but there’s a market down the road at Whitechapel. Our voyage continued. Little did we know this would be the turning point of our misfortune.
As we arrived at the market we asked the first stall owner where we could find the market manager. He replied by telling us that there was no market manager today and to walk down asking for Martin the market inspector. Asking what he looked like the man responded “like you but with white hair, a baseball cap and a white beard” to which the whole team had to find funny. We carried on walking asking for Martin. Then some put their hand on my shoulder and pointed out a man in the distance. A man with as much resemblence to me as a dog to a rabbit. We explained our situation to which a regrettably replied “you need a licence for this market, there’s nothing i can do”. He offered some interesting advice on fly pitching and made us all smile. As some of us considered it as a possibility someone had the brainwave…fruit. We buy fruit, repackage it and sell it. So crazy it just could work.
We asked about the price of the fruit and were shocked to discover they were undercutting Tesco dramatically. We worked out that we could put together a fruit bowl for £1.50 and who wouldn’t buy off use for £3? We bought enough stock to make 10 fruit bowls, clingfilmed them and ate lunch. We went on our mission to find a nice apartment block to flog our goods. Before long we had wangled our way into a very nice apartment block with around 60 apartments. We explained our situation and asked customers to pay whatever they thought the fruit was worth. We split with 2 going to one door and 2 to another. Every door which answered bought from us. Within 10 minutes we had already broke even. Then we ran out of apartments. We moved on but it was at least 30 minutes before we found another goldmine.
At 3 o’clock we had sold all our first batch and made some more to take to apartments closer towards our meeting point. Again we found another stylish apartment block and again they sold like hot cakes. We moved to our final apartment block next to where we were meeting at 5. a slightly poorer group of people but more of them. At 4:50 we only had 1 left. We frantically knocked on every door in vain. We made our way back to the hostel and resorted to asking people on the street if they were interested. Finally someone who wanted a mango. We were forced to sell it below cost price but with 5 minutes to spare what else could we do. £46.55 was our final profit figure.
Later that evening the results were announced. Our £46.55 got us to 5th place but we realised how much higher we would have been if only we had the idea earlier. Overall we finished a disapointing 7th out of 10. Every team in the competion we had become friends with so it was impossible to be bitter. We had a good time and we finished smiling. Probably the best way to finish if you didn’t win the money.