you are watching the story every Monday we bring you a deep dive into the fascinating lives of incredible people how Robert Kiyosaki really built his fortune Halloway Luxor's and welcome back as the author of the number one best-selling personal finance book of all time Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki seems to have the path to success all figured out he offers up guidance in books seminars YouTube videos and his radio show he claims to have learned everything about entrepreneurship from his Rich Dad the father of his friend but was he really rich before he wrote
his book today we are telling the story of how Robert Kiyosaki really built his fortune but first a little background who is Robert Kiyosaki Robert Kiyosaki is an entrepreneur an author an investor and a motivational speaker he became famous thanks to the success of his original Rich Dad Poor Dad book which was published back in 1997 and voll stirred through Kiyosaki's appearance on Oprah since then he's written more than 25 books and founded rich global LLC and the Rich Dad company he has created financial board games and software and also invests in commercial and residential
properties and oil wells he also makes additional money through Rich Dad seminars but we all go in-depth on that in just a minute for now let's go back to the beginning beginnings Roberts first idea for a business came from surfing out of the beaches of Hawaii where he grew up he noticed surfers had difficulty when it came to what to do with their leather wallets at the beach so in 1977 at the age of 30 he started a company called rippers that produced the first nylon and velcro surfer wallets he experienced immediate success and his
product was even featured in publications such as Playboy and Newsweek he would later say that this company made him a millionaire by the age of 30 however the actual amount of money he earned from this venture is unconcerned this was the first of several business ventures Robert was engaged in but through it all his vision remained clear the vision ever since he was young Robert had a vision he would be rich he didn't necessarily know how he would do it or what idea might take off but the goal was clear when his Rich Dad Poor
Dad book took off he knew he wanted to build an empire based on the Rich Dad Poor Dad ideas the ultimate vision for him was to create a source of passive income that would allow him to live the good life while the money kept pouring in but this would not be achieved without a great deal of difficulty the struggle after achieving great success Ripper's quickly went bankrupt largely due to Robert's failure to secure the proper patents and trademarks for his wallet after this business failed Robert invested in real estate and small-cap stocks accumulating debt that
totaled close to a million dollars he also started a new company that licensed t-shirts hats and other clothing items for heavy metal bands but that company went bankrupt as well in 1980 he launched a business education company in 1985 teaching about entrepreneurship and investing although he had little success in these areas he later ended up selling it for an unknown amount in 1994 Robert has said at this time that he retired at the age of 37 and had financial freedom although he's never provided any documentation of what actual wealth he may have had at that
time his greatest win was yet to come though when Robert said that during his retirement he began planning for the launch over the Rich Dad Company although he hadn't written the book yet once he did get the book written it was rejected by numerous publishing houses finally he decided to self-publish initially printing 1,000 copies the book slowly began to gain traction as it was beginning to be an underground success thanks to his partnership with Amway a multi-level marketing company then Robert got the chance of a lifetime to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk
about his book in April of 2000 he almost missed out on this chance because he refused to reveal the identity of the rich dad but he and the producers finally made an agreement The Oprah effect made an immediate impact and Kiyosaki ended up selling more than 32 million copies worldwide it was sold in 102 different countries in 51 languages it also secured a spot on the New York Times bestsellers list for over six years however there's been a great deal of controversy surrounding the book as well as with many of the facts called into question
including the existence of the Rich Dad a few critics have also stated that some of his advice is legally questionable but most of his fortune actually hasn't come from his book sales how he really made his fortune in 1997 robert founded a company called cashflow Technologies Inc the Rich Dad and cashflow brands both fall under cash flow technologies Robert took advantage of the popularity of the book to monetize Rich Dad Poor Dad in every way possible he also planned for Rich Dad Poor Dad to be more of a brand than a book in fact in
one interview Robert called his books advertisements for his higher priced seminars as it turns out this is how he really amassed the majority of his fortune initially he held his own seminars charging anywhere from twelve thousand to fifty thousand dollars per head then in 2005 Kiyosaki made a deal with the Learning Annex to offer seminars but then decided to work with Whitney International instead the Learning Annex later sued him for breach of contract and was awarded twenty four million dollars this forced rich global to file for bankruptcy but before that happened Whitney International started using
his name to promote their learn to get rich seminars controversy arose when an undercover reporter went to several seminars and observed the predatory actions of the trainers the trainers were found to often use intimidation and coercion to upsell the attendees for example they would pressure attendees to pay for additional seminars priced between four hundred and fifty dollars and forty five thousand dollars by increasing their credit limits those who went to the seminars were given script to show them how to ask for limits of $100,000 and we're told to call their credit card companies on the
spot if anyone questioned their methods they would be thrown out Robert never attends these seminars himself and has expressed his displeasure at how they're run but hasn't put a stop to them at all Whitney International changed its name to rich dad education and still presents workshops throughout the US and Canada this is now Robert's primary source of income making him at least five million dollars yearly although he does also continue to make money from book royalties and investments the lesson from Roberts story one lesson that can be learned is to be resilient when trying to
start a business failure at some level is almost inevitable things are probably not going to go just as you imagined but being resilient and persistent will lead to success in the long run even though Robert and his work has been controversial many people have gained insights and valuable tips from his words and ideas however you should be careful with who and what you connect your name and business with because a wrong choice could be detrimental to your reputation and bottom line in the future and a Luxor's if you're interested in checking out the book that
started it all for Robert Rich Dad Poor Dad is still available in this book Robert promises to change how people think about money and how assets and liabilities are defined you can hear his bestseller on audible while also saving about $20 if you go to a lakhs comm slash free book and sign up so you can get the audiobook version for free thanks to our partnership with audible the quote while researching his story we came across this incredible quote from Robert we'd like to share and it goes like this the size of your success is
measured by the strength of your desire the size of your dream and how you handle disappointment along the way in this way Robert nicely sums up the three things to always remember when working toward your goals question now that we've reached the end of our story about Robert Kiyosaki we'd like to know what's your opinion of this controversial figure let us know in the comments and of course for sticking with us until the end here's your bonus believe it or not but Robert Kiyosaki failed high school twice before graduating he had particular trouble with his
English classes this seems ironic since he's a best-selling author but he said there's a big difference between being a good writer and being a best-selling author thank you for spending some time with us a Luxor's make sure to LIKE and subscribe so you never miss another video we also hand-picked these videos which we recommend you watch next you can talk to us on all social medias or ask a question on our website Alex calm thank you for being an a lexer and we'll see you back tomorrow
