A 75 Year Old Self-Made Millionaire Shares Her Best Life Advice

what is a failure that you've experienced that defined your life at the time I met my boyfriend at a diner and he gave me $1,000 to start my business so he became my business

partner and then he married my secretary 7 years later and I was out she was in she was younger and preter than me always my whole life my forte was I just go for it but now I slow down and go

wait can I really handle that you've been married for quite a bit that's doesn't mean this real love really a few weeks ago I interviewed 75-year-old Barbara corkran who for a ton of reasons

has figured life out but surprisingly is also still trying to navigate it aging sucks don't let anybody tell you differently you probably know Barbara from Shark Tank she's made billions of dollars in her life she has judged

thousands of entrepreneurs and business people today with questions unlike any interview that she has done I am sharing the extended conversation of Barbara's greatest life lessons and experiences

that I guarantee will change the way you think about life hallah that's how I start all my warm up 75 what does it feel like to be 75 aging

sucks don't let anybody tell you differently however you put a pair of skis on my feet and I'll beat any guy down the RO so that compensates right yeah would you say you feel your age

feel younger older it depends what day you're asking some days I feel 100 most days I feel 50 there abouts what have you done in your life to get to be 75

and feel the way you feel I've made made some important choices actually I've had three faceless a lot of people won do it I've had three times makes me feel younger because I look younger and what

else have I done I think I surround myself with young people I have a younger staff I have a younger family I have everything younger but my husband and I want a younger man by the way I'm

looking at you what about your husband oh he'll be okay he's a good he's a good egg yeah a lot of people when they speak to you they always talk to you about your

successes and everything that you've achieved but I want to flip that on you to start and ask you what is a failure that you've experienced that def find your life at the time one I can only

pick one cuz there been a series of many many many I met my boyfriend at a diner and he gave me the $1,000 to start my business so he became my business partner and then he married my secretary

7 years later and I was out she was in she was younger Prett than me and it was a really hard hit I recovered but it was so easy mhm what was the lesson that you learn from that if you're looking back

on the situation that you'll always see upside looking back and you can't see it at the moment I mean if he hadn't met her I wouldn't have started the corkran group I wouldn't have had the success I have so thank God that all happened I

wish somebody was there to tell me at the time yeah I learned that bad stuff happens that break your heart uh but you could get up and get going again and that's exactly what I did and there's

always a plus to any bad side of a coin you know you flip it over and you see something right I think everything that's happened to me in my business career certainly was a result of belly flops that I turned over and saw the

bright side yeah let's think about the person who's let's say around my age I'm 25 you look older do I yeah you do you look 31 yeah most people say that is it

the beard or no no take your beard off you look about 35 Just J I'm I'm not say I'm you asked me how old I was and that's not a nice thing to do at my age so I'm asking you

back that's true that's fair a lot of people who are around my age older younger are very lost in life looking for answers they feel anxious if someone is starting their working life how do

you recommend that they navigate it and what's the relationship that we should have with money I think you've got a question yourself on something like that a lot of it's forced on you because of peer pressure what you see around you I

think you got to really sit down quietly and ask yourself what's important to you and money is not important to most people they think it is but if you really ask yourself what are the values or what do you really want to be doing

for a living or what do you really like to do or who do you want to be when you grow up you get away from such a narrow definition of is I want to make more money easy for me to say because I have

it but believe me when I didn't have it CU I had 23 jobs before I found real estate so I was poor for a long time and let me tell you something I was as happy then as I was once I had my own business

and I keep reminding myself of that the money doesn't really make a big difference M yeah cuz I know already a com M that I've received before interviewing people of similar success to you that they say well easy to say

she has money so easy for her to talk about it that way yeah it is though it's like cheating on the answer yeah yeah a lot of the people I've spoken to will say at the point they're at in life like

they've made their money they've gotone their success they never talk about how important money was or is at this stage in life at this stage well because they've had everything they want but do

they talk about how rough money is at times because it is a complic at it complicates life not that I would ever give it back I think it's still very nice to have it because you get to do whatever you want you get Freedom as a

result of being rich yeah but it complicates relationships and makes life a little more rough to come out as a good person I think I I hope I'm not

stereotyping but generally a lot of people I know that have come into a lot of money made a lot of money really made a mess of their life so I think in a way life is more simple and more attainable

to be happy if you don't don't overlay it with a lot of money one of my favorite lessons in life it's a stoic quote and it reads

easy life hard choices hard life easy choices it's true what is an easy choice that you made at some point in your life that Prov to make your life very hard

one of the choices I made was when I was young in my business I thought I had to be fancy so I started getting fancy which was a real mistake I had my hair done every week I only wash on Sundays cuz I had that big poof hair then I had

to be who was out there in my Marketplace but the minute I became genuine I became myself again cuz I got tired of getting my hair done people like me because I think I think I

learned once and for all that I had to be genuine cuz people will accept you with all your faults if you're the real deal do you notice that a lot in life a lack of authenticity well I live in New York City what do you think of course I

do you know there's a there's so much Flash in New York and so much wealth it's hard to keep focused on what's really important at times I think and for you what is that what is important

the only things that are important my kids my husband on a good day yeah um and and really valuing the time with people you love and giving it the time

that needs to be really a wonderful part of life a lot of people make easy choices in life like when I I used to work at a bank um I quit my job but everyone else that I knew who hated

their job they said yes and they stuck with it those hard choices I made ended on making my life what I would say is easier now I'm doing what I love and I'm very happy about it why do people make

easy choices because it's easier you know basically it's no choice easy choices are usually no choice the worst choice of all but when you make a choice to change your life there's a lot of effort involved you've got to change a

lot of stuff you've got to get people on your side you've got to do some explaining to people you're close to or you're supporting I think a tough choice is hard it's hard to make a turn so it's

much easier to just ride ride just ride most people do it's almost the end of the year and if you're someone in a situation like this and you want to be able to do things like this this and

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one so don't let another year slip by click the link below to learn more about the journal and start upgrading your life just like Barbara and many other people have manage to do what were some

sacrifices you made going through your whole journey oh there were a lot when I was a young 20s something year old I worked 18 hour days my whole 20s so I didn't go out with my friends I always

stayed focused on work you give up a lot but boy by the time I was 30 they were giving up a lot all the time and I was sailing and I I saw that dream i s I knew that it would happen that way so

you didn't mind giving up those choices yeah or I didn't mind so in hindsight you don't regret that I don't have any regrets I'm good at moving on that's my forte I'm good at moving on I don't look

back I mean it's such such a waste of time you can't change anything so I just look forward why do you not have regrets like what's your process of not I mean I wouldn't have regrets for two reasons actually one thinking it through and

spending any time on is a waste of time you can't change anything and secondly when you dwell in a regret you're apt to become a victim and that's very dangerous people who are victims are never happy because they feel like oh

something got in the way they meant to change and they couldn't have a fair shot whatever their reasons are and they blame other people and those people those victims which is a lot of people out there from what I could see I'm

never really happy because I've never taken really accountability for themselves and taking the responsibility of being responsible for your own life you can change what you want or not change it but don't blame the next guy

yeah I I think it's it lends itself to victimhood and I think I'm afraid of that I don't want to be that person why do we do that though I mean people it's easier yeah it's easier to be a victim because you don't have to be

responsibility like I could have been a millionaire if only my was rich well esar Cuban Dad wasn't rich but you could find many exceptions to every one of

those truisms or excuses that people have it's just un true over 15 seasons of Shark Tank I've watched obviously a lot of a lot of episodes but you have seen so many different people come to

you business like a business proposal but also it's a people proposal if you're analyzing all of those different proposals you've seene what characteristics make somebody or

something attractive to you a good ENT entrepreneur you mean yeah a good entrepreneur is like a Jack In The Box that's what I'm always looking for I'm looking for someone I think could be

smashed on the head over and over and they still pop back up because every investment that I've made they didn't have the ability to get back up boy they never made it so I really think

resilience is the number one trait in probably 90% of it they don't even have to be smart some of my biggest successes are not very smart but you know they if they were smart they'd lay alone wait

till the show the trouble's over but they're right back up give me more give me more you know yeah so really I have my big biggest successes with people who are more of the second type if I'm I'm

trying to analyze somebody in life and I'm trying to figure out is this person worth my time is this person worth investing in regardless of whether that's an entrepreneur or not yeah you mean whether you want to spend time with them or not yeah we could boil it down

to that even you know what I do you have to analyze the person as much as the business too right in the moment yes but it's it's just as important in life how I analyze people in life is I surround

myself with happy people and very often I'm fooled on the front end someone looks happy or there'd be an addition to my life but then I find out they're energy sucker or what have you I think

you could ask yourself how do I feel when they leave the room when they leave the room I get a Happy Puff of air and I think that's a nice person that I want to be back with and when I they leave

the room and I just feel like H I don't not actually see them again I don't know why but get rid of them they're never going to enter your life but on Shark Tank there's a lot of hints that people give you when they're standing in front

of you they make eye contact or they don't they look at you genuinely or they don't they're full of crap or they're not they use big words or they don't and very importantly you ask them about the

background and generally in their background they're either going to a victimhood or steering away from it so you want to get the guy or the gal who really is optimistic and willing to push

forward and and it just isn't going to be held back by anything if I was trying to figure my life out or piece it together think about someone who is dissatisfied with where they are at in

life and they want to take the next step what are three questions I could ask myself that would lead me towards those answers I think the first thing is you have to ask what kind of tape you have

in your head everybody's got a tape and it's usually an old tape that you got as a kid you got to get rid of I had a tape in my head that said you shouldn't be here you won't do it boy whatever a lot

of negative stuff and I changed you to barbar you're effing amazing every time I purposely Kick It In barbar you're effing amazing that puts my head in the right place but if somebody's really

lost I think the best solution for that is find people who are less advantageous than you are or have find someone who less advantages than you have and

dedicate yourself to giving I don't think you could be wrapped up in yourself and feeling sorry for yourself and not getting ahead in life if you're giving I think if you give like like they say it's a cliche of course but you

get but it's really true I have seen so many people turn themselves around by getting not focused on them but getting focused on the next guy people are self- involved and it give me a very negative

spiral 1988 you've been married since then correct how do you know that I don't know when I've married I have to ask my husband he knows the date the time he was one of those a good man but he

doesn't remember my anniversary which really bugs me really really honestly do you when is it when is it I don't know

oh oh no February 14th a lot of people cannot find real love in today's day and age you've been married for quite a bit that doesn't mean it's real

love really don't be so quick to judge okay yeah tell me I'm not saying it's not because I love my husband Bill very much M but marriage for me is more

challenging than building a business any day of the week I think it takes great tolerance it gets boring marriage gets boring I've heard that before even I'm

boring to myself I've said it before yeah um no marriage is not the most exciting thing marriage is really like a relationship of support when you need it that's how I see it and he's a good guy

will always be there and I'll I'm a good gal and I'll always be there for him but no no it's you don't you don't have this true love thing exactly right can you

define the word love in your opinion staying loyal staying loyal to your children your husband and your family your friends uh when you're thinking poorly of them just stick it out shut

your mouth and stay loyal and listen to them no I think that's important you're painting it in a with one angle but I'm assuming there's also good parts to it do I sound that negative that I didn't have a good side I just want to give you

I you're not signing up for a marriage listening to me right I'm I'm still going to go for it yeah you really think about it it's for life you know but what is the upside you can take it for GR

granted that you have someone in your corner you can take it for granted that you have someone who would make a good father and always be there for your kids and those are the substantial blocks in

life that you really want to take for granted without thinking about every day how's it going yeah yeah I have a question here in my journal and the question is in your life when did you

feel the most proud about yourself and what were you doing at that time for me I was most proud of myself when I maybe this sounds tra and goes back to your money question earlier but when I bought

my mother and father a new car I was 32 they had never had a new car cuz we had 10 kids that had the same old jalape their whole life and they couldn't believe they got a new car I felt Rich

successful satisfied loving all the all the good words came to my head and that was me I walked around I'd say for months proud as could be because of

something like that so again giving you know yeah what did you prove to yourself at that moment at that that moment I proved to myself that I had my priorities straight that I that I did something for my parents that they

couldn't do for themselves trade I guess because it was Cars not you know not something that makes such a big difference in life but it was an extension of love it was a thank you it

was a love letter what is one thing that when you were younger you put a lot of importance on and as you got older you realized wasn't that important oh when I was a little kid I couldn't read a right and so everybody thought I was stupid

which I wasn't I knew inside my head I wasn't stupid but if you label that way you start to believe it in hindsight it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I think I have spent my entire life proving I'm not stupid I

think I work this hard I prepare this hard I push this hard because I'm so afraid that somebody's going to think I'm really stupid I don't think I'm really convinced you know but no that was a tough one but that was only when I

was kidding it gave me so many talents to get through life I got rejection early I kind of got ready for early all I had was An Early Education yeah but tough on a kid really tough on a kid

happy I came through it people looking through life like me I'm 25 and I can only imagine what life are you sure you're 25 I still say 31 35 31 I 31 31

if I shave I'm 35 does life get better as you get older you ask me at a time when I'm questioning that myself does life get better life gets better in

terms of knowing what you want being more satisfied going where you want uh choosing to be people or letting them go if you don't want to be with them I I think you have more power of what you

want out of your normal day but what is hard about life or I'm finding hard is getting older in the physical way I mean I can't stand the fact that I can't run

down the street anymore or I can't lift a heavy weight or something it's not worth it to take up a new sport and hurt my knees so I'm afraid actually you know what that's what it is to have fear for

the first time in my life come in and to have to weigh the pros and cons I was always my whole life my for t is I just go for it but now I slow down and go wait can I really handle that and I hate

that hesitation it's a rough one for me cuz someone goer yeah maybe not tough for everybody but not a fun one yeah not at all if you could go back in time to

your 25 yearold self a boy that would be great I look good then you look great now I didn't even wear makeup then you look great if you could go back to your 25-year-old self knowing what you know

today and give her one piece of advice what would you say to her chill don't be in such a rush I mean I was always in a rush I never hesitated for a second just chill out and smell the roses a little more I don't think I was

smelling the Roses till I was 35 40 probably when I had my first kid at 48 was the first time I really slowed down and realized what I had that appreciation the thankfulness I'm very

thankful now but as a young woman I wasn't thankful I just thought I going to slay the dragon and see how far I could go yeah thank you so much you are welcome I appreciate it