The truth behind Mark Cuban’s uncanny ability to grow wealth

Mark Cuban started his life like everyone else, yet his success story includes being worth over $4 billion.

At the age of 62, he has far surpassed what most of us will ever achieve in life in terms of wealth and business ownership. Hopefully, by looking back over his life’s journey, we can glean some wisdom and guidance we can use in our own lives.

Today, if you ask most people about Mark Cuban, they generally know him as the Dallas Mavericks owner, a judge on Shark Tank, and an overall successful businessman.

However, his success started out more difficult than you may have known.

On an episode of Shark Tank, Cuban told viewers about his troubled business beginnings. Before he started to make a substantial income, “I had quit or been fired from three straight jobs.” Admittedly, he could barely keep a job.

Cuban’s early life

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cuban was the son of an average family. He did not inherit wealth or grow up with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. The family’s primary source of income came from his father’s work as an automobile upholsterer. 

Cuban’s first business experience came at the age of 12 when he collected and sold garbage bags to pay for a pair of basketball shoes he wanted. From there, he moved on to sell stamps and coins. At the age of 16, Cuban took a job delivering the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspapers from Clevland to Pittsburgh.

Formal education

After high school, Cuban studied at the Indiana University and graduated from the Kelly School of Business in 1981 with a management degree.

Upon graduation, he went to work for Mellon Bank converting their outdated paper process to a computerized system.

The start of his business career

Cuban clashed with his boss at Mellon Bank and quit to work at Tronics 2000, a TV repair franchise. His stint with Tronics didn’t last long before deciding to move to Dallas, Texas, with several other roommates.

At 24 years old, he was broke and decided to start a business selling powdered milk. When asked about his powdered milk business, he said, “I honestly thought it would make a killer business, and it lasted minutes.”

His next employment venture was working for Your Business Software, a software company where he made $18k plus commission.

According to an article he wrote in Forbes, “About nine months in, I got an opportunity to make a $15,000 sale. I was going to make a $1,500 commission, which was enormous. It would have allowed me to move out of the apartment and maybe have a bed.”

The turning point in his career

He and his boss had a disagreement involving the sale, and ultimately Cuban disobeyed his supervisor. Because of his actions, Cuban was fired immediately.

According to Cuban, that was the turning point in his business career. He started another business called MicroSolutions, a computer consulting company. By 1990 the company was bringing in $30 million in revenue before he sold the business to CompuServe for $6 million.

With the capital he earned from the sale, he started the internet radio company Broadcast.com. This was another successful venture which earned him $5.7 billion when he sold the business to Yahoo! In 1999. From his earnings, he purchased a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks. 

Additional purchases involved 2929 Entertainment, Landmark Theatres, and AXS TV. 

Cuban later authored a book titled “How to Win at the Sport of Business,” where he stated, “It doesn’t matter how many times you strikeout. In business, to be a success, you only have to be right once. One single time and you are set for life. That’s the beauty of the business world.”

Valuable lessons

I guess it goes to show that refusing to give up can massively pay off. Don’t discount your ideas before you allow them to succeed.

Several of the world’s most affluent business owners have similar backstories. Most of them heard the word “no” way more than they ever heard a “yes.” 

One of the biggest lessons we can pull from Mark Cuban’s success is that it only takes one successful venture to set yourself up for life. Had he given up early on and succumbed to working for a boss he couldn’t stand, we may never have known Mark Cuban’s name.