In this segment Kevin Harring explains how he discovered a mentor who helped him secure critical financing for his TV‑product business, As Seen on TV Inc. Faced with $40,000 unfilled orders and no assets, he was rejected by five banks. He turned to the professionals he already paid—accountants, lawyers, fulfillment partners—and asked for help. His lawyer introduced him to a retired banker who agreed to mentor him pro‑bono, restructure his contracts and presentation, and obtain a $3 million line of credit. That credit enabled the company to grow from $50 million to $150 million, then to a $10 million line that supported $500 million in sales. Harring emphasizes the importance of asking for help, leveraging existing business relationships, and joining entrepreneur organizations like EO (formerly YEO) that provide structured mentorship networks. The story illustrates a practical, step‑by‑step approach to finding mentors and using them to unlock capital and scale a business.
Bulletproof radio, A state of high performance.
So your book is the manual on how to do this. And I want you to teach listeners. Now, how do you go out and find a mentor?
Okay, great question. So here I was, and I'm gonna go fast forward from my father into I was now in the business of selling products on TV. I owned as seen in TV Inc. As seen on TV.com and we had thousands of products on these websites. And by the way, as seen on TV.com was an amazing business because I didn't have to spend one dime of advertising. And we were doing tens of millions of dollars in sales because it's where everybody went. They googled in into their Google search As Seen on TV and it would end up at our site. So but the problem I first had, and this is going back to the early 80s, even during the Ginzu days, I was getting massive amounts of orders and I was sitting with 40,000 orders that I couldn't fulfill because I didn't have the capital for the inventory. So we cut the deal with discovery. They're running these shows like crazy. Orders are flying in and oh, how am I going to. I got, I call the factory and you know, now Ginsoos came out of Toledo, so we didn't have as much problem there because we could place an order and get a turnaround in about two weeks. But when we were doing these hand hammer Chinese walks out of mainland China, it was cash in advance up front and then you're going to get it 90 days later. So I went to five banks and I showed them my business and I said, I've got a nice business. And this is a new business model, selling products on tv. And make a long story short, there was no assets behind this company. And the banks are like, look, there's nothing that we can really attach. You know, we need assets, right? So I got turned down by five different banks. And then I was very upset because I said if I just had money, this we were doing $50 million a year at this particular time. I said, if I have money, we can take off. And so I reached out and this is step one when you're looking for a mentor. If you're in business, you write checks every week and every month to accountants, to lawyers for me, to phone centers, to fulfillment centers, to media companies, to payment processors. Dozens and dozens of checks and big ones to different people. So, so where do you start? Who you know who's going to benefit if you grow your business? Those people that you write checks to, the accountants the lawyers, they're going to be dealing with a bigger business. More sales, more monthly fees that they can charge ET but they also want to help you. So I say start from within your circle that you're dealing with, but don't be afraid to ask your accountant. Hey, I need some help. Can you help me go raise some money? Oh, hey. Yes. But, hey, as it turned out, my lawyer knew a guy, said, hey, I know a guy to retired. He's a retired banker. He's only 60 years old. This is back a few years back in the 80s. But they said, he doesn't. He's looking for something to do. Maybe you should give him a call. So this came through. My lawyer met with this guy, and he said, kevin, he said, your business is in its current state, is unbankable, but I know how to make it bankable. And. And this is the deal that I'm going to cut with you. You went to five banks. I'm going to help you. I'm going to take 90 days because we're going to have to shore up some of your contracts. And, you know, your presentation, it's never going to fly. So let me work with you. I'm not going to charge you a dime. I'm going to get you a $3 million line of credit. And he said, I probably will get it from someone that's already turned you down. And so I said. I said, well, I've got nothing to lose. Let's go. And he said, and then when I'm done, we're both going to sit down and we're going to see if there's some future relationship that we want to have. But it's based on the fact that I was willing to help you for nothing. No charge, no. Just being a mentor to you. And I said, let's do it. We shook hands. 90 days later, $3 million in my account on a line of credit. We use that to build the business to 150 million. And after that, we got a $10 million line of credit that took us to over 500 million. So I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now if I had not found that gentleman that mentored me to go get the cash. Or maybe I would have found someone down the road. But the bottom line is entrepreneurs, you've got to raise your hand, you've got to say, please, I need help. And then you start with the people that you're either doing business with or, you know, could be some friends, could be some family, some uncles that are long a part of your life. But also I say in today's world, we all belong to different groups and clubs and organizations. And EO you mentioned that was something we started in 1987. We're in 150 cities around the world. And so when you join EO, you actually get a group of mentors that meet you on a monthly basis, right? So we said this is important. Young and actually EO started as YEO in the very beginning and we said you can't be over 40. And then when Vern Harnish and myself and a couple of us, Ted Leoncis, I don't know if you know Ted or Michael Dell, one of the guys we got up in our upper 30s, we said, well, we better change the Y EO to EO and make it 50 years old. So we did. And so Yeo morphed into EO and is now. It's been great. But they give you mentors.
