Famous Failure – Robert Toru Kiyosaki

Robert Toru Kiyosaki, born on April 8, 1947, in Hilo, Hawaii, is an entrepreneur, investor, and the most popular author who wrote the Rich Dad Poor Dad series.  The book has since sold more than 26 million copies and has been translated into 51 languages. He was part of the Yonsei generation of Japanese Americans, and the eldest son of Ralph H. Kiyosaki (an academic educator) and Marjorie o. Kiyosaki (a registered nurse).

Skills make you rich, not theories.

Before reaching the point of success in his, he crossed the bridge of failures which ultimately ended with him being the most popular author. In 1977, he started a company called “Rippers”. The company launched the first nylon and velcro surfer wallets in the market. Kiyosaki and his products were promoted in Runner’s World, Gentleman’s Quarterly, Success Magazine, Newsweek, and Playboy. The company went bankrupt.

He started working as a sales associate for Xerox until June 1978. Kiyosaki then initiated a retail business which involved the production of T-shirts, hats, wallets, and bags for heavy metal rock bands. This company too went bankrupt in 1980.

The more I risk being rejected, the better my chances are of being accepted.

In 1985, Kiyosaki emerged as the co-founder of the Excellerated Learning Institute, a business education company which taught entrepreneurship, investing, and social responsibility. Around that time, he decided to marry Kim, who had already invested in some real estate in Phoenix. In 1994, he sold the education company.

In 1992, he published his first book, If You Want to Be Rich and Happy, Don’t Go To School.  In 2007, the Ohio State Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing published a statement that warned people against some of the illegal methods highlighted by Kiyosaki in his books and seminars.

The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth.

In 2010, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation exposed scams that were perpetuated by Kiyosaki’s company in Canada in the form of seminars. They tracked the success claims of “Rich Dad” seminar organizers and they discovered that these claims were not true. Investments in trailers and trailer parks, which were transferred as “successful” by seminar teachers, were found as actually barren pieces of land that no one was using.

From 1990 to 1995, Kiyosaki used Amway to promote his book with multi-level marketing. His fellow author Sharon Lechter took legal action against him in 2007 for not keeping to the terms of their agreement.

Rich people acquire assets. The poor and middle class acquire liabilities that they think are assets.

Kiyosaki’s advice has been criticized for influencing anecdotes and containing nothing in the way of concrete advice on how readers should proceed or work. John Reed, a real estate advisor, considered Kiyosaki’s books as promoters of practices such as the illegal use of insider tips from rich friends (insider trading), as well as vulture real estate purchases and taking more debt on credit cards than one can handle and declaring bankruptcy whenever one’s plans go.

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