Xerox Corporation

Xerox is the company Robert T. Kiyosaki joined after returning from Vietnam, not for its benefits but to learn how to sell. Its strong sales-training program gave him a way to confront his fear of approaching customers and being rejected; at the same time, the wages and deductions he encountered there sharpened his understanding of Rich Dad’s advice to build assets rather than rely solely on a paycheck. Xerox became a proving ground: Kiyosaki worked hard enough to rank among its leading salespeople while building a separate stream of income through his own corporation.

Joining to Learn Sales

After returning from Vietnam in 1973, Kiyosaki resigned his commission and took a job at Xerox. He describes himself as shy and says that selling was the most frightening subject in the world to him. He chose the company for one specific reason: its sales-training program, which he regarded as among the best in the United States. The job was therefore an intentional course of study, not simply a search for security or workplace benefits.

The choice reflected a wider difference between the guidance of his two father figures. His educated father valued a secure career and was ashamed when Kiyosaki entered sales, a profession he considered beneath an intellectual. Rich Dad, by contrast, approved of the decision as a chance to acquire a useful skill. The same job could thus appear as a fall in status to one father and as purposeful education to the other. Xerox gave Kiyosaki a structured setting in which to practice the skill he lacked.

Four Years of Practice

Kiyosaki worked at Xerox for four years, learning to knock on doors and endure rejection until he could sell consistently. By 1978, he was regularly among the company’s top five salespeople and was often ranked number one. That result marks a concrete change from the shy employee who had found the prospect of selling frightening: he had mastered the very task that first made the job difficult.

His success did not resolve his doubts about employment as a long-term financial plan. As his performance improved, supervisors discussed promotions and raises, but the larger paychecks came with substantial deductions. The more he earned, the more he noticed what was taken from his wages. Rich Dad’s question—“Who are you working for? Who are you making rich?”—gave that experience a different meaning: success as an employee could benefit an employer while leaving Kiyosaki dependent on earned income.

Building Assets Alongside a Salary

While still employed at Xerox, Kiyosaki formed his first corporation in 1974 and began concentrating on his own assets. He continued working hard at the company, partly because his commissions could fund real-estate investments in Hawaii as the area approached a boom. The two pursuits reinforced one another: higher sales brought in more money to invest, while his growing interest in investment gave him a reason to sell more copiers. By 1978, he was not working less because he wanted out of the employee role; he was working more strategically to finance a path beyond it.

In less than three years, the income from his small real-estate holding company exceeded what he earned at Xerox. The difference was not just the amount: the company’s properties generated money for him, whereas copier sales required his labor. As property cash flow strengthened, his corporation bought him his first Porsche. Colleagues thought he had spent his sales commissions on the car, but he says he had invested those commissions in assets. The purchase made visible the distinction he was learning to apply: the car was acquired through investment income, not simply through wages consumed as they arrived.

Departure and Financial Lesson

Kiyosaki eventually resigned from Xerox after overcoming his fear of selling and reaching the top tier of the sales team. He left behind what he calls another excellent career with a good company, but the departure was not a repudiation of what he had learned there. Xerox had supplied practical sales training, commissions, and a setting in which his financial lessons could be tested. Its usefulness lay partly in making him more capable as an employee and partly in helping him finance assets outside his employment.

In his account, the contrast is between working for a paycheck and directing work toward ownership. The Xerox salary remained subject to deductions, while the assets accumulated through his corporation produced cash flow and eventually bought the Porsche with before-tax dollars. He describes this growing financial knowledge as financial IQ, which made his route to financial independence easier. The company’s narrative importance is therefore double: it teaches Kiyosaki a marketable skill, and it provides the contrast that makes the difference between earning money and having money work for him legible.