The INSANE Story of Mark Cuban: From His Last $60 to Billionaire

inspired by a true story Mark Cuban hailed is the luckiest billionaire in the world a true icon of Triumph yet Beyond his Global Fame lies an Untold origin story a narrative not widely shared his journey wasn't always paved with gold once a young dreamer he envisioned a life on the ordinary from the streets of Pittsburgh confronted with Relentless challenges Mark's Spirit never faltered his resolve unbreakable propelled him forward it all began with just a couple of garbage bags and a modest $60 The Humble seeds that helped him grow and Ascend to billionaire status Mark was born into a world far removed from the billionaire status he would one day achieve aieve his Beginnings were rooted in middleclass America where many dreams were all waiting to be [Music] fulfilled as a young boy marked playground was the floor of his father's shop he earned $5 a day for sweeping away the remnants of a day's labor Mark's father worked 12 hours a day 6 days a week often too exhausted to do anything else he would pass out for the rest of the the day I want you to see this because I don't ever want you to do what I do it was a silent hope that Mark could achieve something far greater than what his father had accomplished while they were in the shop Mark's mother sold fruit baskets no one in his family was a successful entrepreneur but that didn't stop mark from learning for every book he finished his parents rewarded him for his efforts $1 for every 100 pages he read knowledge quickly became a currency for Mark that could be obtained through reading a skill that would pull him out of his middle class family and straight onto the road to becoming a millionaire in the years to come it was here among these streets that he made his first sale not stocks not technology but garbage bags mark would knock on each door hi my name is Mark do you use garbage bags great I'm selling $100 for $6 since the bags only cost him $3 he made double what he invested there was one moment in Mark's childhood that stood out it was this moment one day he asked his father for a pair of basketball shoes to his surprise his father rejected him and told him to pay for it himself from then on Mark knew if he ever wanted anything in life he would have to get it himself by 12 he learned learned how to put together deals and started his journey into the art of selling he started with flipping newspapers and then baseball cards stamps and even coins all throughout high school but in his junior year he felt there was more to business than what he knew I hope to run my own business someday it's what I told myself every day but in reality Mark had as much doubt as confidence and while Mark pushed through his doubts many of us face mental barriers that are just as tough to overcome but professional support can make all the difference and that's where better help the paid partner of this video comes in it is the world's largest online therapy platform offering a safe space to explore these challenges and helping you break through to become your best self finding a therapist can be really hard especially when you're limited to the options in your area but better help makes it easier because it's online it's remote and by filling out a questionnaire better help can match you to a professional therapist in as little as a few days regardless if you have a clinical mental health issue like depression or anxiety or if you're just a human who lives in this world who is going through a hard time therapy can give you tools to approach your life in a very different way we know how difficult it can be to get help but better help makes it easy to sign up and get matched with a therapist so if you're struggling consider online therapy with better help click the link in in the description or visit betterhelp. com hook and get 10% off your first month of therapy now back to mark That's when he went to his guidance counselor not for advice but for a request he wanted to start college early Mark thought he was smart he had dropped out the last year of high school to challenge himself he didn't try in high school but he thought he'd try in college if he could do that he felt like he could do anything he enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh and ended up switching over to Indiana University to study business he wanted to put his money where his mouth was he took the hardest courses he could for his first semester one being a graduate level statistics class his goal was to do college backwards take all the hard classes first then party hard in the second half when he completed the class he got an A once he saw the results of his efforts he understood the outcome of his life was in his control not only that but he realized being unique allowed him to stand out he didn't want to do the same things as others cuz doing the same things as 90% of the people in the world was just going to get him the same results an average life at best Mark wanted his life to be easy but he certainly was willing to put in the work there's something inside of you that makes you unique you just have to find it when it came to paying his tuition that's where he started getting creative he sent out chain letters asking strangers for money and even taught disco lessons to sororities in his junior year something clicked he started thinking bigger it wasn't just about making money it was about creating something more about leaving a Mark that said I was here I did this with that in mind Mark began to plot his next move he put his life on the line every single dollar he had up till this point he was ready to lose yet that still wasn't enough he reached out to the one other person his Professor who lent him $115,000 this would Kickstart his plan he went to a bar called motley's in Indiana Mark's strategy was simple but calculated he wasn't here as a customer but as a buyer where others saw uncertainty he saw an opportunity a gamble he was willing to bet on something even his Professor saw had potential after purchasing Motley it soon became the most popular spot in town but sadly this win did not last for long shortly after an underage girl won a wet t-shirt contest and the bar was forced to close down Mark had no choice but to move on because once he had a Taste of success he knew exactly what he was after after graduating Mark moved back home and started working for melan Bank his job was to computerize Old system manuals most of his colleagues were happy to just have a job but Mark wanted more he began writing notes to the CEO sharing his ideas on how the bank could make more money in the end all he got was a thank you letter in return if he couldn't make any changes at the top of the ladder maybe he ought to start at the bottom Mark shifted his focus and started a mentorship club where senior Executives could help young employees he also started working on a newsletter that tracked project updates but when his boss found out he was Furious he told Mark he needed approval from him and even threatened to crush him that's when Mark realized he had to [Music] quit when he did he started working for Tronics 2000 his job was to sell franchises in the TV repair industry he found it frustrating calling TV repair shops trying to explain the value of franchising wasn't easy but I learned how to cold call and not to be afraid of going through the phone book Mark eventually learned how to get the job done by an industry veteran they didn't talk much about the company or the industry but after a few meetings he gave Mark his honest feedback look Mark I don't think you're going to be around here for long you should start looking for another job Mark only lasted in that job for 9 months with just $60 in his pockets he packed his bags and hit the road to Dallas Texas I had no idea what the future would bring I was unemployed and heading to Dallas with zero job prospects he moved into a three-bedroom apartment with five other guys he didn't get a room or a bed he had the floor and the couch his diet consisted of mustard and ketchup sandwiches things were bad but Mark was motivated to do something he loved he just wasn't sure what that was yet so he tried working as a bartender that wasn't it but after a while his mind came back to one thing he had to return back to sales it was something that could pay the bills long enough so he could figure out what to do next Mark landed a sales job with a company called your business software his responsibilities at the time were straightforward and boring but he didn't care he was just excited to work in an industry that could turn into an even bigger career there was just one problem Mark didn't know a thing about PCS so he took one home then he'd stay up all night reading the software manuals Peach Tree PFS dbas Lotus acpac I couldn't put them down every night I would read some after getting home no matter how late with only a background in business Mark was able to find an edge in the market there's the people who wrote the software and there's everyone else people went to school and got Advanced degrees for computing but Mark had already learned way more than they did in college Mark quickly realized the more time he put in the better he got Mark quickly found out most of these people only knew what they were taught in school and didn't have any real world experience working with the PCS the same ones that he was selling every single day this gave him a big Advantage the more time he put in reading the smarter he became he Point his practice as rtfm read the freaking manual everyone was not necessarily keeping up to date on the ever updating software Mark believed if he could out hustle everybody else and know how to sell that software better than anybody else know how to make it work better than anybody else he could get paid ever since that has been Mark's Edge the ability to learn new technology and apply it to every business he was in and soon be involved with the road to becoming a bil ion Aire had just begun when things started to click he soon realized that very few people bothered to read the manuals customers would come to him for advice on how to install configure and run software Mark saw this as an opportunity and started Consulting for $25 an hour and split his earnings with the store that was it he finally was doing something that he loved working with PCs Cuban's Venture quickly distinguished itself with a focus on software reselling and Consulting filling a niche that was desperately needed in the market 9 months in a customer asked Mark if he could meet at his office to close a deal it was $115,000 which would earn him a $1,500 commission it was a no-brainer Mark didn't hesitate to say yes with that kind of money he would be able to move out and sleep on a bed for the first time in a long while but when Mark told his boss that's when things got complicated Mark wasn't allowed to leave someone had to open and clean the store and that was his job Mark was faced with a tough decision to make it's always the little decisions that have the biggest impact we all have to make that make or break call to follow orders or do what you know is right Mark decided to close the deal and asked his colleague to open the store for him the next day he walked in with a check in hand his boss fired him on the spot it was then that Mark decided to start his own business he kept the check and decided to complete the job anyway but he didn't have enough money to buy the software he needed so he made a deal with another customer look I got fired would you front me the money I promise you that if I can't make it work I'll come work for you and work it off they gave him the money he needed and with it he started micro Solutions it was the dawn of the PC era and starting a company was Now or Never I immersed myself in the PC industry and studied Microsoft and Lotus and watched what the smartest people did to make things worse work despite learning as much as he could he knew he couldn't do it alone he needed help at this point it was clear to mark what he was good at and what he wasn't Mark turned to one of his buddies Martin the perfectionist he was someone he could trust and was very detail oriented Mark had a vision ready to go but Martin made sure they took the steps necessary to make things happen with just four employ employes micro Solutions sold PCS software and training to businesses they cashed in on their hard work day byday week by week and month by month from the customer to their receptionist and straight to the bank but after making about $84,000 Mark got a call from the bank what do you mean there's no money in the account where did the money go there was only $2,000 left in the account see according to the bank all the checks had been deposited but to a different account an account that belonged to none other than their receptionist she was able to deposit all of the checks Mark had given her by using white out to remove his name then all she had to do was write her name and now all their hard work would be deposited into her personal account Mark was left with a tough decision he could either quit right now or just go straight back to work Mark went right back to [Music] work one day Mark had to drive down to a store in Austin Texas to pick up a PC part when he arrived he sat down with the owner and they ended up talking for hours I remember telling him dude I think we're both going places that dude was Michael Dell Mark's prediction proved to be right after expanding his Services by setting up local area networks and reselling products micro Solutions generated $30 million in Revenue eventually it was sold to compus serve a subsidiary of h andr block for $6 million at this time Mark decided it was time to retire he bought a lifetime pass on American Airlines and flew around the world to visit as many countries as possible but 5 years later he came out of early retirement to take a chance on a new business cuz the only thing after becoming a millionaire is to become a billionaire the internet had just started firing up and Mark's knowledge in computer networking from micro Solutions gave him an edge yet again Mark came up with a business idea a way to listen to a sports game from anywhere around the world he had the skills he just had to figure out how to put them to use that's when Mark joined a new industry streaming Mark launched audionet a streaming service that allowed anyone around the world to listen to sports games across their 126 servers initially it started as audio streaming but Mark had bigger dreams he didn't just want to listen he wanted to see the games that's what gave birth to broadcast. com technology was one of Mark's strengths he also knew sales was another but he also realized a lot of his success also had a component of luck to it it was about being at the right place at the right time but it's not just about being there doing the right thing you had to be prepared so that when luck meets opportunity you could execute without fear without doubt there's no looking back forward is your only [Music] path I'm going to the BBC Billionaire Boys Club Mark Edge has been so refined that all he needs is 10 seconds in 10 seconds Mark could know all about a business this speed allowed him to cut through the layers and pinpoint red flags and underlying issues broadcast.

com turned out to be a gold mine it was one of the first websites bringing Live Events to a global audience with just a click from Victoria's Secret Fashion Show to countless sporting events broadcast. com was set to change how the world consumed media setting the stage for Cuban's billion dooll Journey 3 years after launching broadcast went public in a single day the stock shot up by 249 from $18 to $627 thus beating every every single estimate made by analysts by the end of the day merely a year after its IPO Yahoo acquired broadcast. com for $5.

7 billion in stock marking one of the biggest Acquisitions of theom ERA this deal didn't just secure Mark Cuban's status as a tech Visionary it catapulted him into the Billionaire's Club it doesn't matter how many times you strike out to be a success you only have to be right once one single time and you are set for life Mark finally went from having only $60 in his pocket to billions of dollars to his name with the world at his fingertips Cuban didn't settle instead he leveraged his fortune and fame to explore New Horizons from owning the Dallas Mavericks to becoming a beloved Shark Tank investor today he's worth $4.