Billionaire Mark Cuban is a force to be reckon with in the business world. He sold his first company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million and went on to sell his next company, Broadcast.com, for over 1 billion. This billionaire investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks has a no-holds-barred approach to business, and believes you need to just get up and get it done. And if there’s anyone you should take business advice from, it’s him.

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.”

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.”

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 still work hard to know my business. I’m continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I’m always selling. Always.”

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.”

I create offbeat advice; I don’t follow it. I rarely take third-party advice on my investments.”

I’ve learned the number one job of a pro manager is not to win championships but to keep their job.”

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.”

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.”

It’s not in the dreaming, it’s in the doing.”

Make sure you are the boss. I don’t think I would encourage executives that work for me to blog. There can be only 1 public vision for an organization.”

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.”

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.”

Learn to sell. In business you’re always selling – to your prospects, investors and employees. To be the best salesperson put yourself in the shoes of the person to whom you’re selling. Don’t sell your product. Solve their problems.”

One thing we can all control is effort. Put in the time to become an expert in whatever you’re doing. It will give you an advantage because most people don’t do this.”

Don’t get caught up in how many hours you work. Judge success based on having goals and measuring your results. Hard work, and lots of it, is certainly needed, but focus on what you get done.”

Treat your customers like they own you. Because they do.”

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.”

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 have managers reporting to managers in a startup, you will fail. Once you get beyond startup, if you have managers reporting to managers, you will create politics.”

Always wake up with a smile knowing that today you are going to have fun accomplishing what others are too afraid to do.”

Most people think it’s all about the idea. It’s not. EVERYONE has ideas. The hard part is doing the homework to know if the idea could work in an industry, then doing the preparation to be able to execute on the idea.”

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.”