" A Very Important Lesson For people considering building a powerful and successful business, I think this lesson on teamwork is crucial. It is one of the primary keys to my financial success. Business and in- 324 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing vesting are team sports, and remember that every day in busi- ness is test time. To be successful in school, you had to take tests alone. In business, success comes from taking tests as a team, not as an individual. People in the E and S quadrant often make less money than they could or would like to because they attempt to do things on their own. If they work as a group, especially those in the E quadrant, they form a union instead of a team. And that is what is happening to medical doctors in America today. They are forming a professional union to combat the power of a team, the business team known as the health mainte- nance organizations (HMOs). Many investors today are trying to invest as individuals. I see and read about thousands of people who are doing online day trading. This is a perfect example of an individual trying to trade against well-organized teams. That is why so few of them succeed as well as why many lose their money. I was taught that when it comes to investing, you should invest as a member of a team. Rich dad would say, "If people want to be- come sophisticated investors and above, they must invest as a team." On rich dad's team were his accountants, his attor- neys, his brokers, his financial advisors, his insurance agents, and his bankers. I use the plurals here because he always had more than one advisor. When he made a decision, it was with input of the team. Today, I do the same. Not a Big Boat... A Big Team On television today, I see commercials of a rich couple, sailing their yacht in some warm tropical waters. The ad seems to draw in all the individuals who are trying to get rich on their own. Whenever I see that commercial, I often think of rich dad saying to me, "Most small-business people dream of someday owning a boat or a plane. That is why they will never own that boat or plane. When I was first starting out, I The B-I Triangle 325 dreamed of having my own team of accountants and attor- neys, not a boat." Rich dad wanted me to aim to have a team of accountants and attorneys working only on my business-before I dreamed of a boat. To drive his point home, he had me go to an accountant in town with my meager little tax return. As I sat across the table from Ron, the CPA, the first thing I noticed was a stack of manila folders sitting on his desk. Immediately, I got rich dad's lesson. This CPA was minding about 30 other businesses on that day alone. How could he pay full attention to my business? Returning to rich dad's office that afternoon, I saw some- thing I had never noticed before. As I sat in the reception area waiting for rich dad's personal secretary to let me in, I could see a team of people working only on rich dad's business.