Other businesses are often hard to finance because they may not be considered stable systems. I have often heard the following: "The only time a bank will loan you money is when you don't need it." I see it differently. I have always found that the bank will loan you money when you have a stable system that has value and when you can demonstrate that the money will be paid back. A good businessperson can manage multiple systems 354 Rich Dad's Guide to Investing effectively without becoming part of the system. A true busi- ness system is much like a car. The car does not depend upon only one person to drive it. Anyone who knows how to drive it can do so. The same is true for а В quadrant business but not necessarily for an S quadrant business. In most cases, the person in the S quadrant is the system. One day, I was considering starting a small coin shop that specialized in rare collectable coins, and rich dad said to me, "Always remember that the В quadrant gets more money from investors because investors invest in good systems and peo- ple who can build good systems. Investors do not like to in- vest in businesses where the system goes home at night." Sharon's Notes Every business, whether large or small, needs to have sys- tems in place to enable it to conduct its day-to-day activi- ties. Even a sole proprietor has to wear different hats to conduct his or her business. In essence, the sole propri- etor is all systems in one. The better the system, the less dependent you become on others. Robert described McDonald's in this way: "It's the same everywhere in the world-and is run by teenagers." This is possible because of the excellent systems in place. McDonald's depends on systems, not people. The Role of a CEO A CEO's job is to supervise all systems and identify weak- nesses before the weaknesses turn into system failures. This can happen in many different ways, but it is excep- tionally disconcerting wheh your company is growing rap- idly. Your sales are increasing, your product or service is getting attention from the media, and suddenly you can't deliver. Why? Usually, it's because your systems imploded from the increased demand. You didn't have enough Systems Management 355 phone lines, or operators answering the phones; you didn't have enough production capacity or enough hours in the week to meet the demand; or you didn't have the money to build the product or hire additional help. Whatever the reason, you missed the opportunity to move your business to the next level of success due to a failure of one of your systems. At each new level of growth, the CEO must start planning the systems needed to support the next level of growth, from phone lines to lines of credit for production needs. Systems drive both cash flow management and communi- cation. As your systems get better, you or your employees will have to exert less and less effort.