This week's book: "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.
"Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune."
Jim Rohn
Lesson 1 in this week's book has one of the great attention-grabbing titles: "The rich don't work for money."
As boys, Kiyosaki and his best friend worked for almost nothing, until the pay stopped entirely. Broke and forced to find another way, they spotted a pile of discarded comic books and opened a little comic library. They made money by charging other kids to read them. The opportunity had been sitting there all along. They just hadn't been looking for it. And the best part: they didn't even have to be there for it to make money. (Their first plan to “make” money was by literally trying to make nickels. Hilarious!)
That leads us straight into lesson 2, financial literacy. The point Kiyosaki is making is the difference between earning a paycheck and owning something that produces income on its own. Most of us were taught the first and never the second. I was lucky because I got to see both. As Jim Rohn put it, school teaches you to make a living. Learning how money actually works is what builds a fortune.
My grandfather understood this early on.
One of my favorite businesses of his was a bicycle rental in the Cayman Islands back in the 1960s and 70s. Picture the island then: there were barely any cars and only 2 gas stations on the whole island, only a handful of hotels, and rental cars only if you got lucky enough to get one that actually worked. But a big cruiser bike with a basket on the front for your towel, your sunscreen, and your dive mask? That got you to the beach and back with no trouble at all.
He hired a local man to run it and take care of the bikes. That little business made him money around the clock, whether he was there on the island or not, whether he was awake or asleep. It was the only bike rental on the entire island.
That's the lesson I learned. He didn't trade his hours for that money. He built something once, put a good person in charge, and it paid him. It was an asset, not a paycheck.
Now, I'll be honest about where I'd add a caution, because that's the deal I made with you this week. Kiyosaki can make this sound easier than it is. Most assets worth owning take real money, real risk, or years of work to build, and plenty of ventures will fail before one succeeds. My grandfather had some flops too. Not every one of his ideas was a winner. So, take the principle, which is gold, but respect the work and the risk behind it. And when, or if, you decide to put your own money on the line, get advice from someone who knows your personal situation.
One thing to try today
Look at how you currently make money. It's almost certainly by trading your time for it, for that is what the great majority of us do. Now ask one question: is there one small thing I could build or own that would earn even a little without my constant presence? You don't have to act on it today. Just start seeing the difference between working for money and having something that works for you. In today’s terms that’s called a side hustle.
What's one asset, however small, you'd love to build someday? Hit reply, I read every one.
I'll go first: this newsletter, honestly. Right now, it's all my time and effort. But built right, it becomes something that reaches people and does good whether I'm at my desk or on the beach. That's the goal.
If someone forwarded you this, you can get the daily insights free at www.allstarmentors.com.
Talk tomorrow,
Mike
Practical wisdom for the life you're building