4 Things to Learn from Lori Greiner-Shark Tank

by Christine Masterson Founder of Holiday Manufacturing Inc.

In the past 5 years, the arena and the scenario of business industry has changed rapidly. Not a while ago, The Times and Forbes would do a full page cover story on a wonder kid who would come up with a million dollar company or on startups that shook the Wallstreet. Today, in America every block has got its own entrepreneur. Gone are those days, when a company is represented from its glass doors and big banners. There are way more a resource to enter the business club than ever before, the money is raining. How you can join the club, let’s learn the Shark’s way!

Lori Greiner is an American Television personality who has been an achiever at many fronts. On her Wikipedia page, she has been credited for being a famous TV personality, an Inventor and an Entrepreneur. The queen of QVC since 2000 has done tremendously well on the famous show, “Shark Tanks” where a set of VCs are introduced to startups and entrepreneurs in return of investment and stakes in their company.

2012 was the start of Greiner’s journey on Shark Tank and tables turned in 2014 when her investment in a startup named, “Scrub Daddy” that was supposed to produce a house hold sponge became one of the biggest success in the history of Shark Tank.

She gave a statement to The Entrepreneur that, “Everything is a lesson, you constantly learn, grow and improve with the course of time and attain an undue experience that works in your favor for the rest of your life”. Here are the four things that Lori Greiner has to say to every startup in the world:

Have Patience: Trusting instincts can be the 1st lesson of any business. If you have come so far in your life where you are standing in front of your investors and they are listening to you, it means you are already a no-nonsense personality or else no VC has time for non-sense.
Be Prepared: Believing a gut feeling is important because, that is not you or the statistics that is speaking but it is the personal experience that shouts out in your brain, which we name as the Gut Feeling.

Why Gut Feeling is important? Because, it tells you about your preparedness, and you must stay prepared in such meetings.
Have Enthusiasm: Here are the exact words of Lori, “Enthusiasm and passion are infectious. I’ve seen great pitch people that with sheer passion and enthusiasm convince people to buy or invest in things that they never would have under any other circumstance.”

"I’ve seen the greatest ideas fall completely flat when presented by someone who lacks enthusiasm."
Become Likeable: The matter of fact is a business or a startup funding is not like an underworld deal where you don’t care about with whom you are collaborating but all what matters is whether it is earning profits or not.

When we are talking about getting an investor on board, it means you will be sharing a good part of your life with them, and hence you have to be a person on whom the investor can rely and would love to collaborate for a longer period of term.

Now coming up with a startup in the decoration industry might sound a small venture, but looking at Lori Grainer changes the perspective in a massive way. Holiday Manufacturing, a leading company in the holiday décor industry claimed in an article that Holiday Decoration Business has been garnering a great amount of revenue from the entire major retail channel.

As per their report, the industry’s per capita disposable income has grossed at an annual increment of 2.2% and over all it is expected to reach by a “$25.7 billion industry”. So you need to find an aggregator, an investor and a vendor to start a venture and dive into this multi-billion dollar industry.