{"id":130293,"date":"2023-09-18T17:59:31","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T17:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/?p=130293"},"modified":"2023-09-18T17:59:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T17:59:31","slug":"i-worked-three-jobs-on-2-97-an-hour-scrubbed-hotel-loos-now-im-apprentices-most-successful-winner-with-15m-empire-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluemull.com\/tv-and-movies\/i-worked-three-jobs-on-2-97-an-hour-scrubbed-hotel-loos-now-im-apprentices-most-successful-winner-with-15m-empire-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"I worked three jobs on \u00a32.97 an hour & scrubbed hotel loos\u2026 now I\u2019m Apprentice\u2019s most successful winner with \u00a315m empire | The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"
WITH his 'pop star name' and modest claim to be \u201cthe reflection of perfection\u201d, few predicted Ricky Martin would go on to win The Apprentice.<\/strong><\/p>\n But the 38-year-old has just been named the BBC show\u2019s 'most successful' winner – with his company, Hyper Recruitment Solutions, turning over a whopping \u00a315million.<\/p>\n But his rise to the top wasn't easy, as Ricky grew up in a working-class family in Hampshire where "money was always tight".<\/p>\n It instilled a strong work ethic, and as a teenager Ricky balanced three jobs \u2013 including one that paid \u00a32.97 per hour. He hasn't been unemployed since the age of 12.<\/p>\n Ricky faced a crossroads in 2012 when he was forced to choose between taking a place on The Apprentice, or pursuing his other dream of becoming a professional wrestler.<\/p>\n He made the "logical" decision, and ended up walking away with Lord Sugar's \u00a3250,000 investment – something he is "very grateful" for.<\/p>\n Growing up, Ricky's dad worked in construction while his mum raised him and his two siblings.<\/p>\n He says there was never any money to spare, and it taught him that if he wanted something, he needed to work to buy it himself.<\/p>\n Ricky tells The Sun: \u201cI was a paper boy for about four years, I worked every morning seven days a week and on the weekends was up at 5am to do it.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a point where I was stacking shelves in a shop, cleaning bathrooms and bedrooms in a hotel, and doing a paper round all at the same time.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n "I earned \u00a321 a week for my paper round, had a Saturday job as a hotel porter and worked for \u00a32.97 per hour in a shop.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople used to look at me weirdly for doing the paper round and ask why I hadn\u2019t quit but for me, I always thought \u2018Why not? I can still make an extra \u00a321 a week.<\/p>\n "It wasn\u2019t a lot of money and took a lot of my time, which made me realise I need to work harder and longer to get more money, which led me to sales.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricky earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in biochemistry before bagging his first post-uni job at 21, as a recruiter on \u00a315,000-a-year.<\/p>\n On his first day Ricky clashed with his manager when he insisted he should use his birth name, Richard, for work.<\/p>\n He recalls: \u201cI remember he told me, \u2018Just so you know, you\u2019re going to be called Richard Martin, not Ricky Martin because it\u2019s a stupid name and no one will take you seriously.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI disagreed. I knew it would give me an edge and told him, \u2018You are completely wrong, I will get more business with that name than you ever will expect\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI was stubborn and was determined to prove him wrong. When customers used to call me back I asked them why and they said it was because of my stupid popstar name.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricky continued to rise through the ranks in the recruitment world and hatched a plan to launch his own firm that focused on the science and technology sectors.<\/p>\n At the same time he had lofty ambitions of becoming a professional wrestler – a hobby he started at the age of 18.<\/p>\n \u201cI took it very, very seriously,\u201d Ricky admits. \u201cI was wrestling all around the country every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night between my Monday to Friday job.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the name Ricky Hype he earned title belts including the PPW Welsh Tag Team & Heavyweight Championship.<\/p>\n He was such a success that he tells us he was \u201coffered a trial\u201d with major US corporation the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), now the WWE.<\/p>\n I was wrestling all around the country every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night between my Monday to Friday job<\/p>\n At the same time, Ricky had auditioned for BBC's The Apprentice and says the decision was a fork-in-the-road moment that changed his life forever.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a case of two buses arriving at the same point and was definitely the tipping point of my career,\u201d he tells us.<\/p>\n \u201cI was offered a trial with the WWE in 2011 but at the same time, I also was offered a contract for The Apprentice.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately I chose a sustainable career over the life of a wrestler, where you can become injury-prone in your early life, and feel very lonely in the grand scheme of things.<\/p>\n \u201cI made a logical decision and am very grateful I did. I\u2019m not exactly sure that I would have become a mainstream star because I didn\u2019t have the right build.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just over 6ft and 16 stone, compared to the main league stars out there who were 6ft 6in and 20st.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricky was full of bravado during his time on The Apprentice – but insists he has \u201cno regrets\u201d.<\/p>\n He famously compared himself to the demi-God Thor and claimed he could \u201cteach an old dog new tricks\u201d – referring to Lord Alan Sugar.<\/p>\n \u201cI realised that if I wanted to succeed in the process then I needed to get the attention of Lord Sugar,\u201d Ricky explains.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only time you have with him is in the boardroom, so that\u2019s where you need to have conversations and a meeting of the minds.<\/p>\n \u201cI never had a game plan. I just wanted to do my best in every task, and win as many as I could, come across as competent and learn from my mistakes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe worst thing you can do on The Apprentice is play a part, like a Pantomime villain, or sabotage your teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricky maintains he is not ashamed of anything that happened during the show – even being torn apart by Lord Sugar\u2019s aides in the finals.<\/p>\n Claude Littner notably described his personal statement as \u201ccrass, obnoxious and infantile\u201d but admitted he was \u201cquite impressed\u201d by Ricky's career achievements.<\/p>\n Ricky continues to work with Lord Sugar. He says: \u201cWould I say we are friends? I\u2019m not sure… We\u2019re friendly but not mates, we don\u2019t send WhatsApp messages every day.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the exact relationship I expected when he invested in the organisation. I can rely on him if I need to and he offers insight and support.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricky\u2019s business Hyper Recruitment Solutions (HRS) has gone from strength to strength and he\u2019s also a board member on several small start-ups.<\/p>\n He tells us his firm, which aims to find the best scientists to create lifesaving drugs, continues to be a profitable business that grows year on year and has a turnover upwards of \u00a315million.<\/p>\n In January, UK financial services provider CMC Markets named Ricky as the Apprentice's most successful winner due to HRS having \u00a32.26m in net assets. <\/p>\n He said: "Naturally it\u2019s a huge compliment and one I am delighted to hear… when it comes to my business I know we more than hold our own."<\/p>\n Under his tenure HRS turned over \u00a38m in the 12 months leading up to June 2018 and declared pre-tax profits of over \u00a31million.<\/p>\n Nationalworld.com reported that HRS made \u00a311.9m in sales, a pre-tax profit of \u00a31.4m and a post-tax profit of \u00a31.1m back in 2020.<\/p>\n Celebrating the company's achievements back in 2018, Lord Sugar said it was "a no-brainer" choosing Ricky as his business partner due to his understanding and passion.<\/p>\n Away from business, Ricky is married to former Soccer AM 'Soccerette' Gemma Lovejoy, who he met while working in recruitment.<\/p>\n They live in Essex with their children Alexander, nearly five, and Olivia, three, who he calls their "little miracles".<\/p>\n It took them around four years and several rounds of IVF to conceive Olivia.<\/p>\n Ricky says: \u201cGrowing up you think everyone can have kids and that it is normal and easy. But for us and many other parents and hopeful parents that wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spent years wanting to have children and thinking we may never have them. When Gemma was pregnant we were over the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n Tragically, early into the pregnancy he lost his brother Newrick \u2013 who died from sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 34.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a difficult and bittersweet year,\u201d he recalls. \u201cShortly before my brother died we hadn\u2019t told anyone about our son because we were still in the very early stages.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day after we listened to his heartbeat for the first time, which was the most amazing thing, my brother passed away suddenly.<\/p>\n \u201cI never got the chance to tell him I was going to have a child. It was a very difficult and brilliant year at the same time."<\/p>\n Ricky and Gemma\u2019s second child Olivia was conceived naturally.<\/p>\n While Ricky, who\u2019s an ambassador for the charity Jeans For Genes, is still focused on ensuring his business\u2019s success, he admits fatherhood has changed him.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst and foremost, my primary job is as a father and husband now," he tells us. <\/p>\n "My secondary is as the leader of HRS and my tertiary job is as a board member on several small start-ups.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to manage my time but it\u2019s all worth it."<\/p>\n To learn how to get involved in this year's Jeans for Genes Week (18-24 Sept) go to\u00a0www.jeansforgenes.org<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n JEANS For Genes Week is an annual awareness and fundraising event for the genetic condition community.<\/p>\n It has raised more than \u00a350million since it was launched in 1995 and has benefited at least 18,662 individuals in the last three years alone. <\/p>\n Genetic conditions are the biggest killer of children under 14 and there are more than 3.5million people living with them in the UK alone.<\/p>\n More than 100,000 people from schools, hospitals and businesses will get involved with the Jeans For Genes fundraiser, which sees individuals donate money to wear denim to work or school.<\/p>\n The CGD Society, which launched the fundraiser, helps to fund pioneering genetic research and treatment, major facilities and state-of-the-art equipment.<\/p>\n To donate, get involved with the fundraiser or for more information visit: www.jeansforgenes.org.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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