Mark Cuban doesn’t sugarcoat what it’s like to be wealthy. “It makes ugly people handsome and pretty,” he joked during a recent appearance on the “Your Mom’s House” podcast.
The billionaire entrepreneur and former “Shark Tank” investor opened up about how money and fame change how others perceive and treat you.
People Treated Very Differently After Getting Rich
“When you’re on these lists and everything, people know who you are,” he explained. “People treat you differently.” Cuban, who grew up working class in Pittsburgh, said he still values his privacy and avoids expanding his social circle. “I’m not looking for new friends. My friends are my high school buddies, my college buddies, my rugby teammates.”
“There’s a fame mist. Once you become famous, people like you a lot more. Same with money,” podcast co-host Christina Pazsitzky said, with Cuban agreeing: “They go hand in hand.”
He admits the attention can be uncomfortable. Even his kids sometimes ask him not to come to their basketball games because of the commotion. “They know if I go, the other team will come up and take pictures,” he said. So sometimes he’ll just come in the back door.
Money Doesn’t Guarantee Happiness
Cuban says the biggest misconception about wealth is that it automatically makes life better. “If you were happy when you were poor, you’re going to be happy when you’re rich. If you were miserable when you were poor, you’re going to be miserable when you’re rich.”
One of his first big purchases? A plane. But he says the real luxury is time. “The time that you save is money in the bank,” he told the podcast co-host, Tom Segura. “The more time you have, the more money you’ll make.”
He Was Hustling At 16
Cuban shared a story from his teenage years during a newspaper strike in Pittsburgh. At 16, he and his friends drove to Cleveland, bought up newspapers, and then resold them in Pittsburgh for a profit. They stood on the corners in the morning selling papers for a dollar each when they used to be a quarter, with people even tipping them.
That entrepreneurial spirit never faded. He says he’s been that way since age 9 or 10. Today, he encourages his children to follow their own paths. “You don’t have to know what you’re going to be when you grow up,” he told one of his kids. “Just be curious.
The more knowledge you have, the more capabilities and options you have.”
He’s Still Motivated By Learning
Even with all his success, Cuban says he still reads daily and keeps learning, especially about AI and healthcare. He credits motivational speaker Zig Ziglar for helping him stay driven early in his career. He’d drive around listening to the same Zig Ziglar tape over and over to get motivated.
Cuban then emphasized one of his core beliefs: failure is part of the game. “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying.”