The Bossticks - Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran On The Common Denominator For Success, Career Advice, Investing, & Overcoming Setbacks

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

#561:  Today we're welcoming to the show, Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran, who's also a best selling author, and Founder of The Corcoran Group, one of the largest and best known brands in the brokerage business. Barbara sits down with us today to discuss what business and career advice she would give the younger generation, what the top qualities are of people who become wildly successful, and why it's important to not become defeated. She also gets into her childhood, how she was the subject of intense bullying throughout her shcooling, and how her dyslexia didn't hold her back from building her business. She also gives insight into what exactly she did to visualize and create her success, what happens after the Shark Tank cameras turn off, and the sad truth of losing friends once you make it big.   To connect with Barbara Corcoran click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE   Subscribe to our YouTube page HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential This episode is brought to you by The Farmer's Dog It's never been easier to invest in your dog's health with fresh food. Get 50% off your first box & free shipping by going to thefarmersdog.com/skinny This episode is brought to you by Sakara Sakara delivers science-backed, plant-rich nutrition programs and wellness essentials right to your door. Their ready-to-eat meals are nutritionally designed to deliver results—from weight management and eased bloat to boosted energy and clearer skin. Go to Sakara.com/skinny or enter code SKINNY at checkout to receive 20% off your first order. This episode is brought to you by Cymbiotika Cymbiotika is a health supplement company, designing sophisticated organic formulations that are scientifically proven to increase vitality and longevity by filling nutritional gaps that result from our modern day diet. Use code SKINNY at checkout to receive 15% off sitewide at cymbiotika.com This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp BetterHelp is online therapy that offers video, phone, and even live chat-only therapy sessions. So you don't have to see anyone on camera if you don't want to. It's much more affordable than in-person therapy & you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/skinny . This episode is brought to you by SKIMS SKIMS is the solution-oriented brand creating the next generation of underwear, loungewear, and shapewear for EVERY body.  Get free shipping on orders over $75 at SKIMS.com This episode is brought to you by AG1 AG1 is way more than greens. It's all of your key multi-vitamins, minerals, pre-and probiotics, and more, working together as one. Go to athleticgreens.com/SKINNY to get a free 1 year supply of vitamin D and 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Produced by Dear Media  

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Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you alone for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. Aha. I had a terrible, terrible year.

I owed $76,000. And so I didn't possibly know how I was going to make ends meet. It was a terrible real estate market. And I thought of an idea to sell 88 apartments that I was asked to sell. You know, they were horrible units. And the morning I woke up, I had 88 apartments. I had probably 140 people in line. And I made over a million dollars.

I paid back the money I owed. I opened a new office. That's when my competitors really stood up and noticed. Because I got so much publicity on this sale. I was just trying to survive, you know. If it hadn't worked, what was lost? Nobody showed up the next morning. Okay, what do we do today?

Throwing stuff out. That's the beauty of being small. You can outcreate the guy with the big money. Young people today even have a larger opportunity because of social media being for free if you're creative enough. Hello, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the skinny confidential him and her show. There are sharks in the water on this episode, specifically Barbara Corcoran from the world famous Shark Tank. And we are diving into all sorts of things today.

Career advice for people in their 20s. the common denominator of all successful people, how bullying helps shape her mindset, how it can help shape yours as well. Also, we get into her business and how it took off. We cover so much ground here. For those of you that are tuning in just this week, I also will remind everybody that we now have a YouTube channel you can tune in every Tuesday and Friday for the full visual episode if you're more of a visual person. All current episodes and new episodes will be there and we'll also start loading up some of the most popular old archive episodes. So be sure to check that out if you just search the Skinny Confidential on YouTube, it'll pop up. Or if you just want to stick with the audio,

here we are already. I think everyone who's listening is going to find this episode very valuable. It's very on brand for us. So on that note, let's welcome Shark Tank's Barbara to the skinny confidential him and her show. This is the skinny confidential him and her. Barbara in the studio, welcome. Thank you. We tried to think about different directions we could take. We could take this in so many directions with you. But I think what we think about with you is somebody who's had such a diverse career background and you've done so many different things. There's a lot of listeners, young listeners that are trying to figure out where they start. And I think some good advice, but also poor at the same time as everybody says, hey, just chase your passion. And young people are just supposed to know.

Hate that expression. Yeah, same. Because I think, at least in my case, it took a very long time to figure out, you know, what kind of path and I'm still figuring on it. So I think it's difficult when young people get that advice and they haven't tasted a few things. I was reading you had some kind of 20 plus jobs before you even figured out which you want to do. So maybe starting there, and kind of talking about how you came up and how you thought about your career from a young age. I think when I was starting my career, I had the good fortune of having 22 jobs

before I started my business. And boy, did that help me with building my business. But trying to find yourself is such a challenge. When you're young, how do you know what you're good at? And today, people don't like to jump jobs and try on a million things. That's how you find out how you're good at whatever. I got lucky, honestly,

because I discovered my 22 jobs that I was great with people. I couldn't read well, I couldn't write well, I couldn't figure anything out well, but boy, could I charm people. And that got me the biggest tips as a waitress, the job interviews I went for I always got because I charm the guy who's hiring me. And I charm my way in and out of the jobs as I went along the way. But I think finding your passion is the wrong way to go because you don't know what it is. I think finding one thing you're good at. And what I found through my jobs that I was good at was I was good with people. And what I found,

I was good at the day I started my job. I was good with people. So I hired all the right people. I motivated them. I charmed the people to stay, charm the people to come. And I built a career on that one talent. So you really only need one thing. How would you apply the charm that you had today if you were 21? I would watch people's reaction to me. I would ask all of my friends or even acquaintances, what's good about me? Sometimes you don't see yourself. You're so hard on yourself. And then I would try to find some kind of a career that tapped into those values or those talents. With social media, would you use social media? If you could look back and be 21 right now, would you use TikTok, would you use Instagram? What medium do you think you would gravitate towards?

Are you kidding? I would use anything I could get my hands on. I mean, social media has all that turns and twists for each platform, but it's really all the same river. You know, you're trying to get attention and trying to be of interest and trying to make a difference. But no, social media, if I had social media, I think I could have been the president of the United States. That's what I think. Only kidding. I believe it. I think that sometimes it feels like there's a lack of resourcefulness. We have so many things to go off of now. When you look at the younger generation, what would you tell them? If you could tell them they want to start a business. I would tell them, Lauren, it's a very best time. It's the best time to start a business because the world is open to

anything new. And then it's a level playing field now. Anyone on social media is equally rich. You could build your brand, build your business on social media. You don't pay any more than the next guy. It doesn't favor the mega mouth or that, well, it does favor the mega mouth, but not the mega wallet. It's a level playing ground. You could create anything using social media today. It is the best thing that's happened to the computer age. Best thing to happen to young people, I think. Yeah. You know, I even think about this show. And if we would have tried to do this call it 20 years ago, there would have been a lot of gatekeepers, right? It probably wouldn't been some kind of radio station and an executive and they would have to say, maybe you can do it,

maybe you can't. We don't have the airwaves or we do. When we started this, we literally set up the stuff in our living room from our house and had one person just kind of sitting there editing. I think it was like maybe 300 bucks in equipment. Granted, it didn't sound great and we were a mess and didn't know what we were doing. But the barrier to entry was basically nothing. And since then, it's obviously when we're sitting with you and we've done this, you know, six or seven hundred times. Well, you had the luxury, Michael, of creating as you went. I mean, everybody's got that luxury today. Just do a little, this, little, that throw it on the wall and see what sticks.

You know, but if you were creating your business 20 years ago, you would need a lot more buying power to do those same experiments. Rent a billboard, put a page in the newspaper. It was very expensive to build a brand, but not today. What were some gatekeepers that you experienced when you were on Shark Tank? Or maybe there wasn't any. Oh, we have a million bosses on Shark Tank. How do you get through all that and sort of Navigation?

navigate that before you're on. You've been on 11 seasons. Yeah, you know what you do? You perform well and hope they don't fire you. If you think people in the entertainment business are working for themselves, ah, in the lip service you are. But you're no good a season. You're not invited back to the next season. That's how it goes. We've got gatekeepers. It's owned by three different large companies. Everybody weighs in. I get more opinions on what outfit I shouldn't wear than what outfits I should wear. Like, what do they tell you to wear and what do they tell you not to wear? Well, you know, if too much leg is showing, it's not a good thing, but I've learned how to pose in the outfit and get the approval before I show the leg, you know? Certain patterns they're afraid of because it's still good for the camera.

Most of it's legitimate, but they want a certain image. And if you think about it, you're a moving part as a talent as part of the set in a way that the furniture is. You know, if you're going to be navy blue on this sofa, you're going to fade away. They're not going to like that. So it makes sense. If I was a producer, I'd be the same way. If you had to go in business with any other sharks, which one would you pick? Oh, Mark, he's got the most money.

And also, in my opinion, he's the most handsome. I don't know if the money's influencing me, perhaps. But I think he's handsome independently of his wallet. But he's the most loyal husband and great father. And his wife wouldn't tolerate anything. No, Mark, it would be a safe bet. He could be my partner, even though I dream of him. about marrying him every day. So Kevin's not it. Kevin, ah, high maintenance. I think I'd be

lower maintenance than Kevin O'Leary any day of the week. You deal with so much successful people, so many successful people. What is the common denominator between all these people that you see? Is it their morning routine? Is it the way they set up their day? What are little tactics that you see across the board? Well, everybody's got their own tactics, but they're all going in the same place, okay, which is where they want to go. The most common ground of everyone's I've seen the majority being self-made, you know, not that you can't do it other ways, is they have ambition. Ambition, you know, it's kind of like an all-fashioned word, but I'm talking about the kind of ambition

that just people like have to get to where they're going. There's going to be no excuse not to get there. It burns. It just burns in them. That has been what's caused the people who get ahead to work twice as hard as the next guy, to never give up, to keep plugging away, to not hear no. because they want to have, or they have to get to the finish line. It's not want to. They have to.

Do you think that's something you're born with or something you can learn? I think part of it is you learn. For me, I learned it by being the dumb kid in class and being insulted my whole life. So I'm getting even, basically. Like, you think I was dumb? I'll show you who I'm not dumb, you know, because I had that disability. But other entrepreneurs I've invested in that have been wildly successful have been, people have grown up with a drunk dad, a single mom, known poverty, struggle.

They've never had a vacation. They were a breadwinner before they were ready. I mean, all these hardships that people encounter at young ages are always a great formula for succeeding in life if they don't feel sorry for themselves. I want to talk about that a little bit. That's a dividing line, truly. Can you go more into that? Because I think we've talked about it and basically, I think that there's a lot of, you know,

victim mentality right now. for whatever time, maybe because... I'm sorry, what mentality? Victim mentality, right? A lot of it is maybe because of the way we engage on a lot of these platforms. Communication is so fast and you maybe find communities that are willing to kind of wallow in pain with you, right? Before maybe you kind of feel a little...

Get a better audience today. Yes, right? And listen, I don't want to say there aren't victims because there are. But what I always say to people is it's much easier to find sympathy now. And when you find that sympathy, it validates your feeling. And then the problem is, is then it's hard to get out of that feeling. because you have a group that's saying, oh, it's okay to be like that and to feel like that. So maybe just talking through this a little bit more in what you see, you know,

being the detriments to that kind of thought. Well, you said it very well, especially in one regard. There's a large audience to join your pity party, right? So you get away with a little better, but you don't get away with it in life because people who feel sorry for themselves don't move ahead. It's just they put themselves in slow motion, basically, if motion at all. So I believe that everyone I've seen very successful. And it doesn't have to be in business or in a money sense, but in a social sense or whatever they causes.

They really have taken the same hits. Everybody else has. That's what life is. It's a bunch of hits, a bunch of obstacles to get through. But when they take the hit, they feel it like everybody else. But they don't take much time for feeling sorry for themselves. They kind of like a jack in the box. Hit me on the head.

And they should stay low. But they pop out of the box. hit me again. That's probably a low IQ of some sort, but it's the ability to keep getting back up and taking a hit, taking a hit. And it's about just not allowing yourself the liberty and wrong luxury of feeling sorry for yourself. Yeah. And I think especially like we all say like in a career and business and a job, like there's no such thing as undefeated. Like at least in my life and Lawrence, like it's been a bunch of little failures along the way constantly and then, you know, getting back up and refining. But there's never been like, hey, that's a perfect.

record. There's so many things that we've done that have been quote unquote mistakes, but I don't consider them failures because we don't quit, right? You just keep going. Only because you didn't quit. Yes. Is why you see them in a bright light. But if you get hit with stuff that you don't recover from, it stays with you forever and not a bright light so you never move forward. But you've discovered the need or maybe just the habit of constantly trying. And you know, I'm always amazed at how many parents ask me or tell me about the or the daughter who kind of hasn't come out of the gate yet.

If only they could find their right thing, their right passion back to that again. And I really believe the people that succeed don't necessarily have a passion or even discover what they're so good at, but they form a habit of trying. And when you're in the habit of trying, that's what confidence is. You know, hey, well, it's the shit's going to hit the fan, but I know I'm going to try harder than the next guy.

And in the trying harder than the next guy, you always succeed a little better than the next guy. It's just numbers at that game. It's so important what you speak to. The most important thing. It's so boring to listen to, isn't it? No, but it's like dating. I mean, you see these guys and on paper, maybe they don't look like...

I thought you were married to her. Yeah, I am. You're actually going to be talking about dating? I'm going to be flirting with you a little bit. You're out of your mind. Stop. It's a safe space to come and bring... Give them a kick.

Yeah, yeah. I come on my bring women like yourself. I flirt with them a little, and I watch and see if I'm flirting with me. He can play with you. I'm a little old. That's right. Well, listen. you know.

This is a cheap thrill for me today. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. But I always see these guys. Do you want me to leave the room? Yes, I do. I have a lot of friends. Like you'll see this guy on paper, super tall guy, good looking, but very shy and won't

ever like kind of go up to women. You see another guy or maybe on paper he doesn't look like the, the Casanova, but he's willing to go and ask the women over and over and like take all the ad bats. And to your point, it becomes a numbers game. And then there's that confidence that I think is attractive to both sexes, right? It's like, you know, coming out of your shell a little bit and just like being somebody that's willing to receive a know and keep going. Yeah. Well, it's hard to get a know from a girl and walk back to your seat, isn't it?

It's easy to think about it. But you know what? I have noticed that when I've been with a room of very beautiful girls and I'm older, so I'm just observing, I notice the prettiest girl doesn't get hit on. It's the second prettiest. So if the loser kind of guy, not so attractive guy, goes up to the prettiest girl. got a better shot than he has it the second prettiest girl. You heard it here first, guys. Take notes. Yeah. Ask that pretty girl to dance. I would love to go back to your childhood. You mentioned it a little bit. You said that you felt stupid, which is like shocking to me when you

were young. Can you elaborate on that? Yeah. You know, school is a weird kind of a place for most of us. It's a great place you learn to learn. Okay. But if you have a learning difference, and there's probably one in ten kids that have that. So it's not uncommon. You learn. differently but you don't learn in the school system you can't understand digits you can't understand numbers letters letters don't add up unless you could visualize like I always learn the word dog really fast because I pictured a dog but how do you picture where or there if it has any kind of component in that you can't learn if you're dyslexic so in school the way they did it then and they still do it

somewhat now in private schools I have you read out live in front of your peers for me that was hell on earth I learned shame having to read out loud in front of my peers when I couldn't pronounce words. And so, of course, like anybody, that would scar someone terribly. But why it's dangerous when you're a kid is you're forming your image of yourself. And so it does more damage than if someone insults you when you're older when you're pretty cool, right? And so at that time, it was the worst thing in the world. But as I came out of school and got out of that damn jailhouse, got out of yay! And went to my jobs. I had a different inside of me. I was a charmer and I charmed my way into those jobs and out of those jobs and got

paid and got the most tips and all that. And that kind of thing wouldn't have found me or I wouldn't have found it if I didn't have that terrible experience and determination to be a somebody. You know, that taught me the burning desire. I'm going to be a somebody. What were your parents like through all of this? Were they supportive to you or no? Yes. Well, I had a wonderful mother. I had nine siblings. So they didn't have a lot of time. I know you can't imagine that. And I grew up in it and I still can't imagine it. I saw it.

Same mother. Of course, same mother and same father. We think, although one child doesn't look like us. We're always talking about him. But we had 10 children, but I'll tell you what my mother did well, considering she was a lady with very little time. She decided what the birth, on the birth of each child, I should say, or close to it anyway, what she thought their great trait was.

And she told us and made us a performance. For me, I have. a wonderful imagination. So she told me not to worry about school, kind of crazy in a way. She said, with your imagination, Barbara, you'll learn to fill in all the blanks of some kind of thing like that, she said to me. But I believed her. I was a kid. So what was great about my mother is she underlined the positive. And there's a positive in anybody. And that's what I used to build my business. I could see the positive in anybody and think, how could I build on it? Just like my mother did. I kind of like had a cheating system to build. To build a

my business, you know. But thank God for my mother to offset the school experience. You do what your mother did now. Yes, of course I did. Wouldn't you if it was a good formula? Yeah, that's very, very smart. So what was your first epiphany or taste of success from a really young age? When can you remember being like, wow, this is what this tastes like? It was a magical day in our childhood. I was probably 12, 13 at the time. And my father decided to go out. and start his own business. With my mother's support, who's a printing press foreman,

he washed trucks at night, but he always wanted to work for himself. And he just had all these kids to feed, so he never had that choice. One day, he decided to finally do it, and he called his company, it's almost like a made-up story. I'm not making this up.

He called his company pre-press preparations, and he named himself Paul Peterson. And when people called, very few callers, he would say, hold the line, let me connect you with the president, and Paul Peterson, and he would change his voice. He had one job making a belt buckle box, designing it and producing it. His first job got $1,000 got paid.

My brother, Tommy and I, drew the buckles because we could draw well. And then he took the $1,000 check home and passed it around the dinner table. And he said, guess what, kids? We're rich and we're going on vacation. And we went off to Asbury Park for a week, the first vacation of our life, and we knew we were rich. It was the week we were all rich. We went to Asbury Park in, you know, one of those big houses where they rent rooms and just played all week. It motivated me. We never got another vacation, of course, because he never got

another job and he was back to the printing press. But for that week, what an inspiration. All of us remember it. It was like we were exception in life and taken out of our little life and to be rich for a Not that I value money because it's complicated. Oh, no, I do value money. Who am I kidding? I'm lying to you. I love money. But it's not cracked up to what it's supposed to be so far as satisfaction goes. It's great for options. It's not on satisfaction, honestly. And it complicates life. So I could tell you what says bad about money is good about money, but I still want money. But I think I forgot your question. I started talking about my love of money. No, you're telling me about your first taste of success. And it sounds like it had to do a lot with your father. Yes. What was maybe your own taste by yourself, your solo taste? Well, you know, when I was building my business, I was very young when I started, 23, and I was always in Hock.

Always owed more money than I had, but always believed somehow it would work out. I got that for my mother. And this is the real estate business. The real estate business here in New York City. You know, when I started the business was at an old boy's network. they didn't want me in they didn't notice me I shouldn't say they didn't want me in after a while they didn't want me in but at first they didn't see me

I was invisible I was a girl right you slipped through the back door no one sees it that way you must have had the same I love coming down the chimney yeah and getting me I'm gonna borrow that coming down the chimney yeah because it's

an advantage yeah you kind of are quiet and but I'm sure once they noticed you or you're not perceived as a threat to their business in the beginning right until I was number two yeah Until you're, so, okay, so you come in, they don't, they don't kind of notice you. Yeah. And then you started succeeding and then.

Well, you know what? I started doing more than succeeding. I don't think you could have measured my balance sheet at any point along the way where I didn't have losses. So maybe I wasn't successful, but I was sure building fast. I was outpacing anybody on the strength of my ability to build through people, because that's all it is. You have people that are building. I had the ability to outcreate anybody. I could try anything because nobody was watching.

The big guys were vested. They had reputations, big brand names, lots of money. They had attorneys. They had accountants. They had vetting machines. You know, they had vet everything for security. And not me. I would think of an idea on a Monday, throw it out in the street on Wednesday, see if it

worked or flopped and do a new one on Thursday. You know, so I had the freedom like a bird to do whatever I wanted. Do you know what an advantage that is? Give us an example of an idea that you would throw out on a Monday and execute on a Wednesday. I was in a bet. I have so many of them, but the ones that just came in my mind, I'll tell you, I had a terrible, terrible year. I owe 70. I remember exactly what I owe. It's $76,000, which maybe doesn't sound a lot to you. But that was probably four months overhead,

enough to put a little business out of business. I probably had, at that time, maybe 12 agents in my company. And so I didn't possibly know how I was going to make ends meet. It was a terrible real estate market. Interest rates were 18%. I was in the hawk. I was actually writing like kind of a goodbye speech from my Monday meeting, which we always had a sales little mini meeting on Monday. And I thought of an idea to sell 88 apartments that I was asked to sell, which was no way to sell it. Nobody wanted these dogs. You know, they were horrible units all over town owned by a big insurance company. And I thought of an idea to sell them like puppies. Price them all alike, I said to the developer. And he went along with my idea. Price them all

alike. Let's call it a secret sale. Let me just announce it to my agents, tell them to only bring their best customers. Let's spend no money on advertised. They didn't want to spend money. let's have a one-price sale. And I announced it exactly that fashion. In the morning I woke up, we had 88 apartments. I had probably 140 people in line waiting to buy the, we, it was sold like hotcakes in the worst market, and I made over a million dollars. I paid back the money I owed. I opened a new office. People thought I had inherited a rich dad or something overnight. That's when my competitors really stood up and noticed, because I got so much publicity on this sale. By accident, I was just trying to survive, you know. But,

If it hadn't worked, what was lost? Nobody showed up the next morning. Okay, what do we do today? You know, you're just throwing stuff out. That's the beauty of being small. You can outcreate the guy with the big money. The guy with the big money that can't outcreate you. He can't move with speed. It's like he's got a giant battleship. He's got a turn. You got a speed boat. And again, that's why young people today even have a larger opportunity because of social media being for free if you want it, if you're creative enough. It's a perfect platform, really for a little guy. When you have all these apartment buildings and all these people outside, did you immediately know, oh, my God, I did it? Or is it something that you had to see later down on the line?

You know what? I thought to myself, holy shit. I thought my mother was right. This is one of those Catholic miracles. She always told us about it. I thought God came down overnight and made it happen. But I'll tell you something. When I saw, I walked into the sales office, we had the list to hand out exactly at 9 o'clock.

You know, nah, ha, ha, you know. But it was all in one location, so I was there. And when I saw somebody, like, was eight or nine arguing that somebody had cheated, he sent his wife to one nude and he was going to the other. They were arguing about it. I knew I had a hit. I was like, anger, this passion, this room. And when you then get this huge office and you're able to pay off everything and people

start noticing you, what happens then? What happens when the big boys notice you? You know what? I don't think, I don't think. I don't even know. I don't even remember. But do you have a seat at their table? Oh, no, no, no.

Do you think the big boy is going to make a seat out of a table for someone who's getting stronger? No, they're going to stick you on a stool as often as they can and look down at you. No. So what are some experiences that you can look back on where that it kind of wasn't fair, how they were treating you? Whoa. One of the toughest ones, because I like to be loved. I'm not the kind of person that wants to be hated ever. I so much wanted to be loved, and I had run an ad campaign.

There was no MLS in New York, and I was thinking it was unfair to the homeowners. They pick one broker and only their customers sought, so they can't get their real value. So my idea was, let's start an MLS. I didn't know what to call it, and I didn't call it an MLS. I called it Central Listing, and I advertised to the public on remnant ads that were cheap to buy in the New York Times. You should list your apartment with the Corcoran Group. That was me. Because we share our listings with the whole community, which we did.

It was like being Robin Hood. And to my surprise, honestly, the whole brokerage community piled against me and brought me on charges to the real estate board, which was our governing body. And they were telling me I was falsely advertising, which wasn't. But anyway, they chased me for three months, hired a big attorney. But it's funny, the guy that I sold those units for, We told that story earlier. Bernie Mendick was the president of the board.

It was the only contact I ever had well in my life because I had sold his units and he loved me. I went to him and he squashed the lawsuit. Maybe it wasn't even legal. I don't know. But it was over and nobody could get their hands on me anymore. They couldn't pile up like bullies anymore. I was again free to do my thing and I raced ahead. Besides the moment that you made a million dollars after.

After that, where I'm sure there was many pivotal moments of your success. What was the next one? Sort of the next tier. The next year happened, a lot happened by accident when I was trying to do something purposely that failed. Explain that what you mean. Okay. I had a great idea.

I thought it was a great idea. I put all my homes on tape. Okay. And this was before the internet. So I hired a videographer. I hired a makeup lady to make everybody look beautiful, beautiful photography. fee and I put all of our apartments on tape. And I said, hand out the tape to your customers.

They don't even have to look anymore. We bring the apartments to them. Yeah. My agents handed the tapes of the apartments to their customers. Great idea. We were ahead of the time. I couldn't wait to see. I spent $77,000 on those tapes and they're rotting in the basement of my store next to Zabars.

And it was a total failure. But this is the lucky part. I was thinking how to save face and how to announce the failure without calling their failure and how to cover it, you know, for the next week of my sales meeting. And I had dinner with my husband who was a Navy captain who was playing war games and career. And he said they were playing the war games on a new medium called the internet. And it was in real time. And he was all excited. And I immediately went to my office, registered corcoran.com. And we had two sales that week. Boom, boom. It was like light. Boom, boom.

Out of London. Two young guys. Site on seed bought two apartments. Well, I knew what I had stepped in. It was the next thing that was going to change real estate so much. So I had two whole years to experiment before anybody went on the internet with real estate. What year was this? Mid-70s? Look up when the internet was. It was the government had it first.

It was really, really early. But you know why it took them so long, honestly? Because they weren't paying attention. I took all my URLs. I registered all the URLs of my competitors. You were allowed to do that. I own them all. and I waited for them to call me.

You find that funny? Well, this way I had a gauge of when they woke up. And you know, the largest companies call asked, proving the point that we were talking about again, the little guy moves ahead first. They were asleep at the wheel. They were the biggest companies in town. Call me like three years later.

You have our URL. We want it back. All right. Oh, thank you. You just woke up. I get it. By then I had chat boards. I had terrible video.

I had flying through apartments, all the stuff that didn't work. but I had like almost four years to experiment. What an advantage that was. That internet brought me from, I forget where I was when I started, maybe number five, number six in the marketplace to number one. It happened so fast because I had technology. One thing that is an essential in my wellness toolbox is my detox drops by Sakara.

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Visit symbiotica.com slash skinny. You get 15% off sitewide. That's symbiotica.com slash skinny 15% off sitewide. Did you always plan to sell your business? Was that the plan from the beginning or no? Never. Sell my children? Sell the love of my life?

I couldn't fath them. Phathom, fathom, what is that word? I'm not the best at pronouncing things, ask him. Okay. We get a lot of poor reviews about it to be honest, but it is what it is. We just kind of go with it now. At least you get attention. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, so none of us know the word.

She just learned how to pronounce my name like last week. I've been together like 20 years or so. Yeah. I'll use a different word. Yeah, expecting. I couldn't expect that. So at what point did you, was that even a thought in your head? Well, I had a thought that led up to it, which is a cousin of a thought.

When I started my business the first day, for whatever reason, I know it sounds crazy, I saw an image of myself as the Queen of New York real estate. As clear as I could taste it and touch it, you know, I said, I'm going to be the Queen of New York real estate. And now it sounds like a fantasy. But remember, I spent all my years in school fantasizing. I was good at fantasizing. I had it covered.

I had that dream that I had to be the number one queen of real estate. And one night I was in my office with Esther Kaplan. I kept careful records of all my competition, the listing rates, what prices they were, we're in town they were. You did head counts. By then there was an MLS of sorts. Anyway, I realized that night with Esther, we're number one. We're actually number one.

And I said, let's sell this place. It just came out of my head. Let's sell this place. And she said, really? Yeah. Let's sell it. Three months later, like a Zoom marriage, we had it sold. Boom, like that.

And is it just because you kind of reached the top of your field? I reached my dream. I couldn't. Sure. I couldn't again imagine where else I wanted to go with it. I had no picture. I got to where I wanted. I figured time to check out, you know?

It was very rash, I realize. But that's how life is sometimes. Do you go out and kill the tiger and get the sale or does it come to you? Well, I did something that I think was pretty politically savvy. I looked up to see who was buying companies in the real estate. space, okay? And the biggest player was NRT, and then I looked up their board, and I saw an attorney on their board, and I called, I won't give you his name, because I don't even know if it was legal, honestly, but I called, on his part, but I called him and said, would you perchance know

anybody who would be interested in buying my business? I have so many dollars in sales. It's a great business. And he said, yes, I do. He never said he was on the board. I knew he was on that board. He went to the head of NRT, and that's how we got the deal done fast. He was an inside man, so to speak, on my side. I think he thought he was the inside man on their side, but I saw him as the inside man on my side, you know? Yeah, I mean, that's smart. That's going through the chimney. Well, let me add one thing to add a dose of reality on this. He came back fast with a $22 million offer. And I was on a chairlifted my roofer brother, John, and he said, you ought to take it. It's a lot. And I said, I'm not, I'm going to tell him I want 66 million. And my brother said,

you're crazy. Why? I said, because it's my lucky number. They will bring me luck. And that's exactly what I went back with. And that's exactly what they paid. I wish my lucky number now was 150. I know. I was going to say, I should have thought about that. Sixty-six is a great number. Yeah, it was good enough. So when that sale goes through, what is it like when it goes through? Are you celebrating? Are you at home in your apartment by yourself? Like, what is that like? I think on any account, it's probably a weird sensation like surreal for anyone who's never done it. Yeah. But for me, it was particularly complicated because I signed the contract on the eve of 9-11 Friday night.

Oh, wow. And then they welched on the contract and didn't want to close because it was an act of guard in the contract out clause, and I knew the deal was off. It was a heartbreaker because I really, again, saw the sales. And I couldn't, if I saw it, I figured it had to happen. And so on Monday, 9-11 happened, and I felt terrible, but my mind was so much on the sale of my business and it falling through. No phone calls were returned to me. I was a genius on Thursday.

They couldn't wait to talk to me. And by Monday and Tuesday, I couldn't get a return call. So I saw the writing on the wall. Okay, when they did close on the sale, and I could tell you the interim story how I closed the deal. Well, I'll tell it to you because you could cut it out if it's too long, right? No, tell it. Tell it. Okay.

I went on to details. I bought myself a toy gun, a nice silvery toy gun. A toy gun, really. It looked like a toy, like cheap plastic. And I went over to the head of NRT. And I asked to see him. I was shocked the ladies, because I called him. I didn't get return calls. I was shocked she let me in his office. He had a huge conference table. And he said, sit down, real gentleman. And I threw the gun on the table. As an illustration, like a show and tell. The gun to me represented the Corcoran group. I had replaced all. all the technology. I opened three new offices. 40% of my staff was brand new and trained. They hadn't kicked into production yet. I knew the potential of this business. The idea that somebody was lucky enough to get this business, I totally believed in. And the gun was an illustration. The bullets are loaded. It's shiny. It hasn't even begun to fire. I needed a prop. But he thought it was a real gun. Of course, he jumped back maybe 10, 30, 40, 50, 50 feet. Whoever knows. I never saw a guy jump backwards so fast.

But then I gave him my pitch. And to his great credit, he said, okay, just don't let me lose anyone. And that was it. It was a five-minute pitch, a very important pitch. I should have left out the gun. I realize in hindsight. So if someone's coming to pitch,

Barbara on Shark Tank, bring a gun. No, don't. And go across the table. You won't get through the tunnel. I don't know if that flies these days. No, no, it wouldn't work. I don't think so. I have maybe a pivot question for you.

you work with so many people at this point and you have and you've invested in a bit. When you're hiring, there's a lot of people, you know, look at my own company. For your own companies. What traits are you looking for? Always the same old traits,

a short list. I'm looking for attitude. Give me anybody with the right attitude, I could teach them anything. Even if they're not smart, I could teach them to do something better than anybody else in that arena, even if they're not smart. And if they're smart,

you could take them to the moon and back. You don't know what you could get out of them, you know? But I am very good at sports. spotting the talent people right away where they have the potential, but I don't even think of that if they have the wrong attitude. I hire happy people. I've never gotten anywhere with somebody who's not happy. And I have learned, because I learned through experience, I used to, when I was able to recruit out of other companies, get producing salespeople rather than grow my own, they were coming my way at some point. I hired a lot of miserable people. They were charming

with customers, but they were miserable to live with. And finally, one day I realized, I gave up teaching them to be happy. I thought if their mother could make them happy until they got to me, what do I think I could make them happy? I got rid of them. I fired complainers all the time. Got a matter. So Pete, that's what I was going to ask you. When you say miserable, do you mean, like you just mean someone who's constantly complaining? You don't have to constantly complaining. Some were better sharpshooters. They knew where to hit you when you were low and knew how to hit a colleague or bad mouth somebody when they shouldn't have been doing it. I generally find negative people are fairly smart. Positive people always aren't. They always aren't smart. Maybe it's a

great trait. But no, some of them were big talkers, but one thing they had in common, if they were saying negative, they needed somebody else to be negative with them. So they suck out your talent. Hey, listen, there's a space in every business for critiques. I welcome criticisms, let you know what's going wrong before you're able to see it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about somebody who just sucks energy. They're like thieves in the night. You have to get rid of them to protect your good stock and people that are capable. I don't know how we got on the negative. You're depressing me just talking about it. Yeah. I think like sometimes in my personal experience, maybe I don't know if you've seen this as well, sometimes those are even some of your best performers,

but you've got to cut them because they drag everybody else down. Yes. Right? Like they've on paper. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you had that experience because it's frightening when you realize that that this person is making 60% of my overhand. head, I can't fire them, even though they're killing me in emotion and energy here. And everybody else. And everybody else. Quietly everybody else, but really killing the boss. Because it's your responsibility.

You're the parent. You're there to protect everybody. So it's going to hit you hardest, you know. But let me tell you, I fired my first top salesperson who was so miserable. I almost sold the business to Merrill Lynch one year for, what about I selling for $120,000? What a shame? Five years later, I sold it for $66 million. But this complainer was the one who was getting me to think about selling the business to anybody to get out until I fired her.

And I'm telling you, I learned a valuable lesson. I fired this lady. I'll give her a false name. I'll call her Mary Jane. She wasn't any Mary Jane. I have to Corella DeVille. I fired her one week. And the very next week, Norma Hirsch walked in the door, wet behind the ears, classy lady.

She even had false eyelashes when nobody had. had them on. And she walked in, I said, she's a seller. And she outperformed the woman I fired within six months. Boom. I got rewarded for my confidence or for getting over my fear, maybe. And I always, always was quick to fire even good producers. They always got replaced. And you know what else? When you get rid of someone who's a complainer, you could feel in the office, I could feel it in my bones. There was a lift. Everybody lifted up was like taking a thorn out of a horse's. for something, the whole office benefited immediately. Yeah, because everybody's already kind of thinking and saying it, but they're scared to speak up

because maybe that person's performing or bullying or whatever. Oh, yeah. I feel as a boss. It is a form of bullying. Yeah. And as a boss, they, I think, immediately respect you more because they can tell that you're protecting not only them, but the business, right? And they also know, okay, maybe that person was performing, but it's dragging everybody down.

So I feel like it also builds a different kind of loyalty and respect because they see that you have their interests at heart. I was loved more. That was the real long-term benefit. You know what happened to me one day, very early out of my business, probably had seven people or so. We were renting apartments and we were starting to sell apartments. And we had a great salesperson.

Never said a word. Usually people could sell well, talk well. Okay. She never said a word. She would come in the office, keep filing things in her drawer. She was making a lot of sales. One day I realized, I said, wait, is she sharing her listings? Which was my company philosophy.

You can't pocket listings on your colleagues. And at night, you'll have to forgive me. But we didn't have lock desk. I looked in her drawer and I saw secret listing cards. So I waited a little sales meeting on Monday. Waited the end of the week. I loved it. I don't think you could do it today.

Anyway, I announced that Lorraine had made two more sales. Let's give her a round of applause, which was our usual thing. And I said, Lorraine, we didn't really have that listing at Sutton Place, 60 Sutton, 11, after. Did anybody else have it? Everybody checked the notes. No, no. We didn't really have that listing.

I hadn't been checking her sale addresses. The two sales that week, she only had those listing cards. And I said, take your things and get out of here. Just like that. She got up, very upset. It was really cruel in hindsight, I guess. Maybe you should edit this part out. And let me tell you something.

That story was told for the next 20 years. It became folklore in a business. And you know what? no one dare cheated again. I mean, it was so much better than publishing a manual or say don't do it. Just she was like a sacrificial lamb. But the way I was able to justify it is she was taking money from my other people, my good people. She had to go. But perhaps I should have privately let her go, but I wanted everybody to remember it. You know, it's hard. I remember it. I think obviously that individual, that was probably a life-altering moment. But for everybody else,

I think it establishes the boundaries and the rules. And it keeps everybody honest in a way, right? Or at least it lets people know that they're going to be held to an honest account. Yes. I guess. But honestly, if I was doing it again, I think I would be much more empathetic to the woman as well. I think I had the virtue of my family in my head so strongly that she had to go. But I think the had to go could have been a lot more gentle.

And perhaps I could have figured some other way to make the lesson known. If you could give us as bosses tips on how to be a better boss, what are those tips? Spoil your children and get your priorities straight. If you're a great boss, you know you're working for your people. They're not working for you. The minute you get those hats mixed up, you're not a good boss anymore. You're looking from your viewpoint and you're not serving who is providing your living. I mean, when I sold my business for $66 million, I knew there was $1,000.

one reason why I was able to do it. Those people gave me that money. And so, why wouldn't I spoil them rotten? I mean, my whole life, all I thought about was, what could I do for you? How could I make you better? What could I do now? What could I do? What could be better about it?

I always had the interest at heart, never my own. And I got a free ride to the top. I never thought I'm going to make a lot of money. I always knew I would be number one. But I wasn't hoping to make a lot of money. That came. I was kind of surprised by it. And let me not tell you.

I'm sorry, can I return to your earlier question? Sure, sure. Because it's so thrilling. You asked earlier about what it's like to sell a business, you know, what does it feel like? The morning after I sold my business after 9-11, it was about two weeks later, I guess we closed. I went to the city bank machine, and I never asked to anyone, all the papers I signed, whizzed the money. It sounds stupid, but I didn't say, whiz my money. So I went to the city bank machine, the corner where I live, on Madison, Amney.

I put my card in to get my usual $200 cash a week. I always got it. Same thing. Instant cash, you know, fast cash, whatever it is. Put it in there, $200. And out came my credit card, my receipt. And the receipt said, $44 million. I didn't yet get my third payment.

$44 million in my checking account. So what the best part about that thrill that day is I get that thrill once a week. I go to the Citibank Machine, the same one. And I hear that, She done that little machine and I, I, it's like Groundhog Day. I relive that thrill and it's still a thrill. She is so cute. Do you guys love this?

I mean, oh my gosh, so cute. I don't mean to be cute. I'm too old to be cute. Okay, what's up? She's so beautiful, say. She's so beautiful. She is so gorgeous. So after all this, how long after this do you start looking to invest in other people's

businesses and other people's dreams? Is this something that you just kind of fall into, or do you intentionally decide that you're going to be an investor? No, I should have had my head examined. What's wrong with making a lot of money and keeping it? No, I had to find something to spend it on. No, that came to me happenstance. I had to reinvent myself, which was no easy charge.

I thought I would take Italian cooking classes and have more time and retire. Within one week, I was driving my husband crazy. It was obviously not going to work already to me. I saw that. So I had to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up all over again. But I was 46. You don't have the energy. 46 is very young.

But you don't have the same naivety you have when you're 26, right? Yep. And so I decided I was going to go into a business that tapped into the things I did well. I could talk. And what I really needed was attention. I was needy. I was one of 10 kids. I was still needing attention.

So I went into the media business, the TV business, seemed to fit the bill. And I became the real estate commentator through the, the hauling of the market. My timing was good at the Today Show and Good Morning America. I forgot you did that. I remember that. Yeah.

It took me a year to even get a spot, though. I mean, I was, all the producers would invite me in, never give me a gig or an opportunity, and asked me how much your apartment was worth. That was a routine. So when I finally got it, I was doing about two, three years, and I got the call from Mark Burnett Studios, ask you if I'd be on Shark Tank.

It happened just that way. Did you know Shark Tank was going to be so successful? when you signed on it. I thought it was a fishing show. I said I didn't fish. They said it wasn't. Wouldn't you think it would be, I mean, if you don't know what it is, shark tank, yeah, I don't fish, you know, that's normal thing.

But when they explained what it was, I thought, yeah, I think I might be good at that. I really didn't know, and I wasn't very good at it. I spent the first two years losing every nickel I put into all those businesses. Had you invested in other businesses prior to going on the show? Never. Okay, it was just your. Never had the opportunity. You lost every single nickel that you put into every one of the first two years.

In the first year. What was the first hit? The very first hit, maybe year three. Cousins May Lobster, actually. Yeah. Jim and Sabin of Cousins May Lobster. They have a giant franchise of lobster trucks and stores. Yeah, they were the first hit.

But when they were on the show, this is the bellwether change. That season, I finally realized I wasn't buying businesses. I was trying to analyze businesses and be a big shot. You know, like, oh, tell me about your returns, faking it. And then I realized I'm choosing people. It's what I did my whole life. I choose the right people. And so I ignored the businesses and just chose the people.

And just zoomed in on those people. And Jim and Sabin were my first big hit. What's the most successful one that you've invested in out of everything? Well, if success is make the most money, it's comfy, which is an oversized sweatshirt. And in three years, they sold $280 million. Jesus Christ. I know Jesus Christ is right. Whoever saw that truck coming.

Yeah, well. A oversized sweater. You're talking about like the snuggy thing? It's like a sweatshirt. It's a hoodie. They drop over. They call an oversized blanket. It's like a snuggy type thing.

Well, yeah. So I didn't even think you're old enough to remember snuggy. We remember snuggy. We had snuggyz matching with our chihuahua. Yeah. We had sunnies. So, okay, so Comfie is the most successful at all. Huge hit.

They didn't know where they were going to manufacture it. They didn't know who was going to buy it. They didn't know what it cost. They handmade it. They had two on set and they sang a stupid jingle. And they wanted, I forget what. money. They were so little. It was like a relief to hear a low number, but I bought a third of their business for $10,000 or was it 50, whatever was a minimal amount of money. And I honestly

thought, you know what, they're never going to make any money, but I love these guys. They're so lively and fun, and they'd be great to have a beer with some time. And I felt a little bad because I got no other offers. Boom. Whoever saw that come. It was like a race car going down the track. The skinny confidential him and her podcast is brought to you by Better Help. This is such a moment in time. We can now do therapy online. And the best part of this is, is that you can do it on camera or you can just pick up the phone. I am obsessed with better help. So if you want to deepen your sense of self-awareness and understanding and even like really gauge of what you're reacting to, than therapies for you. Basically, what better help does is it connects

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I love the travel packets, too. They're so easy to travel within like your handbag. You're going to go to athletic greens.com slash skinny. That's athletic greens.com slash skinny. Check it out. Who's the savviest investor out of everyone, Mark? No one knows. No one knows.

Oh, so there's not one that you could point to. No, I would say if I had a problem. point would be a run-up between Lori and I. If I had a guess, the women. Do you know why? Men don't admit failure so well. I mean, I'll say to Mark, he sits to my right or Kevin on my left. Wow, how, you know, there's a pitch on about, say, the golf industry.

And I go, oh, how did you do on your super golf balls? I invested in last winter. You know, and Mark will say, amazing. Hit it out of the park. I go to his assistant. So I say, how do Mark do on that? And we all tell each of the lies. It's not just Mark, we all have phenomenal hits, but we don't get to see each other's balance sheets.

I think Lori just invested. There's a kid that we went to, it was not a kid now. He's our age, went to high school and middle school and elementary. And he did that Nana hats product. Were you? Which ones was I on set that day? The things that go on top of the bananas. I think Lori invested in it.

I kind of remember all these pictures. No, also manscaped. Manscaped. We've had a lot of candidates. That's going to zero. It's got to go to zero. Please don't tell me it was a hit. Manscape?

It's crushing it. Like I said, I'm sure it was a hit. Edit that part out. Was it really? Every guy needs to groom their nether regions. Like, sorry. Really? Yeah.

Even beyond a gag gift, you don't know the sales there, do you? The sales, it's crushing it. It went public. I just run out of time. It went public? It went public. This is the worst interview I've ever had. I'm going to go home and cry.

You mentioned earlier about money, and you said that you, I think you said money is a tool. Wait, are you sure about that? You didn't get the name. Listen, Wolf, can we Google if Manscapes went public? Well, don't get them any more attention. Okay. Well, they happen to be an advertiser, partner of the ship. Manscape.com slash skinny. Don't forget. Don't cancel us. They're just fine. They're lovely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they sent me over the weed whacker 2.0. Listen, we're giving them a free plug out here. One of their stocks so high in Christ. Charge it more today. Yeah, yeah. But we've had candidates from Sharkey. tank on the show. And what I'm always interested in is what does this actually look like after you're off the television property and you're, you know, actually doing the deal because like the behind the scenes. Yeah, the behind the scenes because you and I saying, hey, we're doing

this thing. Like what does it look like when you actually start getting into that operating agreement and the dollars and how does it flow? And does every deal go through or does some fall out? And, you know, how much diligence do you guys actually get to do? Because I'm assuming you, you know, you hear the pitch, but then you also have to look and see, hey, is this a real business and a real operation. You know, it's kind of like we're in the normal industry, you do due diligence thoroughly before you make an offer. We get the offer done, the terms of the deal done, and then we do the due diligence. So it usually takes a couple of months to really do good due diligence and you do as much as you want. And do you have the option if the diligence doesn't

line up to say? Always, always. And I would say maybe a third of the deals kick out for various reasons. Sometimes in some seasons almost as much as a half of them, you know. And it's not that the person is very different than who you saw on set, but the patent they owned, which was crucial in this particular deal, a product deal, that you assume they owned is owned by them brother-in-law and won't give it back.

Or things go awry, like little hiccups that seem like hiccups, but they make a substantial difference in whether they're investable or not. Sure. And sometimes the entrepreneurs get called fee. They sold 30% of their business. They said, well, we drink in that day,

and they don't want to do it. And they renegotiate the deal back to a small percentage And sometimes a percentage goes from 10% and they want to give 5% and the shark doesn't want to do it. So things happen. But I think the intent of the due diligence is to move forward

until you run into something that stops you. It would be really interesting. We don't ever get to see, even with all my entrepreneurs, I don't ever ask what's it like on that other side. It's a great question. Because we've had people that have been on the show. Some deals have gone through.

Some have not. And I won't put them on blast. And they were talking about this process. Yes. And how did they find the process? Well, I think some of them find it great because they get a great deal done and they're happy with the investor. And some of them are like, hey, like we, you know, cold feet. And then there's others that like maybe it didn't go through, but then they got the attention of the show and then it later works out, which, you know, I don't know how people feel about it.

They thought of it as a booby prize and then realize that was a big cone of the attention of the show. But they all say that the experience helps them become a better pitcher and they can refine and edit and they learn from the experience. I mean, they've all said that across the board. But learn from the experience then to go out and get other funding and make a win of it or just learn. That's no good just learn for no sake. I don't know. Is it a challenge now in your personal life? But how do I say this delicately? When people don't be delicate with me. You were flirting with me. You're flirting with me. All right. When people know that you. Are you manscaped?

They did go public. Who went public? Manscaped. You just ruined my day. My year, my life. Oh, you guys are that competitive. Like, actually really. You know what?

Manscaped. Wait, was I on set that day? Maybe I wasn't on set. Save my life here. Well, can you look up if they actually took money from Shark Tank or if they just went on Shark Tank? They might have not. A lot more people go on Shark Tank using Shark Tank as a means for them.

You know what I saw, which was crazy. This was just on TikTok. The other day I was on there. Lauren sent it to me. The guy that came up with Ring and came on. became a shark. That's a wild story. We invited them back. We hated to have them back. I'm sure. We all passed on the deal. Which I don't look, I know I look like I'm doing a cop out. I wasn't on set that day. I wasn't. But would I have bought it? No. Anyway.

What is it? It watches people? No, no. So maybe that's something to talk about. Doorbell that sees people on the other side of your door security measure. Oh, you should have had me on. I would have actually. Okay. I want to go back to the. I say that, but I think I would have. Well, it's not too late to buy one. That's a good idea in your life when they know you have $66 million in a checking account. And then we can go to the ring guy. They just know I have money. They pitch me all the time.

The cabby pitches me. I'm at a birthday party, a restaurant. Do you have a minute, Ms. Corcor? Everybody pitches me. The lady at JFK Airport, maybe three years ago, pitched me in the other stall. She was pitching my feet. Oh, Jesus.

But, you know, you have to see the comedy in that. Yeah. And you have to also be complimented by it. I mean, you can be annoyed at times when you're exhausted, but you see the compliment in it. because people want to do business with you. How many people get people indiscriminately coming and want to do business? It's got to be a compliment.

So it happens all the time. But what I learned and what I was starting to say, when I sold my business and had all that cash, everybody I knew had a $10,000 problem. And I doled out $10,000 bills like it was nothing because it seemed like nothing. When you're newly rich, I mean, $1,000, it's like, sure, I have enough money to buy a boat even, you know?

And so I'm doling it. out and I must have gone through maybe 10, 20 people when I realized I need a bad guy. And I sent everybody from that point to my accountant who played bad guy. I would say, as long as my accountant loves it, I'd love to do it. I'd love to do it. I never hear from again. Go to the accountant. So here's my go-to.

Well, I shouldn't say it's a line. What? No, say it. Well, not the whole world watches your podcast. All right. Yes, they do. The whole world watches this thing. This is the podcast.

Well, I'm going to get pitched by your people now, and I don't have my go-to excuse. I always say it's against my ABC contract to listen to pitches. Oh, no, that's good. Listen. Well, you can't. But it is true. You can't go on Shark Tank. You're disqualified.

And sometimes I use that. But I try to put a little stop or my whole life would be listening to pitches. You have to. You have to have a go-to. No, but I wonder about it because you almost get the double whammy where one people know you're financially successful, but two, they also know that you're regularly doling out money for investing. And so you don't only get the people that are like, hey, can you help me? You also get the people that say, can you help me and invest in my business? And I imagine that's challenging.

By the way, we're using that accountant thing moving forward. That's a great thing. Great strategy. What? Go to my accountant? Yeah, yeah. Okay. I hope that I sell my business. Can I tell you the trim on it? I'll make sure to tell them you'll be calling. Oh, thank you. Here comes another one. His name is John Doe. It sounds like I'm making fun of people. I'm really not. It's just a reality.

You would be getting pitched all day long. And also you're a public figure. You have to have a line that you say. I mean, you have to. Listen, I think this is a relatable thing too. And it's not, I mean,

maybe, maybe 66 million is not as relatable. But there's always, you know, we all have that friend or family member that starts to do well and all of a sudden they become the family bird feeder, right?

Yes. And I think that's dangerous because it changes the dynamic, right? It ruins a relationship. I've had that. I've lost a couple of friends. sincerely dear friends because of money, because I loaned them money to buy a house in two instances. And they couldn't repay. Things went bad with their husband and whatever, whatever. And they wound up

very painful. I mean, you could get a business partner or a mortgage any day of the week, someone with someone, but you can't get a new friend. I mean, do you think that they end up hating you though, because they can't pay you back? And so the only way to deal with it is to have hate for you. I maybe hates too strong a word truly, but they resent sorely because of their shame. Who wants to be beholden to a friend? And you know what? There's something wrong with that. The dichotomy or, hey, $10 word, the balance of friendship is everybody's even.

Once you make it uneven, friendship doesn't work it anymore. I got more money than you. It's fine as long as I don't have more money than you and I show it and I give it to you and you can't pay it back. Think of the craziness that happens there. Emotionally. I used to lend money to friends that were doing certain things, right? What happened was in many cases it kind of ruined the friendship because, to your point, if it couldn't be paid back, even if I had written it off, it was a sore point of contention.

We're like, we all kind of knew this happened. And it's this kind of like unspoken, awkward thing where people can't move past. Absolutely. It's a closure. Michael, I'm going to give you a good word of advice because it's something I've done in the last five years that I learned for my brother who has a small business of his own. He said, when people want money from you, now I freely give people money. I mean, I don't give hundreds of thousands of dollars away, but to friends and friends and family

and cousins and somebody who's in a hard time, I always give them money and they always want a loan. I said, this is not alone. It's just a gift. Don't worry about paying me back. I'm happy. I'm rich enough to give it to you. You deserve it.

No shame. No expectation. No imbalance. And I learned that from my brother. And it really does work. Well, yeah, because it, it neutral. Yes, it does. And it's also kinder and leaves the ego intact. How important is that? Yeah. No, I firmly agree. I think like... Can I have a loan? You can have a loan. I'm testing you.

100,000. Yeah, what are you going to say? Go to my accountant? Yeah, let's talk to my account about, bro. You mentioned earlier... What? Your accountant? I'm not full of that. You mentioned earlier about money as a tool and that you have a complicated relationship with it. What did you mean by that? Well, it complicates people. You know, money is a god for so many people, whether they know it or not. And so if I have a new friend, and I have many new friends, okay, I'm very, very careful about believing that someone wants to be a new friend. I'm always asking what's in for them.

Isn't it terrible? It almost makes you more cynical. And I'm not a cynical person. I'm trusting. But you have to pause and think, because I'd say half the people are working a scheme. they want something out of it and they're kissing your butt in the way, making you feel good for the role motive. It's not friendship.

But don't you think that fame adds another layer to that's even more complex? Absolutely. Well, fame is different. It's not as damaging, I think. If you're comfortable with any notoriety, you don't mind. And I'm a friendly person, so I'm okay with it. I think fame isn't nearly as damaging because it's magic to us, like, so you don't get a sincere,

conversation because they are thinking you're different than them in a better way. You know, so it's ingenuous, but it's not the same as money. Money just warps motivation. And it's not as clear. You know, somebody said, oh, I've loved you my whole life. You're my grandfather's favorite shark, which I hear all the time. I hate to hear. You're my grandmother's favorite. Really? You know, you could take it on face value and say, okay, but somebody with the money issue, you know, and then the pitch comes. out later, not for the business, but is something in your friendship they want out of you. It's kind of get, and then you have to kind of come to terms that you fell forward and how do you

gently get rid of them. They're not there just for the friendship. And kids are wacky for your children. You have young children. Sure. Wait till they turn 8, 9, 10, 11 and start to see the money fame court. To your point, when people look at it's like, oh, that had, you're different than us. You have this platform or this thing with attention.

It's attention. There's a maybe different motivation to want to either spend time with our kid or with us because you're then in that bubble. Absolutely. It's your point. Like, you know, we've done this for so long and met so many people. And to me, people are people, right? It's like this, your profession is, right? Your profession is your profession.

And some of those professions have a little more attention than others. But it makes it harder to decipher who you have a genuine relationship with and why. For your children? And for the children? Yes. Like, does your kid really want to spend time with our kid or are you trying to? trying to use the kid for a different, you know, tactic. You know, I think your kids will kind of learn that on their own.

It's part of the reason we went to Texas, honestly, because I, you know, I think. Good thinking, though. How did your kids handle it? Well, you know, I have one son who's 29, and he grew up before I had any real notoriety. I was known in the real estate trade. That's different. In your industry, you're well-known and respected. That's one thing.

But Hollywood is something else, right? public figure of sorts is something else. That's what my daughter Kate came into. Kate is 17 now, had a very late. And she regularly, by the time she was eight or nine, said, they don't want to be my friend. They want you as a friend mom. And she dropped the kid.

They're not really my friend, you're your friend mom. But where it can play havoc with a child and did with Kate. And still, I think, is a challenge that she has to deal with. And sometimes I feel guilty. about it because I created it were, didn't mean to. She's got to deal with the challenge of who's genuine, who's not at a very early age. And it's kind of self-degrading for a child to realize even a split second or a week later or whatever. They're not really after me.

They just like me because of my mother's daughter. I actually think it's a superpower, though, to be able to have experienced that at a young age. Why? Then you can have a bullshit meter earlier on. And you can see people's intentions earlier on. I think that it's almost a gift you gave your daughter. But the other side of it though is that it's not a normal, like it's maybe challenging to be a young kid and always have the bullshit meter because you might miss genuine

relationships and at the same. She does. I could see some kids are entirely genuine and she misreads it. Yeah. Yeah. But to your point, that is a great way to look at it. I'm going to reframe my guilt as. a provider of good lessons for my kids.

If she wants to do a business deal, if she wants to, if someone wants her to invest, if she's going to, I mean, it's a tool she can use. And you know what? She really can size up people just as fast as I could, including dogs. And she's 17? Yeah. I mean, that's a pretty impressive skill at 17. For an assortment of reasons, around the time our daughter's 13, we will be becoming

Amish and we will move out to the middle of nowhere and lose all technology and just live I'm going to grow a long beard. I'm going to have a horse. Oh, it sounds so good. I doubt it. Nobody will know. You're addicted already. Come on.

No. Before you go, I would love for you to tell us some things that you do to set up your morning and nighttime. I know to be this successful, there must be like little tips and tools and habits and hacks that you do. Tell us some, like, how do you take your tea? Do you drink coffee? What time do you wake up? Tell us those little tips.

You're going to edit this part out because I don't have a good answer. By the time I get home at night and could get a dinner. on the table, which is mediocre at best, Monday through Friday, I use all my power to make it to my bed and drop into it. I usually go to bed without washing my makeup on, off rather. I usually always have eye infections because I haven't even taken my lashes off. It's just terrible. I don't have a good routine, but what I do do at work that keeps me on the straight and narrow is I always know what my top priorities are to get myself ahead. I have always. It's Ivy Lee. Ivy Lee method.

She's obsessed with this. Oh, I don't know what that is. It's your top, you just focus on the top priority. Well, I invented it. How old is she? Ivy Lee. It's invented. Oh, is a he? Is it the name like Ivy? Okay. I was invented by a very famous man, but I can't remember his name. And he's head. I think his name is Irish Lee. No, it's not. It's something. He copied it from me. It's called a to do list. So, okay, this is actually, I want to stay on this. How do you identify your top priorities? Because I'm reading this book. Have you ever heard of this book 4,000 weeks? I have heard. I have not read it. It's interesting because, yeah, basically the context is. Basically, basically the context is. most humans only have 4,000 weeks. I'm depressing. Yeah, it's depressing. I have less. But the point is that at some point you're always sacrificing something you can't get it all done.

And the idea is that you just have to identify what your top things are and then sacrifice the stuff that's not. And I wonder how you think about this. Anyone who's made of success knows what their priorities are. You don't have enough time. You have to hit your A's all the time. In my book, it's simple. But on this list is going to move me ahead.

They're usually the higher risk things that have a less of achievement. to work at, that usually the things you have to call and pitch somebody or ask a favor, the things we don't like to do. I hate doing that stuff. I would rather spend my morning writing thank you notes on the special paper I have picked out in the right color. Thank you so nice. You'll get one for me. Thank you so nice meeting you. Those are the things I like to do, right? But no, I give myself that late in the afternoon as a treat if I even get through it by then. I hit the things I don't want to do. I don't want to do it. Just hit it.

Get out of the way. And the minute you get out of the way, you're going to succeed so much better at everything. Because you feel good about yourself. It's about self-esteem, pushing yourself up. My A's are always the things I don't want to do, and they're always the things that will push my business ahead. There are always the things with the lowest batting average, too.

I have four A's I'm expecting you get one and four. But I'll try like the Dickens all four, and I'll get one. But I'd much rather be writing, thank you. Notes. I'd much rather be thinking of a creative idea for TikTok. I'd much rather be doing this or that. I have 100 things better than the things I really have to do. Yeah, I find people in order to feel productive,

and I was guilty of this for a while, is you just put stuff on your to-do list that you kind of like doing so that it makes you feel like you're being productive and busy. You're a nut job. Of course I do it. Yeah. Do you do that too? Oh, yeah. It's always the stuff that's on there that you know you don't want to do.

And then you're like, oh, I can't do it. So you fill it with other stuff that's meaningless in order to make yourself feel like you're actually doing something. but it doesn't move the needle. You're like, get orange shoes and a separate whole line, end eggs. Cross out. Cross out. Love you, what about your like morning?

Do you have coffee, tea? What time do you wake up? I want to know, is there a beauty product you love? Oh, oh, that's easy. I am consistent, I must say. I'm an early riser because I do early work usually. So I have to get up early. What time?

Usually 610, 615. I always work out at either 7 or 8 depending upon my day. Not every day, three days a week. Okay. And that's too much. It's about three days, too much of my book. I hate working out. But I do it.

I've been doing it since the day my son was born. And he's 29. I never miss it. Even on vacation, well, now on vacation, I do it on Zoom. You know? Yeah.

So I just work out. I have my cup of coffee and some sugary bun that has no nutrition that tastes delicious. Yeah. Even if it's stale, I'm shoving it down my throat with my coffee.

Because coffee without a bun is no good. My book. You're right. But the most important thing I think that I'm consistent about is on those alternating days during the week, three days a week I work out. And what I've learned is I leave my sneakers by my bed because I really want to call them sick, honestly. And Margaret hooks out with me, comes to my door or I wouldn't work out. I admit my failure. But I just look at those sneakers.

I think I just got to get my feet in them. I just got to get my feet instead of just going upstairs barefoot. You see? So once I have my feet are in that sneaker, it's like uncommitted somehow. I've never taken them out and called Margaret and said I'm sick. Where can everyone find you, follow you, support what you're doing, watch you, all the things? Anywhere you just find me on social media. I'm out there, Barbara Corcoran.

And your book? Oh, my book. That's an old book. It still sells like a gorilla. I'm going to buy it literally right now. Michael Set mentioned you have a book. I'm going to get it on my Kindle. Okay.

What is your book called? It's called if you don't have big breasts, put ribbons on your pigtails, but then I republished it as shark tails. And you should probably get that one most updated. If you don't have big breasts, put ribbons on your pigtails. Isn't it true? That's true. You don't have that problem, I see. I don't have that problem.

She sure doesn't. Mine are real. It's a happy husband. A real expensive. I bet not. Thank you, Barbara. Barbara, thank you for coming on. Since I was just on vacation, we are giving away driving gloves.

All you have to do is tell us your favorite part of this episode. on our YouTube channel. We are now doing episodes on YouTube. Just comment below your favorite part, and we will send one of you driving gloves from the skinny confidential. I wore them. My entire vacation, I'm obsessed because they keep the hands and arms looking youthful. You know who feeds the dogs every single morning? Me, Lauren, me. And you just try to remind me like, hey, do you remember which one the wet food is? And I said, of course I do, because I'm the one that feeds the dogs every single morning. I'm like a sous chef in there. But you know who picked the food, Michael? Me. And I I picked the farmer's dog. And the reason I picked it is because it's real food. Okay. I want to give my dog

the best food possible. And this one, the one we like, has whole meat and veggies. And it's gently cooked in human grade kitchens to preserve their nutritional value. What I love about this is you give them some assortment. You give them better food. It's natural. It's stuff that you could feed yourself. And why would you not want to do that for the thing you love most, your pet? And what's cute is they personalize it for you. So you get this delivery. And it says, name on it, which is really cute. All the recipes are vet developed for as little as $2 a day, too, so it's cost efficient. And then they have pre-portioned meals. So they arrive ready to serve, and it's conveniently delivered to your door on your schedule, convenient and fresh, which we love.

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