mom and dad said
You’ve probably heard this phrase (or any combination of it) from your parents. “Go to school, get a good education, and get a good job.” In a way, it has become a mantra for most people. It happened to me and, in fact, to most people I know. I’m sure they mean well. They wanted us to have a better life. They wanted us to have more than they did. They wanted nothing more than success. You thought higher education is the path to wealth creation, right?
How many people you know followed this path and are doing well financially today? How many still have jobs? How many of your highly educated friends are out of work? How many are worried about their work and their future?
The Department of Education for Health and Welfare has mentioned that the majority of people, about 95% of them, are dead, broke or still working at age 65. Not a good stat at all.
Now why is that? This is America…
cash flow quadrant
Let me borrow some ideas from a bestselling author, Robert Kiyosaki, and his book, Cashflow Quadrant;
Mr. Kiyosaki said, “There are only 4 ways to create wealth or make money.”
Imagine a cake divided into 4 quadrants; on the left side is your E (employee) side and right below it is your S (self-employed). Now to your right are the B (business) and I (investment) sides just below.
The left side of the quadrant is called the active side where a person trades time to earn money. One must physically perform to get paid. Ninety-five percent of the people are on this side and control 5% of the wealth.
The right side is the leverage side where a person’s wealth creation grows exponentially with or without active time and/or money. Five percent of the population is on this side and controls the other 95% of the wealth.
So most of us are trained to think and operate on the left side of the cash flow quadrant. We are taught and trained (in school) to become good employees and not entrepreneurs. We are empowered to participate by sharing 5% instead of 95% of the slice of the ‘wealth’ pie.
old school vs new school
I was with a group of successful people one night and I asked them about this. Most of them agreed on one thing. The mantra about good manners they say is really old school. It may have worked during the industrial age, but now we are in the Internet age.
When the United States lost its manufacturing base to China a few decades ago, things changed in a big way. Much of the thinking and rules of the industrial age are not as effective as they once were. Wealth creation has a new vehicle, they say, it’s called the Internet.
Not too long ago, most parents worked at a company with a strong retirement package. Mom stayed home because one income is enough to support most families.
In today’s world, even people with dual incomes face financial challenges. Both parents working two jobs each are common. Because? Inflation and taxes outpace income and the cost of living continues to rise.
While all this is happening, unemployment continues to rise. Good jobs were sent abroad without any chance of being replaced. High paying jobs reserved for well or even highly educated employees are no longer safe.
Wanted more millionaires
Now, the United States still provides the greatest opportunity on earth. Adapting to change has been one of the strengths of this country. The Internet is a bright spot that Americans can claim to move toward success.
And believe me, there are people from all walks of life who have found a home and a fortune using the power of the internet.
There have actually been more self-made millionaires in this country in the last 15 years than in its entire history combined. Most of which were done online or with the Internet as a vehicle.
Coincidence or not, it’s around the same time that Internet brainiacs figured out a way to become profitable. That’s when internet commerce started to take off and never looked back.
A great example of creating wealth online comes in the name of Michael Dell. Yes, he guessed right: Dell computers.
Long story short, his parents found out that their son Michael is not attending school like he is supposed to. They told him that if he doesn’t change course and go back to school, he will leave his bedroom and be alone. Little did mom and dad know that by this time their son Michael was already making thousands of money tuning, building and selling computers on the internet. Talk about building wealth on steroids.
New Wealth Creation Name
What about the young guns at Amazon, eBay, Google, Facebook, and other social media giants who got extremely rich at a very young age? Some of them weren’t old enough to have a business checking account when they started.
Look where they are now. They have given wealth creating a new meaning.
Most of us know that many of them also dropped out of school. We are not trying to downplay education and glorify dropout here. That is not my intention at all.
In fact, I think going to school and getting a diploma, master’s, or even a doctorate is great. Education for me remains the foundation for great success.
My suggestion is, apply proven skills learned in school or higher education and combine them with new sets of tools, the Internet being one of them, to propel you towards success.
Yes, I still encourage you to “go to school, get a good education…” and now, operate on the B side of the cash flow quadrant and use a new vehicle for wealth creation: the Internet!