Barbara Corcoran

Entrepreneur, Author and Star of Shark Tank

Barbara Corcoran's credentials include straight Ds in high school and college and 20 jobs by the time she turned 23. It was her next job that would make her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country, when she took a $1,000 loan to start The Corcoran Group. She parlayed the loan into a five-billion-dollar real estate business and sold it in 2001 for $66 million.

Barbara is the real estate contributor for NBC's TODAY Show where she comments weekly on trends in the real estate market. She also stars on ABC's reality hit Shark Tank. In the first and second season, Barbara invested in 13 young businesses that she's shepherding to success.

Barbara is the author of If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails, an entertaining business book that has become a national best-seller, as well as Nextville, Amazing Places to Live Your Life. Her latest book, Shark Tales, took the spot as the #1 business book on Amazon.

As a speaker, Barbara brings her front-line experience and infectious energy to every group she addresses. Motivational, inspirational, and sometimes outrageous, Barbara Corcoran's tell-it-like-it-is attitude is a refreshing approach to success.

These bestselling authors, business experts and leaders will be available to answer your questions and get down to brass tacks on how to build your business.

• Building the Unpopular Brand: Why You Should, Why It's Scary, and Why It's Awesome
• 10 Ways to Use Pinterest to Promote Your Small Business Brand
• Small But Social: How Small Businesses Can Win With Social Media
• Sell or Be Sold: How to Get Your Way in Business and in Life
• What Your CPA Isn't Telling You: Life-Changing Tax Strategies
• Small Business Challenges

Did you ever think that you would want to build an "unpopular" brand? In a mere hour, Erika will guide you through not just why you should, but why "unpopular" is just what every brand needs in order to kick ass and take names. Bring your A+ game and get ready to makeover your brand. In this session, you'll discover:

• The single biggest branding mistake -- and how you can avoid it.
• Unpopular brands you love (and love to hate) -- and why "unpopular" works without fail.
• The difference between UNpopular and UNlikable
• The most important brand asset that you have -- and how to acknowledge it, build it, nurture it, and honor it daily

When you walk out of this session, you'll be laughing and realizing once again why you decided to take this crazy ride of creating the economy instead of just being a part of it. But most importantly, you'll leave with a whole new perspective on "unpopular" -- and for the better. Your brand will love you for it!

Erika Napoletano

Digital Strategist, Author and Entrepreneur Columnist

Erika Napoletano has been hailed by Forbes as a "spinless spin doctor" for her BS-free perspectives on business, marketing, branding, and life in general. She's a twice-published author, including The Power of Unpopular (Wiley 2012), a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine, OPEN Forum, and Qualcomm Spark, and speaks at conferences across the U.S. on the inherent power of truth in business… or as she refers to it, the power of unpopularity. A recent speaker at TEDxBoulder -- the world's largest independently organized TED-branded event -- she brought the house down with her uncensored, open and honest views on her journey towards embracing "unpopular." She lives in Boulder, Colorado and is the Head Redhead at RHW Media, a brand strategy firm that helps businesses get UNstuck and over those annoying problems that keep them from being awesome. Check her out at www.erikanapoletano.com.

Pinterest is a lifestyle brand that allows you to create a visual online pinboard, organized around topics of your choice, by category. Launched in March 2010, Pinterest has grown 4000% in the last six months, has 17 million users a month and is the 60th most visited site in the U.S. Pinterest drives more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn ― combined.

But beyond these star statistics, this session will show authors, entrepreneurs, expert and small businesses how to set up and use Pinterest and 10 ways to make the most of this new marketing tool. Topics include:

• Tips and tricks for turning your content into infographics
• Promoting user-generated content to build traffic
• Beyond pictures―video pinning
• Three ways to link your Pinterest easily back to your blog
• Best strategies for book promotion using Pinterest

Karen Leland

Author and Speaker

Karen Leland is the best-selling author of six business books and president of Sterling Marketing Group, where she helps businesses leverage the value of modern marketing and social media to build stronger brands and accelerate the business bottom line. Her clients have included American Express, Apple, Marriott Hotels and others.

An international keynote speaker, she has presented for a wide range of conferences, including The American Management Association, The American Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, The Direct Marketing Association and The Young Presidents' Organization.

Social media marketing isn't just the latest, greatest fad; it's a powerful mechanism to cultivate customer relationships that drive business. In this talk, social media marketing consultant, thought leader and author Jason Falls will help you understand:

• The philosophies that drive strong social media marketing efforts
• How to approach social media marketing strategically
• What management approaches help make social media marketing feasible for small businesses
• What tools exist to help drive solid marketing strategies to move the needle for small businesses
• How to measure and account for the time and money invested in social media marketing

Jason Falls

Social Media Marketing Consultant, Thought Leader and Author

Jason Falls is an author, speaker and CEO, the latter of Social Media Explorer, a digital marketing agency and information products company. An award-winning social media strategist and widely read industry pundit, Falls has been noted as a top influencer in the social technology and marketing space by Forbes, Entrepreneur, Advertising Age and others.

He is the co-author of two books: No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide To Social Media Marketing (Que 2011); and The Rebel's Guide To Email Marketing (Que 2012).

Everything in life is a SALE and everything you want is a COMMISSION. In this workshop, Grant Cardone breaks down the techniques and approaches necessary to master the art of selling in any arena. Cardone will cover:

• How to sell in ANY economy
• It's almost NEVER price
• Overcoming call reluctance/fear of rejection
• Filling/working your pipeline
• The MOST important sale

Grant Cardone

Television Producer, Radio Show Host and Author

Grant Cardone is a New York Times best-selling author, star and executive producer of the reality TV show Turnaround King, host of the Cardone Zone radio show and is regularly seen on Fox Business, NBC and Business Insider. He was named the Top Sales Expert and a Top 10 Business Coach to follow on Twitter.

A self-made multi-millionaire that literally created himself from nothing, Cardone is the founder and CEO of three multi-million dollar companies. He is the author of five books, all written since the 2008 financial crisis, which provide the principles and techniques individuals must follow to flourish and win. Cardone has two interactive online sales training centers―CardoneUniversity.com and CardoneOnDemand.com

CPA Mark Kohler shares tips on tax and legal topics every small-business owner needs to know, including:

• Learn how to select the proper entity for your business without getting pressured to buy
• Avoid the scams when structuring your business
• Implement the hottest tax strategies for business owners
• Choose the best health care strategy to save money AND taxes
• Use the proper procedure to put your family members on payroll to save taxes legitimately
• Learn how you can self-direct YOUR retirement plan in business deals

Mark Kohler

Attorney, CPA and Entrepreneur

Mark J. Kohler is an attorney, certified public accountant, entrepreneur, and author of What Your CPA Isn't Telling You: Life-Changing Tax Strategie (Entrepreneur Press) and Lawyers are Liars: The Truth About Protecting Our Assets (Life's Plan Publishing). Mark's principal career has been as a partner in the accounting firms Kohler & Eyre CPAs, LLP, NumberWonAccountants, LLP, and the law firm Kyler, Kohler, Ostermiller, & Sorensen, LLP, where he specializes in the areas of business, estate and tax planning.

Discover straight from a panel of business experts and Dallas entrepreneurs the very latest ideas that will help you overcome challenges keeping you from skyrocketing sales. Moderated by Colleen DeBaise, Entrepreneur.com's special projects director, this panel will ignite a hands-on discussion about the latest challenges facing entrepreneurial businesses and how they can be conquered through everything from social media and marketing, business-building techniques, and strategies for identifying and adapting to marketplace changes.

Join us to get an in-depth look at how you can make your company bigger, better and stronger in the Dallas marketplace and beyond.

Moderated by Colleen DeBaise

Entrepreneur.com Special Projects Director

Colleen DeBaise is the special projects director at Entrepreneur.com. She is the author of The Wall Street Journal Complete Small Business Guidebook and previously served as the Journal's small-business editor. She has also covered entrepreneurship at BusinessWeek and SmartMoney. Colleen is a regular guest expert on television and radio, and she has appeared on MSNBC, Fox Business News, CNBC, CBS and NPR.