Kevin Harrington - Becoming The Original “Shark” on Shark Tank & Generating More Than $5 billion In Sales Worldwide

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What is going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. On today's episode, we have Kevin Harrington. Kevin Harrington is an original shark on the hit TV show Shark Tank. The creator of the infomercial pioneer of the as Seen on TV brand, and co founding board member of the entrepreneurs organization, Kevin Harrington has pushed past all the questions and excuses to repeatedly enjoy 100x success. His legendary work behind the scenes of business ventures has produced well over $5 billion in global sales, the launch of more than 500 products, and making dozens of millionaires. Twenty of his companies have each topped over $100 million in revenue. That being said, please take a moment to check out Kevin's new book, Mentor to Millions. And that being said, enjoy the show.

All right, what is going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. Today we have the one and only Kevin Harrington on the show. Thanks so much for coming on, Kevin.

Hey, great to be here. Thank you.

So first off, this show is geared towards entrepreneurs and mainly young entrepreneurs. And you being one of the early members of Shark Tank, I've been a viewer of that show for years. How did that opportunity come into your life?

Well, so I think it came about in. I had a meeting at a trade show with a scout that Mark Burnett had sent to. I'm in the electronic retailing business, infomercials, as seen in TV home shopping channels, direct to the consumer sales. Right? And we have an annual conference. There's 5,000 people there. Mark Burnett told somebody, go to that show and get somebody that can be on Shark Tank. Okay, So I didn't know this, but this is what I found out afterwards now. So I get this. This person Comes up to me and talking to me and telling me a little bit about some kind of a new show or something. And so when I first heard Shark Tank, I said, wait a minute, I know Mark Burnett, he does that Survivor show. They put people through crazy things. What is a Shark Tank show going to do?

Right.

It didn't sound like a business show when you think about it. Right. But this is the thing. I had spent 35 years building a track record such that when that person went to that show and said, who should I be talking to inside this arena? She said, man, I don't know, Kevin, your name just keeps coming up all over the place. So I mean, I think I had achieved a level of, I call it, I'd become a key person of influence and in my industry. And this is something that I teach, I teach entrepreneurs how to become a key person of influence so that when that opportunity comes along, when that guy from Shark Tank is looking for a shark, he's going to pick you. And that's, you know, so it was a very nice positioning. And make a long story short, all that did was got me the meeting with Mark Burnett. So hey, you know, I got the call, come meet Mark and Mark and I bang. We hit it off instantly. He was a door to door salesman. I was a door when he was a youngster and I did the same thing. Anyway, the rest is history. I did the pilot. I'm the very first shark that they picked actually. So that's why they called me the original shark.

So yeah, yeah, obviously having the track record of over $5 billion in global sales, over 500 products. It was your track record that gave you the opportunity to be in that position. And going back to what you were talking on, you talk about personal branding and being an individual of influence. What do you recommend young entrepreneurs do to start building influence from a young age in the business world?

Yeah. And by the way, I don't know if you're familiar with this, but 1987 I was the co founder of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization. Why eo. Okay. Did you know that?

Absolutely.

Yeah. And then that became eo. So I've been working with the young entrepreneurs. I mean, I used to be a young entrepreneur, now I'm an old entrepreneur. The oeo, the old entrepreneurs. No, there is no such thing. But EO was for the older entrepreneurs ultimately. But so I mean, look, I believe entrepreneurs should be writing books, creating content, doing amazing partnerships. I mean I was launching a mobile app and I'm like, I don't know anything about Mobile apps, but they got to go on a mobile phone, right? So I went to the CEO of Sprint and I said, you put my app on every phone that you sell, I'll give you a lot of equity, I'll give you a percentage of sales. And he said, let's do it. They put my app on 6 million phones free of charge because they got equity. But I mean, the bottom line is, you know, it can cost you 8 to $10 to get a mobile app download. Some people spend 30 bucks. So 6 million, 6 million of something like that was worth tens of millions of dollars. But that was a pitch I made. It was a 20 minute meeting that got us literally a multi million dollar investment from Sprint. And you know, so these are things a young entrepreneur has no brand, has no leverage. So get the brand, get the leverage, negotiate with deals like, meaning. I live in St. Pete, Florida. I've been here 26 years. I came here 26 years ago and pitched Home Shopping Network to form a new division that was going to be the infomercial division. We're going to call it Home Shopping Network Direct.

We did it.

It did hundreds of millions of dollars. I've been here for 26 years, ever since. But what was I doing? I was leveraging me, the entrepreneur, with Home Shopping Network as a partner, 50, 50 with sprint as a partner, 50, 50. So when you're a young entrepreneur, you need to create amazing partnerships. You need to write books, you need to create content, you need to surround yourself with experts and mentors. So I'm not too ashamed to say, hey, I went down to Necker island, hung out with Richard Branson because I wanted him to mentor me. And I made a nice donation to his charity. So, you know, I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do. And I believe that. I mean, one of the things that was powerful about the Mark Burnett situation, I had just written a book and I was out on hundreds of radio talk shows and newspapers and trade journals. And so that had brought, even though I was 30 some years in the industry, that had brought a recent heightened awareness of me to the industry. And that's what I capitalized on when they were looking for a shark.

I love that when it comes to people pitching you, right. That's obviously what the show is based on. People would walk in the room and pitch you. What advice do you give to entrepreneurs that are pitching their business idea, looking to raise capital, and what do you think they do wrong?

Yeah, great question. Many people, so I'll give you the standard deal. They come out on or they walk out on Shark Tank. I want a million dollars for 10% of my company. Okay? So like, wait a minute, you must be doing amazing sales cause you've got like a $10 million valuation, right? So why is your company worth 10 million? Oh, well, we're just getting started. We have no sales. So I mean, valuations are important. I mean, if you're, especially if you're pitching for money, I mean, you won't get anywhere near pitching me if your numbers don't make any sense. The other day a guy said, I got a startup, it's worth $100 million and I'll give you 10% for 10 million. I'm like, dude, it's a startup. There's nothing here, right? So anyway, I think the bottom line is that's the first mistake. Valuation. Secondly, most people pitching are focused on one thing, themselves, okay? Their pitch, their money that they need their business. Me, me, me, me, me. Selfish. Okay? Now when I pitch, I understand this guy's got many other places, you know, because I invest money, but I raise money for my deals. I mean, I, a guy came to me for 20 million. I put the first quarter million in. I went out and raised him 19.75 million. We got $20 million from 80 some investors. And when I talk to the investor, I'm like, look, I respect your time. Your time is valuable. And what I try to get to is I spend a few minutes talking. I just don't rush right in. Give me a million for 10%. I want to know what they've invested in that's worked. And this is not, not a Shark Tank style pitch now, right? So, but I get, I want to know what's worked, what they like. And at the end of the day, this is the most important thing. And where people are falling short, they, they forget. The sharks have many other places to write checks to. They've got hundreds. I mean, I get 150 pitches a week right now. Still, I've taken over 50,000 pitches. There's no shortage of pitches. There's shortage of good pitches and deals that make sense, but deals that make sense for me as an investor. Because this is the challenge. People forget about the investor. Not only he's making the investment, but he wants to know, when does he get his money back with a big return. Because one day a guy said, hey, look, I need 100 grand and I'll pay you 5% interest. Like, look, I'm not a bank, okay? If I'm going to take the risk of 100 grand. I don't want $105,000 back, my 5% interest. I want a million dollars back because I'm taking risk. Maybe it's not a million, maybe it's 500,000 or maybe it's 200,000. But I'm not a bank that wants to just earn. I can't make money earning interest on my money if I'm taking risk. Okay? So one tip I have, I say people forget about that. You're the investor and you need to get a return on your money. So I structured something that I called an accelerated payback. And this is something I created all unto myself when people would ask me, I'm going on Shark Tank. Do you have any tips? Yes. Focus on the investor, getting him to write that check, because he can write many more checks. And focus on. On an awesome offer that gives him possibly an accelerated payback. So let's say he's putting up 100 grand for 10% of your company. Give them all the profits until he gets his hundred grand back, or give him 50% of the profits until he gets his money back. Because the investor. I've got dozens and dozens and dozens, maybe hundreds of deals. I could show you where I owned a minority stake in the company and I never got a dime back because they. They bonus themselves, they salaried themselves, all kinds of stuff. I didn't get paid, they did. So show me an accelerated payback where I'm going to get my money back quickly and still own equity. That's a good opportunity.

I love that. I'd love for you to touch on. I recently had the founder of Republic on the podcast, Kendrick, and I know, I saw you talking about Republic Equity crowdfunding, you know, different ways to raise money for a deal. What's your thoughts on these new platforms that have been coming out like Republic, that offer different opportunities for entrepreneurs to raise capital?

I think it's amazing. When I was a kid, I couldn't raise capital. You went to your. I had no money when I started and I started doing businesses. And then when I got some businesses, I started saving money. But you go to your family, you go to your relatives, you go, you. You know, banks wouldn't lend money unless you had assets. So, I mean, there was no Kickstarter or Republic. I mean, I'm watching companies grow with big financing. I mean, Republic has done 175 + big, nice, successful deals. So I love it. I've seen amazing success on some of the other platforms also. But I happen to like Republic because it's equity crowdfunding. I don't like to go to Kickstarter and put up money and help them go build their business, but all I get is a product. I want equity, right? I mean, I'm a shark, okay? So, like, I'm a nice shark sometimes, but I still, I have, you know, got to get paid for my time and the value of my money. So, you know, at the end of the day, though, it's Republic. It's amazing what they're doing. And there's several others that are looking pretty good, too. So, yeah, I think it's, you know, I use investment bankers. I use investment big investment companies as well as crowdfunding my own assets. We pool money together and we raise money. We do like, we do little road shows where we raise capital. Also love that.

I'd love for you to touch on the value of mentors in your life. I know your book mentor to Millions. You know, you've had very successful mentors that have played key roles throughout your career. What has been the value of mentorship in your life?

Well, and hey, thanks for mentioning my book. It mentored millions. Here it is. Myself and Mark Timm. We'll talk about in just a second, too. But my first mentor was my father. It was amazing that when I was 11 years old, I was working in his bars and restaurants and. And he would show me the inner workings. He would show me at the end of the day how he wrapped up the finance statements and whether he was up or down that week and things like that. But also I was working with the suppliers coming in and out, and really I learned the business side of owning that business. And so that was my first mentor, my dad, which was close to home and easy for me. But as I grew, I got finance mentors. Hey, I went down, hung with Richard Branson in Necker island, and he mentored me. And you know what Richard said? He said, you built an amazing business. You built amazing brands that as seen on TV stuff, is huge. You know, Jack lalanne, George Foreman, Tony Little. But what about you? And I said, what do you mean? He said, you never built your brand. Okay. So I'm like, hey, you're right. And that's when I started with this whole thing of becoming a key person of influence, writing books, creating content. So, I mean, Richard Branson's one smart guy. But I also, I had Zig Ziglar as a mentor also and involved with the family now and things like that. But I have finance mentor, legal mentor, and personal investing mentors for my Personal wealth and things like that, as well as digital marketing people. Because I grew up in the old age of television, I didn't know anything about the Internet until the last couple of years. But we now have really top notch people in this regard. So you need good mentors in your life and that's what mentor to millions is all about. We teach you how to get mentors, how to get the best mentor, how to be the best student for your mentor. So you get amazing benefits. Absolutely. Good stuff.

Love that. A couple more questions before we wrap up here, and one of them being just looking back through your journey, especially nowadays, how have you adapted during these last seven months in 2020 with COVID 19 and the economy? It's one of those things that me being 20 years old, looking at the landscape of the economy, this wasn't something that I've experienced before in my past. Right. So I want to ask you, what have you done this year differently from a business perspective and how have you taken into opportunities throughout this process?

Yeah, I did a bunch of things. First of all, I looked at every kind of check I was writing to anybody and wanted to see how necessary it was and could that be negotiated. So I mean from insurance to bank lines, to mortgages, second mortgages and relationships, you know, everything across the board. I looked at, you know, some people and I tend to do this because I order a lot of stuff all over the place. I had 37 auto payment things that were hitting on a regular basis every month. And so we canceled all kinds of stuff. I said I need to go back to the basics, focus on what I know best, which is products. And on that line hit, you know, so I said to myself, okay, you know, up to Covid, everything was great. Now there's got to be products that are going to be good because of COVID Right. And obviously the whole world of PPE came about sanitizers, mask. That's easy to think about. But what about I've been, in the years that I've been doing this, I've got home products, I've got hardware products, I've got the kitchen products and the fitness product. This is all stuff. People weren't able to go to gyms, people weren't going out to eat, they were cooking at home, fixing up their house. I went back the kitchen products, hardware products. We brought back something called the magic saw, the magic wrench, the magic hammer, and all kinds of things that were more geared towards today's person. Fitness stuff, Tony little stuff is starting back up again. So the Bottom line is, you know, when the market shifts, you need to shift. When Covid hit, I had the same situation. 1990, when the Gulf war hit. I had offices across Europe 30 years ago and boom, our business was down by 90% in literally a handful of days. And so we had to move fast. We did a lot of the things I just mentioned. We did them all again here with COVID We came right back up. And also, viewership was higher during COVID because people were at home and they were on their computers and watching tv. So rates were dropping because advertisers were leaving. So I had a very nice situation. Rates were dropping, viewership was increasing. I could get time cheaper to see more people with products that were geared to them. And our business is up almost 200% during the seven months of COVID versus the prior time.

Love that. Well, last question before we wrap up, Kevin. That is, if you were to give one piece of advice to young entrepreneurs today starting a business, what would that advice be and why?

Okay, one piece of advice would be, and again, this, it's in my book. It's called create a dream team of mentors around you. Okay, so this is what I say. Kevinmentor.com and by the way, I'm doing a 30 day. Anyone that just orders a copy of the book and it's coming out in a couple of weeks, they get 30 days of free mentorship by Mark, Tim and myself. And it's because we wanted to incentivize people to have a copy of this book. But the bottom line is this is that I say, when I was a young entrepreneur, I tried to do it all myself. I was a one man egotistical show and I was having problems. I couldn't raise capital, I couldn't do this. I was good at marketing, not operations. So nowadays I focus on getting the right people. I've got mentors in all parts of my life, coaches, mentors, you can call them whatever you want. But this is the mentor to million book which teaches you how to go do that, how to get the best mentors, how to be the best student, et cetera, et cetera. So it create last term, I'll use your own dream team of mentors, but I didn't say it already. So that's it. That's my final words of wisdom and hopefully we can share this with a few of your followers today.

Absolutely. And where is the best place for everyone listening today to get that book and follow your journey? Kevin.

Kevin. Mentor.com that's it. Kevinmentor.com. and I recommend people buy three books. One for themselves, one for their mentor, and one for somebody that they would like to mentor tour.

Love that. Thanks so much.

All right, man. Hey, it's great catching up with you. I'm glad we had a chance. Hey, at your age, you got a lot of great, great things in the future. So look forward to hanging out with you whenever we're allowed to start hanging out again.

Totally.

Thanks, buddy.

This is great. Foreign.

Legacy of Monsters An Apple original series. The world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place, it's not ours. Believe me, the most massive, massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise. Monarch Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV.

Plus.