The year 1074 was a turning point year in my life. I was being discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps and was about to enter the real world. My problem was which world was I going to enter? Was I going to enter the world of my poor dad and become an employee in the E quadrant, or was I going to enter the world of my rich dad and enter the world of the B quadrant?
As stated earlier, I had two professions with which I could have easily entered the E quadrant. I could have gone back to the shipping industry and become a ship’s officer, sailing oil tankers for Standard Oil, or I could become a commercial airline pilot as many of my classmates did. Both professions were tempting, but I knew I did not want to be a ship’s officer or a pilot for the rest of my life. Those days were behind me. Although it was a lot riskier and with fewer guarantees, I decided to follow in my rich dad’s footsteps rather than my poor dad’s.
In early 1974, before I was to be released from the Marine Corps, I went to my rich dad and asked him to train me for the world of the B quadrant. I still remember walking into his office in Waikiki and asking him for his advice for the next phase of my life. I was 26 years old and I knew I needed guidance in a world where very few people have gone, the world of the B quadrant. “Shat should I do?” I asked him. “What kind of training do I need?”
Looking up from his desk, without any hesitation, rich dad said, “Go get a job in sales.” “Sales?” I yelped like a dog that had been kicked. “I want to go into the B quadrant. I don’t want to go into sales.”
Rich dad stopped what he was doing, pulled off his glasses, gave me a stare from his uplifted eyes, and said, “You asked me what you should do next. I just told you what to do next. If you don’t want to do what I recommend, get out of my office.”
“But I want to become a business owner. I don’t want to become a salesman,” I argued back.
“Look,” said rich dad. “How many times do I have to tell you that if you come looking for advice, then have the courtesy to listen to the advice I give you? If you don’t want to listen to my advice, then don’t ask for it. Got it?”
“So then explain to me, why sales?” I replied in a more humble tone. Both my dads were tough men, and I knew that if I was to learn something I had better listen with respect. “Tell me why learning how to sell is so important?”
“The ability to sell is the number-one skill in business.”
“The ability to sell is the number one skill in business,” said rich dad. “The ability to sell is the most important skill of the B quadrant. If you cannot sell, don’t bother thinking about becoming a business owner.”
“The number-one skill?” I asked, repeating what he had said.
“The best salespeople are the best leaders,” said rich dad. “Look at President Kennedy. He was one of the greatest speakers I have ever heard. When he spoke, people were inspired. That is because he had the power to speak to people’s spirits.”
“You mean when you’re speaking from the stage or on television, that is selling too?” I asked.
“Of course,” said rich dad. “And when you’re writing, or speaking one-on-one, or speaking to your child, asking them to pick up their toys, that is all selling. Your high school teachers were trying to sell every day.”
“Some didn’t do a very good job,” I replied with a smirk.
“Well, that is why they may not have been great teachers. All great teachers have been great salespeople. Look at Christ, Buddha, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Mohammed. They were all great teachers, which means they were great salespeople.”
“So the better I am at sales, the more successful in life I become?” I asked.
“And look at it the other way,” replied rich dad. “Look at people who are the least successful in life. They are the people no one wants to listen to.”
“Can anyone be good in sales?” I asked.
“Of course. We are all born sales people. Just watch a baby or young child. If they are hungry and aren’t getting what they want, what do they do?”
“We are all born sales people.”
“They start crying,” I replied. “They communicate. They start selling.”
“That’s right,” said rich dad. “Have you ever tried telling a child they can’t have something? If the rather won’t give them what they want, they go to their mother. If they mother won’t give them what they want, they get on the phone and call the grandparents. Somehow, as we grow older, some of us lose that ‘I can have anything I want’ attitude. As we grow older, we are told to stop asking for things. We are told to stop nagging, stop complaining, and stop being a pest. So we learn to stop selling.” “So as adults we have to relearn what we already knew,” I said.
“Yes, if we want to be able to have what we want in our lives,” said rich dad. “When I was about 30 years old, I realized I was falling behind in life. I was lacking something. I was working hard but things were not coming my way. Soon I realized that working hard and harder was not working. I finally accepted that if I did not make changes in me, I might end up with an empty life. Therefore, I knew I had to change myself. It slowly dawned on me that I did not know how to communicate with people. My employees did not listen to me. I would tell them to do something and they would either do something
else or do nothing at all. My customers did not understand me. I would tell them why my products were better and they would still buy from someone else. I was awkward when talking to strangers. I was boring at parties. What I wanted to say wasn’t being said. My communication skills were poor. It soon became obvious to me that if I wanted to be successful in business, I had to learn to sell. I needed to learn to be a better communicator. I needed to come out of my shell. I had to learn to stop being afraid of people. I had to relearn what I once knew as a child.” Rich dad paused for a while, his mind seeming to go back in time. Finally he looked up and said, “Do you remember a number of years ago, when both you and Mike were still in elementary school, I went to Honolulu to take a weeklong sales course?”
“I remember,” I said. “My dad though you were a fool for taking a course on selling.” “He did?” asked rich dad. “What did he say?”
“He said, “Why would anyone spend so much money taking a course that you do not get college credit for?”
“That’s right,” I said, cringing a little. “Different values. My dad wants more college degrees and you want more financial success.”
Still chuckling, rich dad broke out his yellow legal tablet and wrote the following words: Buy / Sell
Pointing to the words on the tablet rich dad said, “In business, these are two very important words. In the stock market and in real estate they are always talking about
buy/sell agreements. A market as well as a business runs on buyers and sellers. If I had no buyers, I would be out of business. That means I’ve got to be continually selling. I sell to my employees, my investors, through advertising on TV and the newspaper, in my letters, and to my accountants and attorneys. All day long, I’m selling. I’ve got to keep my team moving forward and I have to keep happy customers coming in and going out even happier. So selling is more than trying to get somebody to give me some money.” “I understand that,” I replied. “But why is learning to sell so important? Why is the ability to sell the number-one B quadrant skill?”
“Great question,” said rich dad. “What most people fail to realize is that the more you can sell, the more you can buy.”
“What?” I asked, seeking greater clarity, knowing that I had just heard something very important. “The more I can sell the more I can buy”