How Barbara Corcoran Turned $1,000 into a $5B+ Empire (Plus: PR Stunts, Sales Techniques, and More)

1. 0:00 – 1:09

   Preview

   1. BCBarbara Corcoran0:00

      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.

   2. TFTim Ferriss0:08

      Mm-hmm.

   3. BCBarbara Corcoran0:08

      Just a competitor. And boy, if they treated me badly or spoke down to me or didn't give me any credence that I could possibly make it in their world, they thought I was a passerby, 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-

   4. TFTim Ferriss0:30

      Mm

   5. BCBarbara Corcoran0:30

      ... hated the insult. It was like send me back to second grade where the kids were laughing at me.

   6. TFTim Ferriss0:34

      Mm-hmm.

   7. BCBarbara Corcoran0:35

      It was too raw. Even though I was much older, it was too raw.

   8. TFTim Ferriss0:39

      [laughs]

   9. BCBarbara Corcoran0:39

      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, I don't think I would've been s- very successful. I think the men helped me.

   10. TFTim Ferriss0:50

       Mm-hmm.

   11. BCBarbara Corcoran0:51

       I just had to show them I knew what I was doing or would learn what I was doing. [upbeat music]

2. 1:09 – 3:38

   Barbara’s fake funeral.

   1. TFTim Ferriss1:09

      So I thought we would start, Barbara, with your fake funeral because I would love to know, for your 70th birthday, how did you decide to have this funeral rehearsal, effectively? How did that happen?

   2. BCBarbara Corcoran1:25

      It was a competition with my friends.

   3. TFTim Ferriss1:27

      [laughs]

   4. BCBarbara Corcoran1:27

      I overheard two friends were planning a birthday party for me as a surprise.

   5. TFTim Ferriss1:32

      Mm-hmm.

   6. BCBarbara Corcoran1:33

      And they didn't know I knew, but I don't like surprises. I like it when I give the surprise.

   7. TFTim Ferriss1:38

      Mm-hmm.

   8. BCBarbara Corcoran1:38

      So I immediately [laughs] kept thinking, "I'm gonna surprise them. I'm gonna surprise them with my own surprise." And 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-

   9. TFTim Ferriss1:51

      [laughs]

   10. BCBarbara Corcoran1:52

       ... have my own funeral. [laughs] It just seemed like the right thing to do because I knew it would have great shock value, and I love to shock people.

   11. TFTim Ferriss2:00

       You do love shock value.

   12. BCBarbara Corcoran2:01

       So I planned it, but I took two other good friends into my confidence who could keep a secret.

   13. TFTim Ferriss2:06

       Mm.

   14. BCBarbara Corcoran2:06

       So we switched the party. They thought they were waiting for me to come into the house upstairs in my apartment. It was a great r- memory of it. And I was really downstairs, waiting in the coffin. [laughs]

   15. TFTim Ferriss2:18

       [laughs]

   16. BCBarbara Corcoran2:18

       And then my good brother told them, "Hey, she's coming in downstairs. Hurry down the stairs." They all came charging down the stairs. Like I said, 85 people there. And they walked into a funeral. [laughs]

   17. TFTim Ferriss2:30

       [laughs]

   18. BCBarbara Corcoran2:30

       And the guests, I mean, if it had ended there I would've been satisfied, 'cause the guests were, I could hear it with my eyes closed, "Oh, oh, oh!" They really thought I was dead. [laughs]

   19. TFTim Ferriss2:41

       [laughs]

   20. BCBarbara Corcoran2:42

       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. 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." [laughs]

   21. TFTim Ferriss3:03

       [laughs]

   22. BCBarbara Corcoran3:03

       So I loved it. And I had a beautiful gown. I looked the part. I was gorgeous. So my final day was really a beautiful day.

   23. TFTim Ferriss3:11

       [laughs] 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?

   24. BCBarbara Corcoran3:19

       Yes, of course.

   25. TFTim Ferriss3:21

       Of course the tango.

   26. BCBarbara Corcoran3:22

       I had taken lessons for four weeks. I had a beautiful gown with a tall slit, red.

   27. TFTim Ferriss3:27

       [laughs]

   28. BCBarbara Corcoran3:27

       I looked gorgeous. And when I kicked my leg up, I had practiced that move, I could kick my leg and hop right out. [laughs]

   29. TFTim Ferriss3:34

       [laughs]

   30. BCBarbara Corcoran3:35

       And then we started the dancing, and that was a dance party. We had a ball.

3. 3:38 – 5:23

   Where Barbara’s knack for PR originated.

   1. TFTim Ferriss3:38

      Incredible, incredible. You really seem to have a knack and [laughs] obviously an enthusiasm for shock value and PR stunts. Getting press-

   2. BCBarbara Corcoran3:50

      Yes

   3. TFTim Ferriss3:50

      ... has been a superpower. And in the early stages of your business, certainly that was the case-

   4. BCBarbara Corcoran3:55

      Mm-hmm

   5. TFTim Ferriss3:55

      ... and continues to be the case. 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?

   6. BCBarbara Corcoran4:10

      Honestly, from my dad. You hadn't met my dad or you would've known that.

   7. TFTim Ferriss4:13

      Mm, mm.

   8. BCBarbara Corcoran4:14

      He was the king of fun. He worked two jobs his whole life, so he killed himself for his family.

   9. TFTim Ferriss4:19

      Mm-hmm.

   10. BCBarbara Corcoran4:20

       But on Saturday and Sunday, he was our playmate, and he would think of the most irresponsible things to do with us. We had 10 children, and he was the most popular 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.

   11. TFTim Ferriss4:39

       [laughs]

   12. BCBarbara Corcoran4:41

       [laughs] And it was.

   13. TFTim Ferriss4:42

       Surprised you didn't have your funeral earlier.

   14. BCBarbara Corcoran4:44

       He would put a twist on everything that would just make everything fun for us.

   15. TFTim Ferriss4:49

       Mm.

   16. BCBarbara Corcoran4:50

       So I realized the importance of fun. I mean, people just don't have enough fun.

   17. TFTim Ferriss4:55

       Mm.

   18. BCBarbara Corcoran4:55

       I'm sure I'm everybody's most fun friend, and I like that, you know?

   19. TFTim Ferriss4:59

       Mm-hmm.

   20. BCBarbara Corcoran4:59

       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. I get so much satisfaction out of it.

   21. TFTim Ferriss5:12

       Mm-hmm.

   22. BCBarbara Corcoran5:12

       You know? 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." [laughs]

   23. TFTim Ferriss5:19

       Yep.

   24. BCBarbara Corcoran5:20

       But I don't plan on dying. [laughs]

4. 5:23 – 6:48

   Storytelling.

   1. TFTim Ferriss5:23

      As I was trying to deconstruct, let's just say, the first five, 10 years of your business, and we're gonna talk about things that preceded that too, the 22 jobs and so on.

   2. BCBarbara Corcoran5:32

      Mm-hmm.

   3. TFTim Ferriss5:32

      And I'll just bounce around because it's my curiosity that I'm chasing here, but your ability to storytell, it strikes me that you're very good at people, you're very good at systems.

   4. BCBarbara Corcoran5:42

      Mm-hmm.

   5. TFTim Ferriss5:42

      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?

   6. BCBarbara Corcoran5:53

      That's an Irish trait. It's called Irish bullshit.

   7. TFTim Ferriss5:56

      [laughs]

   8. BCBarbara Corcoran5:56

      Talk to any Irishman and he can usually throw it around. I don't think that's a special trait at all.

   9. TFTim Ferriss6:01

      Mm-hmm.

   10. BCBarbara Corcoran6:02

       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.

   11. TFTim Ferriss6:13

       Mm-hmm.

   12. BCBarbara Corcoran6:13

       Just like the old Indians probably sat around the fire and told stories. Same kinda thing. And also, I was in the sales business, remember? And in sales, telling a good story is powerful.

   13. TFTim Ferriss6:24

       Mm-hmm.

   14. BCBarbara Corcoran6:25

       The PR that I did for my real-estate company were all stories, creating a story that people would be curious about to pull them in. 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, I also think I did so well with the press, building my business, because of the storytelling.

5. 6:48 – 10:02

   Early business wins.

   1. TFTim Ferriss6:49

      What were some of the hooks or early wins in the press for your business? Because in the beginning, my understanding is you're basically competing against this old boy network, but they're complacent-

   2. BCBarbara Corcoran7:00

      Mm-hmm

   3. TFTim Ferriss7:00

      ... 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.

   4. BCBarbara Corcoran7:08

      Yes.

   5. TFTim Ferriss7:09

      What were some of the early wins in terms of press, uh, or early hooks that you used that seemed to really work in the beginning chapters of that business?

   6. BCBarbara Corcoran7:20

      There were so many hooks. 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 was, uh, 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 to sell the penthouse of the Galleria. Oh, Stewart Mott. That was his name. Mott Applesauce. Lots of money.

   7. TFTim Ferriss7:48

      Hmm.

   8. BCBarbara Corcoran7:49

      Nobody could sell the damn thing. It was too big, too expensive. It wasn't even attractive, and he had cows on the roof.

   9. TFTim Ferriss7:55

      [laughs]

   10. BCBarbara Corcoran7:55

       So he thought the story 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 per night, and I asked him how often he slept there, 'cause rich people have multiple homes. He said, "Three nights. Three nights, maybe four nights," and I divided the maintenance by that, and my headline was, "Uh-uh, live in this apartment," and the picture was all over the place, [laughs] "it will only cost you $80,000 a night to put your head on the pillow."

   11. TFTim Ferriss8:25

       [laughs]

   12. BCBarbara Corcoran8:25

       And people were fascinated. People would spend that money. I think right after that, I then got a very good listing because of that, 'cause one thing leads to another in the real-estate business.

   13. TFTim Ferriss8:34

       Mm-hmm.

   14. BCBarbara Corcoran8:35

       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. And so then I discovered a safe in the basement, and 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.

   15. TFTim Ferriss8:57

       Mm.

   16. BCBarbara Corcoran8:57

       And they filmed it, and we opened it, and there was nothing in it, but who cares?

   17. TFTim Ferriss9:00

       [laughs] Yeah.

   18. BCBarbara Corcoran9:01

       There was so much suspense about it that I sold it, like, within a week. We had-

   19. TFTim Ferriss9:06

       Hmm

   20. BCBarbara Corcoran9:06

       ... so many celebrities come to see it. They just were enamored with it. That's a story.

   21. TFTim Ferriss9:11

       Mm-hmm.

   22. BCBarbara Corcoran9:11

       Those are early hits, and then I just started churning out, churning out any kinda bullshit I could think of, really.

   23. TFTim Ferriss9:17

       [laughs]

   24. BCBarbara Corcoran9:18

       And people usually [laughs] went for it, you know?

   25. TFTim Ferriss9:20

       Mm-hmm.

   26. BCBarbara Corcoran9:21

       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. But the very following day, I had all my salespeople bringing their dogs to Central Park. I invited the New York Post, and I taught dogs how to shake hands, like 500.

   27. TFTim Ferriss9:39

       [laughs]

   28. BCBarbara Corcoran9:40

       Shake... Yeah. [laughs] And it was, it was a great picture, you know? So I knew people would go for it.

   29. TFTim Ferriss9:46

       Mm-hmm.

   30. BCBarbara Corcoran9:47

       Did that sell apartments? No, but it put my brand in f- in front of everybody's face and made the old boy network go crazy, which-
6. 10:02 – 12:44

   What Barbara learned about competition as one of 10 kids.

   1. TFTim Ferriss10:02

      And as one of 10 kids, I've, I've heard in other interviews that you've mentioned you learned how to compete, right? And you learned a lot of-

   2. BCBarbara Corcoran10:09

      Yes

   3. TFTim Ferriss10:09

      ... social dynamics in that environment. And I've been trying to study what differentiated you from your siblings in the sense that what, what were the contributors to your later success? One certainly seems to be your experience with dyslexia.

   4. BCBarbara Corcoran10:26

      Mm-hmm.

   5. TFTim Ferriss10:26

      Are there other experiences or innate differences that you feel really differentiated, ultimately, the trajectory that you took from your other siblings?

   6. BCBarbara Corcoran10:37

      Not innate, I don't think.

   7. TFTim Ferriss10:39

      Mm.

   8. BCBarbara Corcoran10:40

      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-

   9. TFTim Ferriss10:48

      Hmm

   10. BCBarbara Corcoran10:48

       ... so we weren't just 10 kids doing the same thing. We all had a job. My job was to entertain everybody. My mother said-

   11. TFTim Ferriss10:54

       Yeah

   12. BCBarbara Corcoran10:54

       ... 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. On the rainy days, I was in charge of entertaining the kids.

   13. TFTim Ferriss11:06

       Hmm.

   14. BCBarbara Corcoran11:06

       So I think my mother's belief that I was very creative, and she always told me, "You're so creative. You're so creative. You're so good at 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. 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 8 years old, 9 years old, 10 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. [laughs]

   15. TFTim Ferriss11:51

       What is a snail game?

   16. BCBarbara Corcoran11:53

       Oh.

   17. TFTim Ferriss11:53

       What type of game is that?

   18. BCBarbara Corcoran11:54

       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.

   19. TFTim Ferriss12:01

       Ah.

   20. BCBarbara Corcoran12:02

       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, 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 used different color ... chalk, and it made it exciting.

   21. TFTim Ferriss12:22

       Mm.

   22. BCBarbara Corcoran12:22

       You know? So people would cheer for the kids. It was, it entertained us for years, my sale games.

   23. TFTim Ferriss12:28

       Mm.

   24. BCBarbara Corcoran12:29

       And if it was a rainy day, I would make board games at home.

   25. TFTim Ferriss12:32

       Mm-hmm.

   26. BCBarbara Corcoran12:32

       And my brother to this day says, "I wish I had those board games. I would've made a fortune if I had produced them." [laughs] I said, "I don't think they were that good, Tom."

   27. TFTim Ferriss12:39

       [laughs]

   28. BCBarbara Corcoran12:39

       "That's your memory," you know? [laughs] But my mother was responsible, definitely.

7. 12:44 – 15:49

   Early jobs: Barbara’s real education.

   1. BCBarbara Corcoran12:44

      Moms are powerful creatures, as you know.

   2. TFTim Ferriss12:47

      Very powerful.

   3. BCBarbara Corcoran12:48

      They can make you. My mom was a maker, thank God. God bless her soul.

   4. TFTim Ferriss12:52

      And it seems like that would also be, on some level, tremendous confidence builder in combination, then, with starting work as early as you did, school being-

   5. BCBarbara Corcoran13:03

      Mm-hmm

   6. TFTim Ferriss13:03

      ... difficult with the dyslexia, then building confidence through work.

   7. BCBarbara Corcoran13:06

      Mm-hmm.

   8. TFTim Ferriss13:06

      If we look at that period of work before you start your company, and I guess there was 22 or some odd jobs, I've heard you discuss service jobs, waitressing before. And I worked in restaurants-

   9. BCBarbara Corcoran13:19

      Yeah

   10. TFTim Ferriss13:19

       ... for a long time as a kid, busboys.

   11. BCBarbara Corcoran13:21

       Then you know.

   12. TFTim Ferriss13:21

       I think everybody should do it. And 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?

   13. BCBarbara Corcoran13:42

       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 11 at, as a playground supervisor, not a very big job, no doubt.

   14. TFTim Ferriss13:59

       [laughs]

   15. BCBarbara Corcoran13:59

       But I watched four kids in the morning for three hours and played on the playground, 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 'cause I couldn't write.

   16. TFTim Ferriss14:25

       Mm.

   17. BCBarbara Corcoran14:25

       But I sent it out to the reporter, and they sent a camera down, and after Breakfast with Barbara was in the Bergen Record, I had close to 40 kids show up every day.

   18. TFTim Ferriss14:35

       Mm.

   19. BCBarbara Corcoran14:36

       And I realized my very first job, the power of the press. I never r- I never forgot that.

   20. TFTim Ferriss14:41

       Mm.

   21. BCBarbara Corcoran14:42

       But sales jobs, I learned so much in talking on my feet. I learned I could talk to people. I could get them to see things the way I saw them. So I would say, "Imagine if you had this granny dress at Trites' 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. So 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 out what I wasn't good at. I wasn't good working for a bastard. If there was a really mean, cheap boss, I'd 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. And so I really learned that I had a narrow, narrow piece, that I was good at selling, hustling, and PR.

   22. TFTim Ferriss15:39

       Mm.

   23. BCBarbara Corcoran15:40

       You know, I got that early. How lucky you are when you have jobs as a kid.

   24. TFTim Ferriss15:43

       Mm-hmm.

   25. BCBarbara Corcoran15:43

       How lucky you are to hustle and get your real education. That's the real life, you know?

   26. TFTim Ferriss15:48

       For

8. 15:49 – 18:43

   Dyslexia and dodging the victim mindset.

   1. TFTim Ferriss15:49

      sure. I would add another superpower. In so much that I've seen of you and heard and watched-

   2. BCBarbara Corcoran15:55

      Mm-hmm

   3. TFTim Ferriss15:55

      ... the one thing I have never seen, 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.

   4. BCBarbara Corcoran16:12

      So true.

   5. TFTim Ferriss16:13

      I've also heard you say, [laughs] and I'm paraphrasing here, so if I get it wrong please correct me, but-

   6. BCBarbara Corcoran16:17

      So far you're right, Jim.

   7. TFTim Ferriss16:18

      [laughs] Yeah. You are at your best when you're being talked down to by a man, or something like that.

   8. BCBarbara Corcoran16:24

      Definitely.

   9. TFTim Ferriss16:24

      I would love for you to perhaps tell the story of your 51% partner in the founding of the company, but also I'm so curious where that resilience and ability to reframe 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.

   10. BCBarbara Corcoran16:47

       It's such an important part. I mean, recovering from failure, in my book, is 95% of life. If you're gonna have a good life, you better be really good at getting back up, like a jack-in-the-box. Boom, boom, boom, just get back up, get back up. I think I got that, honestly, by being dyslexic.

   11. TFTim Ferriss17:05

       Mm.

   12. BCBarbara Corcoran17:05

       Because when you're the kid in class that's dumb, you're a failure by anybody's standard, and you're constantly put down or looked 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, [laughs] whatever. 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, you know?

   13. TFTim Ferriss17:39

       Mm-hmm.

   14. BCBarbara Corcoran17:40

       And I also learned, uh, from running sales for you my whole life, that really was the only difference between the superstars that I had making two, $3 million a year and people who made an average of 45,000, which was the norm. How does a superstar do it? You know, I became a s- a student of that, and I really did. 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. And then I realized that's just a starting gate. It gets you in easy. But when it comes down to it, it's how well you get back up and how long you take to feel sorry for yourself. I admired, they drove me crazy too, but I admired my superstars so much because of that ability.

   15. TFTim Ferriss18:27

       Mm.

   16. BCBarbara Corcoran18:27

       I could see them, like, you could punch them around, and they'd go, "Ah," they'd back up.

   17. TFTim Ferriss18:31

       [laughs]

   18. BCBarbara Corcoran18:32

       And so I learned from them, too, you see?

   19. TFTim Ferriss18:34

       Mm-hmm.

   20. BCBarbara Corcoran18:35

       I don't know if I answered your question, Tim.

   21. TFTim Ferriss18:36

       You did.

   22. BCBarbara Corcoran18:37

       I think I got a little lost in that answer.

   23. TFTim Ferriss18:39

       I think you did answer it, and I think we'll probably end up expanding on it

9. 18:43 – 22:44

   Barbara’s first company.

   1. TFTim Ferriss18:43

      a little bit.

   2. BCBarbara Corcoran18:43

      Mm-hmm.

   3. TFTim Ferriss18:44

      To give an example from earlier, would you mind describing the, the founding of the company and your business partner, and how that came together? Just to give people a little bit of context if they don't have it.

   4. BCBarbara Corcoran18:54

      I was waitressing when I was 17 at the Fort Lee Diner, which was a- above my house, a middle-class town, which I thought then was a rich town [laughs]

   5. TFTim Ferriss19:03

      Uh-huh

   6. BCBarbara Corcoran19:03

      ... but it's really just middle class by comparison. And one night, a man walked in and I looked at him. 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. And I looked at him and I thought, "I'm gonna lose my virginity in one look."

   7. TFTim Ferriss19:27

      [laughs]

   8. BCBarbara Corcoran19:28

      I knew I was gonna lose my... [laughs]

   9. TFTim Ferriss19:30

      Yeah.

   10. BCBarbara Corcoran19:30

       And I did that month-

   11. TFTim Ferriss19:32

       Yeah

   12. BCBarbara Corcoran19:32

       ... and I knew it would be within the month.

   13. TFTim Ferriss19:33

       [laughs]

   14. BCBarbara Corcoran19:34

       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.

   15. TFTim Ferriss19:46

       Hmm.

   16. BCBarbara Corcoran19:46

       He said, "With your personality, you should really visit the city. I'm gonna pay for a week at the Barbizon Hotel for Women." I'd never heard of that.

   17. TFTim Ferriss19:54

       What is that?

   18. BCBarbara Corcoran19:54

       I had never visited New York City. It was the only hotel left in New York that only leased rooms to women.

   19. TFTim Ferriss20:00

       Huh.

   20. BCBarbara Corcoran20:00

       No men were allowed, so it was respectable. It's-

   21. TFTim Ferriss20:03

       Mm-hmm

   22. BCBarbara Corcoran20:03

       ... now a Reebok club, of course, many years later. But my mom accused me of being a prostitute. I wasn't.

   23. TFTim Ferriss20:10

       Your mom did?

   24. BCBarbara Corcoran20:12

       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.

   25. TFTim Ferriss20:18

       Mm-hmm.

   26. BCBarbara Corcoran20:18

       Okay. But he gave me $100 to buy my first New York outfit, and then I was wondering if my mom was correct, but she still wasn't, I could tell. I was just taking the 100 to get a new outfit.

   27. TFTim Ferriss20:30

       [laughs]

   28. BCBarbara Corcoran20:31

       But let me make a short story of that. That's so boring. The key part is he gave me the $1,000 to start my business and he said he would take 51% of the shares and I would take 49%, 'cause he was the founding partner and I was the operating partner. And I said, "Sounds like a deal," and off I went running.

   29. TFTim Ferriss20:47

       Hmm.

   30. BCBarbara Corcoran20:47

       About seven years later, when we had a rental business, we had, I think, 14 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 he said, "I'm gonna marry your secretary." And I couldn't believe it.
10. 22:44 – 24:45

    Why Barbara didn’t begrudge her first business partner’s romantic betrayal.

    1. TFTim Ferriss22:44

       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.

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran22:56

       Thank you.

    3. TFTim Ferriss22:57

       Absolutely. It was 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 suppose, I don't wanna say betrayal, maybe that's a strong word. Maybe it is an appropriate word, and-

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran23:13

       It's life

    5. TFTim Ferriss23:13

       ... 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 my perception that you very rarely take the victim perspective. You use it in some way, uh, but I'm curious what you meant by that when you said, "I didn't blame him."

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran23:36

       Well, you have to realize Tina was five years younger than me.

    7. TFTim Ferriss23:40

       Mm-hmm.

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran23:40

       I was 30 when he left me. Tina was 25 or so, prettier than me.

    9. TFTim Ferriss23:47

       Mm-hmm.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran23:47

        Much prettier. Had long blonde hair. She was far more feminine than I ever was, and she was quiet, and she adored Ray.

    11. TFTim Ferriss23:56

        Mm-hmm.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran23:57

        So how could you blame them? They fell in love. They had three children together after they were married.

    13. TFTim Ferriss24:02

        Hmm.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran24:03

        I mean, they were clearly in love, but I couldn't blame him. I mean, I would have fallen in love with Tina myself if I was Ray. [laughs]

    15. TFTim Ferriss24:09

        [laughs]

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran24:09

        Probably would have helped him out the door, you know? [laughs]

    17. TFTim Ferriss24:12

        [laughs]

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran24:13

        No, I didn't have a grudge, honestly. I mean, I had a... I was tremendously hurt, as we all are when we're rejected.

    19. TFTim Ferriss24:21

        Mm-hmm.

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran24:21

        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.

    21. TFTim Ferriss24:33

        Hmm.

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran24:33

        But I didn't blame him, no.

    23. TFTim Ferriss24:34

        Mm-hmm.

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran24:35

        No. 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 $1,000. I don't know.

    25. TFTim Ferriss24:43

        [laughs]

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran24:44

        But he was the one that

11. 24:45 – 25:50

    The value of enthusiasm.

    1. BCBarbara Corcoran24:45

       did it.

    2. TFTim Ferriss24:46

       Now, you are good at spotting talent, and we're gonna, we're gonna come back to that point. What do you think it was that Ray saw in you?

    3. BCBarbara Corcoran24:53

       Enthusiasm.

    4. TFTim Ferriss24:54

       Enthusiasm. What type of enthusiasm? There's so many different species of enthusiasm.

    5. BCBarbara Corcoran24:59

       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?

    6. TFTim Ferriss25:05

       Mm.

    7. BCBarbara Corcoran25:06

       I had good positive role models, but I was highly enthusiastic, very talkative. It wasn't my first job, remember-

    8. TFTim Ferriss25:14

       Right

    9. BCBarbara Corcoran25:14

       ... when Ray met me.

    10. TFTim Ferriss25:15

        Right.

    11. BCBarbara Corcoran25:15

        He couldn't look at me and realize I had been working since 11, 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.

    12. TFTim Ferriss25:30

        Mm.

    13. BCBarbara Corcoran25:30

        I think he saw me as a fresh, happy person-

    14. TFTim Ferriss25:33

        Mm

    15. BCBarbara Corcoran25:34

        ... who wasn't shy, and I made him happy.

    16. TFTim Ferriss25:37

        Mm.

    17. BCBarbara Corcoran25:37

        He was a bit of an introvert himself.

    18. TFTim Ferriss25:40

        Yeah.

    19. BCBarbara Corcoran25:40

        Little bit of darkness in him that I didn't have in myself.

    20. TFTim Ferriss25:43

        So he wanted something to offset that, to counterbalance it.

    21. BCBarbara Corcoran25:47

        Yeah, we were pretty opposite.

    22. TFTim Ferriss25:48

        Mm-hmm.

    23. BCBarbara Corcoran25:48

        We were pretty opposite in that way, yeah.

12. 25:50 – 29:34

    From almost-evicted to exclusive agent.

    1. TFTim Ferriss25:50

       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 Campagna or [laughs] was that someone else?

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran26:00

       That was John H. Campagna. [laughs]

    3. TFTim Ferriss26:02

       There we go. John H. Campagna.

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran26:03

       As he always pointed out.

    5. TFTim Ferriss26:05

       [laughs]

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran26:05

       He always pointed that out. [laughs]

    7. TFTim Ferriss26:07

       [laughs]

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran26:08

       Yeah, John Campagna. Now, here's a handsome man. Wow, was he handsome.

    9. TFTim Ferriss26:12

       So how does he figure into the story?

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran26:14

        He did me a great favor. I had two roommates on East 86th Street, and I was operating my first business out of my apartment, as so many people do.

    11. TFTim Ferriss26:22

        Mm-hmm.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran26:22

        It's another story I won't go on a 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.

    13. TFTim Ferriss26:32

        Mm.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran26:33

        And as it turns out, that lady posing as a customer represented the largest relocation company in New York.

    15. TFTim Ferriss26:39

        Mm.

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran26:40

        And I sensed something, and I gave her a dog and pony show all day, like, the perfect agent in New York, and she fell in love with me, and she gave me all her business.

    17. TFTim Ferriss26:53

        Oh.

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran26:53

        She said, "You know, I'm not who you think I am." I said, " [gasps] Oh, really?" [laughs] I knew she was somebody else. And then she started shoveling me business. So as a result of that, getting back to John Campagna, John H. Campagna, 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 86th Street." It was like turning over pancakes.

    19. TFTim Ferriss27:16

        [laughs]

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran27:17

        They were coming so fast at me.

    21. TFTim Ferriss27:18

        [laughs]

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran27:19

        And so I was showing them apartments. I had my routine, raking in the commissions, and that was going on probably for three or four months. And then Mr. O'Rourke, the super, reported me to Mr. Campagna, the landlord, that he had a prostitute in the building.

    23. TFTim Ferriss27:34

        [laughs]

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran27:35

        And I get it because I had spent my first check on a brand-new coat at Bergdorf Goodman's.

    25. TFTim Ferriss27:40

        Mm.

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran27:40

        My first commission check, $340, and I looked like a fancy lady. I knew it. And so I got eviction proceeding. I found a note on my door, you know, big red print they put. It's really a public embarrassment.

    27. TFTim Ferriss27:53

        [laughs]

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran27:54

        Eviction notice for prostitution. [laughs]

    29. TFTim Ferriss27:57

        [laughs]

    30. BCBarbara Corcoran27:58

        But why I say it was a favor, I knew I had paid my rent. I knew I was quiet. I knew wha- I thought it maybe was a mistake, but then when I thought about it, I thought, "I bet he thinks I'm a prostitute 'cause of all the guys in the apartment all the time."
13. 29:34 – 31:43

    Early recruitment gimmicks.

    1. BCBarbara Corcoran29:34

       that way.

    2. TFTim Ferriss29:35

       So then you end up with the founding of Corcoran Group.

    3. BCBarbara Corcoran29:39

       After Ray and Tina.

    4. TFTim Ferriss29:40

       Yes, exactly.

    5. BCBarbara Corcoran29:41

       Definitely.

    6. TFTim Ferriss29:42

       And you know you're gonna need help, but 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 trick?

    7. BCBarbara Corcoran29:59

       I had a great gimmick. Two great gimmicks I used. When I advertised in the want ads-

    8. TFTim Ferriss30:05

       Mm-hmm

    9. BCBarbara Corcoran30:05

       ... I would never put, "Position open. A salespeople wanted." That's what everybody put, "Salespeople wanted. Salespeople wanted." I made my caption in double height. I used up my lineage that way. "One empty desk rare."

    10. TFTim Ferriss30:19

        [laughs]

    11. BCBarbara Corcoran30:19

        People want what they can't get, you know?

    12. TFTim Ferriss30:21

        Yeah, yeah.

    13. BCBarbara Corcoran30:22

        And so people would call on the one empty desk, but I didn't say, "Make high commissions." I didn't even address the money piece. 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, 15, 20 agents at once, I had even a better gimmick. I put Learn Everything You Want to Know About Real Estate Career Night. It sounds common now, but then they never heard of career nights.

    14. TFTim Ferriss30:57

        Mm.

    15. BCBarbara Corcoran30:58

        Nobody did them. And then as the 40 people would come into my career night, I had a pencil in one hand, a pen in the other, and if they looked good, I gave them a pen to sign in. And then I dog-and-ponied them a show to make them fall in love with me, putting on my charm in every way. They all wanted to work for me.

    16. TFTim Ferriss31:17

        Mm-hmm.

    17. BCBarbara Corcoran31:17

        And they'd call me the next day. I'd say, "If you have any interest, call me tomorrow." And when they'd call, I would just see if they were in pencil or pen and I know who I wanted to talk to. [laughs]

    18. TFTim Ferriss31:25

        Amazing.

    19. BCBarbara Corcoran31:26

        So I would talk to maybe 30% of the people that were at the career night-

    20. TFTim Ferriss31:30

        Mm

    21. BCBarbara Corcoran31:30

        ... and invite them in for an interview, and then I would try to figure out if they had the capacity to sell, which is-

    22. TFTim Ferriss31:36

        Mm

    23. BCBarbara Corcoran31:36

        ... no easy feat. It's hard to recruit salespeople, very hard. Very hard to recognize the talent that you

14. 31:43 – 33:46

    Being the only woman in the room.

    1. BCBarbara Corcoran31:43

       need to do it.

    2. TFTim Ferriss31:43

       Mm-hmm. Did you view being a woman in that business at that time as an advantage, a disadvantage, a mixture of both? How did you think about that, if you thought about it?

    3. BCBarbara Corcoran31:54

       Well, 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.

    4. TFTim Ferriss32:04

       Mm-hmm.

    5. BCBarbara Corcoran32:04

       But when I started to talk to the sons of rich guys, that's basically who my, who the trade was owned by, they didn't work very hard. They were cocky. I spotted the cockiness, and I knew I could beat them at their own game.

    6. TFTim Ferriss32:18

       Mm.

    7. BCBarbara Corcoran32:18

       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 under my belt. 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. And I had great legs, and I knew it, and everybody would turn to look at, 'cause a girl stood out. You didn't have to be special. You just had to be a girl, and you-

    8. TFTim Ferriss32:48

       [laughs]

    9. BCBarbara Corcoran32:49

       ... were 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.

    10. TFTim Ferriss32:58

        Mm-hmm.

    11. BCBarbara Corcoran32:59

        Just a competitor. And boy, if they treated me badly or spoke down to me or didn't give me any credence that I could possibly make it in their world, they thought I was a passerby, or 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-

    12. TFTim Ferriss33:21

        Mm

    13. BCBarbara Corcoran33:21

        ... hated the insult. It was like send me back to second grade where the kids were laughing at me.

    14. TFTim Ferriss33:26

        Mm-hmm.

    15. BCBarbara Corcoran33:26

        It was too raw. Even though I was much older, it was too raw.

    16. TFTim Ferriss33:30

        [laughs]

    17. BCBarbara Corcoran33:31

        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, I don't think I would've been s- very successful. I think the men helped me.

    18. TFTim Ferriss33:42

        Mm-hmm.

    19. BCBarbara Corcoran33:42

        I just had to show them I knew what I was doing or would learn what I was doing.

15. 33:46 – 36:46

    Rules and systems.

    1. TFTim Ferriss33:46

       So you had this attitudinal advantage, right? I mean, you had this competitive drive.

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran33:51

       Tim, let me stop you for a minute.

    3. TFTim Ferriss33:53

       Uh-huh.

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran33:53

       I have to say, you are a wonderful interviewer.

    5. TFTim Ferriss33:57

       Thank you.

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran33:57

       I am shocked at how much you know about me.

    7. TFTim Ferriss33:59

       [laughs]

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran34:00

       It's almost intimidating. No, really, nobody takes the time.

    9. TFTim Ferriss34:04

       Oh, thank you.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran34:04

        Good for you.

    11. TFTim Ferriss34:05

        Thank you.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran34:05

        Over-preparer for sure, yeah. I'm sure you've heard it before, but I add my compliment.

    13. TFTim Ferriss34:10

        Thank you. I really appreciate that.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran34:11

        I mean it very much.

    15. TFTim Ferriss34:13

        Thank you. I take it seriously. I enjoy doing this, and I also value your time.

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran34:16

        It shows.

    17. TFTim Ferriss34:17

        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, 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-

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran34:34

        Mm-hmm

    19. TFTim Ferriss34:34

        ... 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?

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran34:47

        I don't think dyslexia eliminates the ability to organize. I don't know. I've never read about it.

    21. TFTim Ferriss34:52

        Mm-hmm.

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran34:52

        I got my organizational system from my mother, who ran our two-bedroom house like a boot camp.

    23. TFTim Ferriss34:57

        Mm.

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran34:57

        You know, everything had its place. Anything she had to repeat, she made a system for. If she had to polish our white buck shoes to go to Catholic school in the morning, she used a thick paintbrush and painted them on a radiator, turned them over to f- 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.

    25. TFTim Ferriss35:16

        Mm.

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran35:16

        She painted it white to get rid of that problem. Everything my mother approached, she approached that way, so everyone in my family, my nine siblings and I, grew up very organized. Very organized. We knew what organization was. We were part of her system.

    27. TFTim Ferriss35:30

        Mm-hmm.

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran35:30

        And so I made my salespeople part of my system. I just mimicked my mother in every way.

    29. TFTim Ferriss35:35

        Mm.

    30. BCBarbara Corcoran35:36

        But as a dyslexic, you have a problem with numbers, as you know, and words, so I didn't use them. I had no numbers, no words. I color-coded everything. I had color-coded file cabinets, listing cards. One bedrooms were one color. Two bedrooms were another color.
16. 36:46 – 39:25

    Experiments, innovations, and mistakes.

    1. BCBarbara Corcoran36:46

       You know?

    2. TFTim Ferriss36:46

       I get very excited about systems, so I, I share the-

    3. BCBarbara Corcoran36:49

       Do you?

    4. TFTim Ferriss36:49

       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 chutzpah and the talent of 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 of competing against these old-boy networks where they have committees, and they have to get approvals, then they have the lawyers and-

    5. BCBarbara Corcoran37:22

       This is not true

    6. TFTim Ferriss37:23

       ... 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?

    7. BCBarbara Corcoran37:33

       I think it all comes under the umbrella of urgency. If I thought of an idea on a Monday, I had it on the street by Tuesday.

    8. TFTim Ferriss37:38

       Mm.

    9. BCBarbara Corcoran37:39

       The big guys couldn't do that.

    10. TFTim Ferriss37:40

        Mm-hmm.

    11. BCBarbara Corcoran37:41

        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."

    12. TFTim Ferriss37:47

        Mm.

    13. BCBarbara Corcoran37:47

        And, you know, you try five things, one thing works, okay?

    14. TFTim Ferriss37:51

        Mm-hmm.

    15. BCBarbara Corcoran37:51

        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, where no one shared listings. Everybody corralled listings and kept the good ones for themselves. Everybody in New York was signed up for that. There was no MLS.

    16. TFTim Ferriss38:10

        Mm-hmm.

    17. BCBarbara Corcoran38:10

        And I declared that we were gonna start sharing our listings. My salespeople almost killed me. "Why should we share? Nobody else is sharing."

    18. TFTim Ferriss38:16

        Mm-hmm.

    19. BCBarbara Corcoran38:16

        Which you can understand.

    20. TFTim Ferriss38:18

        Yeah.

    21. BCBarbara Corcoran38:18

        Because 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 onto 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-

    22. TFTim Ferriss38:39

        Ugh

    23. BCBarbara Corcoran38:39

        ... 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, 'cause we had no MLS.

    24. TFTim Ferriss38:50

        Mm-hmm.

    25. BCBarbara Corcoran38:50

        So I called it Central Listing System. If you list with us, you will hit every broker in the community. If you list with your competitor, you'll hit 3%, which was true. Well, they told me the way they interpreted it was different. They kind of thought that I was saying to everybody that they were no good, wh- which I kind of was, [laughs] I guess.

    26. TFTim Ferriss39:08

        [laughs]

    27. BCBarbara Corcoran39:10

        But they all banded against me and wanted to throw me out of business, and that was tenuous. It was a rough time. But that was something, trying to do things differently, that didn't pay off so good, really. If I had a do-over again, I wouldn't have done it.

    28. TFTim Ferriss39:23

        You wouldn't have done it.

    29. BCBarbara Corcoran39:24

        Not worth the

17. 39:25 – 44:23

    Homes on Tape and puppy sales.

    1. BCBarbara Corcoran39:25

       hassle.

    2. TFTim Ferriss39:26

       So we can talk about all sorts of highlights, and I do wanna talk about some highlights, but let's talk about briefly Homes on Tape. Could you describe your experience with Homes on Tape?

    3. BCBarbara Corcoran39:36

       Yeah. Was that good? I made a juicy $1.225 million in one day, three hours to be exact.

    4. TFTim Ferriss39:43

       Yeah.

    5. BCBarbara Corcoran39:43

       That was another idea they said I couldn't do. Ha.

    6. TFTim Ferriss39:46

       Mm-hmm.

    7. BCBarbara Corcoran39:46

       They were wrong. There was no law against it. I checked the law.

    8. TFTim Ferriss39:49

       Yeah.

    9. BCBarbara Corcoran39:49

       Okay. What I did was, it was a terrible real-estate market. It was when interest rates in the early '80s, I think, or late '70s, were 18%, so no one bought real estate in New York. Nobody would dare buy unless you had all cash, and very few people. So I thought of this idea. I copied it from a, 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.

    10. TFTim Ferriss40:14

        Wait, wait, wait. I'm so curious. Wait, no, tell me the story. So puppy sale. What happened at the puppy sale?

    11. BCBarbara Corcoran40:19

        The puppy sale, which my mother took us to to, to visit our Grandpa Ward down in New Jersey, the shoreline.

    12. TFTim Ferriss40:27

        Mm-hmm.

    13. BCBarbara Corcoran40:28

        My mother made us sit and watch the farmer next door who was having puppies, Jack Russells, for sale.

    14. TFTim Ferriss40:33

        Mm-hmm.

    15. BCBarbara Corcoran40:34

        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 were 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 30 cars waiting to get a puppy.

    16. TFTim Ferriss40:50

        Hmm.

    17. BCBarbara Corcoran40:51

        And there was so much fighting in the line when the last puppy was taken-

    18. TFTim Ferriss40:54

        [laughs]

    19. BCBarbara Corcoran40:54

        ... because there wasn't enough puppies to give everybody a puppy, of course. My mother said, "She's really a smart woman. Watch her operate." And I remember thinking, "Operate?" Like she's gonna cut the puppies up, 'cause I was young enough not to know what that meant.

    20. TFTim Ferriss41:06

        [laughs]

    21. BCBarbara Corcoran41:06

        But it was her operation. She did this regularly.

    22. TFTim Ferriss41:09

        Mm.

    23. BCBarbara Corcoran41:09

        She had a bunch of dogs, and she would oversubscribe the appointments. They all had appointments. They left angry.

    24. TFTim Ferriss41:14

        Mm.

    25. BCBarbara Corcoran41:15

        So then I, I had 88 apartments owned by Prudential Insurance and Bernie Mendik. 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 sellable. They had no kitchens. They were dumpy. They were in the wrong buildings. They were just really the losers in the marketplace.

    26. TFTim Ferriss41:34

        Mm-hmm.

    27. BCBarbara Corcoran41:34

        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." They said, "No auction." And then Bernie Mendik, talk about positive reinforcement, great developer. He said to me, "Barbara, you're such a smart girl. You'll figure it out."

    28. TFTim Ferriss41:49

        Mm.

    29. BCBarbara Corcoran41:50

        And I thought, "I will?" And I went home, and I copied the puppy sale. So I priced the 88 apartments exactly alike, different floors, different locations, views, no views, no kitchens, did have a kitchen, had a back wall, whatever. Equalized them like the puppies.

    30. TFTim Ferriss42:05

        Mm-hmm.
18. 44:23 – 46:44

    Esther Kaplan’s persuasive purse.

    1. TFTim Ferriss44:23

       Scarcity. And on the talent side, I wanna ask to you about Esther Kaplan.

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran44:28

       Ah, wonderful Esther.

    3. TFTim Ferriss44:30

       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."

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran44:42

       Yep.

    5. TFTim Ferriss44:42

       "I had already learned that great salespeople were typically loud and enthusiastic, so I handed Esther my card and told her I'd call her if something opened, having no intention of calling her."

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran44:50

       Mm-mm.

    7. TFTim Ferriss44:51

       So what changed? Why was she to be seen again? How did that actually get salvaged?

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran44:57

       Boy, thank God she opened her purse when I gave her my business card to put business card in her purse.

    9. TFTim Ferriss45:03

       Mm-hmm.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran45:03

        And that was all the difference, 'cause she opened that purse with her little click, even her, even the click of her purse was concise. You know?

    11. TFTim Ferriss45:11

        Yeah.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran45:11

        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 now.

    13. TFTim Ferriss45:18

        Mm-hmm, yeah.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran45:19

        And she had a file cabinet inside it.

    15. TFTim Ferriss45:21

        [laughs]

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran45:21

        Not a metal one, but she, she had partitions with labels in her little purse.

    17. TFTim Ferriss45:27

        Uh-huh.

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran45:27

        And I, I'll tell you, I'd never seen that in my life, and I've never seen it since.

    19. TFTim Ferriss45:31

        Hmm.

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran45:31

        I thought to myself, which I've said before, but I remember consciously thinking, "I'd like to put my business in that lady's purse."

    21. TFTim Ferriss45:39

        [laughs]

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran45:39

        And I told her I'd open a position for her. I'd teach her everything I knew. She'd be my right-hand person, blah, blah, blah.

    23. TFTim Ferriss45:45

        Mm-hmm.

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran45:45

        I never expected her to make a sale, honestly. She did. She was a consistently hard worker and sold what she needed to, 'cause I didn't wanna pay her to help me out. I didn't have the money.

    25. TFTim Ferriss45:54

        Mm-hmm.

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran45:55

        But I told her I'd give her 10% of my business if she would be my right-hand man, and I'd teach her everything I know about selling.

    27. TFTim Ferriss46:00

        Hmm.

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran46:01

        And that was a wonderful partnership. I could have never built that business without Esther. 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.

    29. TFTim Ferriss46:12

        Yeah, what a lucky day, and lucky she tilted her purse.

    30. BCBarbara Corcoran46:15

        It was.
19. 46:44 – 53:03

    Sales 101 with Barbara.

    1. TFTim Ferriss46:44

       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?

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran46:56

       How to assess a customer s- immediately when they're talking to you on the phone. Immediately.

    3. TFTim Ferriss47:00

       Hmm.

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran47:01

       And it isn't how much money they have to spend-

    5. TFTim Ferriss47:03

       Mm-hmm

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran47:03

       ... what they're looking for, what part of 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: When do you need it for?

    7. TFTim Ferriss47:16

       Mm-hmm.

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran47:16

       "Oh, we'd like to get in by Christmas." That's a decent answer. At least it has a timeline.

    9. TFTim Ferriss47:22

       Mm-hmm.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran47:22

        Another answer, "Whenever we find the right thing," don't work with them.

    11. TFTim Ferriss47:25

        [laughs]

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran47:26

        The best answer of all is, "I really have to find something within the month because I'm being transferred here."

    13. TFTim Ferriss47:32

        Mm-hmm.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran47:33

        Terrific. What are you doing today? You know? 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.

    15. TFTim Ferriss47:45

        Hmm.

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran47:45

        And nothing unusual. I taught all my salespeople how to do that, how to qualify customers, how to rate them A, B, and C.

    17. TFTim Ferriss47:51

        Hmm.

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran47:52

        A, immediate. B, sort of immediate. C, forget about it. Don't call them back.

    19. TFTim Ferriss47:55

        Hmm.

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran47:56

        You know? 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.

    21. TFTim Ferriss48:10

        Huh.

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran48:10

        You know, there's certain sequences selling that you wanna expose, how to dress for the part, how to get away with not paying for the cab. Very important when you don't have money in New York City.

    23. TFTim Ferriss48:20

        How do you get away with that?

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran48:22

        Try to hang out with the men. They usually won't let a lady pay for the cab.

    25. TFTim Ferriss48:26

        [laughs]

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran48:26

        You know?

    27. TFTim Ferriss48:27

        It's true. It's true.

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran48:28

        So, so that's a bonus.

    29. TFTim Ferriss48:29

        Yeah.

    30. BCBarbara Corcoran48:29

        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 close and limited to three. Not because you're biased against women, but you, how to make your cab fare.
20. 53:03 – 55:03

    How Barbara stays active.

    1. TFTim Ferriss53:03

       So speaking of consistency-

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran53:06

       Mm-hmm

    3. TFTim Ferriss53:06

       ... I've heard you mention that exercise is your therapy.

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran53:10

       Mm.

    5. TFTim Ferriss53:10

       You're very sharp mentally, physically. What does your exercise routine look like? What has it looked like over the years?

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran53:17

       Nothing special, but what it does have is consistency.

    7. TFTim Ferriss53:20

       Mm-hmm.

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran53:21

       And that's the key to any exercise. I don't think it matters what you do, okay?

    9. TFTim Ferriss53:25

       Mm-hmm.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran53:25

        I've thought of taking up different kinds of exercises. I never get to it. But I have four appointments with a trainer well before I could afford it. I would- She would be the last person I'd give up if I was going to the poor house.

    11. TFTim Ferriss53:38

        Mm.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran53:38

        A trainer that is at my door and I have no choice, because if I had a choice, I would never work out.

    13. TFTim Ferriss53:43

        Mm.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran53:43

        But there she is, Margaret, who's been with me, like, now 15 years, and I gotta do it. So it's weightlifting, stretching, cardiovascular, a little bit of that. I get away with 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'd love to give it up.

    15. TFTim Ferriss54:00

        [laughs]

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran54:01

        I hurt my back a short while, and she insisted on coming anyway. I'm like, "Don't I get a break?" [laughs] But no.

    17. TFTim Ferriss54:08

        You wish you could give it up, but you don't. So what do you get from the exercise? How would you explain that?

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran54:14

        First of all, you have your own time. I have an hour just for me, splurging on me. It's all about me, and I don't ever have any time like that or make the time.

    19. TFTim Ferriss54:23

        Mm-hmm.

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran54:24

        What I also get is relaxation. I run hot. I'm ooh. Calms me down, calms you down. I get vanity.

    21. TFTim Ferriss54:32

        Mm.

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran54:32

        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.

    23. TFTim Ferriss54:38

        [laughs]

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran54:39

        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.

    25. TFTim Ferriss54:54

        Mm.

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran54:54

        Exercise and pulling weeds in my mind are the two best therapies in the world.

    27. TFTim Ferriss54:58

        Wow.

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran54:59

        You really don't [laughs] need much more than that. Straighten out all your problems that way.

    29. TFTim Ferriss55:02

        [laughs]

21. 55:03 – 1:00:58

    Butting heads with Donald Trump.

    1. TFTim Ferriss55:03

       So you're building strength, and a 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 [laughs] ask you about this So here's the paragraph: "Corcoran and Trump haven't always seen eye to eye. In 1994, Corcoran accused Trump of not paying millions of dollars of commissions to tour brokers who brought him key Hong Kong investors of his Riverside South project." So you, I think a lot of people are intimidated by many things in life. Certainly-

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran55:40

       Mm-hmm

    3. TFTim Ferriss55:40

       ... a lot of people would be in- intimidated by somebody like Trump. But it seems like you, you were willing to fight, and I'm curious how you developed that or if that has been something from childhood that you've just carried forward. But a lot of people 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. 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.

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran56:17

       Well, that's a good example 'cause he's an intimidating man.

    5. TFTim Ferriss56:20

       Mm-hmm.

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran56:20

       He's a bully.

    7. TFTim Ferriss56:21

       Yeah.

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran56:21

       He's a real live bully in every way.

    9. TFTim Ferriss56:23

       Mm-hmm.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran56:25

        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.

    11. TFTim Ferriss56:36

        Mm-hmm.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran56:36

        But when someone insults me, it brings out the fight in me. I don't know where that comes from. I guess 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-

    13. TFTim Ferriss56:52

        Mm-hmm

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran56:52

        ... he would be abusive with his mouth-

    15. TFTim Ferriss56:55

        Yeah

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran56:55

        ... 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. And so it would just tip into that. So when Donald is like, "You're not seeing a penny," I'm like, I turn into a killer.

    17. TFTim Ferriss57:11

        [laughs]

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran57:11

        It's insulting to think I'll really roll over on that, and thank God how life happens. It was the first year I made a real profit in Corcoran Group.

    19. TFTim Ferriss57:20

        Oh, I didn't know that.

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran57:21

        'Cause I never made money-

    21. TFTim Ferriss57:22

        Mm-hmm

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran57:22

        ... because I was always throwing my money back in and living so cheap so that I could afford to open offices. Always the money went to the business. The money went to the business. It 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, I either had losses or 100,000. But it cost me $500,000 to sue, but I had the cash. Think about that.

    23. TFTim Ferriss57:46

        Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran57:47

        So I felt powerful that I got the money to fight it, and I'm certainly not gonna walk away because you know what my thinking is on walking away from a well-fought fight?

    25. TFTim Ferriss57:55

        Mm-hmm.

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran57:56

        You resent it and regret it for the l- rest of your life.

    27. TFTim Ferriss57:59

        Mm-hmm.

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran57:59

        I didn't wanna be that girl saying, "You son of a bitch. How did he get away with... How did he get..." You really, 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 earned the money. You signed you'd give it to me, and you're not giving it to me. You're suing me instead. Oh, no, I don't think so.

    29. TFTim Ferriss58:20

        [laughs]

    30. BCBarbara Corcoran58:20

        But one other lesson I learned at that juncture just as important as a willingness to fight is get the right help.
22. 1:00:58 – 1:03:43

    Picking battles.

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:00:58

       so good. That is amazing.

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran1:00:59

       Yeah.

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:00:59

       Now, I, I wanna come back to something you said at the beginning, which is you'd walk a mile to avoid a fight, and I think this is really-

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:05

       Yeah

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:01:05

       ... important to revisit because I'm a fighter.

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:08

       You are? You don't seem like it.

    7. TFTim Ferriss1:01:10

       Let me take that back. I've historically been a fighter, very competitive-

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:15

       Mm-hmm

    9. TFTim Ferriss1:01:15

       ... 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.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:26

        Were they really based on principle, you think?

    11. TFTim Ferriss1:01:29

        That's a very good question. I think it was a certain sense of moral outrage about some type of situation.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:37

        Mm.

    13. TFTim Ferriss1:01:37

        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." And they're like-

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:52

        Wow

    15. TFTim Ferriss1:01:52

        ... and they basically said, "Look-

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:53

        That's like Donald Trump.

    17. TFTim Ferriss1:01:54

        Yeah. They basically said, "Look, we have 20 in-house counsel. If you wanna fight, let's fight." [laughs] And I was like-

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran1:01:59

        Yeah

    19. TFTim Ferriss1:01:59

        ... what? Really?

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran1:02:00

        Yeah.

    21. TFTim Ferriss1:02:00

        And that pissed me off. Now, ultimately that-

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran1:02:02

        It had to scare you

    23. TFTim Ferriss1:02:04

        Yeah, of course. 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 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.

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran1:02:35

        They're not happy people, by the way, those people that are constantly in lawsuits. Yeah.

    25. TFTim Ferriss1:02:39

        No, they're not.

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran1:02:40

        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.

    27. TFTim Ferriss1:02:48

        Yep.

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran1:02:49

        So I think how much energy is it gonna take from me, for how long, and I take a quick guess and I make my decision there.

    29. TFTim Ferriss1:02:57

        Mm.

    30. BCBarbara Corcoran1:02:57

        Not on whether I could win or not, but just is it worth the energy. You know?
23. 1:03:43 – 1:10:03

    How Barbara fell in love with trailer park life.

    1. BCBarbara Corcoran1:03:43

       Ugh. Yeah.

    2. TFTim Ferriss1:03:43

       So this is gonna be a, a bit of a left turn, but I'm, I'm so curious. In the course of doing some research [laughs] , I, I found on this website in the UK, this is express.co.uk.

    3. BCBarbara Corcoran1:03:55

       UK? Wow.

    4. TFTim Ferriss1:03:56

       Oh, yeah. So Shark Tank businesswoman Barbara Corcoran has offered fans a rare glimpse of her mobile trailer for a video with TikTok star, I think it's Caleb perhaps Simpson.

    5. BCBarbara Corcoran1:04:07

       Cute guy.

    6. TFTim Ferriss1:04:07

       Yeah. [laughs] So it's, it says that you use 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.

    7. BCBarbara Corcoran1:04:21

       No, I do use it, and more than a few weeks a year.

    8. TFTim Ferriss1:04:23

       Mm-hmm.

    9. BCBarbara Corcoran1:04:24

       Probably five weeks a year maybe.

    10. TFTim Ferriss1:04:26

        Mm-hmm.

    11. BCBarbara Corcoran1:04:27

        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, right? 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.

    12. TFTim Ferriss1:04:48

        Mm-hmm.

    13. BCBarbara Corcoran1:04:48

        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 1, 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, and it's only a half hour from my studio.

    14. TFTim Ferriss1:05:05

        Mm.

    15. BCBarbara Corcoran1:05:05

        And I went around and looked at all the trailers and picked out I thought the best position, 'cause you could 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. And so I called the local broker. I'd 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 it whenever you want. Would you move out?" And she said yes.

    16. TFTim Ferriss1:05:31

        Sorry, say that one more time. If you gave her what?

    17. BCBarbara Corcoran1:05:33

        A life estate.

    18. TFTim Ferriss1:05:35

        What is that?

    19. BCBarbara Corcoran1:05:36

        A right to use it for two weeks a year.

    20. TFTim Ferriss1:05:38

        Ah, okay.

    21. BCBarbara Corcoran1:05:38

        Any two weeks she wanted. 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.

    22. TFTim Ferriss1:05:48

        Hmm.

    23. BCBarbara Corcoran1:05:49

        Now, I paid for that trailer $800,000, which everybody in the trailer park said, "A moron from New York just paid $800,000 for a trailer."

    24. TFTim Ferriss1:05:57

        [laughs]

    25. BCBarbara Corcoran1:05:58

        I purposely overpaid by 100,000, but it seemed so undervalued to me. I said, what do I care about? I'm gonna use it for 10, 20 years. What do I care about 100,000? Which is true in buying real estate. What do you care about it if you have the money to spend? But, you know, I've put the place into a spin. We've had Hollywood... Not because of me, I just bought it the right time. I put another 200, maybe $300,000 into it, and now it's worth like 1.9, maybe 2.

    26. TFTim Ferriss1:06:25

        Hmm.

    27. BCBarbara Corcoran1:06:25

        Not a lot when you're in New York and hear 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. Flowers. I have my garden. It couldn't be more beautiful.

    28. TFTim Ferriss1:06:39

        Huh.

    29. BCBarbara Corcoran1:06:40

        And so it was one of the best decisions I really made, definitely.

    30. TFTim Ferriss1:06:44

        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, I would never imagine 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?
24. 1:10:03 – 1:11:26

    Why Barbara only hires happy people now.

    1. BCBarbara Corcoran1:10:03

       Yeah.

    2. TFTim Ferriss1:10:03

       If you were going to give advice to your self 30 years ago, let's just say, you could send back a time capsule to give some advice-

    3. BCBarbara Corcoran1:10:11

       Mm-hmm

    4. TFTim Ferriss1:10:12

       ... to yourself 30 years ago, any advice come to mind? Tips or anything at all? Warnings?

    5. BCBarbara Corcoran1:10:19

       I would have told myself, 'cause I had to learn this over a few years, hire happy people.

    6. TFTim Ferriss1:10:23

       Ah.

    7. BCBarbara Corcoran1:10:23

       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 have two personalities. So I had, for a number of years, I had miserable people that could suck the life out of you with their bitching and complaining, and then I decided one day I'll never, ever hire anyone unhappy again.

    8. TFTim Ferriss1:10:51

       Hmm.

    9. BCBarbara Corcoran1:10:51

       And that was like pulling the curtains back and the, 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 they're horrible. I just don't, you know, just complainers, they suck the life out of you. So I think I would have gotten tough on complainers right away-

    10. TFTim Ferriss1:11:13

        Hmm

    11. BCBarbara Corcoran1:11:13

        ... and fired everybody who complained. You're out of here. You're out. You're out. [laughs]

    12. TFTim Ferriss1:11:17

        [laughs]

    13. BCBarbara Corcoran1:11:18

        Took me a while.

    14. TFTim Ferriss1:11:19

        I've heard you say, you know, complainers are thieves, and I, that stuck.

    15. BCBarbara Corcoran1:11:23

        It's exactly how they are.

    16. TFTim Ferriss1:11:25

        Yeah, that really

25. 1:11:26 – 1:13:44

    Barbara In Your Pocket.

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:11:26

       stuck. So Barbara, let me ask you about Barbara In Your Pocket.

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran1:11:29

       Mm.

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:11:29

       So Barbara In Your Pocket is the top business channel on Patreon. Why did you start this? I mean, it's, it certainly seems like a rare opportunity for people to get a lot of insight, a lot of tactical advice-

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran1:11:42

       Yes

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:11:42

       ... from someone who's been in the trenches, has had more adventures than [laughs] you possibly count.

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran1:11:48

       Yes, yes, yes.

    7. TFTim Ferriss1:11:49

       Misadventures, too, I am sure. Why did you decide to do this?

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran1:11:53

       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 their business, constant, and I would get to maybe seven, eight a week.

    9. TFTim Ferriss1:12:07

       Hmm.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran1:12:07

        And it was a heartbreaker, 'cause I'd have 30 people who wanted help.

    11. TFTim Ferriss1:12:11

        Hmm.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran1:12:11

        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. 'Cause 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.

    13. TFTim Ferriss1:12:31

        Hmm.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran1:12:31

        And so I wanted to bring people together to help each other, and I wanted to give them honest advice, no bullshit advice.

    15. TFTim Ferriss1:12:37

        Mm-hmm.

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran1:12:38

        Not, not slicing my words. Tell them what I really thought, what I really thought [laughs] was the problem, whether they wanted to hear it or not.

    17. TFTim Ferriss1:12:45

        Mm-hmm.

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran1:12:45

        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 month old- [laughs]

    19. TFTim Ferriss1:12:59

        Hmm

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran1:12:59

        ... but I see it like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

    21. TFTim Ferriss1:13:01

        Yeah.

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran1:13:01

        I almost feel like I have my old Corcoran group back. Isn't that weird? 'Cause I see their faces. They tell me their problems. I can see what's good about them. I can see what's bad about them right away.

    23. TFTim Ferriss1:13:10

        Mm-hmm.

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran1:13:10

        You know, I, I feel like I'm building my Corcoran group all over again. I couldn't have done it without a large platform to do it that way.

    25. TFTim Ferriss1:13:16

        Mm-hmm. Yeah, Patreon's great, and I'll just read this for folks as well. So the Barbara In Your Pocket channel will 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, uh, as well as joining members live to answer their toughest questions. And I, I don't know if this is a tough question, but a question I have for you is

26. 1:13:44 – 1:14:46

    What gives Barbara the most energy these days?

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:13:44

       What gives you the most energy these days? What is it that drives you, feeds you energetically? Like, what do you find really tips the balance for you?

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran1:13:53

       An entrepreneur coming back and saying I made a difference, that my suggestion to do this worked, and they're successful because of it, which they're exaggerating, I realize that. But feeling, or not feeling, knowing the feeling of having somebody come back as proof that I made a difference.

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:14:09

       Mm-hmm.

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran1:14:09

       If you think about it, I think maybe all of us just wanna make a difference, you know?

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:14:13

       Totally.

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran1:14:14

       I, 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, ooh, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm cool. [laughs]

    7. TFTim Ferriss1:14:33

       [laughs]

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran1:14:33

       Then I squeeze my head down and go, "Get back to work." [laughs]

    9. TFTim Ferriss1:14:36

       [laughs]

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran1:14:37

        But that's the most satisfying, yeah, without a doubt.

    11. TFTim Ferriss1:14:40

        So Barbara, just a few more questions. This has been so fun. Thank you again for the time. I've really, really enjoyed this.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran1:14:45

        My pleasure, Tim.

27. 1:14:46 – 1:15:55

    Barbara’s billboard.

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:14:46

       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-

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran1:14:57

       Mm-hmm

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:14:58

       ... could be a word, could be a question, could be an image, nothing commercial, but just something, something to make an impact, what might you put on that billboard?

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran1:15:07

       I'll tell you, it came right to my head the minute you started asking the question. I would say, "You're a lot more capable than you think you are."

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:15:14

       Hmm.

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran1:15:15

       People write themselves off so early.

    7. TFTim Ferriss1:15:17

       Hmm.

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran1:15:17

       I mean, I saw people through my career, whether they be entrepreneurs through Shark Tank, whether they be Corcoran Group agents, come in with battle scars from life, not really thinking they deserve the success or could accomplish it. I saw losers become winners constantly.

    9. TFTim Ferriss1:15:35

       Hmm.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran1:15:35

        And they wrote themselves off somehow too early. So I think people are so much more capable than they think they are. So I would write, "You," with capital Y-O-U, "are more capable than you think you are."

    11. TFTim Ferriss1:15:48

        Hmm.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran1:15:49

        Maybe I could come up with something better, but that's how I feel, so I'm telling you that now.

    13. TFTim Ferriss1:15:53

        I think that's a solid answer. That is a great

28. 1:15:55 – 1:17:25

    Parting thoughts and proposals.

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:15:55

       answer.

    2. BCBarbara Corcoran1:15:55

       Okay.

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:15:56

       Well, Barbara, thank you so much. People can find you on all social, and we'll link, link in the show notes for all of this, uh, Barbara Corcoran almost everywhere. Barbara In Your Pocket, people can find at Patreon.com/BarbaraCorcoran. Is there anything else you would like to say before we come to a close?

    4. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:12

       Yes, I hope you'd give me a moment, Tim.

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:16:14

       Of course. Take all the time you want.

    6. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:15

       Thank you. No, it's short.

    7. TFTim Ferriss1:16:16

       Hmm.

    8. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:16

       Will you marry me?

    9. TFTim Ferriss1:16:18

       [laughs] You know, I am on the market, so never say never.

    10. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:23

        You are really?

    11. TFTim Ferriss1:16:24

        I am.

    12. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:25

        You really are on the market?

    13. TFTim Ferriss1:16:26

        I am. I am.

    14. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:27

        Do you like a little bit older babe? [laughs]

    15. TFTim Ferriss1:16:29

        [laughs] You know, I'm not against it. I'm not against it, you know. Maybe I, I spend 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.

    16. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:38

        If you're serious, I'm serious. [laughs]

    17. TFTim Ferriss1:16:41

        [laughs] 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.

    18. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:49

        Ooh. [laughs]

    19. TFTim Ferriss1:16:50

        [laughs]

    20. BCBarbara Corcoran1:16:51

        I'm kidding you sort of, but I'm happy with your answer.

    21. TFTim Ferriss1:16:54

        Yeah. [laughs] Thank you, Barbara. You're so good at what you do. You're so engaging.

    22. BCBarbara Corcoran1:17:01

        Thank you.

    23. TFTim Ferriss1:17:01

        And I've enjoyed this conversation so much. I really appreciate you taking the time, so thank you again.

    24. BCBarbara Corcoran1:17:06

        You build my confidence. Thank you. You're wonderful at what you do. I'm not just giving you a, a compliment back, but you really are wonderful.

    25. TFTim Ferriss1:17:13

        Thank you.

    26. BCBarbara Corcoran1:17:13

        I do a lot of this, so you are.

    27. TFTim Ferriss1:17:15

        Thank you, Barbara. Well, have a wonderful weekend and-

    28. BCBarbara Corcoran1:17:17

        Bye, Tim

    29. TFTim Ferriss1:17:18

        Okay.

    30. BCBarbara Corcoran1:17:18

        You're gonna throw kisses?

Episode duration: 1:17:35