Cuban's Background

Mark Cuban is a multi-billionaire businessman that I have always admired, since watching him in my high school business studies class. He always seemed to be the most down to earth of the sharks on Shark Tank and I always liked his style, so I was excited to see him on Lex Fridman's podcast.

I also love Cuban's sales style and how he looks at it as helping people, he said in the podcast:

"Selling is just helping I've always looked at it about putting myself in the shoes of another person and asking a simple question can I help this person, can my product help them. From the time I was 12 years old selling garbage bags door too and just asking a simple question do you use garbage bags, do you need garbage bags, well let me save you some time I'll bring them to your house and drop them off."

Being a salesperson

"so you didn't have to be a born salesperson to be able to ask those questions but you have to be able to be willing to put in the time to learn that business and that's the hardest part."

"my biggest skill being able to just drill down to what the actual need is if any and then you know from there being able to say well if this is what this company does and this is what their goal is how can I introduce something new that they haven't seen before and is that a business that I can create and make money from"

The importance of curiosity

"I worked at it because you know going back to what I said earlier about curiosity you have to be insanely curious because the world is always changing, my dad used to say we don't live in the world we were born into, you know which is absolutely true if you're not a voracious consumer of information then you're not going to be able to keep up and no matter what your sales skills or ability are they're going to be useless."

What seems common with Mark is that he talks and explains so simply and his core values are so simple yet true, he doesn't overcomplicate things, and his advice is always so clear and concise.

It reminds me of two quotes

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Einstein

"That's The Biggest Lie I Was Ever Told: "It's Not That Simple." And It's A Lie They Tell You Over And Over Again." Vinny Pazienza from Bleed For This Movie

Not being greedy

What is awesome about Mark is that he decided not to be greedy at a time were no one was.

"I went on CNBC and um I told them what I had done and they were like Yahoo stock had gone up significantly from the time I had collared and one of the guys Joe Kernen was on there, said don't you feel stupid now that Yahoo stock has gone up."

"when the market just cratered I was protected and you know over the next two three years whatever it was it it converted to cash paid my taxes Etc but um it protected me and as it turns out it was called one of the top 10 trades of all time"

Out of a choice of being greedy or not, he chose not to be and it paid off big time.

Is there currently an AI bubble?

"We're looking at the the magic 7 or whatever it is stock now and people are asking is it in a bubble"

"There were people creating companies with just a website and going public you know that's a bubble right where there's no intrinsic value at all and people aren't even trying to make operating cap profits they're just trying to leverage the frothiness of the stock market that's a bubble you don't see that right now."

What stood out to me

Mark came from a working-class background and he was able to make it big, he was able to do this by being curious and by being willing to put in the time to learn the business. He has a very strong moral compass and not being greedy has paid off for him.

Mark seems like a very genuine person and relatable, he doesn't shy away from the fact that in his eyes he become a millionaire through skill but became a billionaire through luck.

The awesome thing about Mark is it is a case of doing the right thing the right way all your life and it will pay off in the end. He is a great example of how to be a good person and be successful.