20 Lessons from My Interview with ‘The Sharks’, Daymond John & Robert Herjavec

At Sage Summit 2016, I had the incredible opportunity to interview Robert Herjavec and Daymond John from ABC’s hit show Shark Tank on the keynote stage and the ‘ah-ha’ moments were non-stop for the 45 minutes we spent together. If you missed the interview (or any of the other keynotes), you can stream them on demand here, but I wanted to share 20 impactful lessons that stood out from my time with Robert and Daymond.

From Robert Herjavec… 

1. Purpose comes from two ways: You are incredibly driven and you just know it or from pain.
2. When the pain of your current situation becomes unbearable, you’ll change.
3. If you’re going to do everything in your business, you’re always going to stay small. The only way to grow is with a great team.
4. A great team is made up of people not that you necessarily like, but that compliment your skills and respect each other.
5. You can’t compete on a world-class scale by being ‘okay’. You’ve got to be great – the world doesn’t reward mediocrity.
6. Always look for culture first.
7. If you want it bad enough, you’ll learn the skills. If you don’t, you’ll make excuses.
8. Become the person others want to get to know one day.
9. Great entrepreneurs always find a way. Money is never the stumbling block to success. The stumbling blocks are actually lack of creativity, lack of will, lack of effort and lack of sales.
10. Be great! You have one life, one chance. Make the most of it. Don’t just dream – execute!

From Daymond John…

1. Daymond’s mother taught him that no one was going to solve his problems for him, he needed to take ownership. Responsibility can’t be given, it must be taken.
2. In your business, always own the understanding of the market and marketing.
3. Failure is part of the process. You’ll fail more than you succeed.
4. Put smart business-minded people in positions that they haven’t been in and they will almost always come up with new ideas and fresh perspective.
5. You have to sell based on what’s in it for the person you’re selling to, not what’s in it for you.
6. ‘OPM’ doesn’t just stand for ‘other people’s money’. The M also represents manufacturing, mind power, marketing, mentors and manpower.
7. Great entrepreneurs take affordable steps.
8. Make a list of things you love doing and things you don’t. Then, outsource everything you don’t love doing and it will change your life.
9. Determine what you have that you can tap in to that you’ve taken for granted. For example, relationship capital.
10. You can never afford to love any of your assets. It’s the small things that end up eating a business.

If these 20 business tips resonate, you’ll want to pick up their best-selling books which are packed with great business advice:

• You Don’t Have to Be a Shark: Creating Your Own Success by Robert Herjavec

• The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage by Daymond John

Sage Summit was a week of non-stop learning and ‘ah-ha’ moments. The key is to not just soak it all in, but to make an action plan for how you’re going to apply what you learned to become better and take your business to the next level. Check out another blog post of mine to help you do just that: Turning Insights in to Action – 6 Steps to Building Your Post Sage Summit Action Plan. See you at Sage Summit 2017 for another incredible event!