HOW TO MAKE YOUR FIRST MILLION
Ask about The Diary Of A CEO
Episode Description
At 12, he was selling bin bas. At 41, his company sold for $5.7 billion.
But his journey to becoming a billionaire wasn't
straightforward...
He was fired from his job, slept on the floor of an apartment with five other people, and spent years building businesses before making his first million.
This is Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur, former Shark Tank investor, and former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Despite his success, Mark continues to teach himself new skills and study emerging industries. He believes that in business, the moment you stop learning is the moment someone else gets ahead.
And having built businesses through several major changes in technology, he has a lot to say about what it takes to succeed today.
We discussed things like:
- The one skill he believes can change your financial future. - His advice for anyone trying to become a millionaire. - Why young entrepreneurs have the wrong idea about success. - What he looks for before investing in a business. - Why he believes another financial bubble is forming. - The real reason he decided to leave Shark Tank.
But this conversation went much further than business and making money.
We surprised Mark with a letter from his younger brother, Brian, that he'd never read before.
As he read it aloud, he became visibly emotional.
It led to a much more personal conversation about family, the pressures that come with success, and the moments in life that no amount of money can prepare you for.
Mark also spoke about how losing his parents changed the way he thinks about time and why he's made the decision to step away from some of the things he spent decades building.
For anyone interested in entrepreneurship, building wealth and what happens when your priorities begin to change, this conversation offers an insight into both the journey to becoming a billionaire and the life that comes after it.
Out now on all platforms ❤️👊🏾
Brief Summary
Mark Cuban shares lessons on selling, leadership, and AI debt risks, then gets emotional over a letter from his brother Brian.
Key points
- The AI debt bubble. Cuban warns that AI companies are borrowing more than they make, raising the possibility of a debt bubble.
- Selling door to door. Cuban traces his business instincts back to selling garbage bags in his neighborhood—and says learning to sell opened every door.
- The entrepreneur’s edge. His advice: become great at one thing, turn it into a business, and stay ahead of the curve.
- Learning to lead with kindness. Cuban admits he used to yell and scream, then realized he got further by treating people well.
- A letter from Brian. A personal moment catches Cuban off guard when he learns his brother has written him a letter.
Episode highlights
- Selling door to doorCuban traces his business instincts back to selling garbage bags in his neighborhood—and says learning to sell opened every door.“If you can go door to door and sell you can do anything.”0:29Oct 26, 2026
- The entrepreneur’s edgeHis advice: become great at one thing, turn it into a business, and stay ahead of the curve.“You better be ahead of the curve.”0:47Oct 26, 2026
- Learning to lead with kindnessCuban admits he used to yell and scream, then realized he got further by treating people well.“I got a lot further by being nice than by being a dick.”1:04Oct 26, 2026
Transcript
AI is not smart. AI doesn't know the consequences of its actions. It doesn't have inherent ethics. Those companies keep on borrowing and spending more money in order to power all the AI, but they're borrowing more than they're making. We literally could get into a debt bubble. >> You do think we're in a bubble, don't you? >> Yeah. What causes it to burst? I'll tell you this. >> So, what are the most sort of foundational things I need to understand the Mark Cuban that we've all grown to love from the Shark Tank and the businesses and the Dallas Mavs? So business was an area where I I was always ahead of the curve no matter how
old I was growing up. I went door to door in the neighborhood selling garbage bags and that probably catapulted me more than anything because if you can go door to door and sell you can do anything like on a Shark Tank when somebody walked in and told me about their company I knew exactly how I would sell it. >> What are the sort of consistent themes amongst all people that become an entrepreneur? >> Well, you've got to find one thing and be great at it and then find a way to turn that something into a business. Next, if you're going to do anything with technology, media, whatever it may be, you better be ahead of the curve.
Because business is like a sport. If you don't keep on getting better and improving your game, you're not going to be able to compete. But what we don't talk about is what do I suck at? Suck at it. And one of the biggest mistakes I made was I was a jerk. I would yell. I would scream. And I found that I got a lot further by being nice than by being a dick. >> The last thing I want to ask you about is your more recent decisions around leaving Shark Tanks, selling the Mavs. I'll tell you this. That tells you all you need to know. We >> got some wonderful photos here. Don't worry. >> Yeah, that's my brother Brian.
>> Brian, he wrote you a letter. >> Oh my god. I'll probably start crying.
