Today I designed a poster after one of Mark Cuban’s quotes on success, because I think it’s the only one you should pay attention to:

“Every no gets me closer to a yes.“

If you want to read the quote from a salesperson point of view, which is the part of Cuban’s past I believe this quote was derived from, you will understand this quote based on your familiarity with constant rejection. Sales people experience constant rejection, which for beginners can be extremely disheartening and sometimes depressing which can make them tank and fail.

I remember feeling the negative shift of energy and shunning when I first became a cell phone salesman. I would watch people walk one inch away from the wall, staring directly at it, just to avoid my kiosk or make eye contact. Those who would make eye contact, shot bullets at me from them, and if I actually got anyone to speak to me, their answer was usually a “no”. People seem to have a general disdain for sales people, one time an old man morning walking the mall tried to jump over our kiosk to attack my manager for saying “Hi” to him.

Learning to have a thick skin and not letting the “no’s” and death stares and elderly attacks distract you will get you to the “yes’s” and sales faster, essentially making you successful. “No’s” usually teach you something you need to know in order to get to the “yes.”

To be a success, be a computer.



If you read some of Mark Cuban’s other quotes, you can see that most of his tidbits of wisdom seem to proceed from this one polarizing problem solving principle.

1. “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.” – Mark Cuban 2. “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.” – Mark Cuban 3. “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. ” – Mark Cuban 4. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. You only have to be right once and then everyone can tell you that you are an overnight success. Always wake up with a smile knowing that today you are going to have fun accomplishing what others are too afraid to do. – Mark Cuban 5. It’s not in the dreaming, it’s in the doing. – Mark Cuban etc etc

It’s all just binary.

It’s either a yes or a no and it is the most basic way to figure something out, like 20 questions. In the case of Mark Cuban, this is his algorithm for how he figured out “success”, by being a computer and solving his problems in a binary-like fashion. Fail. Fail. Fail. Success. Success. Fail.

The Design.

Being a designer and a programmer, this quote inspired me to create this meta typographic design.

The binary around the quote is the quote written in binary.

I made this as a motivational poster for myself, but feel free to download and share it for yourself if it motivates you as well. Great for desktop wallpaper on computers or cell phones, or print it out as a 26in wide poster at 300dpi.