Mind Your Own Business
Hello people! This too is one of my favourite lessons the rich dad taught Robert and Mike on becoming financially free. In case, if you aren't aware of who rich dad or Robert or Mike is, make sure to read the blogs under the 'Recent Posts' section.
(This lesson is narrated by Robert Kiyosaki)
In 1974, Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, once asked a group of MBA students, "What business am I in?" One brave soul yelled out, "Ray, who in the world does not know that you're in the hamburger business." Ray chuckled. "That is what I thought you would say." He paused and then quickly said, "ladies and gentlemen, I'm not in the hamburger business. My business is real estate." Ray spent a good amount of time explaining his viewpoint. In their business plan, Ray knew that the primary business focus was to sell hamburger franchises, but what he never lost sight of was the location of each franchise. Basically, the person that bought the franchise was also paying for buying the land under the franchise for Ray Kroc's organization. Time for the secret No. 3 of the rich!
The secret is: "Mind your own business."
Again, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a diagram of the income statement and balance sheet that best describes Ray Kroc's advice:
A problem with school is that you often become what you study. So if you study, say, cooking, you become a chef or if you study the law, you become an attorney. The mistake in becoming what you study is that too many people forget to mind their own business. They spend their lives minding someone else's business and making that person rich.
Start minding your own business. Keep your daytime job, but start buying real assets, not liabilities or personal effects that have no real value once you get them home.
For years, even while I was in my corporate job, I did what my rich dad recommended. I kept my daytime job, but I still minded my own business. I was active in my asset column- traded real estate and small stocks. The better I was at understanding accounting and cash management, the better I would be at analyzing investments and eventually starting and building my own company.
I would not encourage anyone to start a company unless they really want to. The odds are against success: Nine out of 10 companies fail in five years. Of those that survive the first five years, nine out of every 10 of those eventually fail, as well. So only if you really have the desire to own your own company, I recommend it.
Otherwise, keep your daytime job and mind your own business. When I say mind your own business, I mean to build and keep your asset column strong. Once a dollar goes into it, never let it come out.
If you are interested in knowing the true story of McDonald's and how it grew into a billion-dollar burger empire, you can watch the movie 'The Founder' on Netflix India. However, if you are someone like me who need to watch the trailer first despite hearing all positive about the movie, here's the trailer link:
I hope you learnt something through reading this blog. If Yes, then make sure to like the blog, comment, share and subscribe to the email newsletter if you haven't yet. I post a blog every Monday at 7 pm IST, until then Happy Reading!
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