Mind your own business: make money for yourself, not your employer

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At this stage, you might feel like objecting. Sure, it’s easy to criticize secure, “rat-race” jobs while telling people to acquire assets – but how can you afford to buy those assets if you don't have a job in the first place? Is the money meant to fall from the sky?

Nope. No one’s telling you to quit your day job – not yet, at least. What Kiyosaki does stress, though in his third lesson, is the importance of “minding your own business”. 

Now, that doesn’t mean keeping your nose out of other people’s lives – not in this context. It simply means tending to your own finances, and making money also for yourself, not only your employer. In other words, minding your own business means making money through your portfolio of assets rather than through promotions, bonuses and raises.

When it comes to personal finances, though, there’s a difference between your profession and your business: Your profession is whatever you do 40 hours a week to pay the bills, buy groceries, and cover other living costs. Usually, it gives you a specific title such as “restaurant owner” or “sales manager“. Your business, on the other hand, is what you invest time and money in to help grow your assets.

So, how does this tie in with Robert’s journey toward financial success? Well, when he was young, his poor dad advised him to focus on finding a secure and well-paying job. His rich dad, on the other hand, told him to start buying assets. Guess whose advice he took? That’s right – Rich Dad’s. Robert opened his first business at age 9, where he paid his friend’s sister to rent out comic books to the kids in the neighborhood. Others did the work, he just collected the money.

When he was older, he worked a day job too. In fact, he put in long hours as an employee of large companies like Xerox and Standard Oil of California – but all the while, he was keeping his expenses and liabilities low, investing what remained of his salary, and collecting a healthy portfolio of income-producing assets.

That’s how Kiyosaki learned to mind his own business. Sure, he had a job too – but what ultimately made him rich was the growth of his assets. The time he spent working for companies and investing his earnings taught him to think of his assets as his own employees: every single dollar he put into assets was working for him, making him money even while he slept. Sounds pretty sweet, right?

Well, if you want to get rich, adopt the same attitude. Odds are that your salary won’t make you really wealthy, even with promotions and bonuses thrown in. What your salary can do, is help you buy the assets that will enrich you.

The lesson? Learn to distinguish between your profession and your business, because only one will make you rich. You know which one.

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