The Learning Never Stops
One thing I learned early on at The Rich Dad Company was that in order for me to achieve success, I must first improve myself. Everything starts with me.
In fact, that is the case in every part of my life. If I want a great friendship, first I must become a great friend. If I want a great marriage, first I must become a great husband. If I want a great relationship with my kids, first I must become a great father.
Therefore, everything depends on me. I must continuously improve myself in order to have the life I want.
Remember the expression Be, Do, Have? I am not sure where that came from (could be Scientology actually…), but it is so frigging true.
First, I must BE the person I want to BE. Become the person I want to become, in all my relationships.
Next, I must DO the things I need to DO. Create the habits, actions, interactions I need to create, across my entire life.
Then, and only then, can I HAVE the things I deserve to HAVE. Each step builds on the previous. It is a package deal. In other words, I can’t have want it deserve to have without first becoming the person I need to be. It is impossible.
And for me, this all starts with continuous learning. In all areas.
For the next three days I am attending a Leadership event put on by my mentor and friend, Robert Kiyosaki. I’ll be sharing the learning as I am able, right from inside the room. I am super excited to be here as I am feeling the crunch of life, in all areas right now, and the only thing I can choose to do, is improve myself.
Syntropy vs. Entropy
R. Buckminster Fuller has been a favorite person of mine to study for the past eight years or so. He is often referred to as the greatest mind of the 20th century.
In this video I share one of the concepts he talked about that actually applies to my business. I think you’ll find that it will apply to yours as well.
For more, visit http://johnseiferth.com.
Questions
One of the basic things rich dad taught Robert Kiyosaki was instead of saying “I can’t afford it,” ask the question “How can I afford it?”
At its core, this simple exercise allows our mind to do what its best at – work things out. The minute we say “I can’t do this,” or “I couldn’t do that,” our thought process shuts down. We stop the energy from flowing.
However, if we ask a question like, “How can I do that?” or “What would it take for me to accomplish this?”, then our mind is able to do its work and create solutions.
Simply by asking questions, we open the space so that we can move around, exploring different possibilities, searching for new solutions. Then, and only then, can new content enter the space for us to consume.
Fact: Rich People Have Coaches
I just received this email from Robert Kiyosaki:
“More than terrorism, more than natural disasters, the biggest fear most people have is outliving their money. Our natural reaction to any fear is to fight, flee or freeze. Financial fear often leads to paralysis – where you ignore your money problems and hope they will somehow go away.
Don’t let fear cost you money.
Every day I am seeing increasing turbulence in the markets. “Playing it safe” by trusting others with your financial future is probably the riskiest thing you can do. People who used to dream of getting rich are now just hoping not to lose their home. Without financial education, you’re at the mercy of the market.
If you don’t have a plan to achieve financial security, what’s stopping you? If you’re not sure what to do or how to do it, then get a coach. Rich dad was my coach. He helped me face my own fears. He helped me learn. He helped me discover the answers that work for me. He challenged me and held me to my goals. He was tough on me. But I’m rich today because of him.”
Here is the thing…
I have never met anyone that STUDIES HARDER, works more at DEVELOPING HIMSELF, and believes in HAVING A PERSONAL COACH, than Robert. I am sure you are thinking to yourself, “What does Robert need with a coach? He is the guru, the man, the expert.”
Well, the reason Robert IS the man is because he has always had coaches. He has always surrounded himself with people that are better, stronger, faster and smarter than he is. That is what makes him rich.
For me, it is a difficult thing to admit that I need a coach. I often fight with myself over the fact that I should know this stuff, I should know what to do, I should know how to proceed. That is often where I am wrong.
We all lie to ourselves. We all tell ourselves that we are better than we are. That is where we need to take a step back and say, “No. I am not the best there is. I am not the end-all-be-all of business and investing.” I need help.
Even Mike Dillard talks about this in the latest issue of Magnetic Sponsoring Inner Circle. He calls it “YDKWYDK Syndrome.” Can you guess what that means?
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know Syndrome
He and his partners at Magnetic actively SEEK OUT and engage coaches to help them get to the next level. Their goal is to take Magnetic and BetterNetworker.com to $50 million in sales in 2011. Holy crap! That is a context I can’t quite get my head around… yet.
The point is that the most successful people in the world have coaches. Period. The question is are you willing to do what the rich do and seek one out for yourself?
How Important Are The Details?
One of the MOST important things I learned from Robert Kiyosaki while working for him for most this decade was the idea of starting from the biggest possible perspective, then working your way down.
Let me explain.
Most people, when acting on an opportunity or facing a challenge, start with the smallest details. When reviewing a real estate deal they get right into the details – expenses, tenants, air conditioning, parking, utilities, debt, financing, fees, maintenance, etc, etc, etc. When thinking about starting a business things like location, employees, rent, costs, financing, partners, traffic, marketing, expenses always come up first.
What Robert taught me is that if you start from the highest or widest possible perspective FIRST, then you are able to direct the business or investment and determine the future of the environment BEFORE worrying about all the details.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Details are extremely important. It is imperative that you get into the details at some point. However, if something at a much higher level will affect your investment or business (or anything else in your life) with little or no chance of you avoiding it, then the details can be moot.
For instance, if you are looking to purchase a four-plex at the corner of Butler and 4th Street, but you are so into the details that you don’t understand that business is actually moving OUT of that part of town, then you may be missing a HUGE piece of your investment puzzle.
Or, you are looking to invest in real estate in Florida, but don’t realize that due to the need to extract more domestic oil from the ground, that Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska are much better long-term investment locations, you could be missing out.
R. Buckminster Fuller said “I always start with the Universe.” Meaning, when he looked at an opportunity, problem or challenge, he started with the BIGGEST possible picture, then worked his way down.
Now, again, the details ARE extremely important. How important?
Take this story from Time.com about how mega-retailer Ikea changed the font they use for their company name and logo. Yes, you heard me right… the font.
The Font War: Ikea Fans Fume Over Switch To Verdana
The home furnishing giant changed the font of the huge yellow “IKEA” sign they slap to the sides of their over sized, blue buildings around the world from Futura to Verdana.
That has to be the epitome of the attention to detail. The font used in the store’s lettering. However, it caused a huge backlash from their most rabid customers.
How important are the details?
Now, back to my point about starting with the biggest possible picture, Ikea says the reason they made the shift is because Verdana is more adaptable to multiple languages in multiple countries. It is also more web-friendly. Talk about starting with the big picture. Eventually, they will completely do away with the printed catalog and go entirely to the web, just like everything else. That is forward thinking.
Here is the lesson, start big, THEN work your way down. The details are extremely important, but not at the expense of the bigger picture.
How Bad Do You Want It?
I received the following email from someone who landed on my home page.
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Hi John,
I had expressed interest in [your business opportunity] but would like something with lower price point…
Roger
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Here is my response.
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Roger,
I am building my business around the notion that we all need to be more educated on finance, money, investing and business. I found a platform in Wealth Masters International that has allowed me to do that with great tools, excellent training and top-of-the-line support. There is nothing else out there that offers all of this.
I’ve studied for the past eight years with Robert and Kim Kiyosaki and the Rich Dad advisors and now I am teaching people what I’ve learned from them. I am also being personally mentored by Mike Dillard who is responsible for turning the home-based business world upside down with his Magnetic Sponsoring line of educational products. I doubt there are two individuals that have impacted the home business world more than those two guys, and I talk to each of them regularly.
If that sounds like something you want to take advantage of, then this is the right business for you. If not, then you will need to find something else. Either way, I hope what I am putting out there has value to you. If you want to get involved and begin building a business on the number one team in all of network marketing, just go to http://johnseiferth.com/ccpapplication and fill out an application.
Take care -
John
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Do I need to say anything more? How bad do you want it? What are you willing to do to get it?
Why Do Professional Financial Analysts Hate Rich Dad?
This is a great article I just found on a local coin shop’s web site. It is interesting to note the tone in which the article is written. This is almost a back-handed complement. He says that Robert (and his advisors) are right most of the time, but then says that that is the reason the “professional analysts” hate him. What the?
Read it and let me know what you think.
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Is Rich Dad [Mike Maloney, Robert Kiyosaki's advisor on precious metals] Right About $15,000 Gold?
By Peter Cooper
ArabianMoney.net
July 28, 2009
Rich Dad is a publishing phenomenon that most investment analysts prefer to ignore. But his common sense advice on how to manage personal finance has become a best-seller. Therefore, when he comments on a new trend then it is worth paying attention.
Now he is saying gold could hit $15,000 in a huge price spike. Well, he spotted the US housing market bubble before it happened, and helped millions to cash in before that market crashed.
Gold fundamentals
What perhaps the professional analysts dislike about Rich Dad, apart from his enormous success, is that he just manages to jump on the right bandwagon at the right time for what seem obvious reasons. So has he got it right on gold? Let me repeat the argument I made a few months ago:
‘The fundamental case for investment in precious metals has become overpowering. Global bank bailout and stimulus packages have resulted in a huge increase in global money supply that has never had any effect except inflation in all history.
The gold supply by contrast is relatively fixed and production is actually falling. Supply is even tighter for silver – where stock levels are a hundredth of gold – and that is reason enough to expect the established pattern of silver outperforming gold will be repeated again.
As investors rotate their assets out of stocks and into alternative asset classes the best returns are therefore likely in precious metals, and such information tends to be self-fulfilling.
There are all sorts of minor trends supporting this basic trend, and like any true bull market there will be a compounding of supporting evidence: from a shortage of gold available for bank leasing to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s call for IMF sales, often seen as a contrary indicator as his previous calls boosted gold prices.’
However, where Rich Dad has put the cat among the pigeons is the figure of $15,000 an ounce, a more than 15-fold increase in gold prices from current levels.
It is the same this time
He might have just looked at the late 1970s and the inflationary crisis that followed the 1974 stock market crash. Gold rose eight-fold. Then you could simply think, well it is worse this time, and double the increase for the present recession/depression.
That is the sort of simple investment logic that professional analysts hate. It makes their work redundant and questions the time they spend in concocting theories. But it does not necessarily make it a wrong conclusion.
That the doyenne of the mass investor has come to that conclusion and is pumping it out to his fan club is very significant, and Rich Dad became rich by getting his timing right.
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Strange isn’t it? Can’t just come out and say that Robert and his team are brilliant strategists that focus on educating themselves and making predictions and taking action based on historical trends and good research, can he? Weird.
The other thing this article highlights for me is the absolute REQUIREMENT that each of us increase our financial IQ. At this point in history, there is no choice.
I’ve had the unique opportunity to work directly with, and learn from two of the most powerful people in the business and investing fields, Robert Kiyosaki and Mike Dillard. I’ve been able to take what I’ve learned from them and pass it along to thousands of people around the globe.
I understand what it takes to build a solid financial foundation, to create long-term passive income and to achieve the lifestyle that provides freedom AND security.
If you want to learn more about working directly with me, visit http://johnseiferth.com. Even Robert says you’d be much better off working with me. Just visit http://johnseiferth.com and he will tell you himself.
Ten Important Things To Think About When Writing A Business Plan
I was looking through some old binders and stumbled across some notes I had taken years ago while at a Rich Dad event. Below is a “fleshed out” (I think that’s how you say it) list of things that are a must do when creating a business plan. Garrett Sutton, Robert Kiyosaki’s advisor on legal and business entity matters (and author of The ABCs of Writing Winning Business Plans) is one of the smartest (and funniest) guys I know. These notes were taken during his time on stage at the event. I hope they help if you are starting or are in the middle of writing a business plan.
1. Whether you are raising money, borrowing it, or financing a new business yourself, you should force yourself to put into writing a detailed business plan for what you have in mind. Without one, you most likely will be unsuccessful at obtaining money. With one you can guide yourself and your management team through the entire start-up process in an organized and successful manner. That being said, having a written business plan is a must.
2. If you are raising money for your business, you should first carefully think about who potentially will be providing the funds to start the business. For example, if you are hoping to borrow from a bank, your plan should clearly address the risks involved in the business with emphasis on the new business’s ability to pay back any loans obtained. If you are soliciting funds from investors or venture capitalists, your plan should emphasize the business’s growth potential and it’s subsequent return on invested capital. At every step of the way, you should be conscious of writing FOR and TO the targeted reader of your business plan.
3. Making a detailed outline of what you have in mind is probably the most important thing you can do before you actually start writing your plan. Take your time and give your outline a lot of thought. Organize your thoughts in simple phrases or sentences and number and letter each phrase or sentence. Break down big topics into smaller, detailed lists of specific things that must be researched or said. Composing a detailed outline can be tedious, but don’t slack off on this crucial part of the process. Writing from a carefully written outline will give your business plan a definite beginning, middle, and end.
4. A business plan will achieve its objectives only if it is credible. Credibility is established by the people who will be involved in the venture and how various verifiable facts and statistics are used to support the proposed business idea. The industry or market niche in which the business will compete must be extensively researched. So too must the targeted customers of the business be analysed and discussed. Much effort should be expended to thoroughly research these subjects by using information found in libraries, on the Internet, and from companies with pertinent databases for sale. Another source of credible information can be obtained by interviewing industry experts, suppliers, competitors, and even potential customers themselves. The depth of knowledge and insight that can be conveyed in the business plan as a result of thorough research will go far to solidify the needed aura of credibility. Remember to keep track of where you sourced your information so that it can be properly footnoted in your business plan. Footnotes add to credibility.
5. Be organized from the start. You will be surprised at how much information you can collect in a very short period of time. It is imperative that you collect and organize your information in a manner that conforms with your outline. Set up labeled files at the onset. Have a separate, secure place to store them. Plan up front how you will collect and organize information gathered from the Internet on your computer. And don’t just copy information from the Internet. Keep track of the addresses from where the information came, in the likely event that you may want to revisit some sites for clarification or additional information. It sounds old fashioned, but keep paper and pen on your person and on your nightstand at all times. Write down every fleeting thought that comes into your head. In the busy pursuit of information, it’s easy to forget an idea that popped into your head the day before or in the middle of the night.
6. The body of the business plan must contain the usual descriptive elements such as a clear statement of the business, the planned marketing strategies, a thorough analysis of the competition, a description of operational procedures, an honest list of perceived risks, and other written sections pertinent to the business idea. But what will set your business plan apart from others will be the insertion of a “compelling reason” why your business idea is unique. To just say “this business is different and therefore it will be successful” probably will be ignored or discounted by a sophisticated reader. But if you build a story through the presentation of your researched facts and take the reader to a logical point where the uniqueness or cleverness of you business idea becomes apparent, he will be more than receptive to your idea when you state the “compelling reason” why your business idea is truly unique and will work. You will have drawn him in and captured his imagination. The “compelling reason” will make him receptive to all the other positive attributes your business idea represents.
7. The financial statements you include in your business plan should span three years with Year 1 broken down into 12 months and Years 2 & 3 broken down into quarters. They should contain both profit and loss and cash flow statements. Two important elements you should include in the financial section of your business plan is a clear statement of the assumptions that underlay your projected numbers and the obvious use of a conservative approach in projecting those numbers. Be thoughtful in your assumptions. Make them easy for your reader to understand. Base them on facts gleaned from your research that appear elsewhere in your business plan. Always take the lower side of any range of figures. The important thing is for the numbers to work ie. payoff the loans or give a reasonable return on investment. Bankers and investors are not impressed by big, optimistic numbers. They see them all the time. They are usually persuaded by that “compelling reason” why the business has a good chance of succeeding and reassured that the projected numbers are achievable because they are obviously conservative. Let their imaginations take your financial projections to higher, exciting levels on their own time.
8. Your business plan should contain detailed resumes of the principal people who will be involved in and/or running the new business. The resume section is often the second place venture capitalists go when they pick up a business plan. They first read the executive summary to get a general idea of what the business is all about, and then they go to the resume section to see who the players are. If they don’t see competent, proven people with direct, related industry experience, they often discard the business plan right then and there. So be thoughtful on who you bring into the business and carefully design their resumes to highlight past experience and accomplishments that directly relate to your proposed business idea.
9. The Executive Summary should appear as the first section of your business plan and should be the last section you write. It is a synopsis of the business idea you have already carefully organized and written. It should give a broad overview of what the idea is, and should, in a page or two, give the reader a clear understanding of what the proposed business specifically does, into what industry it falls, what broad economic climate and competitive conditions exist within that industry, and what general elements of the business idea give the proposed business a chance of being successful. It should contain summary figures on the return on investment or the loan payback. The Executive Summary is the first section the reader will examine so take your time with it, be concise and comprehensive, and consider it to be almost like an advertisement for your business idea. It should have a ton of optimism as opposed to the factual and objective tone you want the rest of your business plan sections to have. The Executive Summary is often the only shot you have at capturing the reader’s attention, so be thoughtful when writing it. Remember, most venture capitalists and bankers have stacks of business plans filling their offices waiting to be read. Often junior members of the firm are given the task of doing the initial sort before a plan will reach the eyes of a decision making partner or officer. The person who first reads your Executive Summary thus has the power to reject your proposal but usually not the power to approve it. He only passes it on, and if the Executive Summary can catch his eye and make him read further, it’s done its job.
10. Subconscious impressions are very important to the success of a business plan document. How the document is organized, what type style is selected, the sparing use of italics or bold type, how varying paragraph indentations are used all make for either a positive or negative impression. Misspelled words are death as are serious violations of the proper use of grammar. Short concise sentences will communicate better than long rambling ones. Your objective is produce a professional looking and reading document that clearly communicates that you and your team are professionals and thus know what you are talking about. Pass your draft business plan by people you respect and have them proof read it and critique it. Determine if they clearly understand the points described in it. If they don’t, go back to the drawing board and rewrite the sections in question. Take a lot of time on this final review and edit process. It is the last and probably most important step you can take for creating a successful business plan.
Sometimes You Get What You Aren’t Expecting
So, I just returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic (never been there before) where I attended a week-long, private wealth group meeting with 185 of my closest friends.
The hotel was awesome. The beach was awesome. The people were awesome. The education was awesome. The food was not awesome, but I survived (I basically became a “fruititarian” for a week).
On the trip home, I realized that what I found valuable about the event was completely different than what I had expected. It usually ends up that way. What I get is not what I expected to get. And most times, what I get is 100 times more valuable than what I expected.
Its actually cool that way. It adds a bit of mystery. An unexpected outcome.
Here is what I got:
1) Two hours alone with David Schwind, a close friend of mine that is THE most lazy, arrogant, brilliant online marketer I have ever met (I told him this to his face). David is an amazing copyrighter and a master of understanding what people want, then giving it to them. As we sat outside the meeting room at the resort, he proceeded to rip my landing pages to shreds. It was awesome. Most people are so uptight about their stuff, that they hate getting feedback, especially negative feedback. I LOVE it. I know the more feedback I get, the better I get. This two hours alone was worth ten times what I spent on the trip.
2) An hour with my good friend Mike Dillard. He and I have been friends for a couple of years and he has never had a problem giving me feedback on what I am doing. It was great to see him (and his beautiful bride-to-be Michelle). I am fortunate to have Mike as a mentor and coach. Again, this was worth much more than the cost of the trip.
3) Personal contact with the top internet marketers in the business. These people are all about getting the job done and doing whatever it takes to be successful. I love the fact that they are there always pulling me up to their level.
In addition, there were great speakers with some excellent investing and wealth building information that will help shape my financial foundation from this point forward.
The bottom line though, were the personal connections I made and the time I spent with the people I look up to and aspire to be. Just knowing that they are there to support me and do anything in their power to help me is more valuable than anything else.
If you want to find out how you can be the one in my place, learning from the best of the best, building an online business that can give you the freedom I am able to enjoy now, then I can show you how. And don’t take my word for it, let my friend and mentor Robert Kiyosaki tell you. Just go here and listen: http://johnseiferth.com.
Robert Kiyosaki Makes Me Blush
Robert Kiyosaki endorses friend and former employee, John Seiferth. Kick your business into high gear with John’s high-octane style of coaching and teaching.
Robert also explains the reasons he endorses network marketing as a great tool for people who want to start a business. He talks about the fact that the rich think in terms of networks. Television networks. Radio station networks. Even networks of brick and mortar businesses.
From the time I started working at the Rich Dad company, I knew I was in for an education of a lifetime. I knew this would be where I made my switch.
The switch from an employee, always looking for a job, worrying over things like job security, retirement, my 401k and my mutual funds, to a business owner and entrepreneur.
NOTHING could make me go back to working a job now. NOTHING. Not money. Not security (there really isn’t any in a job anyway). Not retirement (I’ll never be looking forward to that again). Not a 401k (…please). NOTHING.
Robert, Kim and his advisors (who are also good friends now) have shown me the light. They have completely turned my paradigm around 180 degrees. Now I think the exact OPPOSITE of those people that have an employee mindset.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about being an employee or having that mindset. I am simply saying that my eyes have been opened. The blinders have been removed. I see more possibility now than I could possibly see before.
I now teach people to think the same way MY rich dad (Robert Kiyosaki) taught me to think. Like the rich. Like a business owner. I coach people to start from the beginning with a business owner mindset. I give them the tools they need to become successful quickly.
If you want to work with me – If you want to learn from someone who has been taught by the best in the world – Click the link. I look forward to hearing from you.
