As a successful aspiring entrepreneur, you dare to walk a different path than 97% of society. He seeks to get rich so that he can design his own life independent of his paycheck. Instead of a JOB, you’d rather work for yourself and be your own boss, maybe work from home or anywhere you want, and be financially free to live the lifestyle of your dreams.
Whether you’re starting a brick-and-mortar business, a home-based business, or an Internet business, Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and The Business School) talks about three different types of education required for the successful entrepreneur. If he wants to achieve this financial freedom to live his own life, he needs school education, professional education and financial education.
Let’s unpack those three first.
School Education it’s basically what you get at school. In the main part, it deals with basic literacy. He is taught to read, write and do math, very important to survive in today’s information age. Throughout our childhood we are taught the importance of getting a good education. As adults, we are encouraged to become lifelong learners and invest in our personal development. It’s pretty much indoctrinated in us that getting good grades in school, even going to college, is the best way to get a well-paying job.
Professional education it is what teaches you to work for money. This type of education can be obtained from apprenticeships and training, as well as through your work experience. This type of education can range from apprenticeships in a trade or service to higher level training to become a doctor, lawyer, accountant, pilot, etc.
financial education it is rarely taught at school or at home or anywhere else! This is where you learn how to make money work for you (as opposed to you working for money as above). Most people don’t even realize that academic and professional education will only get you so far.
Without financial or wealth education, you may not appreciate the ‘different path’ available to you and will always end up working for the rich, not getting rich. This is how Robert Kiyosaki distinguishes the two with his Rich Dad Poor Dad concept.
However, these days if you do business primarily on the Internet, in my opinion there is a really crucial fourth type of education and that is social education. So I’ll add this one to the mix.
Social education It is important in any business where you make sales and deal with customers. But online, it’s even more important since you can’t ‘get together’ in person and much of our social behavior is based on body language and visual and auditory cues.
Social education is about developing”emotional intelligence” towards others. It is learning to communicate effectively with people about their situation, needs and feelings. It is about active listening and empathy. It is about connecting with a person’s greatest hopes and worst fears .
Some would say that you develop ‘sales’ skills to manipulate people. I advise you to develop soft skills to match what you can offer with what people are looking for! (In that scenario, there’s no need for a hard sell.)
On the Internet, social education is critical to every part of your marketing, sales, and support. This is because purchasing decisions depend much more on people’s sense of trust. Being seen as an authority and a leader builds your credibility online.
This is evident in the growing trend towards social media and personal branding, so-called “attraction marketing”, which is the business model of all successful internet marketers today. People need to know, like and trust you before they can do business with you, become a customer or partner with you.
Social education is, therefore, one of the pillars of effective marketing. It teaches you aspects of the psychology behind different personality types, how people make decisions, how to attract others to you, how to achieve win-win results, etc.
By taking the time to learn how to translate that knowledge and understanding into your personal brand, your writing, your presentations, and your conversations, you will increase the success of your business.
