Second Chance. Robert T. Kiyosaki

      In 1994, we were financially free. That freedom came not from Bucky Fuller’s lessons, but from following rich dad’s lessons. Financial freedom gave us the time to develop our next business. In 1996, the first commercial version of our CASHFLOW® game was played in Las Vegas and, one week later, in Singapore. The next step was to develop a marketing plan to sell that game.

      The CASHFLOW game had two inherent problems that made it difficult to sell. The first problem was that it was too complex. A game expert we hired advised us to “dumb it down” or it would not sell. We decided against that recommendation. The CASHFLOW game was designed to be an educational game, not a game for entertainment.

      The second problem with the game was that it was very expensive to produce. The same game consultant told us the game should retail for $29.95. At $29.95 retail, our cost of manufacturing had to be no more than $7.00 per game. Our problem was that the first production run of the game cost over $50 per game to produce in China, landed, and warehoused in the United States. Against the advice of the game expert, we set the CASHFLOW game’s retail price at $195, making it one of the most expensive board games on the market.

      But adversity leads to innovation. To sell the game-$195, Kim and I had to be innovative. We went to our past seminar clients and offered a $500, one-day seminar featuring our game. During the seminar, the participants played our new game twice. The first time was to get familiar with the game. The second time was to get into the game. The one-day seminar worked. Participants were excited, most claiming they learned more about money in one day than they had learned in a lifetime. When we announced the “used” games were for sale for $150, they were gone instantly. In fact there was a fight for used games, even though there were new games available for $195.

      The business model worked and the “CASHFLOW Club” concept was born. In 2004, The New York Times ran an article, “The Rising Value of Play Money,” on CASHFLOW Clubs and told us that they had identified over 3,500 clubs—all over the world. Many clubs are still in existence today, teaching and serving more people than Kim and I could ever do on our own.

       Q: If you want to serve more people, why didn’t you offer the game for free?

       A: We considered using government grants to fund the manufacturing of the games, but that would have been following my poor dad’s mindset, rather than my rich dad’s entrepreneurial way of thinking.

       Also, giving people things for free often keeps them poor. It encourages the “entitlement mentality” that destroys initiative and personal responsibility.

      In spite of the high initial cost of the game, the online game is free to millions of people. One game can and has taught hundreds of people… for free, through CASHFLOW Clubs. Many CASHFLOW Club leaders around the world support the mission of Rich Dad, which is to elevate the financial well being of humanity, and teach the game to others. For them, not only is teaching spiritual, but the more they teach, the more they learn.

      Most CASHFLOW Club leaders I have talked with report getting back far more than they give. They follow the religious principle of “give and you shall receive.”

      Unfortunately, there are clubs that only present the game to sell other products or business opportunities. If you encounter one of those clubs, just know that while I support free enterprise, I do not support people using my games as marketing tools.

      Other Points of View

      For about six months, I sat in the quaint, artist’s town of Bisbee, Arizona… in an old jail that had been converted into an apartment. At one time, John Wayne owned that old jail, as a rental property. He loved Bisbee—and Southern Arizona, where he owned a large ranch.

      During the day, I was working on my small ranch, converting an old stagecoach depot (a stopping point between Bisbee and the infamous town of Tombstone, where the gunfight at the OK Corral took place) into a one-bedroom home. At night I would sit in the jail, writing a book. It was a painful process. There were many starts and stops, fits and starts. Finally, late one night, exhausted from working on my property and tired of struggling with a book concept, my fingers began typing the opening lines of a new book. It began with the words “I had a rich dad and I had a poor dad.”

      And that’s how the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, was born. Most people don’t know that Rich Dad Poor Dad, the book that started the Rich Dad series, was written as a “brochure” to market the CASHFLOW game.

      On April 8, 1997, my 50th birthday, Rich Dad Poor Dad was launched and The Rich Dad Company was born.

      Rich Dad Poor Dad floated around in the world of self-published books until early in the year 2000. It was selling virally, by word of mouth and one day it made The New York Times bestsellers list. It was the only self-published book on that prestigious list.

      Soon after that, a producer from Oprah Winfrey’s TV show called. But before she would book me for Oprah, she wanted to talk with rich dad’s son. As soon as she verified the story of rich dad and poor dad, my guest appearance on Oprah was confirmed.

      I was in Australia when the invitation came. It was a tough decision: should I stay in Australia, or fly to Chicago for the interview. Again the principle of “The more people I serve, the more effective I am” kicked in. Cutting my trip short, I flew directly from Australia to Chicago. I still remember walking onto Oprah’s stage, sitting next to her for an hour, and talking about the need for financial education.

      In that hour, my life changed completely. In one hour I went from an unknown to a world famous voice for financial education. It had taken only 55 years, years of many successes and failures and many second chances, to become an overnight success.

      I tell you this story, not to brag or pat myself on my back, but as an example of the power of following Bucky Fuller’s Generalized Principles and my rich dad’s lessons on money.

      The Rich Are Generous

      A reporter once asked me if Oprah made me rich. I replied that I was already rich the day I stepped on her stage. I was rich financially because I had spent my life gaining knowledge, knowledge not taught in schools. All I was doing was sharing, being generous with what I knew.

      My comment on being generous disturbed the reporter. His view was that a person had to be greedy to be rich. When I attempted to explain, the generalized principle of unity is plural and, at minimum two—that a person could be rich by being greedy and that a person could be rich by being generous—his eyes glazed over. His brain was rigidly locked around the idea that the only way to become rich was by being greedy. In his mind, it is not possible to become rich by being generous. In his mind, there is only one kind of rich person: a greedy rich person.

       Q: What happened after you became famous? Was it smooth sailing after that?

       A: No. Far from it. Fame and money made life harder, not easier. Many friends became jealous. Partners became greedy and began to steal. And many people came around to see how they could “help.” It was tough trying to determine if people were coming to truly help with the mission or only to “help themselves” to what we had created.

       The good news is that over the years many great people have come into our lives. Again: Unity is plural and we had to learn to take the good with the bad.

      Bucky’s Last Words

      As I’ve said, Fuller died on July 1 in 1983. His wife Anne died 36 hours later. Both were 87 years old. Even in death, his life was supernatural.

      He was speaking at an event, which would be his last, when he abruptly stopped and sat quietly for a moment. I was not at that event, but I did listen to an audiotape of his final words from that event. I will paraphrase his final words.

      Bucky said he was cutting his talk short because his wife was gravely ill. He mentioned he’d had a premonition a few days earlier. His premonition was that he and his wife were to die together. Realizing death was near for both of them, he said “There is something mysterious going on.” He encouraged everyone to continue on with the