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John D. Rockefeller, America's first billionaire, once said, "If your only goal is to become rich, you'll never achieve it." To Rockefeller, wealth was a by-product, not a direct result.

Take Mark Cuban . In 1983 he launched MicroSolutions, a systems integration and software reseller; the idea was that plenty of companies wouldn't understand -- and would need help -- cobbling together their hardware and software platforms. Seven years later, he sold that company for $6 million.



In 1995, he and some friends decided people would love to listen to (and later see) their favorite teams play away games and launched Broadcast.com, an audio and video streaming service for live events. Four years later he sold that company for $5.

9 billion. The next year he bought a controlling interest in the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million under the premise that, well, he wanted to own a professional basketball team. Recently he sold the majority of his stake for approximately $3.

5 billion , and recently he sold land directly across from the team's arena to the new owners for an estimated $40-plus million . Add it all up, and Cuban is worth somewhere around $5.4 billion.

His wealth is a by-product: of spotting opportunities, working hard, and providing value to customers. (And employees; after the sale, Cuban reportedly gave bonuses totaling $35 million to Mavericks employees.) Sure, he's entrepreneurial to his core.

He wants to make money. But his wealth is the result of building brands, not the .

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