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During a recent day of shooting on the Shark Tank soundstage in Culver City, California, the competition for one deal got particularly heated. Still, when the crew started striking the set for the next pitch, the Sharks were chill.

As the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” played, Daymond John and Lori Greiner, guest Shark Bethany Frankel and Robert Herjavec bumped hips as they danced around the set. Mark Cuban did an impressive job lip-syncing the lyrics: “I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie/To the hip hip hop and you don’t stop/The rock it to the bang bang boogie/Say up jump the boogie to the rhythm.” Even Kevin O’Leary tapped his feet and bopped a bit as he texted on his phone. And, when the song came to an end, John shared a joke: “What do you call a pirate who has two arms, two legs and two eyes?” (Punch line, revealed to groans from fellow Sharks: “a beginner.”)

“We’re very zen in the den,” Herjavec says, with a laugh. “If I lost out on a deal that another Shark got and it went on to become a successful business, it’s because it was meant to be. Success is a combination of the right time, the right opportunity, the right Shark and the right go-to-market strategy.”

Still, that assurance, which all the Sharks share, aside, there have been deals that the Sharks admit they regret making or missing.

<h3>The Deal the Sharks Regret</h3>

Early in season five, there was a rarity: all five Sharks on the show that day went in on a deal together, offering a total of $1 million for 30 percent of Breathometer.

The portable breathalyzer plugged into the audio jack of a smartphone. Blow into the device and an app on your phone provided what was described as a law enforcement-grade assessment of your blood alcohol level, feedback that could help you determine if it was safe to drive or you should leave your car behind and call an Uber.&nbsp;

But that unusual consensus among the Sharks was followed by problems rather than profits. First, the company struggled to fulfill its orders. Then, in an even bigger setback, the Breathometer was found to be far less accurate than promised, sometimes reporting low blood alcohol readings when it was, in fact, unsafe to drive. The <a href="https://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/ftc-shark-tank-star-breathometer-must-offer-full-refunds-inaccurate-smartphone-breathalyzer">Federal Trade Commission</a> ordered the company to disable the app and offer its customers full refunds.

“They’ve had all kinds of challenges, to put it nicely,” Herjavec says. “That was the deal that made me resolve I was only going to invest in entrepreneurs who actually had some experience running a business.”

<h3>The Deal That Got Away</h3>

Greiner has strong instincts when it comes to evaluating a product’s potential, and she has made some of the most successful deals in Shark Tank history by relying on those instincts.

Never mind that John derided the SimplyFit Board as a “plastic potato chip,” Greiner became an enthusiastic backer and the fitness device has crossed the $170 million threshold in retail sales. Likewise, Scrub Daddy was assailed by O’Leary as a “little piece of crap.” Undeterred, Greiner invested in the innovative kitchen sponge; the company, with an expanded product line, recently hit $150 million in sales. “I don’t look back,” Greiner says. “I’ve gotten every deal I’ve ever really wanted.”

She concedes, however, that she did miss out on one winner, not because she was outbid, but because she ignored her gut. The year was 2013, the product a Wi-Fi-enabled doorbell called Doorbot that streams live video and audio to your smartphone or computer. Greiner’s fellow Sharks dismissed it, she recalls, as “already out there and not that special.” Despite a strong sense that Doorbot could be what Greiner calls “a hero product,” she was swayed into passing. Renamed “The Ring,” that video doorbell is now a business that’s valued at $1 billion, according to a Shark Tank <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/30/shark-tank-reject-doorbot-is-now-billion-dollar-company-ring.html">update</a> that aired in November, which would make it a contender for most successful Shark Tank deal ever. “I should have trusted my instincts, gone for it and then looked at due diligence later,” Greiner now says.

Still, the Sharks aren’t losing sleep over these acknowledged missteps. “Why cry over spilled milk,” O’Leary likes to say, “when you know there will always be another killer product coming through the door and into the tank.”

Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/what-the-sharks-have-learned-after-a-decade-in-the-tank">What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank</a>

The Sharks dish on the deals that broke their hearts and the ones that got away.

The Sharks dish on the deals that broke their hearts and the ones that got away. | SUCCESS

The Deals the Sharks Regret Making and Missing

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The Deals the Sharks Regret Making and Missing | SUCCESS

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Shelley Levitt

The Sharks are cold, cunning and curt. 

They tell it like it is. They aren’t afraid to let an entrepreneur know when his or her idea is bad—or even terrible. They’re in it for the money and the money alone.

Or at least that’s what they make viewers&nbsp;think.

Last year—the ninth season of the Emmy-winning business reality show—the Sharks witnessed the single most emotional moment in Shark Tank history. “In all the nine years I’ve been on the show, I was never so moved,” investor Barbara Corcoran says. “It took my breath away.”

Corcoran, a real-estate mogul and the Shark most likely to be bleeped for R-rated language, is referencing an October 2017 episode featuring Robbie Cabral, the inventor of BenjiLock, a padlock that opens with the press of a fingertip and runs for an entire year on a single charge.

Cabral immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic and had fallen upon hard times. He wept as he talked about being laid off from his real estate job the same day his third child was born. The emotion among the Sharks was palpable.

Competition for his product was fierce. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/kevin-oleary-on-being-able-to-handle-the-truth">Kevin O’Leary</a>, facetiously known as “Mr. Wonderful,” was the first Shark in, and he offered a straight licensing deal. Shark <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/lori-greiner-on-being-a-hero-not-a-zero">Lori Greiner,</a> the “Queen of QVC,” also made an offer. Guest Shark Alex Rodriguez, the former New York Yankees third baseman, then spoke to Cabral in Spanish about the struggles his own Dominican-born parents faced. Rodriguez suggested a partnership with Corcoran.

“I almost had a heart attack waiting to see who [Cabral] would pick,” Corcoran says. She wasn’t alone. On the Sony soundstage in Culver City, California, the crew and guests all held their breath. Cabral, voice trembling, said he was humbled by all of the offers and had to go with his heart.

There were gasps when he announced his pick: O’Leary, widely acknowledged as the most cold-blooded Shark, or a cockroach, as investor <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/mark-cuban-on-living-successfully">Mark Cuban </a>calls him.

On Nov. 30, a few weeks after the episode aired, Cabral wept again, when on CNBC’s Halftime Report, he was handed a $100,000 royalty check from the CEO of Hampton Products, a leader in the security industry.

<img alt="What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39360 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/170919_success_sharktank_0180.jpg" style="text-align: center; width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" /> 
JEFF KATZ

***

It’s that kind of drama, heart and sometimes heartbreak that has given Shark Tank its astounding longevity. Executive produced by Mark Burnett, Clay Newbill, Yun Lingner and Phil Gurin, the ABC show, in which entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors, has won four consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Structured Reality Program. The show, produced by MGM Television and Sony Pictures Television, will mark its 200th episode when it begins its 10th season this fall. That’s a special feat, even for generation-defining TV. Consider that Seinfeld ran for 180 episodes, while The Office ended its run with its 201st episode.

“When we started Shark Tank back in August 2009, the economy was in a rough place,” says Holly Jacobs, Sony Pictures Television’s executive vice president for reality and syndication programming. “People could not get bank loans. Then this show hit the landscape and became a place where everyday Americans got a chance to have a Shark invest in their dream.”

Over the years, roughly 1,500 pitches have been heard and $116&nbsp;million offered in the Tank. “It’s one of the rare shows that has influenced and touched people’s lives far beyond the screen,” says Rob Mills, senior vice-president over alternative series, specials and late night at ABC Entertainment. “Products that have been featured on the show are represented in supermarkets, department stores and national chains across the country. There aren’t a lot of TV shows that can tout the same results.”

The majority of the show’s audience, Jacobs says, is made up of families who watch together. “Many of those kids who have grown up on the show have now become entrepreneurs,” Jacobs says. “We like to think Silicon Valley is filled with tons of former kids who grew up on Shark Tank.”

The viewership has become more business-savvy over the years, too. The show’s producers have noted that the audience is more knowledgeable and discerning each year. Executive producer Clay Newbill says the show has offered viewers what he calls, “a Shark Tank MBA.”

“During the first few seasons, we avoided deals and discussions that were too complicated,” Newbill says. “But over the years, we’ve allowed far more to be included. Our audience now understands how a royalty deal works, what advisory shares are, and other complicated business terms and strategy. And now universities—including Harvard—high schools, middle schools and even grade schools are incorporating Shark Tank into their curriculum.”

Shark Tank has helped people across the country redefine success, and witness the myriad forms it can take.

Investor Robert Herjavec, who created one of the world’s leading global cybersecurity firms, learned the nuances of success at a young age. He recalls a conversation he had with his father when he was 18 and living in the former Yugoslavia. When he told his father he wanted to start a business, his father brought home a co-worker to offer advice.

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<h3 class="rtecenter">“This show hit the landscape and became a place where everyday Americans got a chance to have a Shark invest in their dream.”</h3>

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“I asked, ‘Why am I talking to this guy?’ And my dad said, ‘You idiot!’ He had more seniority in the union than anybody else. To my dad, that was the most successful person we knew.” The great thing about Shark Tank, Herjavec says, “is we come into your home every Sunday and show you there is no color, race, sex or size for success. The American Dream is available to everyone.”

<img alt="What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39361 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/170919_success_sharktank_0205.png" style="text-align: center; width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" /> 
JEFF KATZ

***

The Sharks have grown along with their viewers and entrepreneurs over the past decade. Following in the footsteps of Cuban, both Herjavec and Corcoran pushed themselves outside of their comfort zones and appeared on Dancing with the Stars. And while none of the three came close to winning the Mirrorball Trophy, Herjavec did fall in love with and marry his dancing partner, Kym Johnson (now Kym Herjavec).

Daymond John, founder of FUBU clothing and a branding expert, has become more invested in the causes he supports in his personal life. He’s on the board of the Petco Foundation and is “trying to do the best I can to save our little furry friends.” After a diagnosis of Stage 2 thyroid cancer in early 2017, he’s been vocal about the importance of screening tests and early detection. John is now in remission. “If I can save just one person’s life because they’re going to the doctor and getting a mammogram, Pap smear, endoscopy, whatever, that’s my new purpose,” he says.

Meanwhile, Cuban, the billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, loaned the team’s private jet to shuttle supplies to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit, and he’s been hinting at a possible presidential run in 2020. He’s been quoted in various news sources saying that if he can come up with solutions to some of our country’s biggest problems, it would make perfect sense for him to run for office, and he would.

The Sharks haven’t slowed down in their own entrepreneurial ventures either. O’Leary, a man with a self-described appreciation for the finer things in life, launched his own brand of wine in 2015.

And Greiner, an inveterate inventor, has been co-designing most of the clothes she’s worn on Shark Tank this season. “Not to say I hated every outfit I wore in previous seasons, but I’m a little more edgy in how I dress,” she says. Greiner says she doesn’t have anything concrete to share yet, but with fans constantly asking her where she bought her outfits, it wouldn’t be surprising if she brought her designs to market soon.

Some elements of a good Shark Tank deal are perennial, like a passionate entrepreneur and a clear vision. But listening to hundreds of pitches over the last nine years, coupled with a rapidly shifting retail landscape, has taught the Sharks some new lessons about what it takes to have a Shark Tank hit. All of the Sharks say they’ve learned countless lessons over the years, from the value in trusting their gut to being open to investing in underdogs.

John says one of the biggest lessons he’s learned is the benefit of tagging along. “There can be profit in being a bottom feeder,” he says. “If something comes in that’s in tech and I know it’s going to Mark, Kevin or Robert, I can ratchet up the deal another $100,000 or $200,000. Maybe they’ll let me in for 5, 7 or 10 percent. Either way, it’s a free ride.”

And Herjavec has learned—as have all of the Sharks—that the initial high of being on the show doesn’t last forever.

“The Shark Tank effect isn’t permanent,” he says. “That’s why I’ve become only interested in entrepreneurs who have some level of operational expertise. Getting a big hit after appearing on Shark Tank doesn’t guarantee long-term success. We’ve had so many investments that get that big pop and they go on to all kinds of other coverage. But they can’t sustain that success. After a while, it comes down to the quality of your business.”

***

These are the Sharks’ No. 1 lessons learned, their best deals and other fun facts from nearly a decade in the tank:&nbsp;

<img alt="What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39414 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/pg38_sm1803_cuban.jpg" style="width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

<img alt="What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39415 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/pg39_sm1803_oleary.jpg" style="width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

<img alt="What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39416 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/pg39_sm1803_corcoran.jpg" style="width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

<img alt="What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39417 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/pg40_sm1803_greiner.jpg" style="width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

<img alt="" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39418 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/pg40_sm1803_herjavec.jpg" style="width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

<img alt="What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39419 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/pg41_sm1803_john.jpg" style="width: 100%;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

This article originally appeared in the&nbsp;March 2018 issue of&nbsp;SUCCESS&nbsp;magazine.

After almost 10 years of Shark Tank, the Sharks reflect on what they’ve learned and the best deals they’ve made.&nbsp;

After almost 10 years of Shark Tank, the Sharks reflect on what they’ve learned and the best deals they’ve made.&nbsp; | SUCCESS

What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank

What the Sharks Have Learned After a Decade in the Tank | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/swimminglessons_0.jpg

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer013">
<img alt="" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__39288 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/oleary_headshot_2.jpg" style="width: 35%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Investor: Kevin O’Leary 
Shark Tank Appearance: Nov. 15, 2013;&nbsp;Beyond the Tank, Feb. 4, 2016 
Deal: $50,000 for 6 percent royalty until he made $150,000 and 2 ½ percent equity 
Results: Sales increased from $18,000 to $3&nbsp;million.
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Donna and Rosy Khalife got the surprise of their lives on Feb. 4, 2016.

It had been more than two years since the sisters appeared on Shark Tank, the Emmy Awards-winning ABC business-reality series, seeking $110,000 in exchange for 10 percent equity in their young company, Surprise Ride, an activity kit subscription service for kids. Robert Herjavec was willing to pony up the cash, but he wanted 25 percent ownership—terms that he said were nonnegotiable. The sisters surveyed the other Sharks for their interest. There was none.

When they circled back to Herjavec, now willing to accept his terms, he was out. They exited the tank, taunted by Kevin O’Leary. “You are going to become legend,” he told them. “You came into the Shark Tank, you had a deal, and you didn’t close it.”

After spending more than 1,000 hours preparing for the show, readying themselves for every possible question a Shark could ask, the sisters say they were happy the Sharks loved their product but <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/rohn-how-to-bounce-back-from-failure">disappointed when they left</a>.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Donna says. “We were in the Tank for an hour and a half, and when it was all over not only were we left without a deal, we didn’t even know if our segment would air after all the hard work.”

Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/12-empowering-lessons-about-failure">12 Empowering Lessons About Failure​</a>

Still, the sisters were determined. Their family had emigrated from Lebanon to the U.S. as war refugees, and they weren’t about to give up on the American Dream.

Their pitch made it to air, gaining exposure that helped them exceed their goal of $500,000 in sales in 2014. The following year, they passed the $1 million mark.

Despite his heckling, Mr. Wonderful was paying attention. “I was always interested in Surprise Ride,” O’Leary says, adding that he didn’t have a problem with the product or the entrepreneurs, but rather the valuation. “I’d been keeping an eye on them since their debut in the Tank. Numbers don’t lie, and when I saw theirs I knew I wanted on board.” He says he believes their stumble on Shark Tank only gave them more solid footing as resilient entrepreneurs.

"<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/why-a-strong-character-is-built-on-failure">Failure and disappointment are two of the most useful resources</a> for any entrepreneur,” O’Leary says. “Being turned down by an investor gives you no choice but to take your business and future into your own hands. Some entrepreneurs might use rejection as an excuse to give up, but the most successful ones will accept the lesson they’ve been gifted and use their failure as motivation to climb to the top.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-smart-tips-for-growing-your-business">4 Smart Tips for Growing Your Business</a>

When the sisters agreed to be filmed for a February 2016 Beyond the Tank update, they had no idea that O’Leary would be calling and asking whether he could drop by their Washington, D.C., office. “We didn’t have time to go over anything,” Donna says. “I had flashbacks to being in the Tank, and we weren’t going to mess this chance up.” When O’Leary made them an admittedly painful take-it-or-leave-it offer, they said yes.

They’re glad they did. When O’Leary came on board, Donna and Rosy were fielding offers from several retailers to bring their kits into stores. “Like any entrepreneur, we wanted to make the most of opportunities that came our way,” Rosy says. “We were excited and ready to move forward with a number of retailers. But Kevin advised us to start small and go big without getting ahead of ourselves. We were so surprised to hear this from Kevin; we thought if anyone was going to tell us to go all in, it would be him.”

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<h3 class="rtecenter">“Failure and disappointment are two of the most useful resources for any entrepreneur.”</h3>

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With O’Leary’s guidance, Donna and Rosy decided to take O’Leary’s advice and chose to launch their retail collection with Michaels, the arts and crafts chain. “We’d grown up going to Michaels,” Donna says, “so we knew they shared our vision of getting kids away from their screens and gadgets and engaged with the real world.”

Four years after they walked off of the Shark Tank set feeling demoralized, Donna and Rosy now have advice for their fellow entrepreneurs reaching out to potential investors: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-deal-with-critics-and-rejection">Don’t take rejection personally</a>. “Whenever an investor would turn us down, that was a big hit to our belief in the company,” Donna says. “It would make us question whether we were good enough to be successful. But the thing we’ve learned is that investor decisions often have nothing to do with you or your idea. Maybe an investor doesn’t do deals of your size, or he or she doesn’t know your industry.”

O’Leary, who made an early fortune in educational software, believes Surprise Ride is tapping into a vast market. “The Khalife sisters are powerhouses and their business model is genius,” he says. “I anticipate seeing Surprise Ride’s sales reach the tens of millions over the next few years.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/5-steps-to-better-business-ideas">5 Steps to Better Business Ideas</a>

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This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/success-magazine-february-2018-gabby-bernstein.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February 2018 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

‘Failure and disappointment are two of the most useful resources for any entrepreneur.’

‘Failure and disappointment are two of the most useful resources for any entrepreneur.’ | SUCCESS

How Surprise Ride Survived Shark Tank

How Surprise Ride Survived Shark Tank | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/diving-deeper_surpriseride.jpg

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer003">
<img alt="How R. Riveter Survived the Shark Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__38906 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/howrrivetersurvivedthesharktank1_0.jpg" style="width: 35%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Investor: Mark Cuban 
Shark Tank Appearance: Feb. 5, 2016 
Deal: $100,000 for a 20 percent stake 
Results: Sales increased from $300,000 to $2.4 million.

While studying for her MBA at Brandman University in Southern California, Lisa Bradley wrote a paper about FedEx’s hub-and-spoke system. Through a “kind of carpooling for packages,” as the company likes to say, parcels are collected in a central location, sorted and then rerouted to their final destination. “Even though you might be sending packages in the opposite direction of where they’re ultimately going,” Bradley says, “hub-and-spoke systems can be both more economical and efficient than taking direct routes.”

Years later, in 2011, the hub-and-spoke idea would become the inspiration for <a href="https://www.rriveter.com/pages/story-of-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">R. Riveter</a>, the company that Bradley and Cameron Cruse co-founded in Dahlonega, Georgia, where they were living with their Army Rangers husbands and families. Military spouses or, riveters, across the country make the individual parts of the handbags. Some are created out of upcycled material, such as retired uniforms, tents and wool blankets. Then each component—lining, straps, pockets—is stamped by the maker and mailed to the warehouse in Southern Pines, North Carolina. There, the handbags are assembled and shipped to customers or sold in the nearby brick-and-mortar retail store.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/my-top-10-money-habits-for-entrepreneurs">My Top 10 Money Habits for Entrepreneurs</a>

As Bradley and Cruse explained to the investors when they appeared on the Emmy-winning Shark Tank reality series in February 2016, “This is about more than a product. It’s about empowering military spouses who want something more than a part-time job.” With military families moving every couple of years as active service members are reassigned to new posts, military spouses have résumés that show only spotty employment, making it difficult to land a job, let alone build a career.

Mark Cuban saw Bradley and Cruse as <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-ways-to-disrupt-your-career-and-your-life">disrupters</a>. “You are a social network through action,” he told them with admiration. “You could be, literally, the future of manufacturing.” With Cuban on board as an investor and adviser, R. Riveter has seen sales increase nearly 700 percent and has a workforce of 55 team members. As the company has thrived, Bradley and Cruse have learned some important lessons.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/16-tools-you-need-to-be-a-business-badass">16 Tools You Need to Be a Business Badass</a>

<h2 class="BODY">Choose the right partner.</h2>

Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary, along with Cuban, offered Bradley and Cruse the exact deal they were after. They knew that Cuban had experience with other businesses started by military families, including <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-bottle-breacher-survived-the-shark-tank">Bottle Breacher</a>, which makes handcrafted bottle openers, and the shoe company <a href="https://www.combatflipflops.com/pages/our-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Combat Flip Flops</a>. “The relationship Mark has with other military families in his portfolio has been a big asset,” Bradley says. Even more importantly, Cuban shared the founders’ passion and commitment. “The whole time that we were in the Shark Tank, you could just tell that Mark truly cared about military families and got what we were doing,” Bradley says. “He’s always there for us.”

<h2 class="BODY">Don’t get comfortable.</h2>

“Learning and growing is hard,” Bradley says, “but as an entrepreneur, you have to keep doing both. Mark has pushed us <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/ep-91-how-to-be-comfortable-being-uncomfortable">not to get too comfortable</a>.” When Bradley and Cruse mentioned to him they were thinking about offering a wider selection of handmade items on their website so more military spouses would have business opportunities, Cuban encouraged them to move forward right away. They did, creating Post to Pillar: A Curated Marketplace for Military Spouse Makers. The collection includes apparel, jewelry, handcrafted clay mugs, pillows and blankets, and represents 15 percent of R. Riveter’s sales.

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter">“Learning and growing is hard, but as an entrepreneur, you have to keep doing both.”</h3>

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<h2 class="BODY">Play to your strengths and those of your team.</h2>

The first time Bradley tried assembling a handbag, she sewed a pocket in upside down. “A customer told me she loved her bag but things keep falling out of the pocket,” Bradley recalls with a laugh. “That’s when I got fired from sewing.” Since then Bradley has focused on the business side of R. Riveter, while Cruse, who has a master’s degree in architecture, handles design and operations.

<h2 class="BODY">Stick to your convictions.</h2>

Bradley remembers sitting down with a consultant in the early days of R. Riveter and explaining the company’s working model: They ship raw material to military families and the riveters ship the finished pieces back. The consultant told her it would never work because production costs would soar. “That was a big moment for me,” Bradley says. “I was determined to make the company succeed just to prove him wrong. I was convinced that manufacturing in America could be done in a different way. We’ve shown that it can be.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/5-ways-to-make-your-business-better-than-the-competition">5 Ways to Make Your Business Better Than the Competition</a>

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<div class="Basic-Graphics-Frame" id="_idContainer004">This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/success-magazine-january-2018-chip-and-joanna-gaines.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 2018 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.</div>
</div>

‘Learning and growing is hard, but as an entrepreneur, you have to keep doing both.’

‘Learning and growing is hard, but as an entrepreneur, you have to keep doing both.’ | SUCCESS

How R. Riveter Survived the Shark Tank

How R. Riveter Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

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<img alt="Daymond John" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__38199 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/150614_success_sharktank_0284.jpg" style="float: left; width: 40%; margin: 4px;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Investor: Daymond John 
Shark Tank Appearance: Oct. 17, 2014 
Deal: $300,000 for a 20 percent stake 
Results: Sales increased from $5.7 million to more than $20&nbsp;million.

Entrepreneurs who land a deal on Shark Tank typically feel elated when they exit the set. Not so for David Levich, Eric Liberman and Dan Gershon—three longtime friends who started the novelty sunglass company <a href="https://sunstaches.com/pages/about/">Sun-Staches</a> together in 2011. Although they had a Shark on board as an eager investor, Levich wasn’t excited. “We got our butt kicked,” he says. Walking back to their trailer, the old friends were disconsolate. “We thought we had made a really bad deal,” Levich admits.

For one thing, they had been mostly interested in working with Mark Cuban but ended up with Daymond John instead. They had initially offered a 5 percent stake in their company for $300,000, but John negotiated a chunk of Sun-Staches four times as big for the same investment. “Did we just give away 20 percent of our company for peanuts?” Levich says they asked each other.

After a few minutes there was a knock on their trailer door. It was one of John’s team members, with a top executive for a large toy company in tow. “You’re in very good hands,” the exec said. “You should be celebrating.”

He was right. Within just a few months, Sun-Staches, which was already being sold online and in large retailers like Toys R Us and Party City, had secured what they had long been after: licensing agreements with Marvel, Nintendo and Warner Bros. Studios. “Daymond was really instrumental in getting those deals,” Levich says. “He opened doors for us, and he was able to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/15-negotiation-tips-from-people-who-always-get-their-way">negotiate favorable terms</a>. He knows these people; his people know these people.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/ep-79-5-tips-for-entrepreneurial-success">5 Tips for Entrepreneurial Success</a>

Some might view $20 million in sales for goofy sunglasses with attached mustaches one of Shark Tank’s more improbable successes. John is among those raising an eyebrow. “The world is often waiting for simple, stupid, things like Snuggies or Sun-Staches,” he says. “Things that are affordable, that make you feel good and take your mind off of everyday problems.”

For their <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/when-it-comes-to-goals-dont-let-perfect-get-in-the-way-of-good">sales pitch</a>, the Sun-Staches partners had picked out samples for each of the Sharks to try on—a football helmet for John, a cowboy for Robert Herjavec, a black cat for Lori Greiner, a devil for Kevin O’Leary, and a leprechaun for Cuban. The moment everyone (save for Cuban, who passed on the frivolity) donned the Sun-Staches, John knew he wanted in. “It was instantly a party,” he says. “Right there was proof of concept.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/5-steps-to-better-business-ideas">5 Steps to Better Business Ideas</a>

Unlike many other Shark Tank entrepreneurs, Levich, Liberman and Gershon were well prepared for the flood of orders and interest after their episode ran. They had the inventory and infrastructure in place. What turned out to be more challenging was fending off imitators. “We did not anticipate the number of people who would start copying our products in countries all over the world,” Levich says. To deal with infringements on their intellectual property, the team hired people internally to monitor copycats. Levich says they were able to remove more than 1,000 imitators off of Amazon and eBay. They also stopped massive retailers selling counterfeit products, leading to arrests in Hong Kong.

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter">“We argue constantly, but that’s because we make every decision by consensus, not by majority rules.”</h3>

&nbsp;

“If we don’t protect ourselves internationally, we’re not going to have a business,” Levich says. They also won’t have a business, Levich points out, if they’re not continually introducing new products. Five in-house designers are constantly sketching ideas for new Sun-Staches. Levich says that they’ll make injection molds for some 20 to 30 percent of the designs that are drawn, at a cost of roughly $10,000 to $20,000 for each mold. Then, one in two of the molded face masks will be put into production. Sun-Staches currently has about 500 models, with Batman the perennial best-seller.

<img alt="How Sunstaches Survived the Shark Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__38271 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/divingdeeper_1.jpg" style="width: 30%;" typeof="foaf:Image" /><img alt="How Sunstaches Survived the Shark Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__38272 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/divingdeeper_13.jpg" style="width: 30%;" typeof="foaf:Image" /><img alt="How Sunstaches Survived the Shark Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__38273 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/divingdeeper_2.jpg" style="width: 20%;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

One thing you can’t mask is a weak team, and Levich says they work diligently to keep theirs strong. “It’s the hardest thing we do,” he says. “We argue constantly, but that’s because we make every decision by consensus, not by majority rules. We’re working on a new sunglass line now that requires creating a whole new distribution network. Eric, Dan and I sat at a sushi bar while I, sometimes loudly, tried to convince them that the line is worth what it will cost in money and in opportunity. If they both hadn’t come around, we wouldn’t have moved forward.”

The three try to treat all of their stakeholders with the same respect. “We want to chug along <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/this-is-how-you-run-a-business-in-the-youeconomy">building a successful business</a> while we’re fair to our customers, our suppliers and our employees,” Levich says. “Our goal is to be able to sleep at night, not to be billionaires.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-tips-for-running-a-successful-business">5 Tips for Running a Successful Business</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

'We argue constantly, but that’s because we make every decision by consensus, not by majority rules.'

'We argue constantly, but that’s because we make every decision by consensus, not by majority rules.' | SUCCESS

How Sun-Staches Survived the Shark Tank

How Sun-Staches Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

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<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer009">
<img alt=" Robert Herjavec" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__37934 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/150614_success_sharktank_0238_web-edit.jpg" style="width: 30%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Investor: Robert Herjavec 
Shark Tank Appearance: Feb. 24, 2017 
Deal: $200,000 for a 15 percent stake 
Results: Sales increased from $1.6 million to $2.7&nbsp;million in four&nbsp;months.
</div>

For three millennials and best friends, the journey to launching a multimillion-dollar beach lifestyle company began in a San Diego call center where they sold life insurance. There, in 2013, college roommates Steven Ford and Brandon Leibel met fellow insurance hawker Bruno Aschidamini.

Four years later, the trio appeared on Shark Tank, the ABC business reality show, and they received offers from Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec for their beach towel business <a href="https://www.sandcloudtowels.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sand Cloud</a>. Today, with Herjavec as their investor and mentor, the buddies are on track to bring in $7 million in sales by the end of the year.

Leibel shares his thoughts on how the friends were able to pull off their business.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/5-ways-to-make-your-business-better-than-the-competition">5 Ways to Make Your Business Better Than the Competition</a>

<h3 class="BODY">They went all in.</h3>

By 2014 all three had <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/how-to-quit-your-job-and-still-win">quit their jobs</a> to focus on building Sand Cloud together. To save on rent money, Aschidamini gave up his apartment and slept on the floor of the two-bedroom loft Ford and Leibel shared. They ate rice and beans for a year. They sold almost all of their furniture. Aschidamini and Ford sold their cars. Leibel kept his so he could work as an Uber driver. They borrowed money from their families and maxed out their credit cards. “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/why-you-shouldnt-be-afraid-of-failure">We never thought about failure</a>,” Leibel says. “We never worried. We operated on blind faith, and we were young enough that we could afford to take this big risk.”

<h3 class="BODY">They persisted.</h3>

“Our job in the call center taught us to deal with rejection,” Leibel says. “We’d each make 300 to 500 calls a day, and 95 percent of the people we reached told us to take them off of the list.” So when they started walking the beach and introducing their towels to sunbathers, the guys didn’t flinch when they faced blank stares.

<h3 class="BODY">They stayed hopeful.</h3>

For the first couple of years, the partners barely paid attention to how many towels they were selling—or rather, weren’t selling. Instead they focused on building a social media following. “Our mission was to gain 100 followers a day,” Leibel says. “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-ways-to-keep-yourself-motivated-for-entrepreneurial-success">To keep motivated</a>, we’d have contests among the three of us on who could gain the most followers.” They sent out their Turkish beach towels to influencers, and they handed out business cards wherever they went with a picture of the towels and their social media handles. Leibel wooed his Uber passengers to like Sand Cloud on Facebook and follow the company on Instagram.

Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-entrepreneurial-lessons-you-never-learned-in-school">9 Entrepreneurial Lessons You Never Learned in School</a>

<h3 class="BODY">They were able to pivot.</h3>

The original idea Ford and Leibel had was for a beach towel with a built-in pillow for easy napping in the sand. In January 2015, the guys took their pillow-towel to the <a href="https://www.surfexpo.com/the-show/about-the-show/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Surf Expo</a> trade show in Orlando, Florida. Buyers at the show kept commenting on a sample towel with a blue mandala pattern that they’d stashed in the corner of their booth. The surf-wear company Quiksilver ordered 400 mandala towels for its retail stores. Meanwhile, the pillow-towels were proving to be a snooze. As sales of decorated towels surged and the pillow-towel continued to tank, they made the decision to focus exclusively on pillow-less towels.

<h3 class="BODY">They had a mission.</h3>

From the beginning, the guys shared the vision of becoming the TOMS of beach products, striving for the social impact of the storied buy-one-donate-one shoe company. Sand Cloud donates 10 percent of its profits to organizations that support marine life and clean oceans, including the Marine Conservation Institute and the Surfrider Foundation. “We always looked up to TOMS,” Leibel says. “We’re passionate about protecting our oceans. Participating in activities like releasing rehabilitated sea lions back into the ocean or taking part in beach cleanups has changed the three of us personally. One small example is we never walk the beach without picking up trash.”

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter">“We never worried. We operated on blind faith, and we were young enough that we could afford to take this big risk.”</h3>

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY">They market test religiously. </h3>

“We vet everything, whether it’s a new product or a new pattern for a towel, through our prospective customers,” Leibel says. Sand Cloud will soon start selling yoga towels. The thousands of positive votes they received when they posted mock-ups of the towels on social media convinced them there was a receptive market for this new product category.

One thing the trio didn’t <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/10-marketing-rules-the-best-entrepreneurs-live-and-die-by">market test</a> is the decision to remain primarily an e-commerce company. Although Sand Cloud towels are sold in a hundred or so boutiques across the country, 95 percent of sales are generated from its website, and the partners have no interest in opening brick-and-mortar stores. “Robert Herjavec, who has a lot of wisdom and experience, has had a lot of success with online retailers,” Leibel says. “He validated that online is the way for us to go. That’s all we needed to hear.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/ep-79-5-tips-for-entrepreneurial-success">5 Tips for Entrepreneurial Success</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/success-magazine-october-2017-brendon-burchard.html?_ga=2.162206142.381148379.1505139658-1193436915.1465829578" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

Three friends quit selling life insurance and end up creating a multimillion-dollar business.&nbsp;

Three friends quit selling life insurance and end up creating a multimillion-dollar business.&nbsp; | SUCCESS

How Sand Cloud Survived the Shark Tank

How Sand Cloud Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

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<img alt="How The Sleep Styler Survived the Shark Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__37599 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/greiner_headshot_2.jpg" style="width: 40%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Investor: Lori Greiner 
Shark Tank Appearance: May 3, 2017 
Deal: $75,000 for a 25 percent stake 
Results: Sales increased from $75,000 to $45 million.

For many entrepreneurs, their time in the Shark Tank seems like an eternity. Not for Tara Brown, creator of <a href="https://www.thesleepstyler.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sleep Styler</a>.

Brown had not been in the Tank for 20 minutes before reaching an agreement with Lori Greiner. “The producers told me it was the shortest time in the Tank,” Brown says, “I don’t know if it was the fastest deal. I felt like it was over in an instant.”

Greiner, whose Shark Tank investments include <a href="https://scrubdaddy.com/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scrub Daddy</a>, the biggest success story in the ABC business reality show’s eight-year history, says she instantly knew that The Sleep Styler—hair rollers made of memory foam and yoga towel fabric that dry and style your hair while you sleep—was another “hero&nbsp;product.”

“I also knew I would really be able to help Tara get this product out on the market in a fast and all-encompassing way where The Sleep Styler would become a household name within a year,” Greiner says. “Within five minutes of watching Tara pitch, I had already visualized a great plan in my mind.”

Some of Greiner’s enthusiasm was fueled by Brown’s background. She’s <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/career-motherhood-10-ways-to-make-it-work">the mother of two young children and maintains a busy practice</a> as an ophthalmologist. The idea for The Sleep Styler had come to her one morning when she unfurled her daughter’s hair from the braid she had put in wet the night before and discovered it had held its curl perfectly. Here was the solution, Brown realized, to busy women devoting as much as an hour a day to blow-drying their hair and still not being happy with the results.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-be-an-entrepreneur-without-quitting-your-day-job">How to Be an Entrepreneur Without Quitting Your Day Job</a>

The only problem was that Brown had no experience in putting together the kind of prototype she had in mind. “I knew I needed to create a product that was sewn,” she says. “As someone who does a lot of ocular plastic surgery I knew how to sew people’s faces,” but she didn’t know a thing about sewing fabric. So she enrolled in fashion school, squeezing in classes between her duties as a physician and a parent. Within a semester she was able to speak knowledgeably to her manufacturer about things like seam allowances and serged edges as she went through some 20 iterations of the prototype. She launched a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/100313493/sleep-styler-worlds-first-heatless-straightener-an">Kickstarter campaign</a> in July 2016 and hit her $10,000 goal in 12 hours, going on to raise $47,000 by the end of the campaign’s 30 days.

Greiner saw that Brown would be unstoppable in making The Sleep Styler a sensation. “I could tell that she was an extreme type-A person,” Greiner says. In that way, Brown reminded Greiner of herself. “I’m constantly saying to Tara, ‘We think just the same. You’re a lot like me.’ Because of these similarities, it’s easy for me to know where Tara’s coming from. I really understand her, and we get along great.”

Greiner says the product was totally in her wheelhouse. “I felt this would be a perfect infomercial product and that I could shoot a test for a two-minute spot quickly and, if successful, I could take a lot of the work off Tara’s hands.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-ways-to-be-the-best-mentor-ever">7 Ways to Be the Best Mentor Ever</a>

“Many entrepreneurs have a great idea but also a busy life,” Greiner continues. “I try to assess the situation and the person when considering an offer. I knew with Tara, I had all the know-how, experience, ability and connections to come in and explode the brand if she wanted. It’s my favorite thing to do. She was <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/use-these-mental-techniques-when-your-brain-is-overwhelmed">feeling very overwhelmed</a>, though totally capable and doing a great job. I could tell she wanted a semblance of a normal life back.”

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter">“Many entrepreneurs have a great idea but also a busy life.”</h3>

&nbsp;

Since Brown’s brief appearance in the Tank, everything has continued moving at warp speed. Just three weeks after the episode aired, AllStar, the logistics and fulfillment company that handles many of Greiner’s products, took over the day-to-day management of The Sleep Styler. Still, as the product prepares for its rollout in Wal-Mart and Bed Bath &amp; Beyond stores at the end of the summer, Brown says she hasn’t exercised or cooked in months and her once lovingly tended garden is filled with weeds. But she does make sure to schedule “times that are special and that count” with her family.

“A year ago, I couldn’t imagine my life would change the way it has,” Brown says. “It’s surreal, but I have no complaints.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/3-steps-to-go-from-idea-to-entrepreneur">3 Steps to Go From Idea to Entrepreneur</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/success-magazine-september-2017-elon-musk.html">September 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

Investor: Lori Greiner Shark Tank Appearance: May 3, 2017 Deal: $75,000 for a 25 percent stake Results: Sales increased from $75,000 to $45 million. For

Investor: Lori Greiner Shark Tank Appearance: May 3, 2017 Deal: $75,000 for a 25 percent stake Results: Sales increased from $75,000 to $45 million. For | SUCCESS

How The Sleep Styler Survived the Shark Tank

How The Sleep Styler Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

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<img alt="How Daisy Cakes Survived the Shark Tank" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__37209 img__view_mode__full" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/corcoran_headshot_2.jpg" style="width: 30%; float: left; margin: 4px;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Investor: Barbara Corcoran 
Shark Tank Appearance: April 22, 2011 
Deal: $50,000 for a 25 percent stake 
Results: Sales increased from $27,000 to $5 million

On a Saturday afternoon, some five years after Kim Nelson appeared on Shark Tank, she’s standing in the Pauline, South Carolina, commercial kitchen of her company, <a href="https://www.ilovedaisycakes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daisy Cakes</a>, sifting powdered sugar “so it’s perfectly smooth and there won’t be a single bump or bubble in the icing.” As she sifts, Nelson reflects on the time since she handed slices of her carrot, red velvet and lemon cakes to the Sharks and landed Barbara Corcoran as her investor and mentor.

Just because Nelson has turned into what Corcoran has called one of the best deals she’s made in the eight seasons of ABC’s business-reality show doesn’t mean you can stop sifting sugar, even on weekends. “The lengths we go to are ridiculous,” Nelson says, “but we want our customers to love every single thing about our cakes—from taste to packaging—and have an eyes-rolling-back-in-their-heads experience when they take that first bite.”

Still, Nelson has discovered that although you can smooth every ripple out of cake batter and icing, you can’t avoid some bumps on <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/success-is-a-journey-not-a-destination">the road to success</a>.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-entrepreneurial-lessons-you-never-learned-in-school">9 Entrepreneurial Lessons You Never Learned in School</a>

Nelson went from selling 2,000 cakes in two years pre-Shark Tank to the same amount of orders in the first 48 hours after the episode aired. Corcoran found a large-production bakery in Savannah, Georgia, to handle the increased demand. “I loved our new baker,” Nelson says, “and they loved us. All seemed wonderful.”

Until Daisy Cakes landed a spot on QVC. That’s when the production bakery Nelson was using to create her goods fired them as a customer because the bakery was selling its own cakes on QVC. “Now we were competition,” Nelson says. With Corcoran’s help, Nelson located another production bakery, this one in the Bronx, New York. They worked with a nearby QVC-approved fulfillment house in Long Island. “It seemed like the ideal setup,” Nelson says. “I was certain this time everything would work out beautifully.”

When Nelson appeared on QVC on Nov. 30, 2011, the Daisy Cakes inventory of 5,000 cakes sold out in eight minutes, and the home-shopping network asked Nelson to make a return appearance in a couple of weeks. Bingo, right?

Not so fast. “We ran out of money,” Nelson says. “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-ways-to-stay-positive-when-youre-broke">We were flat broke.</a>” That’s because while Nelson had sunk cash into baking supplies to create that inventory for QVC, it would be 60 days before the network paid them. Making matters worse, the busy holiday season was falling right in the middle of that cash flow gap. “We’d gotten too big too fast,” Nelson says, a trap many young companies fall into.

A cash-strapped Nelson had to borrow $50,000 from a friend and a family member just to buy ingredients to fulfill Christmas orders. “In all of my life, that is the most desperate I’ve ever been and all I could think about was doing anything to keep the business going for at least a few months until I could figure something else out,” Nelson says. “And it was one of the absolute <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/top-of-mind-6-tips-to-move-on-from-a-bad-decision">worst decisions</a> I’ve ever made in my entire life.”

Nelson managed to ride that crisis out only to be hit with another one. The quality of the cakes the Bronx bakery was producing was dismal, both in appearance and flavor. When customers complained, Nelson would send them a replacement cake and, as an apology, a second free cake, but sales fell by 50 percent.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/11-ways-master-entrepreneurs-make-unhappy-customers-happy">11 Ways Master Entrepreneurs Make Unhappy Customers Happy</a>

By summer 2012, Nelson turned to yet another large baker, this one in Nashville, Tennessee, and to two fulfillment centers, one in Maryland for cakes being shipped east of the Mississippi and one in Kansas City, Missouri for cakes going to the Midwest and West. Then, in the beginning of 2013, a huge order for 6,500 cakes was spoiled by sugar bloom—unsightly crystallized spots. Nelson says the blow was catastrophic, causing a loss of $150,000 in inventory and $310,000 in sales.

Corcoran was clear on what had to happen next: Move production back to Pauline and to the bakery that Nelson’s dad had built for her years before. “Bigger is not always better,” Nelson says. “We’re a small business, and every cake is handmade and wrapped by hand. It’s a labor of love, and volume doesn’t decrease the cost of making each cake.”

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter">“We want our customers to love every single thing about our cakes—from taste to packaging—and have an eyes-rolling-back-in-their-heads experience when they take that first bite.”</h3>

&nbsp;

Today Daisy Cakes is turning out about 20,000 cakes a year, which hits the sweet spot for their seven ovens and six full-time employees, besides Nelson and her 83-year-old mom, who’s been a part of the business from the beginning. They’ve recently introduced minikins, 8-ounce cakes sold in jars, which have been well-received. Nelson has a new cookbook coming out in early 2018, and she’s beginning to think that franchising Daisy Cake bake shops might be a solid avenue to growth. “The cakes would have to be baked exactly the way we bake them here in Pauline,” she says, “and that takes love, passion and following a very, very strict set of rules.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/6-things-you-want-your-customers-saying-about-your-business">6 Things You Want Your Customers Saying About Your Business</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/success-magazine-august-2017-simon-sinek.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">August 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

After appearing on Shark Tank, Daisy Cakes cupcakes took sales from $27,000 to $5 million.

After appearing on Shark Tank, Daisy Cakes cupcakes took sales from $27,000 to $5 million. | SUCCESS

How Daisy Cakes Survived the Shark Tank

How Daisy Cakes Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

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<img alt="" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__36502 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/oleary_headshot_1.jpg" style="width: 30%; float: left; margin: 5px;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

Investor: Kevin O’Leary 
Shark Tank Appearance: March 11, 2016 
Deal: $100,000 for a 25 percent stake 
Results: Total sales increased from $100,000 to $14 million

“Pee responsibly” may not be words you’d expect to hear from the urbane Kevin O’Leary. Especially not coming from a projection of his image peering out from the inside of a toilet bowl.

So it’s a testament to how deeply the Shark Tank star believes in Matt Alexander and Mike Kannely, creators of <a href="https://illumibowl.com/pages/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IllumiBowl</a>, a motion-activated toilet bowl light. O’Leary took the plunge into the porcelain throne and appeared in a video for their latest Kickstarter campaign, which ran about six months after the trio made a deal on the long-running ABC business reality show.

“One of the most important parts about <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-tips-for-running-a-successful-business">running a successful business</a> as an entrepreneur is being all in,” O’Leary says. “It’s a full-time job, especially when you’re starting out. Matt and Mike understand this and have committed every fiber of their being, and almost every minute of their time, to making IllumiBowl a success.”

Alexander shared some of the most <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/10-smart-life-lessons-from-successful-teenage-entrepreneurs">important lessons</a> he and Kannely have learned since they began helping people do their middle-of-the-night business “in a whole new light.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-lessons-successful-entrepreneurs-wish-they-heard-sooner">9 Lessons Successful Entrepreneurs Wish They Heard Sooner</a>

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">Relationships are everything.</h2>

Once the Shark Tank deal was in place, Alexander and Kannely signed an exclusive distribution contract with Bed Bath &amp; Beyond. Then they went to work on an improved IllumiBowl with customized dimming, a stronger motion sensor and more color options, and reached agreements with Wal-Mart and other vendors to carry that version. “We were in way over our heads,” Alexander says. “We didn’t realize how many protocols we were violating by making those other deals when we had exclusivity with Bed Bath &amp; Beyond and that it could have voided our contract with them.”

Luckily, O’Leary stepped in to fix the issue. He made it possible for Alexander and Kannely to continue to make deals with other stores while maintaining their agreement with Bed Bath &amp; Beyond, by giving the store “first dibs” on new products. “We’ve learned not to be so hasty in making decisions and that <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/3-things-successful-people-know-about-healthy-relationships">maintaining strong relationships</a> with buyers is absolutely essential.”

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">Crowdfunding is about more than raising&nbsp;money.</h2>

IllumiBowl began with a Kickstarter campaign in October 2014 and a goal of raising $20,000. In 40 days pledges totaling nearly $100,000 poured in. “When we ran that first campaign we were <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-ways-to-stay-positive-when-youre-broke">totally broke</a>,” Alexander says. “I was still in college and Mike was working at Wal-Mart, so crowdfunding was our only way of making things happen. As it turned out, the overwhelmingly positive response provided not just money but also an important validation of our idea and a group of people who were excited about the product. So, when we upgraded IllumiBowl we took it back home to those early adopters.” That second Kickstarter campaign raised more than $225,000 from nearly 8,000 backers.

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">Recognize the difference between what’s important and what’s urgent.</h2>

Text messages create a sense of urgency, but if you respond to every one immediately, is that really going to contribute to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/top-of-mind-what-does-it-take-to-be-a-successful-entrepreneur">your success</a>? Is getting your inbox to zero going to move your business forward more than spending time crafting careful responses to three critical emails? “The book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/80-20-Principle-Secret-Achieving/dp/0385491743/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1493409319&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=The+80/20+Principle&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=6b3f94e25feba28f7234d17a9d490e48" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The 80/20 Principle</a> [by Richard Koch] says that 80 percent of business results from 20 percent of effort, really helped me learn to spend my time and energy in the most effective way,” Alexander says.

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">Don’t wait to dot every “i” and cross every “t.”</h2>

When you’re dealing with product development, it’s important to move quickly. In a competitive marketplace, you don’t have time to wait to get a patent approved—the backlog in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can take three years or longer, Alexander says. But you can get things started pretty much immediately with a $130 provisional patent application, which provides “patent pending status.” Then, forget about devoting months to polishing your business plan; it will shatter when it hits reality. “What you want to do is produce a batch of product—even if it’s not pretty or perfect—that’s good enough to get in front of people who can help you identify problems and suggest ways to make it better,” Alexander says. He believes it’s better to do that with your crowdfunding base as a focus group than by bringing the product to Wal-Mart. Just be sure that, once you have the kinks worked out of the product, you share it with everyone who pledged their early support.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/5-lessons-i-learned-from-200-successful-entrepreneurs">5 Lessons I Learned From 200+ Successful Entrepreneurs </a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">June 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine</a>.

These&nbsp;entrepreneurs found the inspiration for their business in the unlikeliest of places: a toilet.

These&nbsp;entrepreneurs found the inspiration for their business in the unlikeliest of places: a toilet. | SUCCESS

How IllumiBowl Survived the Shark Tank

How IllumiBowl Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/divingdeeper_5.jpg

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer001">
<img alt="How Tower Paddle Boards Survived the &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__36198 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/cuban_headshot_2.jpg" style="width: 30%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

&nbsp;

Investor: Mark Cuban 
Shark Tank Appearance: March 16, 2012 
Deal: $150,000 for a 30 percent stake 
Results: Total sales increased from $100,000 to more than $25 million

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

When Stephan Aarstol appeared on the third season of Shark Tank to peddle his stand-up <a href="https://www.towerpaddleboards.com/v/paddleboard-manufacturer.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tower Paddle Boards</a>, the slide show he prepared hit a glitch. It jumped from the first slide to the last and a flummoxed Aarstol stammered, stumbled and then went silent for a full minute. Barbara Corcoran called Aarstol the worst presenter she’d seen in the history of the Emmy-winning business reality show. Mark Cuban saw something else. “I’m a business builder. I take small things and make them big things,” he said, having made his bid for a 30 percent stake for the online company. He later called it one of the best deals he ever made.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/why-failure-is-good-for-success">Why Failure Is Good for Success</a>

To catch up on what’s happened since, Aarstol spoke to SUCCESS from his office in San Diego.

<h3 class="SUBHEAD">Q As you’ve admitted, you’re famously known as delivering the worst pitch on Shark Tank that ever got a deal. How did you screw up so badly?</h3>

A: Shark Tank called me out of the blue during their second season. I hadn’t even heard of the show back then. Six weeks after that call, we taped my segment. I have a terrible memory so I was just worried about remembering the names of the Sharks. I had a pitch prepared but after the technical snafu, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/put-on-the-spot-heres-how-to-own-your-response">I blanked</a>. It was even worse in real life than it was on the show.

<h3 class="SUBHEAD">Q What did you do with the $150,000 that Mark Cuban invested?</h3>

A: I had a loan for more than $100,000 that I needed to pay off. When I told Cuban that we did $60,000 in sales in just the four days after the show aired—this was a few months later—he asked me to cut him a dividend check for $50,000. He was right. You have to take care of your investors. Still, by selling 30 percent of my company for only $150,000, I felt I was basically giving away a chunk of the company for free.

But that $50,000 built <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/9-traits-of-trustworthy-people">a bridge of trust</a> between Cuban and me. A year later, because we were growing so fast, he gave us a personal loan of $300,000. That was critical; we weren’t able to get bank financing until 2014.

<h3 class="SUBHEAD">Q Describe your relationship with Cuban.</h3>

A: Our contact is through email. He often responds in the middle of the night. That kind of asynchronous communication—meaning he answers on his schedule not when I reach out to him—is a very efficient use of his time and it’s a method that a lot of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/11-epic-life-hacks-from-crazy-successful-entrepreneurs">busy entrepreneurs</a> use.

Cuban answers mostly in one-liners. In the early days when I was running things by him, I’d often get a response like “don’t do that” or “don’t be an idiot.” For example, when I considered renting boards through Groupon, he said, “Forget it. Those people will never buy. That’s not your customer.”

He was right about that, of course, but I soon changed my strategy. If I wanted to do something I went ahead, did it and informed Cuban after the fact. When I want guidance, I ask him. Ultimately I make the final call, but he has sick business instincts. For example, he came back from a family vacation once and sent me pictures of a full-face snorkel mask that kids were using. It’s like a big window and it gives you a 180-degree view of everything around you. When I first saw it, I thought, This thing is too goofy. But Cuban kept checking in on me, so we made it. The masks are actually easy to produce. We sold $30,000 worth in the first month. This year we’ll do $1 million in snorkel masks.

<h3 class="SUBHEAD">Q A couple of years ago you cut working hours for your company to 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. You even wrote a book called The Five-Hour Workday. How did that experiment work out?</h3>

A: It flopped, kind of. Our intent was to better retain employees by promoting productivity and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/18-scientific-reasons-the-workweek-should-be-shorter">giving people their lives back</a>. Three out of the seven employees we had at the time ended up leaving. A weird thing happened—productivity was fine and we actually grew revenues—but the five-hour workday failed us in a completely unexpected way. People were feeling less connected to the company. When you’re working only 25 hours a week, other parts of your life become bigger and more important.

Especially in the startup world, people actually like going to work and feeling attached to or even consumed by their jobs. So now we’ve switched back to an eight-hour day for most of the year. We do five-hour days in the summer, during our busiest time of year, from June through September. The time pressure makes us figure out <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/ep-24-the-daily-habits-of-the-most-productive-people">how to be more productive</a>.

<h3 class="SUBHEAD">Q How has your own life changed since Shark&nbsp;Tank?</h3>
</div>

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer002">
A: Surprisingly, not that much. We’re becoming a direct-to-consumer beach style brand, expanding our product line to include sunglasses, beach chairs, bikes, skateboards. We want everything that’s beach related to be under the Tower umbrella. It’s going great. The reality is that although we’re growing the business, everything we earn goes back into inventory. I even had a roommate until a year ago.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-tips-for-running-a-successful-business">5 Tips for Running a Successful Business</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUCCESS magazine</a>.
</div>

‘Especially in the startup world, people actually like going to work and feeling attached to or even consumed by their jobs.’

‘Especially in the startup world, people actually like going to work and feeling attached to or even consumed by their jobs.’ | SUCCESS

How Tower Paddle Boards Survived the Shark Tank

How Tower Paddle Boards Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/towerpaddle.jpg

Master the Art of Setting Goals in 4 Steps

Personal Development

Personal Development Archives

Personal Development | SUCCESS | What Achievers Read

In early 2009, Ben Landers was setting objectives for <a title="About | BlueCorona.com" href="https://www.bluecorona.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Blue Corona</a>, his year-old digital-marketing company in Gaithersburg, Md. The startup had earned $112,000 in revenues its first year but was still losing money. Landers wanted to nudge Blue Corona solidly into profitability, reaching $1 million in annual sales in three years.



He shared his goals with his <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/why-mentors-are-vital-to-your-success">mentor</a>, Bob Perini, founder of the water-delivery company DrinkMore Water, which is in the same town. “That’s completely reasonable,” Perini scoffed. “It’s also completely uninspiring.” Perini suggested an alternate goal for Blue Corona: to earn a spot on a prestigious list of the 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S.



“Once you eliminate the fear of failure, you can accomplish amazing things.”



It was, Landers thought, “absolutely ridiculous. We would have to have a three-year growth rate exceeding 1,000 percent to make the list.” But Landers accepted the challenge, with Perini’s assurance that “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/videos/youtube/how-to-reframe-your-failures">even if you fail miserably</a>, you’re going to learn way more and teach your employees way more than if you stuck to your puny goals.” And a funny thing happened. “Once you eliminate the fear of failure, you can accomplish amazing things,” Landers says. “A part of me felt that we were going to fall flat on our faces. But another, bigger part passionately believed we could do it. And that belief was like a lever leading us to do things differently.”



The result? Blue Corona actually exceeded its audacious objective.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/rohn-4-tips-for-setting-powerful-goals" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">4 Tips for Setting Powerful Goals</a></blockquote>



Today Landers says he thinks of goals not merely as benchmarks or endpoints but as a propulsive force. “A goal has the ability to sustain the mission when the going gets incredibly difficult,” he says.



Mark Murphy, a leadership consultant and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/007175346X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=54ba8c8c82c5e988d7b71237fc17a5a7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hard Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be</a>, agrees. “If your goal is powerful enough,” Murphy says, “implementation won’t be such a big problem. In nearly all cases where greatness is achieved, it’s the goal that drives motivation and discipline—not the other way around.”



The task of setting goals is every bit as important as implementing goals, says Gabriele Oettingen, Ph.D., a psychologist at New York University and author of the new book <a title="Reading List: Rethinking Positive Thinking | SUCCESS.com" href="https://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Positive-Thinking-Science-Motivation/dp/1591846870/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1490717016&amp;sr=1-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=45647b0aa57da204859de92bb0fa4833" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation</a>. “If we want to achieve goals, we need to set them in a way that maximizes their attainment,” Oettingen says. Here’s how.



<h2 class="SUBHEAD" id="h-go-beyond-dreaming">Go Beyond Dreaming</h2>



First let’s talk about what a goal is not. It’s not a fantasy or a daydream, both of which seldom get past the mulling stage into concrete action; they’re simply notions that eventually tend to be discarded. And Oettingen, over the past two decades, has performed study after study to investigate why so many big wishes evaporate, with this conclusion: “Daydreams and fantasies may be pleasant in the moment, and they can spur us to perform easy tasks,” Oettingen says. “But they hinder us in handling the hard tasks.”



For instance, the more frequently college students fantasized about a successful career transition, the fewer applications they sent out and the fewer job offers they received. Overweight women who pictured their svelte post-diet selves breezing past the dessert table lost 24 pounds less than those who anticipated <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/top-of-mind-how-to-strengthen-your-willpower">wrestling with temptation</a>.



But dreams can play a vital role in helping us form goals if we juxtapose them with an acknowledgement of the impediments. Oettingen has developed a four-step method that can fully commit you to feasible goals and can help you let go of those that aren’t. She calls the method “WOOP,” outlined below.



Wish



Find a time and place where you can focus for 15 or 20 minutes uninterrupted. Identify a wish in your personal or professional life that you think is challenging but possible.



Outcome



Keep holding the wish in your mind and imagine the very best things about making it a reality. What does the outcome look and feel like? Let yourself experience this in your mind as vividly as you can.



Obstacle



What is it that might hold you back from achieving the goal? Don’t think only of external obstacles such as the economy. Dig deeply to uncover the internal barriers, whether it’s a behavior (standing on the sidelines at networking events), an emotion (anxiety) or a <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-stop-negative-emotions-from-derailing-your-success">self-defeating thought</a> (I’m always the least interesting person in the room).



Plan



Name one action you can take to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-ways-to-turn-obstacles-into-opportunities">overcome the obstacle</a>. An if-then approach can be helpful. If I’m always too pressed by deadlines to attend networking events, then I’ll pick two functions at the beginning of the month and schedule them as though they’re client meetings and can’t be canceled. If I feel anxious when I go to the mixer, I’ll find one person who’s standing alone and introduce myself.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/10-steps-to-achieve-any-goal">10 Steps to Achieve Any Goal</a></blockquote>



<h2 class="SUBHEAD" id="h-to-do-it-first-draw-it">To Do It, First Draw It!</h2>



“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul,” the poet Emily Dickinson wrote. A well-set goal is something far sturdier—the falcon perched on your shoulder that pecks you, compelling you to action. These are what Murphy terms HARD goals, as described below.



Heartfelt



You feel a deep-seated attachment to the goals.



Animated



The goals are vividly alive for you.



Required



You are so convinced of the absolute necessity of the future payoffs of your goals that you’re able to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-stop-procrastinating">overcome procrastination</a>.



Difficult



The goal hits your sweet spot of challenge, positioning you to push past your comfort zone into extraordinary performance.



At the goal-setting workshops he leads, Murphy directs participants to draw self-portraits of themselves achieving their goals. If you plan to open your own bakery, you might draw yourself standing in the middle of an empty storefront, moving an oven into the space, rolling out pastry dough, then standing in front of that building again, this time beside two other figures—representing your partners—with a storefront sign that says “Main Street Bakery.” If your goal is to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/ahhh-6-ways-to-get-better-work-life-balance">achieve better work-life balance</a>, your sketches might show you leaving your office as the clock shows 6&nbsp;p.m., playing catch with your son and dining in a restaurant with your spouse.



The idea isn’t to get in touch with your inner Van Gogh—Murphy’s favorite tools are a pencil and legal pad—but to animate your goals into something that lives and breathes for you. Then Murphy has participants share their drawings with others and ask them to describe what they see. “If that person doesn’t have a clear understanding of what your goal is, chances are you don’t either,” Murphy says. So it’s back, literally, to the drawing board.



Now take another look at the picture. Could you have swapped in a photograph of your current life to represent your goals? If so, then your goal is not nearly ambitious enough. A goal that’s bold and transformative “is going to force you to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/22-ways-to-become-a-relentless-learner">learn something new</a> and make fundamental changes in the way you operate,” Murphy explains. “It’s not a trajectory of the path that you’re already on.”



“To do big stuff, you have to set really big goals that are exciting to you.”



Landers agrees. “To do big stuff, you have to set really big goals that are exciting to you. You don’t achieve your maximum potential as a person or as a business by setting small incremental goals.”



<h2 class="SUBHEAD" id="h-from-big-picture-to-daily-tasks">From Big Picture&nbsp;to Daily Tasks</h2>



OK, you’ve focused on a bold goal, visualized it in detail and identified strategies for overcoming likely obstacles. Now it’s time to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/why-this-before-that-matters-if-you-want-to-achieve-your-goals">break that goal into small, measurable steps</a>—what Casey Mulqueen, Ph.D., director of research and product development for the workplace training company TRACOM Group, calls “process goals,” the behavioral intentions necessary for completion of the outcome goal. Say, for example, an entrepreneur has an outcome goal of signing 15 new clients by the end of the year. Her process goals might be reaching out to five potential clients and setting up two lunches every week for the next six months.



“When you set a process goal, you begin to <a title="Rohn: The 4 Powerful Ways to Change a Bad Habit | SUCCESS.com" href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-break-your-harmful-habits" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">build a new habit</a> in the automatic system of the brain,” Mulqueen says. “This means that even in the face of stress, fatigue or distraction, your brain remains committed to your goal and actively looks for ways to further that planned behavior.”



Murphy concurs, saying a specific daily activity needs to be prescribed. He suggests a strategy he calls “cutting in half.” If your goal is to run a marathon a year from now, cut the time frame in half and ask yourself what you’ll need to have accomplished at the six-month mark. Now cut the six months in half. What do you need to do in three months to be on target for your six-month goal? Keep cutting the time frame in half until you’re looking at what you need to do today to be on track for your one-week goal. The answer might be a 3-mile run at 6 p.m., a goal that’s a lot less intimidating than running a marathon’s 26.2 miles.



<h2 class="SUBHEAD" id="h-minimize-goals-to-maximize-payoff">Minimize Goals&nbsp;to Maximize Payoff</h2>



If setting goals is good, setting more goals isn’t better—so nix that long list of resolutions.



“The worst thing that happens to goal-setting is lists,” says Ian Miller, a partner in the Chicago growth strategy firm Miller &amp; Gruaz. “When I work with small companies, they inevitably have a list of a half-dozen goals.” At least one of these is what Miller calls “the oxygen thief,” a pet project that gets talked about endlessly at meetings and saps company resources but really isn’t worth doing.



To oust the oxygen thief, identify three- to five-year goals for your company. “Shorter than that, and you’re dealing with tactics, not strategy,” Miller says. “Longer than five years, and nobody really knows what’s going to happen.”



He cites a Chicago foundry as an example. This family-owned business, which had <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/9-ways-to-achieve-your-biggest-goals-quickly">ambitious growth goals</a>, was the main supplier of brass fittings to the city’s hotels, schools and large businesses. The company also had a foundry in Milwaukee that was working with a Japanese manufacturer of hands-free toilets. “Eighty percent of their business was being generated by 20&nbsp;percent of their products,” Miller says, “and none of those were coming out of the Milwaukee foundry.”



Setting five-year goals revealed the necessity to shed the Milwaukee operation. “If they wanted to meet their growth goals,” he adds, “they had to recognize that they were in brass and not in porcelain.” The company sold its Milwaukee foundry to a Swedish company for a tidy sum, streamlined its product line and is thriving.



“I tell my clients to dream big, but with a purpose,” Miller says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/18-motivational-quotes-about-successful-goal-setting">18 Motivational Quotes About Successful Goal Setting</a></blockquote>



Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Defining a challenging objective is the first move toward achievement.

Defining a challenging objective is the first move toward achievement. | SUCCESS

Master the Art of Setting Goals in 4 Steps | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/mastertheartofsettinggoalsinsteps-1.jpg

Simon Sinek had penned a best-selling book on team-building and given <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a TED Talk</a> seen, to date, by over 30 million people when he discovered the secret of leadership that now governs his philosophy.

The revelation occurred during a conversation with a Marine Corps official about what makes the corps so extraordinarily tight-knit that Marines willingly trust each other with their very lives. Go into any Marine Corps mess hall, Lt. Gen. George Flynn told Sinek, and watch the Marines line up for their chow. The most junior eat first, followed in rank order, with the leaders eating last. This practice isn’t in any rulebook; the Marines just do it because of the way they view the responsibility of  leadership.
Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/leaders-eat-last">Leaders Eat Last</a>
Whereas many people think leadership is about rank, power and privilege, Marines believe that true leadership is the willingness to place others’ needs above your own. For that reason Sinek titled his 2014 book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1591845327/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1489522887&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Leaders+Eat+Last:+Why+Some+Teams+Pull+Together+and+Others+Don%E2%80%99t&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=9b1aa0aadf6db40c3e425391a2b783bd" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t</a>—a follow-up to his powerhouse <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?url=search-alias=aps&amp;field-keywords=Start+with+Why:+How+Great+Leaders+Inspire+Everyone+to+Take+Action&amp;linkCode=ll2&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=ce1be60a4881686563700e4b8af9e367" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action</a>.

In Leaders Eat Last, the 40-year-old Sinek proposes a concept of leadership that has little to do with authority, management acumen or even being in charge. True leadership, Sinek says, is about empowering others to achieve things they didn’t think possible. Exceptional organizations, he says, “prioritize the well-being of their people and, in return, their people give everything they’ve got to protect and advance the well-being of one another and the organization.”

Whether we’re leading armies, multinational corporations or a fledgling home-based business, Sinek’s message is the same. “We all have the responsibility to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-tips-to-become-an-intentional-leader">become the leaders we wish we had</a>,” he says in a phone conversation from his New York home.
<h2>A Biology Lesson</h2>
As it turns out, humans come equipped with a built-in chemistry set that gives us incentives to protect not just ourselves but also others. Four primary neurochemicals—endorphins, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin (all essential to normal healthy brain function)—contribute to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-ways-to-plan-your-happiness">our positive feelings of happiness</a>, pride, joy, achievement and fulfillment. And beyond just making us feel good (when properly balanced), they ensure our long-term survival.
Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/simon-sinek-on-how-we-are-better-together">Simon Sinek on How We Are Better Together</a>
Endorphins and dopamine are what Sinek calls “selfish” chemicals; they’re released so we’ll persist in the tasks we need to accomplish as individuals. Endorphins mask physical pain with pleasure. They can produce the euphoria of the runner’s high or—as in the Paleolithic era (Old Stone Age)—give us the strength to track prey miles and miles so we have enough to eat. Dopamine is behind the warm flush of satisfaction we feel when we complete a project or reach an important goal en route to an even larger goal. The feeling of satisfaction we get when we cross something off our to-do list is dopamine-fueled, and the release of dopamine increases as we take on larger challenges. “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/9-ways-to-achieve-your-biggest-goals-quickly">The bigger the goal</a>, the more effort it requires, the more dopamine we get,” Sinek says. “This is why it feels really good to work hard to accomplish something difficult. Something quick and easy may only give us a little hit, if anything at all. There is no biological incentive to do nothing.”

&nbsp;
<h3 class="rtecenter">On a deep level, we need to feel that we and our work are valued by others, particularly those in our group.</h3>
&nbsp;

Serotonin and oxytocin are the “selfless” chemicals. Serotonin is the molecular manifestation of the feeling of pride—we get it when we perceive others like or respect us. On a deep level, we need to feel that we and our work are <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/john-addison-7-ways-to-be-likeable">valued by others</a>, particularly those in our group. This compound reinforces the bond between parent and child, teacher and student, coach and player, boss and employee, leader and follower. At the same time, oxytocin is working to promote empathy and trust, allowing those bonds to deepen—unlike the instant-gratification rush delivered by dopamine, oxytocin has long-term effects that become amplified the more we bond with someone. As we learn to trust them and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/15-trust-building-practices-for-leaders">earn their trust in return</a>, the more the oxytocin flows. This is the chemical manifestation of love. “It’s responsible for all the warm and fuzzies,” Sinek says. When we’re in the company of friends, family members and close colleagues, a flush of oxytocin propels acts of generosity that strengthen the connections.

Homo sapiens developed a herd instinct; thanks to those cooperative chemicals, we find comfort when we’re part of a group. “Our confidence that we can face the dangers around us literally depends on feeling safe in a group,” Sinek says. “Being on the periphery is dangerous. The loner on the edge of the group is far more susceptible to predators than someone who is safely surrounded and valued by others.”
<h2>Beyond the Reptile Brain</h2>
If you were driven only by endorphins and dopamine, you’d have a reptilian brain. Crocodiles, Sinek says, act completely on “me-first” instincts. When two hungry crocodiles spot the carcass of a wildebeest floating down the river, both will lunge at it. The faster and stronger of the two will consume every last bit, leaving nothing behind for his fellow croc. “There is no part of the reptilian brain that rewards cooperative behavior,” Sinek says.
Related:<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-ways-to-be-a-more-collaborative-leader"> 4 Ways to Be a More Collaborative Leader</a>
Sinek admits there’s an awful lot of reptilian behavior at the top of companies these days—many corporate environments short-circuit our capacity for <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/whats-the-secret-of-the-best-places-to-work-compassion-and-connection">cooperation and compassion</a>, instead promoting paranoia, cynicism and self-interest. “In the military we give medals to people who sacrifice so others may gain,” Sinek says. “In business we give bonuses to people who gained when others sacrificed.”

&nbsp;
<h3 class="rtecenter">“You can absolutely have success when leaders eat first. But that success is going to be short-term and less able to weather hard times.”</h3>
&nbsp;

Crocodile behavior works for a very few people in an organization, at least for a while. “You can absolutely have success when leaders eat first,” Sinek says. “But that success is going to be short-term and less able to weather hard times. In hard times people will not rush to the aid of a leader if they’ve never felt that he or she had put their interests first. You can get a lion to do what you want it to do by whipping it, but at some point it’s going to come back and bite you.”

Putting profits before people was one reason so many banks and mortgage companies needed to be rescued with huge government bailouts after the stock market crash of 2008, Sinek says. Contrast that, he suggests, with big-box retailer Costco. “People sometimes criticize Costco because of its flat stock performance, but that’s only true if you evaluate on a quarterly basis. If you look over the course of a couple of decades, what you see is slow, steady growth. If you invested a dollar in Costco and a dollar in, say, General Electric in 1986, you would have made about 600 percent on your investment in GE up to now, and 1,200 percent on your Costco investment.”

When the economic slowdown rocked the retail world in 2009, Costco’s then-CEO James Sinegal approved a $1.50 hourly raise for employees, insisting that in a bad economy “we should be figuring out how to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/become-a-servant-leader-in-4-steps">give [workers] more</a>, not less.” Today, paying its employees an average of $21 an hour compared with Wal-Mart’s $13, Costco has extraordinarily low turnover—less than 10 percent for hourly employees.
<h2><a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/john-c-maxwell-how-to-be-an-empathetic-leader">It’s All About Empathy</a></h2>
Sinek says researching his latest book has even changed the way he conducts his own life and business. “The lesson I’m learning is that <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/want-to-be-successful-stop-trying-to-go-it-alone">I’m useless by myself</a>. My success hinges entirely on the people I work with—the people who enlist themselves to join me in my vision. And it’s my responsibility to see that they’re working at their best capacity.”

<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/want-to-win-anything-thats-going-to-take-true-empathy">Empathy</a>—the ability to recognize and share other people’s feelings—is the most important instrument in a leader’s toolbox, Sinek believes. It can be expressed in the simple words, “Is everything OK?”

It’s what effective leaders ask an employee, instead of commanding “Clean out your desk” when he or she starts slacking off. It’s what you ask a client when a once-harmonious relationship gets rocky. “I really believe in quiet confrontation,” Sinek says. “If you had a good working relationship with someone and it’s suddenly gone sour, I believe in saying something like, ‘When we started we were both so excited, and it’s become really difficult now. Are you OK? What’s changed?’ ”

&nbsp;
<h3 class="rtecenter">“These little considerations for others have a building effect. The daily practice of putting the well-being of others first has a compounding and reciprocal effect in relationships. ”</h3>
&nbsp;

Sinek has been training himself to be more empathic by paying attention to everyday gestures, such as holding elevators for others or refilling the coffeemaker. Even <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/how-30-days-of-kindness-made-me-a-better-person">small acts of kindness</a> release a tiny shot of feel-good oxytocin. What’s more, “These little considerations for others have a building effect,” Sinek says. “The daily practice of putting the well-being of others first has a compounding and reciprocal effect in relationships, in friendships, in the way we treat our clients and our colleagues.”

If Sinek sometimes sounds like someone singing “Kumbaya” around the campfire, he isn’t embarrassed.

“I’m the first to admit that I’m an idealist. Leaders Eat Last is a vision for the future. It offers some explanation of how we find ourselves where we are today and what we can do to change it.” He pauses, then—sounding like anything but a Paleolithic caveman—offers some parting words.

“<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/11-leadership-lessons-you-didnt-learn-in-school">True leadership</a> isn’t the bastion of a few who sit at the top. It’s the responsibility of anyone who belongs to a group, and that means all of us. We all need to step up, take the risk and put our interests second—not always—but when it counts.”
Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/titles-dont-make-leaders-but-these-7-actions-do">Titles Don’t Make Leaders—But These 7 Actions Do</a>

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2014 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Expert in inspirational leadership Simon Sinek explains our biological need to be part of an altruistic organization.

Expert in inspirational leadership Simon Sinek explains our biological need to be part of an altruistic organization. | SUCCESS

Why the Empathetic Leader Is the Best Leader

Why the Empathetic Leader Is the Best Leader | SUCCESS

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<div class="Basic-Graphics-Frame" id="_idContainer003">
<img alt="How Shefit Survived the &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__35865 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/john_headshot_1.jpg" style="width: 40%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

&nbsp;

Investor: Daymond John 
Shark Tank Appearance: Jan. 29, 2016 
Deal: $250,000 for a one-third stake in the company 
Results: Sales increased from $220,000 over 18 months to more than $1.5 million in 2016.

&nbsp;

To prepare for their January 2016 appearance on Shark Tank, Sara Moylan and her husband and business partner, Bob, took a serious look at the long-running ABC business reality show. “We watched every single episode and made a list of every question that the Sharks ever asked,” Sara says. “I read all of the books the Sharks had written and every interview they gave. Then we worked with our mentors on mock interviews. I was determined we were not going to be stumped.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/put-on-the-spot-heres-how-to-own-your-response">Put on the Spot? Here’s How to Own Your Response</a>
</div>
</div>

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer005">
They weren’t. For more than an hour—later edited down to a nine-minute segment—the Grand Rapids, Michigan, couple adroitly volleyed the scores of questions the five Sharks lobbed at them. When Lori Greiner began voicing concerns about the viability of the patents the Moylans had secured, Sara found herself temporarily rattled. “My confidence was shaken,” she recalls. “I needed to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/30-tips-to-take-control-of-your-life-now">regain control</a> of the situation by putting the conversation on our playing field.” She did just that by talking about the innovations Shefit had introduced into the $3 billion sports bra market.

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter">“Take the business one step at a time. When you have success, there are often a lot of opportunities that pop up and can come at you from every direction.”</h3>

&nbsp;

Daymond John observed the couple’s unflappability. “Sara and Bob really impressed me,” he says. “They knew their numbers. They were an effective team with defined roles. They kept their composure, and you could clearly <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/25-successful-peoples-thoughts-on-the-power-of-passion">feel the passion</a>. It felt like all the puzzle pieces were coming together.” The Moylans prepared for every possible scenario, including the two that John presented. First, he wanted a one-third interest in the company rather than the 25 percent they were offering. Second, he needed an immediate answer. The Moylans were ready with a quick yes.

One thing they weren’t as prepared for was the deluge of orders they received. “We were sitting on an inventory of more than 4,000 items,” Sara says. “Even before we finished our pitch those had been sold. And within the next couple of weeks, we had presold all of the inventory—16,000 units—that were slated to come in at the end of April.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/top-of-mind-6-ways-to-stay-productive-under-pressure">Top of Mind: 6 Ways to Stay Productive Under Pressure</a>

<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/overnight-success-is-a-myth-here-are-4-ways-to-persist">Far from an overnight success</a>, Shefit has a long history. Sara, a former Miss Michigan Teen USA and Mrs. Michigan America, was a competitor on the fitness circuit. A mother of four daughters, now ages 4 to 13, she had always worn two or three bras during her daily workouts. But when she was breastfeeding her first daughter, even doubling or tripling up on bras didn’t provide sufficient support and security. Unable to find anything on the market that worked, Sara created her own sports bra by hot-gluing layers of fabric together. “It was dreadful and, because of the glue, it fell apart when I washed it,” she says. “But it worked and I found a seamstress who could create something more functional from my prototype.”

Sara and Bob had <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/the-best-career-advice-from-successful-people-who-made-it-to-the-top">successful careers</a> in sales, she for medical devices and he in industrial chemicals. She never had any intention of starting a business. That is until Sara started passing out bras to her girlfriends. “Everyone had suggestions on how to make it better,” she says, “and nobody wanted to give the bras back.”

Over the next decade, the Moylans would invest nearly $400,000 in Shefit. By the time Shark Tank invited the couple to audition, they had hundreds of rave reviews online and, to keep up with demand, had moved manufacturing from Los Angeles to an overseas factory. It was taking 18 months to go from placing an order to receiving finished products, and that was hampering their capacity for growth. “We had to streamline the manufacturing process,” Bob says. “With a lot of trial and error, we had picked up the reins and taught ourselves everything we could, but we needed help moving to the next stage.”

The first few weeks after John came on board as an investor, the Moylans conferred with his team almost daily. “They were able to help us with sourcing and liaising with vendors and the factory to speed up manufacturing,” Bob says. “It’s made a dramatic difference. We’ve reduced our turnaround to as little as 60 days.” Now with “serious momentum,” Sara says, “we <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/top-of-mind-5-ways-to-get-ideas-flowing">have a lot of ideas</a> and new launches in the works.”

Meanwhile, John is advising the Moylans to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-train-your-brain-to-focus">stay focused</a>. “Take the business one step at a time,” he says. “When you have success, there are often a lot of opportunities that pop up and can come at you from every direction. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good problem to have, but you have to be careful of which ones you choose to pursue because they might be distractions. So while they’re all on the road map for the future of the company, it’s important to knock out the tasks at hand.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/3-pieces-of-advice-for-first-time-entrepreneurs">3 Pieces of Advice for First-Time Entrepreneurs</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the April 2017 issue of <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUCCESS magazine</a>.
</div>

Take the business one step at a time. | SUCCESS

How Shefit Survived the Shark Tank

How Shefit Survived the Shark Tank | SUCCESS

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<img alt="How Drain Strain Survived the &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__35543 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/herjavec_headshot_0.jpg" style="width: 40%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

&nbsp;

Shark Tank Appearance: Feb. 3, 2015 
Investor: Robert Herjavec 
Deal: $110,000 for a 10 percent stake 
Results: $500,000 in sales with deals in place at Home Depot and Lowe's.

&nbsp;

It started out more like an episode of The Amazing Race than Shark Tank. In April 2014 Naushad Ali’s real estate business partner ended a late-night phone call by casually asking whether he was going to a Shark Tank casting call on Saturday.
</div>

Ali had invented a device he called the <a href="https://www.drainstrain.com/pages/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drain Strain</a>, a bathroom sink stopper that prevents clogged drains. Although he was convinced his invention was a disruptor that would save people hundreds of dollars in plumbing bills and make chemical drain cleaners obsolete, his efforts to get funding were stalled. An Indiegogo <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-become-a-crowdfunding-success-story">crowdfunding</a> campaign with a $25,000 goal had brought in only $2,000. And although he’d filled out an online application to be on Shark Tank, he never heard back. Focusing on real estate, he missed the news of the open call that was taking place at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle.

“It was nearly midnight on Thursday, the open call was Saturday at 8 a.m., and I didn’t have a single functioning prototype,” Ali says. The next morning Ali called his design company in the Midwest and told them he needed a prototype produced, assembled and shipped to the hotel in time for the casting call. It was doable, but the cost would be $1,500. This was steep for Ali; his family had just started to recover financially after losing everything, including their home, in the 2008 market crash. But with his wife’s consent, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/why-you-might-as-well-jump">he decided to go for it</a>.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/videos/youtube/4-reasons-you-should-be-risking-rejection">4 Reasons You Should Be Risking Rejection</a>

That’s how Ali found himself on Saturday morning with a wristband that gave him the 289th audition spot while hoping desperately for the FedEx truck to arrive. “The front desk said the driver had been there to drop off the package, but since they didn’t recognize my name, they hadn’t accepted it.” It would take nearly an hour of pleading before Ali reached a sympathetic FedEx rep who directed the driver to return to the hotel. Ten minutes before his name was called for the two-minute audition, the driver pulled up and Ali ran through the lobby doors, clutching the prototype.

Several audition rounds and several months later, Ali passed out 3-D prototypes to the five investors of the Emmy-winning ABC reality show. In a surprising turn of events, Robert Herjavec offered Ali the $110,000 he was seeking, but said he would take only a 10 percent stake rather than the 15 percent stake Ali had proposed. Like his fellow Sharks, Herjavec believed that Drain Strain was perfectly positioned for a licensing deal, and he saw his role as “just making a phone call” to introduce Ali to the CEO of a plumbing manufacturer.

That strategy, however, turned out to be the equivalent of circling the drain: a path to nowhere. “Faucet manufacturers were extremely interested, but we ended up not getting to the finish line with them,” Ali says. “We were in contract negotiations with one, but they couldn’t get us into their production and sales cycle for at least two years. That timing didn’t work for us.”

In the meantime, Ali had been running the numbers for selling Drain Strain direct to consumers. “Our sales and profit would be nine times greater if we were successful as an after-market product than if we signed an exclusive licensing agreement,” he says. “Robert and his team were great in <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/6-underlying-benefits-of-asking-questions">asking the right questions</a> and making sure we understood the margins at every stage of the retail supply chain.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-smart-tips-for-the-new-entrepreneur">5 Smart Tips for the New Entrepreneur</a>

Home Depot loved Drain Strain and introduced Ali to distributors as well as to suppliers in Taiwan and China. But moving from prototype to production revealed <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-challenges-successful-people-overcome">the huge challenge</a> of creating a single product that would work for all pipes, including those that were 50 or 75 years old. “We brainstormed for months before we came up with a solution where the basket could conform to the pipes and still allow water to flow through,” Ali says. A host of other problems arose during tooling, all financed by Ali. “Between patents, production and design, I was out of pocket about $150,000,” he says. “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/why-taking-risks-is-worth-it">It was a lot of risk.</a>” Language difficulties and the need to ship every new iteration from China slowed things down. Finally, in August 2015, Ali flew to the factory. “I went over there with the intention of not returning until we had everything figured out,” he says. “We worked nonstop over five days.”

Back in the U.S., Ali finally signed deals to sell Drain Strain in 1,200 Home Depots and 500 Lowe’s stores by early 2017. The product is also sold online and is used by several hotel chains. Shower and bathtub versions will be rolled out later this year. For now, Ali is still working in real estate. “That’s what pays the bills,” he says. “We’re still a year away from profitability, but <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/12-things-truly-confident-people-do-differently">I’m confident</a> that in a few years we’ll be the de facto standard in all drains.”

There have been only a handful of prototypes in Shark Tank history, Herjavec points out, that made their way to retail. “Drain Strain is one of them,” he says. “Ali recognized a problem shared by the masses, and he solved it. Sometimes it’s as simple as that. I believed in Drain Strain because it could be leveraged in homes, but it presented interesting opportunities to sell in mass quantities to hotels, cruise ships and hospitals. I liked Naushad’s approach in the Tank and when you have a great idea and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/5-lessons-i-learned-from-200-successful-entrepreneurs">a great entrepreneur</a>, we see success.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/7-ways-to-keep-yourself-motivated-for-entrepreneurial-success">7 Ways to Keep Yourself Motivated for Entrepreneurial Success</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the March 2017 issue of <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/catalog/category/view/id/1318" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUCCESS magazine</a>.

‘ Ali recognized a problem shared by the masses, and he solved it. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.’

‘ Ali recognized a problem shared by the masses, and he solved it. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.’ | SUCCESS

How Drain Strain Survived the ‘Shark Tank’

How Drain Strain Survived the ‘Shark Tank’ | SUCCESS

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<img alt="How Simply Fit Boards Survived the &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__35179 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/greiner_headshot_1.jpg" style="width: 40%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

Shark Tank Appearance: Nov. 6, 2015 
Investor: Lori Greiner 
Deal: $125,000 for a 20 percent stake 
Results: In seven months, sales increased from $575,000 to $9 million. More than 1 million Simply Fit Boards were shipped to retail stores for the fourth quarter of 2016.

&nbsp;

Sometimes it takes a fair amount of digging to know whether a product is, in the lingo of Shark Tank investor Lori Greiner, a “hero or a zero.” Other times the recognition is immediate. The latter was the case in late 2015 when Gloria Hoffman and her mother Linda Clark walked onto the set of the Emmy-winning ABC reality show toting brightly colored plastic ovals that looked like the kind of platter you might use to serve chicken wings and Mai Tais at a retro tiki-themed cocktail party.

What Hoffman and Clark were actually hawking was the <a href="https://www.simplyfitboard.com/Index.dtm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Simply Fit Board</a>, their DayGlo take on the traditional balance board for core exercise. While Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary joined the entrepreneurs in twisting on the core-chiseling devices, Greiner and Barbara Corcoran demurred because they were wearing high heels. For her part, Greiner didn’t need to break a sweat to know she wanted to make an offer. “Sometimes the simplest things are the best products,” Greiner says. “This one just works. I saw them twisting on the board, and I was ready to do a deal right away. I’ve been in the TV world a long time, and I knew this would be a fabulous infomercial product.”

Three things about the Simply Fit Board led Greiner, “the Queen of QVC,” to the conclusion that the product would succeed:

<ol>
	<li class="BODY">It had the right price point. Over 18 months, Clark and Hoffman had sold nearly 16,000 boards, primarily at consumer shows, for $45 each.</li>
	<li class="BODY">It had universal appeal. “Anybody can use the board,” says Greiner “and everybody on earth has belly fat they want to get rid of.”</li>
	<li class="BODY">It’s very visual. “When you see people using the board you get it right away, and that makes for a great infomercial.”</li>
</ol>

An added plus was that Hoffman and Clark themselves were camera-ready. Representing two different generations, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-find-your-passion">they were passionate</a>, vivacious and photogenic. “I could just tell that they would be good partners for me,” Greiner says. “That was key. You can have the greatest product in the world, but <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/this-is-the-key-to-a-successful-partnership-and-a-successful-life">if you don’t have good partners</a>, you’re sunk.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/10-questions-to-ask-yourself-for-a-successful-collaboration">10 Questions to Ask Yourself for a Successful Collaboration</a>

There was, however, one liability: Simply Fit didn’t have a patent and its strongest selling point—its simplicity—meant that it could easily be replicated. “We needed to be everywhere very fast and blitz the market,” Greiner says. “My goal was to create an infomercial instantly and get Simply Fit out there so it would become so big, there’d be less incentive to copy us.”

&nbsp;

<h3 class="BODY rtecenter">In the first 24 hours they sold 34,000 units; in 48 hours they’d racked up $1.7 million in sales.</h3>

&nbsp;

The day after the Shark Tank episode ran, there was an airing for Simply Fit on QVC, featuring Clark. In the first 24 hours they sold 34,000 units; in 48 hours they’d racked up $1.7 million in sales. They sold out the line in less than three days, when they had to stop taking online orders. Six weeks later, when they resumed taking orders, they had a waiting list of more than 52,000 orders.

That backlog aside, it has been a mostly bump-free ride. “Honestly, there are usually ups and downs and struggles, but we really haven’t had any,” Greiner says. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of product. We just launched in every Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond and Kmart store, and soon we’ll be all over Europe, Japan and Australia. It’s just an amazing Cinderella story.”

For Hoffman and Clark, this is the fairytale ending they’d been counting on. The two had stood in line at any open call for Shark Tank in Colorado, their home state. “We always knew that if we got in front of the producers they’d be sold,” says Clark, who, some 25 years ago launched <a href="https://www.playclayfactory.com/CONTACT-US.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Play Clay</a>, a scented, organic play dough that’s still being sold today. Hoffman, a mom of two young sons and a former real estate agent, certainly hoped that mother knew best. She was down to $52 in her checking account before their Shark Tank appearance. “When you’re a small-business owner, every cent goes back into the business,” she says. “We were just doing whatever we could to make the American dream come true.”

Today, with the infomercial company taking over manufacturing and fulfillment, Hoffman and Clark are free to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/4-ways-storytelling-can-make-your-personal-brand-pop">concentrate on marketing efforts</a> and enjoying their success. They have both purchased new homes, and last year Hoffman took her boys on vacation to a resort in the Dominican Republic. “We don’t live extravagant lifestyles by any means,” Hoffman says. “For me success is being able to spend quality time with my boys without the stresses of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/10-money-habits-that-are-leaving-you-broke">money worries</a>. I hope my mom and I can inspire other entrepreneurs that with a good idea and lots of hard work, your dreams can come true.”

Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/rohn-5-simple-steps-to-plan-your-dream-life">5 Simple Steps to Plan Your Dream Life</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the February 2017 issue of <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/catalog/category/view/id/1318" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUCCESS magazine</a>.

In the first 24 hours they sold 34,000 units; in 48 hours they’d racked up $1.7 million in sales.

In the first 24 hours they sold 34,000 units; in 48 hours they’d racked up $1.7 million in sales. | SUCCESS

How Simply Fit Board Survived the ‘Shark Tank’

How Simply Fit Board Survived the ‘Shark Tank’ | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/divingdeeper_3.jpg

25 Successful People Who Can Help Change Your Life

The SUCCESS 25: 2016's Personal Development Leaders

The SUCCESS 25: 2016's Personal Development Leaders | SUCCESS

25 Successful People Who Can Help Change Your Life | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/success25_main.jpg

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer001">
<img alt="How Bottle Breacher Survived the &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34424 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/cuban_headshot_1.jpg" style="width: 25%; margin: 0px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" /><img alt="How Bottle Breacher Survived the &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34425 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/oleary_headshot_0.jpg" style="width: 25%; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />

&nbsp;

Shark Tank Appearance: Nov. 7, 2014 
Investors: Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary 
Deal: $150,000 for a 20 percent stake, split evenly 
Results: Total sales increased from $150,000 to more than $15 million.

&nbsp;

The emails seemed to never stop. After Eli and Jen Crane, the husband-and-wife entrepreneurs behind <a href="https://bottlebreacher.com/our-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bottle Breacher</a>, appeared on Shark Tank in November 2014 they were flooded with more than 20,000 orders. Their team produced about 100 of the customized bottle openers—made from dummy .50-caliber bullets—per day. To keep up with the new demand, they needed to increase production 15 times. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-successful-people-beat-stress">The stress was intense.</a> The hours, grueling. Eli and Jen were working until 1, 2 or 3 in the morning, leaving them just a couple of hours of sleep before they woke up with their daughters, who were 7 and 3 years old at the time.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/do-these-4-things-to-avoid-losing-your-mind-as-an-entrepreneur">Do These 4 Things to Avoid Losing Your Mind as an Entrepreneur </a>
</div>

“We were dealing with this huge production issue, all day, every day, nearly round-the-clock,” Eli says. In the midst of that, emails from Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary, their two investors from ABC’s Emmy Award-winning business reality show, would appear in their inbox. “Customers who had been waiting weeks for their orders would reach out to them through Instagram or Twitter, and they were passing along what these people had said.” Without the expletives, the gist of those messages was, “How could you invest in these losers? They can’t even deliver the product.”

It was, says Eli, <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/6-ways-to-keep-your-attitude-up-when-life-tries-to-bring-you-down">an absolute low point</a>. “Mark and Kevin took a chance on us, and all that Jen and I wanted to do was make those guys proud. Instead they’re getting their names dragged through the mud.”

Crane’s response to O’Leary and Cuban was unwavering: “We’re on top of this, and we’ll take care of it.” He projected the same <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/12-things-truly-confident-people-do-differently">unflinching confidence</a> to his employees. That stance was one of the many lessons he learned during the 13 years and five deployments he spent in the military, the last three in Iraq as a Navy SEAL.

“In the SEALs we say ‘Calm is contagious,’ ” Crane says. “When things are going sideways, shots are being fired and it’s a dangerous, unknown and chaotic environment, people have a tendency to start freaking out and yelling. All that does is amplify the panic.”

There wasn’t denial in the steadiness that Crane projected. “Just because you’re calm doesn’t mean you don’t deal with reality. You assess things, you <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-be-a-better-thinker-innovator-and-problem-solver">think outside the box</a> and you try to come up with unconventional solutions.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/10-ways-successful-people-stay-calm">10 Ways Successful People Stay Calm</a>

With some coaching from O’Leary and his team, Crane made changes to speed up production. For example, instead of having the engravers enter personalized messages, he had the administrative staff input the info in advance. Within two months Bottle Breacher had caught up on its back orders. Today as the Tucson, Arizona-based company gets ready for the hectic holiday season, it has 37 employees in place and a production capacity of 1,500 bottle openers a day. The company also produces a score of other products, including key chains, coasters, holsters, barbecue utensils and apparel—all made in the U.S.

O’Leary has no doubts the Cranes will be up for whatever challenges the holiday rush might bring. “The reason I love investing in veterans is that military training emphasizes many of the same <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/videos/youtube/the-most-authentic-trait-of-an-entrepreneur">traits that make great entrepreneurs</a>,” O’Leary says. “Specifically, the three Ds: desire, drive and determination. Entrepreneurs who are in the military or have been in the past don’t fall apart when they encounter a problem like thousands of back orders and unhappy customers. They approach it with a clear head and do what they need to fix it, which is exactly what Eli did.”

Crane’s business practices continue to be guided by the lessons he learned as a SEAL. He shares three that have been especially important.

1. One is none. Two is one. “In the service, you don’t go on an operation with one gun. You always have a backup,” Crane says. That’s why he builds redundancies into the system, starting with the initial strategy of wooing two Sharks as mentors.

2. Stay in your own swim lane. “You have to clearly outline what everyone’s roles are and give people autonomy,” he says. “Jen, for example, is in charge of accounting and marketing. Although as the CEO everything is ultimately my responsibility, it’s very rare that I step in and change a plan or strategy that she’s developed.”

3. A good decision now is better than a great decision later. “A lot in business is time-sensitive,” Crane says, “which means you take the information that you have right now and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-tips-to-make-smarter-decisions-faster">make the best decision you can</a>. That doesn’t mean you’re always right. If you’re not, you make adjustments later, but I see too many people in leadership roles who suffer from analysis paralysis.”

There is one guiding principle that looms just as large as anything Eli learned in the military: setting an example for his daughters. “We want our daughters to understand that nothing in life is given to you,” he says. “They’re seeing Mom and Dad fighting it out in the trenches to make sure they have a better life. I want them to see us, and other people, who set goals, who don’t take no for an answer, and who achieve those goals. If you make a mistake, you take accountability for it. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/rohn-this-is-how-you-leave-a-legacy">That’s how you build a legacy.</a>”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/rohn-4-tips-for-setting-powerful-goals">4 Tips for Setting Powerful Goals</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the December 2016 issue of <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/catalog/category/view/id/1318">SUCCESS magazine</a>.

Plus, 3 smart business practices from a Navy SEAL

Plus, 3 smart business practices from a Navy SEAL | SUCCESS

How Bottle Breacher Survived the ‘Shark Tank’

How Bottle Breacher Survived the ‘Shark Tank’ | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/divedeeper.jpg

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer000">
I had a feeling about it. 
I just knew. 
It was a hunch. 
My intuition told me. 
I acted on instinct. 
I felt it in my gut.
</div>

We’ve all felt that experience countless times in our lives.

It happens when we’re interviewing a potential job candidate or being interviewed ourselves. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/this-is-the-key-to-a-successful-partnership-and-a-successful-life">When we’re sizing up a potential business partner</a> or a new client. It happens when we walk into a restaurant and catch sight of our blind date at the bar. Or when we cross the threshold into the two-story colonial our real-estate agent has assured us “is just perfect for you.”

We’re gripped by a powerful, visceral feeling, a deep sense of certainty that tells us what to do. Hire the guy. Don’t take the job. Move forward with the deal. This is the person you’re going to marry. Make an offer on the house.

And years later when you tell the story, you’ll say it was the best decision of your life. Good thing you listened to your gut.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/the-best-decision-i-ever-made">The Best Decision I Ever Made</a>

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">The Power of Instinct</h2>

The phenomenon of gut instinct has been studied by a broad range of experts: psychologists, economists, microbiologists and sociologists. There’s widespread agreement on a couple of points. First, our gut instinct isn’t some magical, mystical force. Rather, says cognitive psychologist Gary Klein, Ph.D., author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sources-Power-People-Make-Decisions/dp/0262112272/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;me=&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=1c63ea936250b45b76fd99109161c316" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Power-Intuition-Feelings-Better-Decisions/dp/0385502893/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1477066587&amp;sr=1-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=28f4d93cc48aef2a7076ee6b6ad7a0f8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Power of Intuition</a>, “It’s the way we translate our experience into judgment and actions.”

When Klein studied how individuals such as firefighters and emergency medical personnel make instant life-or-death decisions, he found they were able to size up situations rapidly by picking up subtle cues, patterns and anomalies, and then <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-tips-to-make-smarter-decisions-faster">take decisive action without having to stop and conduct deliberate analysis</a>. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for the pioneering work he did in decision-making, called this “System 1” thinking. It’s fast, instinctual and emotional.

The second big point about gut feelings is that we couldn’t survive without them. “More than 99 percent of the decisions we make every day, we make without deliberation,” says Carl Spetzler, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.sdg.com/about-sdg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Strategic Decisions Group</a>, a strategic management consulting firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California. He’s also lead author of the new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Decision-Quality-Creation-Business-Decisions/dp/1119144671/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1477066737&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=411df4d2837d88e2095bdb72e75d0b32" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Decision Quality: Value Creation from Better Business Decisions</a>. Those automatic decisions—what Malcolm Gladwell called “thinking without thinking” in his best-selling book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316172324/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1477066780&amp;sr=8-2&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=sm0fe-20&amp;linkId=47b60a0f13d449322f45ce5ea8d32ba4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blink</a>—include everything from choosing which foot to start with when you begin to walk to hitting the brakes when you see a line of cars stopped in front of you on the highway, to grabbing your 1-year-old when she begins tumbling off the sofa.

But if you think you’d make better choices if emotions didn’t get in your way, think again. “Without our intuitions, we’d be paralyzed,” Klein says. “There is very powerful research on people with brain damage that disconnects the emotional parts of their brains from the decision-making parts of their brains. Their IQ is not affected, but their lives are terribly impaired. They can’t hold down jobs. Their relationships suffer. It can take them 45 minutes to figure out what to order from a menu because they don’t have any sense of what they want.”

On the other hand (and there’s always another hand in the realm of decision-making), relying on your gut alone is a pretty efficient formula for wrecking a business, a marriage or a life. In their groundbreaking work, Kahneman and his late partner Amos Tversky revealed that intuitive thinking, without further reflection, is often faulty thinking. Numerous biases are at play when we make fast decisions under conditions of uncertainty. To cite just a few:

<ul>
	<li class="BODY-with-Bullets">We tend to have an “optimistic bias,” <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/it-takes-a-positive-attitude-to-achieve-positive-results">believing we’ll succeed in the face of long odds</a>.</li>
	<li class="BODY-with-Bullets">We place more faith in something we heard about recently than events that happened years ago and are less easy to remember; that’s called “availability bias.”</li>
	<li class="BODY-with-Bullets">Vivid occurrences are also more likely to influence us, which is why we typically overestimate the number of people killed in plane accidents and underestimate fatalities from car crashes.</li>
	<li class="BODY-with-Bullets">“Confirmation bias” means we often ignore information that doesn’t support our existing beliefs and give too much weight to data that’s in sync with our current mindset.</li>
	<li class="BODY-with-Bullets">In “hindsight bias,” or the “I-knew-it-all-along effect,” we imagine that we were better at predicting, say, the ups and downs in our industry than we actually were.</li>
</ul>

Put all these biases together and we end up with what Kahneman calls WYSIATI, an acronym for “what you see is all there is.” That’s the unconscious conviction that everything we need to make a decision is right in front of us. After all, we feel it in our gut.

Paying attention to your gut, most experts would agree, is a valuable first step in <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/john-addison-4-keys-to-great-decision-making">reaching a decision</a>. But unless the decision involves something like picking out a puppy from a litter, you’ll want to combine it with more effortful and logical deliberation, what Kahneman calls “System 2” thinking. If System 1 provides a fast-and-furious first draft, System 2 hones that draft into a PowerPoint presentation. It’s slow, deliberate and rational.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/think-slow-and-other-tricks-for-better-problem-solving">Think Slow and Other Tricks for Better Problem-Solving</a>

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">Talking Back to Your Gut</h2>

To jumble up some body parts, you don’t want to take what your gut is telling you at face value. Instead you need to investigate what’s driving that first impression. Psychologist Bruce Pfau, Ph.D., is a New York-based senior partner at KPMG, one of the Big Four auditors, where he advises C-suite executives on human resources strategy and communications. “What we label a gut feeling is always based on a set of variables that we haven’t spent time articulating,” Pfau says. “Only when you bring those facts into the light of day can you analyze them objectively and dispassionately and move on to <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/ep-32-tips-for-better-decision-making">making a good decision.</a>”

&nbsp;

<h3 class="rtecenter">“Your feelings aren’t random; they’re based on something that’s observable and measurable.”</h3>

&nbsp;

If you’re considering forming a partnership with somebody but have a nebulous feeling of unease, Pfau suggests free-associating. “Let your mind start putting words to what it is about this person that’s making you uncomfortable. It can start with something vague. ‘I just have the feeling he’s not going to be a good partner.’ ”

Dig deeper. Ask yourself, What about him is making me feel that way? Does he seem too complacent? Too argumentative? Is it something in his body language? Something he said or the way he said it? It might be helpful to jot down notes or enlist someone else as a sounding board to guide your reflection. Then test your feelings against available data.

&nbsp;

<img alt="Go With Your Gut: The Science of Instinct" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34332 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/47_sm1611_braingutconnect.jpg" style="width: 75%;" />

“<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/what-you-need-to-know-about-emotional-intelligence">Your feelings aren’t random</a>,” Pfau says. “They’re based on something that’s observable and measurable, but you can’t take reliable action until you start identifying what that is.” You might ultimately come to realize your reaction is actually rooted in something not entirely rational. Perhaps Joe is setting off alarms because something about him reminds you of Warren, the kid who bullied you in junior high school. Once you’ve made that connection, Pfau says, you can eliminate the discomfort from your assessment.

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">Decision-Making in the Real World</h2>

Larry Gadea is the founder and CEO of <a href="https://envoy.com/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Envoy</a>, a San Francisco-based company that helps businesses replace paper sign-in books with iPad-based visitor registration. “The tough part about being a CEO is the constant need to make decisions, oftentimes without the research and context that you need to take a proper, informed approach,” Gadea says. It’s taken him awhile to get used to that. Gadea is a data guy. He spent four years as a systems engineer at Google, where he says, “Everything was measurable. If the server took another 15 milliseconds processing a request, it could mean a loss of $50 million over the year.” Being an engineer, he says, “was all about making the perfect decision, not the good-enough decision.”

A few years ago, when Envoy was raising money, the company was in the fortunate position of having several interested investors. “They were all top tier, awesome, super-smart people who knew what’s up,” Gadea says. As always, he had done his homework, but the copious research he’d gathered on each investor wasn’t helping him move past indecision. So Gadea let his gut make the final call. “I asked myself, If I&nbsp;ever had to tell somebody bad news, who would help me?” he says. His intuition pointed to a clear winner: Chris Dixon, a general partner in Andreessen Horowitz, a Menlo Park, California-venture capital firm. Dixon had, aptly enough, once launched a company called Hunch that was sold to eBay. “I really like Chris; we have a lot in common and we get along really well, so it turned out to be a great decision,” Gadea says, “If I had overanalyzed it, who knows what micro-optimization I might have gone with that would make things much less enjoyable.”

<img alt="Go With Your Gut: The Science of Instinct" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34333 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/48_sm1611_bestpractices.jpg" style="width: 75%;" />

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/stop-overthinking-it-9-ways-to-make-decisions-with-confidence">Stop Overthinking It: 9 Ways to Make Decisions With Confidence </a>

Despite his training as an engineer, Gadea was still connected to his “feeling” brain. For some people who are by nature deeply analytical, that can be a challenge. “Everyone has a preferred approach to decision-making based on personality type,” says Spetzler. “It’s important not to let our preference-based habits get in the way of <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-be-a-better-thinker-innovator-and-problem-solver">solving the problem that needs to be solved</a>.” Spetzler says his firm is hired to help clients make big strategy choices, such as whether they should spend $5 billion on an underwater deep-seas project amid geological, geopolitical and economic uncertainty. “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-ways-to-make-sure-you-dont-regret-your-next-decision">If they make the wrong decision</a>, they’ll never recover,” he says. “So people on my staff might spend months doing research and developing a decision tree that has thousands of branches.”

Well trained in System 2 thinking, analytical types can get stymied when it comes to making inconsequential decisions. “It’s always funny to watch some of my people deciding where to go to lunch,” Spetzler says. “<a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/what-i-learned-from-wearing-the-same-outfit-for-2-weeks">They look at too many alternatives.</a> They want to pick the single best place. They’re caught in the extreme opposite of intuitive processes, and it really slows them down. Our culture is a collaborative one, but at some point I have to say, ‘C’mon guys, it’s just lunch. Let’s go.’ ”

If this sounds like you, a couple of approaches can help speed up the less momentous decisions in your life. First ask yourself how much time you’re going to commit to making the decision: 10 minutes to choose where to go for happy hour drinks with colleagues; eight hours over the next week to pick a place for the holiday office party; two Saturday afternoons to research and test mattresses. Still caught up in indecision between an innerspring and memory foam? The gut feeling you have at the deadline can clarify your final pick.

&nbsp;

<h3 class="SUBHEAD rtecenter">“It’s good to have a bright analytical brain, but at the end of the day, the stomach is the smartest organ in the body.”</h3>

&nbsp;

<h2 class="SUBHEAD">Gut Check</h2>

Julie Benezet is a lawyer, entrepreneur, former Amazon executive and now a leadership coach to top executives. “I always tell my clients it’s good to have a bright analytical brain, but at the end of the day, the stomach is the smartest organ in the body. It houses life experiences, values and inconvenient truths,” she says. When you’re wrestling with a decision, the message your gut is sending can get muffled by emotion or urgency. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/6-underlying-benefits-of-asking-questions">Ask yourself these questions</a> so you can make the best use of your gut wisdom:

<ol>
	<li class="BODY">Am I really paying attention to what my gut is telling me about a decision, or am I rushing to judgment to stop feeling anxious?</li>
	<li class="BODY">Am I listening to my gut because I’m feeling lazy about supporting my feelings with facts, or do I really feel I know enough to make a call?</li>
	<li class="BODY">If I sit with this gut feeling for a few minutes and allow my head to kick in, will I allow my gut feeling to change?</li>
	<li class="BODY">Is my gut telling me what I believe to be true based on what I&nbsp;either know or can find out, or am I paying more attention to the truths of others?</li>
	<li class="BODY">Do I know enough about the decision to be able to defend it beyond saying “Trust me,” if challenged by others?</li>
	<li class="BODY">Is the information I am collecting to test my gut reaction causing my gut to become calm or is it giving it a flat or troubled feeling?</li>
</ol>

Finally Klein offers advice that might seem counterintuitive. <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-ways-to-stop-procrastinating-and-get-things-done">When we have two hours to meet a deadline</a> on reaching a decision, most of us will take care of other pressing business, like making essential calls or answering emails that require immediate attention. We want to clear the decks so we can focus single-mindedly on the pending decision, but that doesn’t allow our gut to work on the problem in the background. “You’re not giving yourself any time for incubation,” Klein says. “I’d suggest the reverse order. Immerse yourself in the project, and then take a timeout to deal with something else.” He says your subconscious will be “chewing on your decision” while you’ve shifted your priorities and just might provide the moment of aha clarity you need.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/why-your-instincts-can-help-you-achieve-your-goals">Why Your Instincts Can Help You Achieve Your Goals </a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/by-media/magazines/success-magazine-november-2016-megyn-kelly.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 2016 issue of SUCCESS magazine.</a>

‘It’s good to have a bright analytical brain, but at the end of the day, the stomach is the smartest organ in the body.’

‘It’s good to have a bright analytical brain, but at the end of the day, the stomach is the smartest organ in the body.’ | SUCCESS

Go With Your Gut: The Science of Instinct

Go With Your Gut: The Science of Instinct | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/trustyourgut.jpg

<img alt="How Cousins Maine Lobster Survived the &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__34058 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/corcoran_headshot_1.jpg" style="width: 40%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Shark Tank Appearance: Oct. 19, 2012 
Investor: Barbara Corcoran 
Deal: $55,000 for a 15 percent 
Results: Total sales increased from $150,000 to more than $15 million. 
&nbsp;

The menu is simple at the <a href="https://www.cousinsmainelobster.com/the-cousins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20 Cousins Maine Lobster</a> food trucks in 13 cities across the U.S. Do patrons want their lobster rolls the classic Maine way—chilled with a touch of mayo? Or Connecticut style—served warm with butter and lemon?

For cousins Jim Tselikis and Sabin Lomac, who launched Cousins Maine Lobster in 2012 with a single truck in Los Angeles, growing their business has required <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/john-c-maxwell-a-guide-for-making-tough-decisions">some far tougher decision-making</a>. Take, for starters, the choice of whether to watch their October 2012 appearance on Shark Tank in LA, where their business was based, or in Portland, Maine, where they both grew up and which provided inspiration for their company. In the end they chose Portland, “Where it all began,” says Tselikis. They watched along with 150 friends, family members, lobstermen and other suppliers on a giant screen at the Portland Regency Hotel.

Both Tselikis and Lomac had quit their jobs—Tselikis was selling medical devices while Lomac was in real estate—and Tselikis had relocated from Boston to LA. “This had <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/3-ways-to-discover-your-true-passion">started out as a passion project</a>, something Sabin and I could do together,” Tselikis says. “For a small investment, we had a piece of Maine rolling down the streets of LA. We thought, If it made a little bit of money, that would be great. But once the Shark Tank producers reached out to us about being on the show, we understood this was an opportunity for the business to actually support the two of us.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/how-to-go-from-employee-to-entrepreneur">How to Go From Employee to Entrepreneur</a>

After their episode aired on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning reality show, Tselikis and Lomac were flooded with offers, which they evaluated with the savvy guidance of Barbara Corcoran, their Shark Tank investor. Did they want to open a location in this or that shopping mall? How about in an airport food court? “Barbara pointed out to us that not everything that comes your way is a good thing,” Tselikis says. “And that <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/videos/youtube/when-saying-no-becomes-better-than-always-saying-yes">some of the hardest decisions are deciding not to do something</a>.” Take the offer to bring their tasty crustaceans to the 2013 Grammy Awards. If photos of Taylor Swift or Beyoncé chowing down on a lobster roll went viral, it would be priceless publicity, Tselikis thought.

Corcoran provided a reality check. “We’d have to donate the food, some 500 or 600 servings, which was a lot for a bootstrapped startup,” Tselikis says. “Barbara pointed out, were A-listers really going to show up at an event for hundreds of people? It was more likely they’d head out a back door to a smaller affair. We decided to pass.”

By the beginning of 2014, the cousins had a fleet of four trucks in Southern California. But Corcoran was pressing for a bigger expansion plan. The future of their company, she insisted, was in franchising. “She brought it up at least 10 times over the next year,” Tselikis says. Finally, they saw the wisdom of her advice. “A franchisee is someone who has skin in the game,” Tselikis says, “rather than someone you hire to run a truck in another city and who might wake up hung-over on a Sunday and take shortcuts in cleaning or cooking or operations.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/5-smart-tips-for-the-new-entrepreneur">5 Smart Tips for the New Entrepreneur</a>

Instead of overseeing the franchising on their own, the cousins brought the Franchise Development Group on board. While FDG does the initial vetting of the thousands who express interest in purchasing a franchise, Tselikis and Lomac interview the promising candidates, first by phone or Skype and then through a “Discovery Day,” where the potential franchisees fly to LA and spend time on a truck.

Tselikis says their decisions on who will eventually be given the keys to a truck are a combination of gut feelings and analysis. “Jim and Sabin are <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/9-tips-to-make-smarter-decisions-faster">great at making fast decisions</a>,” Corcoran says. “A lot of important decisions had to be made on the heels of Shark Tank, and they were smart enough to make them quickly.” The cousins ask themselves three questions when they’re sizing up potential lobster peddlers:

1. Are they prepared? “I want to see evidence that they know the market and their competition,” Tselikis says. Bonus points if the would-be franchisees have already scoped out the most lucrative street corners to park their trucks.

2. Are they passionate? “This is a tiring business,” Tselikis says. “It requires the <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/top-of-mind-7-ways-to-boost-self-motivation">energy and motivation</a> to work super-long days. I don’t feel confident that someone is a good fit unless they show a lot of interest in the product and want to know everything about it.”

3. Do they have sales skills? “Running a successful food truck requires strong sales and <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/boost-your-networking-skills-with-these-7-tips">networking skills</a>,” Tselikis says. “If there’s a big music festival taking place or a local brewery is hosting a block party, you want your truck there. That means building relationships.” The cousins look for prior sales experience or at the very least an outgoing personality.

Five more trucks will hit the road before the end of 2016, bringing the total fleet to 25. Next up: franchising brick-and-mortar restaurants. The cousins opened a West Hollywood shop in July 2015, giving a place of honor near the entryway to a photo of Corcoran, their mentor.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/podcast/ep-29-the-art-of-mentorship-with-kevin-oleary">The Art of Mentorship With Kevin O’Leary</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the November 2016 issue of <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/catalog/category/view/id/1318" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUCCESS magazine</a>.

Five more trucks will hit the road before the end of 2016, bringing the total fleet to 25.

Five more trucks will hit the road before the end of 2016, bringing the total fleet to 25. | SUCCESS

How Cousins Maine Lobster Survived the ‘Shark Tank’

How Cousins Maine Lobster Survived the ‘Shark Tank’ | SUCCESS

https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/main/articles/cousingmainelobster.jpg

<div class="Basic-Text-Frame" id="_idContainer001">
<img alt="How Bombas Socks Survived The &amp;#039;Shark Tank&amp;#039;" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__33773 img__view_mode__default" src="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/sites/default/files/john_headshot_0.jpg" style="width: 40%; margin: 4px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image" />Shark Tank Appearance: Sept. 26, 2014 
Investor: Daymond John 
Deal: $200,000 for a 17.5 percent stake 
Results: Total sales increased from $450,000 in the company's first nine months to $12 million 
&nbsp;

As you’re reading this, David Heath, co-founder of <a href="https://www.bombas.com/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bombas Socks</a>, is probably checking out tattoo parlors in Manhattan. That’s because in August 2013, when he and Randy Goldberg launched an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund their high-performance athletic socks company, Heath pledged to donate a pair of socks for each pair sold. If they ever gave away a million pairs of socks, he’d tattoo the Bombas logo—a bee in flight—on his body (something he now describes as “a rash promise”). Now Bombas has closed in on that milestone; staying true to his word, Heath has decided the tattoo will go on his right biceps.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/10-steps-to-achieve-any-goal">10 Steps to Achieve Any Goal</a>
</div>

No one will be more surprised to see the tat than Kevin O’Leary, Robert Herjavec, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner, four of the investors on Shark Tank. When Heath and Goldberg appeared on ABC’s Emmy-winning business reality show in September 2014, seeking $200,000 for a 5 percent stake in their company, the quartet turned down the deal with unusual vehemence. O’Leary, for example, dubbed the entrepreneurs “sock cockroaches,” while Cuban exclaimed that “there’s not enough margin” in a $12 pair of socks to sustain a business.

That left Daymond John. With his history as the founder of the trendsetting sportswear company FUBU, John was the investor Heath and Goldberg had hoped to lure. They got him, albeit for more than three times the stake in the company they originally offered.

John has proved well worth it, keeping Heath and Goldberg on a steady course. “One of the first things we got immediately excited about was [going into wholesale],” Heath says. John cautioned them to apply the brakes. “You’re killing it online,” he told them. “You’ve got so much room to grow in that area.”

Likewise, Heath and Goldberg were eager to expand the brand to underwear, undershirts and hats. Again, John cautioned that expansion was premature.

“There might be attractive opportunities that put some immediate cash into the company’s pockets or on the surface,” John says. “But you need to make sure these are in the best interest of the company in the long run. I often tell them stories about some mistakes I made while FUBU was scaling. One of my jobs as an investor and mentor to the Bombas team is to talk about those mistakes, so hopefully they don’t have to learn the lesson the hard way like I did.”

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/10-ways-to-find-your-ideal-mentor">10 Ways to Find Your Ideal Mentor</a>

Heath and Goldberg spent two years developing their sock technology before <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/blog/i-quit-my-high-paying-job-lived-out-of-a-backpack-for-6-months-and-now-i-couldnt-be-happier">they quit their comfortable six-figure jobs</a> (Goldberg with Urban Daddy, a lifestyle media company, in late 2012 and Heath with a private equity firm in early 2013). They continue to make sure they resist what they call “sock complacency.” Instead, Bombas, which takes its name from bombus, Latin for bumblebee, has stayed focused on innovation. In fact, the only thing the co-founders like talking about more than Bombas’s blister tab and honeycomb support system is the good their socks are doing.

Goldberg and Heath met in 2007 when they were working at Urban Daddy. “We had a shared history in startups,” Goldberg says, “and we knew pretty early on that <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/this-is-the-key-to-a-successful-partnership-and-a-successful-life">we wanted to start a business together</a>.” They hadn’t had a particular passion for socks until Heath came across a news release that said socks were the No. 1 most requested clothing item at homeless shelters. “I shared it with Randy,” Heath says. “We couldn’t shake it.”

By early 2011 the two began to think that maybe there was a solution to the sock problem in the buy-one-donate-one model developed by social enterprise businesses such as TOMS and Warby Parker. To test their concept, they bought a bunch of socks and handed them out to homeless people on the streets of their New York neighborhoods. “It really surprised us,” says Heath. “People we knew who we’d regularly give a sandwich, a granola bar or a couple of bucks to got really excited about the socks.”

Today every new employee is given 10 pairs of socks on their first day to pass out to those in need. “It’s a really moving experience, a small moment that connects people to our mission,” Goldberg says. “We all carry socks and try to give away at least a pair every day.”

Early on, Heath remembers walking up Manhattan’s Madison Avenue when he saw a homeless veteran outside a park with a sign that read, “I’ll take anything.” Heath reached into his bag. “I don’t know if this will help,” he said, “but I have a pair of socks.”

The veteran responded like a kid getting a PlayStation on Christmas. “This is exactly what I need,” he said, immediately bending down to take off his combat boots. “He’d wrapped a plastic bag around one foot,” Heath recalls, “and he’d taken the bandana off his head and wrapped that around the other foot. It was an eye-opening experience for me, that <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/rohn-5-ways-to-be-more-grateful-on-the-daily">something we take completely for granted</a>—waking up in the morning and putting on our socks and shoes—could be a luxury for somebody else.”

At least one day a month, Goldberg, Heath and their staff, which has grown to 15, spend a few hours volunteering at a shelter, soup kitchen or with one of their 260 giving partners. Heath says, “It reminds our employees and ourselves that what we do here every day is about more than just building sales and revenues.”

The tattoo will be another reminder.

Related: <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/article/how-to-be-a-better-thinker-innovator-and-problem-solver">How to Be a Better Thinker, Innovator and Problem Solver</a>

&nbsp;

This article originally appeared in the October 2016 issue of <a href="https://store.successcom.wpenginepowered.com/catalog/category/view/id/1318" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUCCESS magazine</a>.

Every new employee is given 10 pairs of socks on their first day to pass out to those in need.

Every new employee is given 10 pairs of socks on their first day to pass out to those in need. | SUCCESS

How Bombas Socks Survived the ‘Shark Tank’

How Bombas Socks Survived the ‘Shark Tank’ | SUCCESS

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