One Good Think #2: Mark Cuban
Cuban on the surest way to get an edge in business
A widely available tool that few leverage
The same information was available to anyone who wanted it. Turns out most people didn’t want it.
Decades before Mark Cuban became the billionaire Shark who owns the Mavericks, he started his first business called MicroSolutions— a computer software consultancy. It was 1983.
Cuban stared MicroSolutions after being fired from a software sales job in Dallas. But even in his short time at Your Business Software, Cuban had made connections. The hard part when he went out on his own was to convince those connections to work with a 24 year old kid who didn’t really know what he was doing.
“I had to call all the people I had done business with at my last company and let them know I had been shitcanned, then ask them if they would come do business with me at MicroSolutions.”
In his book, How To Win At The Sport Of Business, Cuban tells the rest of the story. How he struggled, but eventually got one sale, which turned into two and then ten. Seven years later, he sold the business to CompuServe for something like $7 million.
If you happen to have two hours and eight minutes, I strongly encourage you to listen to the audiobook— maybe even twice. But, just in case you don’t, fear not, friend—that’s the purpose of OGT.
Here’s one of the best Thinks in the entire book.
One thing that is clear from the book—Cuban was not afraid to work hard.
Part of that hustle would be to read up on the computer software industry. He read trade magazines, books, textbooks, anything he could find.
“I would continually search for new ideas,” Cuban said. “In doing all the reading, I learned a valuable lesson.”
What Cuban learned: most people were not doing the reading.
I remember going into customer meetings or talking to people in the industry and tossing out tidbits about software or hardware. All things I had read. I expected the ongoing response of ‘Oh yeah, I read that too in such-and-such.’ That’s not what happened. They hadn’t read it then, and they still haven’t started reading it.
Mark read back then, and still reads, over three hours per day. (His wife hates it). That’s how he got an edge at a young age. How “a guy with minimal computer background could compete with far more experienced guys.”
Cuban says that this advantage is still available to anyone who wants it. Because most people won’t do the work.
“Everything I read was public. Anyone could buy the same books and magazines. The same information was available to anyone who wanted it. Turns out most people didn’t want it.”
The OGT
I reread that last quote all the time. And there has yet to be a time when I’ve read it and not read 50% more that day.
What I take is this: if you want to gain an edge, do the extra reading. Do the work. Read the trade magazines, the blogs, and the books. Watch and listen to the interviews with your industries thought leaders.
Because, according to Cuban, a guy who’s started who knows how many businesses at this point, if you do the reading, there’s one thing you can count on— most other people won’t.
Now—go think on that.