Grab a copy of Mark Cuban's book

[krbb91]

It's an aggregate of his top blog posts, which contains plenty of fastlane stuff.

Amazon.com: How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It eBook: Mark Cuban: Kindle Store

 

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[livebig]

Thanks for the info. I purchased it as soon as I got to the page. $2.99? Crazy good deal, even if it's only stuff from his blog. It's a time saver. I know what I'm doing tonight.

 

[Vigilante]

Thanks for the info. Just purchased it.

 

[krbb91]

Thanks for the info. I purchased it as soon as I got to the page. $2.99? Crazy good deal, even if it's only stuff from his blog. It's a time saver. I know what I'm doing tonight.

Thanks for the info. Just purchased it.

Welcome! I'll be up all night studying this.

 

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[Kak]

After his blog post relating the government to a charitable orginization I don't think I will be picking it up any time soon.

 

[Vigilante]

Kak. Post a link. I would be interested to read that.

I guarantee there are things I will learn from reading his book. I won't agree with everything he says, but will take out of it what I think is of value. Heck, I didn't agree with everything MJ said either (collective group gasp!)

 

[DuPont]

I grabbed my copy last night and plan on finishing over the weekend.

 

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[Vigilante]

haven't had a chance to start it yet as I am still knee deep in Atlas Shrugged

 

[CPisHere]

I haven't picked up the book, but probably will at some point. I've read every blog post he's had, and I love how he thinks. His views on politics, stock market investing, business, and even college football are all incredibly insightful and spot on.

I actually sent Mr. Cuban an e-mail a few weeks ago telling him about my retail business and asking his thoughts. He responded a few hours later without a whole lot of input, but did say "You can't wait for people to walk in the store. U need to use every angle to reach them and get them excited to buy wherever u can"

Although very simple, I think the advice is more insightful than at first glance. Most retail owners simply open a store, put an ad in the paper, and sit there waiting for people to come in. In order to be successful, you have to be out in the community making people excited about your store and products.

 

[Kak]

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/showthread.php?t=34327

Here is a thread on it folks.

 

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[LightHouse]

Picked it up, lots of great things to think about in there. You can always learn something from everyone and everything. Almost finished with it, I didn't realize it was so short.

 

[livebig]

It is very short. Finished it last night. It had some good info in it. I'd recommend it for the price. I really enjoyed his comments about sweaty equity and the idea of being the best you can be in your arena before expanding.

 

[Likwid24]

Mark Cuban’s 7 Rules of Entrepreneurship
08/13/10 | By: Jake Finkelstein

Photograph courtesy of LocalTechWire.com (*1 note below)

Yesterday at the American Tobacco Campus LocalTechWire hosted a networking luncheon, panel discussion and Q&A headlined by non-other than Dallas Mavericks’ owner and dotcom billionaire Mark Cuban. The session was broken into two parts that included a keynote by Mark Cuban as well as a panel Q&A with Rich Lee (Founder, Hosted Solutions), Mike Doernberg (CEO, ReverbNation), Aaron Houghton (Co-Founder, iContact) and Mitch Mumma (Partner, InterSouth). The second session was a keynote by Mark Cuban followed by Q&A.

One of the more interesting parts of the gathering was @mcuban’s keynote that broke down his 7 rules of entrepreneurship. Insightful as it was entertaining, I wanted to share with you the highlights:

Rule #1 – The best equity is sweat equity

The biggest mistake that young companies make is trying to raise money too early. What they forget is that VCs – what Mark lovingly refers to as “Vulture Capitalists” – are in the business of making money for themselves, not to help their business. Mark suggests that you go out of your way to not to raise money early on. Live like a student, put as much of your personal time, energy and financial resources into the company as possible. You’ll end up with more control in the end.

Another interesting insight on this point is that Mark feels we live in a unique time where the technology tools available to us make it easier and less expensive to be an entrepreneur than ever before. Can’t say I disagree with him on that one.

Rule #2 – Sales Rule All

Now this is a guy after my own heart. Mark spoke at length about how no matter what you do in your company, as an entrepreneur you have to be the number one salesperson in your organization. You must also develop a culture of sales so that everyone who is involved in the organization is also selling. Because if you have sales coming in you can deal with whatever challenges arise. If they’re not coming in, than your company will disappear.

Rule #3 - Ideas are easy, execution is hard

There’s no shortage of ideas in the world, but how hard are you willing to work to bring them to life? It is those companies that work harder and put their all into their ideas that have the most success. If you have something holding you back, than you’ll loose. There’s always someone else out there ready to “kick your a$$.”

Rule #4 – Don’t lie to yourself

Not everyone is in the right part of their life to be an entrepreneur. If you’re married, have kids or are in debt – not to be a bummer – but you’re at a disadvantage. Be honest with yourself about what you’re capable of and then live up to your fullest. That’s how you’ll succeed.

Rule #5 – Figure out how to “kick your own a$$”

Right now, someone out there is trying to figure out how to be better than you at what you do. The best way to beat them is to put yourself in their shoes and figure out how to beat yourself. Every day you have to re-win your customers’ business and make them love working with you. Either you figure out how to do it or someone will eat you alive.

Rule #6 – You don’t own your business, your customers do

Don’t kid yourself. You’re nothing without your customers – and if you don’t put them first someone else will. The analogy that Mark used is that “customer service is like making love.” It goes something like this – first you ask your significant other if they want to. If they say yes, than you ask if you can. If they say yes, you ask if you can give it to them. And if they say yes, you do so and ask if it was good for them. If yes, you ask if you can give it to them again. Customer service is the same way. Keep making love to your customers and they’ll never leave your side.

Rule #7 – Sometimes, you’ll have setbacks

Even if you do everything right, you’ll face challenges and setbacks. You can’t let them freak you out. You just have to get back to work. To drive the point home Mark recounted a story of an early company he ran where he thought he had $84,000 in the bank. When he spoke with the bank one day he found out that his secretary had put White Out over his company’s name on the checks and typed in her own. The bank, stupidly, cashed them. This left his secretary, who had now disappeared, with $82,000 and his company with $2,000. The bank refused to help (I think the quote was “sorry son, you don’t have a pot to piss in”). Rather than freak out and sue the bank Mark did what he knew he had to. Get back into the office and start working with customers and vendors to get through the situation. Was it easy? No. Did he and his company make it through? Yes.

Interested in more from Mark Cuban? Visit his site, Blog Maverick, where he posts regularly. Also, do you have your own rules and lessons of entrepreneurship? If so, please share them in the comment section below. I know we have other readers who would love to hear your thoughts.

 

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[Likwid24]

A lot of what Mark Cuban says in the book sounds just like MJ. They Both have one major thing in common that every other successful person has in common too. They worked their asses off to get where they are, creating their own luck along the way.

 

[DeletedUser397]

It's an aggregate of his top blog posts, which contains plenty of fastlane stuff.

Amazon.com: How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It eBook: Mark Cuban: Kindle Store

Thanks a lot for the recommendation. Just bought it from iBooks. Seems good so far. Been a fan of Cuban for sometime, but didn't know he had a blog, or that he wrote any books. Good find.

 

[Kak]

Got the book read it cause y'all were saying it was short. Not as much of an ideologue as I thought he was. I did disagree with him on a few points. That blog post is still looming in my head.

 

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[TK1]

Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups

Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups | Entrepreneur.com

 

[PatrickP]

Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups

Mark Cuban's 12 Rules for Startups | Entrepreneur.com

lol Why do I like his #1 rule so much?

 

[The-J]

1. Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession.

Number one is excellent advice. You have to love the process. I mean, if I didn't like working on this project and if I didn't believe in what I was doing, I would have said sayonara to the idea before I applied to become a business entity.

But not having an exit strategy is a great way to get yourself hurt. Sure, very few people get that far, but of those who do, you have to know what your response will be. Nothing lasts forever, especially not companies. That's where knowing your number comes in.

Going public is also an 'exit strategy' of sorts.

How can a guy that sold a company for billions say that you shouldn't have an exit strategy?!

 

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