Shark Tales

Shark Tales

By Barbara Corcoran

After a long break, I’m back on the RA Favorite Books list.  Fun to read a “rags to riches” with Shark Tales by Barbara Corcoran of the Shark Tank reality TV show.  Corcoran shares lessons learned being born into a family of ten children from Hoboken, New Jersey.  The lessons come from the wisdom of her mother, who stayed at home raising her kids while her father worked to pay the household expenses.  Barbara had little growing up but never felt she was born into poverty, mainly because of her mother’s approach to life: enjoy it and find the hidden goodness in things.  Barbara left home at the age of eighteen on the arm of a man (Ray Simond) double her age.  Ray offered her $1,000 to start her career, at which point she decided to focus on real estate. She made that back working alongside her partner, and then much more after the partnership ended when Simond decided to marry the secretary.  Corcoran then built the most successful real estate company in NYC, the Corcoran Group.  The book later details lessons Corcoran learned from her life after selling her business and moving on to the world of reality TV.  I enjoyed Corcoran’s stories because they are based on her concrete, real-world experiences, and they have immense value to any young entrepreneur.  Worth picking it up!