Blair Singer, a best-selling author, teacher, and Rich Dad advisor, joins Robert Kiyosaki to discuss the key, teachable elements to thrive as an entrepreneur.

Sales pitches one-on-one takes a different skill set than pitching from a stage, correct?

“That's right. Yeah. So, you take one-on-one, which is relatively safe, and now you expose yourself to 10 people, 20 people, 100 people, thousands of people. And so the fear of rejection, which is the big thing that holds people back, becomes amplified until you get past the threshold.”

Your first book was Little Voice Mastery. Why is that so important?

“Well, Little Voice Mastery is important because the toughest sale of all is you selling you to yourself. You don't really have to worry too much about customer objections. It's your objections after pounding on door after door and being yelled at, sent away, told your scum, to be able to still stand up and keep selling because as an entrepreneur, one day, same thing's going to happen. You're going to get knocked down and you need to stand up. And the toughest sale of all is selling to yourself.”

Tell us about your latest book?

“The latest book is called Summit Leadership. Summit Leadership, about taking your whole team to the top. The big deal is that if you're going to go from the S quadrant as solo, self-employed, and go into the B quadrant where you're going to require teams and systems, then that's a way different skillset that's just not taught in school. Right? The reason it's called Summit Leadership is because I've spent better part of my career working with entrepreneurs all over the world, helping them get from the S to B, overcome obstacles, get their dreams, all that's stuff. And about 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Tanzania, Africa with my son, which is another whole story. But I went there with him and in seven days on the mountain, what blew my mind was that all the lessons of being an entrepreneur and going from S to B, the trials, the tribulations, the exhilaration, the depressions, all got compressed into a seven-day experience.

One of the things, one of the lessons, is that getting to the top is only halfway. So, everybody goes, "I just want to get to the top. I want to get to the top." And people get to the top and they have a hard time getting down, to your point. So, the preparation is key to the whole thing.”

What are some of the key points you would like to pass on to people who are looking to become entrepreneurs?

“I mean, the BI triangle talks about mission, team, leadership. And if you've got a mission, but you can't sell it, you're dead in the water. Okay? If you get a team and you can't sell them on what it is they need to do, how to take the next step, you're dead in the water again. And what happens is if you can't raise capital, you're unfunded, and you're dead in the water again. So as you said, in order to master the BI triangle, sales is critical.”

Let’s talk about our friend, Richard Tan.

“So, he (Richard) figured he could sell his way up that mountain (Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania). And he and struggled and struggled ad struggled, and there's two summits and he got to the lower summit, and we stopped him and said, "Richard, you can't go any further." Like every entrepreneur, bull headed entrepreneur, "I'm going to grit it out." His pulse ox, the oxygen in his blood, was so low that it was near fatal. And we said, "You're going down now." And he fought, and I went up to him and I grabbed him, and I said, "Richard, look in my eyes. You're going down this mountain. That's it. This mountain's not going away. You can always come back." So, he went down, and his shoes were too big. His toes turned black and blue, and I thought that was the end of him. But Richard, being the kind (of person he is) started training. Because he hadn't trained before. So, he's training, he's running triathlons. His wife comes up to me and goes, "What did you do to him?" I go, "Nothing. Why?" She goes, "My God, he had heart problems, the heart problems have gone away. The doctor says he's in better shape. What's the deal?" "I think he just wants to get to the top of the mountain." And he did. He came back and he crushed it. Absolutely crushed it. And his life has changed ever since.”

There are two kinds of leadership; academic leadership that pushes you down, and Military leadership that inspires up. Most demagogues, small leaders, they have to be the best, in their mind, right?

“That's right. You're right. There are two very different forms of leadership. And the idea is, as a leader, if you can push people up to be better than you, that's the true earn the right. You've really earned the right as a leader if you can get other people to actually excel and be better than you, based upon what you teach them.”

You always want to be around people smarter than you, but a tyrant can only hang out with people less than them. Any comments on that?

“Yeah. Well, you see it a lot. It's very ego driven. It's all about me, it's not about developing a team. But if you're going to build a great organization and go to the B quadrant, you've got to be able to protect the team. You don't have to be nice to them. You don't have to treat them with kid gloves, but if you want them to stand up, then you've got to be able to protect them at some level. One of the things you brought your friend ... The general. Remember when the general came and talked to us? Three-star General Jack Bergman, now Congressman Bergman. I asked him, I said, "How do you recruit people?" I said, "You're recruiting young kids and putting them in harm's way. They don't make much money, and how does that work?" He goes, "It's not that difficult." I go, "What do you mean?" He goes, "Look, the one thing in common, people want to be part of something bigger than themselves." That's number one. Number two, when they come into the Marine Corps, what he said is he said, "They know somehow or other, even though they're not going to get paid a lot, they're going to end up becoming the best and biggest version of themselves." Two of the most powerful sales pitches that you could give anybody if you want them to be on your team.”

“You can't push down. Think about that. You're faced with altitude, you're faced with weather change, you're faced with all these problems and your job is to take that person who's never climbed before and get them to believe in themselves, get them to take one more step, one more step, so they can realize their dream.”

Tell us again why we should read your new book, Summit Leadership?

“Well, Summit Leadership is your roadmap. It's a roadmap, it's your trail guide to get you from wherever you are to whatever the dream is. Specifically, from the S quadrant to the B quadrant. And basically, it's eight steps to get you there. Roadmap, follow the map.”

Tell us about your son, Zach?

“You talk about climbing mountains, that's the biggest one of all. So, Zach's 19 years old and he's disillusioned with university, doesn't like doing it, drifting trying to find himself a job and he responded to an ad for sales. So, get this. He's never sold anything in his life and what's he doing now? He's banging on doors, going door to door, selling water. Nestle's water, selling it door to door with dispensers. He's making a minimum of 90 calls a day.”

“90 calls a day. And he said, "Dad, you know everything about sales. Teach me about sales." I go, "Two rules, ask questions and don't give up. Don't give up." And he's killing it.”

You can read more about Blair Singer on his website www.blairsinger.com and purchase his newest book, Summit Leadership.