New York Magazine feature
Corcoran and Higgins are featured for an article about the dynamics of couples where the wife earns more money than the husband. Corcoran says it challenged her femininity:
The struggle was as much mine as Bill’s.
She says Higgins was previously an FBI agent who made record numbers of arrests and a top Naval Reserve officer in the First Gulf War, as well as other prestigious jobs – he now has a business card with ‘Spouse’ printed on it:
I can readily take my business personality into the home. But he forces me to be a partner rather than the boss. It’s what keeps our marriage healthy.
Tour of $3.5m apartment
0 CommentsCorcoran gives a reporter for RealDeal magazine a tour of the $3.5 million three-bedroom apartment on 94th and Park that she bought in 2000 and renovated.
Jonathan Fields interview
Fields interviews Corcoran about starting a business, being the only woman on Shark Tank, building a real estate empire, and Shark Tales. On creating demand with marketing:
I learned that everybody wants what everybody wants, and nobody wants what nobody wants
Mixergy interview
Corcoran talks about her books, handling rejection, and her advice for entrepreneurs. On how she handles being turned down:
I’ve gotten pretty good at it. It doesn’t mean that I don’t feel the insult. …I just make a habit of making sure that I don’t lay low too long. In other words, I feel sorry for myself. I go, ‘Ouch, that hurt. That bastard,’ or whatever. Then, I just tell myself, ‘I’ve got about three minutes to feel sorry for myself, and let me move on to something else.’
On what’s wrong with most elevator pitches:
I will be the first one to tell someone what’s wrong, even though they’re not asking. Maybe I shouldn’t. But most people are appreciative. Entrepreneurs can’t communicate very clearly what it is they do. … It’s like, I’ll meet so many great entrepreneurs, and I’ve already liked them from the first hello. I liked the handshake, and I go, ‘So what do you do?’ and then for the next minute, I hear what they’re doing. It should be more like 10 seconds, because I’m already snoring out somewhere. I can’t stay with it that long. Already, they’re sliding down the scale of what I think of them, right? Clarity of communication, ‘I sell soap.’ Versus, we’re in the cleanliness business, blah-blah-blah. ‘I sell soap.’ Okay, I got you.
Huffington Post interview
Corcoran talks about two key moments in her business career. She realized there was more money in selling than renting:
One was when I accidentally sold an apartment rather than renting it. I was just planning to rent the apartment when the young engineer said that he wanted to buy, that’s what got me in the sales business. It wasn’t a big plan.
She later made enough profit to buy her parents cars:
The other wonderful thing that happened was one year I actually had $80,000 in profits. Probably had maybe 500 salespeople and I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got enough money to buy my mother and my father a new car.’ So, I bought him a Lincoln Continental — hey, what the heck, my dad dreamt about it his whole life — and I replaced my mother’s old rickety, old blue whatever-the-heck-it-was. And so, the idea that you could buy each of your parents a new car in one week and have it delivered was mindboggling, and I ended up going, ‘Whoa, maybe my business is actually a business.’
10,000 Daisy Cakes a week
0 CommentsThe company achieves sales of 10,000 a week since appearing on Shark Tank. Corcoran:
Prior to that, she had sold roughly 1,000 cakes over two years.
O’Leary, Corcoran kiss
Corcoran and O’Leary kiss to test out the Fire and Ice flavored combination lipsticks made by Shark Tank participants Kiss Mixx. Kiss Mixx founder:
You have to hold it for just a second
25,000 cakes sold in each state
0 Comments
Daisy Cakes has sold 25,000 cakes in each state, including Hawaii and Alaska, since Corcoran’s investment on Shark Tank episode 20. Kim Nelson, the mail-order company’s founder, says part of the secret is that she uses family recipes. She also uses American-made products for all parts of the production process:
My cake tins are not made in China. They’re made in New Jersey. My labels — everything is printed — is made here. My doilies, my cellophane. My cousin is a designer. She designed my logo, and she gets these printed for me and shipped here.
NBC interview
Corcoran offers tips for selling your house in a down market. Why it doesn’t make sense to wait:
Everybody’s thinking that way
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3—HspbKk
Best and worst investments
0 CommentsCorcoran reveals her best and worst deals on Shark Tank. She lost money investing in Cactus Jack and the Body Jac weight loss/exercise equipment:
My worst was investing in a fast-talking cowboy selling exercise equipment who needed to lose 50 pounds. Instead, he lost my $50,000.
Her best:
My best so far is Daisy Cakes, the absolutely best home-made cake you’ll ever eat! [Founder Kim Nelson] was right, and 100,000 cake eaters agree with her. It was also the first time I asked that I be paid “a dollar a cake” until my initial $50,000 investment was paid back. I got that money within three weeks, and her cakes are still selling like, well, hot cakes!
Rejected from Shark Tank
0 CommentsCorcoran writes about how the show initially went with another female investor:
My old spunk came rushing back and I banged out an email to Mark Burnett. It read:
Dear Mark,
I understand you’ve asked another girl to dance instead of me. Although I appreciate being reserved as a fallback, I’m much more accustomed to coming in first.
She suggested inviting both to the show’s tryouts, and eventually got the part:
The thing about successful entrepreneurs is that they don’t quit. They consider rejection, as I did, a ‘lucky charm’. I didn’t give up, because I knew Shark Tank was what I wanted, and that attitude got me my seat.
Cousins Maine Lobster
0 CommentsCorcoran invests in the food truck business on the 44th episode of the show. Cousins Maine Lobster co-founder:
It doesn’t scare us at all. It’s exciting. We are trying to really perfect it, and dial it in. Barbara has provided us with advice and insight, and we are workaholics. When someone presents us with something, we go 90 miles-an-hour one way towards it.
Unique Perspectives talk
0 CommentsCorcoran tells the UP Conference what it was that gave her confidence in the business world:
My wholehearted belief that [I] had the right to be there
Growth Conference talk
0 CommentsCorcoran talks about risk-taking, failure, and how to get back up at the Entrepreneur Magazine event in Dallas. Creativity and flexibility are more of an advantage than big amounts of money:
The times when I moved ahead was when things were bad…When things are bad the universe is open to new things… Unless you’re the top dog, the time to move ahead is when things are bad.
Win over the crowd video
0 CommentsCorcoran answers a question for Entrepreneur magazine about how to present ideas to get them crowdfunded:
The main ingredient is you have to entirely genuine when you make your pitch. The video is key.
Biggest business challenge video
0 CommentsCorcoran tells Entrepreneur the biggest challenge isn’t the competition:
It’s what goes on inside your own head
Public speaking panic attack
0 CommentsCorcoran reveals that she once had a panic attack while speaking in public. She was building her real estate practice and decided to speak at a home buyers seminar to increase business. In front of 800 people, she started with a joke, but blanked on the punchline, and the moderator had to take over. The next day, she called NYU and pitched a course in real estate sales. She described her qualifications for teaching:
Excellent public speaker
She taught the course for the next five years, and became and excellent public speaker.
Huffington Post Live interview
Corcoran talks about advice from her mother that inspired the book title, If You Don’t Have Big Breasts Put Ribbons On Your Pigtails, and says it worked in attracting attention from customers when she was a waitress. The business lesson:
Merchandise yourself.
Nightline interview
Corcoran and Greiner sit down and talk about the female sharks are catching up on Shark Tank, and about high stakes, and the tell-tale signs of a solid investment. Corcoran:
We bring a different perspective. Most of the men have trophy wives, they don’t shop, we bring a different view to the product…Our collective IQ is three times more than the men combined.
Entrepreneur interview
Corcoran answers the question How do you deal with rejection?
Show me someone who can take a hit, and I’ll show you an entrepreneur
