For the past two months, I have noticed people go crazy over a game called “Pokémon Go.” Since I am always busy with my work, I have no time to learn this game, as well as the others before it. All I know is that Pokémon is a virtual character that children enjoy watching. My curiosity got the better of me and I found myself asking children about it, the objective of the game and how it is played. Ever since, I was never a fan of video games, like the Game and Watch, Family Computer, Pacman (P1 per game), and even now I am still not attracted to such games. I just want to know the mechanics of the game for the sake of knowing it. What I learned was very simple. The main objective of Go is to find, capture, train and battle Pokémon. To find them, you need to walk around and they randomly appear in the vicinity on your phone’s map. It should prove a surprise to a lot of people who play this game that they are already being taught financial lessons without them knowing it. This game teaches us the basic principles in wealth creation enumerated below.
- Capture loyal clients. For a person to grow his business, he has to have loyal clients for repeat sales. A business has to have loyal clients in order to succeed. Loyal clients can also be a source of new clients via word-of-mouth advertising. Without clients, there will be no sales, and the result is no income or cash flow. Make it a goal to get more clients to do business with you and provide better service. That way, you attract clients of other businesses who do not know how to serve clients well.
- Capture good networks. If a person wants to have his own business, he has to network with people and, from there, he chooses the good ones and never let them go. It must be noted that your network will define your net worth. Similar to the saying “Birds of the same feather flock together,” if you network with people with a poor mind-set, you will also acquire them. By linking yourself with positive/rich people, you will be able to acquire their wisdom and even their way of doing business. You will be able to emulate their qualities that made them very successful.
- Hire good people. Another factor of having a successful business is to hire and train good employees who serve with loyalty. Just like the game, train your people so they perform better than the competitor. Just make sure that your employees are too loyal to be pirated by others. The same goes for network marketers. By capturing people with the same passion you have, you will be able to build a good team and the result will be a healthy cash flow.
- Acquire assets. One of the best ways to have a passive income (derived with the least effort) is to get as many assets as you can. Assets can be in the form of properties, which can be rented out or sold at a higher price, a business system where your presence is not that much needed. Investment in stocks or pooled funds can also be considered asset. Although the returns are not guaranteed, over a long term period, assets can give a very good return. As an example, a certain mutual-fund company was able to give 20-percent compounded average return for the past 20 years. That is even better than having a business with a margin of 30 percent, but with a lot of headaches. It is a good idea to accumulate assets while young so that later in life, you need not work to make more as your assets will work for you.
By the way, there is one other way to make money from this game. This time it no longer involves capturing, but releasing. When you are at the level of nineteen or above, you may sell your Pokémon account at Ebay for $600. There was one who made $9,000. Make sure you sell before another craze hits the market. This is similar to selling your stocks when the buying fever is over.
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Edmund Lao is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about investment analysis, attend the 10th Accredited Financial Analyst (AFA) program from November 12 to December 10. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail> <AFA> at 0917-9689774.)