{"id":137124,"date":"2021-04-16T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/barbara-corcoran-market-downturn"},"modified":"2023-05-09T08:26:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T14:26:00","slug":"barbara-corcoran-market-downturn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/barbara-corcoran-market-downturn","title":{"rendered":"Barbara Corcoran&#8217;s Top 5 Tips for Winning During a Market Downturn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n      <iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=BIGPOC5455764609&#038;light=false\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>  \n\n\n\n\n<p>Known as the \u201cQueen of New York Real Estate,\u201d Barbara Corcoran has experienced many ups and downs in the market while actively investing in real estate and many small businesses. Her 12-year role as a \u201cShark\u201d on the hit television series <em>Shark Tank <\/em>has her currently investing in more than 80 companies. As an investor, entrepreneur, and business owner, we sat down with Barbara to get her expert advice on how to become (or stay) successful in these uncertain times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use adversity to your advantage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve seen just one episode of <em>Shark Tank, <\/em>you know that Barbara plays favorites with business owners that have previously faced adversity. Many times, in fact, she doesn\u2019t pay as much attention to the business concept as she does to the person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe best ideas in the world are useless unless they\u2019re carried out by the right person,\u201d she says. \u201cThe stronger the business owner is, the greater their odds of winning will be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barbara believes past failures, grudges, or hard times only motivate investors more to get the business back up and running\u2014so focus on your current strengths and use your past to push you through these times. \u201cHardship makes your acumen <em>very <\/em>sharp,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don\u2019t feel sorry for yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Grace and Lace, a popular online boutique owned by Melissa and Rick Hinnant, has become one of Barbara\u2019s favorite <em>Shark Tank <\/em>investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWinners never took the time to feel sorry for themselves during this crisis,\u201d Barbara says. They took this idea to the next level and focused their work on charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of producing more clothing that wasn\u2019t selling, Grace and Lace arranged for their clothing manufacturer to ship 10,000 face masks to the U.S. Melissa and Rick Hinnant then donated those masks to hospitals and first responders in need over the next 10 days. Once they were able to procure designer fabrics, Grace and Lace pivoted their strategy to include selling designer face masks in their shop. Online mask orders came flooding in and traffic to their site overflowed into their clothing line as well, clearing out their backstock quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey started out with charity first, but the donations gave them the space to think outside the box for the long-term,\u201d Barbara says. The common thread among her businesses that are thriving? \u201cNobody sat there worrying\u2014they were proactive in their plans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Realize that every downturn creates opportunity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Barbara is no stranger to recessions: The Corcoran Group, the New York City real estate business she started in the \u201970s, survived multiple downturns, recessions, and the trauma of 9\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery bad turn is an opportunity,\u201d she says. \u201cI became the leading broker <em>because <\/em>of the downturns\u2014the competition thinned with every recession.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barbara also believes that the world will be open to new ideas after the COVID-19 crisis (remember when kids \u201ccouldn\u2019t\u201d learn online, and companies \u201chad\u201d to work in-person?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere will be a new normal on the other side of this. With less competition<br \/>and a greater acceptance of new ideas, why wouldn\u2019t you push to keep your business thriving today?\u201d she says. \u201cIt pays to stick through it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Focus on what you can control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With the constantly changing news, smart investors need to be tuned into the world without letting it control them. \u201cMake a list of what you can control and what you can\u2019t control, and then promise yourself you won\u2019t pay attention to what you can\u2019t control,\u201d Barbara says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHalf of work is what you do, and the other half is the attitude that enables you to do it,\u201d she says. Barbara warns to be wary of what news you expose yourself to as it\u2019s easy to declare war on your motivation and attitude by hearing nothing but constant bad news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d rather be ignorant enough to think that anything is possible,\u201d she says. \u201cand still focus on what I can change and work hard to change it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barbara believes that focusing on what you can control in today\u2019s real estate market means watching every house that comes on the market now and looking for the right deal despite all the bad news out there. The pure quantity of houses that you look at is something in your control\u2014never has there been virtual property tours like what has become the norm in today\u2019s market conditions and there is a deal to be found in every market if you\u2019re aware of the numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trust your gut<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne silver lining is that if you have a lot of guts, you\u2019re going to find a deal,\u201d Barbara advises. You can feed your analytical brain all the facts, figures, and data but it should never outweigh what your gut tells you\u2014and that\u2019s something she practices on every episode of <em>Shark Tank. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGut is an accumulation of everything you\u2019ve lived and experienced up to that moment,\u201d she says. \u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t you trust your life experience over data provided by other sources?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, investors also need lived experience and the matched courage in order to trust that gut. \u201cCourage,\u201d Barbara says, \u201cand a little bit of chutzpa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interested in more articles like this? Subscribe to <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/store.biggerpockets.com\/products\/biggerpockets-wealth-magazine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>BiggerPockets Wealth<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Republished with permission from the BiggerPockets Wealth magazine June\/July 2020 issue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shark Tank&#8217;s Barbara Corcoran has dealt with her fair share of market downturns\u2014and she knows how to find opportunity in a struggling economy. Here, read her top five tips on becoming (or staying) successful in trying times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283962,"featured_media":137125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7119,4252],"tags":[209,7233,175,7230],"class_list":["post-137124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biggerpockets-daily","category-deal-analysis","tag-business","tag-deal-analysis-advice","tag-recession","tag-rookie-comm"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283962"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}