Barbara Corcoran is the founder of The Corcoran Group. She is an accomplished entrepreneur, investor, and Shark for the past nine seasons on ABC’s four-time Emmy award-winning show, Shark Tank, investing in over 80 businesses to date with other famous investors like Kevin O’Leary. (source).

The Corcoran Group, the largest and best-known brand in the brokerage business

She authored the best-selling book “Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business!”

Best Barbara Corcoran Quotes

Here are Barbara Corcoran’s best quotes, carefully selected and with an added commentary:

“The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves.” — Barbara Corcoran

When you read biographies of successful people, it’s easy to realize how most of the time, they didn’t have better conditions than yours. They just went through hardships very similar to the ones that you are facing or will face. That’s why there’s great wisdom in this quote from Barbara.

“A complainer is like a death eater because there’s a suction of negative energy. You can catch a great attitude from great people.” — Barbara Corcoran

If time is money, the time spent complaining will not only be a huge waste, but it will be detrimental in your chances of making more money in the future. Look at those around you, like Tim Ferriss often reinstates: “You’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with.” Life is just too short for staying with negative people that will harm your chances of success.

“The joy is in getting there. The beginning years of starting your business, the camaraderie when you’re in the pit together, are the best years of your life. So rather than being so focused on when you get big and powerful if you can just get the juice out of that… don’t miss it.” – Barbara Corcoran

Barbara became a self-made multi-millionaire and she knows well how the size of your make account doesn’t make you happy. Being grateful, appreciate the present moment and the small things will make you appreciate the journey and make you successful under every aspect of life.

“My best successes came on the heels of failure.” — Barbara Corcoran

Like any other successful entrepreneurs, Barbara has seen both successes and setbacks. However, failures don’t always mean bad things. If you look at them from the right perspective you will just realize they are feedbacks in the experiment of life and business

“Finding an opportunity is a matter of believing it’s there.” — Barbara Corcoran

The work of an entrepreneur and investor like the one of Barbara is pretty much a job of critical thinking, and critical thinking means for a huge part thinking for yourself instead of following a mass like a sheep. Barbara understand this very well as she reinstate with this quote, that sometimes opportunities can aren’t seen by everyone but that you have to believe in the vision that you’re creating.

“Don’t you dare underestimate the power of your own instinct. Most people can recall times they ignored their gut only to regret it later. Learning to actually listen to your instinct is a great form of self-preservation. It’s both incredibly easy and tough at the same time, but worth the effort to master.” — Barbara Corcoran

Barbara is a savvy investor and so she understands well that technical analyses have their part, but nobody can foresee the future. Instinct can be wiser than graphs and statistics in wealth creation.

“Always choose attitude over experience. Always.” — Barbara Corcoran

Barbara believes that a person with an attitude to win and striving to constantly learn will outperform a talented person with experience in the long-run.

“I think your worst weakness can become your greatest strength.” — Barbara Corcoran

The world is filled with stories of people that used to shy and insecure and they blossomed in being some of the most influential leaders of our generation.

“Leaders come in two flavors. Expanders and containers. The best leadership teams have a mix of both.” — Barbara Corcoran

“It’s your game; make up your own rules.”

“Forget about perfection; it doesn’t exist.” — Barbara Corcoran

As the saying goes, shipped is better than perfect.

“If people like you, they’re going to want to do business with you. And if they don’t, you’re going to have an almost insurmountable obstacle to overcome.” — Barbara Corcoran

Business is a game based on trust. If you aren’t able to make people trust you or like you. It doesn’t matter how incredible your products are, you’re going to struggle otherwise.

“No one tells salesmen what they can and can’t do.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Whatever you got you to have to accentuate. I ran my female card up and down the ladder my whole career because I was in a man’s world. It was worked by women but owned by men. I was the only female owner in my field at that time.” – Barbara Corcoran

“People stayed with me and worked extra hard for me because I could see the potential in them – I’m not so sure they could see the potential in me.” – Barbara Corcoran

“The best mistake I ever made was believing that I was stupid. It was a childhood thing, but it played out big-time as an adult. It scorned me the rest of my life – in a good way.” – Barbara Corcoran

You don’t know what you don’t know and particularly in business, it’s important to see things as they are to make the best decisions, not how you want them to be like. Ego can bias your view of things.

“I built the business exactly the way my mother built and ran her family. I wanted a replication of the big, happy family I grew up in. I wanted happy people having fun.” – Barbara Corcoran

After all, in life you’re not going to bring your dollars with you in the grave. That’s why it’s important to have fun in business and to make your employees enjoy their time at work because that’s likely where they will spend most of their time.

“Don’t be afraid to go for positions, jobs or take on clients just outside of your knowledge base. It’s when you’re uncomfortable that you learn and grow the most.” – Barbara Corcoran

“The worst that could happen is I lose my company and go back to being a waitress. I don’t think money’s a great aspiration for a lot of people that succeed. They have other motivations that turn them on. And money was not one of mine.” – Barbara Corcoran

“If you have an idea, immediately move on it. To start that fire and get it burning immediately… It’s everything.” – Barbara Corcoran

“A good organization is like a box of crayons. You need different colors of the spectrum, but all the crayons should fit in the box.” – Barbara Corcoran

An organization is not just a place of lookalikes, but instead great entrepreneurs like Barbara understand the value of hiring people who are smarter than them or that they can accomplish things differently from what the talents of the talents and skills of the business owners are.

“If you stand back and analyze the best way to do something, you’ll be standing there forever. Follow your gut and jump right in!” – Barbara Corcoran

Barbara is clearly a big believer in the importance of taking action and learning by doing, but how can anyone disagree with her? When you analyze the biographies of successful individuals, you’ll very likely find having a bias for action as a commonality between them.



“If you’ve got the money, you need people to make money with your money. And if you have the talent, you can always merchandise your talent to someone who’s got the money and make money. There are two pieces to it: talent and money.” – Barbara Corcoran

“When you’re building a business, you’re either all in, or you’re not.” – Barbara Corcoran

“I like to wake up and just feel gratitude. Gratitude for waking up, for my health, for my kids, for my family. A lot of times in the evening, I’ll write down what my goals are for the next day; when I wake up, I look at that list again. I meditate.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Good salesmanship is nothing more than maximizing the positive and minimizing the negative.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Taking chances almost always makes for happy endings.” – Barbara Corcoran

“I don’t invest anymore in entrepreneurs who don’t have charisma.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Confidence is overrated. It’s when we’re uncomfortable and looking for answers that we learn and grow the most.” – Barbara Corcoran

“So many people are good at starts and not so good at finishing.” – Barbara Corcoran

“The biggest challenge in business is not the competition, it’s what goes on inside your own head.” – Barbara Corcoran

“If you’re having fun, you wind up innovating.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Your people smarts will prove ten times more valuable than all the book smarts you can’t get.” – Barbara Corcoran

“People imitate their leader. Lead by example.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Take some time to sit down and figure out how your big rival is promoting their brand and plan something smarter and more creative for yours!” – Barbara Corcoran

“In business, you’re the Chief Salesman. Create a sense of demand, rather than waiting to have demand.” – Barbara Corcoran

“When you feel stuck and can’t seem to move ahead, always remember that you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going!” – Barbara Corcoran

“Empathy for the people you’re working with and being aware of their needs… That’s the “big kahuna” in managing people.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Instead of assuming everything you’re being told is the truth, ask plenty of questions.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Don’t get cocky just because you’ve had a good run. You can lose your business as fast as you’ve earned it.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Make sure you pick good people to build your business with, as they’ll determine 80 percent of your success.” – Barbara Corcoran

“The best time to expand is when people are asleep at the wheel.” – Barbara Corcoran

“The most effective way to build a brand is not by spending millions on advertising, but by finding a clever way to keep your name in the press.” – Barbara Corcoran

“If you get labeled a winner, people come along for the ride. Might as well enjoy it and they should too.” – Barbara Corcoran

“The power of publicity is more important than advertising.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Innovation and creativity are the juiciest parts of running a business.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Stop putting it off! Procrastination breeds guilt, guilt breeds depression, and depression breeds failure.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Figure out what past efforts amounted to nothing and label them your “not to do” list. Post the list where you’ll see it.” – Barbara Corcoran

“A complainer is like a Death Eater because there’s a suction of negative energy. You can catch a great attitude from great people.” – Barbara Corcoran

“When you’re in business, if you have some sort of gimmick it’s a huge advantage.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Failure is my specialty.” – Barbara Corcoran

As counterintuitive as it might sound, if you think about it, the people who are the most successful and win more are as well the ones that fail the most. That’s because they are willing to take a stand and try new things which brings them extraordinary results.

“Don’t teach talent that isn’t there.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Become better at firing than hiring – it’s crucial for building a business.” – Barbara Corcoran

“If someone doesn’t fit in your company, you have an obligation to get rid of them, because you’re holding them back from excelling elsewhere.” – Barbara Corcoran

Barbara knows how it is crucial for people to understand whether their employees are in the right place or not for the job because otherwise, it would be a waste of time for both you and your employees if they’ll remain there.



“If you want to be noticed, dress the part.” – Barbara Corcoran

“I was well motivated. What I wanted to do was work for myself. I had twenty-two jobs before I started my business at the age of twenty-three and I didn’t want one more boss telling me what to do. So I was motivated simply because I didn’t want a boss.” – Barbara Corcoran

“I have found, whether you have a tiny business or a big business, if you don’t jump on something right away, it’s like a bird flying by-it flies off.” – Barbara Corcoran

“You can’t study to be an entrepreneur. Sometimes, you just have to jump.” – Barbara Corcoran

“I think of my business and investments as an extension of my family.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Your business is a part of yourself. Should it be? Who knows, but it sure feels that way. You can never really leave it.” – Barbara Corcoran

“All the best things that happened to me happened after I was rejected. I knew the power of getting past no.” – Barbara Corcoran

“The productiveness of any meeting depends on the level of thought given to the agenda in advance, and you should never leave a meeting without writing a follow-up list with each item assigned to one person. And go outside. All the big ideas are on the outside. You’ll never have a creative idea at your desk.” – Barbara Corcoran

“Stop putting it off! Procrastination breeds guilt, guilt breeds depression, and depression breeds failure.” Barbara Corcoran

“Some of the worst pitches are the people who talk all fancy who’ve been to business school.” Barbara Corcoran

“Stop comparing yourself to everyone else around you.” Barbara Corcoran

“If you’re minding someone else’s business, no one is minding yours.” Barbara Corcoran

“I consider rejection a lucky charm.” Barbara Corcoran

“Your heart must always be in it. That’s part of an entrepreneur’s DNA.” Barbara Corcoran

“If I could set a world record, it would be that I have 150 business partners, all with thriving businesses of their own, that started with nothing, and I made the difference to make them all billionaires.” Barbara Corcoran

“You don’t need an MBA to launch a business. You need street smarts and grit.” Barbara Corcoran

“Most great entrepreneurs I know are nothing like the other kids.” Barbara Corcoran

“The biggest challenge in business is not the competition, it’s what goes on inside your own head.” Barbara Corcoran

“Every single failure has an equally great upside if you are willing to stay in the game.” Barbara Corcoran

“Walk in their shoes and see what they see within the first eight seconds.” Barbara Corcoran

“Play what you’ve got and don’t waste time worrying about what you don’t.” Barbara Corcoran

“People most resistant to fun need it the most.” Barbara Corcoran

“I turned $1,000 into a billion-dollar business.” Barbara Corcoran

“Every time you push through failure there’s always a prize for you on the other side. ” Barbara Corcoran

“Insecurity is a wonderful motivator.” Barbara Corcoran

“Never be ashamed of who you are. People always recognize and appreciate authenticity.” Barbara Corcoran

What is your favorite quote from Barbara Corcoran? Comment below

Photo Credit: Jacqueline Zaccor