Barbara Corcoran has worn many titles over the years. But her fearless attitude tends to stand out more than anything else. She has never shied away from moves that felt risky to others, and those bold decisions helped fuel her rise to wealth. She has built her fortune by jumping into ideas that others might have backed away from.
And all of this makes one wonder: what makes Barbara Corcoran zero in on a business that later brings in millions? It’s a question that insists upon itself.
Barbara Corcoran’s Number One Trait
Barbara Corcoran’s secret? She shared with the Wake-Up Call at Work newsletter that she watches closely to see whether someone owns their mistakes or points fingers when things go wrong.
She explained this approach, saying, “Six months after Shark Tank, something always goes wrong—the supplier didn’t deliver, the molds were wrong, an employee messed up. But the minute an entrepreneur starts blaming the next guy, I know it’s over, and they’re going to lose my money.”
Barbara’s perspective comes from experience. Across 17 seasons on Shark Tank, she has funded countless ventures and watched more than a few of those partners build wealth in record time.
The Common Threads Corcoran Sees in Top Entrepreneurs
A standout win for Corcoran came from a $50,000 investment that gave her 30% equity in The Comfy. The wearable blanket company has gone on to pull in more than $450 million, reportedly.
She points back to the founders rather than the product. According to Barbara, the hunger and spirit behind the people running the business are more important than the business itself.
The New York City real estate mogul explains her point of view by saying, “I’ve invested in hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years, and I’ve learned the most successful ones have many traits in common.”
“They’re not afraid of risk, and they’re super competitive. They have wild enthusiasm and know how to bounce back from failure. If it’s a partnership – and the best entrepreneurs often are – the partners have opposite traits and complement each others’ strengths and weaknesses,” Barbara further added.
Barbara Corcoran on Learning From Failure
Corcoran doesn’t shy away from saying she’s had plenty of investments fall flat. At 76, she believes replaying those losses only slows you down. Her mindset is to take what you can from the experience, reset fast, and keep pushing ahead.
Barbara went on to say how mishaps have shaped her career. She said, “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in business, but I don’t regret any of them. All my best successes happened on the heels of failure. It’s the best way to learn and bounce back stronger. I learned that the harder the ball hits the pavement, the bigger the bounce. You just have to stay in the game long enough to see it come back.”
A Failed Plan Can Just Be Ahead of Its Time
At the start of her journey, Corcoran put her first $75,000 in earnings toward an idea she was certain would take off. She filmed her listings and produced a set of VHS tapes, hoping they would draw new buyers.
Her agents didn’t like the plan since the footage also showed properties belonging to other brokers. The tapes never made it into circulation and ended up sitting in storage, untouched.
Time passed, and the internet became the new frontier. She dusted off the old footage and uploaded it to her new website during the dot-com boom era. Within a week, buyers in London purchased two homes without ever setting foot inside.
To break it down, a major flop from back in the day turned into a moment that pushed her business forward. She later shared on Instagram that the very idea that once failed became the one that opened everything up for her.
The Shared Mindset Behind Shark Tank Success
Barbara’s Shark Tank counterparts also share the same school of thought.
Even the seemingly no-nonsense Kevin O’Leary has been on the receiving end of bad deals. He commented on it in a conversation with Fortune by saying, “I’m fairly lucky. I’ve made lots of mistakes in investing, but I’ve also had some extraordinary outcomes…I’m not scared to fail. I never bet the farm on any one thing.”
Robert Herjavec has also shared that failure comes with the package when you’re building something. How one takes the disappointment in their stride and rallies on is what separates the winners from the losers.
In an interview with Fortune in 2016, Robert said, “It’s not practical to think that we will float through our careers without coming face–to–face with failure at some point or another. But not all failures are disasters. Failures that don’t sink your business or cost you money are blessings and will push you harder. Don’t be intimidated by these moments because they will help you grow as a business leader.”
Corcoran’s fellow Sharks also circle back on her number one trait when it comes to dealing with disappointments.
Barbara Corcoran’s Failure Lessons
Barbara shows that success is rarely a straight line. Some ideas hit, some miss, and some just need time to make sense. If there is one takeaway worth holding onto, it’s that progress belongs to those who refuse to let setbacks define them.
