This Shark Tank billionaire investor started first business at 24 and didn't take a vacation for 7 years, for one inspiring reason
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Mark Cuban
No Time Off, No Regrets
Rewriting the Rules of Success
In a world increasingly drawn to the idea of 'work-life balance,' one man chose an unrelenting, all-in path—and it paid off in billions. Long before he became a household name on Shark Tank or owned an NBA franchise, he was just another 24-year-old with no money, no job, and a singular obsession: to build something of his own.That man was Mark Cuban . In an interview for The Playbook, a video series by Sports Illustrated and Entrepreneur, published on June 3, Cuban reflected on the early years of his career. 'I didn't take a vacation for the next seven years,' he said. 'All I did was learn, learn, learn.' Fired from a computer software store and living in a cramped three-bedroom apartment with six roommates, Cuban launched his first company—MicroSolutions—with nothing but grit and an appetite for risk.Looking back, Cuban doesn't believe he could've achieved his level of success with a more balanced lifestyle. 'There is no balance,' he stated plainly. 'If you want to work 9-to-5, you can have balance. If you want to crush the game, whatever game you're in, there's somebody working 24 hours a day to kick your ass.'By 32, his first venture sold to CompuServe for $6 million. His next big leap, Broadcast.com, was acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for a whopping $6 billion—setting the foundation for what would become an empire. Today, Cuban has an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion, according to Forbes.But success for Cuban was never just about the money. After becoming a millionaire, he famously threw away his watch. As he shared during a SXSW panel in March 2024, the act was symbolic of reclaiming his time. 'I wanted to make enough money so I didn't have to respond to anybody else,' he said. 'I could make my own schedule and live my own life the way I wanted to do it.'In a February 2024 MasterClass, Cuban reiterated what he sees as the ultimate advantage: effort. 'The one thing in life you can control is your effort,' he noted. 'And being willing to do so is a huge competitive advantage, because most people don't.'
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