Success: How To Determine If You Have Achieved It By: A.L. Cooper

Success: How To Determine If You Have Achieved It 

By: A. L. Cooper

Every entrepreneur has an innate desire to be successful. Their ultimate goal is to get in the game and cross the finish line to be among the best. However, what is the measuring stick that they can used to determine if they have arrived? How can they truly know if they are successful? 

To explore this question let's take a look at Robert Kiyosaki’s “Cash Quadrant” from his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.”

In his book, he has a basic model that breaks downs the four steps in the journey of a business owner which are: Employee, Self Employed, Business Owner, and Investor. 

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Robert Johnson, Warren Buffet, Robert Kiyosaki, Arthur Blank and Mark Zuckerberg, are just a few of the many iconic business leaders crossed the finish line of success. However, what unites them is not their successes; but it is their journey. To understand what makes each leader successful, we must first understand the definition of all four types of people listed in Robert Kiyosaki’s “Cash Quadrant” model. 

The first is “Employee”; an employee is best described as someone who works for someone else. “Self-Employed” is someone who owns his own job and is his own boss. “Business Owner” is someone who owns a business to make money and typically, the owner’s physical presence is not required. “Investor” is someone who is investing money in order to receive a larger income in the future.  

Each business leader followed the four steps and had the same beginning as most of us. They all started out as an earned income employee and each one made a decision to pursue the innate drive in their soul and become self employed.

In my opinion, it is that drive that kept them going no matter how discouraging it became. No matter what, they did not sit at the self-employed marker, they traveled on to the next step and became a Business Owner and untimely an Investor. 

They refused to accept the title of success, just because their financial lifestyle could well afford them to. Instead, they pressed on to reproduce the steps of their success by repeating the “Cash Quadrant” model. Each leader perfected the cycle by understanding that their successes came from starting over at step one when they achieved success.  

No matter how successful they were, they reset their mindset back to Step One:

"Employee" and let the trust and commitment from their employees be their boss.

 They worked harder and became more creative with every new venture because they were moving towards Step Two:

"Self-Employed" which would require them to keep the hunger and drive of one who is working for himself. 

They continued on to Step Three:

Business Owner" by embracing this mindset they fueled the economy by providing jobs for like-minded employees. 

Ultimately, they reached Step Four:

"Investor" and received the satisfaction of success. At this level they enjoyed the reward of diversifying their portfolio, by not just investing their money but also investing in people and the community. 

"The Truth According to A. L. Cooper" is this; true success is achieved when you can repeat, improve, and give back. So many of us get enthralled in the spell of being self-employed that once we reach the promise land of Business Owner and enjoy the land of milk and honey that is called Investing, we stop and claim the victory of success. However, true success is remembering the hard work of our journey and repeating it over and over to claim the real prize of investing in people, communities, and our on legacy over and over again. 

I am not sure if Robert Kiyosaki would agree that the Cash Quadrant model he wrote about was meant to be repeated. However, I personally feel that by repeating the steps, the true spirit of success can overflow in the lives of every freethinking entrepreneur, set a blue print for guaranteed success, and provide a return in other people’s lives through giving back.

So to answer my question, “Success, when do you know that you have achieved it?” I guess the answer is when you can rest easy knowing that you have repeatedly perfected your steps to success; and gave back enough to make a difference by changing lives.

Remember success was meant to be contagious; SO SPREAD IT!!!!!