Barbara Corcoran's 5 Best Tips for Small Business Owners

There's no "I" in entrepreneur.

Building a small business isn't easy. But it's not impossible, either. 

Barbara Corcoran, known widely as an investor on Shark Tank, knows a lot about building businesses -- both her own, and those she invests in. 

Over the years, she's gained a lot of wisdom on the best ways to take small businesses to the next level. We've poured through her advice to find some of her best tips for small business owners.

1. Tap into the power of publicity

Marketing your business correctly can have a huge impact on your success. To Corcoran, there's a single word that sums up the best way to go about it: expertise.

"Whether your business is dogwalking or making photocopies or making children's buttons for clothing, become the expert. It's the quickest way to get to the top." 

What does that mean? Corcoran says you should figure out a way to position yourself as a subject matter expert for your field, and use that to get free publicity. 

She tells the story of creating the Corcoran Report, a statistical analysis of the Manhattan real estate market that she published twice a year. Thanks to that report, newspapers and other media regularly referenced her (and her business) whenever they needed statistics on the local market.

People want experienced and competent people to handle their business, whatever it is. They're going to want to go to the expert. Become that expert -- and have the media help you spread the word.

2. Embrace your creativity

According to Corcoran, the biggest advantage small businesses have over their behemoth competitors is the ability to be creative and nimble.

In her words, "The big guy may have the corner on money, but the little guy has the corner on creativity. That can be a huge advantage for small-business owners -- as there's always a smarter or more innovative way to do anything, chances are, you can do it sooner than your big competitor."

Keeping that innovation alive is a key part of ensuring your small business stays competitive, even in busy markets. It's so important that Corcoran established a rule for her business that 5% of sales revenue must be dedicated to creating and trying new things. This kept the developments coming.

Whatever your budget allows, make sure you've got some leeway for your team to stay creative.

3. Have a daily to-do list

No matter the size of your business, there is a lot that goes into keeping it running. And if you aren't organized, some of those things can get forgotten. Corcoran keeps on top of it all with a daily to-do list.

"I make my 'To Do' list before I leave the office each evening, always transferring the items that I did not complete that day to the list," she says. "I rate the items in order of importance: A, B, or C. The A's are where the gold is, the things that will move my business to the next level and make money. The B's are second in importance and the C's last."

Having a clear list of tasks, organized by priority, gives you somewhere to start each day and helps ensure you're not wasting time on things that aren't actually helping your business grow.

4. Hire the right people

Corcoran is a big believer in the amazing power of delegation. As she says, "You can take any great entrepreneur, put enough packs on their back, ask them to do an excellent job with each -- and what you'll get is a low-luster entrepreneur that doesn't get anything done well."

She suggests making a list of all of the tasks in your company, right down to the most mundane bit of minutia. Then, circle or star the things you're really good at or you really enjoy.

Everything else? That's what you should look for in your next (or first) hire.

For example, if your strength is you're excellent with clients, you may be better served hiring someone to deal with the paperwork. That way, you can put in those extra hours to pull in more clients. Or perhaps it's the opposite; maybe you really love putting together spreadsheets, but aren't great face-to-face. Find someone who can make up for what you lack.

5. Get out there and make it work

One thing many new small business owners can get caught up in is building a business plan. After all, you can't have a business without a business plan, right?

Wrong. Corcoran believes you really need to dive into building your business first -- the plan will follow.

"The problem with the business plan is, once you get it out to the market you gotta change it because it doesn't work," she says. "The best way to discover your business plan is to discover what your obstacles are, and you can't do that at a distance. You have to be in the street and see what the obstacles are, day to day, and solve them."

In other words, yes, you'll eventually need a business plan. But don't put off starting your business because your business plan isn't perfect. It's going to change and evolve as you get a feel for your business anyway, so it's better to get out there and start building your business; the rest will develop as you go.