wealth

The power of our thoughts may never be measured or appreciated, but it became obvious to me as a young boy that there was value and power in being aware of my thoughts and how I expressed myself. I noticed that my poor dad was poor not because of the amount of money he earned—which was significant—but because of his thoughts and actions. As a young boy, having two fathers, I became acutely aware of being careful in deciding which thoughts I chose to adopt as my own and to whom should I listen—my rich dad or my poor dad.
I wasn’t born a natural entrepreneur. I had to be trained. When I was growing up, my poor dad often said, “Go to school and get good grades so you can find a good job with good benefits.” He was encouraging me to become an employee.
My rich dad often said, “Learn to build your own business and hire good people.” He was encouraging me to become an entrepreneur.
The CASHFLOW Quadrant explains that there are four types of people that make up the world of business, and they are often technically, emotionally and mentally different people.
E stands for employee; S stands for self-employed or small-business owner; B stands for big-business owner (more than 500 employees); and I stands for investor.
"I noticed that my poor dad was poor not because of the amount of money he earned—which was significant—but because of his thoughts and actions."
For example, employees will always say the same words, whether they are president or janitor of the company. An employee can always be heard saying, “I’m looking for a safe, secure job with benefits.” The operative words are safe and secure. In other words, the emotion of fear keeps them boxed into that quadrant. If they want to change quadrants, not only are there skills and technical things to learn, but, in many cases, there are also emotional challenges to overcome.
A person in the S quadrant may be heard saying, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.” In many cases, this person’s challenge is learning to trust other people to do a better job than they can. This lack often keeps them small, since it’s hard to grow a business without eventually trusting other people. If S-quadrant people do grow, they often grow as a partnership, which in many cases, is a group of S’s coming together to do the same job.