"Kiyosaki on Network Marketing"

by Eddie Patin
(from the Financial Freedom and Achieving Business Success article series)

Since I make so many references to Robert Kiyosaki’s “Cashflow Quadrant” and his outlook on making the transition to the ‘B’ quadrant (“Business Owner”), I thought I’d include some of his words on one of his favorite ‘B’ businesses: network marketing.

The ‘B’ quadrant, insofar as businesses and business systems go, is all about the numbers. Statistics, financial statements, books, balances, and the bottom line. That’s where network marketing comes in so strong—because it’s like buying a franchise (a pre-existing system that has been proven to work), for a very cheap ‘franchise cost’, and you don’t have to worry about the normal, statistical failure rate of starting up your own part time business from scratch. Kiyosaki says this in a video regarding part time businesses:

"9 out of 10 start-up businesses fail within the first 5 years. So, you may want to keep your day-time job and start in a part-time business, like a network marketing company. The entry-point financed is very low--less than $500 ..."


Buying into an existing system, as long as you follow that system, will practically guarantee your success, as long as you don’t skimp on the work involved or deviate from the proven methods.

If you were to buy into a McDonald’s franchise, for instance, you wouldn’t want to start creating your own menu because you felt like inventing other burgers, or removing burgers that you think (in your opinion) people won’t want to buy, or hiring independent contractors to take orders, etc. In fact, you’d probably lose your franchise license. Those systems are in place because they work. In network marketing, you’ll have lots of freedom to use your creativity to increase business, web traffic, and marketing—but you don’t need to if you don’t want to. Good systems (like the Independent Profit Center) will come with training and proven step-by-step methods to follow that will bring about the results—results that will make you money and increase your holdings in the ‘B’ quadrant.

Even though the Independent Profit Center (and other network marketing companies) can be very easy to run and easy to make profitable, it’s still not ‘something for nothing’. You must treat it like a business. If you take it seriously, and devote the part time attention to following the steps to make it grow, it can and will make a very good side income. In fact, you can make very fast money (as long as you don’t cut corners and try to take short-cuts), and good money, that could quickly replace the income from your day-job. But, don’t buy in expecting that it will magically become a money-making entity without putting in the initial work involved. That said, the work is pretty easy, if you have or can develop the discipline to devote a little time each week and make it happen.

Kiyosaki says, from another video:

"I'm often asked, 'why do I recommend network marketing?', especially since I'm not in the network marketing business. Like many people, early on, I had a very negative, or close-minded attitude, about network marketing. But I've changed my mind, and opened up the way that I think. I've looked at the network marketing industry, and I’ve found some things that are extremely beneficial—especially for people who are looking to make some changes from the E and the S over to the right side of the quadrant.

One of the beauties of network marketing is that it actually teaches you the mental, emotional, and technical skills to be in the B quadrant. Somebody in network marketing has the potential of building a system with over 500 people in it, plus unlimited income. The things that network marketing teaches you include the most important skill in the B quadrant: the ability to sell. One of the reasons I worked for the Zerox Corporation when I got out of the Marine Corp was to learn how to sell. My rich dad said, 'If you're going to be in the business quadrant, and become BIG business, you must learn how to sell or communicate to employees, to specialists, to investors (to raise capital), as well as to your customers.' So, communication or sales skills are essential for somebody in the B quadrant, and the network marketing industry—not all of them, but some of them—have excellent training programs to teach you how to sell, how to communicate, and how to build businesses.

The other thing that's beautiful about the network marketing industry is that it teaches you self-confidence. There's a reason that many people don't go over to the B quadrant: that they're afraid of rejection. Network marketing teaches you to handle your own fears, overcome your fear of rejection, and build that self-confidence, and that's ~essential~ for the B quadrant.

Also, it gives you time. In the real world, when I worked for Zerox as an employee for four years, if I didn't sell, I was fired. The beauty of the network marketing industry is that they'll work with you. You can take as much time as you like to develop those skills. As your skills increase, so does your income. Take one year. Two years. Five years. It takes time to develop those skills. The network marketing industry gives you the education and the time to build that self-confidence.

Once you have your business up … once you have all this excess money coming from your business, then you can invest your money into real estate, stocks, and bonds, and that's what the 'Cashflow' game teaches you how to do: how to be a successful, proficient investor. Especially an investor on the 'fast track'--the fast track is where the rich invest.

So the beauty of network marketing (is that it) … builds you up, teaches you how to increase your income, and builds your self-confidence. … That's why I recommend network marketing, and that's why I work hand-in-hand with so many of those businesses."


Remember: our time is our most precious resource. That’s why we are looking at moving over to the right side of the Cashflow Quadrant in the first place—to have more time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to spend any more time working by the hour for someone else’s goals than I absolutely have to. I want to spend my time with my family, and working on my hobbies (like writing, music, and building BIGGER CASHFLOW). I want to have my money working for me—not me working for my money (or someone else’s money). So I choose to spend my spare time today, while I’m not working for someone else, to develop multiple streams of income, so that I can eventually achieve my own financial freedom, and not have to waste any more time of my life ‘working for the man’.

And here’s a little extra for you: taxes. If you’ve always been an ‘E’ (an employee), you may be unaware that ‘E’s pay the most taxes out of any quadrant. And the more money you make as an ‘E’, the more taxes you have to pay. The other quadrants (especially ‘B’ and ‘I’) have to pay their share of taxes too, but they play by different rules. There are many ways to deduct expenses and other things from your taxes when you’re on the right side of the quadrant. There are also ways to ‘defer’ (hold off) taxes through techniques in investing and re-investing. That’s a whole other subject, but Kiyosaki touches on it (very) briefly in this next quotation from another video:

"I want to pass on one more secret to how people get rich. Many people keep their day-time jobs, and start a part-time business. That's what network marketing does. But you can also start a part-time franchise. People like Henry Ford started a part-time business in his garage, which became Ford Motor Company. Michael Dell started Dell Computers in his dorm room. And other people have started their businesses on a kitchen table.

So one of the ways the rich get rich (or recommend getting rich) is to keep your day-time job and start your part-time business. As I also said earlier, the tax laws are different for each of these quadrants. When you're in the B quadrant, you have the best tax advantages of the rich. So keep your day-time job, start a part-time business, gain the best tax advantages available to any of the quadrants, and then invest your money. That's how the rich get richer."


I hope this series of articles has been educational for you, or at least entertaining and thought-provoking. Once you sit down and put some serious thought into the Cashflow Quadrant and how it relates to your own life and dreams, you should hopefully be better off and maybe have a little more direction about what to do from here.

If you’re interested in learning more about network marketing, specifically the Independent Profit Center, follow the link below (or use the button up on the left) to check out my business page specifically about IPC. There, I’ll be including more information and articles specific to the program that you won’t find on my actual Independent Profit Center website (BiggerCashflow.com). Even if you’re not interested in the Independent Profit Center, or getting into something in the ‘B’ quadrant for yourself, you should still check it out—you might learn a little more about running a business (especially an online business), and how my life is being enhanced from the experience.

Go on to EddiePatin.com/IPC !!

 Or, if you have decided by now to get involved in a great network marketing program, and want to go directly to my IPC website, click here, or on the banner below...

Good luck, and be prosperous.

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By the way, I make a lot of references to the materials written by Robert Kiyosaki and his business. I believe in the sanctity of intellectual property, so I’ll quote where I need quoting, and I won’t try to pretend I created any concepts I didn’t. In fact, if you go to my links / suggested reading page, you can find direct links to his website, and links to purchase his books and board-game, “Cashflow 101”. His books are excellent, if you take the parables with a grain of salt. There is a lot of knowledge to be gleaned from them.