In all truthfulness, not all of my businesses have as strong a dual mission as CASHFLOW Technologies, Inc. Other busi- nesses in which I own interests have stronger business mis- sions than spiritual missions. I now realize that my nylon and Velcro wallet business had a very different mission than I first thought. The mission for building that business was to give me a fast education about building a worldwide business. That business fulfilled that mission rather painfully. In other words, I got what I wanted. The business grew very quickly, success was fast and furious, and so was the crash. Yet, as painful as the experi- ence was, I realized that I had achieved my mission. After I dug myself out from under the rubble and rebuilt the busi- ness, I learned what I set out to learn. As rich dad said, "Many entrepreneurs don't really become businesspeople 322 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing until after they lose their first business." In other words, I learned more by losing the business and rebuilding it than I did by being successful. As rich dad said, "School is impor- tant, but the street is a better teacher." So, my first big busi- ness venture after leaving the Marine Corps was expensive and painful, but the lessons I learned were priceless. And the business had fulfilled its mission. Sharon's Note A company's mission helps it maintain focus. In the early stages of development, many factors can cause distraction. The best way to get back on track is to revisit your mission. Does the distraction affect the achievement of your mis- sion? If so, you must deal with the distraction as quickly as possible so that you can re-focus your efforts on the over- all mission. Today, I notice many people becoming instant millionaires, even billionaires, just by taking a company public through an IPO. I often wonder if the company's mission was just to make money for owners or investors or was the com- pany really formed to fulfill a mission or some kind of ser- vice? I am afraid that many of these new IPOs will ultimately fail because their only mission was to make money quickly. Besides, it is in the mission of the company where the entrepreneur's spirit is found. The Team Rich dad always said, "Business is a team sport." He went on to say, "Investing is a team sport." He would also say, "The problem with being in the E and S quadrant is that you play the game as an individual, playing against a team." The B-I Triangle 323 Rich dad would draw the CASHFLOW Quadrant to illus- trate his point: One of rich dad's strongest criticisms of the educational system was: "In school, they train students to take tests on their own. If a child attempts to cooperate at test time, it is called 'cheating.'" Rich dad would also say, "In the real world of business, business owners cooperate at test time, and in the world of business, every day is test time.