Lessons for success

When Mark Cuban looked over the podium at the IU Auditorium Wednesday, he never dreamed he would be standing where he was. He never dreamed he would be addressing IU students, including the many who idolize him, while dressed in extreme business casual -- a light blue sweater and old jeans.\n"I've fallen asleep outside the auditorium before," Cuban said, "but I never thought I'd be speaking inside it. I've jumped in the fountain, too."\nSears CEO Alan Lacy and Cuban spoke at the Seventh-Annual CEO Speaker Series sponsored by The Center for Retailing. Kelley School Dean Dan Dalton introduced Cuban, and said the current owner and CEO of the Dallas Mavericks chose to attend IU as an undergraduate because it had the best business school for the best value in the Big Ten.\nWhen Cuban walked to the podium amid loud applause to begin his speech, he quickly clarified one of Dalton's points concerning his decision to attend IU.\n"While IU had the best business school for the value, it was also ranked as the number two party school," Cuban said. "Talk about some value."\nCuban broke down his speech into segments based on his own personal "rules" he follows on a daily basis. Cuban in each individual segment told the narrative of his IU and personal business career and the often humorous situations that developed the rules he abides.\nThe first time Cuban arrived at campus from Pittsburgh was for registration. The incoming freshman developed a unique registration technique -- challenging himself with graduate level business classes instead of taking typical freshman classes.\nThat was to fulfill one of his rules: always test conventional wisdom and challenge the status quo. Cuban said a social reason also factored into his unconventional registration decision as the crowd roared with laughter.\n"I wanted to take all of the tough classes at the freshman and sophomore level so I could take easier classes when I was old enough to drink," Cuban said. "That ended up not mattering in the long run."\nUpon finding Cuban was taking graduate business classes, Dalton forcefully instructed him to stop. But by then, Cuban said, he had completed his advanced course work.\nCuban then turned his efforts into what he is today. Underneath his ownership of the Mavs and his billionaire status, Cuban is at his grassroots an entrepreneur.\nHis entrepreneurship started early at IU. He and his buddies had been throwing parties and making $200 to $300 each. They then turned their efforts -- and Cuban's own $2,000 worth of financial aid -- toward opening Motley's Pub, at the current location of Uncle Fester's.\nThe bar was a success as Cuban said thank God there was a line to get in or else there wouldn't have been a second night. \nA wet T-shirt contest a few weeks into the bar's opening -- in which Cuban personally checked IDs at the door -- ended the then popular establishment's promising beginnings when it was realized that one of the contestants was a 16-year-old who was on probation for prostitution. A call from the Indiana Alcohol Commission quickly closed the bar.\n"Do not pass go, do not collect $200," Cuban said. "But the overall lesson was when something happens that didn't go to plan, there's always a silver lining."\nCuban's silver lining was the chance to go to Dallas. He moved into a three bedroom apartment that already housed five people and worked as a bartender. After moving on from the bartending business, he was fired from a software company after disobeying his boss to get a $1,500 commission.\nAfter purchasing a set of fluffy towels, Cuban took his $1,500 and started Micro Solutions. And Cuban was on his way to the top.\nMicro Solutions quickly moved ahead and when Cuban was 24 years old, his business had $75,000 in the bank. His receptionist, however, stole $73,000 of it through check fraud.\nCuban told the students in attendance to remember sales is the most important thing in business.\n"Sales cures all," Cuban said. "Sales is the lifeblood of a business. Things are going to go wrong. You have to learn from it."\nCuban sold Micro Solutions to CompuServe for $6 million in 1990. After traveling for a few years, Cuban then started www.broadcast.com. In 1999, he sold the company to Yahoo!. for $5.7 billion dollars. \nThat provided Cuban with the leverage to purchase the Mavericks from Ross Perot Jr.\nCuban told the students his driving motivation: retire by age 35. \n"There are times when you don't want to get up," Cuban said. "At that moment, your future is decided. You've got to dig down deep, focus on that goal, and get out of bed."\nHe said one key to his success was doing his homework. He preached to the students to research business opportunities and always be prepared.\n"When you walk up to a business table, you always look for the moron," Cuban said. "If you can't find the moron -- it's you."\nSenior Ross Worrell said Cuban's words were very inspiring after his troubles.\n"It was very motivational," Worrell said. "He had his bumps in life, but just started all over each time"