Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.3 billion, according to Forbes, and ranked #177 on the 2020 Forbes 400 list. He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team of the National Basketball Association (NBA), co-owner of 2929 Entertainment, and chairman of AXS TV. He is also one of the main “shark” investors on the ABC reality television series Shark Tank.
Mark Cuban’s Success Lessons:
Here are some of Mark Cuban’s success lessons that he has passed on to entrepreneurs, colleagues, to succeed in both business and life.
1. Don’t be a slave to the bank
Like Dave, Mark is passionate about staying debt free, especially when it comes to beginning a business. In fact, he says, 99% of today’s companies can be started without capital.
“If you take a loan, you are no longer the boss,” Mark says. “And your customers are no longer the bosses. Your banker is the boss. And if you hit any adversity, like every startup does, the priority becomes taking care of your banker . . . You’re no longer in a position to do whatever it takes to survive.”
For Mark, life is pretty sweet. Besides his many successful companies, his beloved Mavericks and his gig on Shark Tank, he’s recently written a book on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur: How to Win at the Sport of Business. In it, he tries to spread his simple message of success that anyone can apply.
It’s like Mark’s father always taught him. Hard work pays rewards. “There are no shortcuts,” he says.
2. Don’t Start Unless it’s A Passion
Mark explains that you shouldn’t try starting your own company unless it’s something that you love to do. People who start companies just for the money have a very small chance of making their business a success.
If you don’t love what you do, you’ll be less productive when running your business. As well as less willing, and eventually the excitement you had for it will slowly die down.
If you love what you do, you’ll be less likely to have second thoughts when you’re business hasn’t started making any profit yet. For you, it’s an obsession and a passion so you won’t be put off it easily.
3. There’s no reason it can’t be you
After completing college, Mark moved to Dallas, Texas, where he tended bar, sold software, and did whatever it took to learn and get ahead—even down to eating mustard and ketchup sandwiches when times were really lean. But no matter how tough, though, he never gave up. When he felt down and the odds were against him, he just worked harder.
“I say it to Maverick players and I say it to everybody in business,” Mark says. “The one thing in life you can control is your effort. If you are willing to put in the effort to start the business and you are willing to deal with the challenges and the fact you might starve or live like a student . . . If you are willing to fight through those via effort and brain power, anything is possible. There is no reason it can’t be you.”
4. It All Comes Down to Sales
What good is a business without it making money? Without revenue, it’s just a hobby. The key is turning your hobby into a successful profitable business.
You can be obsessed with figures like traffic, leads, interest, engagement… any of these figures. However, in the end, it all comes down to amount of sales you’re getting and the revenue that your products are bringing in.
All those other measurable numbers are useful; but they don’t have the final say when it comes to the success of your business.
So understand when starting up, how your business is going to be able to make money and what you need to do to get there.
5. Selling ultimately comes down to connecting and serving
Through his hard work, Mark learned another valuable lesson. If you can sell, you can accomplish just about anything. And the key to selling is connecting with people while serving them.
“You are not trying to convince them of anything,” he says about potential customers. “You’re trying to show them how you are going to make their lives easier . . . There are no favors involved. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Success, though, takes more than just a connection with people. There is a lot of hustle involved too, whether it’s garbage bags or multi-billion-dollar tech deals. “Every no gets you closer to a yes,” Mark says. “It’s a numbers game . . . It’s just a question of making the calls.”
6. Keep the Organization On One Level
When you first start a company, there’s no point having one person reporting back to another, then that person reporting to another person higher up the chain and so on.
Keep it all grounded; at least that way everything will be reported back to you smoothly.
Everybody else will know exactly what their role is and you will be able to save costs. Instead of paying someone to manage a section you could just as easily overview yourself.
