The Insane WORK ETHIC of a BILLIONAIRE! | Mark Cuban | Top 10 Rules

When you find something you're good at, go for it. It's not about being wonderful. No, no, I have that title, thank you. It's about making a business decision, right? Hi, I'm Mark Cuban. I'm a bully. Look at me. What's that about, Mark? Team Cuban going forward.

Oh!

Oh, the 3-man pull-in.

Hello, Believe Nation. I'm Evan Carmichael. My one word is believe, and I believe that entrepreneurs are going to solve all of the major problems of the world. So to help you on your journey, today we're going to learn from billionaire Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban and my take on his top 10 rules Success Volume 2. And as always, guys, as you're watching, if you hear something that really resonates with you, please leave it down in the comments below. Put quotes around it so other people can be inspired, and when you write it down, it's much more likely to stick for yourself as well. Enjoy.

Sometimes being young and trying things, you're 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 9, 10, 12, 16, 21, the failures were irrelevant. And, you know, whether you're, you know, 9, 12, 16, 21, 22, 24, 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 lose? And so I think that influenced me as much as anything. So, you know, my dad was like, "Go for it, you know, don't, why not? What have you got to lose? You know, you have to sleep on a different couch." So I think that was motivation. The type of person you are, 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, 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 the 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, it's almost always fun. 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. What if I offered you $1.25 million to sell the whole company? Mark, 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 ignore us? You're not a very nice guy. It's not about me being wonderful. No, no, I have that title, thank you. It's about making a business decision, right? Hi, I'm Mark Cuban. I'm a bully. Look at me. What's that about, Mark? Like I said, guys, you got to pay to play. There's tension 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 love your passion. I love your knowledge. I'm waiting for the but. Yeah, there's a but coming. You've got a 24-second shot clock. $750,000. I've never seen greed like that. That's unbelievable greed. You broke up with your potential partner without even looking at him. You're a savage. I'm just a lean, mean, shark machine, baby. If I say yes to whatever your counter 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. Ah! Done. Done and done. Crap. You like that, Barbara? I don't like it. one bit. That was so damn smart. No, that's a compliment to you. Barbara, I screwed you, but it's a compliment to you. I feel really good about it. 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. 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 could 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 until you find the one you like. And then it's like, it gets really easy because even when shit fucks 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, and myself. 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 that have the genetics to jump out of the gym, right? There's certain guys, you know, that You know, when they golf, they have the muscle memory and the discipline. You know, Dirk Nowitzki 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 7 feet tall and being skilled, you know, 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 than 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 know, I have the same work, like someone's trying to take it all away from you. You know, work— I actually work like someone's spending 24 hours working, 24 hours to take it all away from you, man. And that's kind of the way I look at it. I remember asking my dad to, um, I wanted new basketball shoes because I was a basketball junkie back then. He's like, well, your shoes work. If you want 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 was like, well, I got a job for you. I've got these garbage bags that we distribute. You can sell them door-to-door. I'm like, okay. And it was when I was selling them and realizing that I like to sell and that I could sell and that I recognized that selling was about providing a 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 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 it's not that everything worked. I failed a lot, but I never ever felt like I wouldn't be able to work hard enough to succeed. I also always say it's not about passion. Everybody's got passion for something, 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. It doesn't mean all of a 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. 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 Cyber Dust is a perfect example. If he were to put himself in my shoes, it would be obvious that Cyber Dust is important to me. I'm trying to push everybody to message using it. I 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 Cyber Dust 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 or trying to get a job with, or trying to get an internship with, or 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%. If you're a thousand 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. I mean, it's always about me, but that's a different point. 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 gravitate towards you. They want to work with you because you make going to work easier, more pleasant. You help them accomplish their goals. You help put them in a position to succeed by reducing their stress. 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 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 it's just, you know, particularly in this day and age when so many people are saying what's wrong with this and what's wrong with that and 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 phase and really work, something special can happen. And, you know, just reinforcing that is really important to me. What makes it work is like everybody's got ideas, right? And most people just think, oh, 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 and say, oh, wish I had a connection, wish I had money, wish I had this, like this dude with the surfboard, man, he went out and 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, built another one. And then it's the same thing with some of the other— 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 bust their ass and good things happen. Team Cuban going for it. But Bjergsen! Oh, the 3-man pull-in! And there's still more fights to happen. Hotshot dodging back out. High still dropped. The big good fight for Team Cuban. 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. Doublelift, all right, he's on the Nexus. Reginald's on the Nexus too. Who's gonna get the last hit? Who's it gonna be? Is it Regi or Doublelift? Oh, they're waiting. The snowball connects high. It could come in. One more fight. It's the biggest fight of the game. GG! And some impressive support from these guys for Cybersmile as well. Always fun to raise some money for charity. Mark Cuban clearly delighted with his victory. Yeah.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed. If you want to get your pick of who I should profile next in the top tens, check out the link in the description and go and cast your vote. I also want to give a quick shout out to Megan Lofton from the Bootstrap Boutique channel. Megan, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word, and doing the review on your YouTube channel as well as posting to your Twitter account. I really appreciate the support, and I'm glad you enjoyed the read. So thank you guys again for watching.

I believe in you.

I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love.

I'll see you soon. You know, I didn't have as many personal relationships as I probably would have liked. You know, I put personal relationships aside. You know, I had girlfriends where it was like me or your business, and I, you know, I was like, what was your name again? You know, you think I'm kidding. So I probably took things to an extreme, but yeah, I gave up a personal relationships in a big respect because I really was on a mission. And once I, once I realized I was going— so when I sold my first company, I bought a lifetime pass on American Airlines, and my goal was just to party with like a rock star in as many countries with as many people as I possibly could. Then I went back and got involved in the streaming business, and I remember sitting there and telling, you know, we had probably 10 employees, and look, the streaming thing I think is going to be really big. And so we We really have to focus, and there's going to be some sacrifices. If you're willing to make those sacrifices, let's go. If you're not, I understand. You make your own decisions. I was willing to make those sacrifices. It all turned out great in the long run, but during that time, it wasn't always easy. It wasn't always— Yeah, it was tough sometimes. I always did everything back-ass halfwards. I like to challenge myself. And I went to Mount Lebanon High School in Pittsburgh, and I wanted to take business classes my junior year, only they didn't offer any business classes, and so I decided I'd take some college business classes, but University of Pittsburgh didn't offer any real business classes either, so I said, you know, I'm gonna challenge myself, and so I took a couple night classes at the University of Pittsburgh my junior year in high school, did well in them, and didn't, wasn't really challenged all that much at all, And so I just dropped out of high school and instead of going back for my senior year, I went to the University of Pittsburgh and started taking classes there. And my buddies were like, where'd you go? And it was just, I just, I've always tried to challenge myself. You've got to know your own skillset, right? And you've got to know how that fits within your company's life cycle. You know, some companies are slow, slow grind. And you just have to understand that. And you've just got to bide your time until it starts to click and then grow with it quickly. You know, if you're trying to release a product that needs to be ubiquitous, you've got to go, um, as fast as you can. And, and then, you know, release a product. Yeah. And, and, you know, there's a lot of people that will say, you know, perfection is the enemy of profitability, right? And that doesn't mean you have to wait till it's a perfect product. You know, Cyberdust is a perfect example. We still haven't— it's been almost 2 years, we still haven't advertised it yet because we know it's not ready yet, you know. And so it's been a slow growth grind because that's— we wanted— we want feedback, you know, we want to keep on learning, um, we're evolving, um. But it really just depends on what the product is. That, you know, a barbershop, right, is an app, is it, um, a service, is it a product. But, you know, the, the key is looking for the low-hanging fruit. What are the— what are— what customers are willing to write you a check or commit to it, you know, so that they're willing to integrate it into their daily lives or integrate it into their daily business? And so getting a commitment either through time or revenue is typically what I look for. And so if I can get a commitment, then I'm going to be able to learn. I'm going to see how they use it. Do they sustain usage? And then And once I get the next one, hopefully it came a little bit faster than the first one, then I can ask for referrals. And then the next one, then the next one. And I just try to ramp it up. When I bought the Mavs, we had no season ticket holder base. And so, literally, it was a matter of just putting a list of former season ticket holders in a White Pages back then on my desk next to my phone and making phone calls. You? Yeah, me. Yeah, because if I'm not going to do it, how can I expect someone else to do it, right? So, just get on the phone. Hey, this is Mark Cuban. I'm the new owner of the Dallas Mavericks. You know, I'd like to invite you back over again. It's not though, this is my business. You can't get regular sales guys or something to make those calls once they get to a quarter. You're a guy that's a billionaire, you're making those calls. But that's all, you know, and that's fine and good, right? Because everybody's got their own goals, right? And but still, I didn't want anybody at the Mavs to be able to say, well, he's not willing to do the work, right? There's, you know, if I walk around, I'm picking up all the papers. I'm not saying go get that picked up. I'm like, okay, that's trash, I'm picking it up. Um, so But in terms of speed of growth, it's really, you gotta get that first customer first. And then when you get that first, what did you learn? Reiterate, get that next customer. And then hopefully as you learn more and more through the process, then the next one, the next one, the next one becomes, come by even faster.