Manager Skills And Management Development - http://www.greatmanagement.org
Learn To Mind Your Own Business
http://www.greatmanagement.org/articles/985/1/Learn-To-Mind-Your-Own-Business/Page1.html
Simon Fuller
Over the course of twenty years, Simon Fuller has built a long roster of major recording artists and top international talent, including Annie Lennox, sports legend David Beckham, Claudia Schiffer, and The Spice Girls. He has managed the largest-selling music acts in the U.S. for the last three years, and in May 2008, Billboard Magazine crowned Fuller the "most successful British music manager of all time," with an astonishing 116 million units sold in North America alone.  
By Simon Fuller
Published on 02/27/2009
 
“Many people confuse their profession with their business,” says Kiyosaki. “To become financially secure people need to mind their own business.”

“Many people confuse their profession with their business,” says Kiyosaki. “To become financially secure people need to mind their own business.”

There was once a friend of Kiyosaki’s whose 16 year old son desperately wanted a new car. His friends had all been given one by their parents, and now this son expected nothing less. But, it was not going to be that easy for the boy. His father had played Kiyosaki’s CASHFLOW board game; he wanted to teach his son a lesson in financial management.

The father gave his son $3,000 but forbade him from using it to buy a car just yet. At the same time, he gave his son a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. The father told his son that only once he had earned an additional $6,000 from investments could he then use $3,000 to buy a car. The other $3,000 would of course go into his college fund. “My friend said it was the best $3,000 he ever spent,” says Kiyosaki. “Not only had his son gained a new respect for the power of money, he also learned to spend money wisely instead of letting money burn holes in his pockets.”

The lesson that this 16 year old boy had learned was one that Kiyosaki wants everyone else to heed as well. No matter what you do for a living, you need to understand what Kiyosaki sees as the three most important money skills if you want to achieve financial freedom: “how to earn money, how to manage it, and how to invest.” CASHFLOW is his attempt to raise the financial IQ of children and teach them these important skills. Without them, children will never learn to mind their own business.

Kiyosaki might have been working as a salesman at Xerox, but it was his own business investments on the side that had him most engaged. And, he kept his day job until he was earning enough on the side to quit “Your business revolves around your asset column, as opposed to your income column,” says Kiyosaki. “The rich focus on their asset columns while the poor and middle class focus on their income columns.” This is the lesson Kiyosaki wants everyone to learn, and unless they do, they will never be able to take control of their own financial destinies. Instead, they will be caught in the complex economic webs of those who are.

In understanding the concepts of income and expenses and assets and liabilities, Kiyosaki says that people can begin to develop their own financial statements. They can also be better prepared to take advantage of the many investments and opportunities that are out there waiting to be found. For instance, while the U.S. Tax Code provides many ways for people to save on their taxes, Kiyosaki says, “it is the rich who usually look for them and use them because they have learned to ‘mind their own business.’”

Everybody, from the time they are children, says Kiyosaki, should begin to be more aware of their financial situation. He suggests, for instance, that kids should give their parents invoices for any chores they do in lieu of receiving allowance. However, if your parents never taught you the financial basics, do not fret. “Money is a base subject,” he says and one that is never too late to start learning.