How to Make a Lot of Money: A Billionaire's Simple Advice

O Mark Cuban, who founded Broadcast.com in 1995 and sold it to Yahoo four years later for $5.7 billion, is considered a guru of technology and investing.

Today, he has a personal fortune of $4.5 billion, has purchased the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, and has invested in dozens of startups.

What is his advice for those who want to make a lot of money like he has?; They should try lots of things until they figure out which ones they're good at. And then, they should work hard to become «great» at it.

«When you find something you’re good at, go for it. Just do everything you can to become great at it, and then you can really make money,» Cuban has said. «That’s how you make money.».

As the billionaire entrepreneur explains, this advice is particularly useful for those who are still young or struggling financially.

«If you're broke, now is the time to give it a try. After all, what's the worst that could happen? At worst, you'll still be broke. But if you keep trying different things, when you find that one great thing, amazing things will happen,» says Cuban.

Of course, the billionaire entrepreneur acknowledges that this process can be disheartening at times. «I think many people get frustrated because it’s hard to find something you love to do and are good at,» he admits. «Life requires hard work and a willingness to learn. If it were easy, everyone would do it.».

He, for that matter, tried his hand at many things when he was just starting out, such as working as a bartender and repairing televisions. Later, he got a job at a computer software sales company, though he didn’t know much about it. As he says, he had taken only one computer class in college and had cheated on the exam to pass it.

So, he began reading computer manuals to learn about the technology. When he founded his own software company, MicroSolutions, he continued to learn. «I really put in the effort, and it turned into something big,» he has said.

Cuban sold MicroSolutions for $6 million in 1990. This was followed by the Broadcast.com mega-deal a few years later. Although he is now one of the richest people in the world, he says he’s still learning. If he wants to invest in a technology, he needs to know how it works, he explains. «I still read the manual. I want to be the kind of person who really knows what he’s getting into.».