Use What You've Got, and Other Business Lessons I ... (ISBN 1591840023)

great advice for all:
I really enjoyed this book.Practical, upbeat,encouraging. While I am in the healthcare field I learned many things that I was able put into practice in my own business. I really learned a lot and highly recommend this book. Susanna Thomas

Wake Up:
I almost feel like my review should be first. I have squandered a small fortune on self improvement books. This book enabled me to commit. And if you haven't committed then you are waiting.

I'd give it ten stars if they would let me!:
This book was such a good read, and so full of basic common sense and encouragement that you (women is particular) can do anything you set your mind to. I highly, highly recommend it.

lasting lessons!:
I read this book off and on for two days because I couldn't put it down! This book really surprised me in that it is packed with good advice and stories that will make you laugh and astonish you. I liked how her family was presented, it made me wish I had grown up with them! I loved how the stories from her childhood were directly related to how she operated her business. This is one great book! Anyone in business for themselves should read it. This book is interesting, funny, exciting and fun to read. You really do get hooked into and can't put it down! This has got to be THE best business book I've ever read! I thought the Bonus Manual was a great way to end the book!

Not a Good Investment:
Barbara Corcoran knows how to sell but her mother was an inadequate financial educator. According to an online blog: "The lessons themselves are interesting and useful, but Corcoran, who boasts straight D's in high school and college demonstrated that there were some important economics lessons that were missing or forgotten. The other morning on the Today Show, she gave her take on the current crisis of foreclosures: the big financial institutions lured poor suckers to buy homes they couldn't afford in order to make a buck, and the government wasn't doing enough to help these poor people. Some of you might recall that real estate brokers were involved somewhere in the this process...hmm, what was that? Oh, yea brokering the transactions. Hey, Corcoran is a broker! Apparently, one of the lessons her mom taught her was, "always cast blame in every direction but yours." Corcoran established her credibility on economics, as it were, beginning in November 2005, when she was pooh-poohing economists who were warning about the unsustainability of the housing boom: It's funny what's happening right now - there's so much uncertainty in the market, and everybody's been spooked by all the media coverage that's out there that it really is a great time to buy. It's a great opportunity right now, and I don't think it's going to last very long...This 'bubble babble' is baloney, and it's scaring people away and making buyers "think about it", and while they're "thinking about it", the house prices are going to go up, and I truly believe that. By next Fall, Corcoran was singing a different tune...about why people should be buying: If you look at the actual sale prices, the deals that are happening now, prices have already come down, and they've come down by a lot. Another lesson she learned was, "It's OK to mislead your customers in order to make a sale." end of quote The net of this is that Ms. Corcoran thinks that taxpayers (she doesn't seem to understand that our taxes fund the government) and retirees (she doesn't seem to understand that most retirees are invested in these financial instutitions) should pick up the costs of her firm's pushing people into homes they couldn't afford. This is a reasonable book about selling and has cute stories. However, I would not recommend this book or Ms Corcoran for advice. Personally I'm in the market for one of those NYC multi-million dollar apartments and after the Today Show, I won't be turning to Ms Corcoran. The only thing that would change my mind is if she begins to take responsibility for her role in the real estate crisis, and takes a basic supply and demand econ class (and earns at least a C).