5 Habits That Helped Mark Cuban Build His $6 Billion Fortune
Written by
Marc Guberti
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Learning what makes billionaires like Mark Cuban tick can help people who want to build wealth and achieve their goals. Luckily, Cuban has been more than eager to share his biggest secrets over the years, including the habits that helped him become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country.
You don’t have to be a billionaire or even desire to become a billionaire before giving these habits a try.
Outwork the Competition
Success doesn’t go to the lazy. While there is merit in working smart instead of working hard, it’s even better to combine smart work with hard work.
“If you outwork everybody, if you try to be a little smarter than everybody, if you try to be a better salesperson than everybody, if you try to be better prepared than everybody, you’ve got your best chance,” Cuban said in a CNBC interview.
If you aren’t working hard, chances are that someone is outworking you and moving further in their career and life. Competition can lead to better performance, especially if you think about someone chasing you down.
Regularly Learn New Things
Regularly learning new things each day is another core habit that has served Cuban well. By learning new things, you stay well-informed on important industries and business opportunities.
“I read everything I can. I don’t care what the source is,” Cuban told CNBC.
You don’t even have to limit it to business. Learning a new language can improve your problem-solving abilities, and if you learn enough skills, you may be able to connect them to business growth in a way that few competitors can.
Start New Things
Cuban has started many businesses and invested in a bunch of startups through “Shark Tank.” The quicker you start new things, the more you learn, and those experiences can help you with each future opportunity.
You never know which project will strike it big. For Cuban, it was Broadcast.com, the company that he sold to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion at the height of the Dotcom Bubble in 1999. A few years before that critical transaction, he had previously started and sold a software company for $6 million.
Embrace Delayed Gratification
Cuban understood the long game from an early age. Instead of blowing through his money and going into debt, he embraced a frugal lifestyle. The billionaire entrepreneur used to live with roommates and drive beat-up cars to save money.
Those efforts paid off, as Cuban had the startup capital to create software and companies that were sold during the Dotcom Bubble. It’s the equivalent of saving money now instead of living above your means. Cuban made it a point to live well below his means at the start of his career, and that set him up for a big payday.
Stay Out of Debt
Cuban made it a point to live a frugal lifestyle, so it’s no surprise that he’s made it a habit to avoid debt.
“I learned very quickly that debt was not my friend,” Cuban said in a Money interview.
While you can make the argument that low-interest debt is a great resource, debt can quickly get out of hand if you aren’t paying it off. Any financial obligations become even worse if the debt is tied to high APRs, like credit card balances. Paying off debt makes it easier to build wealth, and if you always live below your means, you decrease the likelihood of ever ending up in debt.
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