Mark Cuban’s Top 50 Rules for Success (@mcuban)

I’m gonna give you Mark Cuban rule
number one and whenever you forget this
rule you’re already out of business
there’s nothing you can’t accomplish in
life with the right amount of work the
challenge is you know are you willing to
do the work you don’t have to look the
part I mean I certainly never have right
you don’t have to sound the part you
just have to find a way to put your
customers in a position to succeed and
good things happen need motivation what
a talk 10 we believe nation
what’s that believe nation it’s Evan my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe you have Michael Jordan level
talent at something and I want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference so let’s get your motivation
to attend and get you believing in you
grab a snack and chew in today’s lessons
from a man who went from selling garbage
bags door-to-door and being a bartender
to now being a billionaire entrepreneur
and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks
he’s Mark Cuban and here’s my take on
his top 50 rules for success also if you
want to know what Mark Cuban and other
successful entrepreneurs have to say
about building unstoppable confidence
check out my 250 for confident series
where every day for the next 254 days I
will send you a video for free that is
short every morning to help you build
your confidence check out the link in
the description below the passion I’ve
always had for business and being an
entrepreneur the trend that transfers
into the Mavs I’ve always been
passionate some people thought you know
it’s a it’s more OCD than anything else
which i think is a great trait for an
entrepreneur when I you know I mentioned
the stamp business I would stay up till
3:00 4:00 in the morning even though I
had to get up and go to school and read
Lin stamped news and Scott’s stamp
journals and have them all memorized and
okay let’s kick it off with rule number
one now is the time you know person I
think every time is a perfect time to
start a business there’s no bad times if
you do the work if you do the
preparation you’ll know when it’s time
and it doesn’t mean that it won’t be a
little bit scary but you know it’s
you’ll know and you don’t have to quit
the daytime job if you don’t feel that
all that comfortable and you can give it
a run at night but whatever works for
you now with the internet you’ve got all
the choices in the world and you can
just go out there do your own thing and
and you know set up a business part time
rule number two be passionate the
passion I’ve always had for business and
being an entrepreneur the trend that
transfers into the Mavs I’ve always been
passionate some people thought you know
it’s a it’s more OCD than anything else
which i think is a great trait for an
entrepreneur when I you know I mentioned
the stamp business I would stay up til
3:00 4:00 in the morning even though I
had to get up and go to school and read
Lin stamped news and Scots stamp
journals and have them all memorized and
and use that to give myself an edge even
when I was in college I’d be in live in
the library reading business books and
just looking for business biographies
and just reading all I could about
business when I had Micro solutions and
you know I started with no money
you know I pull all-nighters in front of
borrowed computers teaching myself
software and how to program rule number
three don’t make excuses just to go
after it I mean the thing about being an
entrepreneur is this it’s just all to
you you know a lot of people like to
make excuses I don’t have connections I
don’t have money I don’t have this but
you know if you find something that you
like to do or love to do be great at it
and see if you can turn it into a
business and worst case you’re gonna
have fun doing what it is you love to do
in best case you can turn it into a
business i I’m just
big gun excuses I just think if you
really everybody has an opportunity to
go for it they just kind of do it rule
number four learn from history one of
the things that companies do or startups
do they come up with an idea
they’ll google it and if they don’t see
it in the first two pages they think its
original you’ve got to go back right
because over the past 15 years there’s
so many different businesses that have
tried and failed you have to go back and
find those and learn from those so
you’ve got to understand all the
implications and you have to learn from
history and so the best advice I can
give you on a video before talking to
you or emailing with you is that you’ve
got to find out the history of people
who have tried your idea because there’s
a 99.99999% chance that your idea has
been tried before that’s not a good
reason not to start it because you might
be able to outperform them but you
better learn from the history of your
idea um because you know what they say
about people who don’t learn from
history rule number five enjoy competing
I’ve always just really enjoyed just the
competition of business I think you know
in in the sports business
I’ll talk to our players and it’ll be
like what you guys can people forty
eight minutes and you practice a couple
hours and you work on your game
independently a couple hours but the
ultimate sport is business because you
have to compete with everybody and you
have to do it 24 by 7 by 365 days a year
forever and there’s always somebody out
there trying to kick your butt there’s
always somebody who looks at your
business and says I can do that better I
have a better idea and you’re you have
to compete with that person and all the
while you have to make your customers
happy your employees happy it’s it’s the
competitive side of me that in any
entrepreneur that I think that that has
to drive you and and I think that
carries over into the Mavericks I want
to win and I want to compete rule number
six know your business ninety nine
percent of small businesses you can
start with next to no capital it’s more
about effort you know small businesses
don’t fail for lack of capital they fail
for lack of brains they fail for lack of
most people just aren’t willing to put
in the time to work smart I mean they
they they go for it in a lot of cases
but they just don’t recognize how much
works involved and and and if you do the
preparation if you know if you start a
business you better know your your
industry and your company better than
anyone in the whole wide world because
you’re competing and to think that
whoever it is you’re competing with is
just gonna let you come in and take
their business obviously that’s naive
and I think most people don’t recognize
that if you’re going to compete with me
and one of my businesses you better
realize that I’m working 24 hours a day
to kick your ass rule number seven be
rude early honest with yourself one of
the big things that all startups do is
they lie to themselves over and over and
over mines faster mines cheaper mine’s
better mines this mines that no it’s not
and the reason it’s not is because
whoever it is you’re competing with it’s
not like they’re ignoring you it’s not
like oh my goodness this guy just
started on Shopify in the startup
competition he’s doing a million dollars
this year what was me I might as well
close up the doors what are they doing
I’m gonna copy what they’re doing and
now you’ve got to stay ahead and so you
know you’ve got to be very careful as an
entrepreneur to be brutally honest with
yourself and those are some of the
things that you’ll hear from me as a
mentor that you know know what you know
know what you don’t know but you’ve got
to know your business better than
anybody rule number eight know your
strengths and weaknesses I think the
most important is knowing your strengths
and weaknesses and knowing what you
enjoy doing you know if you look at it
as a job you’ve already lost it it’s not
going to be your passion and you’re
going to count the hours if you look at
it as something you love to do and then
you know what your strengths are then
you can leverage those strengths in your
business and in helping others and once
you recognize your weaknesses then you
can work with people that complement you
I mean every one of my businesses I’ve
had a partner who’s very anal Martin
Woodall Todd Wagner I mean incredibly
anal people perfectionist because I’m a
slob you know I’m a big-picture think
about what
the corner house technology going to
change things how can I change you know
this industry and you know making sure
that there’s somebody there to make to
dot the i’s cross the t’s and keep me in
the bass lines Elm and you know
recognizing my weaknesses is just as
important as recognizing my strengths in
my core competencies and and you know
having a passion to do rule number nine
be unique you’ve got to be
differentiated and unique you’ve got to
know what your core competency is and be
great at it I think what people fail to
realize is that there’s there’s got to
be a defining feature of your company
and you’ve got to be the best in the
world of that whatever industry you’re
in if you’re if you don’t know more
about it than anybody else in the world
wherever those other people are that
know more go kick your asses rule number
ten be yourself I had a job out of
college working for a bank for a short
period of time Mellon Bank and I um
decided to well first it might have been
ink magazine this is way back when but
there was an article about using
changing something in how you deduct
social how you save Social Security from
employees paychecks and literally hadn’t
been working there for three weeks and
so I sent it to the CEO of Mellon Bank
hey I thought you might be interested
this literally some guy he never heard
of and I got an OPEC said thank you
nothing and okay you look my whole job
my whole motive in taking a job working
for somebody was to help them become
more profitable that’s the way I always
looked at it and then I started a
rookies Club where I reached out to some
executives and all the people who had
started at the same time at Mellon Bank
we don’t go out and get a drink and we’d
get this executive start and I didn’t
like run it through my boss or anything
and so my boss at the time calls me in
and said you’re doing this is I said
yeah I think he’s gonna say great it’s
just her screaming at me and Rieman me
how could you do this you go everything
through me you work for me yeah so I
knew I wasn’t destined there and then I
and I went down to ended up down in
Dallas and got a job working for a
company called your business software
and we were we sold software and and I
didn’t know anything about software I
took one computer class at Indiana and
kind of cheated to pass but not that I
condone that but and so I had a customer
and I thought might stay up all night
teach reading I think you know computers
were new and technology was new this
technology was new so no we had a head
start on me because it was changing so
rapidly like it is today that if I just
put in the time I can learn as much as
anybody else and so I taught myself I’d
stay up late reading software manuals
taught myself different little simple
programming languages and kept on
getting bigger and bigger and better and
better but it was at a retail store and
one of my responsibilities was to come
in sweep the floor wipe down the windows
and open the store and I had a customer
who wanted me to come out there and
close the deal and it was a fifteen
thousand dollar deal fifteen hundred
dollar commission to me told my boss he
said no you need to be there to open the
store and I made the executive decision
that I was gonna go get the check
because you know I was living six guys
in a three-bedroom apartment sleeping on
the floor and this check meant I could
like not use the same holiday in towels
with holes in them that I’d stolen you
know mom but anyway so I went and picked
up the check thank you when I came back
and gave the check to my boss all would
be forgiven and you know the sales cures
all fired me
fired me and so those back-to-back
experiences confirmed what I already
knew that that I was a shitty-ass
employee and then I better start my own
rule number 11 just go for it
sometimes being young and trying things
are so naive and you don’t know any
better
all you do is learn and if you fail it
doesn’t matter and so whether I was nine
ten twelve sixteen 21 the failures were
irrelevant and you know whether you’re
you know nine twelve sixteen twenty one
twenty two twenty four you know I’m
sleeping on the couch
you know I have a car with a hole in the
floorboard you know I’m living like a
bum and like a student and so what did I
have to loose and so I think that
influenced me as much as anything so it
you know my dad was like go for it you
know don’t why not what do you got to
lose you know you have to sleep on a
different couch so I think that that was
motivation rule number 12 find something
you love the type of person you are that
you know kind of points to the things
you’re good at are you 12 you’re not
gonna know are you 16 you’re not gonna
know if you’re 18 maybe if you have a
special talent yeah right you know you
can throw a baseball 100 miles an hour
you can sing and your voice is
incredible you know you’re you know a
concert pianist you’re a chess
grandmaster if you have a specific skill
set or talent that just immediately
propels you to top yeah you want to
follow that yeah but I remember having a
list I still have it when I graduated
from college I was getting ready to
graduate and all the different
industries that I thought I might want
to partake in when you find something
you’re good at
yeah go for it I was never really into
technology when I was a kid yeah but
then as I got a job that used it I found
out I was good at it and once I found
out I was good at it then it became a
lot more fun yeah you know when you’re
good at something that’s almost always
fun yeah yeah and once it was fun and I
combined that with you know my business
skills then I saw okay I know how to
make money at this stuff because I know
how to sell now I know tech that gives
me something I love to do and so you
know what I tell people the key is find
something you love to do and be great at
it yeah because once you do that it’s
all gravy rule number 13 be a shark what
if I offered you 1.25 million dollars to
sell the whole company Marc you’re
saying screw the other sharks yep I like
what you guys are doing I want you to
come back to me with a percentage I
don’t want you to even talk to these
guys you’re asking him to
take that option with you right now and
have more us you’re not a very nice guy
thought about B being wonderful no no I
have that title thing it’s about making
a business decision right hi I’m Mark
Cuban I’m a bully look at me what’s that
about what like I said guys you gotta
pay to play just attention in this room
I can feel it it’s offensive you got a
shot here right don’t let these guys
drag you down are you really interested
in this I like the idea
you really think cooking bacon bedside
is a good idea
I loved your passion I loved your
knowledge I’m waiting for the bike yeah
there’s a but coming
you’ve got a 24-second shot clock
$750,000 I’ve never seen grade like that
that’s unbelievable great you broke up
with your potential partner without even
looking at them you’re a savage I’m just
a lean mean shark machine baby
I say yes to whatever you’re Connor is
you have to tell me that you will say
yes immediately and we have a deal
$100,000 wait a minute for 20% equity
done done and done do you like that
Barbara I don’t like it one bit that’s a
compliment to you Barbara I screwed you
but it’s a compliment to you this isn’t
the Rose Garden it’s the shark tank and
you know what sometimes you got to take
the bite and sometimes you’re the Chum
rule number 14 try out different things
you just have to try different things
and even even if 99% of them fail you
only have to be right one time you don’t
have to figure it all out in advance you
can be wrong you could pick the wrong
career you can pick the wrong job you
can pick the wrong spouse you can pick
the wrong whatever but you get it right
one time you’re set but if you don’t try
and if you don’t go out there and try
all those different things you’ll never
get that one time and so it’s not a
question of okay how much different
stuff do I do or how many different
things should you try try them all try
them all till you find the one you like
and then it’s like it gets really easy
because even what’s up you’re on a
mission you’re loving what you do you
know and then then it gets easy and so
that’s just the approach I’ve always
tried to instill in people who work for
me and myself
rule number 15 work hard I knew I was
wired to be excited about business
how or why I don’t know but you know and
there’s certain guys they have the
genetics to jump out of the gym right
remember certain guys you know that you
know when they golf they have the muscle
memory and and the discipline you know
dirt the Biscay may not be the most
talented guy in the NBA but his
discipline and his focus to do what’s
necessary to be successful he’s willing
to do and combine it with being seven
feet tall and being skilled you know it
makes him an amazing basketball player
so it’s understanding what your skill
set is finding the right place to use
those skills and then going for it
you know will that make you 250 grand it
depends if you pick the right industry
but whatever industry you pick if you
outwork everybody if you try to be a
little smarter than everybody if you try
to be a better salesperson and everybody
if you try to be better prepared than
everybody you’ve got your best chance
because if you don’t do it and somebody
else does you I I have the same work
like someone’s trying to take it all
away from you you know work you actually
work like someone’s spending 24 hours
working 24 hours to take it all away
from you and that’s kind of the way I
look at it I remember asking my dad – I
want a new basketball shoes because I
was a basketball junkie back then he’s
like well your shoes work if you hunt a
new pair of tennis shoes you have to go
out there and get a job and I’m like dad
I’m 12 years old and it just so happens
he was playing poker with his buddies
and one of his buddies just like well I
got a job for you I’ve got these garbage
bags that we distribute you can sell the
door-to-door I’m like okay and it was
when I was selling them and realized he
that I’d like to sell and that I could
sell and that I recognized that selling
was was about providing the service and
creating value for people that I knew
that I would literally back then I knew
that I could always succeed I mean I
remember I was 16 I think when I started
a stamp company and started going to
stamp shows and trade shows and just
working a little bit harder than other
people and and trading up from one stamp
to the next I remember one time I
started with a quarter and bought a
stamp and left with $50 thinking hey if
I could do this I could do anything and
and it’s not that everything worked I
failed a lot but I never ever felt like
I
I wouldn’t be able to work hard enough
to succeed
rule number 16 follow your efforts also
always say it’s not about passion
everybody’s got passion for something
yeah right don’t follow your passions
follow your efforts because people say
you know I was passionate to play
baseball I was passionate to play
basketball doesn’t mean out all the
sudden I was going to be good enough
yeah but I found myself spending being
really curious about business being
really curious about technology and that
curiosity is really what drove me and I
think particularly if you’re young today
curiosity is great always learning and
trying to find new things and being
curious about new things because that’s
what leads you to that path trying to
figure out in advance yeah that’s hard
because you don’t know what you don’t
know rule number 17 put yourself in
their shoes be prepared
understand put yourselves in the shoes
of the people or the businesses that
you’re working with the message that I
just got on cyberdust is a perfect
example if he would have put himself in
my shoes it would be obvious that
cyberdust is important to me I’m trying
to push everybody to message using it
I’ve volunteered and Dave mentioned that
hey I’m going to be answering questions
long after this is over from you people
from everybody sending me messages so
cyberdust is obviously important to me
and so if you’re able to do something
that reflects something that’s important
to me or whoever it is that you’re
working we’re trying to get a job where
they’re trying to get an internship with
we’re trying to get an investment from
if you can put yourself in their shoes
and put yourself in context of what’s
important to them your chances of being
successful increase 99 percent as a
thousand-fold right and one other point
I’ll leave with you right if you’re
working for somebody the best way to be
successful is by reducing the stress of
those around you it’s not about you it’s
always about me but that’s a different
place but it’s not about you it’s about
the people around you if you’re reducing
the stress of the people around you
those are the people those people start
to gravitate towards you they want to
work with you because you may go into
work easier more pleasant you help them
accomplish their goals you help put them
in a position to succeed by reducing
their stress rule number 18 go
beyond dreams you know shark tank I do
the show not because they’re great
investments but I do the show because it
sends the message to to kids 8 to 80
that the American Dream is alive and
well you know you can watch the show and
and come to realize that somebody out of
Iowa or you know the middle of nowhere
in Texas can start a company and you
know turn it into something special
and I think you know so many families
watch the show together that is just you
know in particularly in this day and age
when so many people are saying what’s
wrong with this and what’s wrong with
them what’s wrong with America
it just really reinforces that you know
somebody with an idea who’s willing to
you know go beyond just an idea to a
company face and really work something
special can happen and and you know just
reinforcing that is really important to
me rule number nineteen look at the
opportunities what makes a work is like
everybody’s got ideas right most people
just think I’ll it’s my idea and I don’t
have this right the people that get it
done
they don’t look at the obstacles they
look at the opportunities you know
instead of coming up say I wish I had a
connection which I have money wish I had
this like this let’s do with the
surfboard man you went out got it found
a used surfboard and he started putting
it all together and it was just his time
you know and then he took it built one
figured it out build another one and
then it’s the same thing with some of
the other one pretty much all the other
companies where you know rather than
finding the excuses why they can’t do it
they find the reasons to make it work
and then they just butt to bust their
ass and good things happen rule number
20 play League of Legends team kuben
going forward three
and there’s still more fight to have
been hot shot dodging back out I still
drop the big good fight for Team kuben
an ace actually yep and that may be do
you think they can close it out right
now I mean they’ve got a lot of death
timers mm tardies on the nexus
original’s on the nexus 2 and some
impressive support from these guys for
cyber smile as well I was fun to raise
some money for charity
Cuban clearly delighted with his victory
rule number 21 outwork everyone most
people do a lot of talking and most
people don’t put in the effort there’s
nothing you can’t accomplish in life
with the right amount of work the
challenge is you know are you willing to
do the work and the reality is most
people aren’t but that’s the opportunity
right is I mean it’s like people you
know at school
most people are lazy right they they
just they barely get through it and and
so that creates opportunity I tell my
kids that a if they want something
they’re gonna have to earn it
yeah and B if they don’t work hard
enough to earn it I’m gonna sell them
off as medical experiments that’s the
line in our house you need money okay
we’ll shut you off as a medical
experiment we can get you money that way
give blood dad I’m seven I don’t care
rule number 22 go through the hurdles
Steve Jobs said it best everything’s a
remix you know if you look at what Apple
did they stole a lot from Xerox they
stole a lot from different places and
you know the early days of of the PC
industry software industry there wasn’t
a lot of regulation and and it was just
ready fire aim you just went went went
went
when you know now there’s there’s
different types of regulation my biggest
myth as an investor was because I paid
too close attention to disruption
artemiy to regulation so I had this guy
send me an email I first iodide finances
last company company called red swoosh
we did peer-to-peer file-sharing and he
sent me an email saying we’re gonna
disrupt the cab industry and I’m like
that’s a really good idea and it’s like
yeah we’re gonna call it uber cab and
we’re gonna go around and just use an
app so that people can hail a cab that’s
why I called an uber cab so you don’t
have to go through the the intermedia of
the taxi and I’m like this is great but
you’re gonna have to fight all the taxi
associations and all the transportation
organizations in each city in every
state you know you just you’re you know
and then I started talking about his
evaluation and I never heard back from
him the rest is history he’s still a
jerk but we’re still friends so you have
you know and the point is when you’re
trying to disrupt something like Travis
was doing right you know and try it’s
gotten him in a little bit of trouble
particularly recently but you know
sometimes you’ve got to be ready fire
aim and just bust through doors and
figure you know you’ll deal with the
constant you’ll deal with the regulation
or regulatory issues later and so you
know he’s obviously disrupted
transportation and he’s trying to do a
whole lot more than that and he gets all
the credit because where I saw
regulation he ignored it and so if you
really believe and you really have
something that you know you think is
going to happen and disrupt the world
you know bring it to me I won’t make the
same mistake twice and then and then
just go and you know and bust through
those doors and figure out how to get
through the hurdles
rule number 23 follow your effort people
you’re such a risk-taker like I hate
risk me I’m terrified and literally it
is terrifying you know taking that first
step for me it was easier because I got
fired but you know it is really it’s
about preparation you know if what we
all go through this process and tell me
what you think chase I mean where you’ve
got the idea right and you get that
feeling in your stomach and you get all
excited oh my god then you talk to
friend and the Franco oh wow that’s
pretty cool I never heard of anything
like that I buy that right and then you
talk to some other people and then you
do the Google search right anybody else
has anybody else doing this you try 50
different ways no one’s out there well
the first thing I’ll tell you is just
because you don’t see it on Google
doesn’t mean 100 companies haven’t gone
out of business doing the same thing
right
it may not be out there’s a saint in
basketball you’re open for a reason
which means you can’t shoot so they’re
not guarding you’re right it hasn’t been
done for a reason because every company
who’s tried it has gone out of business
so the one thing I would tell you is be
careful but once you get past that that
stage then what I always tell people is
one is it something you love to do right
that is so true because it’s gonna get
hard like really hard it’s gonna get
hard and if you don’t love what you’re
doing then it’s like that when gets
hard that’s when you’re gonna like oh
man I’m gonna fall in the towel right
right because you don’t know right and
you don’t have a sense for it and I’m a
real believer that each and every one of
us has something we’re good at right and
you’ve got to figure out is this
something you’re good at
you know I’ve always been good at
selling I found out I wasn’t into
computers when I was a kid then I found
out when I start to start to teach
myself out of code it was like I like
this right and I literally I would sit
there writing software and I think okay
I’ve been working two hours I better get
something to eat and it’s been 24 hours
you know it’s just like what the
you know 24 hours I mean I okay tell me
you’re clued in it’s not just what you
care about it’s not just passion because
you should let the circles overlapping
passion and aptitude right you weren’t
good at something just because you love
basketball doesn’t mean I’m gonna be any
good at it right yeah sure for I mean
you can have fun at it but if you’re
trying to make a business a life a
living things yeah I always say don’t
follow your passion follow your effort
that’s right so you might think you’re
passionate about playing basketball
playing the guitar drawing design
whatever but where you spend your time
is your better indicator because that’s
typically what you’re good at and nobody
ever quits anything they’re good at for
sure you know it when you’re good at
something you tend to want to give back
rule number 24 create memorable
experiences when people think about
going to sporting events now use this as
an example you don’t remember the jump
shots after a while you don’t remember
the home runs you don’t remember the
touchdowns
you don’t remember the score you
remember the experience yeah you know
remember who took us you’re our first
game with our mom or dad we remember how
we felt when we won that game you know
going to a sporting event it’s one of
the few places where you’re allowed to
stand up and scream at the top of your
lungs and you’re encouraged to scream as
loud as you want and someone hits a
game-winning jumper you’re hugging
people and high-fiving people you’ve
never seen in your life and you’ll never
see again and you’re walking out of the
arena you know singing and chanting and
screaming and if you lose that game
you’re bummed out and you know the
entire city or the entire school can be
bummed out so when we sell when we
seldom average we don’t sell basketball
we sell unique experiences and so you’ve
got to understand in your business
exactly what the differentiation is and
what the compelling aspect of that
business is but you know think about
what you do as a consumer what is it
that makes you make the choices that you
make why do you buy a certain thing why
do you shop a certain place why do you
go to a certain website those are the
keys rule number 25 don’t care about the
opinions of others most people really
are concerned about what people think
about them it holds them back you never
ever ever ever have it’s not a part of
who you are is that your DNA or where
did that come from
I don’t know I just never gave a yeah
it’s just once you get success in
something I mean even when look I failed
many times and you learn from those
failures that it doesn’t hurt as bad as
you thought you know that you can bounce
back and then once you taste some
success you realize it doesn’t matter
how many times you failed right you only
have to be one right one time then
everyone’s always an overnight success
or you know this came easy to them you
know you just you just got to keep on
grinding and and keep on trying new
things and you know once you start
feeling the success you realize look it
doesn’t matter what the other people
think other than my customers other than
my you know my partners other than my
employees I care what they think but you
know from the outside looking in I was
always just so focused that I just never
I mean I got distracted from time I
don’t want to say never distracted but
you know I just didn’t want anybody else
I don’t want to think that how people
saw me was a reflection of the job I was
doing
you know if my customers were happy if
my stakeholders were happy I was happy
rule number 26 be passionate you’re not
like the regular guy who owns a team who
just you know sits on the sidelines and
his family could you be involved to the
other team oh yeah if you try to get
them assigned with you don’t sign when
I’m like Mark Cuban is on time with this
oh yeah yeah love it look you know I’ve
been a basketball junkie my entire life
since I’ve been five years old and um I
just get into it you know we all have
something right where you’re just like I
Astro right just super passionate right
and that it’s always been basketball for
me I mean during a game I’m out of
control
right those 48 minutes any other time
I’m like this rule number 27 do the work
some people just they get on the show
and they think you know I don’t have to
work anymore I don’t have to work as
hard or if I get an investor it’ll be
easier and it never works that way or
they just they stop paying attention to
detail yeah right I’ve had a couple
companies where it’s like all right you
know I’ll hire people to do all the work
it’s your company it’s your baby you’ve
got to do you you know if you’re not
gonna do the work who is and I’ve always
felt you know in terms of leadership
that my job is to put everybody around
me in a position to succeed and if I’m
walking around the arena here I’m
picking up junk on the ground I’m you
know helping customers I’m trying to you
know convey to everybody that there’s
not a job that you would do that I
wouldn’t do myself and a lot of
entrepreneurs that fail they lose they
lose track of that they think you know
I’m the boss I mean I I had a job one
time and I was a horrible employee where
you know the the president the company
spent more time telling me how I should
dress then trying to help me close sales
yeah you know so you’ve got to do the
work and that’s key rule number 28 be
innovative again in 95 a buddy of mine
can me go you know this internet thing
is starting to take off there’s no way
to listen to sports on the internet and
you got to figure it out you’re the tech
geek you got to figure it out so I’m
like okay
figure out a way to put audio on the
internet and so that’s what we did and
so we started a company called audio net
started hooking up the technology
started going to all these different
radio stations teams and saying okay you
know you can’t let anything outside of
Dallas anything outside of Pittsburgh or
anything outside of wherever you can’t
hear it or see it right now we want to
be able to listen like radio around the
world and they’re like cool and so they
gave me the rights to their stuff and we
went started with the radio station in
Dallas hooked up an eight hour VCR had a
server set up in my bedroom and we
connected it to the internet figure it
all out and now I would just go online
to different places and say look if
you’re interested in Dallas Sports
download this go to this website called
audio net within a month we had
thousands of people downloading in a day
and this was like in 1995 and it just
got bigger no one had ever heard of
streaming then went from on-demand to
live to concerts to games to everything
to video and then we went public and
during the big internet boom and it was
the biggest IPO in the history of the
stock market and then Yahoo bought us
for 5.7 billion and then it up but that
was like was that like during the XM
satellite see like all of that satellite
all before that before that before they
were doing XM this was like the idea of
being able to listen to audio or people
are like what do you do again like the
internet you audio and video they had no
clue and people were like that no one
needs that I got a radio I got a TV
right and I’m like no you know this
whole audio thing Wow
before they had Digital Millennium
Copyright Act we used to work with with
labels I remember I was talking to Jimmy
Iovine and he goes and we’re trying to
get music to put online and he didn’t
really know what standards right and so
he goes mark forget about that for a
second I want you to listen to this talk
to this dude Marshall and listen to this
song and he puts on I am you know and
then I’m Slim Shady
yes let’s say right and it gets this guy
Marshall and he goes calm Eminem Wow and
so that’s how we started working with
them to get on the you know streaming on
the internet with them
and we know the rest of the history on
streaming rule number 29 read books I
used to love to walk through bookstores
when there were bookstores everywhere
and if there’s something that caught my
eye and I thought it can give me one
idea to spend thirty dollars to give one
idea that could help propel me make my
businesses better it was a bargain the
only investment guide you’ll ever need
by Andrew Tobias used to get me all
fired up I read hours every day because
all it takes is one little thing to
propel you to the next level anything
that you think is interesting that
relates to business read it you know I I
tried to find books about entrepreneurs
when I was young I tried to find books
about businesses all my friends thought
I was crazy
you know why are you reading this why
are you reading that and it’s because I
enjoyed it so you know regardless of you
don’t have to read the right books if
you read the things that that are
interesting to you then you’ll find
things that you like to do and once you
find something you like to do the goal
is can you be good at it and if you can
be good at it then the next goal is can
you be great at it and you know great
things happen when you’re great at
something
rule number 30 be a shark one shark is
out dave has two offers on the table for
his early education software platform
brightwheel however things have become
heated in the tank after Dave suggested
sharks go in on an offer together you
tell me what do you think you need from
the rest of the line here are you
serious are you really that clueless no
I’m just I’m seriously are you really
that clearly haven’t heard you speak up
so somebody else wants to shut up right
now they should because I’m taking the
Opera I just want to know if we’re gonna
team up with anyone or you need to take
you know opera so you’re not even
listening to your thing I want in with
Chris Chris is gonna add a ton of value
I don’t know if anyone else wants to
join then do you ending questions yes
what else do you need from somebody else
and is anybody here nominating
themselves as bringing some of the table
the nominate myself I’m listening right
so I don’t need to convince Chris of
anything I have no problem with Chris
and the value he brings the other
companies he has right when he assigns
his name to it it holds a lot of street
cred in his little part of the world
once you get outside of that little
bubble called Silicon Valley it doesn’t
mean as far as I know he what if you
want to create a brand value so that
somebody who’s working in Texas
Pittsburgh made Florida and wants to
have an extra level of confidence to say
you know what this was validated by
somebody that we trust something we know
has a track record your job gets easier
rule number 31 pay off your credit cards
if you want to be rich the first thing
you should do is pay off your credit
cards if you have a payday loan you have
a loan pay it off because that’s the
boat anchor that’s gonna hold you back
there mercilessly no mercy right there’s
no upside to look I get I get how
difficult it is I mean I’ve been there
where I’ve come home and the lights are
out and I’ve had to go down to the
utility company and explain why this new
account that I just opened up and this
check is going to clear even though the
last five have it right or when you know
you look at your phone and it’s a bill
collector and look it’s not always easy
but at the same time going and try
you’ve got it there’s there’s just no
way to get over that hump by taking a
payday loan or a high interest rate loan
or a prepaid credit card with a high
interest rate it’s really tempting and
you think to yourself well if I just do
this I know I can work my way through to
pay it off and get to the next level and
as someone who’s had their Sears there
their visa their MasterCard all cut up
in front of them right it’s just it’s
it’s the biggest boat anchor that you
could ever ask for when it comes to your
life or starting a business rule number
32 be nice nice is way undervalued you
know particularly in this day and age
you know if you turn on the news
everything seems like it’s gonna get
blown up right being nice just makes
life so much easier
and look I learned the hard way I had to
have my partner Todd came to me one day
and he goes I like to curse he goes I
don’t care about cursing but you curse
too much not everybody is as accepting
and I took that the heart not so much
the cursing part but but I just I it
became apparent to me that the nicer I
got the more effective people around me
got the more productive they got the
more sales we had I was undervaluing
nice you know I started my my first
company after I got fired from a job and
I was 24 just turned 24 my first real
company if you will and I was always go
go go go go all consumed right live it
eat it sleep it breathe it and I knew
people couldn’t keep up or work as hard
as many hours as me but I wanted them to
and we were successful and we didn’t
have much turnover but I could have done
a better job if I were nicer and
broadcast calm I got a little bit nicer
right as things but then once I got to
the Mavs and and some of these other
companies and Todd reminded me you know
and and really told me you know just
nice nice works and so when you find
yourself going to work when you’re
finding yourself dealing with customers
when you’re finding yourself making
decisions we all get that ah jatai right
that feeling in their stomach that
tenseness that stress at various points
at times that we all have to go through
but sometimes you just need to calm the
down right take a deep breath and be
nice because you’ll find out that people
will do much more but if you reduce the
stress to people and you’re nice you’re
gonna have such a huge advantage no
matter what your technology is no matter
how it compares even if it’s a download
for an app people were still have to
deal with you your culture will come
through being nice being being
supportive reducing stress that all
comes through even in an app
rule number 33 be prepared third is be
prepared people oh you’re such a risk
taker I don’t take risks right when you
walk into the room if you don’t know
more about your business your industry
your company your customer then
everybody else in the world
you’re lying to yourself that you’re you
don’t know she’s right because someone
like me is gonna just kick your
seriously right if you walk in and
there’s somebody else who knows your
business or your industry better than
you why would they buy from you the one
thing in business you can control your
efforts your effort
rule number 34 grind I’m not mr. mentor
I’m not the one who says let’s sit down
tell me how it’s going oh I’m gonna tell
you exactly how I am get off your ass
and get out there and sell something
that’s right I mean I’ve never been the
okay I need a mentor you know a lot of
people look for mentors thinking they’re
gonna tell me the shortcut ah mark you
be my mentor you know the way and they
think I’m gonna go convey some magics
here’s the dust go go go
it doesn’t work that way I still grind
I love the grind if you’re competing on
one of my businesses I’m gonna kick your
ass because I’m gonna I’ll grind you
right that’s what being an entrepreneur
that an entrepreneur is you’ve got to
get out there and do the work so when it
comes to how do you learn right because
that’s the question how do I learn this
stuff everybody everybody has got to go
through that process right I read our
I’m in the tech business I’m a media
business the entertainment business I’ve
got to try to prepare myself for all the
Shark Tank businesses I read three hours
plus a day right what everybody else is
getting a suntan or even when I’m
getting a suntan
I’ve got I’m online or I’ve got books
I’m reading all I can rule number 35 put
your customers in a position to succeed
you have to execute
everybody’s got ideas you know that’s
that’s the easy part but customer what
sale customer
customer happy yes or no sale customer
customer happy yes or no right sale
because everything just feeds that right
everything else is noise and if you and
part of that though so there is a part
beat of that right because one tenant of
good business is always listened to your
customers right you always want to
listen but you don’t always want to do
what they tell you right because the
customers job is to just is to make
their company successful right and when
they tell you what they need and what
they tell you what they want they’re
typically thinking about the right here
and now they’re not thinking about your
potential competitors they’re not take
thinking about the future of your
organization so you have to also
innovate you have to differentiate so
you have to have be over out here
innovating differentiating understanding
you know how you fit within your
industry and how you can get ahead but
then you have to turn that into sales
customers customer happiness and so if
you can execute on those things things
typically work out well it’s not well my
office is pretty my office always looks
like crap right I mean our offices now
we we have these bare desks everywhere
I’m not it you know you don’t have to
look the part I mean I certainly never
have right you don’t have to sound apart
you just have to find a way to put your
customers in a position to succeed and
good things happen
rule number 36 find your path you can
remember back to you know when you were
kind of my age uh-huh did you think you
would have all this oh yeah absolutely I
ya know I had no idea I grew up in
Pittsburgh um my dad did upholstery on
cars so if you got a rip in your car
seat you took it to him my mom had odd
jobs from selling real estate to making
baskets and you know I was just a normal
kid but I was always into business from
as long as I could remember I was
selling something or working on
something trying to make money and I
just it just got me excited to be a
business person and it just took off
from there rule number 37 find the
competitive edge I was never the one to
like chase the sector oh this is hot
because you have to ask yourself who are
you competing with and whatever you do
you have to ask yourself what’s your
edge
right what is the one thing that gives
you a competitive edge if you don’t have
an answer
you can’t start that company you’re
gonna lose
right I said before if you’re trying to
compete with me you better low know a
whole lot more than I do about whatever
business were in because otherwise I’m
gonna kick your ass right so you have to
ask yourself what is your competitive
advantage and with that competitive
advantage what’s the best way for me to
get customers who are willing to write
me a check might one of my skill sets
has always been I’ve been able to walk
into any type of business and understand
their company you know understand how
they make money I understand how they
compete so I can walk into a shoe store
I can walk into a hospital or whatever
and say alright here’s my technology
here’s how it gives you an advantage and
I try to do the same thing on Shark Tank
you hear us say it all the time
what is your competitive advantage just
saying it’s my passion
do you ever walk into 7-eleven and say
wow I’m shopping here at 7-eleven
because they’re really passionate no
right and when when you go and you make
drew think about your own buying
decisions what makes you decide to buy
now you might want to support
veteran-owned business so I always when
it’s a toss-up yes right but at some
point you have to grow beyond the
community and you have to be able to say
like you can walk into any situation and
know without any doubt in your mind this
is why you are the best product or
service and you are the best company
provide that product or service period
in a story if you can’t do that you have
to ask yourself who is doing it what are
they doing that gives them that edge
what allows them to compete or help
their customers better than you can
because that’s what it’s all about we
all as consumers make buying decisions
and we the people who are buying our
stuff is product or service use the same
thought process for those buying
decisions so always put yourself in your
potential customers shoes what is it
that I have that makes it a no-brainer
for them to buy for me if
it’s um nice I’m passionate you’re in
trouble right there’s got to be
something because even if you can get
some customers how are you going to grow
it how are you going to sustain it and
what’s going to keep the next person
from coming in and doing the same thing
because look with success comes
additional challenges the more you
succeed the more people say damn okay
that’s an opportunity I think I can do
that better and so success isn’t look
where I’m at
success is go-go-go-go
right I mean people say wow you’ve done
this I’m still going right to me
business is the ultimate sport and
there’s nobody on the face of the earth
that’s more competitive than I am I’ve
said that to Magic Johnson Michael
Jordan Larry Bird you name it right any
athlete any businessperson it is the
ultimate sport and we’re competing all
the time what is it that gives you an
edge that allows you to compete how do
you sustain that and how do you find
more people that say yes to buy that
that is going to be the key to your
business and how do you sell it rule
number 38 always be a student I focus on
things that are AI driven artificial
intelligence driven whether it’s machine
learning deep learning learning neural
networks medical applications but within
ai ai is a buzz word that everybody’s
using right now you know every in and to
that point you know we as all guys we go
back and it’s like 1995 we talk about
the Internet and I would say to people
back in 1995 look if you don’t
understand the Internet you’re not gonna
be able to do business and now that’s
just blocking the tackling that seems
obvious back then it wasn’t right I can
even take you further back to my first
company you know what we did was a
company called micro solutions and we
did local area networks on wide area
networks and I used to walk into
companies and say
you’re gonna have to hook these pcs
together at some point that’ll make you
more productive more effective you know
give you a competitive advantage and
people are like now I just carry this
floppy from this PC to that PC yeah okay
but today we’re at the same type of
inflection point with artificial
intelligence you don’t have to be an
expert and be able to put together your
own neural network you know you don’t
have to know what weights and biases are
but but you have to have more than just
a cursory understanding just like you
have to know the difference between you
know different types of websites and you
have to understand ecommerce if you’re
in the e-commerce you have to have a
cursory understanding of how apps work
you’re gonna have to have at least if
not more cursory understanding of
artificial intelligence because it will
change everything we do and if the
internet was 10x in terms of change to
business artificial intelligence will be
100x
or more if you go to my house right next
to my bed there’s a book machine
learning for dummies if you go into my
bathroom there’s deep neural networks
for dummies right if you go there’s a
something for dummies in every room of
my house you know they could go to ways
I know but I’m just telling you put the
time I mean I’ve taken you know I can’t
even tell you how many hours now I spend
every week if not daily working like
I’ll go into Amazon AWS and go through
their machine learning tutorials don’t
think to yourself I’m not technical
enough or I’m not gonna get this or I
don’t get into this or it’s too much try
it get as far as you can because it’s
like doing a basic website and a little
bit of HTML just having done that you
feel smarter and you feel a little bit
more confident about this you know I
don’t want to be an alarmist but I’m
trying to scare the hell out of you
because it’s important rule number 39
disrupt industries one of the big
challenges for everybody having a unique
idea and then taking us through the
fruition there’s always hard right it’s
never easy there’s always people are
going to question you
and
being able to take that first step and
fight through all the naysayers you know
the it it it’s a process but once you
start to get traction whether it’s uber
whoever maybe you know and you’re taking
steps that nobody else has that’s when
you really have to fight and you know
now particularly where we don’t have an
administration that’s particularly tech
literate I think there’s going to be new
challenges and so the companies that are
emerging today maybe some of them are
here at South by Southwest you know
maybe it’s gonna be a little bit more
difficult but still there’s there’s no
less need and it’s no less important you
know it’s as the world changes and I
think it’s going to change more over the
next ten years technologically than has
the past thirty we’re gonna need people
to disrupt and make our make the world
better
rule number forty create energy so
trying to build a team trying to win
games that’s in this bucket trying to
create the best fan experience that’s a
completely different bucket you know I
don’t want people using Wi-Fi at our
games
I don’t want that’s called look now when
you’re look I want you know what makes
going to a game unique versus sitting on
the couch is the energy you feel when
you walk into the case study is the Duke
University student section everybody up
jumping for two hours yeah they’re not
the target audience for this I’m not
doing they’re not doing it right because
getting away from your device and going
getting out of the house and doing
something unique when you walk into a
Mavs game I want you to feel the energy
right I don’t want you to even think
about going I want you to shoot I forgot
to check on the babysitter right oh
I forgot to check my email you know we
spend more probably as much as all the
other teams and all professional sports
combined to do original videos that we
put up on the jumbotron we upgraded our
big screen in the middle of the arena so
at the time it was the largest indoor
screen anywhere in the world just so we
could do better entertainment rule
number 41 learn how to sell I’m gonna
give you Mark Cuban rule number one and
whenever you forget this rule you’re
already out of business in every
business sales cures all has anybody
ever heard of a business that had zero
sales sales that was successful doesn’t
happen yet a lot of people start their
business thinking I have a great idea
I’m gonna do this this is amazing
I’m gonna go raise money I just sold
this
idea and then it comes back and it’s
like okay you got to sell that product
or you got to sell that service that’s
the first and main key to a successful
business when you’re getting ready to
start you have to answer that question
rule number 42 just do it the second
thing is don’t ask for help I think one
of the things that is challenging the
companies right now is they want to
mentor they want a tutor right get out
there ready fire and go when I go to
talk and colleges in particular it’s
like we you help me you help me will you
help me help your self right and I think
that’s where we get caught up so just do
this do it
rule number 43 my personal favorite
reduce stress be turn entrepreneurs
about being a problem solver right
you’re you know what a selling selling
is not convincing selling is helping you
know as tech entrepreneurs here if
you’re going to a customer whether it’s
consumer or you’re a b2b you know either
you’re making your customers life easier
either you’re reducing your stress or
you’re making it harder and you’re
increasing their stress I mean over the
years I think some of the things I’ve
come to learn triggers like dealing with
some of these Shark Tank companies is
one of the greatest skill sets that an
entrepreneur employee salesperson can
have is reducing stress if you find that
when you go to work stress increases the
minute you walk in the door you’ve got a
problem if you have an employee and the
minute they walk in the door you have a
problem and they have a problem and what
I found is the best companies the best
employees that I have the best
investments that I have are there people
who reduce stress because those are the
people we don’t want to give up you know
they may not they don’t make the most
noise they don’t always get the biggest
paychecks then always close the biggest
deals but when there’s problems that
need to be solved they’re already
working on them before you’re even aware
of them
those are the people that we love and
those are the things you know reducing
stress if you set in your mind it goes
as an entrepreneur for your company 1
keeping your you know selling and
keeping your customers very happy to
stay ahead of the curve with your
competitors and 3 reducing stress of
everybody around you all your
stakeholders you’re gonna be successful
because if you think about all your
personal experiences would you rather do
business with somebody who creates
stress or do you want to do business
with the person who reduces stress it’s
easy answer but you’d be amazed at how
many people don’t follow through in that
rule number 44 follow your effort and
I’m gonna tell you something that a lot
of people 99 percent of people disagree
with me on right everybody says follow
your passions I say that’s
right I say follow your efforts it’s
amazing how we’re all passionate about
things we are all passionate about
something helping veterans helping this
organization helping this group that’s
great but no matter what it all Nets out
to where do you put your time because
when people put in their time you get
better at things and when you get better
at something and get good at something
then you have a chance to be great at
something and you know what I’ve learned
nobody ever quits anything they’re great
at and once you get great at it’s
amazing how passionate you become about
it
follow your efforts right because it’s
not in the Dreaming it’s in the doing
rule number 45 be driven another quick
story so I didn’t have money for a car
and my x19 with a hole in the floorboard
had died and so I literally the way I
got my car was I saw a car that was
stranded on the side of the road this
old Camaro and I forget exactly how but
I figured out which Bank had had put the
money up for it for somebody to buy and
I called the bank and I said would you
let me pick up the payments on this
you know only I need you to lower the
payments down a little bit and they said
yes so I had this you know nineteen
eighty-something on Trans Am that I was
able to use but the point being that you
just have to do things you never think
you’re going to have to do
in order to survive and get through it
you know those first couple months I
remember thinking to myself I’m in
business in two months now you know I
remember getting to the point where I
had $15,000 in sales probably six months
into the company and I’m still living in
the show and thinking okay I can do this
I can do this and along the way it was
it was lots of trial and error you know
there were things that were new to me
things that were terrifying to me things
that would just I would break out into a
sweat but I always remember going into
my customers and just trying to be
brutally honest and say to them if I can
help you right if I can bring value if I
can make your company more competitive
more profitable will you work with me
and you don’t have to put money I’ll do
the work to prove it and if I get it
done then we’ll meet you know we’ll
figure it all out you know or they agree
to a price and then they’ll pay it at
that point and one by one I just kept on
making customers happy and lost some you
know for every one I lost picked up
three and I got I was so nervous about
the whole thing that you know I just I
couldn’t imagine slowing down you know
and so people talk about you know life
family balance I had none I mean I
literally remember dating some girl this
is truth and it was like we’d been
dating a couple years and like it mark
your so when do your work I mean I want
to pick a fence I want a house I want
kids you know I mean you it’s me or your
job and I was like or me in your mirror
your company and I was like what’s your
name again
[Music]
I’m like if you don’t know me well
enough by now two years that I’ve driven
this I mean there was no balance
rule number 46 be prepared to win
there’s part of you that either wants to
create a business or you off obviously
already have created a business the
hardest part is taking that first step
right there’s always downline like I was
talking about earlier that you have to
take a step pass but the thing people
always say well you know you’re not
afraid to start a business why aren’t
you it’s terrifying or you know you I
just it scares me to do it and my my
attitude has always been if you’re
prepared it’s not a risk right Bobby
Knight who was the coach at Indiana
University used to say everybody’s got
the will to win but it’s only those with
the will to prepare that do win and the
same applies to business we’ve all seen
her friends go out there and just wing
it
you know it’s my passion we’re all
passionate about something I’m
passionate about basketball doesn’t make
me an NBA player right it’s not just
about passion it’s not just about saying
I’m doing it it’s not even about
incorporating it’s not about the idea
it’s about are you prepared and are you
willing to do the work rule number 47
know what your product is when I started
with the NBA they thought their product
was basketball and this applies to
entrepreneurs very much so you got to
know what your product is micro
solutions my product was profitability
using technology to generate
profitability at broadcast comm it was
our ability to make the world smaller
even though we broadcast radio stations
those were proof of concept so that
corporations could do you know we Intel
would pay us hundreds of thousands even
millions of dollars so that they could
broadcast stream their product
introductions in five languages around
the world things they weren’t able to do
prior to that so we made the world
smaller with the Mavs we didn’t sell
basketball we sold fun
we sold experience this and I and I
would go to the NBA owners meetings and
I’d say okay what was the score your
last game who you know do you remember
this jump shot from your last game and
like no then I’d say okay do you
remember the first game you went to with
your mom or your dad do you remember the
first game you took your son your
daughter your niece or your nephew to
that game you went to with a girlfriend
or your wife or your buddies oh yeah
that’s what we sell we sell experiences
and those experiences have to be
affordable and those experiences have to
be made special and so you know I
brought in music because what I learned
early on was when a parent brought their
10 year old or eight year old that eight
year old is looking like this you know
whenever there’s not action going on and
so I had to keep them engaged and all
these things were completely foreign to
the NBA and they just thought I was an
idiot but you know as I’ve learned over
the years that every time someone thinks
I’m an idiot I’m good
rule number 48 learn from your mistakes
you talked about having better
leadership style your leadership was
challenged recently Sports Illustrated
came out with the article about the
Dallas Mavericks you know you said you
were surprised you were ashamed you
hired a third party investigator in this
day and age is it okay for CEOs to say
you know I’m I’m so high up or owners
I’m so high up I’m so far removed I
didn’t really know what was going on you
have no idea right I mean but seriously
I mean you know every company grows the
scale and it’s difficult for someone to
know what’s going on and in my case I
wasn’t the CEO I had a CEO that I let
run and unfortunately he was one of the
people that that has been questioned but
at this point time we have investigators
we’ll let them investigate we brought in
people that were completely independent
and so once the investigation is over
we’ll learn and we’ll see what happens
um I’m not making excuses I’m glad that
people spoke out on you know you don’t
hear me saying to anybody don’t speak
out when in fact once I found out I
stood in front of all our employees and
said say what you need to say talk to
you need who you need to talk to if you
want to talk to the press go talk to the
press because I’ve whatever happened I
want it all out now I want to learn from
it but have you learned
that it wasn’t just about treating
people equally that you can you can
treat them equally
but don’t necessarily treat them the
same women might have a different
perspective of a situation than a man
would and to think that well this is how
I think a man will handle it so this
must be how a woman’s going to handle
the
wrong on my part and it was it was a
tough lesson to learn but I’ve learned
it are you gonna bring those ideas
to your other companies as well like
more women at the table I was just gonna
say I went through and had somebody at
because I was curious I didn’t know how
many businesses currently invested in
that or women-owned founded or operated
and out of the hundred Act of 46 were
owned and operated or founded by women
which I thought was not bad and so we
created a round table that were allowing
them to communicate and hopefully we’ll
learn from that communicate with all of
us and share ideas and so hopefully the
different perspectives will will make us
all better business people rule number
49 find your path my dad did a pole
story on cars so if you got a rip in
your car seat you would take it to where
he worked
my mom did work odd jobs from wherever
and we you know we had we lived in a
okay neighborhood but we weren’t poor by
long sigh but we were truly middle-class
and I over and over my dad didn’t go to
college my mom didn’t go to college and
so they would be done to me you’re going
to college and they used to make me work
at odd jobs so that I would learn the
value of work and and you know one I’d
go where my dad worked doing it with
cars and he’d make me sweep the hole and
this place was nasty make me sweep all
the time you know try to get me a job in
a mill but couldn’t give me a job in a
mill my mom wanted me to lay carpet
because she was worried about me if I
didn’t have a trade and so she got a
friend of hers to try to get me to teach
me how to lay carpet and if you ever go
there’s this little office in Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania if you trip over the carpet
that’s where I learned how to lay carpet
and I was going through these things I’m
like this is just not me and and I
always had that that individual spirit
to say okay you know I can come up with
things that can make me money I mean
when I was nine I would sell baseball
cards when I was 12 I told my dad I
wanted a pair of basketball shoes and it
just so happens he was playing poker
with his buddies who are all probably
two rip-roaring drunk at the time and I
just didn’t realize it but I was like
dad I want a new pair
of tennis shoes you know the the new
beta bullets were coming out or whatever
they were a new converse and he’s like
you see those shoes on your feet they
work just fine when you have a job you
can go buy whatever you want I’m like
dad I’m 12 I don’t have a job and one of
his buddies stood out it was got
stripped but he said hey I got I got a
job for you
he had these boxes of garbage bags and
he’s like I’ve got these boxes of
garbage bags I don’t know what to do is
want you sell them I’m like cool you
know what do they cost me and they
literally were a box of a hundred these
blue garbage bags that he was some to me
for three bucks and then I would I went
door-to-door
it was like hi my name is Mark do you
use garbage bags and I learned I could
sell is just like okay six bucks you
know I’ll drop them off whenever you
need them just call me and I made some
money bought my shoes and you know and
that just gave me confidence and it took
off from there and rule number 50 the
last home before a very special bonus
clip is have fun are you ready to help
us get the country really hooked on our
smoked fish dip is good the ones that
have made me the most money have always
been the craziest don’t quit your day
job did I get a volunteer to come up and
that’s a little bit too weird for me
you do this don’t make into a pillow
now I’ve got a really special bonus clip
from Mark Cuban on how to make it happen
that I think you’re really gonna enjoy
but before that it’s time for the three
point landing questions time to move
from watching another video to actually
taking action in your life and in your
business so answer these three questions
on your own talk about them with a
friend or leave your replies in the
comments below here we go
question number one what do you need to
just go out and do question number two
what is the memorable experience that
you want to create for your customers
and question number three what is the
biggest mistake that you’ve made that
you have learned from thank you guys so
much for watching I believe in you I
hope we continue to believe in yourself
and whatever you’re one where it is much
love I’ll see you soon and enjoy the
working in your business software it
actually went really good for a while
because I I didn’t have a tech
background and so it gave me the
opportunity to teach myself and I found
out that I like tech you know which was
shocking to me and so I would sit in
there and use the computers and teach
myself all the software from way back
when the word stars the word perfect the
you know the peachtree software is for
those of us that go way back when and
one day and and mind you i’m sleep I’m
living in a three-bedroom apartment with
six guys six 23 24 year old guys
however nasty you think it is it was
worse I didn’t have a closet I didn’t
have a drawer I had a pile and I wear
contacts I wear contacts oh but I wear
my classes at night and I didn’t have
any money so I broke my glasses that I
would pick them up and they’d tear apart
one piece here one piece there oh it was
an adventure but um but so one day I’m
living in this hill and I get the
opportunity to close a big deal
and it was going to be $1500 Commission
to me yes sir let’s go and I call my
boss a guy named Michael Hugh Mickey and
I said Michael I’ve got this deal and
part of my job responsibilities were
sweeping the floor it was a retail store
sweeping the floor making sure the
windows were clean and opening up and
I’ve got you know one of my fellow
employees all set to do all that I call
him up and said Michael it’s a $15,000
sale I but I need to go pick it up
before before work I won’t be there to
open things up he goes no I need you to
open up the store I’m like I gotta
conferred and I make the executive
decision that I’m gonna go pick up the
check and I’m gonna hand them the check
and he’s going to forget all about it
and we’re all gonna be friends and I’ll
make my commission fired me for
I haven’t seen him since but I was
probably the best thing that could have
happened yeah right now but in any event
um but it made me realize that I need to
work to myself again you know that I’m
an entrepreneur at heart and so I just
don’t you know it’s not this is what it
is and and so I couldn’t take the $1,500
Commission it was his company was his
sale and and so I found another customer
that I had been talking to a prospect a
company called architectural lighting
and Here I am sleeping in the stall with
no job and desperate um but I convinced
this this company architectural lighting
there was a piece of software that I
wanted to sell them for five hundred
bucks and I told them it cost me 250 and
that I would make it work and train them
on it and support them if they would
loan me the 250 to buy the software
upfront and if it didn’t work for
whatever reason I’d walk their dogs
clean their cars you know scrub their
toilets whatever it took to pay them
back
and fortunately it worked and that led
to another customers led to another
customer that was a company called micro
solutions over the next seven years I
didn’t take a vacation taught myself out
a program taught myself you know more
about technology that of networking than
I thought I would ever know and we grew
to you know give or take 36 million in
sales 80 employees and I sold it back
you know 1990 I guess time flies for six
million dollars but for you know a
twenty nine thirty year old kid that was
real money and and so um then there’s
big money and not that it’s not now it
really is but it’s just but it to get
from the time of getting fired – getting
to 80 employees in 36 millions in sales
literally not one vacation altruistic
world domination
honey Empire right I’m grateful
why I’m here I think because I am so
open I wanted to think I see
it’s a bloody brief life all of you have
the potential for enormous success if
you want to know what garyvee DJ khalid
oprah and others know about empire
building that most people miss check out
the link in the description for a free bonus video