Tweet

Lesson #2: Don’t Take The Shortcut

Article Overview: “There are no shortcuts,” says Cuban. “Everyone tells you how they are going to be ‘special,’ but few do the work to get there. Do the work.”

Lesson #2: Don’t Take The Shortcut

“There are no shortcuts,” says Cuban. “Everyone tells you how they are going to be ‘special,’ but few do the work to get there. Do the work.”

When Cuban first started his own company, MicroSolutions, that was just about all he did. He sacrificed his personal life, his hobbies and much of his own money in order to get his business on its feet. He didn’t take a vacation for seven years and except for his two motivational favourites, Cuban never even made the time to read a fiction book during those seven years. But for Cuban, there was no other choice. He knew that in order to succeed, he would have to work twice as hard as the next guy.

“It’s called working your ass off,” says Cuban. “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.” For Cuban, business was personal and he put everything he had into make his a success.

“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,” says Cuban. “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.” Cuban ran his businesses with this fear always in mind – that if he didn’t work as hard as he could, somebody else would take it all away from him.

It is this quality that Cuban not only tries to embody himself, but that he looks for in others who he hires. When asked by a reporter what makes a successful employee in one of his companies, Cuban replied, “Focused, hungry to learn and willing to work hard to gain an information advantage with an understanding that the customer owns us.” That is why, when Cuban launched The Benefactor, his reality show that had entrepreneurs competing for $1 million, he made sure that contestants understood he was not looking for 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,” he said. Rather, Cuban was looking for someone with dedication, who was willing to give every task 110%.

In order to succeed, Cuban stresses the importance of recognizing one’s own strengths and weaknesses. “Make sure you are brutally honest with yourself about who you are,” he says. “You may think you are more talented than the next guy. Which is exactly what the next guy thinks as well.” But, rarely is talent enough, says Cuban. It is only through hard work and total commitment that you will be able to make yourself and your business stand out.

“Work like there is someone working twenty-four hours a day to take it all away from you,” says Cuban. “And play like it’s your last chance to play.”

Related Articles
  What is the best way to develop my sales skills?
  Profitable Online Business Ideas and the Recession Part 2
  Here's a shortcut you might not have thought of...
  A Shortcut To Leasing Equipment And Business Finance Lease Solutions & Services In Canada
  Contribution

Article Tags: 1 million, benefactor, cuban business, dreams, fear, fiction book, hobbies, information advantage, less talent, luck strikes, microsolutions, money, personal life, reality show, seven years, shortcuts, talents



Related Forum Posts
Re: How to Promote Your Blog – The Definitive Guide to Promoting - Great Post! Dont forget to put your blog in Anchor Text For SEO purposes for the keywords you want when getting backlinks (for example with article marketing)...Very important. You can conquer quite a few small Niches and get your site on the number 1 spot in Google!
Re: Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve. - Congrats! A few months ago I wrote extensively on market research. Check in the Inventors corner for the posts. Let me know if I can help further! Dont spend a dime on a protype or advertising until you do some research! Jude
Re: Who hates cold calling? - I saw this and had to chime in. I HATE COLD CALLS. lol its terrible and a wast of my time. Something i have done is gotten online and found all the networking event happening in my area for the next 2 months and i try and go to about 3 a week. Even just for an hour. Dont bring any business cards. Just meet new people ask them alot about what they do, not too much about what i do and follow up the next day or 2. Has worked well
Re: Businesswomen in the news - [quote="TheRainmaker":2susnvqs] Dont forget that the media is out for the media and scare tactics and bad news gets the coverage.... J[/quote:2susnvqs] This is true....
Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods - We haven't sent out the physical letter yet as the person owning the list wanted to make modifications to the letter that we knew would work well but the List owner had a point - it didn't reflect her personality so her clients would know it didn't come from her. Lesson learned for me. We're back to the drawing board with the list owner more involved in the development of the letter and emails. I should have known better being a Business Analyst in my day job that you never leave the end-user out. So Evan we haven't had the opportunity to test any of it yet but it's been a fun process for me to stand back and look at.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Ways to Improve Your Landing Page Conversions

Why Small Businesses Don't Survive

9 tips to increase ROI in PPC Campaigns

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.