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<i>Parsing out the gems in Barbara Corcoran's new book </i>
In 2001, given the choice between money and fame, Barbara Corcoran chose money. The self-made Queen of New York Real Estate cashed out — selling the Corcoran Group to NRT for $66 million — but quickly regretted losing her personal brand.
In “Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business,” out last month, Corcoran writes of her post-business period as “secretly miserable” and without purpose. She missed, she writes, her legions of “adoring brokers.”
Now a “Shark Tank” judge, Corcoran — never one to miss a publicity opportunity — timed her book’s launch with the beginning of the TV show’s second season. The “Today” show contributor shares her best self-branding tips in “Shark,” co-written by Bruce Littlefield and published by Portfolio/Penguin.
The Real Deal combed the new sections (the book was previously published as “If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails” in 2004) for gems.
On being quotable …
“People who get quoted know how to talk short. Although I feel more intelligent espousing to a reporter with a lengthy answer to a question, I’ve learned lengthy answers never get quoted. … ‘Yep, the market sucks!’ is sure to get quoted.”
On being overexposed …
“When I published my first report, it was based only on the eleven sales I had made. My salespeople were against it and rightfully argued that my eleven sales was not a large enough basis to arrive at an average sale price for all of New York City. … [Yet] the Corcoran Report, published too early with insufficient information, made my company stand out and get noticed.”
On getting her first big break as a political commentator on Fox News …
“I had never read a newspaper in my life and didn’t even know which Bush was in office. What a joke! But I jumped at the offer. I stayed up nights memorizing important people’s names and read a fifth-grade primer on how the U.S. government works.”
On broker Carrie Chiang and Donald Trump …
“Carrie didn’t listen and was impatient and unbelievably annoying. But as a result she was a superstar dealmaker and had made me many millions of dollars … including closing the largest land sale in New York City’s history: 14 city blocks owned by an even more annoying character, Donald Trump.”