How to Get Out of the Rat Race

The Lessons I Learned Working In the Rich Dad, Poor Dad Realm

When I met Robert Kiyosaki, I was one of the most broken human beings a human could be. I hid my brokenness because I was in the middle of reinventing myself in my early forties. I had to get my confidence and cash flow back.

It was 2003, and I was a nobody in the process of going bankrupt after building a small business for a decade and selling it to a big company. I chased the money by selling my small financial planning business, knowing the buyer was in bed with the devil.

The purpose of my article is to encourage you never to stop searching inside yourself for your unique abilities, passion, and purpose because once you discover that part of yourself, you will never again be part of the Rat Race that sucks at human souls.

The way to get out of the rat race is to know yourself and build the business and investment life of your dreams. To do that, I'm about to share one of the most powerful transformations I've experienced to escape further the rat race I left in 1991 when I began to work for myself; live free or die.

Rat Race Defined by Robert Kiyosaki

The term "Rat Race" has been around for several decades. It was popularized in the 1970s by the American writer and commentator?Studs Terkel, who described the cycle of long hours and limited fulfillment many people experience in their jobs.

In his best-selling books "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and "The Cash Flow Quadrant," Robert Kiyosaki argues that the Rat Race is a product of our education system, which teaches us to work hard, get good grades, and pursue safe, stable careers. Kiyosaki believes that this mindset keeps many people stuck in a cycle of debt and limited financial success and that the only way to break free is to adopt a new way of thinking about money and wealth.

To escape the Rat Race, Kiyosaki suggests several steps, including investing in assets that generate passive income, building a business or investing in real estate, and developing a mindset of financial education and abundance.

The way out of the Rat Race is to find your purpose and unique ability and apply the fire in your belly to reading, learning, and networking your way out of the Rat Race.

Trust me. If I can, anyone can do it, given the willingness to sacrifice everything and risk missing the boat, even if it takes living in a small van by a dried-out lake until you create the business and cash flow of your dreams.

The Dot-com Bubble Bursts

My first way out of the Rat Race was building a financial planning and investment advisory business that I eventually sold three times. I last sold my "book of business" in late 1999. What followed was the most significant financial loss I experienced; the?Dot-com stock market?decline in March of 2000. I had invested almost all of the money I received from the sale and lost in because I lost my spiritual, emotional, and financial health. I was in the dumps in more ways than one.

The Dot-com bubble burst was a period of rapid growth and investment in internet-based companies in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was caused by the same irrational exuberance that led to every financial bubble bursting before it, including?Tulip mania. Tulipmania was a period of speculative fever in the Dutch Republic during the early 17th century when tulip bulbs were traded at extraordinarily high prices.

How I Landed in the Rich Dad World

After blowing up in every way humanly possible, my beautiful and unconditionally-loving wife begged me to "get a real job." We had two young sons, and my family was counting on me. My wife was right, and I agreed to find job interviews.

The only problem with getting a "JOB" was that I had worked for myself for ten years. There was no way I could let go of the created freedom and joy of being out of the Rat Race. Every employer I interviewed wanted me to sell, market, and focus on business development.

After three interviews, I asked my wife for ninety days to prove that I could profit in my next business: selling sales training, sales coaching, and managing marketing as a freelance contractor for the accounting firm that was part of the Rich Dad boom. From 2003 to 2005, Robert Kiyosaki was driving millions worldwide to "get out of the Rat Race" by buying and reading his books, attending his events, and playing the Cash Flow board game that sold for $250 each.

I've been working for myself ever since.

What I Learned from Robert Kiyosaki

By February 2004, I was working full-time as a freelance consultant building the sales and marketing machine for the accounting firm owned by?Tom Wheelwright?and his business partner,?Ann Mathis. They were buying DK Advisors accounting practice from Diane Kennedy. Diane is a super-sharp CPA with a knack for writing best-selling books and serving her clients well. The business was booming.

My job was to help Tom and Ann build their internal "tax coaching" and accounting business, fed primarily by new Rich Dad clients attending events. I participated in those events because Tom Wheelwright was an early Rich Dad advisor focused on tax and business strategy. Tom is a brilliant businessman. I was his contractor.

Robert asked me in February 2004 to be on stage with him and Tom, among other "Rich Dad" advisors. My bit role was to be the "recovering stock market" advisor who had lost all in the market and was now in the business of creating small businesses, investing in real estate, and getting out of the dreaded Rat Race. The feeling of people thinking I was special was like having the fairy dust of world fame sprinkled over you. Just being associated with Tom and Robert made people think I was special. If only they knew how broken I was at the time finding my way out of the Rat Race.

Robert had just finished speaking and standing at the back of the ballroom packed with paying customers. I asked Robert, "Robert, what happens after all these people leave your events and need help with funding and starting their new real estate and other businesses?" Robert said, "Cliff, that's not my job. My job is to change people's context of thinking."

It was then and there that I decided to become a business coach. I've been doing that ever since, investing in real estate and building my credit back to perfection.

Being Out of the Rat Race Is Great

F@#$ the Rat Race. It sucks.

I escaped it when I was thirty because I knew from a young age that being "normal" would suck the living life out of me. The feeling of being out of the rat race has no words, and I'm a decent wordsmith.

I'll always remember the powerful presence of Robert. He's very dynamic, and his wife, Kim, is also. I haven't seen him or any others since those days because I used all the knowledge I gained from my work in the new business to invest in other businesses, including real estate, writing more books, and creating the life of my dreams.

I met my CPA and bookkeeper while working for Tom Wheelwright. When they went out independently, I hired them. They continue to manage my taxes and accounting today. Working with Tom and his team was an excellent entree into the world of Rich Dad and deeper into creating earned and passive income.

I credit Robert for my idea to start a business coaching business in 2006. He's the one who said it's "not his job" to help people when they leave his workshops and finish his books. I knew right then as I stood next to Robert that business coaching would become my next business, and it did.

Eternal Gratitude

I'll be eternally grateful to Tom Wheelwright for hiring me early in my new coaching and consulting business. After losing all my money, going bankrupt in 2003, and eventually finding my way out of the rat race, I was a broken man.

I'm grateful to everyone I met working with the Rich Dad brand. It changed my life in more ways than one. Since then, I've helped many people get out of the rat race and been paid handsomely. Because of my experience and love for the business of life, I'll never need to retire in a traditional sense. I'll keep investing in small businesses, real estate, writing, publishing, speaking, coaching, and training people using much of the wisdom I learned from the Rich Dad world.

I was privileged to be on stage once and behind the stage curtain in the Rich Dad world. The personalities were dynamic, intentions were good, and I was one of the first twelve certified "Rich Dad Advisors" who took the Rich Dad body of work into local community colleges that served adults who wanted to learn how to "get out the Rat Race."

In closing, the lessons I learned at the right time came from believing I could get out of the Rat Race. Believing in yourself is the first lesson!

After that, learning about who we are, our unique gifts, passions, and abilities, and finding the courage to go for it are the lessons to be learned. See, feel, and believe you can get out of the Rat Race, and maybe, just maybe, you will.

Buy and read Rich, Dad, Poor Dad, and the Cash Flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki if you want to get out of your rat race. And always remember that if you're going to get out of the Rat Race and build the life of your dreams, it's essential to be grateful for everything you've got, including the ugly stuff that takes you down.

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This article was first published on Medium. Thanks for reading my article and sharing or commenting. Check out my latest e-book if you're stuck in your career or life,?Reinvent Yourself: A Do-It-Yourself Guide for Strategically Designing Your Life.

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