Barbara Corcoran - Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business

PORTFOLIO / PENGUIN

SHARK TALES

Barbara Corcorans credentials include straight Ds in high school and college, and twenty-two jobs by the time she turned twenty-three. It was her next job, founding The Corcoran Group real estate company, that would make her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country. She is the real estate contributor for NBCs Today show and is a Shark on ABCs Shark Tank. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children. Visit her at barbaracorcoran.com.

Bruce Littlefield is a best-selling author and lifestyle expert. His brand of American fun is seen on the Today show, The Early Show, and The View. Visit him at brucelittlefield.com.

Praise for Barbara Corcoran and Shark Tales

[Shark Tales] will leave you laughing and crying, but most of all confident that you too can make this world of business work for you.

Gail Evans, author of Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman

Corcoran is a lightning bolt of energy caught in a five-foot-six frame.

USA Today

Barbara Corcoran may be New Yorks real estate diva, but its her homemaker mother to whom she looks for inspiration.

Crains New York Business

A witty memoir and a powerful guidebook on how to get ahead. An emotionally charged and intellectually energetic book, which will give people ideas on how to motivate, invigorate and otherwise encourage any group that they lead, and organization they build.

Bookreporter.com

Entrepreneurs visions dont always translate well to the page, but Corcorans bookis cleanly written and humorous. The squeaky-clean Waltons-esque descriptions of Corcorans family lend it an almost folksy feel.

Fortune Small Business

Her manner is frank and energetic, a team captain who gives total commitment and expects it in return. But for all her drive, she has no airs.

The New York Times

When once a waitress, real estate queen Barbara Corcoran complained to her mum that the ones with the big breasts were the ones getting the big tips. Mama told her: So, in the absence of big breasts, wear pigtails and put ribbons on them. She did, and it worked.

Cindy Adams, New York Post

In Manhattan, where real estate is not just a major industry but also a full-contact sport, Barbara Corcoran is hall-of-fame material.

Inc.com

Mom takes the cake here, but you have to toast Barbara Ann for applying her dictums. The business shes in is almost beside the point: Corcoran could be selling plumbing supplies, and the story would still fly.

Kirkus Reviews

A funny handbook for professional sales savvythat worksa likable and worthwhile book, an honorable contribution with heart.

Publishers Weekly

A hot entry on the business-book lists, chronicling twenty-eight years worth of sass, savvy, and street smarts

BusinessWeek online

Corcoran has taken what others consider a liability and turned it into an asset.

ADDitude

As you might expect from such an overachiever, her book [Shark Tales] is on the New York Times bestseller list.

Sunday Times (London)

Barbara Corcoran
with Bruce Littlefield

Also known as Use What Youve Got and If You Dont
Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails

PORTFOLIO / PENGUIN

PORTFOLIO/PENGUIN

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
(a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi 110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:

80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published in the United States of America as Use What Youve Got by Portfolio, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. 2003

Paperback edition with the title If You Dont Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails published 2004

This revised edition published 2011

Copyright Barbara Corcoran and Bruce Littlefield, 2003, 2011

All rights reserved

Illustrations by John Segal

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Corcoran, Barbara (Barbara Ann).

Shark tales : how I turned $1,000 into a billion dollar business / Barbara Corcoran; with Bruce Littlefield.

p. cm.

Rev. ed. of: Use what youve got : and other business lessons I learned from my mom / Barbara Corcoran with Bruce Littlefield. 2003
Includes index.

ISBN: 978-1-101-51327-9

1. Corcoran, Barbara (Barbara Ann). 2. Women real estate agentsUnited StatesBiography. 3. Real estate businessUnited States. I. Littlefield, Bruce (Bruce Duanne) II. Corcoran, Barbara (Barbara Ann) Use what youve got. III. Title.

HD278.C67A3 2011

333.33092dc22

[B] 2010045012

Set in Avenir

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.

For Mom, who taught me to believe in myself,
and for Dad, who taught me how to have fun.

T he story of my billion-dollar business starts like this: I borrowed $1,000 from a friend. Okay, I didnt borrow it. He gave it to me. And he wasnt a friend. He was a boyfriend. But when I moved into my first New York City apartment, on East 86th Street, with two roommates, I did have $1,000 to start a real estate company.

It seemed so simple. Thered be virtually no overhead! Id probably rent two, maybe even three apartments a day, and wed be running at a profit by the second Sunday of every month. All the rest will be gravy, I told my new business partner and boyfriend, Ramne Simne.

And well share that gravy evenly, he added. Or almost evenly51 percent for him and 49 percent for me. After all, he explained, he was the one risking the money.