Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki shares the lessons he learned from his Rich Dad
(his friend Mike’s real dad) and his Poor Dad
(the biological father). Rich Dad did not finish high school but became wealthy while Poor Dad, though highly educated, never seemed to get out of financial difficulties. While reading, I cannot help but look back the time when my wife and I moved into a new house, started a computer business that later closed, and acquired a loan with a high interest almost at the same period. There is a lot to learn from this book. Eventhough being rich may not be your goal in life, it helps to know how not to get into a financial deep hole.
The Cashflow Quadrant
Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki has written a series and this is the follow-up from Rich Dad, Poor Dad
. The Cashflow Quadrant classifies people into Employee and Self-Employed (comprising the left side), and Business Owner and Investor (right side). The model is a simple illustration of who are working for money (left side) and who have money that is working for them (right side).
A profit is made when you buy, not when you sell.
– Rich Dad
The E-Myth Revisited
Michael Gerber
This is one of the recommended books by Robert Kiyosaki so I bought it (having been already influenced by him). It starts with a script common to most startup businesses. First, you experience the “Entrepreneurial Seizure” or the desire to start your own business. Exhilirated, you start your business. Just a few months into it, you began to experience the difficulty and agony of what it is like to run a business. Until finally, you feel at loss and despair.
Michael Gerber clearly spells out what needs to be done, or changed, to be successful in our business where success is not limited to monetary rewards. He decribes the personalities (Entreprenuer, Manager, Technician) within us that are always vying for our attention. The three must work together if we want to realize our dreams. He then proceeds with a discussion of business phases and the franchise model.
The last part describes the components of a business that must be present to make it work. It is not a checklist and it should not be. It invites one to ask critical questions that can make or break a business.
Though Gerber makes references to American small business
(and the Superbowl), it does not it any way limited to American setting. In fact, I once did some of the mistakes he mentioned and that caused me some money.
You cannot anticipate everything, but if you try, you can anticipate much.
Think and Grow Rich
Napoloen Hill
Napoloen Hill was challenged by Andrew Carnegie to study and find out the secrets of rich men. The secrets are contained in the book divided into 13 steps. As the saying goes practice what you preach
, Hill used one of the techniques (AutoSuggestion) to his own son and to himself. The son was born with hearing problems but later became the top salesman for a hearing-aid company.
Discussions on the subconscious and imagination are my favorite. Even as early as high school, I was able to experience the power of being able to communicate with my subconscious (though not as imaginative as Hill’s meetings with Lincoln, Edison, Napoloen, etc.) though at that time I had no name to refer to it.
Being in the information technology profession, I liken the concept of Infinite Intelligence
to a universal file server where everybody’s (including aliens’) thoughts are uploaded. Anyone who knows the protocol can download an infinite amount of information for his perusal. Have you had the experience of discovering something unique only to find out later that someone else had already published it 50 years ago?
The book is very much worth the time and money (I think it is cheap for a great book) and I intend to read it again, most likely in six months. When I showed this book to a friend, he told me that it is not going to be that easy. During that time I have not read the book yet, so I just smiled. Well, it is not going to be easy but certainly not impossible.
Greg Moreno 