Use What You've Got, and Other Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom [Hardcover]

Barbara Corcoran (Author), Bruce Littlefield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2003

As one of ten kids in a blue-collar family in Edgewater, New Jersey, Barbara Corcoran didn't have many material advantages. She shared her bedroom with five sisters and shared her socks in a communal sock drawer. Yet she grew up to have plenty of self-confidence, because her mother had an amazing gift for nurturing the unique talents in each of her children. Barbara's mom didn't know much about business, but she understood how the world works, and how to make the most of what you've got.

In the early 1970s, Barbara borrowed $1000 from her boyfriend to get her start in real estate. That led to the birth of The Corcoran Group, which today is New York's premier residential real estate brokerage, with over $1 billion in annual revenue. Her amazing rise to the top has become the stuff of legend and inspiration.

Barbara -- now nicknamed the Queen of New York Real Estate -- credits her success to not just to hard work and determination, but to her mom's enormously valuable advice. Not just the standard maternal wisdom, but real gems such as, "If the clubhouse is quiet, they're probably not making spaghetti."

In Use What You've Got, Corcoran illustrates her mother's wisdom and insight with twenty-five "how tos" for getting ahead in business. Each lesson is brought to life with real business scenarios, an outrageous childhood adventure story, and tips garnered from Corcoran's years in the most competitive real estate market in the world.

Her mother's winning advice includes:

¥ "There's always room for one more."
¥ "It's your game, make up your own rules."
¥ "You've got to bully a bully."

With a tell-it-like-it-is attitude, Corcoran offers her keys to success -- from dressing the part and overcoming obstacles to the nuts and bolts of hiring, firing, motivating, marketing, and much, much more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A well-known figure in the world of New York real estate as founder of the Corcoran Group, Corcoran has fashioned a funny handbook for professional sales savvy-targeted at women-that works. Equal parts business primer, Oprah-spirited coming-of-age memoir and sneaky PR brochure for herself, the book, which proceeds chronologically along the life of Corcoran's real estate agency, from its birth to its sale, is organized around 25 life lessons (e.g., "If you don't have big breasts, put ribbons on your pigtails"; "You've got to bully a bully"; "Never be ashamed of who you are"). She explains these snappily worded lessons by drawing on various crises from her company's history and bits from her childhood. Corcoran grew up with her parents and nine brothers and sisters on one floor of a house in Edgewater, N.J., and had a vision all along ("When I started my business," she writes, "I saw myself as the `Queen of New York Real Estate' "). She opened the first Corcoran Group office in 1978, and ever since then has perfected the art of marketing herself, hiring the right people and motivating her staff; the organization now brings in over $2 billion in annual revenue. With the noticeably skilled help of career technical writer Littlefield, Corcoran has produced a likable and worthwhile book, an honorable contribution with heart.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Barbara Corcoran is a self-made business baroness. Founder of the Corcoran Group, New York's premier real estate company, Corcoran is one of the most powerful brokers in the nation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 261 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; First Edition edition (February 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591840023
• ISBN-13: 978-1591840022
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #528,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Use What You've Got, July 8, 2003

By 

"mimibee1" (Stone Ridge, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use What You've Got, and Other Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom (Hardcover)

If I was promoting this book, I would promote it around the idea that a young girl -- very much like any other young girl (although with life experiences that can only come from being in a big family) -- grows up and goes to the Big City and achieves a kind of greatness!

(And) Like many other women, during the course of the 30-year process of her business evolution she had little (yet hugely profound) realizations of her mother's wisdom.

It's inspiring! The book claims a positive history for women -- something our bookshelves lack! I'd like to read it to my children because it has lessons that are important to life -- things I would like to teach them! For instance, I love the chapter, "Offer The Bigger Piece And Yours Will Taste Better."

The stories remind me of my childhood, my parents and family -- though we only had 3 kids and a dog! As an adult woman with a business degree, and plenty of business experience, I enjoyed the business insight!

Bruce Littlefield did a stellar job of writing. A sense of humor (yet a firm intent) shows through in the writing style. When I read it, I looked forward to reading one chapter or "lesson" per day.

I cannot recommend it enough!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Common sense + chutzpah = success, January 21, 2005

By 

Diane K. Danielson "Principal Consultant, DKD... (Cohasset, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use What You've Got, and Other Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom (Hardcover)

If you're a fan of the novel Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford, this is the business book for you. Barbara Corcoran's rags to riches story of how she went from diner waitress to the Queen of Manhattan Real Estate reads more like a novel than a business book. And it goes to show - sometimes the best advice is plain old common sense. (But having a good sense of humor and a lot of "chutzpah" certainly doesn't hurt either!)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book every real estae professonal should read!, October 8, 2003

By 

Dawn Fournier (Baton Rouge, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use What You've Got, and Other Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom (Hardcover)

I loved this book! Barbara's real estate lessons are entertaining and fun. Regardless of where you sell real estate the rules and the lessons are the same. I'll recommnend it to every new agent that comes to our firm.