“Barbara, welcome to the family.”
With those words, Jim and Sabin embraced me in a great big Maine hug. I wasn’t about to complain. When these guys walked into the Tank, I saw what everyone at home would see—two handsome studs whom I wish I was young enough to date. Alas, I was old enough to be their mother, but I had just agreed to be their new business partner. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had made one of the best business deals of my career. Readers are about to learn why I can say that without fear of exaggeration. But let me offer a few thoughts before I let the cousins take over (which they do a lot).
Jim and Sabin don’t lack confidence. It emanated from them that day in the Tank and remains one of their primary strengths as businessmen. Confidence is an attractive quality, especially in a young entrepreneur, and I spotted it immediately. So did the other sharks, some of whom could barely contain their laughter when Jim and Sabin valued their one-truck company (yes, just one) at over a million dollars. That’s confidence.
The result was a scene I had witnessed countless times on Shark Tank: a young, idealistic entrepreneur (or two) standing helplessly before the bright studio lights as the sharks gobble up big chunks of their dreams. Most contestants don’t handle it very well. Sweating and exhausted, many lose focus and stumble over simple questions and start to fall apart. One by one the sharks bow out.
Jim and Sabin? They never missed a beat. They took the worst the sharks dished out and still had the confidence to negotiate with me over equity. I was impressed.
You don’t see that type of composure from two untested, wet-behind-the-ears entrepreneurs. I decided these guys were different. Sure, they were in love with their product, but so are most of the contestants we see on the show. The difference was that Jim and Sabin were in love with their product for all the right reasons. They had a vision for Cousins Maine Lobster that went way beyond more trucks or bigger sales. Their vision was more personal and intimate. For them, Maine wasn’t a catchy marketing gimmick. Maine was their home, and that mattered to them more than anything else; it was a gift they wanted to share with the world.
Since joining their family, I’ve watched Jim and Sabin grow from a couple of young studs to confident hotshots and mature business partners. Along the way, they’ve also become excellent parents to their growing family of franchisees—now in twenty cities. That one truck has become the flagship of a fleet of sleek black Cousins Maine Lobster trucks that deliver the best lobster rolls anywhere this side of the Gulf of Maine—to say nothing of their restaurant or online businesses. That sort of success doesn’t just happen.
How does it happen? I’ve learned to look for the same characteristics in all my future partners. They must have energy and hustle, work really hard, both physically and mentally, and they need to be fast on their feet. One reason I look for these characteristics today is because of Jim and Sabin. They have grown Cousins Maine Lobster into a hugely successful business precisely because they have a rule that they will never be outworked by anyone else. Although they have turned into ace businessmen, they are still the same hungry, passionate, and incredibly driven guys that I saw walk into the Tank all those years ago.
Even more special is their ability to weather the tribulations of entrepreneurship. I’ve watched Jim and Sabin overcome obstacles that would put most young entrepreneurs out of business—from higher prices to a weakened supply chain to disgruntled franchisees and disappointing sales. In the pages that follow, readers are going to see how a couple of pros move on from disappointment and failure. Jim and Sabin always round the corner with smiles on their faces and an uncanny optimism that makes a hit of every bad turn.
But perhaps the quality I most admire in Jim and Sabin is this: they don’t listen to me. I’m serious. During any given Skype call, I’ll make a least a dozen rock-solid suggestions, based on years of building successful businesses, to solve a myriad of problems. I leave the conversation convinced that they’ll each name one of their children, boy or girl, Barbara Ann, as a token of their appreciation. But on the very next call I learn that they didn’t do a single thing I told them. They did exactly what they wanted to do!
That’s the mark of a true entrepreneur. Jim and Sabin are the captains of their own ship. They lead their own troops and to hell with anyone that thinks differently. Don’t mistake this for arrogance. They have no problem asking questions—hundreds and hundreds of questions. And I’m happy to give them hundreds and hundreds of answers. But once armed with the right information, they forge ahead, guided by a vision and a confidence that have carried them forward since the day they set out in their very first truck.
They make no apologies, and neither should you. If you learn one thing from Jim and Sabin’s story, learn this: no one can build your company for you.
—ARBARA ORCORAN