- Self-made millionaire and entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran went through a number of setbacks before becoming successful. Here is some of her advice.
You may know Barbara Corcoran as the successful self-made millionaire entrepreneur on the hit show Shark Tank. But you may not know about the struggles she went through to get to that point.
Corcoran was born in 1949 in the borough of Edgewater, New Jersey — which is a factory town on the banks of the Hudson River. And her father struggled to hold down jobs while her mother was busy raising all 10 children in a 2-bedroom house. So the odds were stacked against Barbara Corcoran before her real estate company took off. But she was able to persevere by depending on a very specific trait.
“The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves,” wrote Corcoran in a tweet a few years ago.
Corcoran had barely graduated high school and college with a degree in education. And after teaching for a year, Corcoran decided to stop since she was not passionate enough about it.
And Corcoran also worked 20 different jobs by the time she turned 23. In 2002, Corcoran learned that she had dyslexia when her son Tom was also diagnosed with the condition in the second grade.
After moving from job to job, she could have easily given up and settled on a mediocre position. However, she kept pushing and pushing to become successful. And she turned rejections into the fuel necessary to push for more opportunities.
Once Corcoran landed on the real estate path, there were additional circumstances that could have set her back. As Corcoran was building Corcoran-Simone, her boyfriend of seven years left her to marry the secretary while the small business was struggling. Immediately after that, Corcoran divided up the business in order to keep pushing forward.
Her boyfriend said that Corcoran would not succeed without him. “Thank God for negative insults,” said Corcoran at an event in Grand Rapids a few years ago.
Corcoran aggressively built the company by pumping up the best employees and firing the bottom 20%. And she also published a number of press releases that celebrated company milestones.
In 2001, Corcoran sold her real estate company for more than $70 million. Not bad considering that the company was founded with just a $1,000 loan.
And Corcoran pointed out that her biggest successes in life “happened on the heels of failure.”
And then when Corcoran received an offer to be on Shark Tank, she was excited about the opportunity. But then the producers said they changed their minds and decided to choose someone else. Rather than accepting that result, Corcoran emailed the executive producer and said she already booked a plane ticket in order to compete for the spot on the show.
“I think your worst weakness can become your greatest strength,” Corcoran acknowledged. This is a trait that Corcoran believes can make people successful. Once your chips are down, use that as the fuel to push forward in a successful direction and do not waste time bouncing back from a setback.
Featured image credit: Barbara Corcoran
