I remember the time well. I was 27 years old.
I finally had my own apartment for the first time. I still hadn't bought a new car yet, but I was jazzed that I had a 4 year old Mazda RX 7. 4 Years old was as good as new to me, and driving a gold RX 7 back in the day was fun as well.
I still bought my suits used, although by then I did have 1 new suit I had bought at Neiman Marcus because my girlfriend worked there and brought me to one of their year end employee discount deals.
My business, MicroSolutions was about 3 years old and I would make 60k dollars that year. HUGE money for me. Back then, getting paid your age was good, double your age was great. Around Christmas of that year, after many welcome hints from my then girlfriend, I decided to take every penny I had in my savings, $ 7,500 dollars and get engaged.
It was a beautiful ring that cost me exactly $ 7,500 dollars.
Long story short. I got engaged. She lost the ring a couple weeks after I gave it to her and before it was insured. We broke up. (the good news is that I was too young to get married and we are still good friends).
27 years old. Zero in the bank. Messed up in the head because of the breakup. The good news was that I had my business. The one thing that I could always focus on to the exclusion of everything else. A trait that would serve me well in business, but had more than a little bit to do with my breakup.
MicroSolutions was growing. But it could be doing better. The PC industry had gone through a major slump and pullback and the local area networking industry had yet to take off. If we were going to grow, it was going to take working hard and working smart.
It was right around then I heard something that I would hear a lot once I bought the Mavs.
In sports, the only thing a player or coach can truly control is effort. The same applies to business. The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort.
I had to kick myself in the ass and recommit to getting up early, staying up late and consuming everything I possibly could to get an edge. I had to commit to making the effort to be as productive as I possibly could. It meant making sure that every hour of the day that I could contact a customer was selling time and when customers were sleeping, I was doing things that prepared me to make more sales and to make my company better.
And finally, I had to make sure I wasn't lying to myself about how hard I was working. It would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours a day passed by while I was at work. That's the worst way to measure effort. Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results. What did i need to do to close this account. What did I need to do to win this segment of business. What did i need to do to understand this technology or that business better than anyone. What did I need to do to find an edge. Where does that edge come from and how was I going to get there.
The one thing in our business lives is effort. Either you make the commitment to get results or your don't.
The One Thing in Life You Can Control: Effort
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Willie Nelson said it best, "You can't make a record if you ain't got nothin' to say and you can't play music if you don't know nothin' to play." It's all about effort.
Posted at 12:06PM on Dec 30th 2007 by The WordSlinger
3. I think the point about judging yourself by how many hours you work versus judging yourself about setting goals and getting results is great. I struggle with this all the time. I will sit in front of my computer for 12 hours and work but at the end of the day was I really that efficient? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Mastering this will be the key for myself and anyone else to get to the next level of business.
5. "Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results." - Mark Cuban.
Wow. No goals, no effort. Goal setting is probably the most important key to success. But setting them is step one. Then having them sit on your white-board staring back at you does nothing! Thanks for the reminder that asking yourself tough questions is the key to getting results. Questions... questions... how, who, why, will, what?
how can I improve my website? how can I drive more visitors? how can I reach more readers? how can I provide NBA information that is free, unique, succinct, and more transparent than Hollinger's data? How can I enable NBA fans to look beyond the standings at http://www.boxscorebasketball.com ?
thanks for the post. my questions keep coming...
7. Thanks for the Kick in the Ass. Sometime we need to be reminded to quit watching the clock and get out there and make things happen.
Posted at 1:45PM on Dec 30th 2007 by John from Birmingham
8. Here is another quote that comes to mind from Mark's experience:
"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
- John Wooden
I would say that Mark has lived his entire life this way. Peace and Happy New Year, Holmes!
Thanks for these blogs! You rock!
10. Great post Mark. I like the flavor of your recent posts. Keep them coming, please.
Posted at 2:20PM on Dec 30th 2007 by Bob Wegener
11. I like these articles. I like your comment ab setting goals instead of looking at how many hours you spent working. People can "work hard" without accomplishing anything. It's more important to be efficient in the time you spend working than to throw a lot of hours at a problem.
Posted at 3:31PM on Dec 30th 2007 by Jay
12. Sure, effort is important and it may be the one thing that you can control. This is a good post as well, I comment you for it...
but... keep in mind that one also has to have the strategic focus and planning to put effort into the right thing. A hard core coder should put his effort into coding and not into sales and vice versa... everyone has to recognize what they're good at, what they enjoy, and then put their effort into that...
Matt (Mad) Chider
http://www.chide.it
Posted at 4:36PM on Dec 30th 2007 by Matt (Mad) Chider
14. Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results. This says it all. Thanks for reminding me. I also found that we can get caught up in setting goals and not getting results because the to do list keeps getting longer and more intimidating. My secret has always been to start knocking of these goals as quickly as possible. That I feel is the measure of effort as you so clearly state.
Thanks for the post
Posted at 4:59PM on Dec 30th 2007 by Small Business Marketing
16. Mark,
Great thoughts as always.
I certainly need to be better about production versus time on the job.
Thanks for your motivation!!
Posted at 6:09PM on Dec 30th 2007 by Glen Wilson
17. Mark I certainly think you are generally right about effort and business, but I'm becoming convinced that in the pure online space there is an enormous amount of luck and serendipity in the "success equation", and often effort is a distant third to those. Sure it is probably a necessary condition for success and in the past I think it was probably sufficient, but so much online success now hinges almost solely on Google search traffic. Companies that get a lot of free traffic have a *huge* advantage over those that pay for traffic, often at negative ROIs.
Hey - are you going to CES? Will you be on Donny Deutsch 's show there?
18. Hey Mark ;>
Ran into a Friend of Yours!!! As I was walking away, turned and asked him how Crazy you are? "Hey chuckled,Smiled and said not So Crazy!!! He Just Works his Ass Off" Great Motivation!!!!
Keep Smiling ;>
Whitteey
P.S. Keep Working your Ass Off I am enjoying your Efforts!!!!
Posted at 8:52PM on Dec 30th 2007 by Whitteey
19. Hey Mark. REALLY good stuff, as you can see from the outpouring of gratitude on behalf of your your readers.
I thank you as well for compiling all of that practical wisdom & inspiration in one very easy-to-access post. Will not belabor the point any further, but will simply say your advice came at just the right time.
Now on a related note...
You should seriously think about writing an autobiography.
You could seriously/simply title it "CUBAN" (big bold letters, of course) and both admiring fans curious readers would scramble to get their hands on it. Just look at how your personality drove this seasson of DWTS...
(Guarantee it would outsell "TRUMP," too!)
Not only would it be a sure-fire NY Times bestseller, you could clearly HELP & INSPIRE a ton of new (perhaps non-digital)people.
Your story is much bigger than one of wealth accumulation, and I believe people would love to know more.
Something to think about anyway. Am sure you've got plenty more cool/funny/inspirational stories & experiences you could recount for a couple chapters or so...
And hey, if you need a ghostwriter/editor or just someone to bounce new ideas off of, let me know. ;)
DS
20. You know, there's quite a bit someone can learn from reading this. For the longest time "Effort" for me just meant commitment and time invested in something. I thought that expending this "Effort" would leave completely satsified and zealously content pursuing any avenue I wished to be successful in. The harsh reality is that commitment sometimes doesn't mean a whole lot without results. I learned this both as a student and a technical lead in the IT industry. Having clear vision, a good game plan, solid execution, and a die-hard attitude is essential for sustained success these days. People who think like this don't let the mundane cloud their judgement and they don't let the intricate complexities of life hamper their determination. Awesome post Mark.
Posted at 2:24AM on Dec 31st 2007 by Sam Singh
1. This is a great reminder for those of us on diets - we can only succeed with our weight loss goals in 2008 if we make that commitment to get the results we want. Your post has helped inspire me, thank you.
Posted at 11:37AM on Dec 30th 2007 by john - from fat to fit