67 Rich Dad and Robert Kiyosaki Quotes on Business and Money

1. "Business is like a wheel barrow. Nothing happens until you start pushing."

2. "Money is just an idea."

3. "Sight is what you see with your eyes, vision is what you see with your mind."

4. "The philosophy of the rich and the poor is this: the rich invest their money and spend what is left. The poor spend their money and invest what is left."

5. "Excuses cost a dime and that's why the poor could afford a lot of it."

6. "When you come to the boundaries of what you know, it is time to make some mistakes."

7. "The richest people in the world build networks; everyone else is trained to look for work."

8. "Skills make you rich, not theories."

9. "The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don't bother thinking about becoming a business owner."

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

67 Rich Dad and Robert Kiyosaki Quotes on Business and Money

11. "People who dream small dreams continue to live as small people."

12. "People without financial knowledge, who take advice from financial experts are like lemmings simply following their leader. They race for the cliff and leap into the ocean of financial uncertainty, hoping to swim to the other side."

13. "Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed."

14. "In today's rapidly changing world, the people who are not taking risk are the risk takers."

15. "A mistake is a signal that it is time to learn something new, something you don't know before."

16. "Too many people are too lazy to think. Instead of learning something new, they think the same thought day in day out."

17. "Thinking is hard work. When you are forced to think, you expand your mental capacity. When you expand your mental capacity, your wealth increases."

18. "There are no mistakes in life, just learning opportunities."

19. "Business and investing are team sports."

20. "There are no bad business and investment opportunities, but there are bad entrepreneurs and investors."

67 Rich Dad and Robert Kiyosaki Quotes on Business and Money

 21. "Forget the Carmel. If a man can pass through the eye of the needle, he will enter the world of tremendous wealth.

22. "If you want to be rich, simply serve more people."

23. "When employees unite, they form a union but when business owners unite, they form a team."

24. "Success is a poor teacher. We learn the most about ourselves when we fail, so don't be afraid of failing. Failing is part of the process of success. You cannot have success without failure."

25. "Be careful when you take on debt. If you take on debt personally, make sure it is small. If you take on large debt, make sure someone else is paying for it."

26. "You can always quit, so why quit now."

27. "To be a successful business owner and investor, you have to be emotionally neutral to winning and losing. Winning and losing are just part of the game."

28. "The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dream and how you handle disappointment along the way."

29. "The most important word in the world of money is cash flow. The second most important word is leverage."

30. "It does not take money to make money."

67 Rich Dad and Robert Kiyosaki Quotes on Business and Money

31. "The problem with having a job is that it gets in the way of getting rich."

32. "Getting rich begins with the right mindset, the right words and the right plan."

33. "Leverage is the reason some people become rich and others do not become rich."

34. "Inside each of us is a David and a Goliath."

35. "The biggest challenge you have is to challenge your own self doubt and your laziness. It is your self doubt and your laziness that defines and limit who you are."

36. "It is easy to stay the same but it is not easy to change. Most people choose to stay the same all their lives."

37. "Financial leverage is the advantage the rich have over the poor and middle class."

38. "People without leverage work for those with leverage."

39. "What you think is real is your reality."

40. "A winning strategy must include losing."

67 Rich Dad and Robert Kiyosaki Quotes on Business and Money

41. "Cynics and fools are twins on the opposite sides of reality and possibility. Fools will believe any far fetched scheme and a cynic will criticize anything outside their reality. A cynic's reality does not allow anything new in and a fool's reality does not have the ability to keep foolish ideas out."

42. "There are fast ideas and slow ideas, just as there are fast trains and slow trains. When it comes to money, most people are on the slow train looking out the window watching the fast train pass them by. If you want to become rich quickly, your plan must include fast ideas."

43. "If you are not a brand, you are a commodity."

44. "Always start at the end before you begin. Professional investors always have an exit strategy before they invest. Knowing your exit strategy is an important investment fundamental."

45. "If you want to be rich, you need to develop your vision. You must be standing on the edge of time gazing into the future."

46. "Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow."

47. "A plan is a bridge to your dreams. Your job is to make the plan or bridge real, so that your dreams will become real. If all you do is stand on the side of the bank and dream of the other side, your dreams will forever be just dreams. First make your plans real and then your dreams will come true."

48. "In order to be a player on the fast track, you will need to have a plan on how to gain more and more control. On the fast track, it is control more than money that counts."

49. "The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over his life."

50. "Investing in mutual funds is investing at the end of the food chain."         

67 Rich Dad and Robert Kiyosaki Quotes on Business and Money

 51. "The moment you make passive income and portfolio income a part of your life, your life will change. Those words will become flesh.

52. "Words are tools for the brain. Words allow the brain to see what the eyes cannot see."

53. "In the world of money, business and investing, we have too many preachers."

54. "The most life destroying word of all is the word tomorrow."

55. "The problem with tomorrow is that I have never seen a tomorrow. Tomorrow does not exist. Tomorrow only exist in the mind of dreamers and losers."

56. "Talk is cheap. Learn to listen with your eyes. Actions do speak louder than words. Watch what a person does more than what he says."

57. "One of the great things about being willing to try new things and make mistakes is that making mistakes keeps you humble. People who are humble learn more than people who are arrogant."

58. "One of the most stupid things to do is to pretend you are smart. When you pretend to be smart, you are at the height of stupidity."

59. "Sometimes, what is right for you at the beginning of your life is not the right thing for you at the end of your life."         

67 Rich Dad and Robert Kiyosaki Quotes on Business and Money

60. "Most people spend their lives building financial houses of straws, which are susceptible to wind, fire, rain and big bad wolves."

61. "If you are moving, even fire will not hurt you. If you are standing still near the fire, even though you are not in the fire, the heat will eventually get to you."

62. "Your money should be a good bird dog. It helps you find a bird, catch the bird and then goes out to get another bird. Most people's money acts like the bird that just flies away."

63. "One of the most important things a real investor needs to say is this; "I want my money back and I also want to keep my investments."

64. "Starting a business is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. In mid air, the entrepreneur begins building a parachute and hopes it opens before hitting the ground."

65. "You must fire bad customers just as you would fire a bad employee. If you do not get rid of your bad employees, the good employees will leave. If I do not fire bad customers, not only will my good customers leave but many of my good employees will leave as well." – Rich Dad

66. "Start small and dream big."

67. “If you own a butcher shop, don’t hire vegetarians. To hire the right people, you have to let the wrong people go.”

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Archives: Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard is the founder of the Virgin Group and the only person to ever create eight separate billion dollar companies each in a different sector.

A critical thing is not to waste a minute of life. Throw yourself whole-heartedly into it. Don't waste a minute and try to make a positive difference in as many other people's lives as possible. ~ Sir Richard Branson

If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...

Today's Brilliance is a bit different from other days. I had the honor of spending a few hours with Sir Richard Branson at his home on Necker Island, in the British Virgin Islands.

As I walked into his home, I found him lying in a hammock in an alcove of the great room, open to the warm tropical breezes, overlooking the multi-colored turquoise Caribbean Sea. Bliss.

Barefoot and dressed in swim shorts and a tee shirt, he looked more like a Jimmy Buffett fan rather than the founder of the Virgin Group, best known as the only person in the world to have created eight separate billion-dollar companies from scratch, each in a different sector. He currently holds the rank of #261 on the Forbes List of Billionaires.

Since my return, the number one question I've been asked is, "What did you learn from Richard Branson?" I have extracted excerpts from our interview and compiled them into Today's Brilliance. I hope you enjoy it.

The Top 10 Things I've Learned From Richard Branson

1) The Most Important Thing in Life is Family

Our relationship with our spouse, children and parents is the most important thing in life. Richard was part of a close-knit family, raised in the countryside of England. From a small boy he was strongly influenced by his parents, who still remain an integral part of his life today.

When I asked Richard about the influence of his mother, he smiled and said his mother was and still is "impossible to keep up with". When Richard was a small boy, his mother was determined that he should stand on his own two feet. At 4 years of age, she put him out of the car and told him to find his own way to his Grandmother's house. Still a memorable event for Richard, he attributes his mother's determination that he should find his own way in life as a great part of his success.

Richard and Joan, his wife of 32 years, remain happily married and very close to their adult children. Although his children "have had it a bit easier than [he] did", Richard and Joan have instilled a sense of responsibility, while surrounding them with closeness and love.

"What you're really doing is bringing up your children to continue onwards after you. It's finding the time to be really close to your children. Finding the time to be sure they have 100% love and commitment from a father or a mother."

In business, unlike many who may just say the words for good PR, Richard believes that running a company is also like a family. "For the people who work with Virgin - it is their home." And just as he's created a happy, close multi-generational family, he has done the same thing with his global business family.

2) Live Life As An Adventure and Have FUN!

Life is not meant to be lived as a spectator sport. Whether in our personal life or business ventures, life is meant to be lived as an adventure and, equally as important, we're meant to have FUN!

No one epitomizes this more than Sir Richard Branson. While he may not be the best businessman or the wealthiest person in the world, he certainly would rank on the short list of those having the most fun. Even George Clooney said he'd trade places with Richard Branson because Richard has so much fun!

Perhaps best known for his record-breaking adventures, Richard, who was raised without television, has always had to be out there doing things rather than watching them. He's been rescued from the sea by helicopter six times (so far) and loves testing himself through "the great adventure of life" to see what he and others are capable of.

In business, he does the same thing. He's enjoyed being crazy - living life to its fullest, believing that time is valuable and not wanting to waste a minute. In both his personal/adventurous life as well as in business, pushing the limits has become his way of life.

And, he has fun doing it. "The fact that I have a lot of fun doing what I'm doing means that the 60-70,000 people that work for Virgin enjoy what they're doing and they're proud of what they're doing and they know they can do it with a smile."

3) Always Look For the Best in People

Richard has created his Virgin team of people by always looking for the best in people. Again, this goes back to his upbringing. "If I ever said a negative word about anybody I was sent to look in the mirror for 10 minutes. That soon stopped me from saying negative things about people. As a leader I think it's critical that you're always looking for the best in people. Don't say anything bad behind someone's back and you certainly don't say anything bad to anyone (directly) - they know when they need to pull their socks up a bit."

Richard has a genuine love of people and loves learning from people. "I love surrounding myself with leaders who are great with people, who care about the person cleaning the floor or the switchboard operator as they would their fellow directors."

4) Follow Your Heart

Many wonder what makes a man like Richard Branson tick. What makes him so much more successful than others? After all, he doesn't have an impressive degree or lots of letters after his name. As a middle-class British kid with dyslexia who nearly flunked out of one school and was expelled from another, he left school at 16 years of age, with the goal of building a national magazine to protest the Vietnam War. As Richard says, he was just following his heart and "doing what young people do".

My favorite thing that Richard said was this - "Interestingly, it sounds strange, but I've never been interested in business. I've just been interested in creating things that I could be proud of. The bi-product of creating things is that you have to pay the bills, so somebody has to add up the numbers at the end of the year to be sure that the bills are being paid, but a good entrepreneur isn't really thinking about pounds, shillings, pence or dollars. They're trying to create this beautiful picture - something which people love - something which will make a difference in their lives and something that they can be proud of. The end result can be that the bills get paid and you build a billion dollar business. But if you think, 'How am I going to make a billion dollars?', you'll never be successful. Your principal interest has got to be creating something that will really make a difference to people's lives."

5) Don't Forget the Humor

Humor is an important part of success and makes life much more enjoyable. Richard shared several examples where he used humor in business, with astounding results.

When he discovered that passengers were stealing the salt and pepper shakers from the Virgin flights, he turned this into a marketing tool by adding ""Pinched from Virgin Atlantic"" to the bottom of the salt and pepper shakers. Now these "pinched" shakers are conversational marketing tools scattered through homes around the world. (I have a set!)

But perhaps the best-known use of humor came at the expense of Virgin Atlantic's arch rival, British Airways. When BA experienced problems that led to the initial failure to erect the British Airways Millennium Wheel, Branson dispatched a Virgin airship, complete with a Press Association photographer, to fly past the wheel with a banner simply proclaiming 'BA can't get it up!'. Virgin's use of humor upstaged BA's massive publicity for a mere fraction of the cost.

Richard isn't afraid to bare his assets either. For the launch of Virgin Mobile, he was lowered into Times Square by crane, wearing nothing more than a cell phone to cover his "private parts". When I asked him about this event, Richard was quick to point out that "I did have quite a big cell phone, in fact, a very big cell phone", as he flashed his killer smile.

6) Saying "YES" is a Lot More Fun Than Saying "NO"

Richard Branson remains a corporate iconoclast, yet he continues to defy conventional wisdom, pushing the envelope, thinking outside the box, playfully teasing the big guys, saying exactly what he thinks and doing exactly what he wants to do. He'll say "Yes" to almost anything, once. He lives by his "Screw it, let's do it!" attitude every day.

Is he crazy? Perhaps. But if so, it's most definitely "good crazy". As Richard says, "Saying 'YES' in life is a lot more fun than saying no. The nickname I have at the head office is 'Dr. YES'. In fact, I have a board of directors who are there just to try to stop me saying 'YES' to everything, because I just can't resist new challenges. It's just more fun to say 'YES'!"

Richard makes it look easy - Just say "Yes" and then be the best at what you do. "The best never fails. The best airline, night club, hotel, etc. never fails. The key is - get out there, do it with panache and style but create the best!"

7) Failure is Nothing More Than Another Way to Learn

Many never say "Yes" or take the first step because of fear of failure. According to Richard, "There's no way that you can create a lot of successful businesses and not have failures on the way. If you're afraid of failure, you're not going to create anything."

Eight times Richard tried to be the first to fly around the world in a balloon. And although he wasn't the first to circumnavigate the globe, he was the first to cross the Atlantic and the first to cross the Pacific.

And although he technically "failed", still, he has no regrets. "I crossed the Himalayas, had incredible adventures - and survived to come back to Necker to be with the family. That's helped me understand that there are more important things than being first."

"I think anyone can do what they want to do if they try to do it and if they give it their best shot. They won't necessarily succeed and they may well fall flat on their face but they'll have a lot of fun trying. Just be the best at what they can do and not worry about failure. I've actually learned more from people who've tried and failed than necessarily from people who've tried and been successful. We can learn a lot from people who have tried and failed, because you can also learn the mistakes they made and how to avoid them."

"If you've failed, just pick yourself up and start again the next day and learn from the experience. Be bold and be brave."

8) Go Make a Difference in the World

Richard is no different than many successful people I've met who attribute their success to having a desire to make a difference in the world. Whether in business, personal or philanthropic challenges, he has a way of looking at a particular situation and seeing how it can be done differently. "We can use our entrepreneurial skills to look at the seemingly intractable problems in the world and then see whether we can make a difference."

In his business: "Virgin looks after your needs throughout your life. Virgin goes against the normal business philosophy of going after one segment and focusing there. Rather, Virgin finds areas that 'need to be shaken up a bit' and does just that, improving life in various sectors. The reason I think we've strayed (from one sector to another) is that I love learning about life. I see things in life that aren't being done quite right, where we could go in and make a difference."

In philanthropy: At this point in his life, Richard is using his entrepreneurial talents for a philanthropic good to make an even bigger difference through his foundation, Virgin Unite. "We unite people to tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way. Our aim is to help revolutionize the way businesses and the social sector work together - driving business as a force for good."

(Virgin Unite's overhead is covered by Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group, meaning that 100% of donations received go directly to the frontline where they are needed most.)

But he doesn't stop there. In a conversation between Richard and musician Peter Gabriel a few years ago, they wondered... in an increasingly interdependent world - a global village - could a small, dedicated group of independent elders help to resolve global problems and ease human suffering?

From that, a group of 12 Elders was brought together from all corners of the globe. Nelson Mandela announced their formation in July 2007, stating, "The Elders can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes. They will reach out to those who most need their help. They will support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair."

9) Dream Big!

For a man who has built eight different billion-dollar companies, Richard Branson knows how to think BIG. From a magazine to a record label, to an airline to a telecom giant, one has to wonder what's next for Richard Branson.

Virgin Galactic will unveil their space ship on December 7th, 2009, with rides into space coming soon. "I'm inquisitive. It's such fun to think, okay, I enjoyed seeing other people go to the moon, and it doesn't look like NASA is going to let us go to the moon, so maybe we should try to get a spaceship company set up ourselves." You gotta love the mind and spirit of Richard Branson.

In addition to exploring miles above the world, Richard shared with us his passion for his next venture, Virgin Oceanic. He plans to build a submarine that can probe the depth of the 28,000+ feet deep Puerto Rican trench, located just 10 miles east of Necker Island. "This is a tremendous challenge that no one has done yet, but in 2-3 years time we hope to be exploring the depths of the oceans."

He's been around the world in a hot air balloon, soon he'll blast off into space and then probe never-explored depths of our planet. One thing is for certain: Richard Branson doesn't live a boring life. He takes action on his ideas and brings his dreams to life and most importantly believes that we all have the ability to act on our dreams.

He summed up his philosophy perfectly when he said, "A critical thing is not to waste a minute of life. Throw yourself whole-heartedly into it. I think that if you can positively have made a difference to other people's lives when you actually end up on your deathbed, you can most likely be at peace with yourself. Don't waste a minute and try to make a positive difference in as many other people's lives as possible."

10) Be Humble and Stay Grounded

In the midst of extreme wealth, privilege and enormous success, what struck me most about Richard Branson was his air of humility. He is a very down-to-earth guy with no pretenses. In fact, he even seemed a bit shy, which was quite endearing.

My take away from this is simple - We are all the same. If 99.9% of our DNA is alike, we're much more alike than different.

When I asked Richard about the temptation to believe all the stories written about him, he smiled and proudly shared that his wife keeps him grounded. After more than 30 years together, he still credits her with being the loving, grounding force in his life that helps him stay on track.

He ended with, "In the end of the day if anyone gets too big for their shoes I think it's good to just picture them sitting on the loo and you realize they're just the same as all of us. That can bring people down to earth with a bump."

Sounds like a blueprint for a life well-lived. Thank you, Sir Richard.

Source: http://bit.ly/oWo3pd

From Sweet Success to Bitter Tears

The immigrant who became the 'doughnut king' had wealth and clout -- and a nasty gambling habit. Now he sleeps on a trailer porch.

January 19, 2005|Sam Quinones | Times Staff Writer

MasterMind Team Meet with Mr. Ted Ngoy on 13 March 2010

On the porch of a friend's mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering.

Once, he enjoyed the warmth of family and the respect of his community. Once, he was a poor boy who carried away one of Cambodia's wealthiest daughters. Once, he was a millionaire who met three U.S. presidents.

For The Record

Los Angeles Times Wednesday January 26, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction

Cambodian entrepreneur -- A Jan. 19 article in Section A about Cambodian entrepreneur Ted Ngoy said Ngoy saw Elvis Presley perform in Las Vegas in 1977. Presley, who died in 1977, made his final Las Vegas appearance the previous year, which is when Ngoy saw him.

Ted Ngoy made a fortune in doughnuts. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business. Through doughnuts, many Cambodians stepped out of isolation and into the American mainstream. And a new figure emerged on the California business landscape: the Cambodian doughnut-shop owner.

Today, at 62, the doughnut king is broke, homeless and dependent on the goodwill of his few remaining friends.

"He lost all the doughnuts," said James Dok, director of the United Cambodian Community, a social service agency in Long Beach. "He has to start a new life."

He was born Bun Tek Ngoy. His mother raised him in a rural village near Cambodia's border with Thailand. He was Chinese Cambodian, part of a despised underclass.

In 1967, his mother sent him to study in Phnom Penh, the capital. At school, Ngoy fell in love from afar with a beautiful girl. Her name was Suganthini Khoeun. Her father was a high-ranking government official. Her brother-in-law, Sutsakhan Sak, was chief of police and would become, briefly, the country's president.

Suganthini's parents hoped she would marry well. Until then, she was kept sheltered. At 16, she had no friends, could not talk to boys and was forbidden to leave home alone.

Ngoy lived in an attic apartment a few blocks from the Khoeun family's mansion. The son of a peddler had no chance with such a girl, no right even to think of loving her. But one night, he had an idea.

He sat on the roof of his apartment and played his flute, the music sweeping over the neighborhood. Suganthini and her mother heard the music. Those are the sounds of a man in love, her mother said.

Ngoy wrote to her. I am the flute player, he said in a note passed through the family's maid. A week later, Suganthini wrote back, and the two began a secret correspondence. Ngoy asked to visit.

"I don't think you dare come to my room," she responded. Soldiers and dogs guarded the mansion. One night in a pouring rain, Ngoy scaled a coconut tree beside the wall surrounding her home. He cut his chest sliding under barbed wire. From the wall, he leaped onto the roof and crawled through an open window. Drenched and bleeding, he tiptoed into a hallway. He had to guess which room was hers.

He opened a door, and there she was.

Suganthini was terrified, but she let the stranger stay. For the next 45 days, he lived in her room. He slept under the bed and hid when the maids came to clean.

Late at night, Ngoy would put Suganthini on his back and climb down the roof, then down the coconut tree. They would speed through Phnom Penh on his motorcycle, the couple recalled. Before sunrise, they would climb back into her room.

One night under a full moon, they knelt and prayed. They pricked their fingers and squeezed drops of blood into a cup of water. They both drank and vowed to be faithful.

Eventually, her parents discovered Ngoy and threw him out. They arranged a meeting for the couple at a relative's house, where Ngoy was expected to formally end their romance. Her parents and cousins hid behind curtains so they could hear him break off the relationship.

Ngoy told Suganthini that he didn't love her. He was a fraud, he said.

Then he pulled a knife. That is a lie, he cried, and plunged the blade into his belly. Suganthini's father ran out from hiding and called an ambulance.

Suganthini's parents kept her locked in her room for days. Distraught, she took an overdose of sleeping pills and fell into a coma.

When the couple recovered, her parents finally allowed them to marry.

War erupted in 1970. Ngoy joined the army. With the help of his brother-in-law, he was promoted to major and appointed military attache at the country's embassy in Thailand.

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, and the Cambodian genocide began.

"Then I went to America," Ngoy said, "and created the doughnut world."

The couple and their three toddlers arrived penniless at Camp Pendleton, part of the first wave of Cambodian refugees.

Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin hired Ngoy as a janitor. He found a second job at a gas station. Near the station was a doughnut shop. Night after night, he watched customers come and go.

Eager to learn the business, Ngoy approached the shop owners. They told him Winchell's Donuts trained store managers. Ngoy became a trainee and took over a Winchell's in Newport Beach. He hired his wife and nephew. The family members worked 17 hours a day and saved for a year.

Ngoy bought his first doughnut shop from a couple who was retiring. Christy's Doughnuts in La Habra never did great business. But from then on, every store Ngoy and his wife bought or opened they named Christy's Doughnuts.