so if you watch TV and if you go on
YouTube you type in the word
entrepreneur shark shark tank you’re
gonna see this face here sitting to my
left to your right
four-time Emmy Emmy award-winning show
shark tank
I think 199 episodes 9 seasons and she
is probably responsible in the last
several years of inspiring so many young
woman ladies who are coming up saying I
just want to be an entrepreneur I want
to go out and compete in the marketplace
I feel I can bring value I feel I can
make a lot of money and become
successful because she’s been the
inspiration to so many people out there
I’ve also inspired some men out there oh
I’m certain them yeah yeah you didn’t
say that no I’m so men end what we have
to put out there ok so prior to you know
who you are today everyone sees you on
TV you’re seeing it you can’t turn on a
TV nowadays without having Shark Tank
playing on some channel there’s
something going on there CNBC
specifically who was Barbara before
Barbara key became a shark today Oh in
high school I was the quiet kid in the
whole high school I never said a word I
had terrible acne I was overweight I was
a dunking class I just kept dirty in
high school and I didn’t have a
boyfriend I don’t have a boyfriend till
I was 23 cuz I didn’t look so good so in
high school I was not very I was not the
person I wanted to become really how did
you do with grades in school
I got a charity Dean just about every
subject I ever took I couldn’t learn to
read or write till I was in seventh
grade and for me my memory of school was
like one long prison sentence and way
was I gonna get out so we went to the
same prison together yeah we did pretty
interesting I hated reading yeah I had a
teacher things oh come miss Collins
would make me read and it was of mice of
men or that was then this is now
of my submit was a book we read gonna
got passed spot and Jane
I’ll see you well you got it I came here
in seventh grade so prior to this I was
in Germany had a refugee camp so so what
happens after high school you come in
high school um well I shouldn’t say high
school was all that bad because I always
worked
I work from the time I was 11 I always
had a job after school on weekends I
worked like crazy and I had a variety of
jobs nothing that important but things I
really loved doing once high school was
over I I went to college thank God
because I didn’t want to get married and
have babies you can have anybody are
married and that’s when everybody in my
little hometown did
now barber a big family you’re 10 yes we
had 10 children I’m second oldest and we
have a very tight-knit family even to
today we’re all still here fortunately
growing up with a lot of children is a
wonderful way to grow up I believe
because you learned so many of the
things you’re gonna need in life so in
my family everyone that got out of out
of our household we were thrown out by
my parents at 18 is it time to support
yourself send some money back if you’re
making a little extra change right and
we all felt that obligation but they
felt we should be out and out out on our
own a very different than the landscape
today interesting yeah but you know what
you knew it was coming it was like your
parents were lowering the hatch on you
four years before it actually came down
so you kind of prepared for it I knew
you had to go out and fend for yourself
was it a competitive family was it
extremely competitive listen you do the
math on that if you have ten children a
year and a half apart and only two
parents to share do you think it’s
competitive dinner’s competitive getting
the big piece of meat at the little
dinner table getting the right seat at
the table
getting your mother’s attention
pretending you’re sick you could stay
home from school notice me I’m saying
please notice me I’m saying everything
was competitive but again what is
wonderful about that is you grow up
almost like you’re in an outside world
versus a family you and you have to
perform a function you have to compete
with each other all the time to get to
where you want to go and so the
transition to the outside world was very
easy it almost seemed easier to compete
in business for me than it was back at
the phone what a great point so point to
everybody go have ten babies reproduce
competitive kids I would think about
that one I only have two I’m not having
ten so what happens after college I made
a very lucky break I was I was a diner
waitress in a town above my small town
in New Jersey and a man walked in and
sat at my counter he was almost 10 years
older than I were
Mon C Mon with an accent on both words
and hey Ramon C moon and he said he was
from the Basque Country I didn’t know
where that was but if a player not a kid
or right there
well I didn’t know he was a player all I
knew is he had navy blue aviator shades
on he had a real suit with a starched
collar I’d never seen a guy in a suit
before it’s pretty sexy it’s like seeing
a guy in the military okay and he
offered me a ride home and my parents
did not like him at all but he suggested
within the year that you’d be great at
real estate why don’t you quit your job
as a waitress and become real sage and
and I was good at it right away it was
like playing for me just opening doors
chatting people up and seeing apartments
it was wonderful so had you ever done
sales prior to that well I I did yes I
actually did because I think of
waitressing as one of the ultimate best
sales positions in life you have to
please people you have to deliver
service you have to keep them coming
back you have to find something about
them to hook them in and talk about
themselves it involves all of that and
what’s great about waitressing this is
on and for waitressing but what’s great
about waitressing is you get paid fairly
for your service in other words you’re
great at it you get a bigger tip you’re
not good at it they don’t leave you tip
and so I felt like I was selling my
whole life for me honestly my jobs were
a relief from being in that jailhouse of
school from 9:00 to 3:00 when that bell
rang because I could actually go out and
talk and kid with people and be myself
and not use reading or writing or math
in any regard and stand on my own two
feet
so I really liked all my jobs very very
much I felt successful at all of them so
let me ask you just commented on that
before to getting into the story what do
you think about the educational system I
think you’ve commented on that a couple
times if you were able to make any kind
of changes to our current educational
system what would it be well this is a
tall challenge and nobody’s quite been
able to pull it off and I’m not the one
I’m not gonna live that long to see it
happen I don’t think but I think what
the educational system really relaxes
real life experience I mean for the most
part I have a 12 year old at home now
Kate I could see she’s kind of studying
the same stuff that I was studying in
the same fashion and she has an issue
with reading
that’s the way it works sometimes she
does as well oh very much so more so
than I had if that’s possible and my son
who fortunately graduated from a very
good school he was dyslexic so I just
get all the clunkers I like to say to my
kids they laugh I think it’s funny maybe
you don’t think it’s funny but back to
the educational system KT is phenomenal
at YouTube mic my daughter Kate my son
Tommy from the get-go was great with
reading people running the playground
telling kids what to do in the nicest
way that they wanted to follow him so he
was a natural-born leader and none of
that came out in school because all they
were focused on his reading and
mispronouncing every word that was in
front of them and so I think in the
educational school system there needs to
be another platform where kids can shine
kids can’t perform all the other traits
and frankly all the entrepreneurs I’ve
met in my life and all the millionaires
and billionaires I’ve met in my life the
gifts are not necessarily reading their
gives up people managing people
motivation leadership enthusiasm
understanding the big picture versus the
minutia picture and so all the gifts
that you really need to succeed in real
life business and of course that’s my
chosen path I don’t know if it applies
to the rest of life really have nothing
I don’t say nothing I shouldn’t say that
but not much to do with what you’re
learning at school unless of course
you’re going to be an attorney or a
doctor you have to pass those exams that
all makes sense but other than those
disciplines I think the school system
just has to make wonderful winners
versus making kids feel like losers
because they don’t fit that mold how do
we measure that
how do you measure that measured the
people skills measured the reading
people it’s very easy to measure reading
skills because there’s a million tests
and a million labels for when they go
wrong but they’re hiding people oh oh
you tell me or something query people
let me tell you he surrounded himself
with great friends he never had a bad
friend they’re all clean kids and nice
kids
he just picked out great friends if he
was in any situation in sports he was
the team captain if he was on the
playground he had the ideas of people
are willing to follow so he was
obviously reading his ability to get
people to do what he wanted them to do
okay so you’re going to real estate you
meet Ramon you
get into real estate and you’re doing
real estate you love going out there and
doing that how does how does that career
take off well initially it was great
from the beginning it was the best job I
ever had even though I loved all my jobs
because it didn’t feel like work and the
major difference when Ramone gave me the
thousand dollars to start the business
and he took 51% I was the managing
partner 49% the major difference was I
didn’t have a boss I didn’t know the
beauty of not having a boss until
suddenly there was no boss and I decided
what I wanted to do minute by minute who
I wanted to be how I wanted to approach
things I was the boss and being the boss
for me was like I don’t believe it I
feel like a queen I felt like my god I’m
powerful I wasn’t as powerful my little
you know whatever but my mind woahh I
can see the horizon I was able to dream
because I could see myself as a
lieutenant going over the cliff not the
person can I can I get Tuesday off
please well I was 23 when I started my
business and then I was with Ramone
Simone as his partner for seven years
then he left and married my secretary
and then I ended the business and
started the corporate group when I was
30 and that became my real business at
may being my fortunes yeah so that’s the
business that made you to fortune yes of
course so what did you do differently
with Corcoran Group that was different
than the prior venture you had I didn’t
do much different in terms of day-to-day
but I had a head shift I suddenly
thought to myself
watch me because when I was leaving
Ramone Simone on that Friday morning I’m
taking my seven half of the company out
with me he said you’ll never succeed
without me and I think he gave me the
greatest let me tell you thank God he
said that to me because when I heard
those words I thought to myself watch me
I’d rather die and let me tell you
something that was my insurance policy
for success and I know that’s an
attitude shift and maybe not even from a
good place I probably need a good shift
to get over could shrink to get over
myself but that shift in my gut gave me
power and so wherever you get your power
you know it’s amazing I meet so many of
my entrepreneurs I’m always looking for
the magic sauce before I put my
and very often the recurring magic sauce
is they have something to prove and many
proving an insult is not true so I love
an entrepreneur than it’s something to
prove yes it gives that extra juice in
that engine and it’s self propelled and
that fortunately for me is what I had so
in answer to your question I know I
haven’t given you a word in edgewise
sorry for that but I’m more like my
mother as I get older but in answer to
your question what was your question and
now I’m like my father
okay what was different what was
different was the power charging I was a
boss before but I was a boss now but now
I had fervor in my heart to pour
something else and for all yeah and that
gets you far in life well let me let me
ask you so you go from being a waitress
then you go to being a realtor right
thank you well actually I wasn’t a
realtor brother his real estate agent
yes real estate agent and then you’re 45
49% owner and you’re the boss
and so now was a part of your job to
develop other salespeople as well to go
out there and in the first business
second that was well I went into my
second business clearly selling because
I was a good salesman when I needed the
money I mean I paid a lot of bills but I
had a very lucky break we rented
apartments that’s how we got the
Commission which was important the
Commission’s come in right away you
don’t wait for months so that’s
important in the young business but I
had a very lucky break where Merrill
Lynch who I got a lot of rental kids
from to show apartments to sent me a an
engineer and I found out by mistake they
had mistakenly sent him to me he was
looking to buy not rent
I had nothing to sell him but I shrews
him up gave him a tour of New York told
my teacher values teach you know how you
know values in New York take no
different I discovered it that day you
look and see what a garage warrant is
per month and multiply it with a few
zeros and that’s the cost of a
one-bedroom in that neighborhood you
could really just go to any neighbor to
figure out what it was it’s all real
estate yeah what a little Sidewinder
there so that you know we’re to buy
we’re not to buy but this particular
young man actually born an apartment and
I took that commission check in my hand
it was I forget what it was eighty five
thousand which sounds preposterous but
these
and I knew what 6% was and I said God
has destined me to take this 6% and
start a sales division I hired my first
salesman that day not that day maybe
that week or something but right away it
was burning all in my pocket and that
became the conversion of the Corcoran
Group we kept rentals number of years
but I converted it to a powerhouse of
salespeople what what is the biggest
difference on what worked for you when
you were selling and what worked for you
when you were helping me sell better and
become a better salesperson what were
the dynamics between it’s totally
different when you’re selling your
customer is clearly the person on the
street that you’re trying to sell real
estate – that’s your god you got to be
hyper focused listen hard really do
everything in your power to make them
feel like they’re the luckiest person in
the world that they found you and mean
it and really perform when I shifted
from direct sales which is the immediacy
of cash coming which is a hard thing to
let go of and have confidence when I’m
selling through you the most important
trait is I recognize what your god-given
talent is and I blow it up I make a big
thing of it because if I could convince
you that you have this special thing
that no one else has in the world well
maybe not in the world but did you ever
realize if I could spot it and underline
it and emphasize it and make an
environment for you that you’re gonna
bloom in you’re gonna make more money
for me you times a thousand people than
I could ever make for myself by a lot
but it’s different when you’re working
and hiring people you have to see a do
you have talent can I make you into
something I see in you do you have the
stamina to run the course and really
make it happen and will you be loyal to
me once I make a star of you I built
more stars in New York of my salespeople
because I adored them loved them knew
what they had made them believe they
making giant money win money makers but
what good is that if I’m grooming them
for the next big company so you have to
be able to keep them let me ask you this
let me ask you this was it a process you
had in your mind where it’s I can take
anybody off the street and I can make
them a success all right have a good so
what were the good skewed I’m looking
for positive energy I’m looking for a
good family they’re from good I don’t
mean wealth I would prefer somebody poor
honestly but I’m looking for the
coming from a family that loved them
because people who were loved wind up
doing better in life and I can’t do
anything about that if their parents
didn’t love them I’ll find the lovable
how am I gonna find unlovable and then
I’m really looking for the acumen of
people judgement because I don’t care
what kind of business you do what kind
of business you start if you’re good at
judging people and then motivating them
or leading them you’re gonna have a hit
you’re gonna have hit I used to think I
could be a plumber and I’d have a big
plumbing company I’m sure it what do I
like about plumbing but as long as I
hired the right plumbers and got them
thinking better of themselves and they
did the day before all that makes makes
a successful business the only important
trades are so powerful this is so
powerful what you’re talking about so
now let’s fast forward how big did you
get and what happened today when
somebody came in said hey yeah we’d like
to buy this well didn’t quite roll out
that way I started my corporate group
when I was thirty I sold it when I was
forty eight fifteen some odd years later
I wasn’t thinking of selling it I loved
my work I loved every minute of it but I
had a baby and I know that sounds
ridiculous but I 46 I had my first child
and the minute Tommy was putting my arms
everything shifted my god
I got a problem I mean I was so joyful
it took me so long to have a baby but I
thought what am I gonna do now and again
I had that big shift in my heart
and all of a sudden the salesperson who
was so demanding that I enjoyed every
every little teeny thing that they were
so demanding of I look forward to
solving their problem all of a sudden I
want to be home with Tommy I want to be
home and I found it very hard to be a
supermom at work which I really think I
was because I lived and died for my
salespeople I’d do anything for them and
be a supermom at home and so I felt
something had to give
but then what just coincidentally that
same year boom I made my first huge
profit at the Corcoran Group I was able
to take home a couple of million dollars
I never made money because I would spend
it before I came in on opening another
office open another office open another
office and so all of a sudden I think I
had almost three million dollars like
how did that happen
first I never I think I had like 40,000
the year before
yeah it was a puppet well I had opened
so many offices and you know it
year and a half before an office to
really kick in and start catching up
with your overhead I had a certain
silence so you’re saying when it caught
up it was a combustion it was an
accumulation again I thought wow but
somebody would pay for this if they
could make three million dollars a year
and I called up the attorney that
represented the was on the board of one
of the largest real estate holding I
said knowing it’s a conflict of interest
but I said I’d like to sell my company I
wonder if you’d get me a good price no
problem he said and when he came back
and gave him twenty two million dollars
I remember I was on a chairlift skiing
with my roofer brother John when I got
the call and I was early days of the
cell phone and it was I got just such a
price she’s not gonna believe that you
seen it yeah on a chairlift over it high
in the sky get ready here it comes
twenty two million dollars Barbara could
you believe it I said I won 66 that’s it
my brother’s name well six is my lucky
number so I knew I didn’t want six cuz
that would be stupid but I feel double
at 66 the best part about selling your
business getting a load of cash if
you’re kind of naive on and you haven’t
done it before is where does the money
go when you’re at those closers what are
you doing you’re signing
millions of papers with good counsel and
good accountants so you trust your
people signing signing but it never
crossed my mind where’s the money I
should have said do I get my check now
but the next day I’m at the Citibank
machine on Madison 89th Street and I get
my usual $200 a month a week rather I
always did it the same day and that was
the day and I put my card in $200 just
know that sound
she didn’t I can’t wait two hundred put
in my while and I always ask for the
receipt even though I throw it out I
don’t know why it’s I still do it right
answer it throw it out like that’s all
they’re gonna get away with something if
I don’t get proof right so I pull out
the receipt I’m ready to throw down and
I see I have forty four million dollars
in my checking account that was more
exciting than anything else I’ve ever
done something real someone else’s but
still think of it I got the twenty their
balance twenty-two I think six months
later I had a yes they put up yeah right
the usual thing usable
correct me if I’m wrong I read somewhere
where you said when I sold I was on the
top before I sold the day I sold the
next day I felt like what happened to
everything that I was building because
it was kind of like yeah different what
was that because there’s a part of it
that’s like listen this is my baby you
know what I’m saying there’s this heart
it was my baby not like my baby what
kind of mother sells their child and
everybody was so happy for me but
reportedly over the next six eight
months everybody kept saying it’s not
the same anymore of course it wasn’t the
same a corporation that takes over
slices the top tier of Europe well my
experience was your management tier they
say you’re overpaying and they’re
getting rid of them replacing with
subordinate people like of course I’m
always paying they’re the best in the
business
you know everything changed the demand
for excellence in sales I was very very
on top of letting people to go who
couldn’t meet sales quota
I was not merciless but I was they knew
what they were in for I told them what
they’re in for and if they didn’t meet
those demands they fired themselves
because they knew those are the rules I
mean once you’re a big parent company
your people get lost in the shuffle
people languish on the vine for years it
was so different so so quickly so
different and so I felt like I almost
ruined my family like I was like I gave
there was nothing wrong with the parent
company it’s a typical scene but I felt
like I hired the wrong babysitter and I
I was out away from my kids it was just
terrible and the importance what would
advise on this so if somebody is in that
process and they’re honestly because you
know the first time you do it you don’t
really know what’s going on or so
because you’re thinking oh my gosh I’m
getting the 66 million dollar check
I’m gonna give you blinded by the light
or did your blinded us so if you were to
counsel somebody who’s about to go
through it what would you say to
consider um I would say to go and get
psychological help I know no I really
I’m not trying to be a wise guy
I think if or if go to a board like I
had access to many great entrepreneurs
who had sold a business in New York
through the YPO Association I never
asked one of them what happened
afterwards
well I knew they they were very rich
that’s all I saw I should have really
just known what was coming not that it
maybe would have made a difference in
what I did but I wouldn’t know what I
would
and for and I would also say I would
have had a plan as to what I was gonna
do next I thought I would take cooking
classes and really learn to be a better
Italian chef that’s what you would do
next yeah I’m gonna take cooking classes
I was gonna go to the park with my son
and push him on the swings after about
eight seconds on his swing it was like
okay done you know I was wired for like
accomplishing everything so I really had
this like little Pollyanna aha nothing
to do a calendar that wasn’t in a
minute-by-minute plan
oh how that would feel no I should have
tried a week of a calendar was nothing
planned see how I respond to it I would
have fun but sometimes you have to
abruptly do something to do it to get it
done and so maybe so it’s easy to say I
would should the fact of the matter is
you just you adjust and then you replace
the empty hole that you created in your
life with many of the new things to fill
it if you’re aggressive and you’re
determined enough to do so next phase
about how sharp think um about like how
the whole thing well shark tank
I was doing TV work as a real estate
expert the real estate market
accommodated me a crashed and so as you
know good news prints so I pumped myself
up as a real estate expert for the
morning talk shows and eventually landed
a job at the Today Show doing real
estate segments twice a week that was a
job okay and I realized I have a job not
much time how much of a job but I have a
job I have a lot of value I’m still a
value was my thinking I thought I was a
husband you know and then really you’re
thinking that at that moment like you
think in your eyes I’ll tell you what
happens when you sell your business all
of your contacts in those days was a
large rolodex all of your contacts are
useless to you once you have to redefine
a REIT I call it repackage yourself I
don’t think you have to give up who you
are but you have to think of a new
package how do you package yourself a
value to something else and so once I
had repackaged myself and started
getting a little traction as a real
estate expert the only thing I knew
Shark Tank called after about three or
four years of struggling through that
and they said they had a new show called
shark tank and I thought was a fishing
shows a nice but I don’t
fish the last thing I do is wait for
your fish wait for a fish I’d probably
have to sink my own boat just to get
over but when they explained what the
concept was the recruiter I said I’d be
great at that that’s just like hiring
salespeople same thing I’ll do it I’ll
do it I sign the contract without
reading it then I found out right maybe
a week and a half before I’m supposed to
fly out there the plane fare didn’t cut
the the arrangement wasn’t me was just
kind of weird and then I got the
kool-aid changing my ID another woman
they only had one female seat and they
were deciding that they had decided on
someone else I just couldn’t believe it
well you gotta be kidding me yeah and I
had a new luggage set in fact I bought
fancy new life school I I look the part
I didn’t have the part but I looked the
part
and so you got it they took it back they
give it I didn’t get it see shame on me
I signed the contract that doesn’t mean
you got it that means you have an
offering I didn’t see it that way mmm
all right so I didn’t I didn’t yeah it’s
not over till it’s over who’s the
baseball guy that said that good one so
true it wasn’t over but now is over and
so I’m very good at coming up out of the
dead that is my forte if someone hits me
down that’s when I’m at my best and so
after I felt sorry for myself which I
did for about a minute I’m good at that
too I wouldn’t give myself a minute like
I’ve got a minute to be oh poor me get
right back up and I wrote a very good
email and I shouldn’t say I I did it
with the help of Gail my assistant and
Carol at the office we put our heads
together boo boo boo boo boo the three
of us and we banged out a great email
short succinct where I told mark Mark
Burnett the biggest Hollywood news I
didn’t know who he was at the time that
he had made a mistake and I considered
his rejection lucky charm because
everything my life happened on the heels
of the rejection and then I cited all
the worst things that hit me coming
through the ranks and how how they
became my best things we turned the
truth I just said bullets and I of
course know important people don’t read
their own emails very often I made the
woman who called me one of the many
assistants he had promised she’d walk it
over to his desk that was key the
delivery and she did you called before
you sent the email Horace you think I’m
gonna send it to Mark Burnett and think
he’s sitting around on his computers
gonna read the biggest Hollywood
producer I don’t think so
Sherman was Sherman Sherman I think was
a name and she promised she would she
walked it over and then she can actually
stay there he said she sounds like a
shark and then the next day oh I ended
the email suggested you invite both
women have to compete for the seat and
that’s what he did
thank God and that got me my spot on
searching yeah so it’s a it’s again in
my life it’s always been every good
lesson every great great story
that’s a very very motivational because
it should be because the reality is you
don’t know how close you are unless you
stand up for yourself
so okay you become a shark mm-hmm
show start happening you’ve never been
Hollywood before you’ve never been to LA
before this thing takes off what happens
to you after shark tank takes off well
hey it didn’t take off it took three
years we’re constantly getting messages
weekly that it was going to be cancelled
by the network so we didn’t see it take
off we were always with our going out
there with a leap of faith and hoping
the one thing I noticed on the first day
on the set is the I had never been
around camera guys filming a show but
they have massive equipment he said it’s
like an airport hangar from the get-go
and what I noticed is when we broke just
reset up the next entrepreneur all the
camera guys were discussing the deals
and I thought this show is gonna do well
because we can engage people you know
they’re fixing up the cameras and do
what they’re doing but they told me I
wouldn’t have gotten that guy I saw the
engagement right away so I thought it
would be a hit show but it was a lot of
guesswork the first three years once it
really started gaining its traction on
its end of the third year we started
building audience and people started
saying and I started posing for selfies
was a very good sign on an airport the
more I posed for selfies it was my
barometers how well how well this show
was doing in the beginning it was a
cockiness Ellie can I get a selfie and
then the nine people around the who she
then it was oh she looks familiar and
then I was like I know who she is that
was a good sign I got it that’s that’s
so so now okay let’s talk about now the
deal-making part and we’ll wrap up so to
do make in part while you’re you know we
will you see it on TV it’s eight minutes
how is the actual beginning pitch to the
end we’re dealers made or they don’t get
a deal well you see the whole pitch on
two
when a trooper comes out and says blah
blah blah why don’t you join me in my
business you see that in whole but what
you don’t see is the balance of that
pitch for us as sharks on the set is 45
minutes to an hour sometimes an hour and
a half and so they condense the Editors
it’s a genius editing job plucking out
the key pieces and the good TV and the
pieces and making a very short what is
it at home I think it’s like six minutes
so you do a fantastic job yeah it
actually makes sense it connects right
yes do you have yourself you’re looking
at everybody I mean everybody’s
personalities they’re by the way the
five of you mesh together like a you
know when the Lakers had the team with
magic were the chemists like it’s just
magical watching the five of you guys go
at it together do you have some things
where you say no way in the world I’m
not doing this yes I like this like are
there things that triggers it looks like
it so it could look like the most
amazing thing in the world but if it
doesn’t make common sense to me I don’t
go to New York because it’s I’m just
gonna have the anxiety of not
understanding it and putting my money
behind it I don’t think so and I also
feel unable to help that entrepreneur
I won’t invest in anyone who talks fancy
talk if they talk like the Sharks or
like Kevin like with the fancy words I’m
like they don’t know what they’re
talking about or they might know those
fancy words but why are they hiding
behind those words I just want to know
like hey you know how much is the cost
in your month versus what do you think I
don’t even know those fancy words and
I’m gonna listen now for nine years I
don’t have them down so there are red
flags clearly or if they don’t have low
in if they don’t have good energy high
energy I get that I pick that up right
away they stand in front of me I know
right away they have energy or not if
there’s two well educated I hate to say
it I never invest in anybody who’s
really well educated because I have rich
parents somewhere along the way who’s
given the money to get started I hope
you’re not rich I don’t mean to fit not
that rich people can’t succeed a lot of
but for me I don’t do well with rich
kids because they don’t have the hunger
the need the the alcoholic dad who beat
the crap out of the kid whatever I like
all that stuff because he creates a rich
tapestry of personality that succeeds at
work so I have all my what I don’t do I
don’t have necessarily have things that
I have to invest when it says I have to
invest in them yeah it’s more I have to
like the person I have to
to me like the person and when all else
fails and I can’t read the person which
was rare that I don’t get a gut reaction
to someone I think what if there’s a war
and Tommy was a baby or kid he was a
baby again could I throw my baby into
their arms and come back in five years
and with my baby be okay and I always
say yes or no clear Isabella and that
immediately clarifies when I’m a little
uncertain because I’ve been confused by
the language so the best deal you’ve
ever done what would you say it is a
Grace & Lace I’ve made the most money
with was owned by a husband-and-wife
team who are each phenomenal
entrepreneurs one on the design in a one
on the nuts-and-bolts dollar and cents
in and they create a tremendous
phenomenal brand of great clothing
moderately priced online called Grace &
Lace and I will bore you with the
backstory but they came from a place of
emptiness to prove something and that
really helps them day in and day out
learning I would say and I know people
get tired of hearing about it and now
Jim just got married on Sunday so I’m
gonna have to drop him at at my most
favorite but definitely the cousins room
cousins Maine lobster are so
good-looking
such good businessmen they’re a pleasure
to work with they would have to well it
don’t I can’t say favorites they’re all
my favorites they’re all your favorites
every one of them unless you’re going to
edit this and then I’ll give you the
scoop later here’s an interesting thing
maybe more interesting so who’s fair and
who’s not that’s such a personal thing
what is interesting to me is that of all
my wildly successful businesses that
I’ve invested in every one of them meet
with me either by Skype or in person we
we digest what’s going in the business
we think about where we want to go I
give it my all each and every time and
yet I find that my create entrepreneurs
listen to every word they never do a
thing I tell them when I have an
entrepreneur sitting at my table or on
skype and they go amazing yes and
they’re making notes like I’m losing my
money
isn’t it funny you would think the
opposite it’s not that I’m stupid but in
the end entrepreneurs walk to their own
beat and do exactly what they want to do
and it’s often right out of the gut
which is where it should be
versus analytical yeah you can’t be a
grandparent and coach from the side or a
parent you got to let the kid do what
he’s going to do
so I have learned that to be a good
indicate the minute that no pan is out
in line
slow down on the phones really it’s
definitely great to see how you process
issues while you’re wanting to choose to
invest into business phenomenal on TV
obviously especially when you
immediately call somebody out and say no
this is not something I’m gonna be
investing in and thank you for taking
the time to come my pleasure thank you so much got a nice hairline
YouTube you type in the word
entrepreneur shark shark tank you’re
gonna see this face here sitting to my
left to your right
four-time Emmy Emmy award-winning show
shark tank
I think 199 episodes 9 seasons and she
is probably responsible in the last
several years of inspiring so many young
woman ladies who are coming up saying I
just want to be an entrepreneur I want
to go out and compete in the marketplace
I feel I can bring value I feel I can
make a lot of money and become
successful because she’s been the
inspiration to so many people out there
I’ve also inspired some men out there oh
I’m certain them yeah yeah you didn’t
say that no I’m so men end what we have
to put out there ok so prior to you know
who you are today everyone sees you on
TV you’re seeing it you can’t turn on a
TV nowadays without having Shark Tank
playing on some channel there’s
something going on there CNBC
specifically who was Barbara before
Barbara key became a shark today Oh in
high school I was the quiet kid in the
whole high school I never said a word I
had terrible acne I was overweight I was
a dunking class I just kept dirty in
high school and I didn’t have a
boyfriend I don’t have a boyfriend till
I was 23 cuz I didn’t look so good so in
high school I was not very I was not the
person I wanted to become really how did
you do with grades in school
I got a charity Dean just about every
subject I ever took I couldn’t learn to
read or write till I was in seventh
grade and for me my memory of school was
like one long prison sentence and way
was I gonna get out so we went to the
same prison together yeah we did pretty
interesting I hated reading yeah I had a
teacher things oh come miss Collins
would make me read and it was of mice of
men or that was then this is now
of my submit was a book we read gonna
got passed spot and Jane
I’ll see you well you got it I came here
in seventh grade so prior to this I was
in Germany had a refugee camp so so what
happens after high school you come in
high school um well I shouldn’t say high
school was all that bad because I always
worked
I work from the time I was 11 I always
had a job after school on weekends I
worked like crazy and I had a variety of
jobs nothing that important but things I
really loved doing once high school was
over I I went to college thank God
because I didn’t want to get married and
have babies you can have anybody are
married and that’s when everybody in my
little hometown did
now barber a big family you’re 10 yes we
had 10 children I’m second oldest and we
have a very tight-knit family even to
today we’re all still here fortunately
growing up with a lot of children is a
wonderful way to grow up I believe
because you learned so many of the
things you’re gonna need in life so in
my family everyone that got out of out
of our household we were thrown out by
my parents at 18 is it time to support
yourself send some money back if you’re
making a little extra change right and
we all felt that obligation but they
felt we should be out and out out on our
own a very different than the landscape
today interesting yeah but you know what
you knew it was coming it was like your
parents were lowering the hatch on you
four years before it actually came down
so you kind of prepared for it I knew
you had to go out and fend for yourself
was it a competitive family was it
extremely competitive listen you do the
math on that if you have ten children a
year and a half apart and only two
parents to share do you think it’s
competitive dinner’s competitive getting
the big piece of meat at the little
dinner table getting the right seat at
the table
getting your mother’s attention
pretending you’re sick you could stay
home from school notice me I’m saying
please notice me I’m saying everything
was competitive but again what is
wonderful about that is you grow up
almost like you’re in an outside world
versus a family you and you have to
perform a function you have to compete
with each other all the time to get to
where you want to go and so the
transition to the outside world was very
easy it almost seemed easier to compete
in business for me than it was back at
the phone what a great point so point to
everybody go have ten babies reproduce
competitive kids I would think about
that one I only have two I’m not having
ten so what happens after college I made
a very lucky break I was I was a diner
waitress in a town above my small town
in New Jersey and a man walked in and
sat at my counter he was almost 10 years
older than I were
Mon C Mon with an accent on both words
and hey Ramon C moon and he said he was
from the Basque Country I didn’t know
where that was but if a player not a kid
or right there
well I didn’t know he was a player all I
knew is he had navy blue aviator shades
on he had a real suit with a starched
collar I’d never seen a guy in a suit
before it’s pretty sexy it’s like seeing
a guy in the military okay and he
offered me a ride home and my parents
did not like him at all but he suggested
within the year that you’d be great at
real estate why don’t you quit your job
as a waitress and become real sage and
and I was good at it right away it was
like playing for me just opening doors
chatting people up and seeing apartments
it was wonderful so had you ever done
sales prior to that well I I did yes I
actually did because I think of
waitressing as one of the ultimate best
sales positions in life you have to
please people you have to deliver
service you have to keep them coming
back you have to find something about
them to hook them in and talk about
themselves it involves all of that and
what’s great about waitressing this is
on and for waitressing but what’s great
about waitressing is you get paid fairly
for your service in other words you’re
great at it you get a bigger tip you’re
not good at it they don’t leave you tip
and so I felt like I was selling my
whole life for me honestly my jobs were
a relief from being in that jailhouse of
school from 9:00 to 3:00 when that bell
rang because I could actually go out and
talk and kid with people and be myself
and not use reading or writing or math
in any regard and stand on my own two
feet
so I really liked all my jobs very very
much I felt successful at all of them so
let me ask you just commented on that
before to getting into the story what do
you think about the educational system I
think you’ve commented on that a couple
times if you were able to make any kind
of changes to our current educational
system what would it be well this is a
tall challenge and nobody’s quite been
able to pull it off and I’m not the one
I’m not gonna live that long to see it
happen I don’t think but I think what
the educational system really relaxes
real life experience I mean for the most
part I have a 12 year old at home now
Kate I could see she’s kind of studying
the same stuff that I was studying in
the same fashion and she has an issue
with reading
that’s the way it works sometimes she
does as well oh very much so more so
than I had if that’s possible and my son
who fortunately graduated from a very
good school he was dyslexic so I just
get all the clunkers I like to say to my
kids they laugh I think it’s funny maybe
you don’t think it’s funny but back to
the educational system KT is phenomenal
at YouTube mic my daughter Kate my son
Tommy from the get-go was great with
reading people running the playground
telling kids what to do in the nicest
way that they wanted to follow him so he
was a natural-born leader and none of
that came out in school because all they
were focused on his reading and
mispronouncing every word that was in
front of them and so I think in the
educational school system there needs to
be another platform where kids can shine
kids can’t perform all the other traits
and frankly all the entrepreneurs I’ve
met in my life and all the millionaires
and billionaires I’ve met in my life the
gifts are not necessarily reading their
gives up people managing people
motivation leadership enthusiasm
understanding the big picture versus the
minutia picture and so all the gifts
that you really need to succeed in real
life business and of course that’s my
chosen path I don’t know if it applies
to the rest of life really have nothing
I don’t say nothing I shouldn’t say that
but not much to do with what you’re
learning at school unless of course
you’re going to be an attorney or a
doctor you have to pass those exams that
all makes sense but other than those
disciplines I think the school system
just has to make wonderful winners
versus making kids feel like losers
because they don’t fit that mold how do
we measure that
how do you measure that measured the
people skills measured the reading
people it’s very easy to measure reading
skills because there’s a million tests
and a million labels for when they go
wrong but they’re hiding people oh oh
you tell me or something query people
let me tell you he surrounded himself
with great friends he never had a bad
friend they’re all clean kids and nice
kids
he just picked out great friends if he
was in any situation in sports he was
the team captain if he was on the
playground he had the ideas of people
are willing to follow so he was
obviously reading his ability to get
people to do what he wanted them to do
okay so you’re going to real estate you
meet Ramon you
get into real estate and you’re doing
real estate you love going out there and
doing that how does how does that career
take off well initially it was great
from the beginning it was the best job I
ever had even though I loved all my jobs
because it didn’t feel like work and the
major difference when Ramone gave me the
thousand dollars to start the business
and he took 51% I was the managing
partner 49% the major difference was I
didn’t have a boss I didn’t know the
beauty of not having a boss until
suddenly there was no boss and I decided
what I wanted to do minute by minute who
I wanted to be how I wanted to approach
things I was the boss and being the boss
for me was like I don’t believe it I
feel like a queen I felt like my god I’m
powerful I wasn’t as powerful my little
you know whatever but my mind woahh I
can see the horizon I was able to dream
because I could see myself as a
lieutenant going over the cliff not the
person can I can I get Tuesday off
please well I was 23 when I started my
business and then I was with Ramone
Simone as his partner for seven years
then he left and married my secretary
and then I ended the business and
started the corporate group when I was
30 and that became my real business at
may being my fortunes yeah so that’s the
business that made you to fortune yes of
course so what did you do differently
with Corcoran Group that was different
than the prior venture you had I didn’t
do much different in terms of day-to-day
but I had a head shift I suddenly
thought to myself
watch me because when I was leaving
Ramone Simone on that Friday morning I’m
taking my seven half of the company out
with me he said you’ll never succeed
without me and I think he gave me the
greatest let me tell you thank God he
said that to me because when I heard
those words I thought to myself watch me
I’d rather die and let me tell you
something that was my insurance policy
for success and I know that’s an
attitude shift and maybe not even from a
good place I probably need a good shift
to get over could shrink to get over
myself but that shift in my gut gave me
power and so wherever you get your power
you know it’s amazing I meet so many of
my entrepreneurs I’m always looking for
the magic sauce before I put my
and very often the recurring magic sauce
is they have something to prove and many
proving an insult is not true so I love
an entrepreneur than it’s something to
prove yes it gives that extra juice in
that engine and it’s self propelled and
that fortunately for me is what I had so
in answer to your question I know I
haven’t given you a word in edgewise
sorry for that but I’m more like my
mother as I get older but in answer to
your question what was your question and
now I’m like my father
okay what was different what was
different was the power charging I was a
boss before but I was a boss now but now
I had fervor in my heart to pour
something else and for all yeah and that
gets you far in life well let me let me
ask you so you go from being a waitress
then you go to being a realtor right
thank you well actually I wasn’t a
realtor brother his real estate agent
yes real estate agent and then you’re 45
49% owner and you’re the boss
and so now was a part of your job to
develop other salespeople as well to go
out there and in the first business
second that was well I went into my
second business clearly selling because
I was a good salesman when I needed the
money I mean I paid a lot of bills but I
had a very lucky break we rented
apartments that’s how we got the
Commission which was important the
Commission’s come in right away you
don’t wait for months so that’s
important in the young business but I
had a very lucky break where Merrill
Lynch who I got a lot of rental kids
from to show apartments to sent me a an
engineer and I found out by mistake they
had mistakenly sent him to me he was
looking to buy not rent
I had nothing to sell him but I shrews
him up gave him a tour of New York told
my teacher values teach you know how you
know values in New York take no
different I discovered it that day you
look and see what a garage warrant is
per month and multiply it with a few
zeros and that’s the cost of a
one-bedroom in that neighborhood you
could really just go to any neighbor to
figure out what it was it’s all real
estate yeah what a little Sidewinder
there so that you know we’re to buy
we’re not to buy but this particular
young man actually born an apartment and
I took that commission check in my hand
it was I forget what it was eighty five
thousand which sounds preposterous but
these
and I knew what 6% was and I said God
has destined me to take this 6% and
start a sales division I hired my first
salesman that day not that day maybe
that week or something but right away it
was burning all in my pocket and that
became the conversion of the Corcoran
Group we kept rentals number of years
but I converted it to a powerhouse of
salespeople what what is the biggest
difference on what worked for you when
you were selling and what worked for you
when you were helping me sell better and
become a better salesperson what were
the dynamics between it’s totally
different when you’re selling your
customer is clearly the person on the
street that you’re trying to sell real
estate – that’s your god you got to be
hyper focused listen hard really do
everything in your power to make them
feel like they’re the luckiest person in
the world that they found you and mean
it and really perform when I shifted
from direct sales which is the immediacy
of cash coming which is a hard thing to
let go of and have confidence when I’m
selling through you the most important
trait is I recognize what your god-given
talent is and I blow it up I make a big
thing of it because if I could convince
you that you have this special thing
that no one else has in the world well
maybe not in the world but did you ever
realize if I could spot it and underline
it and emphasize it and make an
environment for you that you’re gonna
bloom in you’re gonna make more money
for me you times a thousand people than
I could ever make for myself by a lot
but it’s different when you’re working
and hiring people you have to see a do
you have talent can I make you into
something I see in you do you have the
stamina to run the course and really
make it happen and will you be loyal to
me once I make a star of you I built
more stars in New York of my salespeople
because I adored them loved them knew
what they had made them believe they
making giant money win money makers but
what good is that if I’m grooming them
for the next big company so you have to
be able to keep them let me ask you this
let me ask you this was it a process you
had in your mind where it’s I can take
anybody off the street and I can make
them a success all right have a good so
what were the good skewed I’m looking
for positive energy I’m looking for a
good family they’re from good I don’t
mean wealth I would prefer somebody poor
honestly but I’m looking for the
coming from a family that loved them
because people who were loved wind up
doing better in life and I can’t do
anything about that if their parents
didn’t love them I’ll find the lovable
how am I gonna find unlovable and then
I’m really looking for the acumen of
people judgement because I don’t care
what kind of business you do what kind
of business you start if you’re good at
judging people and then motivating them
or leading them you’re gonna have a hit
you’re gonna have hit I used to think I
could be a plumber and I’d have a big
plumbing company I’m sure it what do I
like about plumbing but as long as I
hired the right plumbers and got them
thinking better of themselves and they
did the day before all that makes makes
a successful business the only important
trades are so powerful this is so
powerful what you’re talking about so
now let’s fast forward how big did you
get and what happened today when
somebody came in said hey yeah we’d like
to buy this well didn’t quite roll out
that way I started my corporate group
when I was thirty I sold it when I was
forty eight fifteen some odd years later
I wasn’t thinking of selling it I loved
my work I loved every minute of it but I
had a baby and I know that sounds
ridiculous but I 46 I had my first child
and the minute Tommy was putting my arms
everything shifted my god
I got a problem I mean I was so joyful
it took me so long to have a baby but I
thought what am I gonna do now and again
I had that big shift in my heart
and all of a sudden the salesperson who
was so demanding that I enjoyed every
every little teeny thing that they were
so demanding of I look forward to
solving their problem all of a sudden I
want to be home with Tommy I want to be
home and I found it very hard to be a
supermom at work which I really think I
was because I lived and died for my
salespeople I’d do anything for them and
be a supermom at home and so I felt
something had to give
but then what just coincidentally that
same year boom I made my first huge
profit at the Corcoran Group I was able
to take home a couple of million dollars
I never made money because I would spend
it before I came in on opening another
office open another office open another
office and so all of a sudden I think I
had almost three million dollars like
how did that happen
first I never I think I had like 40,000
the year before
yeah it was a puppet well I had opened
so many offices and you know it
year and a half before an office to
really kick in and start catching up
with your overhead I had a certain
silence so you’re saying when it caught
up it was a combustion it was an
accumulation again I thought wow but
somebody would pay for this if they
could make three million dollars a year
and I called up the attorney that
represented the was on the board of one
of the largest real estate holding I
said knowing it’s a conflict of interest
but I said I’d like to sell my company I
wonder if you’d get me a good price no
problem he said and when he came back
and gave him twenty two million dollars
I remember I was on a chairlift skiing
with my roofer brother John when I got
the call and I was early days of the
cell phone and it was I got just such a
price she’s not gonna believe that you
seen it yeah on a chairlift over it high
in the sky get ready here it comes
twenty two million dollars Barbara could
you believe it I said I won 66 that’s it
my brother’s name well six is my lucky
number so I knew I didn’t want six cuz
that would be stupid but I feel double
at 66 the best part about selling your
business getting a load of cash if
you’re kind of naive on and you haven’t
done it before is where does the money
go when you’re at those closers what are
you doing you’re signing
millions of papers with good counsel and
good accountants so you trust your
people signing signing but it never
crossed my mind where’s the money I
should have said do I get my check now
but the next day I’m at the Citibank
machine on Madison 89th Street and I get
my usual $200 a month a week rather I
always did it the same day and that was
the day and I put my card in $200 just
know that sound
she didn’t I can’t wait two hundred put
in my while and I always ask for the
receipt even though I throw it out I
don’t know why it’s I still do it right
answer it throw it out like that’s all
they’re gonna get away with something if
I don’t get proof right so I pull out
the receipt I’m ready to throw down and
I see I have forty four million dollars
in my checking account that was more
exciting than anything else I’ve ever
done something real someone else’s but
still think of it I got the twenty their
balance twenty-two I think six months
later I had a yes they put up yeah right
the usual thing usable
correct me if I’m wrong I read somewhere
where you said when I sold I was on the
top before I sold the day I sold the
next day I felt like what happened to
everything that I was building because
it was kind of like yeah different what
was that because there’s a part of it
that’s like listen this is my baby you
know what I’m saying there’s this heart
it was my baby not like my baby what
kind of mother sells their child and
everybody was so happy for me but
reportedly over the next six eight
months everybody kept saying it’s not
the same anymore of course it wasn’t the
same a corporation that takes over
slices the top tier of Europe well my
experience was your management tier they
say you’re overpaying and they’re
getting rid of them replacing with
subordinate people like of course I’m
always paying they’re the best in the
business
you know everything changed the demand
for excellence in sales I was very very
on top of letting people to go who
couldn’t meet sales quota
I was not merciless but I was they knew
what they were in for I told them what
they’re in for and if they didn’t meet
those demands they fired themselves
because they knew those are the rules I
mean once you’re a big parent company
your people get lost in the shuffle
people languish on the vine for years it
was so different so so quickly so
different and so I felt like I almost
ruined my family like I was like I gave
there was nothing wrong with the parent
company it’s a typical scene but I felt
like I hired the wrong babysitter and I
I was out away from my kids it was just
terrible and the importance what would
advise on this so if somebody is in that
process and they’re honestly because you
know the first time you do it you don’t
really know what’s going on or so
because you’re thinking oh my gosh I’m
getting the 66 million dollar check
I’m gonna give you blinded by the light
or did your blinded us so if you were to
counsel somebody who’s about to go
through it what would you say to
consider um I would say to go and get
psychological help I know no I really
I’m not trying to be a wise guy
I think if or if go to a board like I
had access to many great entrepreneurs
who had sold a business in New York
through the YPO Association I never
asked one of them what happened
afterwards
well I knew they they were very rich
that’s all I saw I should have really
just known what was coming not that it
maybe would have made a difference in
what I did but I wouldn’t know what I
would
and for and I would also say I would
have had a plan as to what I was gonna
do next I thought I would take cooking
classes and really learn to be a better
Italian chef that’s what you would do
next yeah I’m gonna take cooking classes
I was gonna go to the park with my son
and push him on the swings after about
eight seconds on his swing it was like
okay done you know I was wired for like
accomplishing everything so I really had
this like little Pollyanna aha nothing
to do a calendar that wasn’t in a
minute-by-minute plan
oh how that would feel no I should have
tried a week of a calendar was nothing
planned see how I respond to it I would
have fun but sometimes you have to
abruptly do something to do it to get it
done and so maybe so it’s easy to say I
would should the fact of the matter is
you just you adjust and then you replace
the empty hole that you created in your
life with many of the new things to fill
it if you’re aggressive and you’re
determined enough to do so next phase
about how sharp think um about like how
the whole thing well shark tank
I was doing TV work as a real estate
expert the real estate market
accommodated me a crashed and so as you
know good news prints so I pumped myself
up as a real estate expert for the
morning talk shows and eventually landed
a job at the Today Show doing real
estate segments twice a week that was a
job okay and I realized I have a job not
much time how much of a job but I have a
job I have a lot of value I’m still a
value was my thinking I thought I was a
husband you know and then really you’re
thinking that at that moment like you
think in your eyes I’ll tell you what
happens when you sell your business all
of your contacts in those days was a
large rolodex all of your contacts are
useless to you once you have to redefine
a REIT I call it repackage yourself I
don’t think you have to give up who you
are but you have to think of a new
package how do you package yourself a
value to something else and so once I
had repackaged myself and started
getting a little traction as a real
estate expert the only thing I knew
Shark Tank called after about three or
four years of struggling through that
and they said they had a new show called
shark tank and I thought was a fishing
shows a nice but I don’t
fish the last thing I do is wait for
your fish wait for a fish I’d probably
have to sink my own boat just to get
over but when they explained what the
concept was the recruiter I said I’d be
great at that that’s just like hiring
salespeople same thing I’ll do it I’ll
do it I sign the contract without
reading it then I found out right maybe
a week and a half before I’m supposed to
fly out there the plane fare didn’t cut
the the arrangement wasn’t me was just
kind of weird and then I got the
kool-aid changing my ID another woman
they only had one female seat and they
were deciding that they had decided on
someone else I just couldn’t believe it
well you gotta be kidding me yeah and I
had a new luggage set in fact I bought
fancy new life school I I look the part
I didn’t have the part but I looked the
part
and so you got it they took it back they
give it I didn’t get it see shame on me
I signed the contract that doesn’t mean
you got it that means you have an
offering I didn’t see it that way mmm
all right so I didn’t I didn’t yeah it’s
not over till it’s over who’s the
baseball guy that said that good one so
true it wasn’t over but now is over and
so I’m very good at coming up out of the
dead that is my forte if someone hits me
down that’s when I’m at my best and so
after I felt sorry for myself which I
did for about a minute I’m good at that
too I wouldn’t give myself a minute like
I’ve got a minute to be oh poor me get
right back up and I wrote a very good
email and I shouldn’t say I I did it
with the help of Gail my assistant and
Carol at the office we put our heads
together boo boo boo boo boo the three
of us and we banged out a great email
short succinct where I told mark Mark
Burnett the biggest Hollywood news I
didn’t know who he was at the time that
he had made a mistake and I considered
his rejection lucky charm because
everything my life happened on the heels
of the rejection and then I cited all
the worst things that hit me coming
through the ranks and how how they
became my best things we turned the
truth I just said bullets and I of
course know important people don’t read
their own emails very often I made the
woman who called me one of the many
assistants he had promised she’d walk it
over to his desk that was key the
delivery and she did you called before
you sent the email Horace you think I’m
gonna send it to Mark Burnett and think
he’s sitting around on his computers
gonna read the biggest Hollywood
producer I don’t think so
Sherman was Sherman Sherman I think was
a name and she promised she would she
walked it over and then she can actually
stay there he said she sounds like a
shark and then the next day oh I ended
the email suggested you invite both
women have to compete for the seat and
that’s what he did
thank God and that got me my spot on
searching yeah so it’s a it’s again in
my life it’s always been every good
lesson every great great story
that’s a very very motivational because
it should be because the reality is you
don’t know how close you are unless you
stand up for yourself
so okay you become a shark mm-hmm
show start happening you’ve never been
Hollywood before you’ve never been to LA
before this thing takes off what happens
to you after shark tank takes off well
hey it didn’t take off it took three
years we’re constantly getting messages
weekly that it was going to be cancelled
by the network so we didn’t see it take
off we were always with our going out
there with a leap of faith and hoping
the one thing I noticed on the first day
on the set is the I had never been
around camera guys filming a show but
they have massive equipment he said it’s
like an airport hangar from the get-go
and what I noticed is when we broke just
reset up the next entrepreneur all the
camera guys were discussing the deals
and I thought this show is gonna do well
because we can engage people you know
they’re fixing up the cameras and do
what they’re doing but they told me I
wouldn’t have gotten that guy I saw the
engagement right away so I thought it
would be a hit show but it was a lot of
guesswork the first three years once it
really started gaining its traction on
its end of the third year we started
building audience and people started
saying and I started posing for selfies
was a very good sign on an airport the
more I posed for selfies it was my
barometers how well how well this show
was doing in the beginning it was a
cockiness Ellie can I get a selfie and
then the nine people around the who she
then it was oh she looks familiar and
then I was like I know who she is that
was a good sign I got it that’s that’s
so so now okay let’s talk about now the
deal-making part and we’ll wrap up so to
do make in part while you’re you know we
will you see it on TV it’s eight minutes
how is the actual beginning pitch to the
end we’re dealers made or they don’t get
a deal well you see the whole pitch on
two
when a trooper comes out and says blah
blah blah why don’t you join me in my
business you see that in whole but what
you don’t see is the balance of that
pitch for us as sharks on the set is 45
minutes to an hour sometimes an hour and
a half and so they condense the Editors
it’s a genius editing job plucking out
the key pieces and the good TV and the
pieces and making a very short what is
it at home I think it’s like six minutes
so you do a fantastic job yeah it
actually makes sense it connects right
yes do you have yourself you’re looking
at everybody I mean everybody’s
personalities they’re by the way the
five of you mesh together like a you
know when the Lakers had the team with
magic were the chemists like it’s just
magical watching the five of you guys go
at it together do you have some things
where you say no way in the world I’m
not doing this yes I like this like are
there things that triggers it looks like
it so it could look like the most
amazing thing in the world but if it
doesn’t make common sense to me I don’t
go to New York because it’s I’m just
gonna have the anxiety of not
understanding it and putting my money
behind it I don’t think so and I also
feel unable to help that entrepreneur
I won’t invest in anyone who talks fancy
talk if they talk like the Sharks or
like Kevin like with the fancy words I’m
like they don’t know what they’re
talking about or they might know those
fancy words but why are they hiding
behind those words I just want to know
like hey you know how much is the cost
in your month versus what do you think I
don’t even know those fancy words and
I’m gonna listen now for nine years I
don’t have them down so there are red
flags clearly or if they don’t have low
in if they don’t have good energy high
energy I get that I pick that up right
away they stand in front of me I know
right away they have energy or not if
there’s two well educated I hate to say
it I never invest in anybody who’s
really well educated because I have rich
parents somewhere along the way who’s
given the money to get started I hope
you’re not rich I don’t mean to fit not
that rich people can’t succeed a lot of
but for me I don’t do well with rich
kids because they don’t have the hunger
the need the the alcoholic dad who beat
the crap out of the kid whatever I like
all that stuff because he creates a rich
tapestry of personality that succeeds at
work so I have all my what I don’t do I
don’t have necessarily have things that
I have to invest when it says I have to
invest in them yeah it’s more I have to
like the person I have to
to me like the person and when all else
fails and I can’t read the person which
was rare that I don’t get a gut reaction
to someone I think what if there’s a war
and Tommy was a baby or kid he was a
baby again could I throw my baby into
their arms and come back in five years
and with my baby be okay and I always
say yes or no clear Isabella and that
immediately clarifies when I’m a little
uncertain because I’ve been confused by
the language so the best deal you’ve
ever done what would you say it is a
Grace & Lace I’ve made the most money
with was owned by a husband-and-wife
team who are each phenomenal
entrepreneurs one on the design in a one
on the nuts-and-bolts dollar and cents
in and they create a tremendous
phenomenal brand of great clothing
moderately priced online called Grace &
Lace and I will bore you with the
backstory but they came from a place of
emptiness to prove something and that
really helps them day in and day out
learning I would say and I know people
get tired of hearing about it and now
Jim just got married on Sunday so I’m
gonna have to drop him at at my most
favorite but definitely the cousins room
cousins Maine lobster are so
good-looking
such good businessmen they’re a pleasure
to work with they would have to well it
don’t I can’t say favorites they’re all
my favorites they’re all your favorites
every one of them unless you’re going to
edit this and then I’ll give you the
scoop later here’s an interesting thing
maybe more interesting so who’s fair and
who’s not that’s such a personal thing
what is interesting to me is that of all
my wildly successful businesses that
I’ve invested in every one of them meet
with me either by Skype or in person we
we digest what’s going in the business
we think about where we want to go I
give it my all each and every time and
yet I find that my create entrepreneurs
listen to every word they never do a
thing I tell them when I have an
entrepreneur sitting at my table or on
skype and they go amazing yes and
they’re making notes like I’m losing my
money
isn’t it funny you would think the
opposite it’s not that I’m stupid but in
the end entrepreneurs walk to their own
beat and do exactly what they want to do
and it’s often right out of the gut
which is where it should be
versus analytical yeah you can’t be a
grandparent and coach from the side or a
parent you got to let the kid do what
he’s going to do
so I have learned that to be a good
indicate the minute that no pan is out
in line
slow down on the phones really it’s
definitely great to see how you process
issues while you’re wanting to choose to
invest into business phenomenal on TV
obviously especially when you
immediately call somebody out and say no
this is not something I’m gonna be
investing in and thank you for taking
the time to come my pleasure thank you so much got a nice hairline
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