Lesson 6: Work to Learn -- Don't Work for Money
Most people need only to learn and master one more skill and their income would jump exponentially.
At this point, you should have completed Chapter 6 of Rich Dad Poor Dad. It is only 20 pages — and if you’re a little behind, make a plan to catch up now. I have also provided a short summary for you below.
Also, don’t forget to register for our live online session with three Featured Innovators: Sean Gross, Claudio Sorrentino, and Dan Lesniak — set to take place on Thursday, July 21 at 4:00 PM ET. While you don’t have to read these books to join our online sessions, it will be much better for YOU if you do!
Now to the summary of this week’s reading below…
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In Lesson 6, Kiyosaki tells us he is shocked by how many talented people he meets that make so little money. One was his own very well-educated "poor dad.” Another is the author of a book, a story he tells us in Chapter 6. He suggested that if she wanted to sell more copies of her book, she should study sales. She was appalled. After all, she had a master’s degree in English Literature and she hated salespeople. She said to him, “Tell me why I should study sales?”
He picked up a copy of one of her notepad where she had written “Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author.” He asked her: “Do you see this?” He pointed at it again. “It says best-selling author, not best-writing author.” He told her that she is a great writer, but he is terrible writer, but a great salesman, and that’s why he sold so many more copies of his book. She was appalled and ended her interview with him.
Kiyosaki gives us advice he once received from a consultant that most people are just “one skill away from great wealth.” He adds that “most people need only to learn and master one more skill and their income would jump exponentially.”
What is one thing you really excel at right now? What one other skill could you acquire that would really help you take off in your career? And maybe in your piggy bank?
Kiyosaki learned something else from his Rich Dad: “You want to know a little about a lot.” That is basically advice to be a generalist. When you know a lot about a little, you might have job security — but that job security will be for one thing.
“The more specialized you become, the more you are trapped and dependent on that speciality.”
Kiyosaki doesn’t really have an opinion one way or the other about labor unions, but he said if you are a specialist, you better be sure that company you work for has a union, and a strong union at that. Because if that job goes away, like so many jobs are going away right now in our digital age, then you are going to be left with one skill that can only do a specific job.
“Most workers never get ahead,” says Kiyosaki. “They do what the’ve been taught to do. Get a secure job. Most workers focus on working for pay and benefits that reward them in the short term, but are often disastrous in the long term.”
“Instead, I recommend to young people to seek work for what they will learn, more than what they will earn,” he says.
Kiyosaki also likes to ask people, whatever work they are engaged in, “Where is this daily activity taking you?” That’s something we can each ask ourselves. What are we learning? What skills are we building? What assets are we acquiring in our mind and in our talents that can be useful over the long-term and perhaps in our next steps.
If the job you’re doing is simply for pay, then he advises us to take a second job that will teach you a second skill — even if the pay isn’t great. After all, look at how much many of us will pay a college for a degree.
Think of work as education. Sometimes I wish I would have thought about that rather than a college degree and all the time and money I spent on those degree. Over time, I realized I have learned more on the job than I ever did in a classroom. And those experiences have made me more valuable to others.
“Education is more valuable than money, in the long run.” But remember, education isn’t simply what’s learned in a classroom or even in a book.
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Kiyosaki tells us that the main management skills needed for success are:
Management of cash flow.
Management of systems.
Management of people.
He also advises us that the most important specialized skills are sales and marketing. “The ability to sell — to communicate to another human being, be it a customer, employee, boss, spouse, or child — is the base skill of personal success. Communication skills such as writing, speaking, and negotiating are crucial to success.”
I remember Featured Innovator Zak Slayback saying this to us in his book, How to Get Ahead as well as on Episode 36 of the Agents of Innovation podcast. It stuck with me and now I see it emphasized here in Rich Dad Poor Dad.
There’s one more part of this lesson that Kiyosaki wants to instill in us: the skill of philanthropy. He said both his Poor Dad and Rich Dad “were generous men” and “the more they gave, the more they received.”
His Rich Dad gave lots of money away and taught him “that to receive money, you had to give money. Giving money is the secret to most great wealthy families.” Learn to be a giver and then you will discover the true value of money is not the money itself.
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For this coming week, we’ll be going beyond the six main lessons of Rich Dad Poor Dad as he teaching us how to overcome obstacles in Chapter 7, which is only 22 short pages. That’s not an obstacle at all! Time to do your homework and keep reading.