Whether you clean houses, mow lawns, have your own law practice, or write a blog, you are an entrepreneur.  If you’re looking for innovative ways to make money besides being someone’s employee, then you’re an entrepreneur.

While it’s definitely not the easy way out, creating your own enterprise has some serious benefits.  For some, the main draw is being your own boss.  Others crave the limitless earning and creative potential of following their dreams rather than the limiting obstacles of the corporate world.  If you are willing to risk a steady paycheck and good benefits, the payoff can be financial freedom and the satisfaction of success doing something you’re passionate about.

I just finished reading "8 Lessons in Military Leadership for Entrepreneurs", Robert T. Kiyosaki’s brand new book. Kiyosaki, who you’ll recognize as the author of the international bestseller "Rich Dad Poor Dad" , shares how military education and training prepared him for being an entrepreneur.  His wisdom is perfect for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs.  Plus, for those with a military background, it’s a call to action to put your military experience into practice in the world of business.

I’ve always had lots of business ideas and felt the pull to be an entrepreneur, though I’ve only seriously acted on a handful of my ideas.  As I read through Kiyosaki’s advice and experience, I could see why some of my ideas have worked and some haven’t.  I also could see areas where I am lacking and need to improve.

I want to share with you some of the gems of wisdom I took away from my reading so that you can be a successful entrepreneur.

Before starting your business do lots of research!  Talk to people who are experienced with the type of business you want to start.  Better yet, work (even if it’s for free) for the type of business you want to create.  Ask lots of questions.

Make learning a priority.  If you think you already know it all, you’re setting yourself up for failure.  Having the culture of constant education and constant training is different than just going to school.  You will have to do more studying and active, ambitious learning as an entrepreneur than you would do as someone else’s employee.

“Most entrepreneurs fail due to lack of experience, not a lack of money.” Robert T. Kiyosaki

What can you do about your lack of experience?  Get a mentor.  Find someone who has been where you are who can coach you through and help you find solutions to the problems you are likely to face.  Having the support and guidance of a mentor give you a better chance of success.

“Making mistakes makes you smarter, if you learn from your mistakes.”  Robert T. Kiyosaki

In our society we feel like making mistakes means we’re dumb.  Most entrepreneurs go through lots of failures before achieving success.  Kiyosaki shares a post-military experience where he was feeling very unsuccessful as a salesman.  When he told his rich dad that he made at most five sales calls a day, his dad said “Your problem is your failure rate is too slow.  If you want to learn to sell, fail faster.” Getting over our fear of rejection and failure opens the door for success because we’ll be willing to try.

“At first I thought discipline was what someone did to me… I can to realize that discipline was what I did or did not do to myself.”  Robert T. Kiyosaki

Being successful at anything– from getting up early in the morning to building a business– requires discipline.  We can easily look at our lives and see where we need to change, but making changes requires discipline.  Sometimes we just become comfortable with our problems.

To use a debt example (because this is Six Figures Under, after all), we can become comfortable with debt because living frugally on a budget and working hard to increase our income makes us uncomfortable.  It take self-discipline to make changes and progress toward our goals.