The video centers around the keys to success in business, emphasizing the importance of outworking the competition, being smarter, better-prepared, and maintaining a strong work ethic. It argues that lack of effort and knowledge are the main reasons people fail in business. Understanding the competitive landscape and continuous learning are also crucial, as knowledge gaps can lead to failure in any industry.

The speaker stresses the importance of formal education, particularly in accounting and finance, for aspiring entrepreneurs. Knowledge of business fundamentals helps in better managing start-ups and reducing operational costs. The speaker suggests that even basic college courses can improve one's understanding of the "language of business" and learning how to learn is vital due to the ever-changing nature of the business world.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. paranoia [ˌpærəˈnɔɪə] - (noun) - An irrational and persistent feeling of suspicion or mistrust. - Synonyms: (suspicion, mistrust, delusion)

The greatest source of your paranoia should be knowledge.

2. obligated [ˈɒblɪˌɡeɪtɪd] - (adjective) - Bound or compelled to do something as a duty. - Synonyms: (responsible, obliged, committed)

Spending the money forces you to be more obligated to do it.

3. dismissive [dɪsˈmɪsɪv] - (adjective) - Showing indifference or disregard. - Synonyms: (indifferent, contemptuous, disdainful)

They were kind of being dismissive of the competition.

4. ubiquitous [juˈbɪkwɪtəs] - (adjective) - Existing or being everywhere at the same time. - Synonyms: (omnipresent, pervasive, universal)

If you're trying to release a product that needs to be ubiquitous.

5. incorporate [ɪnˈkɔːrpəˌreɪt] - (verb) - To form into a legal corporation, especially as a business entity. - Synonyms: (include, integrate, combine)

Well, let me tell you, if you've gone through all these classes, I don't have to hire a lawyer to incorporate, right

6. self-aware [ˌsɛlf əˈwɛr] - (adjective) - Conscious of one's own feelings, character, and abilities. - Synonyms: (introspective, self-conscious, thoughtful)

You have to be very self aware of what you're good at.

7. obligated [ˈɒblɪˌɡeɪtɪd] - (adjective) - Bound or compelled to do something as a duty. - Synonyms: (responsible, obliged, committed)

Spending the money forces you to be more obligated to do it.

8. motivated [ˈmoʊtɪˌveɪtɪd] - (adjective) - Provided with a motive or driven to act. - Synonyms: (driven, inspired, ambitious)

If you're so self motivated that you can take an online course.

9. commitment [kəˈmɪtmənt] - (noun) - The state or quality of being dedicated to a cause or activity. - Synonyms: (dedication, devotion, responsibility)

Getting a commitment, either through time or revenue, is typically what I look for.

10. reiterate [riˈɪtəˌreɪt] - (verb) - To say or do something again or several times. - Synonyms: (repeat, restate, reiterate)

What did you learn? reiterate, get that next customer.

OUTWORK AND GRIND! | Brutally Honest Business Advice from Mark Cuban

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, I have the saying, work like someone's trying to take it all away from you. Actually work like someone's spending 24 hours working 24 hours to take it all away from you. And that's kind of the way I look at it.

What would you say is the number one reason why people fail? Lack of brains. Lack of effort. Lack of brains. Lack of effort. Yeah, they just, they don't do the work. They don't learn. You know, when you walk in the room, when you start a business and you start to talk about somebody, you're never in a vacuum with no competition, you know, unless you're just extremely lucky. And if there's going to be competition, that means somebody else knows your business as well as you do when you get started. And if you walk into a competitive environment and they still know more about the business than you do and more about your customers, you're going to lose.

But most people don't consider that. They don't do the work. They don't learn more about their industry. They don't know even about their business. I mean, and so you've got to put in the effort to know more about your industry than anybody else. And that's the brains part, and that's the effort part as well, because, look, if you're competing with me, you better know what you're doing, otherwise I'm going to kick your ass and you're not going to outwork me. You know, the combination is usually what kills businesses early on. More than anything. You could within a 510 minutes interview say, this dude's not going to make it as an entrepreneur.

Yeah, I mean, I can typically tell, right? I can tell by their passion. I can tell by their focus. I can tell by their preparation. You know, there's a whole realm of things in any business here. You know, here's the business you're in, and here's a thousand things that influence whether or not you're going to be successful. You know, through my experience in businesses, I can put myself in his position and say, okay, here are 900 of the thousand things he has to be aware of and then go through and ask and by how many of those or her issues they've been able to address already. That kind of gives me a sense of how hard they're willing to work. And I can tell by the questions they ask me. So all I have to do is say, okay, what do you want to know? And when they start saying, what should I do? They ask you. And that's fine, right? And I want them to ask questions. But, you know, people like to say, you know, the only stupid questions are the one you don't, ones you don't ask. And that's not right. Right. Because the questions you ask tell me, tell whoever more about you than anything else you do. Because in particular, it tells me about your preparation. If you ask me questions about just basic things that you should have known and you should have, down to a science that's gonna disqualify you almost more than anything.

If you're not always learning, to this minute, if I'm not continuously learning, if I'm not just absorbing as much as I can absorb, someone else is going to kick my ass. Right? So you talk about paranoia. The greatest source of your paranoia should be knowledge. If someone else knows more than you do, and if you're not learning, if you don't know the learning, if you don't know how to learn, if you don't have a thirst for learning and acquiring information, you're sol.

Do you think there needs to be a healthy level of paralympics? Absolutely, there needs to be. Oh, yeah. I mean, I always say, you know, for every one of my businesses, I say, what would I do to kick my own ass? So whatever business you have, there's somebody trying to put you out of business. There's somebody trying to take a bite out of your business, and it's better for you to figure out how they're going to do it rather than they do it. And so, yeah, that's being paranoid. And so you have to be paranoid. You have to anticipate other people's next moves. And you can't ever downplay the competition. I was at a business plan competition this morning at a college and they were kind of being dismissive of the competition. And so you can't ever do that. You know, they're out there trying to take you down and they're not just going to sit still. And if you're good, really, really good, you're going to inspire them to work even harder, faster, better. And so you have to be, you know, very self aware of what you're good at and what other people are good at. And, you know, a healthy dose of paranoia makes a big difference is very helpful.

Let's transition to a different subject with college. You went to iU, right? Now you got a lot of people that say, forget about school. You know, drop out of school. They're idiots. So you think they're idiots. Tell me why. If you're gonna have and run a business, if you don't understand accounting, you're already behind the eight ball. Can't you hire a guy that knows that, but then they still have to communicate to you? Your accountant might tell you you're profitable, but your cash is going down, you know, not understanding a breakdown. And when you don't, you think you need college to learn that? Yeah, I think you do.

Right? Because it may not for some people. Look, if you're so self motivated that you can take an online course in accounting and teach yourself everything, you're way ahead of the game anyways. But most people aren't. I don't care if you go to a community college and take accounting and spend $99 for the class. Just, you know, spending the money forces you to be more obligated to do it. But accounting, finance, lesser extent marketing, sales that the school offers, that these are all the. That's the language of business. And so while it's possible to teach yourself these things and while it's possible to hire them, when you're starting your own company, you don't want to have to spend money hiring an accountant. Well, let me tell you, if you've gone through all these classes, I don't have to hire a lawyer to incorporate, right. You probably figure out yourself, and so your cost of opening up a business drops.

But even more important and all that, that's the blocking and tackling. That's the language of business. You know, the thing I learned at Indiana that was more important than anything else, I learned how to learn. And learning became far more important to me, because the one certainty in business is that it's always going to be changing.

How does one entrepreneur increase the speed in areas that they can increase? There's certain things you can't control. Speed in what way? Speed of growing your business. All right, so how fast can I grow? Yeah, I mean, it just depends. You've got to know your own skill set, 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 as fast as you can and then, you know, release a product launch. Yeah. And, you know, there's a lot of people 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. It really just depends on what the product. Is it a barbershop? Right? Is it an app? Is it a service? Is it a product? But the key is looking for the low hanging fruit. 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 once I get the next one, you know, 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.

You know, 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 and a white pages back then, you know, on my desk next to my phone and making phone calls. You? Yeah, me. Yeah. Because if I'm not gonna do it, how can I expect someone else to do it, right? So just get on the phone. Hey, this is Mark Cuno. I'm the new owner of the Dallas Mavericks. You know, I'd like to invite you back. It's not, though. This is my business. We can't get regular sales gets or something. 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 don'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. So. But in terms of speed of growth, it's really, you got to 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, alluding to earlier about entrepreneurs being born or built, you know, and I think they're. 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 are certain guys, you know, that, you know, when they golf, they have the muscle memory and the discipline, you know? Dirk Daviski 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 7ft tall and being skilled makes him an amazing basketball player.

So it's understanding what your skillset is, finding the right place to use those skills and then going for it. Will that make you 250 grand? It depends if you pick the right industry. I started my first business when I was twelve, buying and selling baseball cards, buying and selling stamps. Anything I could do to make money, I was hustling and trying to do. So I was into business, but not so much where it was. All my friends were into it with me, so they wouldn't know. Baseball cards? Yeah, baseball cards, you name it. I mean, I grew up in Pittsburgh, and so I would probably even less than twelve years old, I would go out and buy a bunch of baseball cards that I collected and I would package. I would say, okay, you're guaranteed to have a Pittsburgh Pirate in this package. And I would charge three times as much. And I'd set up on this park bench down in the park, down in Scott township where I grew up. And I'd have these little sales and it was great, I made money. And I mean, it was, you know, I learned as much about business when I was 910 and twelve as I learned any other time.

Entrepreneurship, Motivation, Education, Business, Competition, Knowledge, Business Motiversity