“Before You Quit Your Job”, by Robert Kiyosaki, came into my life at the perfect time. I am 3-5 years away from retiring from the Marine Corps, and I have decided never to work for anyone again. So what does that mean for me? It means that I will have to become an entrepreneur and create a business. Whew, that even sounds scary writing it down. But I have no fear because it is something that I MUST do. I have given myself no other option. The main reason I have chosen not to go back into the workforce is because of my grandkids. I refuse to have anyone on this earth dictate when and how I see my grandkids. I am not going to ask another human for permission to visit my kids and grandkids. So I have chosen a path that leads to entrepreneurship. Kris and I will become our own bosses. That is why I really enjoyed reading this book. My mind is already made up and now I need to start implementing procedures that lead to entrepreneurship. The author does an amazing job of sharing his stories of becoming an entrepreneur. He tells the reader that he will share as many stories of his failures as his successes. He wants us to know that there will be failures along the way. How you handle these failures is what makes you a true entrepreneur. The author gives us 10 steps that we should follow before we make the ultimate sacrifice, which is quitting our jobs. With that, let’s get into my 5 takeaways.
1) You will fail and make mistakes. I believe that this is the main point that Mr. Kiyosaki tries to convey throughout the book. How we handle adversity is the test of whether we should be an entrepreneur or not. He tells us to prepare for situations as best as possible. Study, research, and seek advice. However, even with all that, you will make mistakes and/or fail. It is part of field research. Use these situations to learn and build better teams and products.
2) Use your time at the job wisely. If you have a steady paycheck, this is the time to prepare yourself for being your own boss. Start a side business. Learn as much as possible while you still have a job. His Rich dad told him “You start a business in order to practice becoming an entrepreneur.” The only way to learn is to do. Reading books is great for gaining knowledge, but the best education is on the job.
3) Work to learn, not work to earn. While we are in the workforce, we should be honing our skills. Skills such as communications and leadership. For example, while in the Marine Corps I learned about training systems, leadership, management, and communications. However, if I needed to learn about legal, maybe I would do some part-time work as a paralegal. The idea is to build a solid base of knowledge and experience before you turn yourself loose onto the world.
4) Change your employee mindset. This is the second point that Mr. Kiyosaki stresses heavily. Our school system, whether it is a high school or college, is there to create employees. We are conditioned from a young age to become employees and grind our ways up the corporate ladder. It has been instilled in us from the very start. This employee mindset is probably our most limiting factor. I have spent 22 years in the military, so I know about the employee mindset. I have lived it. So for me to change my whole perspective, it is going to take work. I need to build my knowledge base to be able to grow a business. Luckily I have time to learn and grow. The main thing I need to learn is when to expand or sell a business. Many businesses are successful up until a certain point. At this point, they either expand or die. I will continue to read and when I get back stateside (I’m currently in Japan), I will start my first business. Of course, before I quit my job.
5) There is more security in learning about business than working as an employee. This is the hardest thing to conceptualize. As an employee, you have a steady paycheck, benefits, 401K, and job security. However, all of this can change in an instant. If you have no other training or skills, it can be extremely rough in the real world. As an entrepreneur, you have many talents. Mainly you can see problems that need to be solved. You see the world through a different lens. You work past your limiting factors and see the world as a huge pot of money. The more your ideas help people, the richer you become. There is nothing that can limit you, except yourself. It is extremely hard for an employee to see this world. They see the world through college degrees, resumes, and human resources.
Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. And that is okay. Entrepreneurs need employees. However, I believe that everyone can work on something in their off-time that can bring in some income. In order to have true security, we need to have our own source of income. And for this source of income, we need to have complete CONTROL of the price and time. I believe everyone can come up with something that fits into this model. For example, if you know how to wash and fold clothes, maybe you start a drop off service. If you can make tasty cakes, maybe you sell those at the weekends. The more we do things like this, hopefully, we can build these ideas out to become bigger solutions. Having a job as our only source of income is the riskiest adventure we can go on. If a job is our only source of income, then your boss is 100% in control of your life. That is not a way to live. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to everyone. Even if you are dead-set on staying an employee (which is okay), you should still know how to think like an entrepreneur. You will be surprised how even an extra $500 a month can change your life. That $500 represents something that you did for yourself outside of your job. It is an amazing accomplishment.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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