Life In The 4 Quadrants

By: Michael Shadow
Submitted: 06:06PM on Sunday 24 August 2008

After reading some of Robert Kiyosaki's books I realized that I was born to be a "B" (business owner) and an "I" (investor). However I was currently an "E" (employee). No problem! I'll just hop over to the "I" quadrant, then look for a business to buy so I can be a true "BI". Little did I know just how long the journey would be and would would be involved in making the transition.

After I read his books and many others on investing in real estate I did take the first step toward my journey to the beautiful land of being a "BI". I went out and (thanks to the members of BiggerPockets) I bought a duplex that had a true positive cashflow. Now life is great as an "I", or is it... Suddenly I found my self doing my own rehab work to save on cost, studying for hours the local landlord-tenant laws and marketing my new property so I could put some renters in it. I soon realized that this investment I just purchased wasn't only in the "I" quadrant, it was in the "S" (self-employed) also.

So now here I am, I started as an "E" then slid into the "SI". I say "SI" because when you start a rental business it's really a self employed investment so the shift takes a bit longer than most people think.

I'm currently working on building a true Business but in doing that I have to become more of an "S" for a bit until I get it up and running so it can support itself on it's own.

So in short I was an "ESI" because I had my feet in all 3 areas. Currently I just started a new construction business and hired an employee and I am looking to hire two more in the next six months. So even though I am not a true "B" I am taking the first step in becoming one. Taking on an employee has made my "S" quadrant larger because now I have to learn all that is involved with having employees and leading them. It's a little different than when your an employee leading other employees. As an Employee I never cared much about the customer service or the bottom line, however as a business owner I care very much about the service my customer gets, the leadership I provide for my employees and my bottomline.

I like to now consider myself an "ESBI" because I have a foot in each of the four quadrants (even though my B isn't truly a B yet). At some point probably in the next year I will be leaving the E quadrant and I'll be focusing on turning my S's into true B's.

RK's Theory is ingenious however the thing that the average reader doesn't fully comprehend is the amount of work it's going to take to make the transitions.

I made the transition from E to BI in my head 2 years ago and it only took about 6 months of studying (his books and others) to truly understand the mechanics (I say mechanics because it's all about leverage, which I'll detail in a future article.) behind his theory. But to do all of this I have to go through the "S" quadrant to get there and that "S" quadrant is turning out to be a beast and there is so much to learn. This is not a bad thing, I am enjoying my journey through the "S" quadrant because I know that if I don't know what it is like to operate a business then I will not be able to lead my future CEO's.

It's proving to be quite challenging (currently I'm putting in probably 12-14 hours a day) however because I know in my heart and my head that I am born to be a "B-I" I'm going to plug away until I get there..... I know what I'm going to reap a couple of years down the road so I don't mind the extra time and the slower pace that this journey is taking me.