Adopt This Billionaire Mindset For 2010

by 52 replies
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You'll love this...

Cleaning up my desktop this morning and found this doozy of a chest-thumping "build my business now" quote by Mark Cuban... Dallas Mavericks owner and outspoken billionaire.

Take it away Mark...

"Every single day someone has an idea. Every day someone talks about some business they want to start. Every day someone is out there starting a business whose entire goal is to beat the hell out of yours. How cool is that.

Every day some stranger from any where in the world that you have never met is trying to come up with a way to put you out of business. To take everything you have worked your ass off for, and take it all away. If you are in a growing industry, there could be hundreds or thousands of strangers trying to figure out ways to put you out of business. How cool is that.

The ultimate competition. Would you like to play a game called Eat Your Lunch. We are going to face off. My ability to execute on an idea vs yours. My ability to subvert your business vs your ability to keep it going. My ability to create ways to remove any reason for your business to exist vs your ability to do the same to me. My ability to know what you are going to do, before you do it. Who gets there first? Best of all, this game doesn't have a time limit. It's forever. It never ends. It's the ultimate competition."
#main internet marketing discussion forum #2010 #adopt #billionaire #mindset
  • Nice!

    Really great way to look at it.
  • Thanks, but I hardly find that motivational :confused:

    Is this the level of Narcissism needed to become a billionaire .. if so I'll stick with the millionaire dream
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    • It's far from the law of attraction. I agree.

      But in the real-world... with real-life competitors... and a real-life surge of IM'ers from India and China about to hit... you might need this kind of fire under your hindquarters to stay in the game.
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  • I like it! I'm big on the competitive motivational stuff. But not everyone has a competitive personality-For them its more about improvement than superiority.

    Really it all leads to the same end result- a better, improved business or product.
  • Oh you bet I'll be adopting this positive attitude for 2010. I have already been thinking along those lines but there is always room for improvement.

    2010 is gonna be BIG! Best to all of you
  • LOL All the top dogs in the IM field (as well as many other niche markets) work WITH each other not against... I agree there is strong competition out there but if you work on giving more than you receive and becoming a big name people will naturally want to work with you and you can help your business by helping their's.
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    • Hey Sean, for me, I like the competitive nature of business. That's why this quote appeals to me. But there's obviously much hay to made from looking to team with others too.

      However, and as marketer's horror stories attest, there are sharks out there who'd rather bite into your profits than JV.
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  • Banned
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    • If everybody else is competetion why is this forum running?

      J
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    • Michael, see past the shenanigans! Cuban has his moments but he's a whip smart dude. Although I also wish he'd tone down his shouting at the refs.
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  • Hey, if this kind of mentality floats your boat then by all means go for it. Eat you heart out Jack !!
    But I think Colonel Sanders and Dave Thomas would wholeheartidly disagree with this assertion !!
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    • Maybe... at least their public advertising personas would. But you don't think they ever "hated on" Burger King... McDonalds... and secretly wanted to put them flat out of business?
  • I'm definitely working this into my way of thinking for 2010; But, maybe on a smaller scale. I won't try to necessarily put others out of business, but use my USP to make qualified buyers see that quality writing is actually a "better buy" than the ever-so-popular $2 article.
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    • Sally, great way to apply this. What Cuban is saying, as I read it, is to go nuts in trying to provide better value and user experience for customers. Good luck with your efforts.
  • It helps to have a billionaire mindset like cuban when you have a billion in the bank.

    Or does he still have it?
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    • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    • Never said it should be the be all and end of life. And it's not necessarily about having an oversized ego. It's just a reality of the world you have to deal with if you own a business. People are out for a greater piece of the pie. And if it means taking a bite out of yours, they will.

      I don't think that's cynical. More a reality of business.

      And although I'm genuinely sorry the only billionaire you know needs an attitude adjustment, the richest man on the planet has a foundation that's saving millions of lives across the planet. He's a good guy... an infamously competitive guy... yet by all accounts he's doing more to help more people than anyone else in human history.
  • This isn't the mentality of a billionaire. This is the mentality of a sick world who minds are so closed to reality and what happiness is that they honestly believe that there aren't enough resources in the world for everyone to spread there message, and share their gifts, and at least have their basic needs met.


    This is the gutter mentality that is the reason why many people in the world live in poverty and really terrible conditions and honest hard working people have to give to charity or their considered "Greedy", when if people woudl wake the hell up adn realize that the real problem is that there is a need for charity in the first place.

    Daniel
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  • I like Cuban.

    But let's put it on the table.

    He got extremely lucky. He didn't "compete" to build a business. He was in the right place at the right time when Yahoo got itchy grabby for market share, and bought broadcast.com, which ultimately failed as a site and a brand.

    There was really nothing there. It was a platform with not a lot of content back in Web 1.0 gold rush days, and Yahoo speculated and lost.

    Cuban took his cash and bought some other assets - smart on his part.

    But to suggest that he earned his billions by "competing" is somewhat of a misnomer.

    To have it to do over again, would he be as successful without Yahoo?

    Compare his story to a guy like Sir Branson, who started out hustling magazines on the street. Very different.
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    • Michael, thanks for bringing this up. Branson has a wonderful and inspiring story. Full of risk and legit adventure.
  • That's kind of depressing actually.
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    • You see Cuban's statement as arrogant and flippant, and it rubs you the wrong way. Fair enough.

      There's a reason the Dallas Mavericks have to budget money to pay his NBA fines.

      I would also agree that the kind of gloating you are reading into the statement is distasteful. Where we differ is that is not what I got out of it.

      In business, we all compete. Every freelancer, infoproduct seller or retailer competes. Every time someone makes a sale, it takes one away from someone else, potentially putting them one step closer to going out of business.

      You made the distinction between competing at sports vs. messing with peoples' livelihoods. Extend the argument to professional sports. PGA golfers competing for a purse are doing everything in their power to grab the biggest share of that purse knowing full well that if they do, someone else gets a smaller share. They also know that every other golfer in the tournament is trying to do the same thing.

      The alternative is to diminish that competitor and turn them into a charity case. Or diminish yourself by becoming one.

      discrat, you seem genuinely disgusted by Cuban's words, but others smack of jealousy and resentment. For those people, I ask this - if Cuban were not a billionaire a couple of times over and offered the same ideas, would you still be as upset? I deliberately specified 'ideas' to separate them from Cuban's brash rhetoric.
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  • Here's my two cents.

    Disregard your anger, hate, whatever you have against Mark and just focus on the statement. I don't know where all of you have been lately - but the online world isn't a pretty place where everyone has an equal share.

    Look at a keyword like "make money online". At least six people are actively trying to get to the number one spot that are currently on the first page not to mention the thousands of new comers trying to rank for that keyword.

    Black hat techniques are used against competitors to try and lower them - it's a messy game where the best site doesn't always reign supreme.

    I do believe, as Ross said, this is the mindset of an awful lot of billionaires. Maybe the disgust here is because you don't aspire to become a billionaire, or maybe not even a millionaire. There's nothing wrong with that.

    Pick up any book by Sir Branson, Donald Trump, or a biography on Warren Buffett. They got to where they were by doing a few dirty deeds, they knew success came at a price and they sure as hell put some people out of business, on purpose, to get to where they wanted to be. (Bill Gates is a perfect example - he royally did in countless people both when he started and now.)

    When I hear this quote I often think of CPA networks. There was once a time where NeverBlue and Hydra had huge market share - now they're disappearing with new comers like EWA, Copeac, and Convert2Media going above and beyond. It's all part of business and if you aren't ready to accept that there will always be someone smarter, working harder, coming after you you will ultimately fail as the online world gets more and more competitive.

    Things won't always be so rosy - you can already see the affects of tighter regulations both by the Government and by traffic sources like Adwords.

    I'm always amazed by the self righteousness portrayed by some members here - as if to say they are above and beyond doing anything to further themselves and their business.

    Zach

    P.S - What many members have said is simply the ideal. What they would like to see. Truth be known a lot of posters in this thread don't make a dollar a day online, and with the attitude of pure ignorance they won't ever. Any business that succeeds will negatively impact their competitors indirectly or directly.
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    • Zach, thank you for the thoughtful post.

      Branson, in particular is famous for going into niches and shaking the boat. Using his vast resources to give his competitors fits. Air travel. Train travel in the UK. Cell phones. Check out Virgin's website and the niche list goes on... and on. Branson is a shark who looks for holes he can exploit. A charming shark. An eccentric shark. But still hungry for blood.

      That said, the balance is, as with any sensible business approach, that you collaborate if it's in the best interest of your business. That you seek out partnerships where the cost benefit analysis is prettier than with a dirtier takeover.

      It's not about not having principles and values. Far from it. It's all about... to paraphrase Cuban... can you bring more value to this customer than the next guy? If it's a cut-throat quest to do just that, then it's an admirable cut-throat quest.

      The equation changes when you put yourself in customer shoes. Don't you want people fighting tooth and nail to give you more value?
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    • But how much money have you made with this ignorant mentality?

      Whether your a greedy ******* who only cares about money
      by any means necessary or an enlightened individual with
      values you can become a billionaire.

      One person helps the other while the other tears it down.

      None of my mentors (Who all have million dollar businesses)
      have that greed based mentality. I don't have it an my businesses
      are going over a million this year.

      So your theory is full of crap.

      You're only talking this crap because you've been
      programmed with that believe system and your perception
      is now in such a way that you actually believe that's the
      only reality. That it's dog eat dog.

      The world is the way it is because sheep like you have
      been programmed to chase money instead of doing
      soul searching. Which is why the economy is crumbling
      now.

      To think you can become a "Millionaire" or "Billionaire" without
      cutting someones throat means you have a very limited
      perception of the world that was programmed by
      the power at be.

      Living from your primitive reptilian (survival) brain is the reason
      you have a mentality such as this.

      To call people "Self righteous" because they have values
      and probably done some soul searching and see reality for what it
      is.

      A few powerful greedy *******s manipulating the people
      such as yourself to focus on acquring material objects
      by any means necessary instead of being of service
      and using business to service humanity and solve
      problems and people's lives.

      No one is saying there isn't "Competition". In fact I've
      been jived by greedy *******s with the same mentality
      as you.

      And I could care less because my business took off
      while they were busy worrying about "Competition".

      I focused on the needs of my niche and building relationships.

      That wins everytime.

      And FYI your hero Mark Cuban couldn't build a successful
      business to save his life and got a lucky break when
      Yahoo bought out broadcast.com (horrible mistake)
      for 4 billion.

      Even with all of yahoo's money they couldn't make a dumb
      idea like broadcast.com a success.

      So if you want to take business lessons from a guy who
      couldn't build a successful business to save his life. Go right ahead.

      Daniel
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  • The best SUCCESS QUOTE ever is by Earl Nightingale (The Strangest Secret):

    "You Become What You Think About Most Of The Time."
  • Wow...that's a mouthful there. To throw my 2 cents into this debate, I'd like to say that in this day and age you need to have a proper balance. You need the drive to want to be the best and a step ahead of the competition. But on the other hand you need be able to build relationships with them.

    The days of being a arrogant and cut throat business person are over. This is especially true online were our businesses are transparent to everyone that has an interest.
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    • Great quote.

      That just about sizes up businesses. (competition)

      It's a dog eat dog world.


      Michael
  • I don't know if I'm scared or motivated. Have your primary focus on your goals not your competition. That is not to say that keeping an eye out isn't necessary.
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