Many small-business owners dream of finding an angel investor or two who would pump cash into their business and help them expand.

In my experience, though, most of these dreams are more like delusions. Why? Most business owners don't have a realistic sense of what they'd have to give up to an angel investor. And often, once you find out what you'd be giving up by taking on an investor, you're not interested.

Case in point was a recent Shark Tank episode. Five different entrepreneurs came out to pitch the Sharks -- and each one made an equity offer that was just never going to fly.

Do you hate to negotiate? Feel too shy or intimidated to ask for more, or to pay less? If so, you might want to tune in to History Channel's hit show American Pickers. This show is like a college course in how to negotiate a great deal.

On the show, Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe of two-location antique shop Antique Archaeology wander U.S. back roads, finding old-timers with barns stuffed full of decades-old trash...and some treasures.

They're a couple of laid-back guys who seem to just be out on a lark, having a great time yard-sale shopping. Until it comes time to cut a deal, that is. Then they bid low, and they usually don't buy unless they can get something for about half what it's worth at retail.

How do they pull it off? Here are some negotiation tips drawn from their show:

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  Posted under: Negotiating, Antiques, Mike Wolfe, American Pickers

Great ideas are the stuff of which successful businesses are made. Without good ideas that customers respond to, on the other hand, your business is doomed.

That's the business drama on view in the newest reality TV show, AMC's The Pitch. In the show, two ad agencies compete for a chance to land a big account, while viewers get to watch their brainstorming process.

The challenge in the debut episode: Create an edgy breakfast campaign for top fast-food chain Subway aimed at luring young diners -- but don't go too far outside the bounds of Subway's established brand. 

Is your small business stuck charging low prices for its products or services? The problem might not be what you're selling. Turning things around could be as simple as taking on a new business name -- one that implies higher quality.

That's the takeaway lesson from a recent episode of Hotel Impossible, the new Travel Channel show in which expert hotelier Anthony Melchiorri visits floundering small hotels and helps their owners turn them around.

On a recent episode Melchiorri and his team visited a small hotel in Miami that has $1 million in debt. Melchiorri first pointed out that the place had a problem with branding. Some signs, including the big neon sign on the top of the building, said "Motel New Yorker." Another on the front window, though, said, "The New Yorker - Boutique Hotel."

If you found an investor for your business right now, would you know how to value a stake in it? This question came to mind while I was watching a recent episode of Shark Tank. 

Brenda Coffman, the perky blonde owner of Blondie's Cookies, was seeking a $250,000 investment for just three percent of her business, currently a small retail cookie chain with 12 locations in Indiana and Florida.

But as the Sharks dug into her numbers, they found big problems.

On the Food Network's reality show Restaurant Impossible, top chef Robert Irvine blows into town and spends two days and just $10,000 in materials to revamp restaurants that are on their last gasp.

On a recent episode, Irvine and his crew worked on Valley View restaurant in rural Pennsylvania. The 28-year-old establishment was decrepit, sporting moldering ceiling panels and peeling Formica. Nearly everything served was frozen and nearly inedible. The crew transformed the place into a light, cheery eatery with a menu of fresh, delicious food.

It seemed like a miraculous turnaround for a failing business. The owner, grandma Ann Kilgore, had sacrificed her entire retirement savings -- $1.25 million -- to keep the restaurant afloat over the past five years. But an update on the show's site revealed how the story ended sadly.

Every entrepreneur has his or her own take on what elements to have in place before talking about a new business. Some think more preparation is necessary than others, as seen in the debut episode of the fourth season of Everyday Edisons, a reality TV show on PBS (air times vary by market).

The episode featured original pitches sent in by video and some of the inventors chosen to present in person before the judges. In upcoming episodes, the judges will choose who to profile and work with for the rest of the season.

Seeing selections from the submissions and who made the cut, I didn't envy the judges their work. There are a lot of half-baked ideas rattling around America.

But what fascinated me was the rage of sophistication in the inventors' presentations.

Growing a business can be almost as tricky as getting the enterprise off the ground. These growing pains came to mind as I watched this past week's episode of ABC's reality show Shark Tank.

The first entrepreneur up to pitch the sharks was Nick Romero, the owner of The Ave, a small business on the beach in Venice, Calif., that offers shoppers a unique way to screen-print any image onto a pair of shoes. The idea was a smash hit with trendy beachgoers, with lines out the door since it opened last April. The Ave, a store of less than 500 square feet, saw first-year sales top $500,000 and had more than $100,000 of profit.

This is the sort of story the Sharks usually drool over -- a proven success with both sales and profits, as well as products that are flat-out cool. I thought they'd be fighting each other over a chance to get a piece of The Ave's future revenue. But in the end, the Sharks all passed on helping the owner open more stores.

In Fashion Star, reality TV and home-shopping TV have finally met, and the result is a customer's dream. For business owners, the new NBC show serves as a training course in how to get customers to see your products, fall in love with them, and then know exactly where to buy them.

Unlike Project Runway, where a panel of fashion designers decides who makes it to the next round, Fashion Star's judges are buyers from major department stores, including Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue, and H&M. If they like the clothes, the buyers negotiate a deal on the spot and buy the garments for their store. Even better, by the time the episode airs, the clothes are in the stores and available online for shoppers to buy.

What if a shopper can't remember which buyer bought which design? Not to worry: a quick browse at the Fashion Star website shows all the designs and where they are for sale. Click on a garment, and you go to that retailer's website and see the price. One more click, and you've bought it. Unless, of course, the wild demand that's been created by the media exposure means it's already sold out.

Few people know about inventing and pitching to investors better than QVC Queen Lori Greiner. In addition to sitting in for Barbara Corcoran on ABC's Shark Tank for a few episodes this season, Greiner has invented more than 350 products herself.

Greiner wrapped up her stint on the show, though an update on one of the companies she invested in will air this Friday. (ABC has ordered additional Shark Tank episodes for this season, but there's no word on which Sharks will preside over them.)

So what did she think of her fellow Sharks, and of the entrepreneur pitches she saw? What advice does she have for business owners chasing that elusive angel investment their business needs? I caught up to Greiner recently to chat about her experience. Here are her edited remarks:

I haven't managed to catch all the episodes of Undercover Boss this season, but there was one I knew I had to see -- Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Why? I am the hugest fan of their chicken and biscuits. If you haven't had the pleasure, this is fast food worth blowing your diet for.

I almost didn't want to watch, because if they were going to show me that secretly the restaurants had rats or the food was made from something gross, I didn't want to know. But I had to check it out.

Thankfully, the food seems to be just fine. The problems found by their undercover executive -- chief talent officer Lynne Zappone -- had to do with how employees were treated.

This episode shows exactly what Popeyes's employees really want. Here's a hint, it's not a raise:

Every entrepreneur has dreams for their business. We have goals we want to attain that, to us, mean we've made it. Our business is successful.

This week, watching the final episode of Discovery's Gold Rush Alaska, I was reminded of just how varied that definition can be for different entrepreneurs. 

After a first mining season in which the show's central team -- the Hoffman crew -- completely bombed, they came back and spent another five grueling months digging for gold in the Yukon. With a goal of mining 100 ounces, the crew fell a hair short.

When they finally tallied up their take, after expenses, each man on the team was handed a small vial with $8,000 worth of gold in it. For five months' work.

It's a great idea for entrepreneurs to take their kids to work. Never too soon to plant that seed and show kids you can be your own boss and shape your own financial destiny.

But would you take your kid to a pitch meeting with investors?

I ask because this seems to be a new mini-trend -- or at least it is if you're watching ABC's reality-TV show Shark Tank. And if the results are any evidence, other entrepreneurs might want to give some thought to bringing their children along, especially if the business involves children's products.

Most entrepreneurs I know are understandably excited about building their business. They're busy making deals, signing clients, adding new products.

And even though many business owners ultimately dream of selling their business and seeing a big payday, what happens if a buyout offer comes early -- while your startup is still on the launch pad? Are you ready? 

On this past week's episode of ABC's Shark Tank, one inventor found himself with a $600,000 buyout offer -- and froze.

Entrepreneurs often start a business so they can work at what they love. But here's the rub: Business success usually comes from a focus on pleasing the customer, not pursuing your own bliss.

Two talented fashion designers learned this lesson the hard way on Lifetime network's new season of Project Runway All Stars. Here's what happened: