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Entrepreneurial Reality TV Shows You Should Be Watching

entrepreneurial reality shows

Over the past nine seasons ABC’s Shark Tank has reinvigorated entrepreneurship in America and inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs to dream bigger and dive into the unpredictable waters of the Shark Tank.

Winning four Emmys, the show has also secured its place as one of the top entrepreneurial television shows in American households. So while you’re anxiously waiting for the season premiere on Sunday, October 1, here are some entrepreneurial shows to entertain you and sharpen your shark senses.

Small Business Revolution

Small Business Revolution was created to spotlight the impact small businesses have on the economy and our communities and to help small businesses thrive (particularly those in small towns). In season one, Shark Tank judge Robert Herjavec joined the business service firm Deluxe to mentor small business owners in Wabash, Indiana and invest in their businesses. Season 2 will feature a new town (to be announced on February 9) that will receive mentorship and a $500,000 investment.

The Vanilla Ice Project

That’s right, Vanilla Ice has gone from rapping music to rapping nails. But this is no new development. The 90’s pop icon has been flipping houses and turning a profit for nearly two decades. This DIY show, now in its seventh season, features Vanilla Ice and his process for real estate investing and renovation as he and his crew of contractors work together to flip mega mansions in Palm Beach, Florida.

Billion Dollar Buyer

Billion Dollar Buyer, on CNBC, introduces promising companies across the country to one of America’s most successful businessmen: billionaire hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta, the Chairman, CEO, and sole shareholder of Landry’s, Inc. and the Golden Nugget Casinos.

Fertitta returns for season 2 to help two small businesses in each episode. He assesses the potential of each product or service for his restaurants and casinos, and offers recommendations for improvement. After the entrepreneurs have had time to implement Fertitta’s advice, a deal is not guaranteed: whether or not they land an offer is entirely up to Fertitta.

The Profit

When Marcus Lemonis isn’t running his multi-billion dollar company, Camping World, he goes on the hunt for struggling businesses that are desperate for cash and ripe for a deal. On The Profit, Lemonis offers his expertise and cash to struggling businesses for a piece of their business and a percentage of their profits. Once inside these companies, he’ll do almost anything to save the business and make himself a profit; even if it means firing the president, promoting the secretary, or doing the work himself.

Planet of the Apps

This Apple-created reality show, in its first season, centers around successful entrepreneurs mentoring new app developers through the creation, funding, and scaling processes. Zane Lowe, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba, will.i.am, and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk serve on the star-studded panel of judges.

App makers have 60 seconds to give their “escalator pitch” to the judges on a literal slow-moving escalator (the show’s visual twist on the ‘elevator pitch’). Judges then vote on whether they want to hear the idea in more detail—after which they vote on whether or not they want to mentor the developer for a chance to help them win funding at the end of the show.

Million Dollar Listing New York

The stakes are high and the listing prices are higher as three rival agents, Fredrik Eklund, Ryan Serhant, and Steve Gold are pushed to the limit managing their personal lives while moving some of the most expensive and luxurious properties in New York City. Now in its sixth season, Million Dollar Listing offers a view into the professional, and at times personal, lives of these three relentless agents and their intertwining relationships as each agent fights for their share of the market.

Bonus

Keeping it Real Estate

The Bravo series will take fans inside the business partnership and friendship of Douglas Elliman, real estate mogul Fredrik Eklund, and Skinnygirl Founder Bethenny Frankel as they work together to scout, buy, design, and sell multi-million dollar properties in New York City. Fredrik describes real estate and property flipping as the backdrop of the show which provides a very real glimpse into the personal lives of Frankel and Eklund. Fun fact: “Keeping it Real Estate” wasn’t the first name that got tossed around for this equal parts entrepreneurial house flipping and reality show. Early on, Bethenny and Fredrik wanted to name the show “Flip a Bitch,” before the name was ultimately nixed by the network. Keeping it Real Estate has not yet aired on Bravo, but we’re so excited we had to tell you about it!

This article originally appeared on BigSpeak on September 18, 2017

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Innovation Hacks to Solve Difficult Problems

innovation

In 2014, Pete Frates who had recently been diagnosed with ALS came up with a brilliant way to raise money for a cure. He did not hold a bake sale, stage a marathon, or create a foundation, which are some of the traditional ways of raising money to support research. Instead, Frates hacked an innovative solution known as the “Ice Bucket Challenge.”

You probably saw one of the many videos on YouTube with people pouring ice water over themselves or even made a video of yourself getting drenched. The challenge became a viral sensation, attracting more than 739,000 new donors, and raising close to 150 million dollars for ALS. This is just one of the many exciting examples in Hacking Innovation, Josh Linkner’s new book on how to innovate.

If you’re looking to find creative solutions to solve your company’s problems in the present, Josh Linkner says “think like a hacker” today. While hackers have long been associated with cybercrime, the process of hacking is just an innovative way to solve difficult problems.

Here are a sample of five hacking “exploits” Linkner suggests you can use to overcome problems in your company.

  1. Social engineering: In cybercrime, this is often referred to as “phishing,” where the human is the weakest link in the security chain. That’s when you end up with that email that seems like it came from a friend or a client, but it’s not—and you end up giving away important information. As a legit hacking method, social engineering is about building trusting relationships with people to enlist them to help your cause. Think of the Ice Bucket Challenge example above as the unique hack that used social engineering to enlist friends to donate to ALS.
  2. Borrowing: This exploit is similar to crowdsourcing, except with borrowing you look for ideas and inspiration from outside of your industry. For example, scientists looked to nature for solutions to build better wetsuits by studying the skin of beavers.
  3. Deconstruction: Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to take it apart, break it down to its separate elements, and see how it works. Robert Egger broke down the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) rules for cycling to see how the regulations worked and then challenged each rule to develop the FUCI bike.
  4. The mashup: The best solutions are sometimes a combination of different but unique ideas. Combine two or more distinct ideas to create a new one. For example: Phone + computer + music player = smartphone.
  5. Working backward: When looking at a problem, start with what you think the solution will look like and then work your way back to the beginning. When Tom Kartsotis, founder and CEO of Fossil watches, wanted to create an upscale “authentic” American made watch, he first envisioned the final product. Then he found a name (Shinola), decided where the watch would be manufactured in the U.S, and kept working backward before even designing the watch.

This is just a small sample of the exploits and examples in the book. Linkner also includes five more exploits to solve problems as well as how to adopt the hacker mindset to solve problems.

This article originally appeared on Bigspeak on August 28, 2017