According to Forbes, billionaire Mark Cuban is worth a whopping $5.7 billion today, but his journey to wealth wasn’t exactly glamorous.
Cuban has always been honest about how difficult it was for him initially. In a 2011 blog post, he wrote: “I didn’t have a bedroom of my own. Depending on when I got home, I slept on the couch or on the floor. I didn’t have a closet. Instead, I had a pile that everyone knew was mine was.
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In a 2017 CNBC interview, Cuban was specific about life before becoming a billionaire. “When I was broke, sleeping on the floor and hungry, we literally went everywhere where if you bought one beer I got free food and I gained like 50 pounds,” he said.
In his twenties it wasn’t about getting rich yet; it was about surviving and finding ways to have fun. “I was broke, fat but having fun,” Cuban added, showing that even when he had nothing, he knew how to enjoy himself.
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He lived with five roommates, just trying to make ends meet and eating macaroni and cheese. He drove cheap cars and had terrible credit. In fact, his credit was so bad that he says he couldn’t even get financing to buy a computer from Radio Shack.
Despite these hardships, the Cuban entrepreneurial spirit never wavered. His big break came in 1995 when he co-founded Broadcast.com, an Internet radio company. This venture would be his golden ticket. In 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom, Yahoo acquired Broadcast.com for a whopping $5.7 billion in stock.
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The sale was a game changer, not only for Cuban but also for his employees. In a move that demonstrated his generosity, Cuban made 91% of his employees (300 out of 330) millionaires through the deal. This was not a one-off. Cuban has consistently shared the wealth from his company sales with his employees.
Although Cuban’s financial situation improved dramatically, he said his outlook on life didn’t really change. While his bank account grew, his attitude toward enjoying life remained the same. Despite the sudden wealth, he didn’t let money change the way he had fun or approached his daily experiences.
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While many assume that becoming a billionaire will solve everything, Cuban has a different opinion. For him, true fulfillment does not come from money, but from a mindset.
Success, he believes, is about how you feel when you start your day. If you can wake up excited and ready for whatever comes your way, that counts. The size of your bank account does not determine happiness; it’s about embracing each day with the right attitude. That’s what keeps Cuban grounded, no matter how much money he’s made or how far he’s come from the days of eating “free food” with the purchase of a beer.
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This article Mark Cuban Says ‘I Was Broke, Fat, But Had Fun’ – Recalls Sleeping on the Floor and Gaining 50 Pounds Eating Free Food originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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