Everybody has heard about the famous book
“Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” by Robert Kiyosaki
But my questions is:
How many people actually became rich
after reading this book?
‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ is one of the
world’s best-selling books.
In fact,
it has sold over 32 million copies and was on the
New York Times Bestsellers List for over six years.
It’s taught millions of people about the
Cash Flow Quadrants and
getting out of the hamster wheel.
This is, in fact,
the book that got me to
open my eyes to think about
how money works and how I could earn more of it.
And after 10 years of practicing
some of what I learned in the book,
I got to where I am now.
So I’m sure that this book is many people’s favourite.
But here is the million-dollar question:
How many people actually acheieve
financial freedom after reading this book?
Even if you have read every single word
and executed all the methods in the book,
there is a high chance you are still making
the same income and are still working a 9-5 job.
And worse, with inflation and stagnant wages,
you’re probably just
digging yourself deeper into a hole.
Don’t get wrong!
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t
read the book and ingnore the messages,
but I’d like to touch on a few things
that many people failed to achieve.
At the end of the video,
I’ll also like to give you one message that
I think is hidden underneath all the others.
A message that is more important than any of
the others but isn’t stated clearly by its authors.
Alright, let’s get started.
Robert Kiyosaki and many others are out there
teaching you to think like ‘Rich Dad’s.
I mentioned the cashflow quadrants earlier.
It’s one of the most famous principles in the entire book.
It states that there are 4 types of people in the world:
Employee,
Self-employed,
Business owner,
and Investor
In the book, Robert stresses to become wealthy,
you need to be on the right side of the quadrants,
in either the investor or business owner quadrants.
So what do 90% of the people take from this?
They skip the fundamental steps and start
putting their money into the stock market
and call themselves investors.
But the truth is that to call yourself an investor,
or at least how it’s defined in the book,
requires the most effort and
a long time of wealth building.
The best investors are successful
because they understand how to invest.
They have learned from their past failures,
they understand how markets work,
and what to look for in individual investment.
In other words,
they learned best practices along the way.
Investing is a skill just like any other
and it takes time to truly master it.
Robert Kiyosaki himself
wasn’t always a great investor.
He was so broke at one point,
he and his wife had to sleep in a car
because they couldn’t afford a home.
The truth is that you need to learn
how to become an investor.
That is of course,
unless you are already wealthy
through family money.
But for the rest of us,
you need to follow the sequence of:
Employee, to Self-employed,
To Business owner, then investor
To truly become an investor,
it requires two things:
knowledge and capital.
And to build capital,
you first need to create a system
that generates positive cash flow.
Take me for example:
I first graduated from school
with no asset and in debt.
And then I start as an employee but then I realize
I want more money than a 9-5 job can offer.
So I have two other part time jobs
to bring me extra cashflow.
After a while I started to become self-employed
because being self-employed means not being
restrained by an hourly wage.
I start working more and more until I realize
that I cannot physically work any harder.
The only solution to solve that is to duplicate myself.
In otherwords,
create a system to become a business owner,
graduating from becoming a freelancer.
The system works like a snowball.
Slowly it gathers speed.
You aren’t working any harder,
but you’re getting more results,
creating more of an impact and making more money.
And finally You find that you have excess capital
that you can invest so now you can
use money to buy back the time.
It sounds easy, right?
Unfortunately, it takes hard work,
commitment and dedication.
And the problem with ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ is
it does make the process seem easy,
summed up into one graphic.
People think that if they read the book,
they will automatically be able to
double their salary or pay off their debt.
But that’s not the case.
You need to follow the process,
not try to skip steps.
Otherwise, it won’t work.
Now onto the next problem with the book.
The book goes into a lot of different details,
but the book doesn’t go into
how to start a side hustle.
Remember,
this is the first major step you need to take –
from having a job to being self-employed.
And in many ways it’s the most important
because it requires the biggest shift in mindset.
If the book did its job,
it would give you a better guide on the types of
side hustles you can do and how to set them up.
Part of the problem is that the book was originally
self-published in 1997 and since in these 30 years,
it’s now easier than ever to set up a side hustle.
All you need is an internet connection
and you can do anything.
The barrier to entry is almost non-existent.
You can sell products through Facebook marketplace.
Shopify offers a simple system
to help you run an online store.
If you have a car and a phone, you can drive for Uber.
The list of what you can do is almost endless.
Now, there have also been
numerous updates to the book since 1997,
but none of them even attempt to cover
how to start a side hustle in any detail.
there are large sections of the book
that talk about real estate investing,
and so many people think that is
the best side hustle to start.
But we already covered the problem
in the first section of this video.
You try to skip steps
by going from employee to investor,
it doesn’t work. As an employee,
you likely don’t have any real capital to
start any signiciant real estate investing.
The old saying is true:
It takes money to make money.
So, if there is no information
about how to start a side hustle,
where can you find it?
To start your side hustle,
you have to first answer the question:
what do you like to do?
You’ll never succeed in a side hustle
that you don’t like it.
If you hate driving,
when you’ve finished your day job what is
going to motivate you to Uber for a couple of hours?
You need to find something that you at least enjoy doing.
Now, if you’re unsure of what you can do,
the best resource out there is Youtube.
To quote Elon Musk:
“You can literally learn any skill you want
for free on YouTube.
You can become a person of value in a matter of months.”
Use YouTube to find out something that
you enjoy and that people will pay you money for.
Look at what other people have done.
What skills and techniques have they acquired?
Learning from experts and successful people is
the fastest way to solve your problem
and improve your earning potential.
Then start working on succeeding at that skill.
At first, you won’t be very good, but that’s ok!
over time you will get better at it,
and people will be willing to pay you top dollar for it.
This is how you start your side hustle.
And remember,
reading books never gets you rich.
Only by taking action will you be able to increase your income.
Before I move onto what I think
is the hidden message of the book,
I’m going to talk about the third and final problem.
Don’t start from the inside out, but the outside in.
Do not start with learning about being rich from books.
Start by investing in a better community.
This is probably not very surprising to you.
In fact, people have probably told you all your life
that you’re as rich as the average 5 people
whom you spend the most time with.
According to research by a professor from Harvard,
the people you most associate with,
determine as much as 95 percent of your
success or failure you have in life.
Have you ever wanted to start a business,
but your family convinced you it was too risky?
Or did they encourage you to chase your dreams?
Do all your friends think you’ll
never be able to afford to buy property?
Do they always moan about the economy a
nd how it’s impossible to get ahead?
It’s not impossible of course.
It’s about finding the right people with the
right mindset who are able to encourage you
when you face adversity as you inevitably will.
It’s about finding people around you
who have done it and are doing it.
When you see people succeed firsthand,
then you have faith that it can be done.
So you’re probably about to ask:
Thomas, how can I “upgrade” my community?
You can’t just leave your family.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to do that.
Instead, follow ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’.
Remember the 4 levels of social roles?
Each role represents a level of community,
based on the order,
people in each community have
different values and ideas.
If you want to shift your life to a new level,
you have to switch your community so that
you can think more, learn more, and create more.
Think about people in your circle.
This may seem harsh but it’s important.
What level of social roles do they fulfill?
Are they the type of people who will find
creative new ways of problem-solving?
What type of risks will they take?
Or are they the type of people who just like
to watch Netflix all day long?
Now I’m going to talk about what I consider
the hidden message within the book.
This extra bonus is probably something
you won't find in the book easily,
especially if you’ve only read it once.
But it’s important to find this secret message
because it will give you a higher chance of success.
Do you know who Thomas Edison is?
Is He’s the guy who invented light bulbs.
Actually, no, he didn’t invent the light bulb.
Although Thomas Edison is usually
credited as the inventor of the lightbulb,
the famous American inventor wasn't the
only one who contributed to the development
of this revolutionary technology.
Many other notable inventors,
engineers and scientists from around the world
are also credited for their work with electric batteries,
lamps and the creation of the first light bulb.
While the names Alessandro Volta,
Humphrey Davy or Joseph Swan may not be the first
to spring to mind when wondering
who invented the lightbulb,
their part in history of the
technology is no less significant.
So why is it that everybody knows Edison,
but we’ve forgotten all the others?
It’s because Edison was the first one
to commercialize the technology.
He improved light bulbs and built
a system that then became popular.
That's why he is well known for inventing light bulbs.
So here is what I want you to know.
Rich people get rich not only because
they have invented something special,
but they also built a system that will widely spread
their products to every corner of the world.
Did Steve Jobs invent the
Personal Computer or the smartphone?
No, he didn’t.
He built a company that created a system that
repeatedly created great products
that improved on existing inventions.
Is Robert Kiyosaki the first person
who talks about how money works?
No! but he able to capture the audience
and create financial abundance.
This also reveals why 9/10 times
having a degree in university won’t get you rich.
When schools talk about Thomas Edison,
what do they say?
“Thomas Edison is one of the
greatest inventors in the world.”
But they never tell you
he is also a genius in doing business.
Smart people study well and work hard…
But the smartest people work less
and scale smart people’s ideas.
Remember, it is not the thing,
it's the thing that sells the thing!
Again, Don’t get me wrong,
I love this book, and learn lots from it.
And I highly recommend people to read it
But in the meantime,
make sure you always ask questions
and put them in action!
if you found value in this video,
please give this video a thumbs up
and subscribe to my channel.
Or if you disagree with
my interpretation of the book tell me why.
Alright, Thank you so much for watching!
This is Thomas,
And I will see you in the next video.