The Self-Employed Can't Be Lone Rangers

Helping people throw off the yoke of employment,
the last legalized form of slavery, is the most
important way to usher people into the economic
world of the 21st Century.

Robert Kiyosaki, the "Rich Dad" of "Rich Dad,
Poor Dad" fame, advanced self-employment in a
recent article. We've added our thoughts to his.

Kiyosaki says:

1."Schools train students to be employees who look
for jobs rather than train entrepreneurs who create
jobs and businesses."

Alquist adds:

America's current public school educational
model predates even the demised Industrial
Revolution, going back into agrarian society,
giving students ample time off to help parents
with the family farm at harvest time.

Since only 1 to 2% of Americans are involved in
agriculture, a summer vacation for students to
help at the harvest isn't needed.

Although information doubles or triples ever three
years, we still have a 180 day school year. Students,
then, are in the classroom every other day.

Educational "improvements" often take the form of
coneheaded social engineering and rabid political
posturing---often racist manipulation of groups
against each other--rather than more effective
learning.

Don't agree? Then please explain why Floridians
have an average level of educational attainment at
the third grade level, according to the Florida State
Chamber of Commerce.

Most other states rejoice to attain an unimpressive
7th or 8th grade average level of educational
attainment.

It's even worse than Robert Kiyosaki says. Not only
don't schools train entrepreneurs, they fail to train
competent employees as well.

2. Kiyosaki says: "The skills to be a good employee
are not the same as skills needed to be a good
entrepreneur."

Alquist adds: That's true and needs little elaboration.
If you want to learn how to be an entrepreneur, you
need to read and study the writings of successful
entrepreneurs.

You will not find these books in many libraries or
most schools or even many college book stores.

You'll find them at major books stores and on the
Internet as well.

Kiyosaki says:

3. Entrepreneurs sometimes "fail to build a business.
They work hard as self-employed persons, building
jobs they own. They're self-employed but do not really
own a business."

Alquist adds:

This is manifestation of the "Long Ranger" complex.
You think the business is you and all about you.
This can be avoided by selectively using professional
resources to cover areas where your skills are weak.

Remember, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto---and
both had horses--a team of four. The "Lone Ranger"
really wasn't alone.

Getting involved in direct selling, including network
market/MLM, can solve this problem, if you recruit
and train business-minded distributors with strong
ambition and a global vision.

Technology, properly used, can help shoulder the
load of running a business---selling things via
e-commerce, for example.

If you think MLM is a pyramid scheme, think again.
MLM is legal and the most equitable business model
in existence.

The only existing legal pyramid scheme is an American corporation, where the person at the top of the
organizational pyramid earns big money and all the
employees are at the base of the pyramid and
earn substantially less.

Kiyosaki says:

4. "Many entrepreneurs have a great product or
service, but don't have the business skills to build a
successful business around that product or service."

Alquist adds: Building a business around that product
or service is achieved by realizing that your business
is not only not about you, it's not about your product
or service, either.

However, you must promote yourself to show prospects
that you are the best and that they should be doing
business with you.

Business building starts when you realize that
it's all about the customer, learning his/her needs,
real or perceived, and providing solutions in the form
of your products or services--at a profit, of course.

Unless you develop and follow a Business Plan, you
will be working a job you own rather than a business
you own.

In addition to product training, policy and procedures
training, and sales training, you need extensive
business training--general, yet substantial, so you
will learn how to build and operate any kind of
business.

This must include finance and accounting (two
different things), business plan creation, and
consumer and business marketing (including its
related disciplines: advertising, sales promotion,
public relations and direct response).