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The old adage, go to school, get a good education, get a good job, and stick with it used to be the key to the American Dream.  It is now going the way of the Dodo.  Back in the day of our grandparents, this was the way of life, and it worked for them.  They passed it down to our parents, it worked for them, and they passed it down to us.  However, if this mindset continues to be passed down, then we will perpetuate generations of burned out workaholics that are not guaranteed to get what they want out of life.

We have been put under the impression that a quality education will lead us to financial success in life.  In some fields of work, this is true.  But, for the most part, this is only one piece of the equation.  We spend 30, 40, 50 years of our lives slaving away at our jobs to achieve someone elses dreams and forget about our own.  When you see someone on their deathbed, you will never hear him or her say, Gee, I wish I would have spent more time at the office.  No, what you will hear him or her say is, Gee, I wish I would have spent more time with my family.  Time is much more valuable than money because you cannot get it back.  Imagine for a moment that a natural disaster came through and destroyed everything you had.  Even though you have nothing, you can go back to work and regain what youve lost.  Perhaps eventually youll have more than what you had lost.  Now, sit idle for one whole minute.  Dont talk, dont think, just sit quiet.Now, is there anything you can do to get that minute back?  Can you pay anyone to get that time back?  Can you work extra hours?  Unfortunately not.  You cant even get one second of your time back.  This is why it is very important to make good use of every minute that is given to you.

We all have big dreams, or at least we should.  What would you have to do at your job to make the kind of money you need to accomplish those dreams?  Even if you worked overtime for the rest of your life, you probably would still not get what you needed.  Even if you did, you would not have time to enjoy it because you will be dead.  I will submit to you that business ownership is the only way to generate the kind of wealth that you want and deserve.  It is the only way to spend your time the way YOU see fit and not someone else.

When it comes down to making money, according to Robert Kiyosaki, there are four types of people:  employees, self-employed, investors, and business owners.  All of these people are interested in time and money, but have to make a trade for one for the other in different ways except for onethe business owners.

Employees go to a job everyday for a paycheck.  This is called trading time for money.  You go to school for x amount of years to get a degree that qualifies you for a job.  You get the job, and you make a salary.  The salary says, This is what WE think you are worth in this position.  We work and work and work harder to either get more overtime or get promoted because we know that we are worth a lot more than what we get paid for.  In addition to that, the employee is limited in how much money he or she can make.  People who get paid by the hour can only work a certain amount of hours a day (mainly 8-16).  Now, lets say you wanted to be really crazy (and potentially shorten your life) and work more hours.  How many hours can you work?  You are limited to 24 hours in a day only a certain [unknown] number of days to live.  The following may sound good at first glance, but after reading this article youll see that its not such a good idea after all.  Whether youre a salaried or hourly employee, you get paid regardless of what you do.  If youre salaried and you show up late, youll still get paid the stated amount.  If you get sick and cant make it youll still get paidassuming that you have adequate PTO.  If you come to work and just sit around you still get paid!  To get paid as an employee, all you have to do is show upwell, until you get fired.

The self-employed people do not go to a job.  They do what they like and make money with it.  They appear to work whenever they want and seem to be flexible.  They look as if they are free since they are their own boss, but we all know that the grass is not always greener.  The self-employed trade more time for more money.  When you are self-employed, YOU are the business.  The business is always with you because your income is dependent on your ability to work.  If you go on vacation you are not making money during that time.  If you become disabled and cannot work, then your money ceases to come in.  You only get paid when you work.

An investor takes his or her money, gives it to someone or something, waits for a given amount of time, and then gets back more than he or she gave.  This is called trading money for money.  This is actually not a bad place to be.  Its always a good thing to have your money working for you.  However, generally for this work you need to already have a lot of money.  If Mr. Jones from down the street who has a mortgage, two car payments, 2.5 kids, and a dog tries to do this, then it would be a big risk.  Mr. Jones will have to hope that nothing happens to his family, his job, or the house while hes waiting on his return because if something were to happen his money would be tied up.  Also, there is no guarantee that he will actually make money.  The forecast says that its very likely, but no one knows what the outcome will be.  He gets paid when conditions are right.

A business owner is ultimately where everyone should aspire to be.  One could say that a business owner trades time for time.  Some people do not see the difference between a business owner and being self-employed.  When youre self-employed, you are your own boss, but youre not plugged into a system.  Also, when you stop working, the money stops coming.  A business owner is a part of a system that is designed to create residual income for the individual.  Residual income is money that comes in and keeps coming in long after the work is done.  Essentially you work one time and get paid for it forever.  A great example of residual income is royalties for singers, musicians, authors, etc.  They spend time recording in the studio one time (or writes one book), and they get royalties for the rest of their lives.  Every time the song is played, every time the album is purchased, and every time a book is purchased they get paid.  Even after he or she is dead the money still keeps going.  Thats the beauty of residual income.  You can literally make money in your sleep!  You can actually leave an inheritance for your children because the money just keeps coming.  When youre self-employed and you die, the money stops unless you taught someone else how to do what you did.  The only problem with that is the profit goes to that person and his or her family and not yours.

So, if I need to get residual income to generate wealth, then how do I get residual income?  Great question!  The key to residual income is duplication.   Would you agree that if you had about ten more of you then you would get more done in one day?  Sure you would.  Duplication, or franchising, allows you to have as many businesses as you want or need all sending back a percentage of their profits back to you.  This is how McDonalds operates.  There are approximately 33,000 McDonalds around the world.  After an owner pays the franchising fee and goes through training, he or she can keep 98% of the profits and sends the remaining 2% back to the home office.  At first glance that doesnt seem to be a good deal.  Lets say that a McDonalds makes $1000 a day.  So, at the end of the day, the owner keeps $980 and sends $20 back.  Sound good?  For the owner yes.  When you think about 33,000 $20s coming in that sounds much better, right?  Of course it does.  All the owners get $980 a day, but the corporate office gets $660,000 worth of $20s.  Duplication is the way to go!

I hope that you have seen that owning a business is the best way to achieve what you want in life.  Its the only way youre going to create residual income to provide wealth for generation after generation.  The American Dream is not working ¾ of your life and retiring on the same income that kids working in fast food make.  The American Dream is not depending on your children or someone else to take care of you because you did not prepare (or was not able to prepare).  The American Dream isnt even about winning the lottery and having a large lump sum of money.  The real American Dream is about being wealthy.  There is a difference between being wealthy and rich.  Rich people have lots of money.  Wealthy people have lots of money, no debt, work but have no job, and can take care of their family for a generation or two (and maybe more).  The lottery can make you rich, but it wont make you wealthy unless you use that money to invest in a system that will generate wealth.  Find a business to plug into, and make sure that it is something that you can pour your heart into.  The more passionate or excited about something you are the more successful your business will be.  People will be more apt to get involved in your business or be your customers if you really believe in what youre doing and are positive.  You could come up with the best business model ever created and have the best ideas, but if you dont believe in it, then you will not be successful.

Get your own business.  Focus on the business and work it until you are able to retire from your job.  Live life and enjoy it the way we were meant to enjoy it.  We only have a certain amount of time to do it, so dont waste your life.  Go get your life back.  Live the new American Dream!