September
It all started on Sept 8th with a recording from my daughter’s school. It said come to the local bakery this Wednesday and the schools gets back some of the proceeds. What a simple message that re-lit my spark, my motivation, my drive to financial freedom, the reason why I’m going back and writing this down less than 2 months after that phone message!

What was so special about that message? It sparked an idea. And I was ready to act on it. Ideas are such a waste if you’re not ready or willing to see them to fruition.

So what did I think when I got that message? That bakery had just opened up. I had seen it and thought I’d stop by and try it out sometime. Well, this message now gave me a reason to go in 3 days – why? – I could support my kid’s school. I thought how smart of that business to be new in the area, reach out to a local school to promote the business and get new customers in since they’ll be support their child’s school.

Hmm, I thought about that a lot that night. I got to thinking how other restaurants in the area could benefit from that too. The idea isn’t new. In fact we went to a couple of these fundraiser nights the year before. But what if I put together a bunch of restaurants on a monthly basis. Parent volunteers and school personnel are so busy that can’t continually match partners. But what If I created a partnership that did it for them? It only took another thought to figure out how I can include more businesses besides restaurants. Duffy Flove’s community partnership program was born (www.DuffyFlove.com).

BTW I did go to that fundraiser night and – wow – their pastries are good. I’ve been back several times and referred other people to check them out.

I felt I had a really, really good idea. Coincidently in my business Reptacular Animals I was facing a pay cut if I didn’t put in more hours. I used my idea of starting the Community Partnership Program (CPP) as the reason my time is too valuable to just maintain my job. I needed my time back so I could run with my idea. When I ran “low scenario” numbers I was astounded. If this CPP really works I can benefit tons of local businesses, schools and have a really big business. So I went for it, took the pay cut and started putting my time into developing the CPP.

Just like when I started my first business Reptacular Animals I had pretty much no money. However I started Monday and had my first employee start Tuesday. Why? I needed it to set it up to run without out me. I was working part-time at Reptacular, making 75% less and trying to pay someone $100 a week to make cold calls for a few hours because I still didn’t have enough time to do everything. In 3 weeks I landed 3 school accounts. Then I couldn’t afford to pay ny employee anymore. Unfortunately Reptacular still was a big time such and although I was making 75% less, I only reduced my hours and responsibilities by about 25%. But I still didn’t have a lot of time to make up for not having someone.

October
So now I’m making 75% less, working 3 days at my “job”, still “on call” for issues Reptacular had, having 2 days to try to do CPP, and giving my kids time on weekends to go to all the Halloween festivities. This was how I spend all of October. By the end of the month I was behind at my “job”, I gave up on marketing new schools/business CPP to focus on getting out the first CPP flyer at my 3 accounts. Overall I was overwhelmed, officially broke and ready to give up.

What kept me going? Getting back to my financial freedom foundation!

In September I saw an ad on FaceBook that there was a free workshop from Rich Dad Education. I remember how inspired I was back in high school reading Robert Kiyosaki’s books and wanting to retire young and be out of the rat race. Financial freedom. Isn’t that why I started Reptacular Animals in the first place? Not having to worry about money and/or not to have a job? I immediately signed up and looked forward to going on October 2. I reread my trusted copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad. I had a huge “OH CRAP!” moment when I saw the CashFlow quadrant again and realized I was an “S” (self employed) when all these time I thought I was “B” (business owner). Wow. That was my wake up call!!! I was so concerned from my all my readings not to be an “E” (employee) that I knew I needed my own business. I figured having a “B”usiness meant I was a “B”.  Oops.  Big oops. I started my own business as an “S” and have been an “S” for 5 years! I dropped out of college to give me a 4+ year head start on the business world. Yet it’s now been 11 years since I first read Rich Dad Poor Dad, loved it, wanted to live by it, veered from my “E” destined path my parents taught but I AM STILL POOR! Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!

(At least now 2 months later I’ve turned the “Aahh” to “Ah Ha”!)

Anyway back to my first Rich Dad workshop. I realized a week or so before that they’ll probably be discussing real estate investing. And of course this free workshop only leads to paid ones. I thought, “Oh great. Is it even worth it to go? I’ve been to those seminars, gave it my all and got nowhere.” So really, why waste my time? But I remembered how much I felt inspired by Robert’s books. So I went.

Well at that free workshop all my positive feelings came back. I felt overwhelmingly that now I am ready to do this 100% UNTIL it happens, not just 100% for a set time to see if it will work. I was absolutely determined that I am going to put ALL my faith that Robert’s way is correct and all these classes are going to get me financially free. So I didn’t hesitate and signed myself up for “step 2″ – the 3 day seminar in both real estate investing and stocks, by putting it on my emergency credit card. My financial freedom is an emergency. Like they kept saying “if not this, then what?”  I KNOW that people can become financially free. So if they can do it, why not me? I agree with Robert’s philosophies. I think that his education is exactly that – financial literacy along with the how to knowledge for real estate investing, stocks etc. The ones I went to when I was 18 just tell you the how to’s, but don’t focus on the mentality switch or financial literacy.

At this point I am $12,000 into my financial literacy education. Higher learning does cost (hello, college!) however I am confident that my education will be cheaper than traditional college. And I will make all my education money back within a year. What doctor or lawyer or teacher that make that claim?!?! So let the journey begin!

Related articles

• Why You Need To Read Rich Dad Poor Dad (mega-adsens.blogspot.com)
• Getting Out of the Rat Race (kibinhao.wordpress.com)