Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban once said the best job he ever had was not in software, sports or television but teaching disco dancing to sorority houses for $25 an hour while he was in college, a side job he said had no obvious downside.

Cuban Calls Disco Lessons Best Job

It is not often that a billionaire openly says he would go back to an hourly wage. But on a 2019 podcast episode with host Jim Rome, Cuban said the "best job" of his college years paid him $25 an hour. "I think I invented the word ‘side-hustle,’" Cuban said.

Cuban had worked odd jobs, from selling garbage bags to stocking shelves and working at a bar while attending Indiana University. But one gig stood apart.

Cuban then told Rome, "I got paid $25 an hour back then to teach [disco] dancing to sororities," adding. "It was the best job ever."

"I mean, $25 an hour, are you kidding me? I’d take that job now," Cuban said.

The rate still looks rich. The federal minimum wage remains $7.25 an hour, though workers get a higher rate when state law sets one.

Early Hustles Helped Pay For College

Cuban later competed on ABC’s "Dancing with the Stars." But the dance instructor was only one early title. He described selling baseball cards and stamps, slicing off part of a finger at a deli, and using an "illegal" chain letter in college that helped pay tuition.

After graduating in 1981, Cuban used side-job savings to open a bar with a friend. It became popular with students but was shut down for serving underage patrons. Cuban, in an interview in 2017, called the closure "the best thing that ever happened" because it pushed him to Dallas at 23, "with $60, hole in my floorboard, case of oil in the trunk & a floor to sleep on in Dallas."

Cuban Says Workers Need To Hustle

Cuban says workers need to hustle, fail and keep moving. He urges people to invest in themselves, learn AI, and keep grinding. Similar to Cuban, Howard Schultz worked as a bartender and sold blood for college. Former PepsiCo Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight to 5 at Yale, and Sara Blakely sold fax machines before launching Spanx.

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