The Apprentice is back. 8 million viewers and a lively back channel on Twitter (tag: #apprentice and others) are testament to the fact that the format is as strong as ever.

Episode one saw the 15 candidates split by gender into two teams and set up a cleaning business. Both teams set up car cleaning operations and generated respectable revenues in a single day of trading. The girls (Ignite) made the most sales but the boys (Empire) made the most profit by keeping their costs low. And therein lies Sir Alan’s first lesson.

Here’s what I learnt from the programme.

Focus on profit
There is a reason why the phrase “turnover is vanity, profit is sanity” is a cliché. It’s because it is spot on. In a start-up situation every £1 spent is a £1 that you are further away from breakeven and profit. The most important line in a P&L account is profit, then turnover and costs. It is crucial to keep costs as low as possible.

Business opportunities
Each team succeeded in negotiating deals with businesses that maintained fleets of vehicles. The programme didn’t dwell on this element of the task but it seemed remarkably straightforward. Either the opportunities were warmed up in advance or the show demonstrates the adage that business opportunities abound irrespective of the state of the economy.

Volume versus value
The boys ran a parallel shoe shining operating generating £60 in an hour at St Pancras Station. This is a low value business model that is reliant on volume. But the team chose its location smartly and was able to generate and turn around trade quickly. Had they sustained this activity for a day they would have generated significant revenue and profit as costs were low.

Process
Cleaning cars is not a complex job but without a process and clear roles and responsibilities both teams duplicated activities, ruined work that had already been done, and wasted time. The task of cleaning a car needed to be broken down into small chunks with a person taking responsibility for each and a clear sequence for each activity.

Management
Putting yourself forward as the team leader in the Apprentice is tough. Doing it in episode one is pure madness. Everyone is an unknown quantity and individual skills and strengths are unknown. The team management was poor but the level of bickering and bitchiness was extraordinary.

I can’t wait for next week.