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American businesswoman, investor, speaker, consultant, syndicated columnist, author, and TV personality Barbara Ann Corcoran is one of the sharks on ABC’s Shark Tank. Before joining the show, she used to run her own real estate brokerage located in New York City which she eventually sold in 2001 and shortly after exited the company which she built for more than two decades. She has done a lot of things to achieve success. She is currently among the sharks on the hit reality TV show where they would venture into some entrepreneurial opportunities pitched by the small time entrepreneurs.
Corcoran currently has a net worth of $100 million. She is currently a columnist for The Daily Review, More, and RedBook. She has appeared in all 12 seasons of Shark Tank and has made about 53 deals on the show with the largest investment she made was about $350,000 for about 40% of the business called Coverplay. She has also published numerous books today which have been among the best selling business books. Take a look at how she started and how she built her $100 million fortune.
Barbara Corcoran’s Early Life And Struggles In School
Shark Barbara Corcoran whose real name is Barbara Ann Corcoran was born on March 10, 1949 in Edgewater, New Jersey. She is the second child out of ten children to father Edwin W. Corcoran Jr, who bounced from job to job in the entirety of Corcoran’s childhood while her mother named Florence was a homemaker. During the times when her father’s salary is not enough, they relied on some deliveries of free food from their local grocer. According to Corcoran, she remembered her father as a man who often drank too much and treated their mother with condescension and disrespect.
Corcoran has dyslexia which made her struggle throughout her school life. However she persevered and attended a local Catholic elementary school and even made it through high school attending St. Cecilia High School in Englewood. However, she has flunked numerous courses during her freshmen year despite trying so hard, she eventually transferred to Leonia High School where she eventually graduated but was a D student. With so much determination, she was able to graduate in college. She attended St. Thomas Aquinas College and finished with a degree in education in 1971.
Starting Her Own Business
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After she graduated, she decided to apply to different job openings however luck seems to be elusive. She soon landed a teaching job at some school but after a year, she decided to quit. Just like her father, Corcoran bounced from jobs to jobs and by time she reached the age of twenty three years old, she has already tried on a total of 22 jobs. This included a side job renting out apartments in New York City. During the time when she was a waitress, her boyfriend at the time convinced her to get into the real estate business.
She seemed to have found her interest as she liked working in the real estate company. Although enjoyed what she was doing, she knows for sure that she wants to be her own boss. During that time she was working for the Giffuni Brothers’ real estate company as a receptionist and decided to establish her own company in 1973 after borrowing $1,000 from her boyfriend. She founded the The Corcoran-Simonè with her boyfriend. It was a small real estate office in New York City however after seven years she was dumped by her boyfriend who is off to marry his secretary.
The Inception Of Corcoran Group And Its Massive Success
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After she was dumped by her boyfriend, she formed her own firm and called it The Corcoran Group. Corcoran has learned some unconventional lessons from her homemaker mom which she used as leverage to grow her business. She has grown the business slowly since she does not really want to rush success. She looked beyond the four walls of her apartment and thought out of the box and got creative with her business.
With so much creativity and passion towards her craft, she was able to build a multimillion business. It was not easy for her as she poured 23 years of her life to make it happen. She spent most of her life running the company and in 2001, she was able to sold her company to NRT for a whopping $66 million. It became the largest residential real estate firm in the entire New York. She has decided to focus on her life and have a family afterwards. She believed that she would not be able to achieve so much success if she became a mother at a young age. She is currently an executive producer on ABC’s hit reality TV show Shark Tank, she has written some books about business and even published one of the best selling business books.
Sources: Barbara Corcoran, Entrepreneur, CNCB