Barbara Corcoran is an multi-millionaire investor on ABC’s Shark Tank. but New York estate mogul Barbara Corcoran still not considered among the highest-paid female investors in the world overnight. She climbed her way to the top from being empty, like many other entrepreneurs.

She grew up in poor family. But, she tried to maintained a strong imagination. She was famous for setting up rock stores in her backyard.

At the age of 23, Corcoran met her future husband Ramone Simone. Her husband supported her and gaved her a lian of $1,000 to start a joint real estate business. After, sometime Simone left her to marry his secretary, claiming Corcoran would never succeed without him.

This lit a fire in her. Corcoran atter that spent her 23 years building her empire: New York City real estate brokerage the Corcoran Group. This group became the largest residential real estate firm in New York. Before in 2001 Corcoran sold it to NRT for $66 million. And, now at the age of 71, Corcoran’s legacy has $80 million net worth.

Your past does not define you

Barbara Corcoran raised up in Edgewater, New Jersey. She shared a two-bedroom apartment with her mother and with her nine siblings.
Corcoran repeatedly stated her belief that growing up poor is a “key ingredient for success.” “Poor kids,” she asserts, “have nothing to lose, and nowhere to go but up.”

Against all odds, she refused to let disadvantage come in the way of her success. Even, during the time when her husband left her for a coworker, she refused to let disappointment come in her way of success.

Grades matter, but so does motivation

Corcoran told that she was a D student in high school and college. She even got debarred in several courses in her freshman year before going to a second high school.

She also dealt with dyslexia, and, was to able to read as early in life as her fellows. In fact, until her son, Tom, was diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade. Then, Corcoran realised she has been dealing with it for her whole life.

Corcoran made major strides without even considering the odds stacked against her. Her success is the proof that you don’t have to “look good on paper”.

You deserve to be heard

The New York real estate industry, is dominated by men, like other industries. Corcoran told that in her early days in business, whem women’s make a deal of the sales, they still have worked for that companies that were completely managed and owned by men.

Many progress has been made.But, gender discrimination still exist in the working world.

Corcoran says that the key is not to try to become “one of the boys,” but to “work your female attributes” to your advantage. By saying this, she’s referring to her belief that women tend to excel in people skills: “We’re better bridge builders, we collaborate better, we don’t stand on ceremony or ego, we’re willing to share credit and we’re more intuitive and trust our gut more. We’re just better at running businesses than men.”

Each failure is fuel for the fire

You won’t expect Corcoran, with her huge success and good amount of net worth, to refer to herself as the Queen of Failure. Many who have heard about her story would say she’s quite different. She worked for 22 jobs by the age of 23 before beginning her real estate empire with just $1,000. But this is the truth . Corcoran has even said, “Failure is what I’m best at.”

In 2008, Corcoran tried out for ABC’s “Shark Tank.” But, the show confirmed Corcoran that they’d gone with someone else.

There again she faced rejection, she mailed the producer directly, wrote details about other times in her life where she’d been rejected. She ended the message with “I consider your rejection a lucky charm,” and let them know she’d booked a flight to L.A. and would like another chance.

You won’t know what you’re made of until you face a struggle

Its all about how you behave in the face of difficulty. Just not when everything is on your way. Without the tribulations faced by her, Corcoran may have never came to know to where she is today. However, it may not feel like it at the time, because you are capable—even if you don’t see it.

“Endure” is exactly what Corcoran did. Rather than being sad about her loss of her husband. It was her enduring spirit which led her to succeed and made her the $66 million she leveraged to become a Shark.