I recently read the book The Business of the 21st Century by Robert Kiyosaki and absolutely loved it. This book is designed to share with prospects to educate them about the power of network marketing.
It’s quick, easy to read, and filled with great content. Overall, I give it an 8.5 of 10 and highly recommend it. If you haven’t read it yet you should. It’s a great book for brand new MLM distributors and for people thinking about joining the industry.
What I want to do in the rest of this blog post is share some of my favorite quotes from the book. Each quote is in bold and italics. After each quote I will also share my own two cents on the topic. Enjoy.
The Business of the 21st Century: Top Quotes
Here are my favorite Robert Kiyosaki quotes from The Business of the 21st Century.
# 1: Your job is not going to take care of you.
In today’s world there is no such thing as job security, even if you work for a big corporation or the government. Good jobs are hard to find and even harder to keep. You are replaceable. Employers are not loyal. They will get rid of you when you are no longer valuable to them. Everyone needs a side hustle, a back-up plan.
# 2: When times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge.
Many new businesses are formed when the economy is bad. One person’s adversity is another person’s opportunity. Some people are forced into starting a business of their own because they can’t find a good job.
# 3: The S quadrant is typically a trap.
As a self-employed person, you are still trading hours for dollars and you don’t have leverage. You basically own your own job. Everything relies on you and you alone. That’s fine until you want to take time off or you lose your ability to work. Most people working in the “S” quadrant work twice as hard as they did in their job, and in many cases they earn considerably less.
# 4: When you’re talking to someone who values having a job, it is difficult to explain why you might not want a job.
Most people have the employee mindset and have no desire to be their own boss. Most people have been programmed their entire life to work for someone else as an employee.
# 5: A college education is important for traditional professions, but not for people looking to build wealth.
If you want to be a doctor, lawyer, or accountant, you must go to college. But if you want to be an entrepreneur it isn’t required. Most successful entrepreneurs never went to college! Even if you go to college, it won’t prepare you for starting and growing your own business. College teaches people how to be employees, not entrepreneurs.
# 6: People who work for income work harder and harder, only to be taxed more and more.
The more money you make the more money the government takes, and at a higher rate. Employees have no tax incentives either. Owning a business allows you to legally minimize your taxes.
# 7: In the course of starting a new business – and I’m talking about a successful business – you can easily go five to ten years without getting a paycheck.
Most successful businesses in the real world take a few years just to make their first dollar of profit. That’s why you need substantial savings before going full-time, or you should start your business part-time, while you keep your day job. Nothing worth accomplishing is fast, free, or easy. You must put in the work and stay the course.
# 8: While personal success is fulfilling, it’s much more fulfilling when you can help many others create their own success as well.
Life is about helping others. The more people you serve and help, the more money you make and the more success you achieve.
# 9: The single most powerful form of promotion in the world is personal word-of-mouth.
Nothing beats word of mouth advertising. Companies spend BILLIONS of dollars on advertising to get their customers talking about them and sharing their message with others. That’s why network marketing is such a powerful business concept.
# 10: The reason people want to know how much they can earn per month is that they are thinking in terms of living in the E quadrant or the S quadrant.
Employee minded people focus on making more money or making more money per hour. Entrepreneurs focus on building an asset that makes money, even when they don’t work.
# 11: If it doesn’t make you money, it’s not an asset, it’s a liability.
Anything that takes your money out of your pocket is a liability. This includes your mortgage.
# 12: When you build a business, you are building an asset.
The purpose of building a business is to build something that you can sell in the future for a big profit, or retire from and still earn residual income.
# 13: In network marketing, instead of earning income, you build an asset – your business – and the asset generates income.
This is where most people get confused about network marketing. Network marketing is not about just selling a product. Instead, it’s about building a network of people who use the product, sell the product, and refer others who do the same thing.
# 14: The biggest popular misconception about network marketing is that it’s a selling business.
The people who do the best in network marketing are TEACHERS. Yes, you need some basic selling skills, but teaching is the skill that will pay you a significant amount of money in our industry. Your job is to teach people to teach people to teach people.
# 15: In network marketing, the whole point is not to sell a product, but to build a network.
Most people think network marketing is just about selling a product or service. Instead, it’s a combination of retailing and recruiting. It’s about a lot of people doing a little bit consistently. It’s about having leverage and earning a small commission off hundreds, even thousands of people’s efforts, not just your own.
# 16: Network marketing is not about earning more income; it’s about building an asset.
Your ultimate goal with your business is to build an asset that continues to pay you, month-after-month, even if you stop working.
# 17: The No. 1 value you get from the experience is a real-world business education.
MLM is the best business school I know of. You will learn selling, marketing, leadership, communication, accounting, business operations, training, and countless other real-world skills that will help you in your day job and future business endeavors.
# 18: You don’t really have freedom until you have financial freedom.
Until you have enough residual income coming in that pays for your living expenses each month, or more, you will never be totally free. Most people are only one or two paychecks away from bankruptcy. Most people never really call their own shots or OWN their life.
# 19: Many people spend their lives hanging out and networking with people who hold them back financially.
Take advice from people who have what you want and avoid the haters. Surround yourself with people who uplift you and encourage you and avoid the people who bring you down. Never take advice from someone who doesn’t have what you want.
# 20: According to the Direct Selling Association (DSA), a significant number of people who join network marketing companies and stick with them rank the social network they belong to as an even higher priority than the income they earn.
Most people want to belong to something bigger than themselves. They want more friends and better relationships. Your job is to create a team culture than enables that. Create a strong community and people will stick around, even if they stop building a business.
# 21: The power is not in the product; the power is in the network.
Your product is important, but your network is more important. That is your real asset.
# 22: The richest people in the world build networks. Everyone else looks for work.
Once you own a network, you can make money on demand. Companies like Amazon, eBay, AT&T and Coca-Cola all own large networks of people.
# 23: It is not a business for those gifted in sales.
This is a business for leaders and teachers, not salesmen. This really is a sponsoring and teaching business, not a recruiting and selling business. If you are really good at selling you might want to pursue a career that pays large commissions per transaction, such as real estate or financial services. However, if you like to coach, train, and nurture others, network marketing is a dream profession.
# 24: Network marketing is about sharing information and personal stories, and not about hard selling.
Use the products. Develop a good product story. Share your story with others. Facts tell, but stories sell. There is no need to lie, deceive, hard-sell or pressure anyone to do the business.
# 25: In network marketing, you are the messenger, not the message.
Use third party tools to share your products and business with others. Take yourself out of the equation. Keep the business so simple even an eight year old could do it.
# 26: Being on the front lines means not caring about whether or not you are liked. Of course, we all want to be liked – but to be a great leader, you have to set boundaries, monitor the behavior of your staff, and take corrective action when necessary.
Leaders must set the example, do the right thing, and not worry about what everyone else is doing or thinking. When you are a leader you are a trailblazer, not someone following the pack. If you aren’t the lead dog, the view never changes.
# 27: Wealth is not the same thing as money. Wealth is not measured by the size of income. Wealth is measured in time.
True wealth is determined by the number of months you can live, and sustain your current standard of living, without working.
# 28: Getting a business off the ground typically takes about five years.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. You won’t achieve overnight success in any business. No matter what type of business you start, it’s going to take time and sweat equity to launch it and grow it.
# 29: Don’t try to use your business as an income source to live on.
Be smart about how you spend your bonus check. During your first few years in business, find and keep a day job to pay your bills. It’s going to take some time to build up your MLM Income. Even if you are making money with your network marketing business, you should reinvest most of it back into your business to grow it.
# 30: Keep your day job.
You need a job to keep the financial pressure off your back while you are building your network marketing business. No new business is designed to provide enough income right out the gate to support your family.
# 31: If you suck all the income out of your new business to burn on monthly living expenses, then you’re not building a business; you’re just building yourself another job.
One of my best pieces of advice is to get a job, or keep your day job, during your first few years in your network marketing business.
# 32: A true business owner never stops investing and reinvesting to build the business.
Your business is like a small baby. You must nurture it, spend time with it, and love on it until it grows and takes on a life of its own. Invest in your business. It is a good investment.
# 33: Network marketing is, at its core, a relationship business. It’s not a business that revolves around making sales; it is a business that revolves around making connections.
This is the ultimate people business. The more rock solid long-term relationships you can develop, the more money you will make in your network marketing business.
# 34: I think party plan businesses – a type of network marketing business that revolves around in-home parties – are ideal for so many women looking to start their own business.
If you enjoy selling in small groups, you should consider the party-plan business.
# 35: You have to go out there and make things happen.
You can’t think your way to success. You must roll up your sleeves and do the work. You will learn more in one hour of doing something than you will in hundreds of hours studying how to do it.
# 36: The most lucrative and viable network marketing opportunities will not expect you to reinvent the wheel.
Find a simple system that works and follow it, until you can find or develop a better way. As Michael Gerber says, “the system is the solution.”
# 37: “Great salesman” types cannot duplicate themselves.
The good recruiters typically can’t teach their team how to do the same thing they’re doing. It’s the teachers that do the best in our industry.
# 38: If getting rich were easy, everybody would be rich.
Achieving success at anything in life takes time, money, effort, and skill. There is no free lunch in the real world.
# 39: It is people in the E and the S quadrants who are most often sucked into the get-rich-quick schemes and scams of life.
There is no such thing as get rich quick in the business world. Any business worth pursuing requires time, money, hard work, patience, the long-term view, a good plan, special skills, proper financing, and even a little bit of luck.
# 40: It takes time to build great companies and great business leaders.
This business, just like any other business, will take you several years to get off the ground, making good money. Why? You must learn the ropes, build your network, develop your skills, build up your customer base, and become a subject matter expert in your chosen field.
# 41: Most people want money but are unwilling to invest their time.
This is not a business for dreamers. Everyone says they want to be successful, but few people are willing to put in the required work. This is a business for doers.
# 42: Ten thousand hours: Do the math. If you work eight hours a day, five days a week, you hit the 10,000 hour mark after five years of full-time effort.
It takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. You can earn as you learn, but if you want to make the big bucks in this industry, you must put in the time, develop your specialized knowledge, and become a network marketing professional.
# 43: Losing is a part of the process of winning.
You must fail your way to success. Success is never a straight line. It has ups and downs, zigs and zags. Move one step forward, two steps back. Keep pressing forward and do not quit.
# 44: You can plan all you want, study all you want, and learn all you want, but the only people who win in network marketing are people who take action – today, tomorrow, and every day.
Until you roll up your sleeves and do the work, nothing will happen in your network marketing business. You won’t think your way to the top. All out massive action is the key to success.
About the Book
The Business of the 21st Century by Robert Kiyosaki was published in February 2012 by Manjul Publishing House. It comes in softcover format and has 134-pages. The ISBN is 978-8183222600. Order a copy on Amazon.
About Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki is a well respected author, trainer, consultant, and business coach. He is the author of many best-selling books to include Rich Dad, Poor Dad and The Cashflow Quadrant.
Robert’s Best Books
Rich Dad, Poor Dad. This is Robert’s best-selling book of all time. Learn how the rich think differently than the average person and discover the differences between an asset and a liability.
Cash Flow Quadrant. In this book, you will learn the four different ways people make money. You’ll also learn the best ways to make money, so you can have time, money, and freedom.
If You Want to Be Rich & Happy, Don’t Go to School. This controversial book teaches you why college is not the best route for most people. He teaches you that college is designed to conform you into an employee.
Final Thoughts
In summary, I highly recommend you read the book The Business of the 21st Century by Robert Kiyosaki. It’s really an eye opener about the power of the network marketing industry. I also suggest you order a few copies of the book to share with your prospects to warm them up about the potential of network marketing.
What are your thoughts? Have you read the book? Did you like it? What is your favorite Robert Kiyosaki quote mentioned above? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great day.
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- The E-Myth Revisited
- The Asset Value of Your MLM Business
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Robert Kiyosaki is one of the most popular mentors in MLM.
Great quotes. #4 especially makes sense. It makes me laugh that some people assume having a job is the only way they can earn an income, and it’s very hard to try and get them to change their attitude. They will never get out of their comfort zone.
If a person you’re trying to sponsor is someone with that type of attitude, then keep looking.
I’m a big fan of Robert Kiyosaki.
I once had someone tell me that college wasn’t needed for entrepreneurship, and I was very skeptical to accept it. I think we are so programmed to believe that college is a mandate no matter what you want to do in life, but entrepreneurship can in fact be achieved without a college degree. However, I think training and learning in the form of mentorship is still pretty beneficial to success.
College is important for some careers, but not every career.
Robert Kiyosaki is a very wise man. From the quotes you installed here, I can see why this would be a book every network marketer should read.
We have been bred to get a job and stick with it our whole lives. Trading hours for dollars essentially makes us slaves. If you try to explain that to a person with that mindset though, you may not want to tell them they are slaves, because I have discovered it usually creates resentment.
I also notice how much he speaks about building a strong business means not making money at first. A person should always be prepared for that. That is why most people who are looking to make a “quick buck” don’t last in network marketing.
Thanks for sharing this review.
Yes, most people have been taught to be an employee their entire life and it’s hard for them to think outside the box and consider other ways to make money.
As a freelancer, I have noticed that the economy has been driving people outside that box. It seems that this last year, around 70% of workers have turned to doing some type of freelance work. What this means to me is that a person in network marketing should be able to use those statistics to show people how they can use network marketing as a way to help their income. The world is going to where more and more people are discovering that having their own business is much more lucrative than working a traditional job.
The world is definitely changing. The traditional way of making a living is quickly becoming outdated.