Mark Cuban- "Do it because you love it. Then it´s not a job."
Most people think it’s all about the idea. It’s not. EVERYONE has ideas. The hard part is doing the homework to know if the idea could work in an industry, then doing the preparation to be able to execute on the idea.
Mark Cuban
Do it because you love it. Then it’s not a job. I’m a geek. I love technology. I would be online working with technology regardless of what my day job is.
Mark Cuban
There are no shortcuts. You have to work hard, and try to put yourself in a position where if luck strikes, you can see the opportunity and take advantage of it. I would also say it’s hard not to fool yourself. Everyone tells you how they are going to be “special,” but few do the work to get there. Do the work
Mark Cuban
It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because… All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.
Mark Cuban
It’s called working your ass off. The difference is what you are willing to sacrifice. For every writer who wants balance in their life, there is a guy like me who gives up a lot to make their dreams come true. There is always going to be someone out there that knows they have to compensate for maybe having less talent with harder work and preparation.
Mark Cuban
One problem people have is that they lie to themselves. You may think you are more talented then the next guy. Which is exactly what the next guy thinks as well. Rarely is talent enough. You have to find ways to make yourself stand out. You do so by playing to your strengths and making people aware of those strengths. Always remember that no matter how many times you get shot down, you will get smarter, better and you only have to be right once to be successful.
Mark Cuban
Information is power. Particularly when the competition ignores the opportunity to do the same.
Mark Cuban
I’m always afraid of failing. It’s great motivation to work harder.
Mark Cuban
Do your homework and know your business better than anyone. Otherwise, someone who knows more and works harder will kick your ass.
Mark Cuban
Work like there is someone working twenty-four hours a day to take it all away from you, and play like it’s your last chance to play.
Mark Cuban
Every kid thinks they have something special about themselves. Every adult thinks they have a big idea at some point in their life. Rather than pursue every thing they possibly can to prepare themselves to enable their idea or special talent, they tend to wing it and make excuses.
Mark Cuban
The thrill of victory in business blows away the thrill of victory in sports. Business is a sport 24x7x365.
Mark Cuban
It’s always the little decisions that have the biggest impact.
Mark Cuban
Just be sure to be brutally honest.
Mark Cuban
Sure, ask about five of my former girlfriends that question… I went seven years without a vacation. I didn’t even read a fiction book in that time. I was pretty focused.
Mark Cuban
To retire by the age of 35 was my goal. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there though. I knew I would end up owning my own business someday, so I figured my challenge was to learn as much as anyone about every and all businesses. (I believed) that every job I took was really me getting paid to learn about a new industry. I spent as much time as I could, learning and reading everything about business I could get my hands on. I used to go into the library for hours and hours reading business books and magazines.
Mark Cuban
In business, one of the challenges is making sure that your product is the easiest to experience and complete a sale.
Mark Cuban
Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.
Mark Cuban
What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?
CUBAN: Willingness to learn, to be able to focus, to absorb information, and to always realize that business is a 24 x 7 job where someone is always out there to kick your ass.
Mark Cuban
No. I don’t really have new ideas, but I manage to combine information in ways most people hadn’t considered. They aren’t new ideas, it’s just that most people don’t do their homework about their businesses and industry, so there is usually a place to sneak in and do something a little different. You just have to make sure what you want to do can sustain a business and make it profitable rather than be a niche that can be crushed [by the competition].
Mark Cuban
I just started a business called HDNet. There never is one area that has a door open to everyone. Try to find an area with something you love to do and do it. It’s a lot easier to work hard and prepare when you love what you are doing.
Mark Cuban
Put it in the bank. The idiots that tell you to put your money in the market because eventually it will go up need to tell you that because they are trying to sell you something. The stock market is probably the worst investment vehicle out there.
Mark Cuban
If you won’t put your money in the bank, NEVER put your money in something where you don’t have an information advantage. Why invest your money in something because a broker told you to? If the broker had a clue, he/she wouldn’t be a broker, they would be on a beach somewhere.
Mark Cuban
Do it because you love it. Then it’s not a job. I’m a geek. I love technology. I would be online working with technology regardless of what my day job is.
Mark Cuban
Write because you love it. Because it’s what you would do twenty-four hours a day.
Mark Cuban
A long list. From getting cut from the high school basketball team, to getting fired from jobs, getting credit cards rejected and cut up. Rejection has only been a distraction, not a roadblock. “Every no gets me closer to a yes,” was the saying I used to use.
Mark Cuban
There is very little knowledge that can’t be obtained through effort. With knowledge you can determine the state of any business or opportunity and find a course to gain an advantage.
Mark Cuban
Of course. Consumers don’t make like time commitments or blood oaths to any author, producer, publisher, restaurant, or any form of entertainment except maybe a sports team.
Mark Cuban
We are all free agents with our attention, the battle for our hearts, minds and money is a war being fought on new fronts every day. If the publishing industry doesn’t recognize that, it will suffer.
Mark Cuban
A hard back book costs more than almost any form of entertainment. In fact, I can’t think of a product that costs more to experience when it’s released. Which means you are going to have to work harder.
Mark Cuban
Go to where the customers are rather than bringing customers to you. Sure book readers go to bookstores, but we go other places. Time is short for all of us, so surprise me by being somewhere I don’t expect you to be.
Mark Cuban
At Landmark Theaters, we are now selling DVDs and soundtracks of the movies we are showing. Selling movie related products where our customers are and where they never expected to find them.
Mark Cuban
The author of Brokeback Mountain should be selling and signing books where the movie is showing. I think we have sold 700 copies from behind the counter at our theaters.
Mark Cuban
Do you want to sell books, or do you want to go the way of the small bookstore? They thought integrity was important, now they are thought of only when people watch You’ve Got Mail.
Mark Cuban
Your customers will vote with their pocketbooks. If you go too far, they will tell you. I would tell you that you need to develop a new generation of readers. Young readers don’t know or care what you think about integrity. They don’t know if they should even be reading books for recreation. If you don’t give them a reason, they will and have spent their money elsewhere.
Mark Cuban
Communicate with your fans or customers. They know we live in an ever changing world. If you tell them what you are thinking and why you are doing what you do, as I did with my blog regarding Nash leaving, they will respect and support you more.
Mark Cuban
I wish Donald nothing but the best for Apprentice 2 and I hope it does just as well as his casinos do. You don’t come after dogs, you don’t come after kids and you don’t come after The Hair.
Mark Cuban
I wish Mike all the best off the court, … As always, I hope the Spurs lose 82 games.
Mark Cuban
All I can tell you is that the standard answer in this situation is that it isn’t personal, it’s business
Mark Cuban
It’s just connecting with fans and lets them know we recognize that they’re responsible for paying all the bills. It’s not meant to be a league thing. It’s a Dallas Maverick thing
Mark Cuban
I’m the type that thinks if you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to repeat it.
Mark Cuban
I have always been interested in innovative and cutting edge-technologies coupled with a large market opportunity.
Mark Cuban
In a world of so many choices, people are going to take the path of least resistance and do the things that are easy and enjoyable for them.
Mark Cuban
How can the NBA coach with so many championship rings find me so intimidating? I really don’t know.
Mark Cuban
One of the best classes I ever took was entrepreneurship in my freshman year at Indiana University. It really motivated me. There is much more to starting a business than just understanding finance, accounting, and marketing. Teaching kids what has worked with startup companies and learning about experiences that others have had could really make a difference. I know it did for me.
Mark Cuban
This is uncomfortable. You can go through 100 different scenarios you’d rather be in, but it is what it is.
Mark Cuban
I didn’t know I was mad about anything. I guess if the New York Times says I am, I must be.
Mark Cuban
I take my biggest positions in stocks that are complementary to other things I am doing.
Mark Cuban
I rarely think the market is right. I believe non dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it.
Mark Cuban
The NBA (National Basketball Association) is never just a business. It’s always business. It’s always personal. All good businesses are personal. The best businesses are very personal.
Mark Cuban
Creating a close connection to those you do business with has its many risks, rewards and consequences. There are few things in business I have encountered that are more difficult than firing someone, particularly if that someone has always been, or has become a friend. On the flipside, I have been rewarded with many friends.
Mark Cuban
If you don’t follow the stock market, you are missing some amazing drama.
Mark Cuban
Executives should blog if they have a vision they are trying to communicate, or if they are very visible in the media.
Mark Cuban
Make sure you are the boss. I don’t think I would encourage executives that work for me to blog. There can be only 1 public vision for an organization.
Mark Cuban
The league handles officiating in a far more professional manner than prior to my arrival. They approach it like a real business unit now.
Mark Cuban
Of course I was underestimated. I was young, and this was a new industry. I
just used it to my advantage. I had more energy and I didn’t have any
preconceived notions on how things should be. I just tried to learn the
technology better than anyone else and find the best ways to help my customers.
Mark Cuban
I don’t answer every one of them (e-mails) because I get a lot of requests that aren’t always possible. If a fan tells me to trade a player or pick up a player, I can’t always do what they say. But I do read every single one of them. I can be sitting in the bathroom with my Sidekick, and I’ll be reading e-mail.
Mark Cuban
In your life, how do you define success?
Cuban: Being able to wake up every day with a smile on my face, looking forward to the day. Which is exactly how I described it when I was broke, sleeping on the floor
Mark Cuban
As a producer, how do you balance the need to produce a commercially viable product with your own desire to create great art?
Cuban: They aren’t mutually exclusive. We try to do both. Nothing wrong with doing something fun.
Mark Cuban
What qualities do you look for in the people that you hire?
Cuban: Focused, hungry to learn and willing to work hard to gain an information advantage with an understanding that the customer owns us.
Mark Cuban
Make sure you are brutally honest with yourself about who you are.
Mark Cuban
First, know the culture of the company and the direction you are trying to take it, and make sure any e-mails you send reflect that. People will react in kind to the tone and nature of your e-mails.
Mark Cuban
With that in mind, e-mail is the most effective way to reach the greatest number of people in the shortest period of time. It allows you to convey a message that might otherwise take a long time F2F [face-to-face].
When you try to convey some level of emotion in an e-mail, you can expect that it’s often going to be misconstrued. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, if you know the implications when you write the e-mail.
E-mail is more productive for me for several reasons.
1. It’s non-linear. I can respond to e-mails based on priority to me at any time of the day
2. They take less time to read, respond and complete than a phone call or meeting.
3. Most importantly, e-mail serves as a tickler file and relationship history. I can go back through 15 years of e-mails in some cases and know exactly what we discussed, accomplished or didn’t.
4. E-mail is most effective when you respond quickly. If people get used to it as an alternative to phone calls, they start to realize the productivity gains and prefer it.
Mark Cuban
Do you ever regret the things you’ve said?
Cuban: Not at all. Not even a little bit. It’s just the nature of the industry. It’s not all that much different than technology. It’s like standards in technology, it’s kind of like HD-DVD versus Blu-ray. It all becomes very public and that’s how people negotiate. You try to disseminate the information to as many people as possible and give them a reason to offer their opinion and offer their feedback.
Mark Cuban
And the NBA’s the same way. If you just try to do it behind closed doors and meet individually, you’d never get it done. That would never be enough to motivate people to get involved.
Mark Cuban
The Benefactor – “The show’s about success. What does it take to be successful? Everybody has a dream–to write the great American novel, to write the great American script–and everybody always questions, do I have what it takes or why is someone more successful than I am. And so what the show’s about is teaching those lessons through a reality show. We took 16 people and we put them in a house, and I created a series of tests that I thought reflected what it took to be successful.”
Mark Cuban
I think that any reporter or columnist will be a little more careful when doing interviews with me. Specifically, because I do 99 pct of my interviews now via email. SO, I have a paper trail that is ready and available to be revealed on my blog.
Mark Cuban
I spend every day thinking about the Mavericks. That includes time dreaming about the Mavs while sleeping.
Mark Cuban
You don’t need special talents. I’m not looking to find out who is the grossest, funniest, prettiest, smartest, or able to go without food or water the longest.
Mark Cuban
With every effort, I learned a lot. With every mistake and failure, not only mine, but of those around me, I learned what not to do. I also got to study the success of those I did business with as well. I had more than a healthy dose of fear, and an unlimited amount of hope, and more importantly, no limit on time and effort.
Mark Cuban
Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don’t find one, it’s you.
Mark Cuban
The Fountainhead was incredibly motivating to me. It encouraged me to think as an individual, take risks to reach my goals, and responsibility for my successes and failures. I loved it. I don’t know how many times I have read it, but it got to a point where I had to stop because I would get too fired up.
Mark Cuban
You could be beaten down by anybody and by everybody and it doesn’t matter what everybody else thinks it’s how you see yourself and what your own dreams are. And, you know, anybody who started a business and build a business knows there’s going to be lots of times when you feel beaten down and you need some motivation and that’s when I turn to that book among others.
Mark Cuban
How I got bitten by the bug I’m not real sure but it’s just the way that it turned out.
Mark Cuban