10 lessons I learned from Mark Cuban to become a billionaire

Hi, it's Robert Herjavec. I can't believe it. I'm finally on YouTube. I'm like, what, 40 years late to the game? But I'm here. First of all, welcome to my new series. It's called Things I Learned from a Billionaire to Become a Billionaire. Now, first of all, in full transparency, I am not quite a billionaire. Well, I am a billionaire in Australia, which is why I moved there. All joking aside, I'm on a journey. I want to create more wealth. I want to create more value for me, for my family, to inspire others. And on that journey, I've been very, very fortunate to meet some pretty great billionaires. How did they do it? What lessons can I learn from them? So this series is called 10 Things I Learned from a Billionaire in Order to Become a Billionaire. Come on the journey with me. Our first guest, and I didn't even have to interview him because I've known him for 16 years. I had the pleasure of sitting next to him on Shark Tank, is Mark Cuban. Certainly a billionaire. Just sold 50% of the Dallas Mavericks for $2 billion, giving him a market cap of $4 billion. Do you guys know he bought that team something like 20 years ago for $200 million and just sold it for $4 billion? That's a great return. Let's get started. I hope you enjoy the process. And first of all, what a great show Shark Tank is. I am so privileged and honored and humbled to be sitting there for 21 years. Kevin, the mean bald guy and I, started the show in Canada 21 years ago. And today, look at it. It runs in 54 countries and inspires so many people. And let's hope it inspires me to become a billionaire in North America, not just Australia. This is Mark's last season on the show. We're gonna miss him. The show will continue as it has in so many other countries, but I've learned to respect, admire. What you really know about Mark is he is exactly what you see on TV. He's bigger than life. He fills the room. He has an opinion. He is overtly confident. And my gosh, I really admire that. In the last 16 years, I've had an incredible opportunity to pick his brain. And I know when he sees this, he's gonna send me an invoice for his time. The first thing I've learned, and this was a big lesson for me. And by the way, I'm wearing my version of a T-shirt. First of all, I'm not a slob. So I am wearing a collar, but here's the first lesson I've learned from Mark Cuban the very first day I met him. Beware the man in the T-shirt, not the man in the suit. So before I met Mark, I mean, the guy was worth at the time, three, 4 billion. He's worth what, 6 billion now. I thought he would come in and, you know, better dress. I mean, I'm not talking about a suit and tie, but I thought maybe a nice Laura Piana shirt or even like a Zegna outfit or something. He came in wearing a T-shirt, jeans. When he changed, he just throws his stuff on the ground. So one day I'm sitting around with Mark and I'm really fascinated by this because back then I used to wear a suit and tie every day. Right? Like wear a suit, dress for the job you want, not the job that you have, all that stuff we've been told. So I'm sitting down with Mark one day. I say, Mark, with all due respect, why do you dress? How do I say it nicely? Like a slob. Mark looks at me and he says, Robert, because I can. I didn't quite get it at the time, but over the years I've realized Mark is never the one selling. Every room he goes into, people are selling him. Here's what I've learned over 16 years. You walk into a room and there's 20 people sitting there and 20 of them wearing a suit and tie. And there's one person in the back of the room wearing a T-shirt, that's the one with the power because that person worked their ass off to get to a position to wear whatever they want to wear. Now, we all have different things we love. I love clothes. I love cars. I love all kinds of things. Mark doesn't. Every person has their own thing. Beware the person in the T-shirt, not the one in the suit. Number two, expect to win always. So we get a lot of downtime during Shark Tank. We're sitting around, we're thinking about other things. We're talking to each other. We're giving each other a hard time. So one day, I don't know how we got on the topic. I'm talking to Mark. I think I was going through a really big deal. I wasn't sure if we were gonna win. You know, it was one of those deals like, oh my gosh, if I get this deal, it'll change the entire trajectory of my company. It's gonna make us way bigger. Every entrepreneur out there knows there's always that one deal. So I'm nervous about it and I turn around to Mark. I'm always picking his brain. By the way, if you're sitting next to somebody who's more powerful and has more experience, is more successful, pick their brain as much as you can. So I'm sitting next to Mark and I say, Mark, when you go into a meeting, do you expect to win always? He's like, yes, 100% of the time. And I'm like, well, what if it doesn't work out? What if you lose? What if you risk too much? And you know what he says to me? No, it's going to work out. It really shook me, his level of confidence. I used to think I was a pretty confident guy. When I met Mark, he just took it to a whole nother level. It changed my entire trajectory. And I have to say, this one thing has probably made me worth hundreds of millions of dollars more than it was before I met Mark. And let me tell you why. Prior to him saying that, you know what I used to think? I used to go into a situation and say, gosh, I hope it works out. But if it doesn't, I'm going to protect my downside. Mark has no downside. He always expects it to work out. If I'm being honest with myself, I didn't expect it to work out. I hoped it worked out. There's a fundamental difference. By the way, a friend of mine, Matt Higgins, who was also a guest shark, wrote a great book about this called Burn the Boats. There's an old proverb where, I think it was the Persian army, went a long way offshore to fight this battle. And the general felt that the people were committed. So he burnt the boats so they have no way to retreat. That's Mark. There is no retreat. He always expects to win every single time. Don't protect your downside and don't hope for an outcome. Expect an outcome. The bigger you get, the bigger the bullseye on your back. Mark loves to say that the most competitive sport in the world is actually business. It's not basketball, it's not football. And you know why? Every sport has a beginning and an end. Every sport has a season to it. You know, a football game is X amount of minutes. A basketball game is X amount of minutes. You know what business is? It's full-on contact sport, 24 hours a day. And here's the reality. The bigger you get, the bigger the bullseye on your back. When you're starting out, you're that little guy in your basement taking on the world. It's exciting, it's adventurous. But when you get bigger, guess what? There's somebody else always looking to take you down. Never forget that. The other saying that, I don't know if it was Mark or somebody said, work your ass off every day as though someone is trying to take it away from you. Because you know what? Someone is. Time kills all deals. We had been shooting the show for a couple of years before Mark came on. And you know, we were in a bit of a groove. We kind of knew what we were doing. Mark comes on the show and he introduced something that we had never done before. Speed. First deal he's working on, we're all making offers, we're all competing against each other. We're trying to figure out, cause you know, there's a magical point where we all want a deal and then we're competing against each other. The power goes to the entrepreneur, not the sharks anymore. So we think we know what we're doing. Mark's the new guy. And out of the blue, he turns around to the pitcher and says, I'll do that deal. I'm putting you on the 24 second shot clock. I'm sitting there, I'm going, I don't even know what the 24 second shot clock is. In basketball, you have 24 seconds. So every time you get a ball, the team has 24 seconds to shoot, score, or pass it. That's it. If you don't do it in 24 seconds, it's over. I mean, I remember that so clearly, the rest of us were like, what the hell's going on? And the, the entrepreneur's like, um, um. And guess what? They didn't respond in 24 seconds and he pulled his deal. Now it's a Mark Cuban thing. He's out there, but guess what? It works. When you attach speed to a decision, it forces people to think. And here's the funny thing is, the less time people have, the more honest they are with their decision. Most people need time to formulate a lie, to tell you how great things are, even though they're not going to go with you. When you put people on the 24 second shot clock, you're going to get the real decision pretty quick. Two airplanes are better than one, but why do you care? So, you know, kids love our show. I think we're actually the number one show on television for family viewing. When I, or any of the Sharks go to a high school, we're like rock stars. Like, kids just love our show. Go to a high school, ask a thousand kids what they want to be when they grow up. It used to be football. It used to be actor. It used to be all these things. You know what they want to be now? They want to be an entrepreneur because the Sharks have made it cool to be in business. Well, as cool as anything us Sharks can make. So a number of years ago, we went to a high school and it was all five of us and we're sitting there and the kids are asking us questions. They're so excited that we're there. And so a kid turns around to me and says, why do you still work so hard? And I was trying to be funny because, you know, on Shark Tank, I am the funny one, although it is a very low bar. So I was trying to be funny and I say, well, so I can afford a jet bigger than Mars. And at the time, I had a great jet, but it wasn't as big as Mark's. And if I'm being honest, it probably bothered me on some level. So I just kind of said it. I didn't mean it. I said it to be funny. And Mark, without thinking, turns around and says, which one? And hit me, got a ton of breaks. Here I am competing to have a single jet bigger than my friend Mark's. And what I realized is Mark actually has three. And it really humbled me. First of all, it was an arrogant thing for me to say. I should have never said it. I didn't mean it. I was trying to be funny, but there was some truth to it. And, you know, life is a journey to get to know yourself. And it really bothered me. And I kind of shut up for the rest of the time. And then I thought about it and I said, why did it bother me? Like, why did I even say that? I'm not an arrogant jerk. That was such an arrogant thing to say. And what I realized was I had lost my compass as to why I was working so hard. You know, when I started my company, I didn't do it for a bigger paycheck. I simply did it to pay my mortgage. That was it. My entire goal in life, if you can believe this, was to make $1,000 for my age. So when I turn 50, if I'm making 50,000, to buy an old Corvette and to pay off my mortgage one day, that was it. I would have been the happiest guy in the world. Somewhere along the way, I made hundreds of millions of dollars and here I am competing with my friend because he has a bigger jet. What is wrong with me? It really affected me. I got to tell you, I went away for a couple of days. I thought about it and I said, I've lost my purpose. I've lost my compass. I've become, honestly, a bit of a jerk. Life is not about competing with someone else. Life is about finding your own purpose. There is no greatness without great purpose. That one statement alone from Mark, which one made me retool, made me re-pivot and went back to the core of why I'm in business and why I want to do great things. The right and wrong time to sell a business. So if you're on the show with one of the most successful billionaires in the world, you'd be an idiot not to pick his brain all the time. And I do, I pick Mark's brain all the time. I had to learn to be careful because I think he was suspecting I was actually listening to him. So one day, this is years ago when Mark first got on the show, somebody offered me $100 million for my company. Now, you got to keep this in mind. I had sold my previous company for $32 million. I thought I was the richest guy in the world. So 100 million seemed like a lot of money and it was all cash. I didn't know whether I should take it or not. I'm sitting around, I'm grappling with the decision. So I'm sitting in the makeup chair, Mark's next to me and I say, Mark, I've had this amazing offer to sell my business and it's not a lot of money to you but it's quite a bit of money to me. This was years ago, it's $100 million in cash. What should I do? Here's what I love about Mark, without even thinking about it, looks at me and goes, Robert, there are only three reasons to ever sell your business. Number one, if you believe you don't want to do it anymore. Because if you don't want to do it anymore, someone's going to wake up and do it better than you. So that's number one. Number two, if you believe you've maxed out the opportunity so if you think that you're at the peak of the value of your business, it's a good time to get out, you should probably sell your business. And number three, if the money will fundamentally change your life. And that was the most important advice. I thought about it and it was like one of those things like bang, bang, bang, three things. I go away and I thought about it and I thought, well, do I don't want to keep doing this? And I love my business, I wanted to keep going. Do I believe that cybersecurity had reached the zenith that there was no more opportunity? Absolutely not. We're just at the tip of the iceberg, even today. And most importantly, was $100 million going to change my life? Don't get me wrong. It was going to let me buy a bigger jet. It was going to let me buy another house. It was going to give me more stuff. But you know what? I already had stuff. I had really nice stuff. So getting more nice stuff and selling my business wasn't going to change the trajectory of my life. You know, the sale of a business that changed my entire life the most was my very first business. I sold it for $600,000. I took that money and I paid off my mortgage. That gave me the courage and the freedom to start another business. I was this poor immigrant. I thought, oh my God, if I have a mortgage, what if it doesn't work out? I mean, I was consumed with fear. So $600,000 changed my life, but $100 million was just going to give me more stuff. And you know, I love stuff. Don't get me wrong. I love airplanes. I love toys. I love Ferraris. I love motorbikes. I love Ducatis. I love everything. I love to play, but I really love my business. And I didn't start it to make more money. I did it because I wanted to build something great. And so I thought about it, and I was on this high from Mark's advice. I called this equity firm. I said, I'm not going to do it. Man, I felt so good saying no to $100 million. And they were like, okay, great. They hung up. I went to sleep. I woke up the next day. What do you think the first thought in my head was? Why did I listen to Mark? I just gave up $100 million. I literally picked up the phone to call them. And I just couldn't. Long story made short, about four or five years later, I sold a majority stake of my company for many more hundreds of millions of dollars and still owned 25% of it. It worked out great. Know when to sell your business. There are only three reasons to sell. Time is more important than money. Mark says this all the time. His great saying is, I mean, in fairness, a lot of people say this. My friend Cody Sanchez has a great saying on this. And this old Australian billionaire, absolutely. Time is the only commodity we can't get back. So everything you do, you gotta think about it. Time is the great equalizer. Everybody out there gets the same 24 hours in a day. Whether you're a billionaire or you're a blue collar worker, guess what? When you wake up in the morning, that clock starts and you get 24 hours. The question is, what are you going to do in those 24 hours? And here's the reality. The farther down you are on the totem pole of privilege or opportunity, the harder you have to work. It's not fair, it's not equitable, but you just gotta work harder. When I started out, I used to sleep three to four hours a day and my friends used to say to me, oh my gosh, I wish I was born like you where I don't need much sleep. I wish I was like you that I never got tired. Are you freaking kidding me? I was tired all the time. But guess what? I learned a long time ago. I would much rather be tired than poor. Time is your greatest commodity. Whether you're a billionaire or you're starting out, look at your day, plan your day out. I can tell you right now where I'm gonna be in February of March of next year. Why did I buy a plane? It wasn't to show off, it was to maximize time. When I started out, I used to leave Toronto, go to a meeting in New York for breakfast, go to Chicago for lunch, go to a third city for dinner, then sleep on the plane, go across the coast and have a breakfast meeting in LA again. Jets are not show-off toys. Well, they are to a bunch of people, but you know what they are? They're time machines. So is a great assistant, so is great planning. Make the most of your day every day. Once everyone knows the answer, the opportunity's probably gone. So picture this, I'm this young kid, I'm scared of everything. I'm a poor immigrant, I look funny, I don't know what to do with my life. And when I came to Canada, there was no English courses. They literally put me in a classroom and I had to learn English right there. By the way, the kid I sat behind, his name was Rene Ott. I, Rene, still my friend to this day. So I'm sitting in this classroom, I don't speak a word of English. In three months, I pick up English and I remember this so clearly. The teacher says blah, blah, blah, blah and calls me out to answer this question. And I answer it and she looks at me and she says, are you sure? Now think of this, I'm the geeky immigrant, barely English speaking kid in the class of 30 kids. Kids are snickering and she says, are you sure? What do you think I say? No, and I changed my mind. And guess what? I was right. Fast forward many years later, Mark has no fear about being wrong. What I've learned from Mark and many other billionaires is when you walk into a room and everybody knows the answer, the opportunity's gone. You cannot be afraid to be wrong. And what that means is sometimes you're gonna make big decisions. You're gonna go left when everybody else wants to go right. But that's how you create massive opportunity. If the road you're going down is well traveled, guess what? There's probably no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The road that's paved with a pot of gold is barely traveled. There are no participation trophies in life. Trophies are only for winners. So Mark, as you can imagine, is a highly competitive guy. But in fairness, I haven't met many billionaires who are not competitive. I haven't met many billionaires that say, oh, you know, whatever happens today, I'm super easy, go lucky with. They're out there blazing their own way. So one day we're competing on this deal and I'm competing with Mark and Kevin's competing with Mark. I think we're all competing on this deal. And it gets really heated and we're all getting excited, all bidding less equity, more money, blah, blah, blah, blah. And out of the blue, Mark swoops in, 24 second shot clock, quickly offers more money for less equity, says, if you do the deal right now, I'll take it or I'm out. And the pitcher's like, they take the deal. The pitch is over, we've got some time between pitches. By the way, I don't know if you know this, but we see eight to 10 pitches every single day. The average pitch can be over an hour and it all gets edited into seven or eight minutes on TV. The power of editing. Anyway, we're between pitches. I go up to Mark and say, hey Mark, man, that was exciting. So heated. What did you love about this deal? He's like, what I love about the deal? I don't know, I just wanted to win. He didn't even remember what the deal was. He didn't even remember what we were competing for. He didn't even remember the business. He just wanted to win. Man, business is a competitive sport. If you don't like to compete and you don't want to win, you should probably get out of business because somebody else is going to run right over you. Now, Mark is a great supporter. He did great with that business. But think about that. That was his initial reaction. Shark Tank is a very competitive sport. You only need to be right once. I think it was season four or five, Mark was talking to this entrepreneur and the entrepreneur says, oh, it's easy for you. You've always been successful. Mark says, what? What are you talking about? He goes, nobody remembers my failures. I failed more times than I can remember, but I was right once I sold my company for $6 billion. You know what? Here's the amazing thing about life. It doesn't matter where we started. If you don't like the chapters in the book that is your life, here's the beauty of it. Turn the page. All you gotta do is be right once. People are not gonna remember, oh, you're the guy that failed 28 times and was right once. You know what people will remember? You're the guy that sold his company for $6 billion or a billion dollars. That's the one thing I really took away from that. Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no lack of enthusiasm until you're right. And when you're right, make it big. You only have to do it once. Well, that's it. Those are the 10 things I learned from my friend Mark Cuban, things I learned from a billionaire to become a billionaire. And I hope after this, I'm one step closer. Really appreciate your time. And look, if there's other billionaires you want me to interview, just drop a note in the comments. And you know, the great thing about Shark Tank is not many people say no to you. We have this incredible Rolodex of people we can get. So stay tuned. I'll see you on the next episode.