Page 20 - Midas Touch

Obviously, Stanley, the CPA, did not know my rich dad’s lessons. But it
was not only Stanley who was in the dark. Most people do just what
Stanley did. They work for money, then pay bills, and save what is left
over. This is why most people live paycheck to paycheck. Entrepreneurs
must know how to spend money to create more money—spending time

and money on marketing, advertising, and sales promotions and offering
sales incentives to sale representatives.

In times of crisis, for example, times when sales are low and income is
low, most people tend to do what Stanley did—save money, or pay bills.
This generally spells disaster. In a crisis, a time with low income or low
sales, smart entrepreneurs know that they need to spend money on sales
and marketing promotion, even if they have to borrow the money. When

the sales start coming in, then they can pay bills and pay back the money
they borrowed.

During the global financial crisis which began in 2007, most people are
doing what Stanley did. They are cutting back, paying off debt, and trying
to save money. This conservation of cash causes the economy to slow even
faster. Businesses and individuals following Stanley’s course of action
may not recover when the rest of the economy does. They will be far

behind the businesses that were spending and moving forward during bad
times.

Story #2: History Repeated
When I asked how I could get my money back, John told me that the only

way to get it back was to give him more money. Now you may think that I
would have been smart enough not to fall for this line, but I did. Over the
next three months, I raised over $50,000 from friends for John and his
struggling business. As you may have already guessed, the money was
gone as soon as I handed him the checks.

So how do you raise money? The answer is: You have to practice. In my

Xerox sales training, I was taught to make 100 cold calls to get 10 leads.
Out of those 10 leads, you get one sale.

To raise money for John, I wrote up a simple business plan, created a small
promotional flyer, and began knocking on doors. Same sort of thing as
with Xerox—I made cold calls until I reached my goal.