Great products are a dime a dozen. But great businesspeople are rare and rich." If you look at Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, he did not even invent his software product. He bought it from a group of computer programmers and then went on to build one of the most powerful and influential companies in world his- tory. Gates did not build a great product, but he did build a great business that helped him become the richest man in the world. Therefore, the message is, do not bother trying to make a great product. Focus more on starting a business so you can learn to become a great business owner. Michael Dell of Dell Computers started his part-time busi- ness in his dormitory of the University of Texas. He had to quit school because his part-time business was making him far richer than any job he was studying for could. Amazon.com was also started in a garage on a part-time basis. That young man is a billionaire today. The Lesson in Hindsight Many people dream of starting their own business but never do because they're afraid of failing. Many other people dream of becoming rich but don't become so because they lack the skills and experience. The business skills and experi- ence is where money really comes from. Rich dad said to me, "The education you receive in school Keep Your Day Job and Still Become Rich 305 is important, but the education you receive on the street is even better." Starting a business at home, part-time, allows you to learn priceless business skills and subjects such as: 1. Communication skills 2. Leadership skills 3. Team-building skills 4. Tax law 5. Corporate law 6. Securities law These skills or subjects cannot be learned in a weekend course or in a single book. I continue to study them today, and the more I study them, the more my businesses improve. One reason people learn so much by starting a part-time business is that they start as insiders, insiders in their own business. If someone can learn to build businesses, a whole new world with virtually unlimited financial opportunity be- comes available. One of the problems with being in the E quadrant or the S quadrant, however, is that the opportunities are often limited by how hard one person can work and how many hours there are in a day. Chapter 29 The Entrepreneurial Spirit People invest for two basic reasons: 1. To save for retirement 2. To make a lot of money While most of us invest for both reasons-and both are im- portant-it seems that the majority of people lean more to- ward the first reason. They put money away as savers do and hope it will increase in value over time. They invest but they are more concerned about losing than winning. I have met many people whose fear of losing prevents them from acting. People need to be true to their emotional senses when invest- ing. If the pain and the fear of losing are too great, it is best for that investor to invest very conservatively.