Before You Quit Your Job - Kiyosaki

You might believe you just weren't born to be the Henry Ford of your time, but the truth is that anyone can be an entrepreneur, according to Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of 'Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job: 10 Real-Life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Multimillion-Dollar Business' (Warner Business). Given that Kiyosaki believes that everyone has the potential to create a thriving organization, it may seem ironic that one of the major motifs of his book is 'failure.' Failure, however, is part and parcel to becoming a successful entrepreneur, ("Humans are designed to learn by making mistakes," he writes) and only those willing to risk failure should attempt to create their own industries. To help determine whether you should try to become an entrepreneur, he offers 10 lessons he learned on his journey to becoming one himself: Lesson 1: A Successful Business Is Created Before There Is a Business All too often, new entrepreneurs get so excited about a new product or opportunity that they forget to invest the time designing the operation around the product or opportunity. Before you quit your job, study the lives of industrialists and the different types of companies they created, Kiyosaki advises. Better yet, keep your daytime job while starting a part-time business -- for the experience. "Not only will you learn about business, you will learn a lot about yourself," he says. Lesson 2: Learn How to Turn Bad Luck Into Good Luck Rather than wallowing in the anger or sadness of making a mistake, take the opportunity to learn something new from that mistake and turn a bad experience into a good one. Lesson 3: Know the Difference Between Your Job and Your Work Work is what you do to prepare for your job, and doesn't necessarily mean getting paid. "Do your homework," Kiyosaki stresses repeatedly. Creating a lucrative enterprise entails five jobs: delivering a good product, knowing your legal rights, establishing a system, establishing communications and managing cash flow. If you aren't qualified to do all of these jobs, be prepared to work until you are or hire others -- such as an accountant and a lawyer -- who are. Lesson 4: Success Reveals Your Failures "Before quitting your job, know that your most important job is to develop yourself," Kiyosaki says. A business that is initially booming is still inclined to fail if the company does not continue to develop. It's not enough to cover every aspect of launching a business; you must constantly strengthen those elements in order to maintain the prosperity of that undertaking. Lesson 5: The Process Is More Important Than the Goal If you approach a business venture as a learning experience, rather than a get-rich-quick scheme, it will be that much easier to bounce back from mistakes and achieve long-term success. "High expenses are an everyday challenge in business," Kiyosaki says. Consult an experienced accountant before you begin to help you anticipate how much money you will need to both support production and cover additional expenses. If you're not willing to face these challenges, you should not become an entrepreneur. Lesson 6: The Best Answers Are Found in Your Heart ... Not Your Head Make it your company's mission to work for others, not just itself. Working towards a mission that goes beyond simply making money will ensure the best quality of work and greater likelihood of success. "If it had been just about the money, there are easier things the three of us [himself, wife Kim, and Sharon Lecter, the founders of The Rich Dad Company] could have done," he says. Lesson 7: The Scope of the Mission Determines the Product While designing your business, determine how big you want it to be. Deciding whether you want to own a small business or a big corporation will set the stage for how you produce and market your product. Lesson 8: Design a Business That Can Do Something That No Other Business Can Do "Simply put, focus all your efforts on your core strength, your unique product," Kiyosaki writes. Kiyosaki uses Domino's Pizza as an example of a business designed around a unique tactical advantage: offering a pizza in 30 minutes or less. By offering something no other pizza vendor did, Domino's immediately began taking market share from its competitors. Lesson 9: Don't Fight for the Bargain Basement "Ultimately, the most important job of an entrepreneur is to be first in the mind of your customers," Kiyosaki writes. While almost everyone knows that Lindbergh was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic, almost no one remembers who flew second. Market your product as No. 1. "If you are not first in your category, then invent a new category you can be the first in." Lesson 10: Know When to Quit Sometimes it is best to cut your losses. Not everyone should be an entrepreneur, and only those who love it and accept it as an educational process should do so. Understand that becoming an entrepreneur is a process that involves failing. Certainly, Kiyosaki's mission in writing this book is to prevent others from making all the same mistakes he did, but there will be times when quitting will seem like the easiest and best thing to do. "Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing."

A Man's Journey (p.s.- you have to look the part.)

He's survived bankruptcy, two marital breakdowns and a persistent habit of referring to himself in the third person: Ozwald Boateng remains a force to be reckoned with. The first black tailor on Savile Row and former creative director of Givenchy, Boateng this month releases A Man's Story, his 12-years-in-the-making film of his remarkable career. "I'm not nervous about the film, I'm excited - it's like the first time I sold a suit," he explains to GQ.com, sitting in an elegant café in London's Mayfair. "I was always the youngest one around. When I went to Paris for my first catwalk show I was always the kid. Now I'm 45 years old. I've got mileage in the tank." Here he explains how men should wear colour, why Giorgio Armani still inspires him and why everyone should follow the sartorial example of ageing rockers… Confidence can sometimes be misconstrued as arrogance. I had a suit made for me when I was five. It was double-breasted, mohair and purple. My mother was very particular about clothing - it always used to have to go back into the plastic and it used to drive me insane. American Vogue's André Leon Talley came to my second showing in Paris. He came to me afterwards and said, "I really like what you do." I said, "Yes, I'm a tailor". He replied, "No you're not. You're a couturier, you're a designer - you're much more than that". At that point I had a realisation that I was a fusion of two things. That's why I came up with "bespoke couture", this fusion of two different elements. Anyone can wear any colour.The question is about finding the right shade. There is a momentary trend to dark colours because when the financials are not that great, people go for black, navy and grey. Shirt collars are very important to me. Putting a very soft shirt collar with a formal suit doesn't work for me at all. I haven't been to a job interview since I was 16 years old. When I was approached by Givenchy it was more like a courtship. Will Smith introduced me to Jamie Foxx. Obviously at that point [when Foxx was nominated for an Oscar for Ray] there were a lot of people who wanted to dress him and there were a lot of politics. Our relationship and his love of what I did changed that. On the day we were in the Four Seasons and ended up going through the kitchens and taking the catering lift up to his hotel room. We're in Jamie's room and he puts the suit on. That magic is what I work for. I took a little bit from the movie and put it into the suit, so when he stood up it was definitely Jamie but it reminded everyone of the film. The shoulder line is key on a bespoke suit. Once you have a strong understanding of that, the rest flows from there. The idea of an ill-fitting suit is something I cannot register. If I register it once then it goes off and destroys! It starts interfering with the mainframe of my computer. It's like dust in the lens - you grow accustomed to the dust and it starts building up. Dressing well on a budget is about what we call "strategic shopping". Spot what you like and then be first in the queue when the sale comes. Be patient enough to rummage through the rails. Sort your basics out and then save up for the key pieces. Make sure you always spend money on shoes though. The most common style mistake men make? The guy who sits down with his buttons closed and doesn't know he has to relax the jacket. I understand that the harness of the jacket creates [a particular] shape but there are some rules. Release the button. If your suit is not handmade, get the other elements really right. Make sure your shirt is pressed and has that sharpness of line. It demonstrates that you pay attention to the way you look. Style is about consistency and not having just one great day or one great photograph. Paul Bettany always looks good. He's got a good presence about him. I haven't seen him slouch and it's easy to slouch. What's funny about men is when they enter the world of casual and it's not their natural state. Casual just doesn't mean jeans and jacket - think how the whole thing fits together. It requires you to delay in the mirror and consider whether the whole outfit works. The key thing is about being comfortable and enjoying what you're wearing. I've seen some old rock stars wearing old pieces and you think "God, you're still wearing that now!" But because they're so established in themselves, their confidence radiates out from them and you accept them. Casino - that movie really sang for me. It was beautifully shot and you could feel the colours jump off the screen. They must have been in my store when they did that film! The suits were immaculate and there was real attention to detail about the clothes - when [De Niro's] sitting down he doesn't want to get his trousers creased. If you love what you wear, that's what you do. Men are evolving all over the world. In Russia they're finding their own voice and fashion. Initially it was just brands for brands' sake. Now they're more opinionated. It's still driven by the women - the men are not as discerning - but that is changing. The rulebook says for black tie it should be a black suit with a satin lapel. But there are lots of things you can do to make it different. I like to play with the traditional themes - it doesn't have to be black, so I've got my signature dark purple tux. It's a bit boring that the women have all the opportunity and the guys don't. Americans have an uncompromising belief in themselves. You go to the States and talk to designers who have got 30 businesses. Here, you're not allowed to do two things. You can't imagine how it feels as a designer taking your daughter to a shop when she doesn't like anything you pick for her. You feel like saying, "Hang on, Daddy does this for a living." We're going to have to set up a system of bespoke promwear for the boys. I'll do a deal with some High Street [chain] and educate these 16-year-old guys. We can't afford for their first experience of a suit to be one with really wide lapels and buttons that are just thrown on the jacket. My best-dressed British man is Sir Ben Kingsley. What I love about him is that he can do anything - he was Ghandi! But then he was absolutely genius in Sexy Beast. He's quite a unique individual. Giorgio Armani is my template. He is 77 and he has energy like no-one else. I'm just getting started

Economics is the root to all of the World's conflicts.....