Can you really get there? Is there some sort of secret formula to success? Or is it luck, being in the right place at the right time? The answer is YES to all the above.
Robert Kiyosaki’s book, Cashflow Quadrant, explains the flow of being an employee to becoming an investor. Here are some of the steps and how I used this system to reside in the top two quadrants.
Preliminary development phase. Find your gifts and begin to develop them.
The first step is the move from being an employee to becoming Self-Employed. You move from having a job to owning a job. The money you make is still tied to the time you spend on the job.
Step #1: Employee to Self-Employed
Very few successful entrepreneurs ever begin their careers at the top. My first memorable job was unloading steel from a truck. The freight was delivered in the bulk material from overseas cargo container ships. I always remember how nasty I was by the end of the day. My job was to grind the rust off the bulk steel to prepare it for production. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that was when I decided to upgrade my life.
What did I do? I found that gift inside of me that many never search after. Many people settle for jobs in areas that do not take advantage of their gifts. Working outside of your natural gift is why so many people become frustrated and end up job-hopping. They are always trying to find the perfect job that satisfies a desire inside. However, they never stop long enough to become aware of their gifts.
How do you find your gift? What do you dream about when you are awake during your quiet time? Do you have a quiet time? What tugs at your heart? You need to find out because that is your God-given gift, your talent, and no one can take that away from you; they can only squash it.
Once you identify your gift, it is time to begin developing your future. My gift was sales. I read every book I could find on selling myself and developing my gift. The first book I ever read was Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It is an ancient but timeless publication. I have read this book several times. I read everything I could find written by Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, Steven Covey, and John Maxwell to start. Reading is a sacrifice of time. What you spend your time on is your choice. If you are serious about financial freedom, you will need to spend time on self-improvement. You must first become good at selling yourself before you can begin to sell a product. Maybe your gift is a trade of some kind. It can be anything. The key is to be the best “whatever” that there is out there.
Once you have made strides developing your gift, then look for ways to make a living using it. If you are the best heating and air serviceman around, then why are you working for someone else that is not as good as you are? Maybe you are creative and have an eye for detail. If that is the case, why would you be working as a receptionist somewhere? Use your gifts to pursue financial freedom. Please don’t use money as an excuse. There are too many ways around that obstacle. Sounds simple right? Well, step one of becoming Self-Employed is pretty simple, but that is where your journey begins.
What’s next? According to PEW Research Center, about 16 million Americans are self-employed. However, here is the key; there is no distinction between being Self-Employed or being a Business Owner. If you are self-employed, then my congratulations go out to you. You have taken the first big step. You may even have an employee or two. You might be making more money, but are you are giving up more time?
All in all, are you making more or less per hour than you did as an employee? It is not uncommon for someone to work their entire life being self-employed only to end up closing their business and working for someone else in a less stressful job. I’ll never forget the days I spent building my first business. My partner and I had several employees, and we worked harder and put in more hours than they did. In reality, we were self-employed. In the end, we eventually sold the business for a pretty penny, but I told myself that I never wanted to work that hard again. The payout was high; however, the cost was too much.
What did I learn? I learned that I did have a gift that would improve my life. I transitioned from grinding steel to sales. I poured myself into my job. However, I gave up all my time. I had taken too much time away from my family. After learning this harsh lesson, I needed to make another change. My next shift was from being Self-Employed to becoming a Business Owner.
In the next article, we will talk about the main differences and some of the reasons people get stuck and never make a move.
Stuart J. Dalrymple
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