I’m a ‘Shark Tank’ Fanatic: 5 Ways Barbara Corcoran’s Money Wisdom Helped My Finances

16/06/2024

71st Annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Day 1, Arrivals, Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, USA – 14 Sep 2019

Love Shark Tank? You’re certainly not alone. Each episode scores millions of viewers. And, of course, each “shark” has their own fans and followers. Barbara Corcoran’s advice has helped plenty of entrepreneurs and investors grow their incomes, both active and passive.

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In particular, Corcoran’s money tips have helped these entrepreneurs in the following ways.

1. Embrace Failure for Resilience

Financial planner Sean Lovison founded Purpose Built Financial Services to help clients build wealth and achieve their financial goals. Corcoran’s advice has not only served him well, but also his clients.

“Corcoran’s emphasis on failure as a learning opportunity is invaluable for entrepreneurs who often face setbacks. I’ve seen clients shift their mindset from fearing failure to viewing it as a necessary stepping stone toward success. A career, product, or business model failure can help put them on the path to a successful one.”

That mindset shift has also helped Erik Severinghaus, founder of Bloomfilter. “One big lesson I got from Barbara Corcoran is how very important resilience is. At first, I met many problems that looked like they could stop everything completely. I remember when Bloomfilter was just starting, and we had trouble finding money. Those times were tough, and it could have been very easy to feel sad. But Corcoran’s advice, saying that successful people do not spend too much time feeling sorry for themselves, truly made a big impact on me.

“Instead of looking at failures as the final point, I started to see them as chances for learning. This mindset was very helpful for me and my team to keep going during difficult times. It’s this kind of resilience that has helped Bloomfilter grow rapidly, quarter after quarter.”

2. Know Your Strengths

Everyone has innate strengths and weaknesses. You can improve on both, but tapping your strengths can help you swim with the current rather than against it.

“Corcoran advocates focusing on your strengths and delegating the rest,” notes Lovison. “By identifying your core competencies and outsourcing other tasks, you can optimize your time and resources, increasing efficiency and productivity.

“This advice applies to entrepreneurs wearing many hats and busy employees who might be balancing work, children, and home duties. It may be time to outsource the yard work!”

3. Strategic Delegation

Outsourcing the yard work makes a great starting point, but that doesn’t make it the finish line.

“Another advice Barbara Corcoran gave that helped a lot is using strengths and letting others deal with weaknesses,” says Severinghaus. “I always enjoyed thinking of business ideas but quickly realized I couldn’t manage everything by myself. Corcoran’s idea to hire people who are good at things where I am not so strong has been very important.

“When I hired a very good CFO and COO, it allowed me the opportunity to focus on planning strategies and making new products. This choice was not just about giving responsibilities to others; it was also about building a strong team that makes my skills better. It’s been a key factor in Bloomfilter’s success and rapid growth.”

4. Negotiation

They say you don’t get what you deserve in life — you get what you negotiate.

Severinghaus has seen this firsthand in his own business. “Barbara Corcoran’s advice on negotiation is another area that has helped us grow. She emphasizes the importance of negotiating with confidence and knowing your own worth. This makes a big difference for me, especially at important moments like when we need money from investors. By making an effort to develop our negotiating skills, we raised $6 million to start Bloomfilter, which was very important for our growth.

“I remember feeling a lot more confident when I talked with investors because of Corcoran’s advice. It made me believe in our valuation and, in the end, I got a better deal for that reason. This experience showed me just how powerful confident negotiation can be.”

5. Following Your Gut & Intuition

Echo Wang, founder of EpicBooks, found value in Corcoran’s advice around intuition.

“Barbara’s emphasis on gut feeling resonates with me.

“When it comes to my own money, I value intuition. She reminds me that even in financial decisions, there’s a human element. Connecting with the person behind the business idea can be just as important as the idea itself. After all, starting a business is tough, and people are more likely to invest in (or with) someone they like and trust.

“In that sense, Barbara’s advice about trusting your instincts definitely rings true.”

Final Thoughts

You can’t get an MBA from watching a TV show — but you can use it as a launching pad to start researching important skills.

For example, you probably won’t learn everything you need to know about negotiation by watching Shark Tank. But you can take Barbara Corcoran’s advice and pair it with courses or books on the topic.

Then comes the most important part: taking what you learn and putting it into practice.

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