The Tim Ferriss Show

#725: Barbara Corcoran — How She Turned $1,000 into a $5B+ Empire: PR Stunts, Sales Techniques, Critical Early Wins, Fighting Trump, and Becoming a Real Estate Mogul

Mar 6, 2024

Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group and a veteran investor on Shark Tank, shares her incredible journey of turning a $1,000 loan into a $5 billion real estate empire. She discusses her knack for PR, revealed through a hilarious mock funeral story. Barbara dives into her innovative sales strategies, including a unique 'one price sale' approach, and reflects on life lessons learned from her competitive childhood and personal challenges like dyslexia. Her insights on perseverance and mentoring other entrepreneurs are truly inspiring.

01:26:14

Episode guests

Barbara Corcoran

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Quick takeaways

Barbara Corcoran's $1,000 real estate empire was built on PR stunts, sales techniques, and critical early wins.

Growing up as one of 10 kids taught Barbara Corcoran valuable lessons about competition.

Barbara Corcoran's experience with dyslexia and betrayal shaped her mindset towards success and partnerships.

Deep dives

Innovating the Real Estate Market

Urgency played a pivotal role in Tim's early real estate career. By implementing strategies like sharing listings when others didn't, creating a central listing system offered all properties at the same price, sparking a frenzy akin to a puppy sale with multiple potential buyers, Tim revolutionized how properties were sold, ultimately resulting in significant business successes.

Hire Happy People

00:54

Thoughtful Presentation and the Reverse Close in Sales

01:28

Why kids should have jobs

01:02

Puppy Sale Scarcity Marketing

04:01

Intro

6min

A Mock Funeral and Life Lessons

17min

From Waitress to Real Estate Mogul

15min

Nutritional Foundations and Playful Exchanges

2min

Innovative Strategies in Real Estate

25min

Navigating Legal Waters and Real Estate Journeys

14min

The Power of Impact and Self-Belief in Entrepreneurship

3min

Light-Hearted Farewell: A Playful Exchange

2min

Unlocking Sleep and Business Success

5min

Barbara Corcoran has been an investor/Shark for the past 15 seasons on ABC’s four-time Emmy-award-winning show, Shark Tank. She is also the founder of an eponymous real-estate company, which she started with a $1,000 loan after leaving her job as a waitress in New York City. Over the next 25 years, she would parlay that $1,000 into a $5 billion real-estate business. Barbara is the host of the top business channel on Patreon, Barbara in Your Pocket, which provides exclusive content created for entrepreneurs at every level.

Please enjoy!

Timestamps for this episode are available below. Resources from this episode: https://tim.blog/2024/03/06/barbara-corcoran/

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Timestamps:

[00:00] Start

[05:56] Barbara’s fake funeral.

[08:23] Where Barbara’s knack for PR originated.

[10:02] Storytelling.

[11:25] Early business wins.

[14:29] What Barbara learned about competition as one of 10 kids.

[17:27] Early jobs: Barbara’s real education.

[20:04] Dyslexia and dodging the victim mindset.

[22:50] Barbara’s first company.

[26:47] Why Barbara didn’t begrudge her first business partner’s romantic betrayal.

[28:41] The value of enthusiasm.