Quitters Rarely Win

Robert Kiyosaki - International Bestselling Author

Quitters Rarely Win, There is a young man who worked for me a few years ago. He was very bright, charming, had his MBA, and earned a lot of money. In his spare time, he and his wife tried many business ventures. They tried real estate, and failed. They bought her a small franchise, and failed. Then they bought a nursing home, and nearly lost everything when patients died unexpectedly. Today, both are back at work with high-paying jobs, but an unsettling feeling of inadequacy.

The reason I mention this young couple is because they failed to learn. They let the learning process beat them. When the going got tough, they quit. While it's commendable that they tried new ventures, they stopped when their problems seemed too big to be solved. They failed to push through their failure and learn from their mistakes. They failed to realize that the process, not the money, made them rich.

One of the toughest lessons I had to learn from my rich dad was to stick with the process until I won. When I ran into trouble at Xerox because I could not sell, I wanted to quit. Because I could not sell, I was not making money. In fact, it was costing me more to live in Honolulu than I was earning. Rich dad said, "You can quit when you win, but never quit because you're losing." Not until 1978, after becoming the number one salesperson for Xerox, did I quit. The process had made me richer, both mentally and financially. By overcoming my problem of not being able to sell, I was able to overcome my problem of not making money.

While working at Xerox I started my nylon wallet business in my spare time. In 1978, I went full-time into my wallet business. The business took off, and then failed. Again, I wanted to quit; and again, rich dad reminded me that the process is more important than the goal. Many times he reminded me, while I was deeply in debt, without much money, that if and when I solved this problem, I would never need money again. I would know how to build a business, and I would be a little more financially intelligent. But first I had to solve the problem in front of me.