"I don't care what anyone says. Being rich is a good thing."
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
"In my opinion, right now there's way too much hype on the technologies and not enough attention to the real businesses behind them."
"Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don't do it."
"Money is a scoreboard where you can rank how you're doing against other people."
"We can't ever forget that the Internet now is just a staid utility. The exciting platforms are software applications that are very, very simple."
"What I've learned is that if you really want to be successful at something, you'll find that you put the time in. You won't just ask somebody if it's a good idea, you'll go figure out if it's a good idea."
"It is so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customers' shoes and try to understand how you might help them before they ask for help, than it is to try to mend a broken customer relationship."
"Being rich is a good thing. Not just in the obvious sense of benefiting you and your family, but in the broader sense. Profits are not a zero sum game. The more you make, the more of a financial impact you can have."
"I'm not the type to pat myself on the back and all that, but somebody has to be lucky, right? When I got to Dallas, I was struggling - sleeping on the floor with six guys in a three-bedroom apartment. I used to drive around, look at the big houses, and imagine what it would be like to live there and use that as motivation."
"Work like there is someone working 24 hours a day to take it all away from you."
"When you've got 10,000 people trying to do the same thing, why would you want to be number 10,001?"
"Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession."
"If you're prepared and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there. There is always a way to get there."
"I look at my annual budgets for everything and anything, and I look to see where I can save the most money on those items. Saving 30% to 50% buying in bulk - replenishable items from toothpaste to soup, or whatever I use a lot of - is the best guaranteed return on investment you can get anywhere."
"It doesn't matter how many times you have failed, you only have to be right once."
"Open offices keep everyone in tune with what is going on and keep the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show him or her how to use the lock on the bathroom."
"I love to compete. To me, business is the ultimate sport. It's always on. There is always someone trying to beat me."
"I worked hard and smarter than most people in the businesses I have been in."
“Every no gets me closer to a yes.”
"I still work hard to know my business. I'm continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I'm always selling. Always."
"I create offbeat advice; I don't follow it. I rarely take third-party advice on my investments."
"Social media is just a platform. Twitter is a very simple and immediate broadcast platform. Facebook is a very personal, when it comes to friends and when it comes to fan pages, a little bit less but still somewhat personal way to communicate."
"What I do know, at least what I think I have learned from my experiences in business, is that when there is a rush for everyone to do the same thing, it becomes more difficult to do. Not easier. Harder."
"Treat your customers like they own you. Because they do."
“What makes a good salesperson? Let me be clear that it’s not the person who can talk someone into anything. It’s not the hustler who is a smooth talker. The best salespeople are the ones who put themselves in their customer’s shoes and provide a solution that makes the customer happy.”
"I'm a believer that you accomplish much, much more with direct relationships than by using an intermediary. And that cash you keep in the bank can be the difference between staying alive as a small business, or not."
"If you've got $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, you're better off paying off any debt you have because that's a guaranteed return."
"A sure sign of failure for a startup is when someone sends me logo-embroidered polo shirts. If your people are at shows and in public, it's okay to buy for your own employees, but if you really think people are going to wear your branded polo when they're out and about, you are mistaken and have no idea how to spend your money."
"It's not about money or connections--it's the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone...And if it fails, you learn from what happened and do a better job next time."
“In sports, the only thing a player 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.”
"Go out there and get rich. Get so obnoxiously rich that when that tax bill comes, your first thought will be to choke on how big a check you have to write."
"What I've learned in these 11 years is you just got to stay focused and believe in yourself and trust your own ability and judgment."
"I'm not against government involvement in times of need. I am for recognizing that big public companies will continue to cut jobs in an effort to prop up stock prices, which in turn stimulates the need for more government involvement. "
"But we have to ask ourselves, what's the purpose of the stock market? It's supposed to be a source of capital for growing business. It's lost that purpose."
"When I got to the Mavericks people were all giving me advice - change this, change that - and one thing that I didn't do was fire anybody."
“There are no shortcuts. You have to work hard, and try to put yourself in a position where if luck strikes, you can see the opportunity and take advantage of it.”
“It’s not in the dreaming, it’s in the doing.”
"If you think back to the first sporting event you went to, you don't remember the score, you don't remember a home run, you don't remember a dunk. You remember who you were with. Were you with your mom, your dad, your brother, on a date?"
"Because if you're prepared and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there. There is always a way to get there."
“Companies don’t fail for a lack of cash or attitude. Companies fail for a lack or brains and effort.”
"The billion was, 'I can't f------ believe it.' Literally, I was sitting in front of a computer, naked, hitting the refresh because we were close — waiting until my net worth hit that billion when the stock price got to a certain point, and then I kinda screamed and jumped around and then got dressed."
"Wherever I see people doing something the way it's always been done, the way it's 'supposed' to be done, following the same old trends, well, that's just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else."
"I think one of the biggest curses in the U.S. is that we have only two political parties."
“What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? It takes willingness to learn, to be able to focus, to absorb information, and to always realize that business is a 24/7 job where someone is always out there to kick your ass.”
"The number-one job of the hedge-fund manager is not to make sure that you can retire with a smile on your face - it's for him to retire with a smile on his face."
"Relaxing is for the other guy. I may be sitting in front of the TV, but I'm not watching it unless I think there is something I can learn from it. I'm thinking about things I can use in my business, and the TV is just there."
"In the past, people used to tell me to shut up a bit. But what I believe is to put out your opinion and let everyone else react. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong."
"Recessions are the best time to start a company. Companies fail. Others hold back capital. If you are willing to do the preparation and work, it is the best time to invest in yourself and start a business."
“Always wake up with a smile knowing that today you are going to have fun accomplishing what others are too afraid to do.”
"Keep a pulse on the stress levels and accomplishments of your people and reward them. My first company, MicroSolutions, when we had a record sales month, or someone did something special, I would walk around handing out $100 bills to salespeople."
"What I do know, at least what I think I have learned from my experiences in business, is that when there is a rush for everyone to do the same thing, it becomes more difficult to do. Not easier. Harder."
"If you're prepared, and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there. There is always a way to get there."
"No balls, no babies. ... Once you are prepared and you think you have every angle of preparation covered, you have to go for it."
"If there was a template for success in sports, everyone would follow it. You do the best you can and trust the people you trust."
"Everybody thinks that we are in the basketball business. It's an NBA game; we're not in the basketball business. We're in the business of creating unique experiences."
"My dad says it over and over, 'Today's the youngest you're ever going to be. You've got to live like it. You've got to live young every day.' And that's what I try to do."
"The first cities to create friction-free enterprise zones will get a lot of entrepreneurial traction."
"I'm the one guy who says don't force the stupid people to be quiet — I want to know who the morons are."
"I micromanage you until I trust you. It's a back and forth continually … If I send you 30 emails, I expect quick responses and direct action. Then we'll go to weekly reports. And I want the bad news first. I want to read, 'God dammit, we lost this sale.' I want to know the setbacks so that I can help you."
"I'm a believer that you accomplish much, much more with direct relationships than by using an intermediary. And that cash you keep in the bank can be the difference between staying alive as a small business, or not."
“Don’t let fear be a roadblock.”
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