We hear all the time that success is about who you know.
Build your network. Find investors. Get the right introduction.
But what if you don’t start with any of that?
I’ve interviewed hundreds of successful people over the years on my podcast, and some of the stories that have stayed with me most are from women who had to build the opportunities they weren’t given.
Barbara Corcoran, Suze Orman, Allison Ellsworth and Dr. Desi Bartlett took very different paths to success. But none started with an obvious inside track.
Here’s what they did instead.
Barbara Corcoran: Have a Bigger Dream Than Your Advantages
Before “Shark Tank,” Barbara Corcoran grew up as one of 10 children in a working-class New Jersey family. She struggled in school and eventually started her real estate business with $1,000 borrowed from a boyfriend.
She didn’t have the background of many of the people she was competing against.
“The world was owned by the old boys, rich guys that had inherited their businesses from their father and their father before,” Corcoran told me.
But Corcoran had something else.
“A lot of people think you have to have a lot of knowledge [to start a business],” she said. “I had something far more important than that — I had a dream. I had a clear image of who I wanted to be: I wanted to be the queen of New York real estate.”
She kept moving toward that vision until she built The Corcoran Group and eventually sold it for $66 million.
Corcoran’s story is a reminder that you don’t have to start with the same advantages as the people you’re competing against. Sometimes knowing exactly where you want to go matters more than knowing exactly how you’re going to get there.
Suze Orman: Build the Connections You Weren’t Born With
I interviewed Suze Orman years ago, and her story has always stuck with me.
Before becoming one of the biggest names in personal finance, Orman spent seven years waiting tables in Berkeley, California.
At 29, she wanted to open a restaurant but didn’t have the money. Customers she’d served over the years came together with $50,000 to help her pursue her dream.
Her first real network wasn’t built on Wall Street. She built it waiting tables.
The restaurant never happened. After the money was lost through an investment, Orman educated herself about finance, became a broker and eventually built a financial firm, bestselling books and a nationally recognized personal finance brand.
Her story changed the way I think about networking. Treat people well. Build trust. Do good work. You may be building your network before you know you’ll need one.
Allison Ellsworth: Start Before You Have the Resources
Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth didn’t have a beverage-industry playbook when she started. She spent “months and months and months” in her kitchen experimenting with apple cider vinegar, fruit and sweeteners before taking her drinks to a farmers market.
Three weeks later, a Whole Foods buyer approached her booth.
“I was like, this is a business,” Ellsworth told me.
But recognizing the opportunity and having the resources to build it were two different things.
Ellsworth quit her job. She and her husband maxed out their credit cards. She was pregnant, they had just bought a house, and manufacturers weren’t interested in producing at their small scale.
So they spent about $90,000 on equipment and figured it out themselves, getting help from family, friends and even a local brewery.
“When you’re an entrepreneur, you will literally do anything to be successful,” Ellsworth told me.
That scrappy farmers-market business eventually became Poppi, which PepsiCo acquired in a $1.95 billion deal.
Ellsworth’s story is a reminder that founders rarely start with everything they need. Sometimes you start with what you have, solve the next problem and keep going.
Dr. Desi Bartlett: Turn Your Struggle Into Your Purpose
Dr. Desi Bartlett’s career started with an injury she never expected.
Bartlett says she left home at 16 after growing up in a household affected by addiction. She made her way to Arizona State University, where she was studying dance when she injured her knee. A chance encounter with Miss Olympia Jackie Paisley introduced her to strength training.
“Strength training saved my body,” Bartlett told me.
It also changed the direction of her life.
Bartlett went on to earn her master’s degree while supporting herself through personal training and group fitness. From there, she began building a career around helping others through movement.
More than 30 years later, Bartlett has become a leading women’s health and wellness expert, working with major brands and high-profile clients. She has written three books, including Total Body Beautiful, with a foreword by Kate Hudson, and expanded her work into international women’s wellness retreats.
Her own experience with perimenopause eventually gave her a new problem to solve. Decades into her career, Bartlett went back to school for her doctorate and ultimately created The BodyMind Workout, her signature method and digital platform for women navigating perimenopause and menopause. She was named the 2025 IDEA Fitness Leader of the Year and a 2026 MSN Top Health Voice.
Through all those chapters, Bartlett says the message that has guided her is simple: “Share your gifts.”
How to Succeed Without an Inside Track
There’s no single formula.
Corcoran used being underestimated as fuel. Orman built relationships before she needed them. Ellsworth started without knowing all the answers and learned to ask for help. Bartlett turned what helped her into something that could help others.
Money matters. Connections matter. Access matters.
But after years of interviewing successful entrepreneurs, I’ve learned that starting without those things doesn’t have to determine where you finish.
These women didn’t wait for someone to decide they belonged in the room.
They built their own w
