Garbage Bags to Riches: How Did Mark Cuban Do It?

Picture a little boy pounding the streets of Pittsburg, selling garbage bags and powdered milk to make a buck, and you have Mark Cuban, a young entrepreneur from the very start. Never one to pass up an opportunity to indulge his passions or further his career, Mark Cuban stands today the proud owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He's even ranked on the World's Richest People list. Certainly Cuban can boast a penchant for business management. As his sales side puts it, "I've been a hustler all my life"--and it's paid off.

How Did Education Shape Cuban's Business Skills?

Cuban honed his management and sales skills early in his career. With a gift for business, he attended MBA courses when just a freshman at Indiana University--and was forbidden to enter their graduate program as a result. Regardless of periodic reprimands, Cuban walked away from college with a degree in management and a determination to make money.

Where Does a Billionaire Begin?

For Cuban, making business management decisions is about common sense and smart sales. He asks "What do people want?" and then gives his best answer. Cuban discovered his niche in technology and started MicroSolutions, a company for system integration. Calling upon his dogged competitiveness and sales expertise, Cuban created a multi-million dollar company and then sold it to CompuServe for $6 million. Retirement, for Cuban, was just the beginning.

For Love or Money?

Cuban has never needed to choose between his passions and making money. Instead, his sales and management prowess enables him to integrate his love for sports T.V. with his business talent. Cuban and friend Todd Wagner dreamed up the idea of watching televised sports via Internet broadcasting, creating Broadcast.com in 1998. An expert in knowing when to sell, Cuban accepted $5.7 billion in Yahoo! stock for his Dot-com in 1998.

What to Do When You're a Billionaire?

After making his fortune, Cuban did what any other avid sports fan would: He purchased the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million and transformed the team into NBA all stars. Cuban's is a story of competitive management and sales at its best: good ideas, smart money management, and a deep love for the game.

Sources: "Losing's Not an Option for Cuban" By Jon Swartz, USA Today, April 25, 2004, (http://www.usatoday.com/money/2004-04-05-cuban_x.htm)
Mark Cuban, Wiki Encyclopedia, (http://en.wikipeida.org/wiki/Mark_Cuban)

About the Author
Marianne Salina has a B.A. in Literature and Creative Writing and enjoys researching and discussing the myriad of online degree options in her articles.