For Kevin O’Leary, the business world is black and white: you either succeed or fail. “Business is binary. There are winners and losers. You either make money or you don’t,” he says.
O’Leary, known as “Mr. Wonderful” on Shark Tank, likes to share his success formula, especially with young entrepreneurs. His advice is direct: If you’re in your 20s and trying to build a business, forget about work-life balance. The competition is just too fierce.
Don’t miss:
“You’re competing with people in Mumbai or Shanghai who are willing to work 24 hours a day, eight days a week,” O’Leary once said. According to him, unless you are willing to put in those kinds of hours, you run the risk of falling behind. He even goes so far as to say that to be successful you have to work relentlessly, or as he puts it, “25 hours a day.”
Working around the clock sounds extreme to most people, but O’Leary knows how important it is to build a strong foundation in the early stages of your career. When you’re young, you have the time and energy to make sacrifices, because “In your twenties you can afford the time, the focus, and all the stress that comes with building something from the ground up. You shouldn’t even think about taking some time off until you’ve laid that foundation.”
Trending: With over 7.8k investors including Meta, Google, and Amazon Executives, this AI Startup’s valuation has skyrocketed from $5 million to $85 million in just three years. Be an early investor today with as little as $1,000 for just $0.50/share.
O’Leary knows firsthand how frustrating it can be to slow down. After selling The Learning Company, he was stuck with a non-compete agreement that kept him out of the software industry for three years. What many might see as a well-deserved break was stifling for O’Leary, who said he felt “stale” without the ability to work. He quickly understood that his sense of purpose depended on his ability to continue building businesses.
