Lori Greiner on Courage, Creativity and Building a Brand People Love
A Feisworld reflection on my interview with the Queen of QVC and Shark Tank star
When I sat down with Lori Greiner, I thought I knew her story. Shark Tank star. Queen of QVC. “Invent it, Sell it, Bank it” on my bookshelf.
What I did not expect was how deeply human and grounded the conversation would feel. Not celebrity advice from a stage, but a creator talking to other creators about how to build something real without losing yourself in the process.
This is not a recap of every question and answer. It is a reflection on the essence of what Lori cares about and how she moves through the world as an entrepreneur, investor and woman in leadership.
Loving your work, loving your life
One of the first things Lori said stayed with me for the rest of the conversation
If you love what you do, it does not really feel like work.
Not in the fluffy “do what you love and you will never work a day in your life” way. She is very honest about the 24/7 reality of entrepreneurship. But she believes that when your work fits who you are, the grind becomes meaningful instead of draining.
Her joys are simple good food, great restaurants, travel, time with her husband.
She does not separate those things from her work. She folds them into it. She talked about bringing family members to events, inviting them behind the scenes, and making sure they feel like part of the journey instead of something she has to “balance against” her career.
She shared the example of Anne Wojcicki bringing her baby to the Shark Tank trailer and into boardrooms. Not as a stunt, but as a statement. Life and work can coexist. There are no fixed rules for who belongs where when you design your own path.
That was my first reminder from Lori:
Stop chasing a perfect balance that does not exist.
Start designing a life you actually enjoy being in.
Lean and real, not big and “impressive”
Lori has seen so many businesses up close that she can almost predict the mistakes.
One of the biggest:
Trying to look impressive instead of being effective.
She described the entrepreneur who starts with a big office, full time staff they do not need yet, expensive furniture, lots of fixed salary costs and very little flexibility. It feels good in the moment. It looks serious. It is also a fast way to run out of money.
Her approach is very different: Stay lean. Stay mean.
Outsource wherever you can. Hire firms and freelancers instead of full time staff when the work is project based. Pay for expertise, let them do their job, and move on.
The one place she sees value in having someone in house is social media, because voice and speed matter so much there. But almost everything else can be handled through carefully chosen partners.
For founders who are just getting started, this is liberating. You do not need a big team to be a real business. You need a clear focus, a very small number of great people and the courage to say no to “looking” successful before you are ready.
At Feisworld, we can attest this to be true. After running my business for over 10 years, I still haven’t had anyone working full time. Some experts highly recommend hiring full-time folks so that they are “dedicated to you and only you”. Maybe this is true to a certain extend but hiring full-time people can have other consequences too. When projects are slow, your payroll will have to take a toll.
For small and creative businesses, you need the flexibility to grow and to shrink as needed.
Everyone I’ve worked with is on a contracting basis. Their hours vary and each person brings their expertise to the table. They are also free to move onto other projects. I love watching them succeed and enjoy their creative life with and without Feisworld.
Hands on, not hovering
One theme that runs through Lori’s story is how incredibly hands on she has been in every part of her business.
She taught herself what she needed to know. She did the research. She oversaw legal and patent work. She learned production, packaging, retail, marketing, television, everything.
But she is very careful to separate being hands on from micromanaging.
In her mind, being hands on means you truly understand every part of your company. You can explain the vision clearly. You set expectations. You help your team see the bigger picture and why their work matters.
Micromanaging is when you do not trust the people you hired. You hover. You re check every detail. You re-explain the same thing again and again. You leave people feeling resentful instead of respected.
Her advice is simple and tough: Hire very carefully. Fire quickly when it is not a fit.
She knows many of us, especially women, struggle with this.
We feel guilty. We worry about the person’s family, their feelings. We wait months, sometimes years, hoping it will get better. In her experience, it almost never does.
She encourages us to see letting someone go as an act of kindness. If they are wrong for the role and miserable under the surface, you are not helping them by keeping them there. You are delaying the moment they can find something that truly fits.
Character first, always
Lori’s eyes light up when she talks about people. Products matter. Numbers matter. But people are the center of everything for her.
She has a simple hiring philosophy: Hire character. Train skill.
Skill can be developed. Character cannot. She looks for honesty, work ethic, kindness, ethics, a sense of responsibility, a willingness to listen and learn.
She even has her own unusual interview questions, like: “What are the three most important qualities in a person?”
She listens very carefully to how people answer. If they only give “pat” answers like hardworking and smart, that tells her one thing. If they talk about integrity, kindness, reliability, loyalty, that tells her something else.
The same lens applies when she invests on Shark Tank. She looks at the product, of course, but she pays just as much attention to the founder.
- Do they listen Are they respectful?
- Are they open to feedback or immediately defensive?
- Do they know how to read a room and respond to what is actually happening around them?
She told stories of entrepreneurs who, in their biggest moment in front of the sharks, completely ignore what she and other investors are saying. They just plow through a rehearsed pitch, even as red flags are being called out. For Lori, that is not confidence. That is a dangerous kind of disconnection.
For those of us watching from the outside, it is a very clear reminder: You are not just building a business. You are building your own reputation as a person people can trust.
From product to brand: the Scrub Daddy lesson
If you know Lori, you probably know Scrub Daddy.
What you may not know is how intentional the brand building has been.
Scrub Daddy started as a single smiley face sponge with a clever material that changes texture in hot or cold water, does not scratch, does not smell and does not get gross in the sink. That one product solved a specific problem in a delightful way.
From there, they expanded slowly and thoughtfully:
- Scrub Mommy, with a soft side and a firm side.
- Eraser Daddy.
- Barbecue tools.
- Cleaning products that all made sense within the same brand family.
The packaging, the names, the colors, the promises all felt connected. You could look at a shelf full of those products and know they came from the same universe.
During our conversation, I laughed out loud because I realized how deep Scrub Daddy has quietly rooted itself in my own home. My mom and I have bought around twenty five of them to “stock up just in case they stop making them.” We are not sponsored. We are just genuinely obsessed. These little yellow faces live in every corner of our kitchen and bathroom.
That is what a real brand feels like. It does not just sell you something. It becomes part of how you live.
Soft skills that are not actually soft
One of my favorite parts of the conversation was Lori’s take on empathy, storytelling and emotional intelligence.
She does not talk about them as buzzwords. She talks about them as daily practices.
She shared a story from her early days, when the packaging for her first big product came back from the printer completely wrong. The ink had bled everywhere. The product image was ruined. She was two days away from shipping to a major retailer for the holiday season. It was a complete disaster.
Instead of yelling on the phone, she got in her car, drove six hours to the factory, met the president face to face and calmly explained what had happened, how crucial the timing was and how much this meant to her tiny company.
Because she showed up in person, communicated clearly and treated them as partners, they helped her fix it. They reran the packaging in time. Her launch was saved.
Stories like this are small on the surface and enormous underneath. They reveal how she thinks about people and problems.
You do not have to scream to be heard.
You do not have to be cruel to be firm.
You can be kind, clear and unshakeable at the same time.
Being a woman in business without shrinking yourself
We talked, of course, about what it means to be a woman in leadership today. Lori did not sugarcoat anything. She also did not center her identity around being “the woman in the room.”
Her view is straightforward: Do not walk into a room thinking of yourself as the woman. Walk in as a capable person with a mission.
She knows sexism still exists. She knows, as many of us do, that there are often only one or two seats at the table for women and ten for men. She also refuses to let that define her behavior.
Her advice to women:
- Be direct.
- Speak up.
- Say what you need.
- Hold your boundaries.
- Do not feel that you have to become “hard” or imitate the worst behaviors you see around you.
You can be strong without becoming harsh. You can be honest without being cruel. You can be decisive without apologizing.
She is also very clear about the importance of women supporting women. If another woman seems threatened by you, she suggests starting with compassion. Show her that you are friend, not foe. Be kind, be consistent and give her a chance to see who you really are.
If, after that, she continues to undermine you or compete in unhealthy ways, then you know what you are dealing with. But often the tension begins with insecurity and fear, not true malice.
Risk, fear and redefining success
As we wrapped up, I asked Lori what she would say to the many CEOs and founders in the audience who want to scale their businesses and increase their impact.
She smiled and said she has always been the one saying: Go for it!
But then she added something important: Go for it intelligently.
She sees how many people are paralyzed by the fear of failure. They never take the shot because they are terrified of how they will look if it does not work. They think success is the only acceptable outcome.
Lori’s definition is much broader.
- Trying is success.
- Experiencing is success.
- Learning is success.
That does not mean throwing away your life savings or mortgaging your home. She is very clear
Do not risk everything. Do not destroy your stability in the name of a dream. Put a toe in the water, not your entire body.
Test the idea. Use the tools you have access to. Share it with people. Listen. Adjust. Move forward one step at a time.
I shared my own story about working full time before becoming an entrepreneur, and how I treated that job as a way to fund my future business instead of resenting it. When I shifted that mindset, my days immediately felt lighter. Lori nodded. She understands that very well.
What I am taking with me from Lori Greiner
After the interview ended, I went straight downstairs and hugged my Scrub Daddies. That part is one hundred percent true.
But even more than that, I felt a deep sense of calm.
Entrepreneurship can often feel so noisy. Grow faster. Scale harder. Raise more. Build bigger.
Lori’s presence is strong and grounded. She has built a huge business, helped create some of the most successful products on Shark Tank and still talks like someone who remembers every mile of the journey.
Here is what I am carrying forward from her
- Love the work you choose.
- Include the people you love.
- Stay lean and smart.
- Be hands on without suffocating your team.
- Hire for character.
- Fire when it is clearly not right.
- Tell people the truth with kindness.
- Support women.
- Take risks that stretch you, not destroy you.
You do not have to copy Lori to learn from her.
You only have to let her remind you that success and kindness can live in the same person, and that you are allowed to build a business that feels like you.
