Yes, this is the question that quite a number of my former business associates ask me when they hear about what I'm up to these days. I guess they thought I was supposed to just ride off into the sunset after I decided not to continue working in the industry I'd been involved in for 25 years in quite the same way. For sure the corporate arena was good to me...and I was good to the companies who employed me. I made more money than I'd ever dreamed of. I climbed the ladder and officed on mahogany row in the ivory tower. It was quite a ride. However, I knew it was time for me to bow out. I was stressed out all the time. My health was bad and getting worse. Getting up and showing up at the office each day was a dreaded duty, no longer the thrill and adventure it once was.
Knowing my need to chill out in a huge way, I convinced my wife that we "needed" to spend a month in Hawaii on the island of Lanai. Lanai is one of the least inhabited of the Hawaiian islands. Besides, Bill Gates location of choice for his wedding is where I wanted to enjoy my own self administered detox from life experience. I figured if it was good enough for Gates it was good enough for me. I didn't book all 300 rooms on the island like Gates did though.
Okay, so we're chilling out on Lanai swimming with wild spinner dolphins in the bay and watching the whales birth their calves (I think that's what they call them) while sipping Mai Tai's. After a few days of that I was ready for a good book. So off to the resort's gift shop I went. Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor Dad seemed to grab my attention. I'd neither heard of the book nor the author. Back in our suite, I set up on the lanai and delved into "What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money ---That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!"
My thoughts on the book? In a word: RESONATED! Kiyosaki's lessons strongly resonated with me in a way to which I was unaccustomed. There was so much I learned and had to rethink because of what was shared in the book. Creating multiple income streams, the impact of taxes, working to learn, getting paid over and over....these are just the tip of the iceberg of what impacted my thinking. If you have not read this book, you should go pick it up right now and start! In time, I knew that I needed to delve into ways of developing multiple streams of income. I pursued more of Kiyosaki's concepts and that's what lead me to the whole network marketing or multi-level marketing business model.
Why am I involved in network marketing as one of my income streams? Read Rich Dad Poor Dad and you'll know exactly why! I'll be sharing more about why I chose the company I did in a future post.
