hi it's Robert hgac 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'm going 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 do 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 cuz I've known him for 16 years I had the pleasure sitting next to him on Shark Tank is markk hubin 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 rechar 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 honor and humbl 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 going to 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 Mar 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 no one sees this is going to
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 3 four billion he's worth what six billion now I thought thought he
would come in and you know better dressed I mean I'm not talking about a suit and tie but I thought maybe a nice lur piano shirt or even like a Zena outfit or something he came in wearing a t-shirt jeans when he changed just throws his stuff on the ground so one day I'm sitting around with Mark and I'm really fast 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 and I say Mark with all due respect why do you dress how do I say it nicely like a SLO Mark looks at me and he says Robert because I can't 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 if 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 suit number two expect to win always so we had a lot of downtime during a 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 going to 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 going to 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 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 what if you lose what if you risk too much 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 another 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 that 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 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 burned the boats so they had 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 enough the bigger you get the bigger the bullseye on your back Mark lust 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 businesses it's
fullon 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 um I don't know if it was Mark or somebody said work your ass up every day as though someone is trying to take get away from you because you know what someone is time kills
all deals we have been shooting the show for a couple 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 introduce 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 cuz cuz you know there's a magical point where we want to 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 markson you 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 second 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 is 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 used to be actor used to
be all these things you know what they want to be now they want to be an entrepreneur cuz 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 Marx and at the time I had a great jet but it wasn't as big as markx 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 was without thinking turns around and says which one in hit me 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 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 ,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 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 rivot 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' be an idiot not to pick this brain all the time and I do I picked Mark's brain all the time I had to learn to be careful because I
I think he was suspecting I was actually listening to him so one day this is years ago and Mark first got on the show somebody offered me A1 $ 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 you know it's not a lot of money to you but it's quite a bit of money to me this years ago to $100 million in cash uh what should I do here what I love a bum work without even thinking about it looks at me he 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 you know 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 cyber security 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 jck 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 the business that change 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 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 for 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 loan 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 his great saying is today is the youngest you're ever going to be so start now I mean In fairness a lot of people say this my friend Cody Sanchez has a great saying on this you're young you're broke you have no experience you don't know what you're doing but every old billionaire in the world will trade his place for your time and this old Australian billionaire absolutely time is the only commodity
we can't get back so everything you do you got to 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 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 got to work harder when I started out I used to sleep 3 to 4 hours a day and my friend 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 then poor time is your greatest commodity whether you're a billionaire or you're starting out look at your day plan
your day at I can tell you right now where I'm going to 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 showoff 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 is 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 Renee a hi
Renee still my friend to this day so I'm sitting in this classroom I don't speak a word of English in 3 months I pick up English and I remember this so clearly the te 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 eeky 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 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 going to make big decisions you're going to 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 travel 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 gol 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 uh pitches by the way I don't know if you know this but we see 8 to 10 pitches every single day the average
pitch can be over an hour and it all gets edited into seven or 8 minutes on TV the power of editing anyway we're between pictures I go up to Mark and said hey Mark man that was exciting so he 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 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 cuz 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
because nobody remembers my failures I failed more times than I can remember but I was right once I sold my company for six billion dollars 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 got to do is be right once people are not going to 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
this company for $6 billion or a billion dollar 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 cubin 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 in the next episode
