Mark Cuban Quotations

It is so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customers' shoes and try to understand how you might help them before they ask for help, than it is to try to mend a broken customer relationship.

What I’ve learned is that if you really want to be successful at something, you’ll find that you put the time in. You won’t just ask somebody if it’s a good idea, you’ll go figure out if it’s a good idea.

I still work hard to know my business. I'm continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I'm always selling. Always.

I'm not the type to pat myself on the back and all that, but somebody has to be lucky, right? When I got to Dallas, I was struggling - sleeping on the floor with six guys in a three-bedroom apartment. I used to drive around, look at the big houses, and imagine what it would be like to live there and use that as motivation.

We can't ever forget that the Internet now is just a staid utility. The exciting platforms are software applications that are very, very simple.

Being rich is a good thing. Not just in the obvious sense of benefitting you and your family, but in the broader sense. Profits are not a zero sum game. The more you make, the more of a financial impact you can have.

Social media is just a platform. Twitter is a very simple and immediate broadcast platform. Facebook is a very personal, when it comes to friends and when it comes to fan pages, a little bit less but still somewhat personal way to communicate.

Go out there and get rich. Get so obnoxiously rich that when that tax bill comes, your first thought will be to choke on how big a check you have to write.

What I’ve learned in these 11 years is you just got to stay focused and believe in yourself and trust your own ability and judgment.

I don't care what anyone says. Being rich is a good thing.

I love to compete. To me, business is the ultimate sport. It's always on. There is always someone trying to beat me.

I look at my annual budgets for everything and anything, and I look to see where I can save the most money on those items. Saving 30% to 50% buying in bulk - replenishable items from toothpaste to soup, or whatever I use a lot of - is the best guaranteed return on investment you can get anywhere.

If you think back to the first sporting event you went to, you don't remember the score, you don't remember a home run, you don't remember a dunk. You remember who you were with. Were you with your mom, your dad, your brother, on a date?

In my opinion, right now there's way too much hype on the technologies and not enough attention to the real businesses behind them.

In these times of the 'Great Recession', we shouldn't be trying to shift the benefits of wealth behind some curtain. We should be celebrating and encouraging people to make as much money as they can. Profits equal tax money. While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes, I don't. I find it patriotic.

I worked hard and smarter than most people in the businesses I have been in.

Because if you're prepared and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there. There is always a way to get there.

I'm not against government involvement in times of need. I am for recognizing that big public companies will continue to cut jobs in an effort to prop up stock prices, which in turn stimulates the need for more government involvement.

Culture is very important to the Mavs. Your best player has to be a fit for what you want the culture of the team to be. He has to be someone who leads by example. Someone who sets the tone in the locker room and on the court. It isn't about who talks the most or the loudest. It is about the demeanor and attitude he brings.

But we have to ask ourselves, what's the purpose of the stock market? It's supposed to be a source of capital for growing business. It's lost that purpose.

You've got to be very cognizant of the correlation between social media links and business because they don't always correlate as highly as people would like.

I think political people are afraid of me.

When I got to the Mavericks people were all giving me advice - change this, change that - and one thing that I didn't do was fire anybody.

Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don't do it.

Money is a scoreboard where you can rank how you're doing against other people.

Wherever I see people doing something the way it's always been done, the way it's 'supposed' to be done, following the same old trends, well, that's just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else.

The number-one job of the hedge-fund manager is not to make sure that you can retire with a smile on your face - it's for him to retire with a smile on his face.

I hate politics. It's slimy. Any job where people pander for votes, I don't like. The country has gotten so partisan that if you're not on my side, you're the enemy. The only thing I ever try to support is a third party, like Unity08. We need more parties and more choice.

The key is having great players. But there are a lot of teams that have All-Stars and haven't been able to put it together.

I create offbeat advice; I don't follow it. I rarely take third-party advice on my investments.

When you turn your team upside down and try to figure out what the culture of the team is, you take the greatest risk a team can take.

Recessions are the best time to start a company. Companies fail. Others hold back capital. If you are willing to do the preparation and work, it is the best time to invest in yourself and start a business.

I've learned the number one job of a pro manager is not to win championships but to keep their job.

In the past, people used to tell me to shut up a bit. But what I believe is to put out your opinion and let everyone else react. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

I think that any reporter or columnist will be a little more careful when doing interviews with me.

I don't think there's any question that the UFL or any other league that wants to challenge the NFL can have an impact. The demand for professional football is off the charts.

What I do know, at least what I think I have learned from my experiences in business, is that when there is a rush for everyone to do the same thing, it becomes more difficult to do. Not easier. Harder.

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.

The first cities to create friction-free enterprise zones will get a lot of entrepreneurial traction.

Being able to take a traditional cable-television subscriber and give them new widget type applications to me is huge.

If there was a template for success in sports, everyone would follow it. You do the best you can and trust the people you trust.

When you've got 10,000 people trying to do the same thing, why would you want to be number 10,001?

We appreciate the effort Doug gave us. He went through a lot to get back. Unfortunately, it didn't work out.

Linking without permission is stealing. Period, end of story.

Can't say no one makes money from Twitter now. The NBA does.

In every job, I would justify it in my mind, whether I loved it or hated it, that I was getting paid to learn and every experience would be of value when I figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up.

In business, one of the challenges is making sure that your product is the easiest to experience and complete a sale.

I didnt know I was mad about anything. I guess if the New York Times says I am, I must be.

One problem people have is that they lie to themselves. Rarely is talent enough. You have to find ways to make yourself standout. You do so by playing to your strengths and making people aware of those strengths.

Time is the most valuable asset you don't own.

Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but aren't as expensive to pay.

There is no sport as competitive as business. It's 24 by 7 by 365 by forever.

One thing we can all control is effort. Put in the time to become an expert in whatever you’re doing. It will give you an advantage because most people don’t do this.

You never quite know in business if what you are doing is the right or the wrong thing. Unfortunately, by the time you know the answer, someone has beaten you to it and you are out of business.

I'm the type that thinks if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it.

If I can do it, you can do it.

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.

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? It takes willingness to learn, to be able to focus, to absorb information, and to always realize that business is a 24/7 job where someone is always out there to kick your ass.

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.

Information is power, particularly when the competition ignores the opportunity to do the same.

Relaxing is for the other guy.

Am I crazy to spend [millions] in contracts when I have the chance to get three layers deep into the playoffs?

It would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours a day passed while I was at work. That's the worst way to measure effort. Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results.

The one requirement for success in our business lives is effort. Either you make the commitment to get results or you don't.

In today's world of technology we should no longer be using outdated paper processes to accomplish tasks such as requisitions, reports, approvals, and purchase orders

Selling is never about convincing. It is always about helping.

We romanticize entrepreneurshi p so much that people don't do the work. It's not just a dream, not just a goal; it's a lot of hard work. A lot of people are wantrepreneurs, not entrepreneurs.

If you've got $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, you're better off paying off any debt you have because that's a guaranteed return.

I'm a believer that you accomplish much, much more with direct relationships than by using an intermediary. And that cash you keep in the bank can be the difference between staying alive as a small business, or not.

I have some very special guests tonight, and I would like to give a big welcome to the Wayne State men and women's rugby team for coming to the game tonight and to be on my TV Show

Love what you do or don't do it.

Being a smart shopper is the first step to getting rich.

You never win any games you don't play.

If you don't follow the stock market, you are missing some amazing drama.

I daydreamed for motivation. I didn't lie to myself and talk about my passions and how if I was passionate enough about something I could be successful at it.

In business, to be a success, you only have to be right once.

If you have managers reporting to managers in a startup, you will fail.

I like being involved in businesses where you are kicking ass.

Only morons start a business on a loan?

Higher education is a business that doesn’t know it’s going out of business.

Every job I took was really me getting paid to learn about a new industry.

I think you’ve got to be very, very careful when you start making blanket statements about what people say and think, as opposed to what they do. It’s a very, very slippery slope.

The beauty of success, whether it’s finding the girl of your dreams, the right job or financial success, is that it doesn’t matter how many times you have failed, you only have to be right once.

Open offices keep everyone in tune with what is going on and keep the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show him or her how to use the lock on the bathroom.

The idea that growth equals profitability is a misconception. If you can't afford the financial or qualitative side of growth, it can just as easily put you out of business.

All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.

In the past people used to tell me to shut up a bit. But what I believe is to put out your opinion and let everyone else react. If I'm wrong I'm wrong. People are afraid to put out their opinions and get push back.

The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort.

I think one of the biggest curses in the U.S. is that we have only two political parties.

Never follow your dreams. Follow your effort. It's not about what you can dream of. That's easy. It's about whether or not it's important enough to you to do the work to be ready to be successful in that business.

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. All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.

Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don't find one, it's you.

The NBA is never just a business. It's always business. It's always personal. All good businesses are personal. The best businesses are very personal.

The one thing in life you can control is your effort. Are there any shortcuts in the beauty business? No. That was the first lesson I learned. You can't just rocket to the top.

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 flip side, I have been rewarded with many friends.

If it had anything to do with the PC or networking industry I was on top of it. I bought manuals. I read every book and magazine. Then I would get involved with industry conferences and put myself out there.

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.

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.

The thrill of victory in business blows away the thrill of victory in sports. Business is a sport 24/7/365.

Ideas are easy. I've never met a single person who didn't think they had a world class idea. The hard part is making it a business.