← School of Hard Knocks Podcast
School of Hard Knocks Podcast
Robert Kiyosaki | Rich Dad Poor Dad Author on Smart Debt, Cash Flow, Tax Free Wealth, and Rejecting Traditional Education
00:41:45
In this episode of the School of Hard Knocks, we sit down with Robert Kiyosaki, legendary author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and real estate investor with over 15,000 rental properties. He shares how he went from Marine helicopter pilot and failed employee...
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- [00:00]
A
The author of Rich Dad, Poor dad right here. Robert Kiyosaki. Are you really telling people to not go to school? What do you mean by that?
- [00:07]
B
These silly school teachers, they got a 401k and they listen to a financial planner who works for Wall street and the banks. You've got to choose your teachers.
- [00:15]
C
Why isn't a house an asset?
- [00:17]
B
I don't deal with a house. It has to do with a thing called cash flow. So Today I own 15,000 rental properties every month. Let's say they pay me 200amonth. 15,000 times 200. I wasn't good at math, but that's more than what school teachers, me.
- [00:31]
D
What's the big lesson that you've learned by working with Donald Trump?
- [00:34]
B
Problem with Donald is that he has a tendency to open his mouth and put his foot in it.
- [00:40]
A
Robert, if me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be? What's going on, everyone? And welcome back to the School of Hard Knocks podcast. I'm James, I'm here with Jack and Josh and we have an incredible guest with us today, the legendary radio Robert Kiyosaki, the author of one of the best selling books in the history of the world, Rich dad, Poor dad, right here. This book changed the three of our lives. We would not be business owners and have grown the channel that we've grown to 18 million followers and built a million dollar business if it was not for this man right here. So we have to say thanks to you before getting into the podcast today. You know, not only I'm proud of you guys.
- [01:20]
B
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, this makes me the happiest when I see young guys saying let's go for it.
- [01:25]
A
Yeah. You know, you inspired a 23, 25 and 27 year old to build a multi million dollar business.
- [01:31]
B
Thank you. Congratulations.
- [01:32]
A
Thank you. You know, not only have you been a successful author, you've amassed an incredible amount of wealth through real estate as well. But the way that I want to get things started off by saying is, are you really telling people to not go to school? What do you mean by that?
- [01:45]
B
Thanks for asking that question. Because my first book was if you want to be rich and happy, don't go to school. And thank God the book didn't sell that well. But what I was saying, you've got to choose your teachers. You see, because you go to school, you don't know. And most, most, most school teachers are good people, you know, they mean well. They're employees. They need Job security. They need a pension. And that's going to affect your brain, because that's who they are spiritually. They're cowards. No, they're really. But choose your teachers wise. Where that comes from. I was in Sunday school, so I'm seven years old, and this teacher, she was like 20 years old, and she says, why were the three wise men wise? And I raised my hand, I said, they were rich. She goes, because this is the Methodist Church, you know, and money is the root of all evil. She says, no, no, no. She said, why do you say they were rich? I said, because one had gold, hard to get, you know, frankincense and myrrh. They were rich. She goes, no, that's not the answer I'm looking for. I said, well, why don't you ask for the answer you're looking for? Then? I just. So why. So why were the wise men wise? And they said they sought the best teacher and, you know, freedom of religion and all this. They saw Jesus Christ, and so I went, wow, I'm seven 1. Seek the best teacher. Because I was kind of disappointed in my old man. Poor dad, you know, he was a PhD, Stanford, University of Chicago, Chicago, Northwestern, and all he was saying to me, I said, hey, dad, what I'm gonna learn about money? I'm seven years old. He says, well, if you stay in school, get your PhD, you'll be rich. I said, dad, you have a PhD. Don't bullshit me. You're poor. And I said, PhD stands for poor, helpless and desperate. You know, you need your job, you're desperate. Mom's always crying because we don't have enough money, and you're telling me to get my PhD. So that's why I said, you gotta choose your teachers wisely. So I was now about 10 when that happened. And my poor dad says, go talk to your best friend's father. And that was rich dad. So I chose my teacher at age 10. That's the difference. Because this is your greatest asset. You know, this right ear to your left ear is called your brain. And whatever they put in it is who you become. So choose your teachers wisely.
- [04:28]
A
You've spent 30 years pretty much awaking everybody that the system is broken. What was that moment that you realized at an early age that the system's broken?
- [04:38]
B
It's a great question. I was 18 years old. I think I held up a half dollar. US half dollar. This is 1965. I was just graduating from high school. And the half dollar wasn't silver, it was copper. I went wait a minute. 64. There was silver today. It's when you look at. You look at coins today, right? It's copper, not silver. And that I didn't know at the time, because I'm at 18 years old. Teach us nothing about school. I'm still just getting out of high. I'm still getting out of high school. It was Gresham's law. And what Gresham's law states, when fake money or bad money enters the system, real money goes into hiding. So immediately I started going to the bank as a caddy to make some money. And I got a dollar for nine holes. So if I got two dollars, I go to the bank, I trade it in for, let's say, quarters and a half dollars. And I look for the ones with no copper on them. And I saved all silver coins. You know, today they're more valuable. But those coins are more valuable today because they had no copper in them. So I guess I had this whole bag of real silver coins. And one day I came home, I said, hey, mom, where's my bag of coins? She says, oh, that dirty old money. Because Filthy Luca was dirty and all this stuff. She says, I spent it. And that's when another lesson came to me. Poor people don't know what money is. That's why they're poor. They can have a PhD. My mom was good, smart, registered nurse, very smart. She knew nothing about money. My poor dad, again, PhD, knew nothing about money. And all he could say to me was, go to school, get a job, save money. And later on he's get a PhD, get your 401k. I don't do any of that stuff. And they say get out of debt. If any. If these academic types knew anything about money. 1971, Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard. And that made the US dollar fake or fiat. And ever since then, the rich got richer. The poor and poor McLeod got poorer. So that's why we had rich dad poor. And I said, there's three rules. Rich don't work for money. Rich don't save money. Because that's what savers are, losers. Because you're saving fake money, you're working for fake money. And your house is not an asset. My God, I got crucified for that. When Rich dad, Poor dad came out, like in 1997 or something, I got crucified because I was going against all the belief system of the world.
- [07:43]
C
Could you break that down? Why isn't a house an asset?
- [07:48]
B
Nothing to do with the house. It has to do with A thing called cash flow. That's why my first product was a cash flow board game. And the reason I created a board game was I learned everything about investing playing Monopoly with my rich dad. I sit there playing monopoly, you know, four greenhouses, red hotel. Four greenhouses, red hotel. And so I'm like, you know, eight, nine, 10 years old, playing Monopoly. He goes. I said, why are we playing Monopoly? He says, My rich dad says, because the formula for wealth, lots of formulas. He always said, there's a million ways to financial heaven, but a billion ways to financial hell. And one of the ways to financial hell heaven is the Monopoly game. Four greenhouses, 1031, tax deferred exchange, red hotel. I own this hotel here. I own hotels, I own golf courses. Because I was a kid, I was going, oh, my God. And my rich dad actually took me and showed me his green houses. And he said, someday these greenhouses be a red hotel. So if you go to Waikiki beach today, you'll see the Hyatt Regency Hotel that used to be rich dad's. And today he doesn't own the hotel, he owns the land. He's a landlord. And the family will be rich forever. You know, they put in a trust and the kids don't have to work, which I don't agree with, but they. I learned everything playing Monopoly. And then one of the great entrepreneurs is. What's her name? Maria Montessori. The Montessori school system. He's an educational entrepreneur. She says she agrees. What the hand does, the mind remembers. So think about this. So let's say Tiger woods is your hero and you want to be a great golfer so you can go to a lecture by Tiger woods, would you learn anything? Nothing. You have to pick up that golf club and you have to make mistakes. And in school they say if you make mistakes, you're stupid. Well, I promise you something. Tiger woods has hit more bad balls than I ever had. That's why he's the greatest golfer in history. And our stupid school, I'm gonna use the F word here. Foolish school system. They tell you if you make mistakes, you're stupid. But if you don't make mistakes, you don't learn anything. So if you went to a Tiger woods lecture on golf, but you didn't pick up a golf course, you're not any smarter. So that's what happens. You know, why? Why don't you go to school? When you go to school, you're lectured to by somebody is not even rich. Most professors are poor, and they tell you, don't make mistakes. Don't cheat. Well, to me, cheating is cooperation. And I was very cooperative. You know, I go, so today I cheat like a. I cheat like a bastard. I have the, I have the best accountants, the best attorneys. You know, when I go out, if I was playing money against you guys, I just came from my attorney's office and my accountants. And we're a team sport. We come at, we come at the game of money as a team. But these silly school teachers, they got a 401k and they listen to a financial planner who works for Wall street and the banks, choose your teachers wisely.
- [11:23]
D
I actually have a question on that. So when I first read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I was a straight A student in school. I was a freshman in college. I was getting ready to my future. Ahead of me was the corporate route. And then when I read Rich Dad, Poor dad, my entire mindset changed because I realized the rich don't work for money. And you need cash flow and all the lessons that you teach in the book. And so for me, I realized I need to get some better teachers for those out there that are in that situation. Like they're in the corporate rat race. They're that student that's in school and they're getting set up for 40 years of doing the same thing over and over again. Who are the teachers they should be looking to attract? How can they go out and actually find the right teacher?
- [12:06]
B
That's a great question, because as we said, you know, choose your teachers wisely. So who's still talking to you? Mommy and Daddy? You know, in your head, you know, go to school, get a job, work hard, save money, get out of debt, and invest in a well diversified portfolio as tax bonds, mutual funds and ETFs. That's a poor person's teacher. Probably their mother, their father, or their financial planner. I'm not saying it's wrong, you know, if you can't manage debt, live debt free. The opposite side of that is learn to handle debt. Because in 1971, when Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard, the US dollar became debt. So that's why my rich dad said, you better take a course on real estate. Learn how to raise capital. You know, in investing. Learn how to talk to your banker about getting debt and then use the real estate to provide cash flow, not income, cash flow. So Today I own 15,000 rental properties. Now every month, let's say they pay me 200amonth. 15,000 times 200. I wasn't good at math, but that's More than most school teachers make a year. You know, every year I'm just adding more assets. Like I'm selling my house down the street here, this is. And with that house, I'm going to buy two surgery centers in Indiana. And those surgery centers, it's not big money, but they'll put 20,000amonth in my month every my pocket every month. $20,000 is not a lot of money, but I already have, you know, so it's not hard. The math isn't high. I mean I was at least I to the high school twice because I'm stupid. But I do know I have a good team. I cheat, let's call it, teachers call it cheating. I've made a lot of mistakes. So that's why I was interested in your, your podcast, Hard Knocks. Hard Knocks is every time you fall down, you knock your head on the ground, you know, but you gotta stand up. And most people never fall down. That's why they don't learn anything. It's when you stand up, you learn something.
- [14:31]
A
Right. The three of us this year began investing in real estate. We're in the process of acquiring our second property right now.
- [14:38]
B
Good, good.
- [14:38]
A
And I wanted to ask you for some advice for the three of us. For anybody.
- [14:41]
B
What's your debt to equity?
- [14:43]
A
What's that?
- [14:43]
B
What's your debt to equity?
- [14:46]
D
So $4.1 million purchase price, down payment is 1.2 million.
- [14:51]
B
So you're raising 3 million?
- [14:52]
D
Yes.
- [14:53]
B
Good. That's good. Good ratio.
- [14:55]
A
I wanted to ask you how much.
- [14:56]
D
Cash flow on the property? I think we'll, for, for a couple years, we'll, we'll lose a little bit of money and then it's a, it's.
- [15:04]
C
A value, it's a, it's a value add to where we're gonna have to pretty much redo like the facade.
- [15:09]
B
And some sold you that deal, man, they saw you coming a long way off. No, I got, I got. Look, your program is called Hard Knocks. I got sucked and said, hey, don't worry, you're losing a little bit of money today, but you'll make it up in the over time. You can add to it and all this stuff, if it doesn't make money, don't buy it. And you stay there until you can have it make money. But the thing that gets sucked in is real estate agents. You know, they're not the brightest guys on earth, but they'll tell you that, they'll say this, you'll, you'll make it up later and you can add to it and all this stuff. Would you put that in writing when you guarantee it, See, if you can't guarantee your cash flow, who will? Or your income should I say you've.
- [16:02]
A
Been buying real estate for decades. How much would you say it's changed in the last couple years in terms of going in to negotiate with banks to get loans and to leverage that debt? Have you seen it change a lot in the last couple years? And if so, what are some of the biggest tactics that you use to negotiate the right way with banks?
- [16:18]
B
Well, that's a good question. Because the game of real estate hasn't changed. I changed. And the smarter I got is. Cause you got interview Ken McElroy. He's the smartest guy I know. So it comes down to cheating. You know, you want to hang out with the smartest guys or women. I don't go in there with idiots. Does it make sense to you guys here? I was a rugby player. I don't go on the field with soccer players. The rules of the game are different. You know, if I played soccer the way you played rugby, I'd be kicked off the field. You know, soccer. Look, I'm not saying it's wrong. Ain't my game in rugby. Do you know what I mean? You gotta find your game. And you like to do this footsie stuff. Play soccer. You like hitting people and biting them. Play rugby. It's the game you want to play.
- [17:29]
D
And.
- [17:29]
B
And if you're gonna play the game of rugby, make sure the other people are rugby players, not soccer players. So Kenny is hardcore real estate guy. This is my partner here. You may have heard of him. He's not President of the United States. Another real estate guy. We don't play soccer.
- [17:52]
D
What's the biggest lesson that you've learned by working with Donald Trump?
- [17:55]
B
This new Todd. Donald Trump's. I mean he's. The problem with Donald is that he has a tendency to open his mouth and put his foot in it. He's the greatest guy on earth because he'll tell you straight to your face. I like that. I was a U.S. marine. I'm a ring knocker. Father went to West Point.
- [18:17]
A
Yes sir.
- [18:18]
B
I went to Kings Point. Military school were taught differently. You know, it's to your face, not the soccer. Nothing wrong with soccer, by the way. It's just not my sport.
- [18:33]
A
Yeah, you were in the Marines. You were a pilot in the Vietnam War. What did that discipline of the military teach you going into the business world?
- [18:39]
B
Well, the most important thing is you better know who your wingmen are and so you're coming in, you're taking fire, and you know, Donald Trump. I should have brought it here. Trump. And I have a picture of him. He was shot in the ear. It was a day after he was shot in Milwaukee, I think. So he got shot. He was caught in Pennsylvania, but we was in Milwaukee the next day. And he said, what's it like being shot at in Vietnam? I said, the same as you got shot at. And the thing is, you know, in the Western movie, they're dodging the bullets like this. That's in Hollywood. You can't dodge bullets. You're flying in, I hear, zip, zip, zip. You can't dodge them. And it's. So you gotta hold your course. That's what I'm saying. The most important thing is I'm rolling in. I've gotta know my wingman. This will flight A four. As soon as we're pulling. My gunners are coming out the side holding them down, but the guy behind me is hosing the guys down this way. So when they come up, I'm already coming around. When they're going in number four, I'm on number four's tail. Teamwork. But in school, they teach you to do it by yourself, because if you ask for help, you're cheating. That's why school teachers are poor. That's why most are Marxists. If you read the Communist Manifesto, which I had to do at Ringknocker School, you know, Marxists believe what Karl Marx believe intellectuals should run the world. And that's the problem. Charlie Kirk and I were speaking at Arizona State University. 39 professors came up and they told the students, if you listen to these guys, we'll flunk you. 39 professors, Marxist professors, at ASU.
- [20:51]
C
One of the things that you've made clear is you have to trust your wingman. You have to trust the people around you. What's your take on business partners and what do you look for in a business partner that you decide to go into business with?
- [21:04]
B
Well, they got number one. Do they have experience? You trust them? Kenny McElroy I trust with my life. He's smartest guy I know in real estate. My tax guys, my accountants, smartest guys I know. Okay, we operate as a team. Every Thursday morning, we have 7:30 calls. We study a different subject of the day, we study together. You know, most professors don't study. They're teaching stuff they learned 50 years ago. You know, I've never used calculus yet. Now, I'm not saying calculus is unimportant. I've just Never used it but they teach it.
- [21:49]
A
Rich dad, poor dad. Everybody always talks about the rich dad. The advice that you got. But I want to talk about the poor dad for a second. Was there any value that you took from him or lesson that you took from him that maybe you don't talk.
- [22:02]
B
About a lot now the biggest lesson I learned from my poor dad was that is the damage he did to our family because he was this arrogant prick. For Japanese he was 6 foot 4. So he's pretty tall and professorial, good guy, good hearted. But I remember when I was a kid I was like I think seven and I found my mother just sitting there crying, you know what's wrong? And she was crying because this is the old, old days in the 50s. You used to get your bank statements on a paper called Goldenrod. It wasn't white paper, it was gold. And so we go black, black, black, black. She'd write a check and say black, black, black, red, red, red, red, red. So she was showing me the progression over time. The black got smaller and smaller, the red got bigger and bigger. And my mothers are crying and my father's telling me to go to school and get a job and become a PhD. And I said I better find a new teacher. Exactly as I said, choose your teachers wisely. And I said I'm not going to listen to him just because he's a PhD. Not going to listen to him because he's the head of education for Hawaii. Good smart guy. And then the other thing he taught me was that he was head of the teachers union. If you read the Communist Manifesto, what Marx says, the workers of the world unite. Labor unions. The biggest labor union in America is the NEA School teachers union. That's why education system's so screwed up. You go to school, what do you learn? Nothing. You know, if you're an A student, maybe become a doctor or a lawyer, you're better off going to a trade school. They say become a mechanic or electrician, do something. But academics are, you know, they're, they believe because they're a straight A's, they, they should tell you how to run your life and they can't even run theirs. It's tragic. Choose your teachers wisely. So when you guys interview Ken McElroy, I listen to him, I listen to my accountant, Tom Wheelwright, cpa.
- [24:28]
D
When people are choosing like their cpa, their lawyer who's doing their taxes, you know, who they're doing deals with, a lot of times they'll pick people that could give them the best discount or, like, can do it at a rate. But in Rich Dad, Poor dad, you talk about hiring the best, even if they're more expensive. Like, pay them well because they'll make you more money. What is your take on that?
- [24:53]
B
Well, the trouble is, if you have no experience, you don't know what the best is anyway. So that's why when I heard the title of your podcast, Hard Knocks, I tell you, there's nothing worse than hiring a stupid attorney. You know, my attorney, I'm not going to mention names because they're prominent here in Phoenix, but I caught him cheating and he sued me. But just because of an attorney doesn't mean they're honest. You know what I mean? So that was a hard knock. Cost me $30 million. You screwed me that bad. But the hard Knocks, if you don't stand back up, I'm finished. So they taught me a great lesson. So your podcast, Hard Knocks is how you learn if you can stand up.
- [25:49]
C
On the topic of Hard Knocks, one thing you've made abundantly clear is that you have to stand back up in the 1980s.
- [25:55]
B
No, you don't have to.
- [25:56]
C
You don't have to.
- [25:57]
B
No, you don't have to.
- [25:58]
C
But you decided to in the 1980s. You had a rough go, and you were homeless and even living out of your car for a certain period of time. When you're at that low point, how do you find that resilience to stand back up and, you know, be like, okay, I'm gonna change my situation and make something out of this?
- [26:17]
B
Well, I, you know, I think it's either you have it or you don't have it. But also, being an academy graduate, ring knocker, you know, you better stand up because they'll. Your own classmates will shit on you. It's who you hang out with. But don't say you have to accept me. If you accept the victim mentality, guess what? You're a victim. And if you're a victim, you know, dogs shed on you.
- [26:47]
A
But you also learn. Like he said, nobody's coming to save you.
- [26:50]
B
Well, no, there's a bunch of saviors out there that come up there, like this guy Mondame, the new mayor of New York. He's going to save the poor people by giving them free bus rides, which means the buses are going to break down because they can't fix the buses. Socialism has never worked, but poor people like to hear it. He's going to save us, you know, free groceries, free bus service. If you study Marxism, which I had to do at the Academy, Kings Point. My teacher was a West Point graduate. This guy was tough as nails. He was an economics teacher. He was also a B17 pilot in World War II. He got shot down. He was captured. He had to escape. I'm sitting there in class going, oh, that sounds like fun. So I graduated from Kings park with the highest paid graduates in the world. When I graduated in 1969, I was 22 years old. Starting pay was 120,000 a year. That's not much money today. I mean, most college graduates make more than that today. But 120,000 in 1969 was a lot of money. And I said, but that. But his. Dr. Norton, he says, I said, I want to find out what it's like to fly a B17 and get shot down. So I walked. I went back to the academy in New York and I knocked on his door. I said, will you tell me what it's like to get shot down in a B17, get captured and escape? He says, go find out, asshole. So I had to give up $120,000 a year job, joined the US Marine Corps, fly in Vietnam, and went down three times. Hard knocks, man. I tell you, it builds character. It builds character. The first time I crashed was terrifying. Second time I crashed, even more terrifying. Third time I crashed, I broke my back, the hard part. After that, nobody would fly with me. But I said to him, I said, I come back now, I want to fly with you. I brought, I took, I went over with 16 men to Vietnam. All 16 came home alive. That was my job as a Marine lieutenant.
- [29:22]
D
One thing I wanted to ask was if someone out there is listening right now and they're, let's say, late 20s, they're in a corporate job, they're making 70 grand a year. That's earned income. What would you say is the first step they should take to going from that poor dad mentality to that rich dad mentality and changing their life?
- [29:41]
B
Well, it depends on, you know, it's like there's more than a million ways to get to heaven, a billion ways to go to hell. If you're going to be an entrepreneur, you need skills. Number one is sell. Number two, use debt. Number three, raise capital. Number four, can you keep standing up? Can you maintain your integrity like us? I'm an academy graduate, ring knocker. I got court martialed three times. And as a Marine Academy graduate, I was like, holy crap. There's a movie called A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson. And he's on trial. He goes, you can't handle the Truth. So the problem. I was lying. I got caught in Hawaii. I was flying out of Hawaii, back from Vietnam, and I was doing something called flying women in my helicopter. Because this is in the 70s when Marines had no hair, you know, and the women were going out with guys who looked like girls, the hippie boys. And so I'd be in Waikiki chasing women. And they said, oh, you're a Marine. The hell with you. You're military. You're terrible. We got spit on. Everything was terrible. There's no welcome home. So I. I said, take it. Take advantage of what I got. So I. I see this hot chick and I say, want to go for a helicopter ride? If they said yes, fine. So I take my helicopter, we fly to a deserted island. Everything they said not to do. And I got caught. So finally I found religion. I said, I. I better stop this crap. So I called. I was in Waikiki, living as my. One of my rental condos, I rented out, you know. So I called the captain, Abrams, the prosecutor, Marine prosecutor, said, captain Abrams, I'm coming in. He says, it's about time. You're a shitty liar. I said, I know, sir. I know. I was a lieutenant. He's a captain. So I walked in, sat down. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. I told him everything. I didn't tell him just about flying women and drinking. I said I was making so much money stealing. How I stole was they have like a. Let's say a Walmart. But it's all. It's not that it's free, but it's there. The system was, you have to check, go in this door and go out that door. I said, what happens if I go in this door and go out that door? So what I was doing was going in the outdoor, exiting the indoor, and nobody checked what I was taking. Sal was stealing on top of it. So I told him all that. And he says, then I falsified government records and all this. I told him everything. I lost 30 pounds, I think. I said, captain, I guess I'm going to jail. How many years? He looked up at me and smiled. He says, lieutenant, thank you for telling the truth. Honorable discharge. Get the fuck out of here. And that's what I learned. The truth will set you free. And ever since then, I've decided I'd better be as close to the truth as possible. Don't lie.
- [33:13]
A
You brought up in those three skill sets. Sales, capital, raising and using debt. I want to talk about sales for a Second, you were one of the top salesmen at Xerox, right? One of the companies that you had worked at and obviously went on to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products and whatnot throughout your career. What's a sales principle that you would ingrain in every young person that's starting out in the business world today?
- [33:35]
B
Same as you guys. Teach hard knocks. So I'm, I got a. So I come out of the Marine Corps, I get a job with Xerox, this is 1974. And I'm over there. Like I go to, they send me to the best sales school from Hawaii. They fly me first class to Leesburg, Virginia, right by Washington, D.C. and I sent me to the best sales school, come back to Hawaii, they give me a little handy dandy sales bag, knocking on doors I can't sell. And after about three months, I'm going to get fired. So I called my rich dad up and said, hey rich dad, I'm about to get fired. I said, why? Because I got no sales. And he asked me, he says, how many sales calls do you make a day? I said, on a good day too, yes, Cold calling. Which is no, everybody hates cold calling. And this is in Hawaii. Beat it. Beat it. You know, I quit. So Marisha said to me, says the reason you're failing is because you're not failing fast enough. If you're going to fail, step up your failure rate. That's exactly opposite of my rich dad. But where did I mean? I said, how do I step up my, my failure rate? Just figure it out. So I said, huh? How can I do good and step up my failure rate? So I found a non profit. So this is in downtown, ok, Honolulu, Hawaii. So I'd go from the Xerox office uptown and I'd sit there and I dial for dollars for this nonprofit. And my goal was to make 30 sales calls a night. And I sat there and I dialed for dollars and I didn't stop until I talked to 30 people. So sometimes I was the only guy left in the room dialing. But I had to step up my failure rate. Now, coincidentally, my sales at Xerox went up. How it worked, I don't know. But the reason most people are not successful is first of all, they're afraid of failing because they went to school and then they don't fail fast enough. So when I heard the title of your podcast, Hard Knocks, I said, that's me. I mean, how many times have I lost everything? About ten times. It's horrifying. You know, I still remember my. The nylon. I started the first nylon umbral surfing wallet business. And we're going broke so fast. I was still working at Xerox. And the guy goes, I asked my accountant, I said, how much money do we need before we go broke? He says, we need 100,000. That's a lot of money back in the 70s. So I went to my poor dad, my rich dad said, get the hell out of this office. Why would I give you money? So I go to my poor dad, and my poor dad was such a. He's a great guy. Socialist, though. He mortgaged his house, gave me the hundred thousand dollars. This is in Hawaii. I go into the office and Stanley, the accountant of my. The wallet business, I said, stanley, here's a hundred thousand dollars. Will this solve the problem? He goes, yes, it will. Stanley cashed the check, took the money and ran. And I was left. Was my father going to lose his house? When you look up fuck up in the dictionary, that's my picture. So when you. When I heard the title of Hard Knocks, I tell you, that was. That was devastating. And then I had to go figure out how to save my father's house and, you know, step it up. He still has the house.
- [37:52]
A
Robert, we like to and these podcasts off with two questions for our guest. Robert, if me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be?
- [38:04]
B
Play the cash flow board game. I teach it all over the world because, as Maria Montessori, one of the greatest entrepreneurial educators, said, what the hand does, the mind remembers. Cash flow is the only board game that teaches you accounting. The most single boring school. I was an MBA program at the University of Hawaii. Holy mackerel. I'd wake up in the middle of the class, my papers would be smeared with. My ink would be smeared, you know, because I was sound asleep drooling on it. And I realized again, choose your teachers wisely. The accounting teacher was an accounting teacher. He wasn't an accountant. He didn't practice what he taught. So it's one of the most important. We started this whole lesson. It's not about don't go to school and all that is choose your teachers wisely. Because this is your asset. It's your body, your mind, and your spirit. And if somebody takes your spirit, you're finished.
- [39:07]
D
Yes, sir. Robert, last question for you. How do you want to be remembered?
- [39:12]
B
I don't really think about such things, you know, I can't believe it. Like I. Because I did what I think.
- [39:20]
A
I.
- [39:21]
B
Write books with this guy here and my people hate him, my family hates him. But the guy's got, as the Mexicans would say, cajones. And so I am again who I hang out with. Donald Trump or his sons, Don Jr. And Eric would not hang out with me is I was a tick tock dancer. And you guys know what I'm talking about right here. The women complain about men your age because you're not men anymore. You know, you sit in the basement playing video games. I hear so many women, so what happened to the men? Even my friend, because I was a marine, my friends, three star general, he's now a congressman from Michigan. He says the Marine Corps cannot find men. They don't have any cajones, no guts. They hide in a basement like Joe Biden and play video games. And then Kamala Harris almost wins. And we all know how she made it to the top. She made it to the top on her back. And that's what's happening today. So I'm saying men need to step it up. So do women. I think the women are doing a pretty good job. I meet more entrepreneurial women today. But the men have got to step it up. Because what happens if a woman, let's say, makes 100,000 a year? She's not going to go out with a guy making 80. It's called hypergamy. Women only go out with men above them. So the men got to step up their game. So for an old guy like me, got all these hot young chicks around me, I'm going, there's a God someplace, you know, because when I was your age, I got nothing. Now I'm an old guy with money. There's plenty of them. And women are the most wonderful, beautiful creatures, but don't mess with them, right?
- [41:19]
A
That's amazing. Robert. Thank you so much for your time today, guys. That's a wrap on today's episode. Be sure to like and subscribe for amazing content. Go tap in with Robert Kiyosaki on all platforms. He's got some of the most incredible books out as well. We'll be sure to put the links down in the description to your stuff so that way everybody can see.
- [41:36]
B
I'm proud of you guys. The title of your program, fantastic, because that's the way to get to the top. Hard knocks.
- [41:44]
A
Yes, sir. We'll see you on the next episode.