Latest / Earn Your Leisure / Barbara Corcoran Was Fired From 'Shark Tank' Before She Started. "I Didn't Take No For An Answer"

Transcript

Barbara Corcoran Was Fired From 'Shark Tank' Before She Started. "I Didn't Take No For An Answer" · Earn Your Leisure

0:00
Speaker 1: Shark Tank. Yeah, what's your introduction to Shark Tank? How
0:03
Speaker 1: did you hear about it? And how does the relationship
0:05
Speaker 1: with Shark Tank start?
0:06
Speaker 2: I got a call one day. I was doing some
0:08
Speaker 2: gigs on real estate on the Today's show, like once
0:10
Speaker 2: a month or something like that, and I got a
0:12
Speaker 2: call from a producer named Mark Burnett, who I had
0:15
Speaker 2: no idea was a big producer or his assistant. I
0:18
Speaker 2: don't mean to overplay that. His assistant called me asking
0:21
Speaker 2: me if i'd be interested in the show described I said, sure,
0:24
Speaker 2: signed the contract with him. Four days, isn't it? Write
0:26
Speaker 2: at send it back? And then two days before I
0:28
Speaker 2: was headed to Shark Tank and told all my friends,
0:31
Speaker 2: I'm going to Hollywood. Wow, I'm going to Hollywood. I
0:34
Speaker 2: bought new outfits, I bought new luggage. I get to
0:36
Speaker 2: the whole nine yards. You know. I got a call
0:39
Speaker 2: saying they changed your mind. They invited another woman. I
0:42
Speaker 2: couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe. But I did what
0:44
Speaker 2: I did do always very well in my old career.
0:48
Speaker 2: I didn't take it laying down. I sat down again.
0:51
Speaker 2: I'm going to use the word piss sat down, wrote
0:53
Speaker 2: the email to Mark Burnett, you're making mistake. I consider
0:56
Speaker 2: your mistake my lucky charm. Blah blah blah. I've had
1:00
Speaker 2: all the best things happen in my life on the
1:02
Speaker 2: heels of rejections. And I cited Sister Stella Marie telling
1:04
Speaker 2: me I'd be stupid, the Old Boy Network telling me
1:07
Speaker 2: I'd never compete with them in the Old Boy Network,
1:10
Speaker 2: defeating Donald Trump when he said I never see a
1:12
Speaker 2: penny of the four million dollar commission, and I just
1:14
Speaker 2: cited the high points, and then I said, I suggest
1:17
Speaker 2: you invite both women out to LA and we compete
1:20
Speaker 2: for the seat. And that's exactly what he did. Thank
1:23
Speaker 2: god I wrote that email. I've been on Shark Tank.
1:26
Speaker 2: What imagine if I didn't have all those delicious entrepreneurs
1:31
Speaker 2: I got to work with. I mean, I'm sure I'd
1:33
Speaker 2: found another way to make a living because I'm a worker,
1:35
Speaker 2: but I wouldn't have had as satisfying career as I've had.
1:38
Speaker 1: That's a valuable point because a lot of times people
1:40
Speaker 1: would have just taken it the rejection and moved.
1:44
Speaker 2: On, move on. It seems prudent when you think move on,
1:47
Speaker 2: get over it. Yeah, but what is important? The piece
1:52
Speaker 2: that I have learned working with my entrepreneurs, is the
1:56
Speaker 2: space between people move on a great entrepreneur. I've seen
1:59
Speaker 2: it again and again with every single person who has
2:01
Speaker 2: made a lot of money and really been successful. They
2:04
Speaker 2: take less time feeling sorry for themselves. They take the hit,
2:07
Speaker 2: but they don't wallow in it, you know, they just
2:09
Speaker 2: get back up and say, hit me again, almost like
2:11
Speaker 2: they have a low IQ of like that kind of thing,
2:15
Speaker 2: you know. But those are the winners. Those are the
2:17
Speaker 2: people who just keep coming back, keep coming back at you.
2:20
Speaker 2: And that's far more important than intelligence or knowledge or
2:24
Speaker 2: anything else. I think it's a drive to come back
2:27
Speaker 2: when you've been hit. I haven't really thought of anything
2:30
Speaker 2: more important than that in my whole life and watching
2:33
Speaker 2: my entrepreneurs, that is the number one trait, without it,
2:36
Speaker 2: without a doubt in my mind.
2:37
Speaker 3: So in fifteen years, as these people are walking with
2:39
Speaker 3: their businesses, the first thing you're looking for is do
2:42
Speaker 3: they have the drive? What are some of the characteristics
2:44
Speaker 3: that you're looking at the present I have a test.
2:47
Speaker 2: I mean to present. The presenting is great, but you
2:50
Speaker 2: know there's a lot of pressure on the show to
2:51
Speaker 2: ask a lot of questions rapid fire really fast. Very
2:54
Speaker 2: often it's a hard thing to really get to know
2:56
Speaker 2: the person. I'm trying to dig for bad backgrounds, fathers
3:02
Speaker 2: that were drunks, mothers that dan in the hell. I
3:05
Speaker 2: know that sounds stupid, but if they came through adversity,
3:09
Speaker 2: I'm in it. If somebody's a rich kid and got
3:12
Speaker 2: the first round, family hate family and friends, family and friends,
3:16
Speaker 2: you don't need me. Just go to your family and friends,
3:18
Speaker 2: you know. But the most important thing happens to me.
3:21
Speaker 2: I invite intentionally everybody i'm sign a contract with. Three
3:25
Speaker 2: months after I signed, I invite them to New York
3:28
Speaker 2: to discuss with me what are the biggest issues. And
3:31
Speaker 2: they come very well prepared. But I watch, and you
3:35
Speaker 2: know what, the people who take careful notes and ask
3:37
Speaker 2: me all the questions how they're going to succeed, and
3:38
Speaker 2: ask me this and that. I know I got a loser.
3:42
Speaker 2: When somebody's sitting there and politely listening and they're just
3:45
Speaker 2: going to go out on their own and do exactly
3:46
Speaker 2: as they please. I got myself a winner, because that
3:49
Speaker 2: is the nature of a great entrepreneur. The head's strong,
3:52
Speaker 2: they're driven. You know, they don't they didn't get into
3:55
Speaker 2: the business to have a boss tell them what to do.
3:57
Speaker 2: And if somebody is putting me in the position of
3:58
Speaker 2: kind of being the new boss, it's like not a
4:01
Speaker 2: good sign. I don't know if you've walked my office,
4:04
Speaker 2: but I have all my entrepreneurs in frames that I
4:06
Speaker 2: do deals with, and the minute I see them acting
4:10
Speaker 2: that way, taking notes or blaming something that went wrong
4:14
Speaker 2: on somebody else, I turned the picture around. I know
4:17
Speaker 2: they're not going to succeed. The minute you have someone
4:19
Speaker 2: who feels sorry for themselves, they don't succeed. That's been
4:22
Speaker 2: my rule all on. I'm open minded to change it,
4:24
Speaker 2: but I've never seen an exception of that. Feeling sorry
4:27
Speaker 2: for yourself makes you a victim. If you're a victim,
4:29
Speaker 2: you give your power away. If you give your power away,
4:31
Speaker 2: you don't see opportunity. If you don't see opportunity, you
4:33
Speaker 2: don't get ahead. It's like boom follow Its just like
4:36
Speaker 2: a train.
4:37
Speaker 1: Line domino effect. Yeah, so we spoke with Damon. He
4:41
Speaker 1: talked about Bomba socks. I think that was his biggest
4:43
Speaker 1: very proud, very proud.
4:45
Speaker 2: I love those Bomba socks. I hate seeing Damon, So
4:50
Speaker 2: now I'm Annoyd. I didn't get that deal.
4:52
Speaker 1: What's the deal that you remember or your top deal
4:55
Speaker 1: or one of the deals that you know it is
4:57
Speaker 1: a highlight for you.
4:59
Speaker 2: Well, the most profitable deal is definitely comfy.
5:03
Speaker 3: I mean good old comfy.
5:04
Speaker 2: Good old comfy. I mean it's not my kind of deal.
5:06
Speaker 2: I like service businesses where I could build a build
5:09
Speaker 2: an empire, or build a franchise or build something on
5:12
Speaker 2: a service back. That's my sweet spot. So it was
5:15
Speaker 2: so abnormal I should do bore them actually to actually
5:19
Speaker 2: buy that because of an oversized sweatshirts, Like I had
5:22
Speaker 2: no experience. They didn't know how much it would cause,
5:24
Speaker 2: they don't know what they would sell it for. And
5:26
Speaker 2: in two years, I can't even remember the number. It
5:28
Speaker 2: seems so absurd, like I'm making it up. I'm probably
5:30
Speaker 2: making up. But let's just say I should probably check
5:32
Speaker 2: with somebody. I think I had forty seven million dollars
5:36
Speaker 2: in sales in two years over this stupid oversized sweatshirt.
5:39
Speaker 2: Whoever saw that train coming? When I sit to them,
5:42
Speaker 2: I'll take a thirty of business on the sharks here
5:44
Speaker 2: are at all interested in this? I'll take a third
5:48
Speaker 2: for ten twenty thousand dollars. They grabbed it and that
5:51
Speaker 2: was my single my best deal, my best deal of today.
5:55
Speaker 2: Money making if that's what you'd be, money making, which
5:58
Speaker 2: is a little different than satisfaction.
6:00
Speaker 3: So what that leads the question is, so what's the
6:02
Speaker 3: most satisfying Because as you were speaking, I looked at
6:04
Speaker 3: I'm looking at the list, and I've watched the show,
6:06
Speaker 3: so I know you're more into the service space. I've
6:08
Speaker 3: actually visited some of the you know, your investments, the
6:12
Speaker 3: Cousin mains Lapses, which is incredible here in the city.
6:15
Speaker 3: So what has been the most satisfying one for you?
6:18
Speaker 2: Exactly? Because the guys have found phenomenal I'm sure you
6:22
Speaker 2: know that Great Tamon always comes out for them when
6:25
Speaker 2: you a promotion. Damon loves these guys. He always comes
6:28
Speaker 2: out and performs for them. He's a sweetheart. But these guys,
6:31
Speaker 2: one is one type of person and the other is
6:34
Speaker 2: the opposite. They've got hoods. But of the moon the
6:37
Speaker 2: great salespeople. They're good looking and if you think that
6:39
Speaker 2: doesn't count, it counts. They charmed the pancil of anybody
6:42
Speaker 2: they need, okay, and they even charmed me. They called
6:45
Speaker 2: me up to tell me how pretty I am. Do
6:46
Speaker 2: you know how good that feels. I love those guys,
6:51
Speaker 2: but they both got married to bads, have kids and
6:55
Speaker 2: all that stuff.
6:59
Speaker 1: So for the entrepreneurs everybody watching Shark Tank right, what
7:03
Speaker 1: advice could you give somebody as looking to seek money
7:06
Speaker 1: from a venture capitalist or angel investors, somebody like yourself, Like,
7:10
Speaker 1: what are some things that they need to have prepared
7:13
Speaker 1: before they start pitching their business for capital?
7:16
Speaker 2: Two things they need they need to show sales and
7:18
Speaker 2: an attraction of sales going up to the roof. That's important.
7:22
Speaker 2: They also need to tell the investor, which many people
7:25
Speaker 2: on Shark Tank don't tell us, how are you going
7:27
Speaker 2: to make money? Hey, let me tell you how you're
7:29
Speaker 2: going to make money? Because any guy sitting there with
7:31
Speaker 2: money in his pocket to invest has that question right
7:34
Speaker 2: in his forehead. How am I going to make money?
7:37
Speaker 2: They're measuring everything by that basis, how am I going
7:39
Speaker 2: to make money? So I would say you have to
7:41
Speaker 2: have appreciating sales and you have to answer straight down
7:45
Speaker 2: the middle how you're going to make money and how
7:47
Speaker 2: much money youre going to make, which is hard to do.
7:49
Speaker 2: You know, most people don't do that. They project out
7:52
Speaker 2: based on industry averages. And how big the market is.
7:55
Speaker 2: And let me tell you, every investor, not just on
7:57
Speaker 2: shark Tank, but every investor writes it right. But more
8:01
Speaker 2: important than any of that is try to bootstrapping business.
8:04
Speaker 2: I'm just to believe in bootstrapping. When you're spending your
8:06
Speaker 2: own money that you slaved around for to try to
8:09
Speaker 2: make that buck and did everything in your mind to
8:12
Speaker 2: try to grab that buck, you spend it very carefully.
8:15
Speaker 2: You get about three dollars out of a dollar. You know,
8:17
Speaker 2: you're just careful with how you spend your money. When
8:19
Speaker 2: you've got family and friends or investors behind you, you
8:23
Speaker 2: just don't spend your money the same way. It's different.
8:25
Speaker 2: I don't know it shouldn't be different, but it's different
8:28
Speaker 2: when you've earned the money and you're spending your own bucks.
8:31
Speaker 2: So I think bootstrapping businesses are a great way to
8:34
Speaker 2: get started rather than going off of funding right away.
8:37
Speaker 2: Of course, if you're a technology business that takes tremendous
8:41
Speaker 2: cash to get it started, that's one thing, but those
8:43
Speaker 2: are not the majority of businesses in the United say,
8:46
Speaker 2: the majority of mom palm, mainStreet type businesses. So bootstrapping
8:50
Speaker 2: you learn everything with your own money. You learn the
8:52
Speaker 2: pain you learn, the joy you learn it all. It's
8:55
Speaker 2: different with your own money for sure.
8:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, talk about the branding process. I'm thinking as people
9:01
Speaker 3: come into it, they have to pitch and it happened,
9:03
Speaker 3: and like you said, most of them are mom and
9:05
Speaker 3: pop shops. Getting your name out there, getting the message
9:08
Speaker 3: out there is difficult. As you take on investors. What
9:12
Speaker 3: are some of the strategic tips that you're telling them.
9:14
Speaker 3: All Right, here's how we're going to market this now
9:15
Speaker 3: to make this.
9:16
Speaker 2: A global most the most important thing is to pick
9:19
Speaker 2: the right platform social media. When I was building my business,
9:22
Speaker 2: you had the newspapers, the major newspapers I used. You
9:25
Speaker 2: had billboards, you had gimmicks, whatever. Today it's changed. Today
9:29
Speaker 2: it's all about social media. Do you know in the
9:31
Speaker 2: last two years, I haven't invested in a single business
9:33
Speaker 2: that isn't powerful social media. They might have a little company,
9:36
Speaker 2: but the following is huge. That's a good plus. It's
9:39
Speaker 2: like having an empty box you could fill up, you know,
9:42
Speaker 2: but no, social media is where it's at. I have
9:45
Speaker 2: great social media in the house here that help people,
9:47
Speaker 2: but people really you really need someone on your team,
9:50
Speaker 2: ideally the principal who's going to push out the social media.
9:54
Speaker 2: But it's the best way to build a brand. That's
9:56
Speaker 2: all accounts anymore.
9:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, we know what too about that too. You spoke
10:02
Speaker 1: about Donald Trump previously. You had a running with Trump
10:07
Speaker 1: during your real estate days.
10:08
Speaker 2: He was extremely useful to me when I was building
10:10
Speaker 2: my business because we used to flip the reporters back
10:13
Speaker 2: and forth. He would say, what's called the market. He says,
10:17
Speaker 2: if you don't believe me, call Barbara Corcoran and I
10:19
Speaker 2: reporters will call me and I'd back them up because
10:22
Speaker 2: he told the truth that in those days. But if
10:26
Speaker 2: I got the call, I said, you don't believe me.
10:28
Speaker 2: You know who a good guy to talk to would
10:30
Speaker 2: be a big developed Donald Trump. I flipped the call
10:32
Speaker 2: to him. So we had a somepot to go going
10:35
Speaker 2: until he owed me four million dollars. It was four
10:38
Speaker 2: million or two four million dollars, and then things changed.
10:42
Speaker 2: It turns into a litigation, lawsuit. But thank god the
10:45
Speaker 2: year he didn't want to pay me my four million
10:47
Speaker 2: dollars which I was entitled to, which was for me.
10:51
Speaker 2: I mean, we probably had a thousand Salespeople say, you'd
10:53
Speaker 2: say it was a big company, but still four million
10:55
Speaker 2: is four million. That was a big payday everything I
10:59
Speaker 2: had worked for. And when he didn't want to pay
11:01
Speaker 2: that four million dollars, thank god. I had a good
11:03
Speaker 2: year and had in my pocket five hundred thousand dollars
11:06
Speaker 2: to pay him attorney. And I bought the biggest, meanest
11:10
Speaker 2: smartness attorney in New York to fight that man, and
11:13
Speaker 2: I won the lawsuit. Now if I if I had
11:16
Speaker 2: gone back a year and the same thing happened, I
11:17
Speaker 2: wouldn't have had the money. I would have just had
11:19
Speaker 2: to grovel like all the other creditors and just give
11:24
Speaker 2: up the ship. But I collected the money, and with
11:26
Speaker 2: it I was able to spand the business again and again.
11:28
Speaker 2: But he didn't. He wasn't my friend. After he's a
11:32
Speaker 2: little fair with her.
11:35
Speaker 3: I can sense the competitiveness in you, even when you
11:38
Speaker 3: tell the story. No way, yeah, no, we sense it.
11:40
Speaker 3: So I'm even when you walked in and we were like,
11:42
Speaker 3: you know, we've had some other sharks, not you know,
11:45
Speaker 3: not as pretty, no, no no, and not as pretty
11:48
Speaker 3: and definitely not as well dressed.
11:50
Speaker 2: There you go, you're catching on. Now I'm addressed.
11:54
Speaker 3: How was that in the seats?
11:55
Speaker 2: Right?
11:56
Speaker 3: Because obviously we know it's a show, but there is
11:58
Speaker 3: real business that's happening about that competitive nature of I
12:02
Speaker 3: want the deal, or damn I missed this deal, or
12:04
Speaker 3: I'm glad I took it from you.
12:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it gets in your way more than anything else.
12:08
Speaker 2: You know, somebody wants it. Usually, if one person wants
12:10
Speaker 2: a deal, it's a good deal, and a lot of
12:12
Speaker 2: people are after it, right, So now you've got to compete.
12:15
Speaker 2: It turns into a game of salesmanship because the money
12:17
Speaker 2: is one thing, but that's not really what makes the deals.
12:20
Speaker 2: The partnership makes the deals. Do they like you better
12:22
Speaker 2: than Damon? Do they like Damon better than Mark? Who
12:24
Speaker 2: do they relate more to? And that's what it comes
12:27
Speaker 2: down to. So I'm a great salesman. I've sold my
12:31
Speaker 2: whole life. I just push my wonderful virtues. I'm your
12:36
Speaker 2: perfect partner, perfect All my entrepreneurs are going to be
12:41
Speaker 2: your best friends. You're bored. We go on fun retreats.
12:44
Speaker 2: I sell them on everything, throw out the kitchens. They
12:47
Speaker 2: got them, and then I find that their eyes lighted
12:50
Speaker 2: something and I drill it home.
12:51
Speaker 3: You know, they want the retreat.
12:54
Speaker 2: They do love the retreat. It says some people I've
12:57
Speaker 2: closed on businesses simply because they wanted to be included
12:59
Speaker 2: in my pack of retreat people. I'm thinking, Okay, that
13:03
Speaker 2: wouldn't be floating me by but floating them.
13:06
Speaker 1: So how do you reinvent yourself? Because you're a great marketer,
13:11
Speaker 1: great storyteller, promoter, and you have different phases right, and
13:15
Speaker 1: a lot of times people get stuck in one phase
13:18
Speaker 1: and they kind of become a has been. How have
13:22
Speaker 1: you been able to reinvent yourself and stay relevant throughout
13:25
Speaker 1: all of these different errors.
13:27
Speaker 2: My secret, I don't know if it's the right one,
13:29
Speaker 2: is I try anything. I try anything. I don't think
13:32
Speaker 2: you wait until you see your out of style or
13:35
Speaker 2: the methodology you use and how you're selling is not
13:39
Speaker 2: as good as it used to be. I think it's
13:41
Speaker 2: about collaborating with people that work with you, given the
13:45
Speaker 2: freedom to come up with stupid ideas, and that everybody's
13:49
Speaker 2: excited and says, let's do this, let's do that. Four
13:52
Speaker 2: to five things I try since I went out of
13:55
Speaker 2: my real estate brokerage business A Corker group. Four to
13:58
Speaker 2: five things I fail miss But I bet you can't
14:01
Speaker 2: tell me one that I failed it right, Nobody can
14:04
Speaker 2: you just have to try all the time. That's how
14:06
Speaker 2: you discover new angles, new things, new ways of delivery,
14:09
Speaker 2: new kinds of people, new kinds of departments, new kinds
14:11
Speaker 2: of products. You just try everything. A lot of people
14:14
Speaker 2: are very conservative about wanting to have the right answer.
14:18
Speaker 2: Let's do this, this is a big one. That's what's
14:20
Speaker 2: wrong with corporate America. They have to get a committee
14:22
Speaker 2: to really all agree with everything. What's great about being
14:25
Speaker 2: a small entrepreneur is you're scrappy. You can try anything.
14:29
Speaker 2: You could think of something on a Monday and get
14:30
Speaker 2: it on the street by Thursday. You know, if you're
14:32
Speaker 2: with a big corporation, you got to get this guy's approval.
14:35
Speaker 2: The attorneys have to review, the accounts have to review,
14:37
Speaker 2: and by the time you have it on Monday, it
14:39
Speaker 2: comes out maybe four months later. That's why I've always
14:42
Speaker 2: my whole life been paying very careful attention to the
14:45
Speaker 2: little guy. I'm not afraid of the big guy, and
14:47
Speaker 2: I don't think big guys should be afraid of the
14:49
Speaker 2: other big guys. I think they have to look behind
14:51
Speaker 2: them and see who's coming up my ass. You know,
14:52
Speaker 2: who's going to take over my market? Because the little
14:55
Speaker 2: guy always is more creative and tries more stuff because
14:57
Speaker 2: they have less to lose. It makes sense, right, have
15:00
Speaker 2: less to lose. So I don't think there's a point
15:02
Speaker 2: where you reinvent your business or reinvent yourself. I think
15:05
Speaker 2: what you're always doing is shuffling your cards and trying
15:07
Speaker 2: to see a little of this, little of that and
15:09
Speaker 2: get a better formula that might work a little bit better.
15:11
Speaker 2: And then most things don't work. But as long as
15:14
Speaker 2: you get one on five, you've got an R and
15:16
Speaker 2: D department, and you're pushing ahead of your competition because
15:19
Speaker 2: you've at least tried five when they tried nothing. You know,