She's famous for being fired, but Kristina Grimes' extremely public rejection led to a surge of new job offers and lucrative weekend work as a motivational speaker. Adam Harveyreports.

Ms Grimes (36), a single mother, originally from Wicklow, was runner-up in the last season of The ApprenticeTV series. She was favoured to win the show before being controversially overlooked.

However, Ms Grimes said she has landed on her feet: "I had over 100 job offers from both Ireland and the UK."

She eventually decided to take a job as investment sales director for Dandara, a British property development firm.

Ms Grimes was in Dublin yesterday to help launch a business networking company, Biznet.

It's an appropriate assignment, she says, because face-to-face networking is a vital part of her job.

"It's much easier to deal with someone once you've met them, once they've seen your smile, and get to know you."

After work and networking, it doesn't sound like she has time for much else.

"I probably start working around 7am and stop looking at the Blackberry at 9pm. To a degree it is hard work - but only as you build up your profile. They say that everybody knows 250 other people, but the people who are really good have four to five times that many contacts. Once you establish that network your level of hours will fall."

Ms Grimes said she was determined to pursue a business career post-Apprentice, rather than take the well-trodden path from reality TV to another short-lived television job.

"I was asked to do TV work, but I pretty much shunned that," she said.

"I don't want to lose that business side, and I think that people don't do well when they try to go into television.

"They think they can go to a TV career on the back of this, but they forget that there are already very good people out there," she added.

"Business is one of the great pleasures in my life, and I give it a lot of my time. I don't have a partner, so I'm just out there to enjoy myself in business."

Biznet's managing director Caroline Malone says that the networking company is aiming to connect small businesses throughout Ireland, through regular functions and a website: biznet.ie. There are no fees for members.

"We're looking for the smaller companies, people who don't have the resources for marketing and development or full-time ad agencies.

"We've got a printing company, called Digiprint, for example, which has been able to develop some nice leads for work.

"Businesses would be able to deal with someone they know, who would look after them, rather than just hit the phone book and look for a firm they know nothing about," said Ms Malone.