What I Know: Mark Cuban

AGE: 53  GIG: Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, defending NBA champions, and chairman of HDNet  ON THE MONEY: The IU grad, who just wrapped his first season on ABC’s Shark Tank, talks his worst job, best advice, and making billions.
The first job I ever had was selling garbage bags door-to-door when I was 12.
The worst job was working for a bank. I had to do all the grunt work, and I just hated it. It was mindless. But the good news was that I got paid to learn. I learned a lot about what not to do.
If you want to make money, pay off all of your debt except possibly your house. Put the cash in the bank so you never have to use your credit cards.
Never paying credit-card interest is a far better investment than trying to win in the stock market.
I loved every minute I spent at IU. Foster Quad, Dunhill Apartments, Motley’s Pub. I really grew up there.
“Today is the youngest you will ever be. Live like it.” That’s the best advice I’ve ever received.
It came from my dad.
He always told me that being young is all about enjoying your life. As we get older, we tend to change who we are and how we act.
I try to have as much fun as possible.
Being a dad is the best job I’ve ever had. It’s the job I put off the longest.
My number-one rule in business is to know more about your industry than anyone else.
My most fulfilling business moment? A toss-up between selling Broadcast.com for $5.9 billion in 1999 and winning the NBA championship in 2011.
Beating the Miami Heat was frickin’ amazing. Wow…. It was sweet revenge for 2006, and everyone was rooting for us. It was a unique experience.
Money can buy happiness for a happy person, absolutely. A miserable person will always be miserable, no matter how much they have.
I get asked for money about 100 times a day. I look at it as a good problem to have.
—as told to Mark S. J. Cline
 
Photo by David Yellen
This article appeared in the June 2012 issue.