Secrets of Success From the Investors on ‘Shark Tank’

Who doesn’t dream of being their own boss and having enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their life?

The sharks of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ have achieved that and then some as some of North America’s most successful self-made businesspeople, with a combined net worth reaching into the billions.

Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec aren’t just successful entrepreneurs in their own rights, though, they’re also huge supporters of aspiring entrepreneurs, not only through their investments throughout eleven seasons of the show, but also through the business advice they regularly share.

Read on for some the sharks’ biggest secrets of success that just might help your own entrepreneurial dreams come true.

“Learn to Accept Rejection.”

Chances are, your first business idea won’t be a smashing success, so it’s important to be able to cope with failure.

Speaking on “One on One with Steve Adubato” in 2016, Daymond John emphasized, “Your rejection muscle has to be huge to be anybody that’s successful in anything,” and advised looking on the bright side: “Everything that you get rejected on or doesn’t work is one less thing that you have to try to get to the point of being successful and figuring it out.”

“Be Willing to Put in the Work.”

That’s not to say that achieving those goals won’t take work, and that’s especially true when you’re trying to get a new business off the ground.

According to Mark Cuban in a 2013 interview with eWomenNetwork, one of the most important things for entrepreneurs is to “Do the work…Sweat equity goes so much further than anything else, but most people are not willing to do the work…You’re going to have to give something up to start a successful company.

It just doesn’t come to you. You’ve got to go get it, you’ve got to put in the time, you’ve got to put in the effort.”

“Believe You Have the Right to Be There.”

As a young businesswoman in the competitive world of New York City real estate, Barbara Corcoran decided early on to adopt the mantra “I have the right be there” whenever she encountered a situation she had never been in or people with more experience than her, and at the 2012 “UP Experience” event she advised her audience to do the same, telling them, “I have found walking through every door believing that I’m going to go through the door, jump out the window, learn how to fly on the way down…that I’ve always had my best successes.”

“Be Honest.”

Kevin O’Leary, a.k.a Mr. Wonderful, is known as the shark with the most ruthless takedowns of “Shark Tank” hopefuls, but in a 2019 “Ask Mr. Wonderful” video on his YouTube channel he offered an explanation for his blunt behavior that actually makes a lot of sense: “Here’s the way I look at it: business is really binary, black and white, either you make money or you lose money.

I would rather just tell the truth all the time. My mother taught me something once: if you always tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.”