Robert Kiyosaki Blog

Because we live and work in a society where making mistakes isn’t well-tolerated, it can be difficult to see any value in making mistakes. After all, mistakes often cost us time and money, and in small business both of these resources are at a premium.

However, you might be surprised that some of the most prominent leaders in the world value mistakes-a lot. Take a look at what some of these leaders have to say about making mistakes.

Gordon Moore, co-founder, Intel
“One thing a leader does is to remove the stigma of mistakes. People who are afraid of making mistakes all the time just don’t try anything.”

Sam Walton, founder, Walmart
Sam Walton, famous for driving an old beat-up pickup truck to work even when his worth was in the billions, was fond of saying that if you keep expenses down you can afford to make a lot of mistakes!

Robert Kiyosaki, bestselling author, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”
In his book “Business School for People Who Like Helping People,” Kiyosaki recounts how he learned the process of selling: by making mistakes. In the context of sales, Kiyosaki calls it rejection. He and his sales mentor, Charlie Robinson, would make sales calls together. Robinson would say virtually nothing during the visit, but would simply watch Kiyosaki work. Then the two would return to the office and review every mistake Kiyosaki made that caused a rejection. During that time, Kiyosaki even volunteered at a charity organization, making cold calls, so he could increase his rejection rate and learn from them. The message? Make as many mistakes as you can because mistakes are how you learn.

Herb Kelleher, co-founder, Southwest Airlines
When one of Southwest Airline’s property managers made a mistake (he made an oral commitment of $400,000 to the City of Austin for the preliminary design of a new airport when Southwest had no intention of supporting the new airport), Herb Kelleher backed his manager with the money. Although the lesson was hugely expensive, Kelleher didn’t get upset. He just jokingly told the manager: “Now pal, this is a fairly expensive lesson. A $400,000 lesson-I hope you remember it!”

Does that give you a new perspective on the value of making mistakes in your small business, and learning from them?

Stephanie Valentine

Here is the original:
Leadership: On Making Mistakes

Shelley Elmblad

Online personal finance software is very convenient because you can use it wherever there is an Internet connection. And, these free top three online personal finance software choices offer security features for your personal finance data. With online software, you never have to install anything on your hard drive and software updates are done for you on the software company’s servers.

Online Personal Finance Software Benefits

Each of the top three online personal finance titles have a different feature focus, so look them all over and visit the web sites for more details. And remember that when you use online personal finance software on a public computer, you must log out and close the browser window before leaving the computer.

How is This Personal Finance Software Free?

ClearCheckbook is completely free but accepts free-will donations. Mint and MySpendingPlan are also completely free but each gets a cut on any of the money-saving offers presented to you. The offers on Mint.com are hidden unless you click on a tab to view them. MySpendingPlan offers are more upfront and in your face.

ClearCheckbook

ClearCheckbook is free online personal finance software that is far from bare-bones free software. ClearCheckbook has many features to manage personal finances.

ClearCheckbook Features:

• See all transactions, overall balances, reminders and notices on one page in ClearCheckbook.
• Supports account transfers and split transactions.
• ClearCheckbook spending limits provide a way to create a personal budget.
• Search transactions by date, keyword, account or category.
• Track your spending in ClearCheckbook with charts, graphs and spending vs. saving for all accounts.
• Security: you do not enter your account numbers into ClearCheckbook.
• Reconcile accounts and use time-saving recurring transactions.
• Personal finance alerts and reminders arrive by email.
• Use CheckBot to update your account while on the go with AIM, ICQ, MSN / Windows Live, Google Talk and Yahoo! Messaging services.

Get ClearCheckbook free personal finance software at ClearCheckbook.com.

Mint

Mint is free online personal finance software that offers something truly different: Mint tells you how you can save money, and it has some nice automated features.

Mint Features:

• Mint automatically updates your banking and credit card transactions, eliminating the possibility of forgetting to enter transactions.
• Mint automatically categorizes transactions as they are downloaded.
• Label transactions to be able to quickly identify expenses that are related to work, hobbies, meals out, etc.
• View all banking and credit card transactions and account balances side by side.
• Mint works with 3,000 U.S. banks and credit card companies.
• Compares cash and debt for quick overall financial reporting, and Mint offers spending histories.
• Email and SMS alerts let you know about low balances, large purchases and other financial activities in your accounts.
• Security: firewalls, encryption and authentication procedures protect your personal finance data.
• Mint tells about banking and credit card deals and money-saving products and services you could benefit from using. This information is kept out of the way under the Ways to Save tab.

Get Mint free online personal finance software and learn about managing personal finances at Mint.com.

MySpendingPlan

MySpendingPlan online personal finance software has strong personal budgeting features and a focus on building savings.

MySpendingPlan Features:

• Detailed budget set-up.
• Manage budgets and spending for groups or for your household.
• Bill tracking with email reminders from MySpendingPlan.
• Set up savings goals in MySpendingPlan and track progress toward those goals.
• Shopping features include shopping planner, online shopping deals, shopping lists, savings recommendations, online and in-store coupons.
• Security: MySpendingPlan uses strong data encryption and does not require account numbers to be entered.
• Pre-made templates for standard personal budgets or for planning for large, infrequent expenses.

Get MySpendingPlan free online personal finance software and personal budgeting tips at MySpendingPlan.com.

Read more from the original source:
3 Free Online Finance Software Programs

by Katie Adams

Have you ever watched an infomercial or seen an item in a department store and thought “I could have thought of that!” Have you wished you had invested money early in a blockbuster invention? Learn the stories behind some (seemingly) ridiculous ideas that have made inventors and investors very wealthy, and find out what you, as a potential investor, should look for and consider before putting up capital for a potential funding opportunity.

The Koosh Ball

You’ve may have never heard of Scott Stillinger but somewhere in your home or office you probably have one of his inventions – the Koosh ball, which made millions of dollars. Stillinger came up with the idea for the Koosh ball when he tied rubber bands together to create a smaller, easier-to-catch ball for his young children in 1987. He founded OddzOn Products Inc. to distribute the small, simple toy, and within just 12 months it was flying off of store shelves as that year’s hottest Christmas gift.

The company expanded, and in 1994 Stillinger sold OddzOn to toy manufacturer Russ Berrie and Company Inc., which in turn was bought by toy behemoth Hasbro in 1997 for more $100 million

And it all happened a mere 10 years after the first ball was created.

Santa Mail

Every year, millions of children around the globe pen letters to Santa and hope for a response. Byron Reese realized the potential in this market. In 2002, he launched “Santa Mail,” a service that allows kids to send letters to the North Pole. Parents enclose a small fee of just $9.95, and little Johnny or Jane receives a personalized letter back from the “big man” himself. By 2009, Santa Mail had responded to nearly 300,000 children. At close to $10 a letter, well, you can do the math - needless to say, it was a little idea that has earned Reese a big return.

Lucky Break Wishbones

Are you still a little bitter that, at last year’s Thanksgiving dinner, you lost out to your cousin Ned in the annual fight over the lone turkey wishbone? Well, thanks to Ken Ahroni, those days are long over. In 1999, he had something of an epiphany at his family’s Thanksgiving dinner table: a family with multiple people would like multiple wishbones. He shuttered his previous consulting business and launched Lucky Break Wishbone Corp. in 2004, in order to sell his one-of-a-kind breakable plastic wishbones. Within two years, the company was generating nearly $1 million in sales through distributors in more than 40 states nationwide.

Antenna Balls

You’ve seen them; maybe you even sport one on your car. Those ubiquitous, yellow smiley-faced balls perched atop antennas in parking lots nationwide have made Jason Wall a very wealthy man. Inspired in 1997 by a commercial for the fast food chain Jack in the Box, Wall created some antenna ball designs and began selling them locally through auto stores in California in 1998. Within a year, he had earned more than $1.15 million in sales and quickly won major accounts to sell his product through national chains, including Wal-Mart. In 2009, the multimillionaire is president and CEO of In-Concept Inc.

Investing in Far-Out Ideas and Inventions

If you can’t come up with your own idea - or don’t want to put in the time - you can always invest in another inventor’s ingenuity. Inventions can come from anywhere and anyone - friends, family members or even coworkers. But before you start writing checks out to just anyone who promises they have “the next BIG idea,” there are five key tips to consider:

Learn about the industry. If you don’t personally know a potential investor in whom to invest, you can learn more about opportunities through industry trade magazines, like Investor’s Digest or America’s Inventor Magazine, or through organizations like the National Congress of Investor Organizations.

Stick to your strengths. Investing in an invention is a risky proposition. That’s why it’s a good idea to stick to investigating investment opportunities in a field or concept with which you are somewhat familiar. For example, if you are a mother of young children, you will have a keener sense of the needs of children and parents than someone without children. Use your background, interests and experience to your advantage when evaluating investment opportunities.

Find the right people to back. Sure, your uncle Frank may be utterly convinced that his remote-controlled backyard squirrel zapper is what every home needs, but that shouldn’t be enough to get you to open your wallet. Instead, look for inventors who have demonstrated success - people who have multiple patents and success in selling their inventions, either directly to retailers or to larger companies. Successful inventors have the proven ability to secure patents and sell products.

Get to know the market and the team. All successful investors research the product and company they’re going to help fund first. Do some homework to get to know not only the inventor you are considering backing, but also the market potential for the product and its profitability and evaluate the team the inventor has assembled to bring the product to market. Ask key questions such as: 1. What need does the invention satisfy?

2. Are there competitors?

3. Have similar types of inventions failed in the recent past?

4. What is the inventor’s time line to get to market?

5. What is his or her business and marketing plan to not only sell products but realize a healthy profit margin?

6. Are there any other potential patents pending on a similar type of product?

It takes a team of skilled professionals with the right product working in the right market to make your investment realize its potential.

Do your financial and legal due diligence. As with any investment, make sure that you know exactly what you’re investing in up front. Does the person or organization seeking funding have a sound business plan? What is the current financial status and are there any other debt obligations to which you, as an investor, could be exposed? Are there any other funders, and if so, who are they? Ask for all financial records, business plans and projections; carefully review any documents you’re asked to sign; seek professional legal and financial counsel, and be sure you understand any potential risk that you’re incurring, including the risk of losing of your investment altogether. 

The Bottom Line

Realistically, the odds are stacked against most investors looking to make their fortune by backing an inventor. The U.S. Patent Office notes that, “approximately 2% of patents earn significant dollars for their investors.” Still, there are future Koosh balls and Lucky Break Wishbones to be made and profited from. Perhaps with some hard work and careful investing, you too could find a ridiculous idea that gets you laughing all the way to the bank.

Originally posted here:
Ridiculous Ideas That Made People Millions

The RICH DAD’s apprentice help me to reveal myself, soon I realized that I am just another POOR DAD in this world.

My head non-stopping thinking about it.

RICH DAD - I must become rich & wealthy because I have a family & children to take care.

POOR DAD - I cannot become rich & wealthy because I have a family & children to take care.

So different the way of thinking.

I still can remember the below from the well-known speaker told us,

1. People should do what they love to do
2. However, most people end up never do what they love to do

The above 2 sentences are contradiction each others, if people know they should do what they love to do but why still end up doing something else.
Why people end up never doing what they love to do?

You must have a lot of excuses or reason to justify it. So do I.

- Dare not take risk
- People do not get what they want due to they do not know what they want in the first place.
- Fear
- People are complacent, do not want to get in trouble in the something new
- Opportunity not there

The reason that people do not end up doing what they want to do is because whatever they are doing now is just too comfortable, it is not great, not fantastic, not they really want but still go to work. Sometimes, they may even hate the job, or the company, or even hate the boss but they still go to work.

It is interesting to know people spend their time & effort doing something they really do not like to do but just because they are just too comfortable, not many changes, - Comfort Zone.

Don’t you think is interesting? Think about that.

Definition of Word “Wealth”
Big car? Big house? Possession on oneself? How much he spent? Did you realize that a lot of people have big car big house but also with big loan.

Wealth
Number of day forward you can survive/ maintain your lifestyle if you stop work – forever/ infinity

Which mean if you don’t want to go to work tomorrow, you never ever have to worry a day about the rest of your life because somehow somewhere there will be an income/ money coming to you and you will be taken care of. Isn’t that wonderful?

That’s the stage we are looking for. Financial Independent or Retirement
Retirement normally happen in age of 55/60/65 years. What you can do at age of retirement? Nothing much.

Will it be nice if you can retire in much younger age so called Financial Independent?
You wake up and have a choice to choose whether want to go to work or no. Once you have the choice you have the freedom & vice versa.

The fact is most people don’t have that freedom.

People need to go out there to make ‘MMM’ money making machine. MMM is a machine that you spend some time, effort & resources to create.

It is possible to make your own money making machine. But most of the Malaysia spend their time, money & effort to turn themselves to a money making machine to a company. Too busy in the work, no time for create your own MMM is a killer.

Become a MMM and create a MMM is very different. You might want to write down “how many days you can survive if stop work today?’ The ultimate goal is to increase the number of days.

In nowadays, making money is very easy. The only thing you need to do is working very hard. If you work hard enough sure you will make money, but create wealth is not about working hard is about working smart.

There is thousand of people out-there working very very hard everyday but never found financial independent. Working hard is not the answer for the wealth. Working hard on the right financial strategy then is the way to create wealth. Think about it. But where to start & how?

How come a highly educated people or highly professional sometime do not want to follow good suggestion? Because they think they know it already. Creating wealth also not depending on how high your education is. Our education never teach you about money or creating wealth, the teacher teach you how to become a great MMM (employee) to company.

If teacher teach you about money, I am more worry about that. Because most of the teacher are not wealthy.

About 70% of the population stop work today cannot survive more than 60 days.  I start to think more in-dept about the issue now.

~ Darrell Tan

Read the rest here:
I am just another “Poor Dad” in this world!

Robert Kiyosaki mentioned in his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” that assets put money into your pocket while liabilities take money out of your pocket.

It was with this in mind that I started to acquire more of these assets (e.g. stocks) instead of frivolous stuff like clothes, accessories, electronic devices and stuff.

These stocks I own have been paying me quarterly and yearly dividends. Thus, they have been putting money into my pocket over the years.

However, two stocks that I have recently declared “rights’ issue. For the uninitiated, that basically means that the company is issuing me with more shares and I have to pay for them if I intend to exercise my “rights” or either forfeit them and see my shareholdings in the company diluted.

What an irony. These assets are now taking money out of my pocket! All the dividends that I have earned from them are like useless.

If they are so cash strapped, why did they even declare dividends in the first place over the years?

Didn’t they foresee this coming? Why weren’t they more prudent in calculating the amount of dividends that they were giving out over the years?

So now instead of owning assets, I am like owning two businesses which are asking me to pump in more money into them. I can’t tell whether these are assets or liabilities just yet.

*Big Sigh*

Read more from the original source:
Aren’t My Stocks Supposed to be Assets?