Chapter Three
LESSON 3:
MIND YOUR
OWN BUSINESS
71
The rich focus on their asset columns while
everyone else focuses on their income statements.
In 1974, Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, was asked to
speak to the MBA class at the University of Texas at Austin. A friend
of mine was a student in that MBA class. After a powerful and
inspiring talk, the class adjourned and the students asked Ray if he
would join them at their favorite hangout to have a few beers. Ray
graciously accepted.
“What business am I in?” Ray asked, once the group had all their
beers in hand.
“Everyone laughed,” my friend said. “Most of the MBA students
thought Ray was just fooling around.”
No
one answered, so Ray asked again, “What business do you
think I’m in?”
The students laughed again, and finally one brave soul yelled
out, “Ray, who in the world doesn’t know that you’re in the
hamburger business?”
Ray chuckled. “That’s what I thought you would say.” He paused and
then quickly added, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not in the hamburger
business. My business is real estate.”
Chapter Three: Lesson 3
72
As
my friend tells the story, Ray spent a good amount of time
explaining his viewpoint. In his business plan, Ray knew that the
primary business focus was to sell hamburger franchises, but what
he never lost sight of was the location of each franchise. He knew
that the land and its location were the most significant factors in
the success of each franchise. Basically, the person who bought the
franchise was also buying the real estate
under the franchise for Ray
Kroc’s organization.
Today, McDonald’s is the largest single owner of real estate in
the world, owning even more than the Catholic church. McDonald’s
owns some of the most valuable intersections and street corners in
America and around the globe.
My friend considers this as one of the most important lessons in
his life. Today he owns car washes, but his business is the real estate
under those car washes.
The previous chapter presented diagrams illustrating that most people
work for everyone but themselves. They work first for the owners of the
company, then for the government through taxes, and finally for the bank
that owns their mortgage.
When I was a young boy, we did not have a McDonald’s nearby.
Yet my rich dad was responsible for teaching Mike and me the
same lesson that Ray Kroc talked about at the University of Texas.
It is secret number three of the rich. That secret is:
Mind your own
business. Financial struggle is often directly the result of people
working all their lives for someone else. Many people will simply have
nothing at the end of their working days to show for their efforts.
Our current educational system focuses on preparing today’s
youth to get good jobs by developing scholastic skills. Their lives
will revolve around their wages or, as described earlier, their income
column. Many will study further to become engineers, scientists,
cooks, police officers, artists, writers, and so on.
These professional
skills allow them to enter the workforce and work for money.
But there is a big difference between your profession and your
business. Often I ask people, “What is your business?” And they will
Rich Dad Poor Dad
73
say, “Oh, I’m a banker.” Then I ask them if they own the bank. And
they usually respond, “No, I work there.” In that instance, they have
confused their profession with their business. Their profession may
be a banker, but they still need their own business.
A problem with school is that you often become what you study.
So
if you study cooking, you become a chef. If you study the law,
you become an attorney, and a study of auto mechanics makes you
a mechanic. The mistake in becoming what you study is that too
many people forget to mind their own business. They spend their
lives minding someone else’s business and making that person rich.
To become financially secure, a person needs to mind their own
business. Your business revolves around your asset column, not your
income column.
As stated earlier, the number-one rule is to know
the difference between an asset and a liability, and to buy assets.
The rich focus on their asset columns, while everyone else focuses on
their income statements.
That is why we hear so often: “I need a raise.” “If only I had a
promotion.” “I am going back to school to get more training so I
can get a better job.” “I am going to
work overtime.” “Maybe I can get a
second job.”
In some circles, these are sensible
ideas. But you are still not minding
your own business.
These ideas all still
focus on the income column and will only help a person become more
financially secure if the additional money is used to purchase income-
generating assets.
The primary reason the majority of the poor and middle class are
fiscally conservative—which means, “I can’t afford to take risks”— is
that they have no financial foundation. They have to cling to their
jobs and play it safe.
When downsizing became the “in” thing to do, millions of
workers found out their largest so-called asset, their home, was eating
them alive. Their “asset” was costing them money every month. Their
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