Insights on “Why ‘A’ Students Work for ‘C’ Students—and ‘B’ Students Work for the Government”

In an exclusive for StartupNation, Robert Kiyosaki, successful entrepreneur, investor and author of the #1 Personal Finance book of all time, “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” offered his insights related to his new book, “Why ‘A’ Students Work for ‘C’ Students—and ‘B’ Students Work for the Government.”

In regard to this financial education guide for parents, here’s what Robert had to say:

Why did you write this book?

I wrote “Why ‘A’ Students Work for ‘C’ Students” for parents because parents are a child’s first and most important teachers—and they have an important job to do. They can truly influence the future of their children, because if they don’t teach their kids about money, they can’t on the school system to do it. Schools teach kids what the school system believes they need to get a good job… which, from my point of view, sets them up to be slaves to a job and a paycheck all of their lives. My poor dad was a well-educated school teacher with a Ph.D., but I struggled in school. I didn’t get good grades and flunked out of high school—twice. In fact: I hated school. But I love to learn. Today, I (the “C” student) hire “A” students, like accountants and attorneys, to work for me.

The financial crisis has just started and as more countries and baby boomers go broke, who do you think will foot the bill for life-support? Your kids, that’s who. And it’ll take the form of higher taxes. That’s why I wrote this book. I want to encourage and support parents who want to give their child a financial head start in life. And it starts with understanding money.

Since the school system is not giving children a financial education, are they teaching our kids to be poor?

I think schools are teaching kids to be poor, but worse than that they’ve teaching them to be slaves to a paycheck. That could be one of the reasons why the dropout rate is so high in schools today. As a young kid back in the ‘50s and the ‘60s, I kept asking my teacher, “Why don’t you teach me anything about money?” I never got an answer to that question.

And today, most schools still don’t teach kids about money. Whether we’re smart or stupid, rich or poor; we all use money in our everyday lives. It’s an important life skill and it’s up to parents to fill the void.

We’ve got to teach our kids about money because the United States is broke. We’ve spent billions on public education, and poverty keeps increasing. The rich get richer, the middle class is getting squeezed harder and harder… and the poor are getting poorer and poorer. What’s wrong with this picture?

Then, do you think parents should train their children to be entrepreneurs?

Only a child can decide that. I wouldn’t decide that for them. I don’t think there’s anything more pathetic than some kid who does what his parents want him or her to do. Instead, give your kids some financial education and then they can make their own choices later on in life.

If your children do not have a financial education, then they will probably end up being an employee or a self-employed specialist. And today, employees pay at least 40% of their money in taxes and the self-employed pay about 60%. Meanwhile, people who own large businesses pay only about 20%, and investors with a high level of financial education and well-structured investments can often pay nothing—0%—in taxes. Very often the people who end up paying the most in taxes are the ‘A’ students who get out of school and become doctors, lawyers and attorneys.

Kids who have a financial education will have more choices in life and not be stuck working for someone else or living off government hand-outs.

What can a parent do to start giving their child a financial education?

I outline some specific activities—Action Steps for Parents—at the end of each chapter of the book, but the most important thing is to make your home an active and fun learning environment. And it doesn’t need to be difficult. You can play games like Monopoly® and CASHFLOW®, discuss the day’s news and learn new, financial vocabulary words each day.

Every day we make real-life decisions about money so start sharing this information with your children. For example, show them what happens when you don’t pay your bills, how tax payments are taken from your paycheck or how you plan for unexpected expenses. You can also help them set up their own small business to learn about money and investing firsthand.

The point is to teach your kids about money at home because they are not going to get a financial education in school.

Thanks so much for your time Robert!

For more information about Robert Kiyosaki’s new book, “Why ‘A’ Students Work for ‘C’ Students—and ‘B’ Students Work for the Government,” visit www.richdad.com.

I’ve been working with the creators of StartUpNation since 2001 when I was hired to shoot Rich Sloan doing yoga on the conference room table in the Birmingham Michigan office of the up and coming StartUpNation.  I was recently offered the opportunity to blog about photography if I thought I could contribute to entrepreneurs and start ups. I think I can so I’ll give it a shot.  I’ll be talking about all things photography, from how to do a shoot in the office, to what’s the best stock agency for what your needs are, to rights and usage contracts.  I’ll be answering questions about any thing relating to the business of photography and photography in your business. If I don’t know the answers I’ll look to the vast knowledge base of my peers and will share what I learn with you, so post your questions and comments about you’re photographic quandaries here, and I’ll help you along the image driven super highway of successful businesses.

I should tell you a bit about me.
I began my career as a photographer early in life.  My brother had a darkroom in a closet at our house when I was a sixth grader.  It didn’t take long for my teachers at school to see an opportunity to recruit the next news paper and yearbook photographer.  That’s when I learned that you can have fun and provide a needed service at the same time.  I could get credits for graduation if I work on the year book and news paper staff!  Life was good.  Then one day I was handed a press pass to cover the cheerleaders for a story for the news paper, that was all the motivation I ever needed to pursue my career.  When I was a senior in High School I was introduced to an advertising photographer in my home town of Detroit named Ameen Howrani.  He let me watch him work one day, he was shooting a news crew for the local ABC affiliate.  It was very glamorous, they had food there!  I was face to face with the local anchor man!  That’s when I decided that advertising was where it’s at.  Fast forward 25 years.  I have photographed some really great people, some incredibly beautiful places, and some of the most interesting stuff you’ll ever see.  I picked up a few professional sports teams along the way as well.  Namely the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, and currently Tampa Bay Ray’s as well as the NHL, NFL, MLB and other editorial venues related to sports. I’ve had unprecedented access to closed door behind the scenes events in the NFL, NHL, and MLB to name just a few. I was given the opportunity to shoot a book for the Detroit Red Wings called “48 Hours with the Detroit Red Wings”. Its a chronological documentation of what happens in forty eight hours in the world of the Red Wings Hockey team.  I was able to travel with the team to photograph players, coaches, and staff. We took two days to shoot the book so we could show the travel aspect of how the team lives on the road (and above the clouds).  During that shoot I was given access to coaches meetings that had never been photographed before.  One of the best experiences I had with the Red  Wings was Flying on the team jet to Washington DC to the White House to meet President George W Bush.   I was given an assignment by the Detroit Tigers Baseball team to shoot an eighteen page photo essay of Tiger Stadium during the final home stand ever to be played there.  The parting shot was Al Kaline in his nineteen sixty eight world series uniform (it still fit), pondering his days playing in that historic stadium.  The cover shot was of the stadium from the corner of Michigan and Trumble on a Friday night with fireworks lighting the sky.  I was able to get images never before captured, such as the neon Tiger Stadium sign from the roof of the press elevator.  I’m currently team photographer for the Tampa Bay Ray’s Baseball team, and have a nice client list of local and national companies and agencies as well.  I live in the St Petersburg area of Florida where I’ve lived for the past six years.  Before that I lived mostly in the suburbs of Detroit with a few years in New York city.  Please feel free to see some of the photographs I mention here at www.kovich.com

If your site traffic is low (check your Google analytics to find out), it’s time to take a closer look at your site.

The good news is, you can make a few, free changes that result in drastic improvements. To start, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you answer visitors’ questions immediately?

When people visit your site, they are looking for solutions. Give them the information they need right away so they don’t go elsewhere.

It’s important to be succinct and focus on the benefits your business offers. It’s all about your customers.

2. Is your site user-friendly?

When visitors arrive at your site, do they know where to get the data they need, or is your site a confusing mess of graphics, videos, links, audio, and more?

Keep things simple, and make it easy for your site visitors to know what you have to offer in just a few seconds. Provide the most important information at the top of your screen so people don’t need to scroll down your page to get it.

And don’t forget to put ample space between headlines, paragraphs and graphics. You want your site to be easy to navigate and read.

3. Are you stuck in the past tense?

Take a quick look at your content. Do you talk about things in the past? If so, change all of your verbs to the present tense.

For example, replace copy like this:

“Our customers saved over $2,500.00 when they used our Widget.”

with:

“Our customers save an average of $2,500.00 per month when they use our Widget.”

You’ll add a boost of action to your online copy by changing your verbs to the present tense.

Small Edits Can Lead to More Traffic.

These are three, small things you can do to improve your Website right away. Take some time to make these updates, and then check the results.

• Are site visitors spending more time on your site?
• What links are they clicking on most?
• Are you making a better, first impression?

You may be surprised at what a few, small changes can make!

Having a good site doesn’t need to be difficult.

When it comes right down to it, customers want solutions to their problems.
Provide value and an easy way for them to find answers, and you’ll significantly improve the overall results of your Website… without spending a lot of money.

Do you need help boosting sales, awareness and credibility with SEO copywriting and publicity? Please write to me here or check out the free information at www.rembrandtwrites.com.

Yep. I hear this a lot. And unfortunately, I have to tell a lot of entrepreneurs that they just wasted their money.

Maybe you can relate?

Did you just spend a lot of time and money on a search-engine-optimization (SEO) service promising you great exposure online… but you don’t see any results?

Well, I hate to tell you this, but if your site  is not showing up on the search engines, it’s NOT optimized!

Now, I know you may have just spent a fortune on this whole process, but it’s time for some tough love…

If your site is not showing up, you need to stop the denial. Review your process and find out what is missing.

Ask yourself these questions.

Did your SEO service:

• Conduct the appropriate research and provide you with a keyword database?
• Use this database to provide different keyword coding on each page of your site?
• Monitor and test various words and phrases to see what works and what doesn’t?
• Update your site content with the appropriate links and headers?
• Provide expertise in writing copy that sells and not just the technical side of things?

When it comes right down to it, your site is only going to show up on the search engines when you
provide value and unique information.

If you use shortcuts or avoid research and monitoring, you are going to waste time and money.

Yes, there are many SEO services out there that will do a great job. But if you want results, look at the
whole picture.

Before moving forward with any SEO service, make sure your tactics include the technical side of things
and the appropriate research, writing and monitoring for best results.

This way, your site will appear on the search engines and your potential customers will be able to find you.

Did you recently optimize your site but with little results? Please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com.

Great! Now, what do you do?

A.     Sit back and watch who signs up.

B.     Communicate with your new registrants right away.

C.    Send valuable information to your list on a regular basis.

If you answered B and C… Ding, Ding Ding! You are right!

Newsletter Set Up is Just the Beginning.

The whole reason you have an online newsletter registration
is so that you can collect the contact information for potential
customers.

Once you get their names and e-mails, the real work begins…

• Send a thank you.

Immediately after people register for your newsletter, send them
a personalized, e-mail thank-you note. It should include a welcome
message, all the benefits they will be receiving and any kind of
free e-report, survey, white paper, etc. that you agreed to send
them if they registered.

• Schedule e-mail auto-responders.

What are they?

Well, after you send out your initial thank-you
and welcome e-mail, you need to communicate with your
list on a regular basis.

With e-mail auto-responders, you send e-mails to your
audience to remind them about your business. And these 5-10
e-mails are scheduled for automatic delivery over a matter of weeks.

However, you want to ensure these e-mail messages are personal
and provide value to the readers.

Perhaps, you can share a story about something that happened
to you recently, provide a business tip or talk about a current,
news story?

At the end of your e-mail, you remind your list about
a particular product or service that you are selling.

This way, you communicate with your list in a way that provides value,
reminds them you are around and allows them to get to know you
over time.

It is a fantastic way to build long-term, customer relationships.

• Are you blogging and using social media?

In addition to sending out the e-mail auto-responders mentioned above,
you also want to let your list know when you have a new blog entry,
article, sale, etc. And this is just a simple process of scheduling an
e-mail to go out whenever you have a new entry.

For these services, check out:

http://aweber.com/?324776
www.constantcontact.com
www.icontact.com
www.myemma.com
www.verticalresponse.com

This way, you can easily stay in touch with your list on a regular
basis and keep your products and services top-of-mind while
providing value.

• Monitor e-mail auto-responder results.

Once your newsletter-registration and e-mail auto-responder
process is in place, be sure to monitor it regularly.

By checking your e-mail service, you can see how many people
opened your e-mail, the most popular content and clicks,
the best subject lines and send times, undeliverables, spam notices,
and more.

This is valuable information you can use to get the best results
for your e-mail efforts. Plus, you can use this data to discover key
trends with your list members, conduct follow-up, stop issues before
they become big problems, and create new content to meet their
specific needs.

Take Advantage of This Process.

Having a newsletter registration allows you to create and
grow your own list of customers. But this is just the beginning.

Once you offer your newsletter, it’s important to provide
personalized information  to your list on a regular basis via
an e-mail auto-responder series.

Now, you may think that your customers will turn away if you
send them too many e-mails. And sure, you will get some
unsubscribes. But you do not want these “uninterested” people
on your list anyway.

Just be sure to send valuable information your customers can
use. And note that there is an art to the content and timing of these
e-mails… so I strongly advise that you hire an experienced, SEO
copywriter to help you write and send them.

But it’s well worth the time, cost and effort. With good, e-mail
auto-responders, your list will actually look forward to
receiving  your e-mails.

And this means you can build valuable,
long-term customer relationships that will catapult your business
above the competition and dramatically increase sales.

Do you need assistance setting up your newsletter process and
e-mail auto-responder series? Please write to me here or at
www.rembrandtwrites.com. Your site traffic will increase!

What do you do?

Small Business Public Relations to the Rescue!

It’s time to build buzz by contacting the media, posting SEO press
releases, using social media, and taking part in events, awards
and other activities to get the word out about your new, small business.

But before you move forward, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Here are the top 10 things to avoid when starting your small
business PR efforts.

Never:

1. Distribute a press release to thousands of media members
via e-mail.
It will go in the trash, and your system will probably crash.

2. Send out press releases without search-engine-optimization keywords.
You are missing out on a great opportunity to get more online attention.

3. Pitch a reporter during a deadline.
You will get the brush off.

4. Say “No comment” to the press.
There are better ways to respond to questions.

5. Hire a publicist who guarantees placements.
Due to the nature of PR, that’s impossible… unless, he or she
has full control over the actual media story.

6. Create your own Website without getting outside feedback.
You’ll be too close to the information and miss some important
errors and data.

7. Provide content that is feature-based, boring and old.
Instead, offer valuable information for your target market at all times,
and you’ll build long-lasting, customer relationships.

8. Forget to update your Website on a regular basis.
How old is the news and information on your site? If it’s not current,
you’ll look outdated and lose business to the competition.

9. Stop communicating with customers.
With today’s simple processes to create newsletters, blogs,
e-mail autoresponders, social media, and more, there is no reason
you should not talk to customers and get their feedback
on a daily basis.

10. Avoid any public relations or search engine optimization activities
because you don’t have the funds.
There are free and inexpensive ways to build buzz.

Successful, Small Business Public Relations Awaits!

These are just a few, quick tips to help you start your public relations
activities the right way, and avoid wasting time, money and effort.

For PR and SEO copywriting success, take the time to provide value
to all of your customers and the media, and you’ll build positive buzz fast.

Got questions about your PR and SEO activities? Write to me below and check out the free
information at www.rembrandtwrites.com and my new book, “Simple
Publicity” at http://www.rembrandtwrites.com/SimplePublicity.htm.

Perhaps, you spent hours writing the copy yourself?

Or maybe you hired a big, Web company to design a site with all the bells and whistles?

Either way, you are not finished…. unless, you did this one, key step…

Did you have outsiders give you their opinions of the site?

After all, you are probably too close to it… and you’ve spent so much time and effort (and maybe money)
preparing it, that you may miss some important errors.

With this in mind, have some outsiders and potential customers answer these questions (and your Mom or spouse doesn’t count)!:

1.       What is the first thing you look at when you open the site?

2.       What does this business offer?

3.       Does the site provide a solution to your problem?

4.       What are you supposed to do when you visit the site? What is the call-to-action?

5.       If you want to purchase something, do you know what you are supposed to do?

6.       Is it easy to find what you need on the site?

7.       Does the site have too much going on, or is it easy to get the information you need?

8.       What did you like most about the site?

9.       What did you like least about the site?

10.    What suggestions do you have to add value this site?

Once you have a good collection of responses, review them carefully.

Are you surprised at the answers?

You may discover blatant mistakes and key data that you overlooked. And while you may be disappointed, it’s great that you have this information.

Now, you can use this “insider” insight to help you create a site for your customers that works. Once you make the changes and update your site, run this test again.

Did your updates work?

If you receive the responses you are looking for, move forward with a big launch for your site. But if information is still missing and potential customers are not getting the value and data they are looking for, your site still needs changes.

Take the time and effort to review what your customers want on a regular basis. Then, provide the appropriate information they are looking for. After all, you may think you have a great site, but if it doesn’t meet the needs of your target market, you don’t!

Yes, this may be time consuming. But think what will happen if you don’t take action. Your site will not be the best it can be, and sales and site visitors will go to the competition.

Do you need help with a site review and search engine optimization to boost awareness, visitors and sales?Please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com.

Tell us about InfoDome and why you created it.

InfoDome is a simple and powerful online database that makes it easy to collect, manage, analyze, and share your data across remote users.

Spreadsheet users and database authors can import their data, visually design forms and relational reports with drag-and-drop ease, share these selectively, or embed them in a website with a few clicks, and drill into data for business intelligence.

We created it to let people with a wide range of skills benefit from having an online database to better manage their information, especially with remote users, as so many small businesses are using virtual offices and remote employees or contractors.

Do you think InfoDome will change the way people use technology like your brother changed things with Apple?

Yes, InfoDome will be used by people with database experience, and by a lot more people who haven’t been able to use one because databases have traditionally been too hard to use and share.

Desktop software databases are too difficult for mere mortals to author, and you need lots of IT support to share the data. Managing data in spreadsheets is hard because users can mistakenly override data they shouldn’t even have access to, and it’s tedious to manually report on the data.

We have customers using InfoDome as a small business database for tracking leads, inventory, tasks, students – in ways that are custom to their needs. InfoDome makes it easy to provide each person a focused form to manage their data, and reports that provide business insight.

How are you promoting InfoDome?

We promote InfoDome via events like DEMO Spring 2010, search engine marketing and public relations.

What marketing and promotional techniques have worked best and why?

We’ve had best results from search engines, because we have a solution to a problem people are directly searching for.

What kind of marketing techniques do you plan to use in the future to grow the company?

We plan to evaluate affiliate marketing and inside sales.

What piece of advice do you have for new business owners?

Make sure your team is motivated by the work they do rather than external rewards. If people love their work and the product they’re working on, it’s so much easier.

Also, there are so many ways to manage your business using a cloud application. Check out online solutions before you commit to an installed software package.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Your website is really great resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners!

Thanks for the compliment and the great insights Mark. We wish you all the best!

How about you? Do you need help with your marketing strategies to boost sales, awareness and credibility? Please write to me here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com.

1. Help a Reporter Out
PR Pro Peter Shankman set up this great site at http://www.helpareporter.com/. Simply enter your name and e-mail information. And each day, you’ll receive a list of reporters looking for specific people to interview!

But before you respond to the requests, please read Peter’s rules at http://helpareporter.com/terms.html. After all, you want to make a good impression with targeted, media members!

2. Hub Spot’s Press Release Grader
Not sure how good your press release is? Run it through this free grader at http://pressrelease.grader.com/. You can then see what works and what doesn’t, make the appropriate changes and improve your press release quickly and easily.

3. Google Analytics
O.k. Most of you are probably aware of this, but if not, check out the free tool at http://www.google.com/analytics/. On a regular basis, it’s important to review what your site visitors are looking at on your site, where they are coming from and which Web pages are the most popular.

And after you send out a release, you can check to see how many people visited the site to get more information. This tool offers a valuable way to find out what your customers want, how well your press release is doing and what changes you need to make to improve your services and customer experience. 

Valuable, free services are out there!

Hopefully, these free services will help you increase sales (and there are more out there if you conduct some research-Check out my free articles, newsletter and reports at www.rembrandtwrites.com).

I know what it’s like to start a business with a tight budget. And while it may take some extra time and effort to take advantage of the free services available, it’s a great way to build buzz until you can afford to hire a PR consultant or marketing firm.

Need more help with your PR and SEO copywriting? Please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help! Thanks!

Are you guilty of these three Web site sins?

1. Visitors can’t get the information they need.

This is pretty obvious, but often overlooked. It can be enticing to use fancy videos, too many keywords, big graphics, pop-up ads, and more to have an interesting site.

But don’t forget that the whole purpose of having an online presence is to provide information to visitors! Let your visitors know that they have arrived at a site that will give them what they need without having to wait for graphic downloads and video fluff.

2. Your site is hard to use.

Can visitors find solutions to their problems quickly and easily? If potential customers need to dig through your site to find information, you’ll lose them to the competition. Make your navigation and content easy to follow.

3. There is no value.

In addition to key benefits, go that extra step and provide your customers with valuable information they weren’t expecting. This may include tips, expert insights, links to pertinent resources, articles, free reports, and more.

After all, customers don’t necessarily want to hear about your extensive, business success and the specific features of your products and services. They want to know what’s in it for them and how they will benefit from what you have to offer.

Keep it Simple.

Web sites are a great way to bring in new customers, and it can be easy to fall into the trap of offering a lot “bells and whistles” on your site. But you don’t need them.

Just provide valuable information for your customers that is easy to find and read. Solve their problems with fantastic customer service, and your sales, and word-of-mouth, will increase dramatically.

Do you need help optimizing your site for the search engines and bringing in new customers? Please send me a note here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help!