Don't ever let your business get ahead of the financial side of your business. Accounting, accounting, accounting. Know your numbers.
When you're public, you're at the mercy of the markets. You can be doing extremely well, but if the markets are in the tank or your industry is in the tank, you don't get rewarded for it.
You've got to stay strong to be strong in tough times.
For years, people have been trying to talk to me about doing a show, and I wouldn't do one because I'm a serious business guy. I'm not going to do a stupid show. So, the opportunity came up with CNBC, and we started talking. It became a real business show. It's educational, people watch it, and it's great for small business.
What I don't like - and I'm concerned about - as a Houstonian is that the SEC is starting to own Houston... There's more talk about the SEC than there is the Big 12.
You can put the greatest seafood restaurant next to an average steak house in an urban area, and that steak house will do more business than the seafood place. If you go to the water, you can put an average seafood place next to the greatest steak house, and people are going to eat seafood.
