Page 15 - Midas Touch

true. They’re excited, and they want you now.” Kim paused before
continuing, “Don’t pass this up. Just turn around. You’ll have new tickets
waiting for you at the Sydney airport.”

Six days later, I arrived in Chicago.

Oprah’s program was televised from her own studio, Harpo Productions. A

lovely young assistant escorted me from the green room into the studio
where Oprah’s adoring fans were already seated.

The room was electric. Oprah’s fans were anxiously awaiting her entrance.
For a moment, I forgot why I was there. I forgot that I was about to be on
television with the most powerful woman in show business. I knew her
television viewership was estimated to be over 20 million people in the

United States alone, with syndication in over 150 countries around the
world.

Gazing around, I saw two chairs in the middle of the stage. I thought to
myself, “I wonder who the second chair is for?” My heart froze as I
realized… the second chair was for me!

The room suddenly erupted with applause as Oprah took the stage. She
was much more impressive in real life. After she said a few words to the
studio audience and her television viewers, the assistant gently took my

elbow and said softly, “Let’s go.”

I took a breath and thought to myself, “It’s too late to start practicing.”

An hour later, the program was over. The crowd applauded, and Oprah said
good-bye to the world. Once the television cameras were turned off, she
turned to me, pointed, smiled, and said, “Rich dad, I just sold you a
million copies of your book.”

At that time, Rich Dad Poor Dad was self-published. This meant I did not
have to share my profits with a publisher. Although I’ve never been good

at math, I did understand money. After expenses, I made a profit of five
dollars on every book. If Oprah’s estimate was correct about selling a
million copies of the book, simple math told me I just made $5 million in
one hour, before taxes. It was a profitable day in many ways. I didn’t know
it at the time but, in one hour, I had gone from being an unknown to
becoming world-famous. As you probably know, fame can be much more

seductive than money.