During our visit in the Philippines, I spent 7 hours teaching and sharing lessons about business and financial freedom to the Greymouse team leaders and marketing team.

During the training, we paused and allowed the team members to share their lessons as part of the debrief, using the same process that Robert Kiyosaki taught during his training.

This is the result of the Business Freedom Lifestyle and Cashflow game training.

Allen’s lessons:

1. Have a dream and know your purpose. We started the game by picking a dream. For me, it is very important that you know what you want to achieve and why. This will give you direction and will keep you on track especially when things get rough. Just stay focused, be patient and take action.
2. Salary does not make you rich, it’s how you spend it. From playing the cashflow game, I realized that you can be an ordinary janitor or truck driver and beat a doctor or a pilot from getting out of the rat race. Even with a high income, a high expense will leave you little cashflow at the end of the month. And sometimes, having a lower income can be an advantage, provided that you also have lower expenses. The key is to manage your expenses and invest your money on the right opportunities to achieve financial freedom. You cannot rely on your salary alone.
3. Learn how to identify a good deal and a bad deal. In the game, good opportunities come in the form of deals and can be bought with little or no down payment while producing positive cashflow. One of the biggest challenge in the game is identifying those good deals so you can take advantage of it. I believe spotting those good deals is a skill you can only learn by practicing in real life and by continuously analyzing good deals.

Ikeen’s lessons:

1. Learn fast – I paid a debt in the early part of the game for a large sum of money, only to realize I could easily fail to seize an opportunity because I have no more cash left. I applied that learning immediately when I made lots of money from my first deal. I did not bother to pay debts – at least not yet. I figure seizing opportunities is a better priority than clearing debts. Because I did that, I had more than enough money to engage in bigger deals moving forward, and yeah, chance on my dream on the board to win the game.
2. Identify the nature of your debts – embrace good debts, never be afraid to leverage on it if the right opportunity comes. ALWAYS DO THE MATH. Afraid of the figures? Crunch the numbers and if the debt can pay for itself and give you passive income, by all means, love that debt to death.
3. Spend intentionally – after I played cash flow, I revived my accounting entry skills. I am now tracking my spending. I learned in the game that even a “secretary” can have decent savings ($700/month). It starts from knowing just how much you need every month to live and then making a financial plan out from that.

Shobna’s lessons:

1. As a truck driver, although my salary was low, my monthly expenses were also very low. Low monthly expenses, is a positive cashflow and all I needed to do was just get those passive income generating deals. After each payday, I had more money to invest, and with few passive income generating deals. I had enough passive income that exceeded monthly expenses, and I was able to get out of the rat race faster. In real life, I will apply the same strategy by reducing my monthly expenses by leading a simple life.
2. Cashflow is very important.
3. Have an income statement and Balance sheet.
4. Debt is not always evil. The difference between Good Debt and Bad Debt I have learned.
5. Now I know what an asset and what a liability is.
6. I have also learned how to invest in Real Estate while working full time.
7. Having a High Income Does Not Mean You Are Wealthy Stepping out of my comfort zone

Leslie’s lessons:

1. It’s not how much you make, but how much you spend that determines how fast/slow you’ll be able to get out of the rat race.
2. Always live below your means. Or else your lifestyle will weigh you deeper and deeper into the rat race.
3. Learn how to look for opportunities and be wise in selecting your deals.
4. When you give (charity), good things come back.
5. Know the difference between good debt and bad debt.
6. It takes time for the right opportunities to come along. When it happens, make sure you are prepared and you have the cash to be able to get that deal.
7. Passive income is so important if you want to get out of the rat race.
8. Know the difference between an asset and a liability.

Jed’s lessons:

1. Get out of your comfort zone by trying new things, Dream BIG!
2. Be wise on spending your money and minimize your total expenses.
3. The goal is to be financially free and achieving your dream, don’t be afraid to invest, seek every opportunity that’s out there, the lessons that you can get along your journey will help you on achieving your dream.

Chrizel’s lessons:

1. Saving money in the bank is not an advisable idea if you want to exit the rat race. Invest now, acquire more assets and keep up with the market trend. It is also best to seek advice from your colleagues who are in the same field as yours. Unsolicited advice from others doesn’t help.
2. Opportunities are everywhere, you just have to keep looking. You must set your goals first, know your deepest why so when the tough gets going, it is easier to stay focused. It takes massive patience and a lot of determination to be on the right track. But if you have a clear goal in your mind, everything can be achieved.
3. Knowledge is wasted if it is not put into practice. Attaining skills and enough information is a must but you also need to take the risk and plunge into the real world. We can commit mistakes and failures along the way, some of our colleagues may get ahead of us, but the most important thing is to keep up with game and never quit. Don’t let emotions drive your life.

Vic’s lessons:

1. Audit, Lawsuits and Divorce will hurt you. Thus ensuring you are abiding by the rules is a must to avoid any Lawsuits. You must always be prepared for any Audit so you don’t get caught unprepared. I can’t say much for Divorce but I want to stay away from it. However I want to clear out. Experiencing all of this does not mean the end. It just means that you need to exert more effort in order to avoid them in the future and knowing that now before it actually happened means a lot.
2. Exiting the Rat Race is not the end of your Journey. It is the starting point towards your Goal. Exiting the Rat Race is not equivalent to achieving your dreams, you must continue to be smart with your finances and investments and never give up.
3. Life will not always go as you wish. To exit the rat race and achieve your dreams you must be prepared for the opportunities, you must seek opportunities, you must create opportunities for yourself.

William’s lessons:

1. Life is not easy. Not easy to get out of the rat race, liabilities comes from any direction, hard to be downsized.
2. Take the right opportunity. Invest as early as you can but consider what you’re investing.
3. Get a loan. Don’t be afraid of debt as long as it’s a good debt.
4. Passive Income. Just having more than enough or high monthly income is not enough but having a passive income higher than your expenses will get you out of the rat race.
5. The difference between an asset and liability.
6. It’s not your salary that counts, it’s how you deal with it.

Valuable lessons all around.