#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

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3:43 A cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal and those cellular. Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferris. Welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferris Show, where I interview world-class performers to deconstruct how they do. what they do to tease out the things that you can use. My guest today is not only incredibly successful In her various endeavors.

4:13 She is Absolutely hilarious. And I burst out laughing a lot in this conversation. I had a blast. I think you will enjoy it as well. Barbara Corcoran. Barbara Corcoran has been an investor slash shark for the past 15 season on ABC's four-time Emmy Award winning show, Shark Tank, investing in more than one hundred businesses to date. Even more impressive to me, she is also the founder of an eponymous real estate company, the Corcor Group, which she started with a$1,000 loan after leaving her job as a waitress in New York City. You've seen this name everywhere. It's on signs, buildings. all over the place. Over the next twenty five years, she would parlay that$1,000 into a five billion dollar real estate.

4:53 business and we get really deep into the weeds about early decisions, critical inflection points, and oh my God, some of her stories are just Incredible. Barbara is the author of the National Bestseller Shark Tales, How I Turned One Thousand Dollars Into a Billion Dollar Business, and host of the top business channel on Patreon. Barbara in your pocket, which provides exclusive content created for entrepreneurs at every level. On Patreon, Barbara will dive deep into the topics most important in business today. Give an inside look at how she runs her business and works with her shark tank companies. and join members live to answer their toughest questions. You can find Barbara on TikTok, on Instagram,

5:33 LinkedIn all Barbara Corcran and you can find Barbara in your pocket at patreon dot com slash barber Corcran, without further ado, please enjoy This very wide ranging, meandering, hilarious, and also very tactical. in strategic conversation with Barbara.

5:52 Corcan. So I thought we would start Barbara with Your fake funeral. Because I would love to know for your seventieth birthday.

6:03 How did you Decide. To have This funeral rehearsal, effectively. How did that happen? It was a competition with my friends. I overheard two friends were planning a

6:16 Birthday party for me as a surprise. Mm-hmm. And they didn't know I knew. But I don't like surprises. I like it when I give the surprise. So I immediately kept thinking, I'm gonna surprise them. I'm gonna surprise them with my own surprise. And now when I gave it some thought, I tried to think of the most absurd things. And the most absurd thing was to kill myself and have my own shoe. It just seemed like the right thing to do because I knew it would have great shock value and I loved shock people.

6:45 You do love shock value. So I planned it, but I took other two other good friends into my confidence who could keep a secret. So we switched the party. They thought they were waiting for me to come into the house upstairs of my apartment. It was a great re memory of it. And I was really downstairs waiting in the coffin. And then my good brother told him, Hey, she's coming in downstairs. Hurry down the stairs. They all came charging down the stairs. I guess I had eighty five people there. Yeah.

7:11 And they walked into a funeral. I mean if it had ended there I would have been satisfied'cause the guests were I could hear with my eyes closed. Ha ha ha They really thought I was dead. And then they came up and paid my respects and I had the rabbi give the last rites or whatever he does in the Jewish faith and the minister, they're both phony friends, but they were dressed for the occasion.

7:36 And I got to hear what everybody said about me before I was dead. And I thought I'm probably the only person on earth who actually is hearing about it before I'm dead. So I loved it. And I had a beautiful gown. I looked apart. I was gorgeous and So my final day was really a beautiful day. And I think there was am I making this up that that you hopped out at one point and then started dancing the tango? Is that right? Something like that. Yes, of course. I have taken lessons.

8:05 I had taken lessons for four weeks. I had a beautiful gown with it. Tall slit. Red. I look gorgeous. And when I kicked my leg up, I had practice that move. I could kick my leg and hop right out. And then we started the dancing, and that was a dance party. We had a ball. Incredible. Incredible. Yeah you really seem to have a knack.

8:25 And Obviously an enthusiasm for shock value and P R Stunts. Getting press has been a superpower, and in the early stages of your business, certainly that was the case and continues to be the case.

8:40 Where does that come from? In the reading and research that I did, I couldn't quite figure out If that was you out of the box as a little kid, w where did that interest in buzz and PR and the knack for that come from. Honestly from my dad, you hadn't met my dad, you would have known that. He was the king of fun. He worked two jobs his whole life, so he killed himself for his family. But on Saturday and Sunday he was our playmate And he would think of the

9:06 most irresponsible things to do with us. We had ten children. And He was the most populated dad in the whole town. Because he would put us on A wooden ladder, shove us down the side yard, over retaining wall into oncoming traffic. He thought that was exciting.

9:20 Surprised you didn't have your funeral earlier. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But he would put a twist on everything that would just make everything fun for us. So I realize the importance of fun. I mean, people just don't have enough fun.

9:37 I'm sure I'm everybody's most fun friend and I like that. Because I think it's so worthy. to introduce fun and joy and memories into people's lives, whether you're at work or whether you're at home. I think about it afterwards and I get so much satisfaction out of it. Even some days I think to myself Well, if I died today I'd be happy because I really had a good time last night.

10:00 But I don't plan on dying. And as I was trying to deconstruct Let's just say the first five Ten years of your business. And we're gonna talk about things that preceded that too, the twenty two jobs and so on. And I'll just bounce around because it's my curiosity that I'm chasing here, but

10:15 Your ability to storytell, it strikes me that You're very good at people, you're very good at systems. You're also very good at positioning and storytelling. Is that also from your dad or is that was that a trained or learned Skill on some level.

10:31 That's an Irish trade. It's called Irish bullshit. Talk to any Irishman. He can usually throw it around. I don't think that's a special trait at all. Mm-hmm. But why I like stories is people remember stories. You could lecture, you could share experiences and people will like it for the moment. But they won't repeat them, nor will it resonate with them.

10:51 Just like the old Indians probably sat around the fire and told stories. Same kind of thing. And also I was in the sales business, remember? And in sales, telling a good story is powerful. The PR that I did for my real estate company. We're all stories, creating a story that people would be curious about to pull them in.

11:10 And so it always had a great Spectacular beginning or a hook? I always used to think what hook could I use? What hook? And then I would develop the story quickly. And that's why I also think I did so well with the press building my business because of the storytelling. What were some of the Hooks or early wins in the press for your business. Because in the beginning, my understanding is

11:32 You're basically competing against this old boy network. But they're complacent and they're accustomed to doing the things the way their father or grandfather did it. And so you had certain advantages in terms of speed and so on. What were some of the early wins

11:48 In terms of Press. Or early hooks that you used that seemed to really work. in the beginning chapters of that business. There were so many hooks, um little hooks, big hooks, some that didn't make money immediately, but wound up making money and some that made a lot of money really fast. I think probably my first stunt.

12:07 was I when I got my first big listing which was I don't even remember who Owned it now, some famous guy had a ton of money. And he owned the top floor, he had his cell the penhouse of the galleria. Oh Stuart Mott, that was his name. Mott applesauce. Lots of money. Nobody could sell the damn thing. It was too big, too expensive. It wasn't even attractive. And he had cows on the roof. So he thought the story

12:31 might be that we have cows grazing on the roof, which could have been, but what the story I developed was I figured out what the maintenance was for night. And I asked him how often he slept there. 'Cause rich people have multiple homes, he said Three nights, maybe four nights, and I divided the maintenance by that.

12:48 And my headline was uh uh. live in this apartment and the picture was all over the place. It will only cost you eighty thousand dollars a night to put your head on the pillow. And people were fascinated, people would spend that money. I think right after that I then got a very good listing because of that, because one thing leads to another in the real estate business. And I got the Guggenheim mansion. Nobody could sell it. It had never been touched. It was a dump. A real dump in the most expensive block in town. I couldn't even get anybody to see it twice.

13:19 And so then I discovered a safe in the basement. I said, What's in that safe? And they said, We don't know. We haven't opened it. So I invited the Today Show to come over for the opening. And they filmed it. And we opened it and there was nothing in it, but who cares? There was so much suspense about it that I sold it like within a week. We had uh so many celebrities come to see it. They just were enamored with it. That's a story. Those are early hits and then I just started churning out any kind of bullshit I could think of, really. And people usually went for it, you know. One of the most fun things was when the boards in New York, the stuffy boards announced they were gonna interview dogs before they let them into the building. I thought it was preposterous.

14:00 But the very following day I had all my salespeople bringing their dogs to Central Park via the New York Post and I taught dogs how to shake hands like five hundred. And it was it was a great picture, you know. So I knew people would go for it. Did that sell apartments? No, but it put my brand in front of everybody's face and made the old boy network go crazy, which was half my reason for doing things to compete. to show them that I could think of things I could never think of, you know? Definitely.

14:29 And as one of ten kids I've heard in other interviews that you've Mentioned you learn how to compete. And you learned a lot of social dynamics in that environment. And I've been trying to Study What differentiated you from your siblings in the sense that what were the contributors to your later success? One certainly seems to be.

14:49 Your experience with Dyslexia. Are there other experiences or innate differences that you feel really differentiated ultimately the trajectory that you took. From your other siblings.

15:02 Not innate, I don't think. Mm. But taught or brought out by my mother, definitely. My mother would decide what each child's gift was and we had a role in the family. So we weren't just ten kids doing the same thing. We all had a job. My job was to entertain everybody. My mother said I had a wonderful imagination. I could think up games. She would always push me like that, where the chalk was in my hand, not in a sibling's hand.

15:25 The rainy days I was in charge of entertaining the kids. So I think my mother's belief. I was very creative and she always told me, You're so creative, you're so creative, you're so good. You have what you do. I think that gave me the role that I got. And then I practiced. I mean Not every day of my life, but Constantly I had to entertain kids.

15:46 And so I think I just grew up with great confidence that I had the ability to do that,'cause I could do it really well. I mean, if you were to walk into Edgewater, New Jersey when I was eight years old, nine years old, ten years old. Every kid in the neighborhood was playing in front of my house. on the street because I was able to draw extravagant snail games. that went on for like a block and a half to win the game. You had to go for a block and a half with the traffic going by.

16:14 What is a snail game? What type of game is that? I don't know if I invented it, honestly. I don't remember how it Came to be. It's like a very sophisticated hopscotch board instead of having a straight line, I made it in circles wounding, wounding, wounding, wounding. You couldn't see where you're going. And on certain spots I had two feet, another spot I had one foot, then another spot I had two feet and one hand, another spot I had no feet. You had to really jump to get over it. And I always use different color Chalk and it made it exciting.

16:44 You know, so people would cheer for the kids. It entertained us for years by sale games. And if it was a rainy day I would make board games at home. And my brother to this day says, I wish I had those board games. I would have made a fortune if I had produced them. I said, I don't think they were that good, Tom. You know. But my mother was responsible, definitely. Moms are powerful creatures, as you know. Very powerful. They can make you. My mom was a maker, thank God. God bless your soul. And it seems like that would also be

17:16 On some level tremendous confidence builder. In combination then with starting work as early as you did. School being difficult with the dyslexia and then building confidence through work. If we look at that

17:28 period of work before you start your company. And I guess there were twenty two or some odd jobs. I've heard you discuss Service jobs, waitressing before. And I worked in restaurants for a long time as a kid, bus boys. Then you know. I think everybody should do it. And

17:44 I'm curious if you could maybe take a second just to say what was so critical about that particular job in terms of what you learned. But also what second place might be. So outside of the waitressing. In terms of learning. Things that contributed to your later success. Is there a second place? type of job that really helped you?

18:02 I don't even think of it as first second place. Honestly. Every job I had I learned something new on. And that's what I wanted to do. I don't think consciously, but My first job When I was eleven at as a playground supervisor, not a very big job, no doubt, but I watched four kids in the morning for three hours and played on the playground.

18:23 But I'm thinking this town is filled with poor kids. Where are the kids? So I took my kids and I sent a letter to the Bergen Evening Record, the local paper. And I said, we have kids here coming for breakfast. Breakfast with Barbara. I titled it. Breakfast with Barbara. I was 11. I had to have somebody else write it for me because I couldn't write. But I sent it out to the reporter and they sent a camera down.

18:46 And after Breakfast With Barbara was in the Bergen Record, I had Close to forty kids show up every day. And I realized my very first job was The power of the press. I never forgot that. But sales jobs I learned so much in

19:01 Talking on my feet, I learned I could talk to people. I could Get them to see things the way I saw them, but So I would say, imagine if you had this granny dress at Schreitz's department store. Imagine if your kids had it. They could play house all day, they could blah blah blah, and people would see it through my eyes and they'd buy one. I learned everything in my jobs. Nothing at school, not a damn thing at school. But I learned everything in my jobs and I found my confidence there and I also found

19:28 Out what I wasn't good at. I wasn't good working for a bastard if there was a really mean cheap boss. I quit. After a while, you know, I just wouldn't take it. I was no good as a secretary. I couldn't type, even though I lied to get the job said I could. I couldn't take Steno well, even though I said I could. I would get fired.

19:47 And so I really learned that I had a narrow piece that I was good at selling. Hustling. And PR. You know, I got that early. How lucky you are when you have jobs as a kid.

19:58 How lucky you are to hustle and Get your real education. That's the real life, you know? For sure. I would add another superpower in So much that I've seen of you and heard and watched

20:10 The one thing I have never scene and maybe I've just missed it, but I have never heard you take a victim perspective. And I have heard you say, for instance, that the difference between successful people and others is how long they spend Feeling sorry for themselves.

20:25 I've also heard you say And I'm paraphrasing here, so if I get it wrong, please correct me. So far you're right, Jim. That you are at your best when you're being talked down to by a man or something like that.

20:36 Definitely. And I would love for you to Perhaps tell the story of your fifty-one percent partner and the founding of the company. But also I'm so curious where that resilience and ability to reframe

20:52 What other people could take as victimization and turn it into something To your advantage. 'Cause I've seen that over and over again in your story. It's such an important part. I mean recovering from failure.

21:04 in my book is ninety five percent of life. If you're gonna have a good life. You better be really good at getting back up like a jack in the Boom Boom Boom Just get back up, get back up. I think I got that, honestly, by being dyslexic. Because when you're The kid in class that's dumb, you're a failure by anybody's standard.

21:24 And you're constantly put down or look down on. And I was embarrassed. I learned shame in the classroom. Terrible thing for a child to feel like a nobody just'cause they don't have a certain skill set. But that definitely taught me about I had to go to school every day. I had to go back and sit there and hope they didn't call on me for reading, whatever.

21:43 And I got used to being a loser like that. And getting back up and just I just had to go to school. So I got early training in that area. And I also learned from running sales people my whole life, that really was the only difference between the superstars that I had making two, three million dollars a year and people made an average of forty five thousand, which was the norm.

22:04 How does a superstar do it? You know, I became a student of that. I used to think it was connections I would hire for that. Work ethic I would hire for that. Who did they know in real estate, high price real estate I would hire for that?

22:18 And then I realized that's just a starting gate. It gets you in easy. But when it comes down to it's how well you get back up and how long you take to feel sorry for yourself. They drove me crazy, too. but I admired my superstars so much because of that ability. I could see them like you could punch them around. They go, ha ha the back. And so I learned from them too, you see? But I don't know if I answered your question too, but I think I got a little lost in that answer.

22:46 I think you did answer it and I think we'll probably end up expanding on it a little bit. To give an example from earlier. Would you mind describing the The founding of the company, being your business partner and how that came together, just to give people a little bit of context if they don't have it. Yes, of course.

23:02 I was waitressing when I was Seventeen at the Fort Lee Diner. which was a above my house, a middle class town which I thought then was a rich town. That's really just Middle class by comparison. And one night a man walked in and I looked at him.

23:19 He had olive skin, jet black hair, aviator shades on. You couldn't really see his eyes and a real suit on. I had never seen a man in a suit in my life until that night. Nobody wore suits even into the diner for dinner. I looked at him and I thought, I'm gonna lose my Virginia one look. I knew I was gonna lose my And I did that month and I knew it would be within the month.

23:42 But anyway, his name was Ramon Simone and He Convinced me after a month of driving me home at night, which my parents didn't like at all, but he convinced me to go to New York City. He said with your personality you should really visit a city. I'm gonna pay for

23:58 A week at the Barber Song Hotel for Women? I'd never heard of that. I have never visited New York City. It was the only hotel left in New York that only leased rooms to women. No men were allowed. So it's respectable. It's

24:11 Now a rebook club, of course, many years later. My mom accused me of being a prostitute. I was Your mom did. Oh yeah, let a man pay for your hotel and I was going to New York City and leaving our home? Oh not a good thing. But uh he gave me a hundred dollars to buy my new first New York outfit.

24:29 And then I was wondering if my mom was correct. But she still wasn't, I could tell. I was just taking the hundred to get a new outfit. But let me make a short story of that. That's so boring. Yep.

24:40 Key part is he gave me the thousand dollars to start my business and he said he would take fifty one percent of the share, so I would take forty nine percent because he was the founding partner and I was the operating partner. I said, Sounds like a deal and off I went running. About seven years later when we had a rental business, we had I think fourteen agents at the time renting apartments all around Manhattan. He came home one night and I was making pasta for his three kids who I became their mom. And uh he said, I'm gonna marry a secretary.

25:09 And I couldn't believe it. I thought I was hearing things. That bitch, I thought in my mid, but I said Tina. And they were married within seven months. It just broke my heart, but more than broke my heart. It really broke my confidence because Remember, he had found me at a diner, he had taught me I could have my own business, he loaned me the money, he took me out of my hometown. He was a man ten years older than me, he knew this way around the world. So all of a sudden that's gone, my legs were taken out and running me, and I thought I couldn't live the year almost is how I felt at the stupid time. What a waste of energy.

25:42 Anyway. Just about a year later, I think I was finished off on a Thursday watching Ray and Tina in my old office together, holding hands and making eyes. It broke my heart. So the very next morning I arrived in I said, We're ending the business today, Ray, we're gonna cut it in half. I said, You pick the first person, I'll pick the second until we have'em cut and and five minutes later, I took my seven people and I said, Guess what? On Monday We're gonna move. Ah where? It's a surprise. It was a surprise.

26:12 But in those days, Tim, honestly, you could get a phone installed on a weekend. A great advantage. Ma Bell came on that weekend and stole phone lines I had a landlord who rented me the 11th floor, which was just like our previous eighth floor. So I had a space to open it. And I was able to buy all my desks down on forty second street and the guys ran it up to Midtown, put it in place. It was a different world.

26:34 But on Monday I was open for business and that was the Corkin Group. That was the first day of the business. And I named it the Corkin Group'cause I knew with my cash position and acumen I was gonna need a lot of help from the group to make it to the finish line, you know? So I'm gonna pick up on that very briefly, but I have two follow up questions. One is related to the landlord, but before I get there, I was listening to Diary of a CEO, your interview on that show, which was excellent. Thank you.

26:59 Absolutely. It was a very vulnerable, very powerful and One thing stuck out to me that I wanted to ask about and maybe it'll be a dead end, but When you were describing The I don't want to say betrayal, maybe that's a strong word, maybe it is an appropriate word.

27:12 It's life. Yeah, th it's life. But what you said that struck me is I don't blame him. Something like that. And I I wanted to ask you if you meant that or if you could say a little bit more about that. And this comes back to the My perception that you very rarely take the victim perspective, you use it in some way. I'm curious. What you meant by that when you said I didn't blame him. Well, you have to realise Tina was five years younger than me.

27:38 Uh-huh. I was thirty when he left me. Tina was twenty five or so prettier than me. Much prettier.

27:45 Had long blonde hair. She was far more feminine than I ever was. And she was quiet. And she adored Ray. So

27:54 How can you blame them? They fell in love. They had three children together after they were married. I mean they were clearly in love. But I couldn't blame'em. I mean, I would have fallen in love with China myself if I was Ray. Probably would've Help them out the door, you know? No, I didn't have a grudge, honestly. I was tremendously hurt.

28:14 As we all are when we're rejected. And I was At the age where I was thinking I should start getting serious about marriage. But I didn't have anybody, so I was you know, I had that moment where I was hurt. But I didn't blame'em, no.

28:29 He did the right thing. He did me a great favor. Without him I wouldn't have gotten started. Probably I would have found some other sucker to give me a thousand dollars. I don't know. But he was there the way the one that did it. Mm. Now you are good at spotting talent and we're gonna come back to that point. What do you think it was that Ray saw in you?

28:47 Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm. What type of enthusiasm? There's so many different species of enthusiasm. I was a happy girl. I saw the bright side of things, which I r have always done. My whole family was pretty positive, you know. I had good positive role models, but I was highly enthusiastic. Very talkative. It wasn't my first job, remember, when Ray met me. Right. He couldn't look at me and realize I'd been working since eleven.

29:12 And I was comfortable in my skin, I was flirting. With the guys at the counter to get the bigger tips'cause that's how you get bigger tips. I knew the ropes, so to speak. I looked like a young girl, I wasn't so young inside. I think he saw me as a fresh, happy person. Who wasn't shy?

29:29 And I made him happy. He was a bit of an introvert himself. Yeah. Little bit of darkness in him that I didn't have in myself. Yeah. So he he wanted something to offset that.

29:40 To counterbalance it. We're pretty opposite in that way, yeah. The landlord you mentioned, who I guess gave you a floor, was that, and I might get the pronunciation wrong here, but was that Johnny Campania? Or was that someone else? That was John H. Compagna. There we go. John Has he always pointed out. He always pointed that out. Yeah, John Campania. Now here's a handsome man. Wow, is he handsome.

30:05 So how does he fit into this story? He did me a great favor. I had two roommates on East City sixth street and I was operating my first business out of my apartment as so many people do. Uh-huh. It's another story I won't go uh on a

30:18 Different road. But I got lucky in that somebody called me one day and I could smell the person on the phone wasn't who they said they were. I could just feel it. And as it turns out, that lady posing as a customer represented the largest relocation company in New York. And I've sensed something and I gave her a dog and pony show all day like

30:40 perfect agent in New York. And she fell in love with me and she gave me all her business. She said, You know, I'm not who you think I am. I said, Oh really? I knew she was somebody else.

30:53 And then she started shoveling me business. So as a result of that, getting back to John Campania, John H Campania. She started shoveling all these young people from Citibank, young guys, and I would meet them in my apartment and show them apartments. I said come to eighty sixth street. It was like turning over pancakes. They were coming so fast at me. And so I was showing apartments, I had my routine. Breaking in the commissions. And that was going on probably for three or four months.

31:20 And then Mr. Rock the Super reported me to Mr. Campania, the landlord, that he had a prostitute in the building. And I get it because I had spent my first check on a brand new coat at Bergdorf Goodman's. My first commission check, three hundred and forty dollars, and I looked like a fancy lady. I knew it. And so I got eviction procedure. I found a note on my door, you know, big red print they put it's really a public embarrassment.

31:46 If you should notice. For prostitution? But why I say it was a favor? I knew I had paid my rent. I knew I was quiet. I knew what I thought it maybe was a mistake, but then when I thought about it I thought I bet he thinks of a prostitute because of all the guys in the apartment all the time. So I went and visited him in his office and he was very buttoned up. Did not like me when I walked in.

32:09 I explained that I was not a prostitute, man. It took me a while to Realize that talking to'em. You think I'm a prostitute? I was almost a nun. I'd be the last person to be a prostitute, you know? That's how extreme He was Catholic fortunately, knew what a nun was. And then I explained to him how Mr. Jafune on the next block on another telling.

32:30 I did it on purpose. Was renting his apartments like hot cakes when I knew Mr. Campania had eight empty And I said He's renting his apartments like hotcakes'cause I was smart enough to tell him to build a wall in the L shaped living room and call it a one bedroom and den. So he's renting the same square footage as you

32:47 for forty dollars more a month. than you're getting on your plain one bedroom. It was the idea I had for Mr. Chafuni and I shared it with Mr Campania. He said, You have the listings on all my apartments. I got it. I didn't even think of it as a sales call. I thought it was a defense call. But I left that building. He fired his agent, who he had worked with for years. I can't recall his name now. But I became his exclusive agent and that was the first real exclusive agency I got. It was so easy with his listings'cause I could get the city bankers in my apartment, go in the elevator and rent them an apartment. Easy peasy. You know? So that was a that was a fortunate happening.

33:26 Fortunate happening. I didn't expect to land that way. So then you end up with The founding of Corkin Group. After Rayantina. Yes. Right, exactly. And you know you're gonna need help, but

33:38 I would imagine it was perhaps challenging to recruit in the beginning. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm wondering what the key was to Getting people you thought could be successful to join your company in the early days. What was the pitch? What was the What was the trick?

33:53 I had a great gimmick, two great gimmicks I used. When I advertise in the one dids I would never put position opener salespeople on it. That's what everybody puts salespeople want, salesmen want. I made my caption in double height.

34:07 I used up my lineage that way. One empty desk. Rare. People want what they can't get, you know? Yeah, yeah. And so people would call on the one empty desk.

34:18 But I didn't say make high commissions, I didn't even address the money apiece. I put Join a company that's a lot of fun and cleaning up. And having a blast, I just trimmed up our team that we had, which was true. I wasn't exaggerating on that. But it brought in a lot of calls, okay? Then When I was opening up a much bigger office and needed to hire like

34:40 fifteen, twenty agents at once, I had even a better gimmick. I put learn everything you want to know about real estate, career night. Sounds common now, but then they never heard of career nights. Nobody did them. And then as the Forty people would come into my career night. I had a pencil in one hand, a pen in the other, and if they look good, I gave them a pen to sign in. And then I

35:04 Dog and pony them showed made them fall in love with me, putting on my charm in every way. They all wanted to work for me. And they call me the next day. I say, if you have any interest, call me tomorrow. And when they call I would just see if they were in pencil or pen and know who I wanted to talk to. So maybe thirty percent of the people that were at the career night.

35:23 invite them in for an interview and then I would try to figure out if they have the capacity to sell, which is no easy feat. It's hard to recruit salespeople. Very hard. Very hard to recognize the talent that you need to do it. Did you view being a woman in that business at that time?

35:40 as an advantage a disadvantage, a mixture of both. How did you think about that, if you thought about it? I have to say when I walked into my first real estate board of New York meeting and didn't see a woman in the room of the business owners. I was a little intimidated. But when I tried to talk to the sons of rich guys, that's basically who the trade was owned by, they didn't work very hard. They were a cocky I spotted the cockiness.

36:06 And I knew I could be Them at their own game. It's a weird thing about cockiness. It's a blinder, like I'm cool. I'm cool. But they're never looking or hungry for other things. I was desperate, not only hungry, I was desperate to even like Get a first sale into my bill. It was an advantage. It was an advantage because I could then walk into the rooms and I always wore short red skirts with my jackets.

36:30 And I had great lakes and I knew it. And everybody would turn to look at'cause a girl stood out. You didn't even have to be special. You just had to be a girl and you'd we're different. But as competing with them, I never saw myself as a woman. I never saw it as a disadvantage or a real advantage. I saw myself as a competitor. Just a competitor.

36:51 And boy, if they treated me badly or spoke down to me. What didn't give me? Any credence that I could possibly make it in their world. They thought I was a passer by here. I would say to myself, you just wait. I'm gonna become your biggest rival. I knew that right from the beginning because I was very competitive by nature and I

37:11 hated the insult. It was like send me back to second grade where the kids were laughing at me. It was too raw. Even though I was much older, it was too raw, you know? And so it fired me up. It fired it was the best thing in the world. If I had walked into a world of women all competing, also all being good

37:29 I don't think I would have been very successful. I think the men helped me. I just had to show them I knew what I was doing or would learn what I was doing. Just a quick thanks to one of our sponsors and we'll be right back to the show. This episode is brought to you by AG1, the daily foundational nutritional supplement that supports whole body health. And I do get asked a lot what I would take if I could only take one supplement. And the true answer is invariably AG1. It simply covers a ton of bases. I usually drink it in the mornings and frequently take their travel packs with me. On the road. So what is AG1? AG one is a science driven formulation of vitamins, probiotics, and whole food source nutrients. In a single scoop, AG1 gives you support for the brain, gut, and immune system.

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38:42 You had this attitudinal advantage, right? I mean you had this competitive drive. Tim, let me stop you for a minute. I have to say you are a wonderful Interviewer. Thank you. I am shocked at how much you know about me. It's almost intimidating. No, really, nobody takes the time. Good feeling.

39:01 Over preparer for sure. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I take it seriously. I enjoy doing this. And I also value your time. So I'm supposed to I I appreciate it. So you had this attitudinal advantage, you had this competitive drive. You also Later became very well known for systems. And I'm wondering

39:23 As someone with dyslexia, what did you do differently? Because you're in an information business on some level. You're in a people business, but you have to handle listings, you have to handle I'm sure plenty of written material. What types of rules or systems did you have in place for yourself? So that you could function at a high level. How did that work?

39:42 I don't think dyslexia eliminates the ability to organize. I don't know. I've never read about it. I got my organizational system from my mother who ran our two bedroom house like a boot camp. You know, everything had its place. Anything she had a repeat, she made a system for. If she had a polish out white buck's shoes to go to Catholic school in the morning, she used a thick paintbrush and painted them on a radiator. turned the mauve to dry, painted the other side, and even painted the radiator white after a while when she realized it was dripping on the silver radiator. She painted it white to get rid of that problem. Everything my mother approached, she approached that way so

40:16 Everyone in my family, my nine siblings that I grew up very organized. Very organized. We knew what organization was. We were part of her system. And so I made my sales people part of my system. I just mimic my mother in every way. But as a dyslexic, you have a problem with numbers as you know in words. So I didn't use them. I had no numbers, no words, I color coded everything.

40:39 I had color coded file cabinets, listing cards, one bedrooms were one color, two bedrooms are another color, when everybody else in the industry had white. I had buttons on things that signified things. I just did a visual organization of anything I touched, okay? And even right down to the memos that went out to congratulate people. I didn't use words. I found pictures and put them together and it would make them laugh, you know? So but they got the message. So everything was visually done. And Very much like my mother, if I had to do it twice, I said I'm not never gonna do this again, how could I repeat it and have it automatically in place? So everything was automatic. Everything.

41:17 It was really if you walked into my company, I I'm probably most proud. I shouldn't be most proud of it, because it's systems. How excited can you get about systems? But I love'em. I was so proud of the company, how well run it was, because it was like You'd swear like a Nazi was running. I get very excited about systems. So I'm I share the Oh yes, very much. I get very excited about systems and automating. So we have that in common. You have the automation for these repetitive tasks or processes. You also have the chutspan the talent of Say

41:56 driving the press and getting attention. What other innovations In this industry really paid off in the early days, like the first handful of years.

42:09 of competing against these old boy networks where they have committees and they have to get approvals, then they have the lawyers and so on and so forth. What were some of the ways that you experimented and innovated In the first. Five years, let's just say, if anything comes to mind. I think it all comes under the umbrella of urgency. If I thought of an idea on a Monday I had on the street by Tuesday.

42:32 The big guys couldn't do that. And if I thought of an idea, I asked myself, is anyone else doing it? And no one else was doing it, I said, let's give it a shot. And you know, you try five things, one thing works. Okay. But I kept trying different things, different things. There was a system in New York which is unofficially still the system even though people don't really acknowledge it.

42:54 Where no one shared listings, everybody Corral listings kept the good ones for themselves. Everybody in New York. was signed up for that. There was no MLS. And I declared that we were gonna start sharing our listings. My salespeople almost killed me. Why should we share? Nobody else's sharing.

43:10 Which you can understand. Yeah.'Cause people will follow us. Customers will like it and people will follow us. Well they didn't follow us. And it took two years. before the customers even caught on to it. And then the real estate board of New York all my competitors I don't even know what the motion is called but they filed me at the real estate board to like in a virtual real estate lawsuit without the money.

43:31 Uh to stop me from doing business in the state because they said I falsely advertised. Because I was advertising like crazy what I call central listing system, because we had no MLS. So I call it central listing system. If you list with us. You will hit every broker in the community. If you listen to your competitor, you'll hit Three percent. Which was true.

43:51 Well they told me The way they interpret it was different. They kind of thought that I was saying to everybody that they were no good. Well w which I kinda was I guess. But they all band against me and wanted to throw me out of business. And that was tenuous. Was a rough time.

44:08 But that was something trying to do things well differently that didn't pay off so good, really. If I had to do over again, I wouldn't have done it. You wouldn't have done it. No. Not worth a hassle. We can talk about all sorts of highlights and I do want to talk about some highlights, but let's talk about briefly homes on tape. Could you describe your experience with homes on tape? Yeah, was that good? I made it choose a one point two Two five million dollars in one day, three hours to be exact.

44:33 That was another idea they said I couldn't do. Huh. They were wrong. It was no law against I checked the law. Yeah. Okay. What I did was it was a terrible real estate market. It was when interest rates in the early eighties, I think. uh late seventies were at eighteen percent, so no one bought real estate in New York. Nobody would dare buy unless you had all cash and very few people.

44:54 Yeah. So I thought of this idea. I copied it from a puppy sale that I went to with my mother. I guess I won't give you that detail. I'll tell you how I applied it to real estate. I'm so curious. Wait, no, tell me the story. So puppy sale. What happened at the puppy sale? The puppy film Which my mother took us to to visit our grandpa ward down in New Jersey, the shoreline.

45:16 My mother made us sit and watch the farmer next door who was having puppies Jack Russell's for sale. And she had Maybe eight or nine puppies to sell. And there was a long line of fancy cars, cars I had never seen so fancy. They're all from New York City, my mother s told us. All these fancy city people have come to buy the puppies. There must have been thirty cars waiting to get a puppy.

45:39 And there was so much fighting in the line when the last puppy was taken. Because there wasn't enough puppies to you know, to give everybody a puppy, of course. My mother said she's really a smart woman. Watch her operate. I remember thinking operate like she's gonna cut the puppies off because I was young enough not to know what that means. But it was her operation. She did this regularly. She had a bunch of dogs and she would Over subscribe the appointments they all had appointments say left I agree.

46:03 I had eighty eight apartments owned by prudential insurance and Bernie Mendick. They couldn't have an auction. They said they had to get rid of them. What could I do? I looked at them and realized they were not saleable. They had no kitchen, they were dumpy, they were in the wrong buildings, they were just really The losers in the marketplace. And so I went back and said I couldn't sell it. Nobody could sell it. I couldn't think of any way to sell it unless they let me do an auction.

46:28 They said no auctions. And then Bernie Mendick, talk about positive reinforcement. great developer. He said to me, Barbara, you're such a smart girl, you'll figure it out. And I thought, I will. And I went home and I copied the puppy sale. So I priced the eighty-eight apartments exactly alike. different floors, different locations, views, no views, no kitchens, did have a kitchen, had a back wall, whatever.

46:49 Equalize them like the puppies. And I offered them for the same price, which now you'll say, Why wouldn't people buy them? But not a great price at date, but they were all flat priced at fifty nine nine. Inch under sixty thousand and I had Almost one hundred and eighty people waiting for me to The morning of the puppy sale. The morning of the one price sale. One price sale, I called it.

47:10 And you should have seen The couples, the individuals running I had a bus waiting for them for the east side and west side, it said deals on wheels, deals on wheels. And they took them to the west side, took them up the upper east side everywhere, and they grabbed those apartments, and then I had a great street. Well, I should really say a scale. I had the contractor's sales. Loaded up, big stacks of them with signatures on. I sign them all.

47:36 And then I had a new stack with no signatures. I goes, Pisa taken, sign the contract here. People walking sign them some fence. And I sold them all like within Close to three hours, two and a half hours. And Bernie Mendick wrote me a check. How did you advertise it? And I opened two new offices. I didn't advertise I had no word how did you get the word out to people? How did they learn about the sales?

48:01 Who doesn't like a secret? I didn't have the money to advertise, but I wouldn't if anyway, if I had the money. I told my salespeople only bring your two best customers. Pick of the litter. You get there early, your customer is gonna get the best pick.

48:15 Get there early, but don't you dare bring more than two customers that aren't enough to go around. Now two times I guess I had at the time. Hundred and fifty salespeople? That's three hundred people. That's much more than I had apartments.

48:29 And so it guaranteed me a line and they were all there. Were people upset? You betcha they were like, I didn't get my I was gonna call it a puppy again. I didn't get my apartment, I didn't get my apartment. And you might ask, why would the person last in line who got the run to the litter a horrible apartment that who wants it? Why would they buy it? Because they could turn around and see not a hundred people in line. Because in sales everybody wants what they you short supply. It's kinda like one empty desk, the same theory. You make it tight. You can't always get it, you know. So people reach for it.

48:59 People love scarcity. They love it. That was the word I was groping for and couldn't remember. Yeah, scarcity. And On the talent side, I want to ask you about

49:08 Esther Kaplan, if I'm saying that correctly. Wonderful Esther. So wonderful Esther when you first met her. It seems like I'm just gonna read here. This is from CNBC. She was a petite woman dressed in a little knit suit with little pearl buttons and spoke so softly, I could barely hear what she was saying. I had already learned the great salespeople were typically loud and enthusiastic.

49:28 So I handed Esther my car and told her I'd call her if something opened, having no intention of calling her. So what changed? Why was she to be seen again? How did that actually Get salvaged. Boy, thank God she opened her purse when I gave her my business card to put

49:44 Business card in your purse. And that was all the difference'cause she opened that purse with their little click. Even the click of her purse was concise, you know, she was one of those And she opened it up. And she looked for a place to file the card and she tilted it toward me like you are where

49:59 You are now? Yeah. And she had a found cabinet inside it. Not a metal one. But she She had partitions with labels in her little purse. And I I'll tell ya, I had never seen that in my life, and I've never seen it since. I thought to myself

50:14 Which I've said before, but I remember consciously thinking I'd like to put my business in that lady's purse. And I told her I open a position for her. I teach her everything I knew. She'd be my right hand person, blah, blah, blah. I never expected her to make a sale, honestly. She did. She was a consistently hard worker and sold what she needed to, because I didn't want to pay her. To help me out. I didn't have the money.

50:36 Uh But I told her I'd give her ten percent of my business and she would be my right hand man and I'd teach her everything I know about selling. And that was a wonderful partnership. I could have never built that business without us, so she was my exact opposite. She did everything well that I didn't do well, and I did everything well she didn't do well. That was a lucky day.

50:54 Yeah, what a lucky day. And lucky she tilted her purse. Did you find out if she did it accidentally or on purpose? I'm having lunch with her tomorrow. She claims now and she's very elderly. I'm hoping she makes the lunch. She said her purse wasn't nearly as organized as I make it up to be. I said it was as it really was. She goes, No, it wasn't. So we argue about that all the time. But she likes it. She says, even if it's a story, I like it, but it's not a story. I distinctly remember what that purse looked like. I could draw you a picture. Ha ha

51:24 What were some elements of the secret recipe of teaching her everything you knew about sales? I mean, you're an excellent salesperson. What were some of the key Elements of what you taught her. About sales. How to assess a customer's immediately.

51:37 when they're talking to you on the phone immediately. And it isn't how much money they had to spend. what they're looking for, what part of the town, whether you even have the listing possibly to show them. The whole thing was urgency. When do you need the apartment for? I taught her the golden question in all sales.

51:53 When do you need it for her? Mm-hmm. Oh, we'd like to get in by Christmas. That's a decent answer. At least it has a timeline. Another answer we whenever we find the right thing, don't work with them. Uh huh. The best answer of all is

52:07 I really have to find something within the month because I'm being transferred here. Terrific. What are you doing today? So to rate your customers based on need only. Don't worry about another thing. Just do they need it and get out with them if they need it. And so I taught her how to pick the right customers to work with. And nothing unusual. I taught all my salespeople how to do that, how to qualify. How to rate them A, B, and C. A immediate B sort of immediate C, forget about it. Don't call'em back.

52:34 And I also taught her How to hustle. How to build a routine in showing customers Show them one apartment that's terrible. Or you could reverse it. Show them the apartment you think they'll buy first. And then you compare everything else to it.

52:48 You know, there's certain sequences selling that you want to expose How to dress for the park. How to get away with not paying for the cab. Very important when you don't have money. In New York City. How do you get away with that?

53:00 Try to hang out with the men. They usually won't let a lady pay for the care. Ha ha. And so that's a bonus. You could line up eight apartments to show to a man, but if you're showing it to a woman, make sure the apartments are closed. limited to three. Not because you're biased against women, but you had to make a cat fair. Yeah, all these little details. How to sequence what you show, what street like eighty sixth street was

53:25 A choppy street. So I always approach eighty sixth street, not from Lexington, where my office came from. But I always went to York and East End Avenue that was quiet with the birds with calls part, and then got out of the cabin walked them through that neighborhood up to eighty six. I wouldn't say well, maybe some people might call it scamming people, but

53:43 presenting as best you can. All those things are so important in sales. You know, and thoughtfulness. thoughtfulness and how you present and how oh and how to close. Yeah, how do you close? That's what I was gonna ask. That's what I was gonna ask. Very important thing, the reverse clothes, the best clothes in the world for any business. And it would start like this. Listen, today I'm gonna show you

54:05 A number of apartments. I don't expect you gonna like all of them, but they're all to be measured against one another. I'll show you a range of prices so you see the value. This way you're moving them from the price they said they had to have. You would have like a 10% leeway. I'm gonna show you all of the stuff. And I want you to promise me right up front you will not buy anything today.

54:26 Yeah. What do you mean I won't buy anything? Because I don't want you to be rash. Everything takes thought. You should really buy something you love and even if you think you love it today. You cannot buy it the same day because it might not really be a love affair. Promise me you won't buy anything. I would have customers calling me and I panting and begging me to let them buy something. It's a routine, right?

54:49 It's sales, you know? It's but every customer was happy with what I sold them. Every customer referred to their business so I knew I was doing good and making everybody happy. Wasn't like I was selling anything bad. I I always believed in what I sold or I wouldn't have shown it, you know? I just I'm saying that'cause I don't want you to think I'm a bad person. No, I don't think you're a bad person. I mean you've you've had very, very low very low churn rate in your company and companies and I don't think that for a second, and I'm curious about the aftercare, if you had any particular type of follow up, like after you saw something to someone.

55:22 After you sell a home, was there any type of protocol for that. That you had within the company. Definitely. I

55:33 bought a gift which was from the salesman'cause I want them to get the repeat business. Those are my men, you know, I need that. always sent a gift. I always had a lovely gift that wasn't too expensive, but we were making money so I could afford it. And the most important follow up was the follow up. I made sure that every three months they got a postcard. From the salesman, but it had my face on it. My brand on it.

55:56 Saying hello, I had cute little messages. Really hokey now that I look back at it, but it's unimportant. What was important is they didn't have to open an envelope to find the message. They had to see it'cause it was on a postcard. Mm-hmm. And if It had a rhythm to it.

56:11 always like a steady drip steady drip so it was hard for them to forget us. I remember I learned this lesson. I didn't do it the first one or two years, but I was at Lincoln Center one day. Having A lovely dinner with a friend.

56:25 And I sat next to a couple. And they were talking about moving and they were trying to recollect the name of the agent. Right there, right next to me. And they would say, What was her name? Where did she wear butt? They had lived in this apartment like fifteen years. And I thought to myself, Oh my god.

56:41 That's terrible. And I went right back and created the system to stay in touch with people'cause I saw what a loss it was. How much money did that? Mysterious agent lose that day. Probably a lot of money. They looked rich to me the way they were dressed. I learned the lesson at her expense, whoever she was. Yeah. Stay front and center. in the mind of your customers and

57:03 What was the gift? We varied it. We started I think with a calendar. Everybody gives a calendar, but my face was on it. Pretty ego driven, don't you think? Why would somebody hunt a calendar with my face on it, you're right? A pin up pin up girl maybe, but my face Yeah. But at least they see who I was. Then we said we did bottles of wine. Bouche.

57:22 If it was that time of year, nice hearty red wine with a lovely handwritten note. I don't know what we did. We didn't do anything special, but the fact of the matter is we did it and a lot of people didn't do it. It was the cadence. It was the steady drip. Yes, it was. It really was. So speaking of uh consistency, I've heard you mention that exercise is your therapy. You're very sharp mentally, physically. What does your exercise routine look like? What has it looked like over the years?

57:49 Nothing special, but what it does have is consistency. Mm-hmm. And that's the key to Any exercise, I don't think it matters what you do. Okay. I thought of taking up different kinds of exercises, I never get to it. But

58:02 I have four appointments with a trainer. well before I could afford it, she'd be the last person I'd give up if I was going to the poorhouse. A trainer that is at my door and I have no choice because if I had a choice, I would never work out. But there she is, Margaret.

58:18 who's been with me like now fifteen years. And I gotta do it. So it's weightlifting, stretching. Cardiovascular, a little bit of that. I get away with it as little as I can. I don't like it. I've never liked a day of training in my life. I really don't like it. I love to give it up. I hurt my back short while and she

58:36 Insisted on coming anyway. I'm like, Don't I get a break? But no So you wish you could give it up, but you don't. So what do you get from the exercise? How would you explain that? First of all, you have your own time. I have an hour just for me. Swerging on me.

58:53 It's all about me. And I don't Ever have any time like that or make the time. But I also get is relaxation. I run hot.

59:01 Calms me down. Calms you down. I get vanity. I look firm. I look good in clothes people say you have a great figure, so I get all the flattery that's good for my ego.

59:12 And most importantly, I find that when I don't exercise, it's really a question when you don't like even when I go on vacation and give myself a break for a week. I don't think as well. I think it gives you a great ability to think clearly. I really do. Exercise and pulling weeds in my mind are the two best therapies in the world. You really don't need much more than that. You straighten out all your problems that way. Ha So you're building strength.

59:39 And part of strength in my mind is also how you contend with fear if and when it presents itself. You do not strike me as a fearful person, and I want to Bring up something I found. This is in New York magazine. And I wanna ask you

59:54 About this. Here's the paragraph. Corcran and Trump haven't always seen eye to eye. In nineteen ninety four, Corcoran accused Trump of not paying millions of dollars of commissions to tour of brokers who brought him key Hong Kong investors of his Riverside South Project. I think a lot of people are intimidated by many things in life. Certainly A lot of people would be intimidated by somebody

1:00:12 Like Trump. But It seems like you were willing to fight, and I'm curious. How you develop that, or if that has been something from childhood that you've just carried forward, but a lot of people

1:00:25 Know what they should do. Or the moral thing to do, and they're afraid to do it because they're afraid of some type of punishment or Someone who is intimidating.

1:00:37 And I'm wondering if you could just speak to that. Maybe to the example, but it could be another example, and your willingness to not Back down. Well, that's a good example'cause he's an intimidating man. He's a bully.

1:00:50 He's a real live bully in every way. With him. I wasn't scared for a second. I had never had a lawsuit. I didn't know how to hire an attorney. I didn't know what it was about. I'm not a fighter. You got me wrong on that, Tim. I don't like to fight. I'll walk a mile to avoid a fight. But when someone insults me. It brings out the fight in me. I don't know where that comes from. I guess

1:01:09 Same thing with the competitors being insulting to me. I know where that comes from. When my father would drink and he was a social drinker, so it wasn't a big issue, but it was an issue. He would be abusive with his mouth. Like a bully, and he was the loveliest man in the world and would turn into a bully. I hated him for that. I hated how he talked to my mother. I hated how he talked to his children.

1:01:29 And so just tip into that. So when Donald's like you're not seeing a penny. I'm like, I turn into a killer. It's insulting. To think I'll really roll over on that?

1:01:40 And thank God how life happens. It was the first year I made a real profit in. corker group. Because I was always throwing my money back in and living so cheap. So that I could afford to open offes. Always the money went to the business. The money went to the business. Never came to me. And that year I had more money than I could spend. I had Like over a million dollars in profit. The year before, the many years before that either had losses or a hundred thousand, but it cost me five hundred thousand dollars to sue, but I had the cash. Think about that. So I felt powerful that I got the money to fight it.

1:02:15 And I'm certainly not gonna Walk away because you know what my thinking is on walking away from a well fought fight? You resent it. And regret it for the rest of your life. I didn't want to be that girl who said, I'm you son of a bitch. How did he get away with how to get You regret when you don't confront things I think in anything, but particularly with a moral fight and in my mind that was morals all about morals. I earn the money.

1:02:39 You sign you'd give it to me and you're not giving it to me? You suing me instead? Oh no, I don't think so. But What other lesson I learn at that juncture just as important as a willingness to fight is get the right help. I never had a lawsuit as it just said. And I interviewed the top law firm.

1:02:54 I think I had five or maybe four, maybe four is more realistic. The four top attorneys and the four litigious Firms in town. And I wanted him hire the toughest guy thinking I need a tough guy to f beat this tough guy. But I didn't conclude there. I met an attorney, I forget which firm, Scadmarps, I think he was with.

1:03:13 Richard Seltzer. He's now retired. And he had the most solid thinking and I use my common sense to say Which attorney is not saying I'll win Well which attorney is saying why Helin?

1:03:27 And this guy told me why I was gonna win and the strategy, and it was so simple, I said, You've got the case. And he was A showman in court? Like show business. And His thinking was so smart.

1:03:41 And he didn't give Donald an inch and he called me after the Lawsuit was won like two weeks later and said I need your permission to work for Donald Trump. Donald Trump, what do you work? He said he's hiring me for a major lawsuit. He said it's a conflict of interest. I said, I got my money on the way, so no no problem, you know?

1:03:59 That is incredible that it only took two weeks. No, to call the attorney. Oh, I'm not. I'm so sorry. I misrepresented. Donald Trump took about two weeks, I guess,'cause my attorney call me like two weeks later, Can I represent Donald Trump? But it took me five years to get the commission'cause the judge He said he didn't have the money, which was true, he was near bankruptcy. So the judge made him pay me the commission of fifty five thousand five hundred and fifty five dollar installment payments for five years.

1:04:28 Whatever how many years it take. And you know what the best part of getting those commission checks, you've done such research, maybe you read this, but I gotta tell it because my favorite thing. Yeah, please. I sent him a giant bouquet of flowers when I got the first fifty five thousand dollar hand delivered to me by a messenger. I said, Thank you, Donald, hand wrote it. I really appreciate the check. And I sent him the note with the same messenger. And he took them back. With the flowers and he sent it back to me and he put a big he always wrote in thick ink, you know, and he put on it

1:05:00 REJTID! Sent the flowers back to me. What is that stupid? But then I had the flowers. So I send them flowers for the next four, five, whatever many years it was, flowers that I liked. Because I knew he he sends them back every month. Rejected. That's the best part of the lawsuit. Oh, that is so good. That is amazing. Yeah. I wanna come back to something you said at the beginning.

1:05:23 Which is you'd walk a mile to avoid a fight. And I think this is really important to revisit because I'm a fighter. You are? You don't seem like Well, let me take that back. I've historically been a fighter. Very competitive.

1:05:36 And I think to a fault where I've been willing to justify fights based on principle more often than has been helpful. And as I've gotten older that has changed. Were they really based on principle, you think? That's a very good question.

1:05:51 I think it was A certain sense of moral outrage about some type of situation. So for instance, if I'm not gonna name the company, but I did a deal with a very large company, ended up being a public company, and at one point they were retaining me to help with consulting and a various number of other things, I hit their performance metrics and they were like, Yeah, we're not gonna pay you And I was like, but I hit your metrics. Uh

1:06:12 And they basically said look. Yeah, they basically said look, we have twenty in house council If you want to fight, let's fight. And I was like

1:06:19 What really? And that pissed me off. It had a scare you. Yeah, yeah, of course. And it was it I mean it's intimidating'cause I'm paying out of pocket by the hour and even if I have a retainer. But I have ended up realizing that for me, preserving my energy for the things that are really high leverage and matter.

1:06:38 Is so critical that I want to avoid fights when I can. I will still fight in certain instances. But how do you choose which fights to walk away from and which ones to engage with? Because I do know people, for instance, who are constantly in lawsuits. And it's just a waste of their lives. They're not happy people, by the way, those people that are constantly in lawsuits here. Mm-hmm.

1:06:58 How I assess them is probably backwards. I think how much energy is it gonna take from me,'cause it's always negative energy, it's never positive. Yep. So I think how much energy is it gonna take from me? For how long? And I

1:07:12 Take a quick guess. And I make my decision there. Not on whether I could win or not. Which is isn't worth the energy. Now is it worth the energy? You do have to stand up for yourself like on that lawsuit with with Trump.

1:07:25 There was a lot of money at stake and certainly that entered into it. I don't know if I would suit him for ten dollars, you know five A lot of money on the table. But I will almost always walk away because it's never worth my energy. You don't really win. That's what I've concluded. Now that I'm older I watch people, not so much myself, but other people that I know well in business, they never win. And the people like you said, the people who are litigious all the time, righteous litigious is even worse.

1:07:53 They're always unhappy. Always. What a waste. Yeah, I agree. So this is gonna be a bit of a left turn, but I'm so curious. In the course of doing some research, I found on this website in the UK. This is express.co.uk. UK. Oh yeah. So Shark Tank Business Woman Barbara Corkin has.

1:08:14 Offered fans a rare glimpse of her. Mobile trailer for a video with TikTok Star. I think it's Caleb. Yeah. It says that you use

1:08:25 This humble Los Angeles trailer a few weeks per year. What is the story behind The trailer. I don't know anything about it. I'm just wondering how you use it, why you use it. If you use it.

1:08:36 No, I do use it in more than a few weeks a year. Probably five weeks a year, maybe. Mm-hmm. I shoot My show of Shark Tank in LA. And I always stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is so luxurious because they pay for it. I'd never pay the price.

1:08:51 They put me up there. My next door neighbor in New York said, I've always wanted to buy a house in LA. I said, That's funny, I'm thinking the same thing. Why don't we buy it together? So we went out there to buy together. Her husband wouldn't let her buy it. And then I took a car and I drove around and I found a trailer park and I fell in love with it. That's all. I was trying to turn on US one, which is hard to turn on. Takes forever to make a U turn, so I took a right up the driveway and I was in a trailer park.

1:09:17 And it's only a half hour from my studio. And I went around and looked at all the trailers and picked out I thought the best position. You can always change inside, but you can't change the location. And I met a lovely woman who owned the home and I asked her if she'd like to sell it. She said no. She had no intention of selling, maybe in a few years.

1:09:35 And so I called the local broker. I never liked the homes I saw there that she showed me. And I went back to the lady. I said, What if I give you a life estate you could come and visit whenever you want? Would you move out? And she said yes. Sorry, say it one more time. If you gave her what? A life estate. What is that? A right to use it for two weeks a year.

1:09:52 Any two weeks. She's been using it two weeks a year. She's so happy. She brings her family. She's had reunions there, as tiny as it is. And she sold it to me. Now I paid for that trailer eight hundred thousand dollars, which everybody in the trailer Park said a moron from New York just paid eight hundred thousand dollars for a trailer. I purposely overpaid by a hundred thousand

1:10:14 But it seems so undervalued to me. I said, what do I care about? I'm gonna use it for ten, twenty years. What do I care about a hundred thousand? Which is true in buying real estate. What do you care about it if you have the money to spend But you know. I put the place into a spin, not because of me. I just bought it the right time. I put another two hundred, maybe three hundred thousand dollars into it. And now it's worth like one nine, maybe two.

1:10:38 Not a lot when you're in New York and you get crazy prices, but for that trailer park? It's a lot of money. But I have a Full view of the ocean. I'm like at the Four Seasons Hotel.

1:10:48 flowers, I have my garden. It couldn't be more beautiful. And so it was one of the best decisions I really made. Definitely. What else led you to fall in love with the trailer park? Because I imagine a lot of people listening, they're like, Oh my God, like I would never imagine.

1:11:04 That Barbara would fall in love. with this setting and this particular setup. The view sounds amazing. The garden and the plants sound amazing, but what else, if anything Led you to fall in love with it. I very much fell in love with my neighbors, I'll tell you, my neighbors right up and down the street. You never get to know the neighbors on the other streets. So there's like a total of twelve, thirteen houses. I know most of them, I know most of them well.

1:11:28 I have dinner at the house, they come to my house for dinner, but why I like them is they were just like my mother and father. They were simple. Blue collar people with real values that were as lovely as a day's long. The loveliest people in every way. They cared for my trail when I wasn't there. Let me know if there was trouble, storm coming, making sure I was battened down.

1:11:49 I mean, if I tried to find neighbors in New York City around my very expensive apartment to even give me a pound of sugar, I'd be waiting forever. But these neighbors are so genuine and so real. They're all from the Hollywood business, but they're camera hands stagehands, ladder people. Holding the script people, they all had these menial jobs that Most people seem menial. They love their jobs. They were so happy to be in Hollywood. They're always talking about it. They've had happy lives, and they share them with me, so

1:12:21 I could never move away just based on my neighbors, even my trailer. Blew up or something. I would just move right back on the same block. They're really lovely people. Really. And why did you deliberately overpay by

1:12:32 A hundred thousand dollars. Was that to get the deal done or was there another reason? I've always paid for any real estate I want. I always overbid. I even get my construction jobs done by overpaying. Two summers ago there was so much construction work in Fire Island where I bought a new home, but it was dilapidated. I had to rebuild it. Last minute the builder said to me I can't handle it.

1:12:54 You're gonna have to wait a year. I said, Really? Why is that? He said, Well I can't get the help. I can't get the materials. It's covet. I bla bla bla blah. He gave me a list so long I was suspicious. I said, What if I gave you two hundred thousand dollars, could you get it done this one? And he said yes. Didn't even have to think about it. Yes, he said. And my house was done in a month. The house that was supposed to take nine months was done in a month. Yeah. So I always am willing to overpay

1:13:21 And you know who I really learned that from or maybe didn't learn it from, but first heard it and I've always often thought of it was from Harry Helmsley. when he was the biggest landowner and big developer in New York and owned all the best real estate in the best locations, I attended a speech by him and somebody in the audience said, something what's another tip, what's another tip of buying, how do you win the bid and everything? I always over pay for everything I want.

1:13:45 He said'cause you forget about it the many own it. And I thought If Harry Helmsley so rich could overpay I was stunned by that answer. And I always kept I always overpaid and always

1:13:57 What real estate that wasn't for sale. Just by knocking on the door, you get exactly what you want. I love that house. Let me knock on the door. And you can often be two years early, but you could be persuasive with money. Absolutely. It works works very well. I like it.

1:14:14 Yeah. Yeah. If you were going to give advice to your Self. Thirty years ago, let's just say. You can send back a time capsule to give some advice to yourself thirty years ago. Any advice come to mind? Tips or anything at all?

1:14:28 Warnings. I would have told myself'cause I had to learn this over a few years, hire happy people. Uh I mean I started hiring salespeople that were phenomenal from other firms. I turned into an ace recruiter. But they were miserable at home. They drove me crazy. You know, great salespeople have two personalities. Most of them.

1:14:47 Two personalities. So I had For a number of years I had miserable people that could suck the life out of you with their bitch and complaining. And then I decided one day I'll never ever hire anyone unhappy again. And that was like pulling the curtains back. And uh

1:15:05 The sky opened up for me in every way. It was fun at work every day. You know, complainers are a funny thing, they're part of all Families, all business, all circumstances, but Yeah, horrible. I just are you know, just complainers they suck the life out of you. So I think I would have gotten tough on complainers right away and fired everybody who complained.

1:15:25 You're out of here, you're out, you're out. Took me a while. I've heard you say you know complainers are thieves that stuck Exactly how they are. Yeah, that really stuck.

1:15:36 So Barbara, let me ask you about Barber in Your Pocket. So Barber in Your Pocket is the top business channel on Patreon. Why? Did you start this? It certainly seems like a rare opportunity for people to get a lot of insight, a lot of tactical advice. From someone who's been in the trenches has had

1:15:54 More adventures than you could possibly count. Misadventures too, I am sure. Why did you decide to do this? Two reasons. I wanted to make a team of entrepreneurs that I loved. And also I was constantly giving advice, constantly giving courtesy meetings to people to help them with the business, constant and I would get to maybe seven, eight a week.

1:16:15 And it was heartbreaking because I'd have thirty people who wanted help. So I just tried to think of a system where I could help a whole bunch of people at once, where they could interact with me, I could answer their questions, and then also get help from the other entrepreneurs, because all my entrepreneurs from Shark Tank help each other. I molded them into a family. It's not one business, it's 130 businesses. They don't all help. Some of them aren't gonna make it. But most really help. And so I wanted to bring people together to help each other.

1:16:43 And I wanted to give them honest advice, no bullshit advice, not slice of my words, tell them what I really thought what I really thought was a problem, whether they wanted to hear it or not. And I felt I could help them really build their business, but it's young. We just got started. I'm trying a new thing every week. A new approach to it. Getting the feedback, they tell me what they like, what they don't like, what they want to do differently. But it's taken on a life of its own. It's only a muffle. But I see it like boom boom boom boom. I almost feel like I have my old corker group back. It's not weird, because I see their faces

1:17:14 They tell me their problems, I can see what's good about them, I can see what's bad about'em right away. You know? I I feel like I'm building my Calker group all over again. I couldn't have done it without a large platform to do it that way. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Patreon's great. And I'll just read this for folks as well. So the barber in your pocket

1:17:30 channel be providing exclusive content created for entrepreneurs at every level. And you will be doing a deep dive into the topics most important in business today, giving an inside look at how you run your business, how you've run your businesses. And also working with your shark tank companies. As well as joining members live to answer their toughest questions. And I don't know if this is a tough question, but a question I have for you is what gives you the most energy these days? What is it that drives you, feeds you?

1:17:55 Energetically, like what do you find really tips the balance for you? An entrepreneur coming back and saying I made a difference that my suggestion to do this worked. and is successful because of it, which uh they're exaggerating. I realise that. But feeling Or not feeling, knowing the feeling of having somebody come back as proof that I made a difference. If you think about it, I think maybe all of us just want to make a difference, you know?

1:18:20 Totally. I don't know. That's a satisfying thing in life. But I like to make a difference with everybody by a smile, my hello, whatever I do. But my sweet spot is helping entrepreneurs. I know I make a difference. So having that confirmation come back at me makes my day. I almost have a hard time working after it's like, oh I'm cool. I'm cool. I'm cool. Then I'd squeeze my head down and go, get back to work. But that's most satisfying, yeah. Without a doubt.

1:18:46 So Barbara, just a few more questions. This has been so fun. Thank you again for the time. Really, really enjoyed this. If you could put a message something on a billboard. A huge billboard. This is metaphorically speaking, just to get Anything out to hundreds of millions of people, billions of people. Could be a quote, could be a word, could be a question, could be an image.

1:19:06 Nothing commercial, but just something Something to make an impact. What might you put on that billboard? I'll tell you it came right to my head the minute you started asking him the question. I would say You're a lot more capable than you think you are. People write themselves off so early.

1:19:22 I mean I saw people through my career, would they be entrepreneurs to Shark Tank, would they be corker group agents. come in with battle scars from life not really thinking they deserve their success or could accomplish it. I saw losers become winners constantly. And they wrote themselves off.

1:19:40 Somehow too early. So I think people are so much more capable than they think they are. So I would write U with capital Y O U. I'm more capable than you think you are. Maybe I could come up with something better, but that's how I feel. So I'm telling you that now. I think that's a solid answer. That is a great answer. Well, Barbara, thank you so much. People can find you on all social link in the show notes for all of this. Uh Barbara Corpgren almost everywhere. Barbara, in your pocket. People can find at patreon.com

1:20:08 Ford slash Barbara Corcan. Is there anything else you would like to say before we Come to a close if much so. Yes, I hope you'd give me a moment to time you want to wondering. Thank you. No, it's short. Will you marry me?

1:20:21 Ha ha You know, I am on the market, so never say never. You are really? I am. I am.

1:20:30 Do you like A little bit older, babe. I'm not against it. I'm not against it. You know, maybe I I spent a lot of time in New York, maybe we'll have to have a You know, an espresso martini and see where things go. I don't know.

1:20:41 If you are serious, I'm serious. Ha ha ha. Well it would be great to meet in person at some point, no matter what. I sp I do spend a lot of time in New York. I grew up there, got a lot of family. Yeah. Ooh. I'm kidding you sort of, but I'm happy with your answer. Yes.

1:21:00 Ha ha ha Oh well, uh you're so good at what you do. You're so engaging. And I've enjoyed this conversation so much. I really appreciate you taking the time. So thank you. Thank you. You're wonderful at what you do. I'm not just giving you a a compliment back, but you really are wonderful. I do a lot of this so you are.

1:21:20 Thank you, Barbara. Well have a wonderful weekend. And you're gonna throw kisses. I'm throwing kisses. Kisses and kisses. Bye bye. Okay, bye bye. Hey guys, this is Tim again, just one more thing before you take off, and that is Five Bullet Friday. Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little fun before the weekend? Between one and a half and two million people subscribe to my free newsletter, my super short newsletter called Fi Bold Friday. Easy to sign up, easy to cancel. It is basically a half page that I send out. every Friday to share the coolest things I've found or discovered or have started exploring over that week. It's kinda like my diary of cool things. It often includes articles I'm reading, books I'm reading, Albums, perhaps, gadgets, gizmos, all sorts of tech tricks and so on that get sent to me by my friends, including a lot of podcast guests, and these strange esoteric things end up in my field and then

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