Kevin O'Leary used to have a photography lab in his basement.
As a teenager, he did everything he could to follow his dreams of becoming a photographer. There was one issue – his father didn't approve.
“He said you're not good enough and you're going to starve,” O'Leary said in one video posted on X. “He said you should go to college and get a degree and I went on to get an MBA which ended up being a very important tool for me later on.”
O'Leary has previously explained why he thinks he's an MBA, which can cost an average of $231,420 for a top 10 program in the US, it was worth it.
In one Facebook post of 2021he wrote that the degree gave him “a head start” and taught him “discipline”, turning him from a 20-year-old with poor study habits into someone who knew how to make money, defend his ideas and focus on points his strong.
O'Leary graduated from University of Western Ontario in 1980, which now costs $83,250 per year for local students.
Photography still played a key role in his life: After graduation, the first company he started, Special Event Television, was a production company focused on sports entertainment.
Related: Kevin O'Leary is launching a new agency with the founder of Shazam
“It was my attempt to get back to what I loved, which was photography and production, and make money doing it,” O'Leary said in the X video. “There was that science and that art coming together in my life .”
When I first wanted to be a photographer, my dad told me I wasn't good enough – I'd starve. So, I got an MBA and ended up building and selling a company for $4.2 billion. Everything came together – business, creativity and the desire to win. I wouldn't change a thing. pic.twitter.com/Xv8ttJFk2V
— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) September 17, 2024
O'Leary sold the company and then used the proceeds to start SoftKey, which sold educational and entertainment software, in 1986. He and his two business partners sold SoftKey to Mattel in 1999 for $4.2 billion.
Looking back, he has no regrets.
“All of these things made me who I am today, the good, the bad and the ugly,” O'Leary said in the video. “And I wouldn't change a thing.”