16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Collection of Blog Entries at First Glance, But So Much More, 21 Nov 2011
By TheDream "og" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It (Kindle Edition)
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.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Plenty of valuable information at a great price!, 26 Nov 2011
By Ryan Lowery - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It (Kindle Edition)
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.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
He got us a Championship, How can you hate it?, 2 Dec 2011
By M Flash - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It (Kindle Edition)
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.
