Barbara Corcoran’s advice for small business owners: don’t be afraid of failure

Barbara Corcoran
Barbara Corcoran

Barbara Corcoran, who famously founded the Corcoran Group with a $1,000 loan, shared tips for small business owners with Forbes, including such gems as, “Don’t be afraid to make big mistakes” and “Little companies always move faster.”

“All the best things that happened in my business happened on the heels of failure,” wrote Corcoran, who had 20 jobs by the age of 23. “Don’t be afraid to fail; it’s proof that you are meant to be a successful entrepreneur.”

Other tips included: “Choose only really good people”; Focus on what’s already working for you and do more of it”; “Stop putting it off!”; and “Make sure you know what not to do.”

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Corcoran also urged small business owners to take advantage of all the social media out there before spending money on advertising, and to put new products on the market before patenting them.

“I learned from my mom that to run a growing business you need to set up a system for everything,” Corcoran wrote. “If you take the time to set it up once, you’ll build your business faster and avoid wasting time and handling customer complaints.”

Corcoran, a host of “Shark Tank,” recently appeared on CNBC’s “Fast Money” with her opinions on the future of the housing market. [Forbes]Hayley Kaplan