Customer Reviews

How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Every since I started reading Mark Cuban's weblog, BlogMaverick.com, I've been emailing links of my favorite posts to my employees and business associates. I subscribe to it on my RSS feed and typically read every entry within a matter of hours. So when I saw Mark's entry on Facebook that he had produced an ebook for sale, I bought it without a second thought. I must admit, I read the foreword and was immediately irritated to learn that the ebook was simply a collection of his most popular posts, many of which I'd read 10x over. Oh well, it's $2.99 as I read his first post which he discusses his humble beginnings coming to Dallas as a broke college grad. 5 hours later, I'm finished with the book and I'm convinced that was probably the best $3 I've spent on a book. If you're a blogmaverick reader his old posts have been updated with details and commentary that you will find very interesting and if you're not a blog maverick reader, you will no do doubt find find inspiration and more importantly, practical advice that applies to any business.

What I have always found most impressive about Mark is how little he cares about what people think about and how passionate he is about getting 'IT' right. This book arranges his rags to riches tale in a chronological order that will be of great practical use to any entrepreneur.

One thing I've felt throughout this NBA Lockout and ever more so after reading this ebook is that Mark Cuban must be going absolutely insane sitting in these 'business meetings' over the NBA's labor issues with dinosaurs like Billy Hunter and David Stern. I'll borrow a quote from his post "Twelve Cuban Mantra for Success":

"11. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered
This is one I got from my partner Todd Wagner. He is right on. Sometimes you have to go for the jugular, but more often than not, the biggest mistake people make is getting too greedy.

Every good deal has a win-win solution. There is nothing I hate more than someone who tries to squeez every last penny out of a deal. Who often raises the aggravation level to the point where it's not worth doing the deal. Which also raises the dislike level to the point where even if a deal gets done, you look for ways to never do business with that person or company again.

Business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal."

hrrmm...wonder if this could apply to Dan Gilbert and MJ??

Well as I digress, I'll end this review with saying that rather than emailing links to my employees, friends and business associates, I'm going to buy this ebook for them.

While it is true that Mark Cuban's eBook "How to Win at the Sport of Business" is simply a compilation of his blog posts (which are all available online for free), this book has something that his blog doesn't. Editing. I've read a number of his blog posts over the years and a few things are clear to me: 1) Mark is a smart, successful guy. 2) He has a lot of good ideas and information in his head and he's willing to share what he knows with anyone willing to take the time to read what he writes. 3) He's not a great writer. (His blog is filled with typos and weird punctuation issues.)

Thankfully, this book has been edited. The punctuation errors so common on his blog have been fixed, and most typos corrected (though there are still a few, and in some of the storytelling parts he changes from present tense to past tense). The blog posts have also been arranged in a logical way so that this book reads very comfortably as a complete book. That said, my biggest complaint about this book is also the editing. There is one blog post that appears twice (with different titles though). I don't know how someone misses something like that.

Small quirks aside, this book is a good, fast read filled with lots of valuable information. There is by no means anything earth shattering here, but there is plenty of useful information for anyone running a business or thinking of starting one.

Its a good book, definitely worth the two fidy. Half of what youd pay for a vanity fair at the airport. There are some worthwhile ideas and definitely sheds some light into Cubans outlook on things. He's a smart guy.

Two things to remember though.

Cuban is smarter most people. So this whole If I can do it so can you is a little misleading.

Second thing to remember with Cuban is that luck (timing) had a huge part in him making his dough. Without which he would be just a rich dallas guy worth 10-20mm, no Mavs, no Celebrity, and I dare say no G5.

He definitely got out there and in the right position when he sold Broadcast, but make no mistake, Broadcast wouldnt be worth a plug nickel today. Cuban was smart enough to sell at the top, but it wasn't like he was a Rockefeller or Gates who created something with long term value (although he did this with the Mavs). He sold into the bubble right before it burst, and has been enjoying it even since. Well played sir.

Mark Cuban made his money by selling his small company broadcast.com to Yahoo. Broadcast.com never made a dime. At the time Cuban sold the business, the company only had 22 million dollars in revenue but a whopping 18 million dollar loss. Yahoo after spending millions on broadcast.com decided to shut it down only after a few years because it kept losing money. At the time of the purchase broadcast.com only accounted for a mere 2% of Yahoo's total revenue. Yahoo brass must of felt like fools to have paid so much for so little.

Cuban's other companies don't make money either. The Dallas Mavericks have lost millions of dollars every year, even last year when they won the championship. HDNET, Cuban's cable channel, loses money, the films that Cuban produces also lose money and after buying Landmark Theaters several years ago, which also lost money, he now wants to sell. LOL The internet sites he invests in like Sharesleuth.com have all been failures. What is even more troubling is that he is currently under investigation for insider trading by the SEC, which sets a bad example.

There is not one example of Cuban making money in any of his businesses, so I have to ask what good advice could he possibly give readers? He often talks about his business skills but for all of business skills he does not make money and isn't making money what good businesspeople do?

As far as the book is concerned, the writing is poor. Cuban is not a writer and it shows. Most of the material here has already been written about in magazines and newspapers. There is really nothing new.

Great book. Short and straightforward. It gives practical advice and its highly motivating. Get ready to get pumped up. Mark delivers once again. Highly recommend it.

My undergrad students seem to universally admire Mark Cuban, but I suspect for most of them they see him as the enthusiastic NBA owner who they wish owned their favorite team. This book combines an appealing messenger with a general message that is powerful and spot on: the educational value of those first jobs and the importance of doing one's homework and studying one's profession and the edge that gives you. Just those two things are valuable messages that students often fail to grasp when they envision their potential careers and this book delivers much more.

Cuban uses matter-of-fact logic to explain how a $20 book or a $7 trade journal or magazine more than pays for itself by generating ideas that might land one more customer. This ebook is going for $2.99 and I am certain it is a difference maker for some young people who haven't grasped the value of the reading,thinking, and study necessary to be successful. It might be one of the best value for the money deals I have seen in years.

Forget that latte! Get this book. This is a real-deal 'honest' book, with a lot of Mark's daily events chronicled. You won't find this type of material in many books of this type. It should be part of the curriculum of B-school entrepreneurship classes.

I really enjoyed the book. An up close look at how Mark achieved his success is something all entrepreneurs can benefit from. Mark provides great advice, hope and direction for all ages. With a college age son, I especially like how he speaks to this group. Simple and strait froward. Thanks Mark!

What we have here is a collection of old blog posts warmed over to make a so-called book. You must be kidding me. Just go to Cuban's blog and read everything for free.

What is soooooo terrible is the writing. This is not writing--it is typing. A high school kid could write better than this. The reason that he looks so serious on the cover is that he is sad that he has to charge for this computer file called a book. Pleeese. What do you take us for fools?

Still reading and impressed with what I read thus far. In my book Professor A's Tips & Guides: Usung science and engineering for cash, money, health and love we talk about having that drive and motivation. Good readSProfessor A's Tips & Guides: Using science and engineering for cash, money, health and love.