Summary of “The Millionaire Fastlane”: Contrary to the popular belief conveyed by various “money gurus” who advocate gradual wealth over 40 years, there is a fast lane to wealth, a motorway that explains exactly how MJ DeMarco, an entrepreneur who started with nothing, became a multimillionaire and is a thirty-year-old retiree.
By: MJ DeMarco, Viperion Publishing, 2011, (321 pages, Paperback, English).
This guest chronicle was written by Jean-Yves of the Potion de Vie blog, which specialises in memory, personal development and the pursuit of excellence.
a and summary of The Millionaire Fastlane
Introduction
Foreword and set-up by the author MJ DeMarco. Besides, who does he think he his to talk to us about “getting rich quickly” when the trend is to be rather more cautious when it comes to money?
MJ DeMarco is a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who heads up a market-leading limousine rental company in the United States. What makes him unique is he sold his business, then bought it back again to make it a great success.
He stands out with a very direct style, often ignoring the view that 90% of us have on money. He is also ruthless about some well-known wealth tips and speaks to us in a very familiar tone, as if he were here, right next to us!
You get a very good idea of MJ DeMarco’s style by watching his Youtube channel!
MJ DeMarco is mad about cars and compares the path to wealth to a “road trip”.
He identifies three paths to wealth: The roadside, the slow lane, and the fast lane.
Part 1: Wealth in a wheelchair: “getting rich slowly” means “being wealthy and bed-ridden”!
The big lie: get rich slowly.
Do you think that the guy who lives in his seaside palace with his yacht and his luxury cars spent his whole life saving 10% of his salary using discount coupons?
Despite the obvious answer, people are lobotomized by the great lie that is progressive slow enrichment: a long and risky road and those that get to the end of it will be at retirement-home age.
The slow lane or “get rich slowly” takes a whole life and very much relies on factors that we do not control. Plus, this path means we have to live in reckless frugality, sacrificing all our dreams in the hope that (maybe) we’ll get to live them 60 years later.
The 90 seconds that changed MJ’s life and the discovery of the millionaire fast lane
When MJ DeMarco was a youngster, he went shopping for his mother. Walking down the street he saw a young man about to park a beautiful Lamborghini close by. Curiosity got the better of him and MJ went right up to the owner and asked what he did in life.
He answered simply: “inventor” before going about his business.
Since that day and that brief encounter, DeMarco has devoted all his energy to the search for the path that meant that man owned a car worth more than most houses on the market!
Unfortunately, not everything was rosy and his early passion led him to a series of disappointments and stinging setbacks. Going from one low-paid odd job to another with terrible hours, he ended up depressed. Abandoned by everyone, including his mother, he had to resign himself to taking on yet another thankless job: limousine driver.
Nevertheless, this job gave him hope because, as he listened to his customers talk very freely in the back of his cab, he was able to confirm the existence of a fast lane to wealth that had nothing to do with inheritance or winning the lottery.
One winter evening he decided to leave his home town and move to the other end of the country: Phoenix, with $900 in his pocket and an old mattress!
This was the beginning of the discovery…
He created his first limousine rental company on the Internet. He quickly became successful, and exhilarated by the possibility of a quick profit, he sold the company for $250,000.
Thinking he was rich, he soon found out that was not the case and that all his artifice did not make him a rich man. Crippled by debt, he had to sell everything.
Part 2: Wealth is more a trip than a road
This is when things get serious. Although he squandered his money, he was bolstered by his conviction that it was possible to get rich quickly. MJ got a glance of the formula for the wealth fast lane.
Now that MJ DeMarco’s story has started, it’s time it started for YOU!
Here is the battle plan:
Your roadmap:
Distinctions and habits of the three paths:
- The roadside
- The slow lane
- The fast lane
Success is about work effort, not an expected outcome. Typically, someone who wants to get rich is guided by the result and not by the work that is required. MJ will give you ways to identify what your current path is and how to change it to the fast lane.
Your vehicle:
You are the vehicle. It’s about the fuel you will need to get things going, the engine you will need to nurture to avoid the traps he fell into, and the windscreen to protect against stones in the road.
Your route options:
Some are faster than others. Inventing something is faster than a salary. Entrepreneurship pays back more than changing jobs. Investment, invention, and replication are the most direct routes to wealth.
Your speed:
Speed is your ability to turn your ideas into tangible actions. This is where many apprentices fail. You will never reach your destination without speed.
Each of these components features in one or more parts of The Millionaire Fastlane.
But the basic principle remains the same: Getting into the fast lane is a state of mind that requires determination, work, and a constant change of perspective on the world of business.
You have to think in terms of process and work, in terms of creation, not consumption and in terms of control rather than delegation. This last point gives a well-known author a hard time.
Once you have asked yourself very specific questions on how you view money and wealth, to give you an idea, the author has a go at your available routes.
Part 3: Poverty: the roadside route
The roadside is the one people use the most in life. It is a financial route with no destination and characterized by the kind of behaviour that has some surprising details:
- You have not learned anything new since leaving school
- You often change your job
- And you believe politicians should change the system rather than you changing yourself
- Live off your salary whilst you wait for the next one. (And no, that’s not the case for everyone!)
- And you regularly buy lottery tickets and often spend money in casinos
- You are often impressed and seek to impress.
MJ describes each point with acid humour. His goal is to get you to see how some aspects of behaviour can lead to poverty.
This means that if you give money to people who use the roadside, this will only lead to poverty.
Think about lottery winners who have decimated their winnings! Think about MJ DeMarco himself who sold his company the first time around to buy designer clothes and cars on credit!
Someone who uses the roadside as a financial route doesn’t have a wealth plan and even if they were to become rich by accident, this wouldn’t change the way they manage money.
A €1500 a month lifestyle when you only earn €1000, obvious puts you on the roadside. For this person, credit is used as a means of increasing revenue, as opposed to a thorn in the side.
The illusion of wealth: to look rich
This was MJ DeMarco’s misfortune who, nevertheless, earned $250,000 when he sold his business. His preoccupation was to buy what he could not previously afford. But without a roadmap, the roadside made him poor.
DeMarco condemns the toxicity of the consumer society and sets the record straight on wealth. It is determined by a wealth of relationships, health, and freedom and by no means just material possessions.
Money does not bring happiness….and poverty?
The trinity of wealth is, therefore:
- Freedom
- Health
- Relationships
Using money intelligently enriches the trinity of wealth. Money can buy time, which increases your freedom. For example, your boss buys your time which increases his freedom.
Money cannot buy happiness because it is only used to buy belongings and consumption. Health and relationships are sources of happiness.
If you rely on consumption by always buying more, you are robbed of your freedom. Freedom is part of the trinity of wealth. The more you rely on a lifestyle greedy with consumption, the less free you are, especially if your source of revenue (just your salary in the roadside case) disappears.
The roadside makes us dependent on dream peddlers. You know, the DVD that promises to make you rich quickly or that seminar that costs thousands of euros that will teach you how to get rich on the stock market.
MJ DeMarco never promises that making money was easy, he merely says the process can be fast, which is very different.
Those who use the roadside are focused on the result (profits). The Millionaire Fastlane focuses you on the necessary process by first ignoring the result.
The law of the victim
“Hitch-hikers don’t drive”. Using another metaphor to underscore all his work, MJ DeMarco continues to point out the state of mind you need to change if you want to move from the roadside to the fortune fast lane.
To be on the motorway, you have to drive, and by definition, if you walk on the roadside, you are not driving. To drive is to take responsibility and to stop behaving like a victim.
So far, no big deal. Everyone knows that Calimero will never get rich.
But where it gets interesting, is when MJ provides points to work on as well as starting blocks to avoid victimisation. Just because you exist doesn’t mean you deserve anything. The roadside is a den of selfish narcissists.
One of the key points is to maintain control of your road, your vehicle, and your direction. You’ve got it: MJ condemns delegation of his financial future to other people.
Only you should be at the wheel of your vehicle!
Part 4: Mediocrity: the slow lane
The lie that you have been sold: the slow lane
This part is a real electric shock as MJ DeMarco goes against all the common advice you read about personal finances!
For someone in the slow lane, wealth is defined as:
Wealth = market value + compound interest
Here are the main obstacles to wealth, found in the slow lane:
- Going to school
- Getting good grades
- Frugality is good
- Give up Starbucks
- Pay yourself first
- Overtime is welcome
- Pay off your primary residence quickly
- Use discount vouchers and cashback
- Buy into safe values and keep them for life
- Put 10% of your income aside
- Your home is an asset
This way of thinking is, in my opinion, widespread in France and these points (as well as many othersmade) are an integral part of what is sold to us as “progressive enrichment”.
The problem is that this plan takes decades to complete and is riskier than entrepreneurship!
The slow lane driver accepts the sacrifice of their finest years of youth in the hope of having a better life later. But a plan that takes this long and relies on so many uncontrollable factors is risky. Economic conditions or layoffs can quickly jeopardise you.
In the slow lane, you swap 2 days of freedom (Saturday, Sunday) for 5 days of sacrifice (Monday to Friday).
The criminal trade-off: your Job
The 4 mistakes of wage-earning:
1. Even the highest salaries do not deliver wealth quickly. In a summary table, DeMarco demonstrates with simple calculations that even a specialist doctor would take 105 years to save $1 million by putting aside 10% of his income.
Time is the most precious resource of all as it is the only one that is limited. Which makes any type of work that is time-correlated inefficient, when it comes to being rich.
2. Lack of experience. Experience comes from what you do in life, not from what you do in your work to pay your bills. What experience is most likely to make you rich? Your daily tasks routineat work or the experience gained from your own creations and growth that can make you financially independent?
3. No control. Being an employee is like being the passenger in the back of a Pick-Up truck. At the slightest jolt (dismissal, illness) you are ejected.
4. Paying yourself last. Even if paying yourself first regularly features in the doctrines by personal finance gurus, it is impossible to do if you are salaried. The company will always prioritise itself. If everyone uses your hard-earned cash first, and you have to save what’s left after deductions, don’t expect to get rich quickly!
The slow lane: why you are not rich
In this section, MJ DeMarco demolishes the adage that says “€10,000 invested now will be worth €2.5m in 40 years with an interest return of 15%”
Relying solely on compound interest to get rich, is an illusion.
Compound interest is based on time and you discovered earlier, anything correlated to time will limit wealth.
Besides, rates of return are unpredictable, especially over a long period.
The famous financial gurus preach a strategy that they do not apply themselves. None of them become millionaires using coupons or getting better degrees or investing in compound interest. What makes them rich are the methods they sell. They’re in the fast lane.
Part 5: The wealth map: the fast lane
Once we have understood the futility of approach to money, it’s time to discover the famous millionaire fast lane. At this point, many things have been called into question.
The slow land is not good in terms of getting rich. We have to find the fast lane.
The fast lane is an enterprise system, contrary to the slow lane, which uses the salary as a revenue source.
The formula for wealth in the fast lane is as follows:
Wealth = net income + asset value
Which identifies two elements to work with: net income and asset value.
Net income = units sold x earnings per unit
Here’s an example: If you want to sell products on the internet, you can create wealth by increasing the number of units sold (with good marketing, results, testimonials, etc) and/or with a product price increase.
Compared to a salary and compound interest, you can act upon these two elements with no time correlation!
In his example, Mj DeMarco shows us that an increase of just 1% of sales brought in $480 a day, which is $14,400 a month! How much time would an employed manager take to reach this amount?
And by increasing the price by $0.5 per sold product, he moves from earning $8000 a day to $10,800, which is a total of $84,000 extra per month!
You start to see the importance of these two levers when you create and offer things to people.
Because here is the fast lane: work out the needs of consumers and meet them.
Do you need to be passionate? No!
Again, this is a conflicting statement! Passion does not necessarily fill the tills. The “money tree” you’re going to create, does though.
The 5 entrepreneurial models most eligible for the fast lane
MJ selects 5 types of “money tree” for you to create that are eligible for the fast lane to fortune:
1. Rentals systems
Rental investments, patents, trademarks are ideas of rental systems
2. Software or programming systems
iPhone apps or computer programmes for example.
3. Information systems (blogs that sell services, does that ring any bells?)
Pretty obvious!
4. Affiliation, the franchise
The creation of network marketing, pay others to sell your products with a commission when you can’t do it yourself.
5. Human resource systems (a company self-managed by good salary-earners)
MJ DeMarco uses the example of a reader of his forum who has several fully managed storage warehouses across the country.
The real law of wealth
To generate maximum wealth, you need to use two parameters:
- Amplitude (number of units sold)
- Magnitude (the sale price)
Which means that to gain millions, you need to service millions of people.
If you open a shop in your town, your amplitude will be limited. If you open 2, it will double. And if you sell your products on the internet, your potential amplitude is worldwide!
To influence the magnitude (the price) of your wealth, you need to create value and constantly improve your products and services but also offer services not being supplied by competitors.
There are also marketing techniques to increase the unit price.
Part 6: Your vehicle: you!
The power of choice
Choices shape your direction as well as how you clean your windshield as you drivealong the motorway. Once you agree to take responsibility and avoid the victim’s law, you must face every consequence of each choice.
Throughout his life, MJ created two tools to help him face important choices. In this chapter, he shares them with us.
The first is to look at “the worst possible scenario”. It breaks down into 3 questions, which you need to be able to answer when you face a difficult choice, and you don’t have much time to think.
- What is the worst possible consequence of this choice?
- What is the probability of this consequence?
- Is it an acceptable risk?
The answer to these questions shouldn’t more than a few seconds.
When the choices take longer to decide however, DeMarco created a decision analysis matrix. This is his second tool. Full of common sense, it has the advantage of providing the best solution for you to make a big decision.
Using an example he lived through, the author demonstrates this famous matrix. When he was going through a deep depression he hesitated between two hard choices, with serious consequences to his future. Stay in Chicago or move far to the south, to Phoenix (Arizona).
| Factors | Chicago | Phoenix |
You then fill in the “factors” column with important elements to consider when you make your decision. Here’s his example:
| Factors | Chicago | Phoenix |
| Climate | ||
| Cost of living | ||
| Schools | ||
| Economic situation | ||
| Local taxes | ||
| Security | ||
| Activities/hobbies | ||
| Proximityto family |
You’ve established the important elements to bear in mind for the decision you are going to make. Now, you have to settle on their importance by allocating to each of them, a coefficient from 1 to 10.
This is what it looked like for MJ:
| Factors | Chicago | Phoenix |
| Climate (10) | ||
| Cost of living (6) | ||
| Schools (3) | ||
| Economic situation (2) | ||
| Local taxes (7) | ||
| Security (4) | ||
| Activities/hobbies (8) | ||
| Proximityto family (7) |
As you can see, not all the factors have the same importance for MJ. And it would be the same for you. Now you need to decide on their respective weights. In the end, this matrix looks a bit like one of our old school reports!
Once you’ve done this, you need to be honest and award points to each of the two (or more) options. Here’s what it looked like for MJ.
| Factors | Chicago | Phoenix |
| Climate (10) | 2 (20) | 8 (80) |
| Cost of living (6) | 5 (30) | 7 (42) |
| Schools (3) | 2 (6) | 5 (15) |
| Economic situation (2) | 6 (12) | 4 (8) |
| Local taxes (7) | 6 (42) | 7 (49) |
| Security (4) | 3 (12) | 6 (24) |
| Activities/hobbies (8) | 5 (40) | 2 (16) |
| Proximity to family (7) | 10 (70) | 0 (0) |
| Total | 232 | 234 |
In the table above the figures in brackets are the totals of the points multiplied by the coefficient of each factor. At the bottom of the table are the totals, indicating the best choice according to your criteria. Right in front of you, in black and white.
Despite certain factors counting a lot towards Chicago for MJ (proximity to family, activities, and hobbies, etc) the best choice ends up as a move to Phoenix.
For only 2 points the author took the step and urges us to do the same, to avoid “no choices” or to allow ourselves to be governed by fear.
This matrix should only be used as a last resort when it comes to big decisions about the big picture of your future.
It would make no sense to use this for every little decision. For those, MJ DeMarco suggests that you use the worst-case scenario analysis.
Change the way the wind blows.
This is advice that we encounter a lot these days in the blogosphere and personal development blogs: to succeed, you sometimes have to cut yourself off from certain toxic relationships even if they are part of your entourage.
Out of fear, jealousy or concern for your well being, even your loved ones can slow your enthusiasm down when it comes to the fortune fast lane.
These people can be:
- Friends and family that don’t understand you
- The education system that preaches a salaried life and the slow lane.
- Your parents that think that wealth is for other people
- Wealth gurus that state that $100 invested today will be worth 10 million in 50 years
- Your environment
You mustn’t hesitate to close your vehicle’s door to these “headwinds”. Instead, look for winds that travel in your direction. That is to say, successful people that operate in your sphere, or entrepreneur clubs, etc.
The people you meet on the road will be like brothers-in-arms on the battlefield. They can save your life, help you stay alive, or lead to your peril. You have to choose them keeping this in mind.
Your essential fuel: time
You should see time as the most precious of all your riches. Money is infinite in the world, whereas time is not.
To illustrate this principle, the author recalls a scene from the Titanic film.
As the ship slips inexorably into the freezing sea, the noble and rich run to the rescue boats. They try to buy their seat from the ship’s officer.
He answers: “your money cannot save you more than me!”
It’s with this comeback that entrepreneurs in the fortune Fastlane see the importance of time. And you should do the same instead of waiting in a queue for 1 hour for your free bucket of chicken wings!
Change your oil regularly!
What is your engine’s motor oil? Your education! And despite what 90% of people think, education doesn’t stop when you get your degree. On the contrary, it starts at that very moment!
Learning useful information for your business or your “money tree” is essential.
And nowadays, there is no excuse to not learn new things throughout life, as this knowledge is freely available in libraries, on the Internet and high-quality specialised forums.
Education is a strong lever that will distinguish between a vehicle (you) that takes you to your destination (wealth), or a vehicle that perishes in the middle of the road.
So MJ DeMarco gives us a few tips to educate ourselves without spending a fortune and teaches us to make the distinction between good and bad intellectual investments.
Paying too much to change your oil is counter-productive. Learn to appreciate the difference between something impacting your goal as opposed to a waste of time and money.
The red line: the accelerator
The heart of the problem for many entrepreneurs (especially web entrepreneurs!): Are you prepared to go beyond the red line? The one that separates the traditional town speed limit, from the motorway one?
If you drive at 50km/h, you will take ages to get to your destination.
Embedded in this metaphor is the difference between success and failure. Flooring the pedal means you take action, more action, and even further action. You should think of the value of your ideas as 0.
The author even thinks good ideas are like brain farts!
The only thing that counts is your ability to transform these ideas into a workflow.
Are you merely “interested” or are you “invested” in your entrepreneurial project?
The motorway is only open to those that are invested. You don’t drive at 50km/h on the motorway.
Some clues:
- Every time you say “one day” you put your foot on the brakes.
- Every time you wait for an event to take place before you launch something, you put your foot on the brakes.
The timing is never perfect and lady luck doesn’t shine her light on those that wait for the right moment, but rather on those that seize it.
Lots of entrepreneurs leave their cars in the garage and never take the plunge.
According to MJ, there is a difference between taking risks for the fun of it, and taking intelligent and calculated risks, the gains from which far surpass the possible losses.
Part 7: the road to riches
Your vehicle is ready, the road has been cleared of obstacles, you floor the accelerator. But is your business heading for wealth or the cliff edge?
In this section, you’ll be judged on your intentions and the robustness of your idea!
Having the right state of mind is not enough. You have to have a project that holds water.
What are the 5 commandments for an idea to be worthy of the millionaire fast lane?
- The need commandment
- The entry commandment
- The control commandment
- The ladder commandment
- The time commandment
The need commandment
The first commandment (and the most important) is need. Does your business or idea address a need? Does it make life easier or more difficult?
The biggest problem with people who take the plunge is that they seek to “make money” first and foremost, which makes them selfish and violates the need commandment.
To attract money, you need to focus your efforts on service and meeting demand, ignoring future results. Once again, it is a question of focusing on the process and not the results.
Another myth to bust is “Do what you like”.
Think about it for a moment. Would anyone pay to see you do what YOU love? This will only happen if what you like to do meets an expectation or fills a gap for your customers!
Also, if you transform your passions into work, you risk losing all the pleasure you get from them.
Unless you’re the best at your passion (not simply an amateur), and you turn it into a fulltime activity, you are at odds with the need commandment.
On top of that, unless your passions are extremely rare (and strange), these tend to lead towards highly competitive activities with slim margin potential.
You must make your journey your passion and not direct your path towards your passion. The nuance is crucial.
The entry commandment
How easy is it for your business to launch? Is it difficult to do the same thing as you (a lot of barriers to entry, especially the required education, how about that!) or could anyone set up the same business as you?
If it’s easy to imitate you, the competition increases and your path weakens. So you need to find a different route or to strengthen it by adding more expertise that isn’t easily copied.
Beware of “everyone does it”, this is a sign that this path is highly competitive, the margins are low and it is extremely difficult to stand out.
DeMarco implies that a niche market requiring some know-how is much more viable than lessons on how to win on the stock market with a DVD.
Anyone can create and sell a DVD on how to learn the basics of the stock market. As “everyone” wants to get rich, the market is highly competitive and barriers to entry are low (anyone can develop lessons without much expertise in the subject).
Does your “money tree” idea have strong or weak barriers to entry? Are you going for a saturated or specific sector?
The control commandment
Are you a leader or a follower? Are you the head of your company or is it others?
Does your project rely on the actions of others or do you have control of your vehicle? Are you a hitchhiker or a driver?
After working out whether you are a driver or passenger in your vehicle, you must be careful.
Followers can earn a bit of money. Leaders earn a lot, and sometimes huge amounts.
You need to create affiliations, not follow them. You have to create your brand and not sell others’ brands. And you must have the freedom to choose your direction and not be influenced by others.
Affiliations are a part of someone else’s motorway, not yours. Look to create something unique rather than being the “sales rep” for others.
Being a “sales rep” also violates the entry commandment, because anyone can do it!
The ladder commandment
What is the scope of your business?
Is it hyper-local, local, county-wide, regional, national, international?
If you want to make millions, you have to impact the lives of millions of your fellow citizens. Aim high and be ambitious. The Internet is the perfect tool to reach the biggest pool of lives that exists, but opening a shop in your local residential area will only reach your neighbours.
Make sure you reach as many people as possible. Even if the Internet sounds like a no-brainer, the chain stores that flourish on every continent also reach millions of people, as do the big brands across all capital cities.
If you invent a gadget that gets used by millions of people, the value of this gadget doesn’t matter, you’ll be on the path to millions.
MJ DeMarco then lists a plethora of other options that I won’t go into here, the idea is explicit enough in these few lines ;-).
The time commandment
As you’ve previously read, time is the most precious of all riches. Is your idea linked to time? Can your business be automated (without losing control!)? Are you able to recruit for tasks that are time-consuming and non-essential?
Does your business allow you to earn money even when you’re not there?
A business that is “locked” into a time stream is called a job.
The three ‘I’s of the millionaire fast lane.
As the author referred to in the control commandment, to end up with millions in the bank, you need to be a leader and not a follower. For this, there is the rule of three “I”s.
- Internet
- Innovation
- Iterations
Using all three at the same time isn’t obligatory but can increase your speed a lot!
The role of the Internet has already been widely debated above. The Internet simply allows you to reach the biggest possible market and scale with your products. It’s the best way to impact millions of lives around the world.
Innovation is what will keep you ahead of your competition. You should re-invest the money you make from your “money tree” in innovation and research to keep improving your services. Your line of sight should be to better serve, serve more, and address more needs.
Iteration is a scientific word that means to try again with the same intention, by changing a mere detail.
Sometimes you can’t reach your goals. The difference between success and failure lies in persistence by changing details. Giving up at the first hurdle and going in another direction will only slow you down.
If your business follows the 5 commandments above, the only thing that matters is your ability to adapt and to change details so that they meet the expectations of your prospects.
Iterations can also happen in other people’s products! This is a bit like innovation, but improving an existing product is a powerful lever for getting rich.
Know how to grab opportunities and take on challenges you couldn’t envisage previously, as, before getting onto the motorway you were too preoccupied with “making money” rather than addressing a need.
How do you find the right roads to the millionaire fast lane?
It’s simple. If you use the state of mind the author suggests, you will discover the access roads.
The opportunities are all around you. Listen more carefully:
- Every time that you or someone else says: “that’s rubbish…”
- Every time that you or someone else says: “It would be good if…”
- Same with “I’ve had enough of…”
- It’s much the same with questions like: “why does it work that way?”
- Every time that you (or someone else) feels frustration about a situation
All these points provide opportunities to take an access road that may lead to the millionaire motorway!
Fix a final destination for your route
The motorway has an endpoint, a destination for your trip and you need to try and identify it.
Take stock of the life you dream of. Work out the price of everything you need to live your dream life. Whether that’s property, vehicles, or passive income.
Doing this exercise will help you determine how much you will earn during your trip. If you bring in this huge sum over 12 months, this provides a very motivating benchmark!
In the end, what we call a dream life isn’t as financially astronomical as we might have thought! A final destination is possible and it’s up to you to work out how to get there.
Also, make a habit of saving excess money. Careful though, this isn’t about saving as a way of life, rather putting in place a psychological system of motivation whereby every hundred you put away gets you closer to your end goal.
Of course, once you’re into the habit of climbing each step, stop and go create your products and your brand!
Part 8: Your speed!
In the last section, MJ warns against the dangers of selling without paying attention to customer feedback.
Believe it or not, they are the ones who will make or break your fortune. With this much power, all comments should be listened to.
There are 4 types of negative feedback that you need to keep in mind if you want to reach maximum speed in your fast lane.
1- Complaints about change
You have to innovate in your business and that means change. The changes are sure to fuel complaints, as many people don’t like changes to their favourite servicewhen “it works well.”
These complaints are the most difficult ones to deal with, as often they are not justified. Most of the time they are just expressions of fear. But sometimes you get terrible feedback on a change you have made. You then have to “go back” and look for the failures.
2- Complaints about expectations
This is negative feedback from your customers because they expected to get something and didn’t get what they expected! This feedback is serious and demonstrates an urgent need for price changes or an upgrade to your product range, or a change in your marketing.
3- Complaints about disappointments
This is the most hurtful feedback (your product is rubbish because it doesn’t do this, etc…) but also the most constructive. Don’t forget that every disappointment is a call for improvement and a commercial opportunity.
If you ignore these complaints, the competition will work hard to solve these shortfalls and take some of your market share.
4- Fraudsters
Not really complaints, but you will invariably come across free-riders who will try to get products that they haven’t paid for, or will opt for the refund guarantee on the last day, or else threaten to sue you for violation of various rights.
No one wants these kinds of clients but they are part of the mix, and you can learn a lot from the way you deal with them…
Conclusions of “The Millionaire Fastlane” by Jean-Yves from the Potion de Vie blog:
Well, I’m not going to dither: this book is simply one of the best I’ve ever read. And yet as a librarian, I have read many books on personal development.
However, The Millionaire Fastlane is not a book on personal development, but rather a book on entrepreneurship in the broadest sense.
I liked MJ DeMarco’s very direct style that “shakes things up”. I enjoyed having my convictions, up to now anchored in the slow lane, taken to pieces. If “The 4-hour week” disappointed you or its magic no longer works for you, I strongly advise you to read The Millionaire Fastlane as soon as possible.
It’s about getting rich fast, but not easily. This nuance is huge and gives the author credibility. MJ DeMarco gets right to the point with his assertions.
Just as if he was right here with us, kicking us in the backside!
I have changed my perspective on wealth and how to run a business. In the millionaire fast lane, you start dreaming fine, but you can’t just snap your fingers to access them. It requires a mindset that DeMarco instills in us chapter by chapter.
On the cover, it pompously stated: “With this book, you will learn more in two days than you learned in two years of business school, for 1% of the price!”
I know now that those were not throwaway words…
Strong points of The Millionaire Fastlane:
- A kind of magic emerges from this book, much like the book by Tim Ferriss, but in a different style. This means it’s easy to get hooked.
- The Millionaire Fastlane is written by someone who tells their success story, not someone who provides a plan for the future. DeMarco started from scratch, made a lot of mistakes and became a multimillionaire anyway. Credibilityguaranteed.
- The Millionaire Fastlane is reassuring in the sense that it does not sell dreams, but a “road map” that is used by those who become truly rich. The concept of work is still maintained.
- A lot of content, a lot of advice, and a lot of acid humour dominate the book. It feels like you’re discovering “secrets.”
- Lastly, The Millionaire Fastlane is a real slap in the face with the power to change your life. Even though that’s the goal behind Olivier’s blog, there are not many books like this…321 pages of pure content.
Weak points of The Millionaire Fastlane:
- This book was written by an American for Americans, which means that the examples aren’t always relevant!
- The author’s tone is sometimes very familiar, and even if you are good at English, you will have to open the dictionary occasionally to understand the essence of certain sentences! (Fortunately, not too often)
- MJ DeMarco will bully you without ever apologizing. It was never a problem for me, but I know it will bother some readers!
- The Millionaire Fastlane is not translated into French!
Jean-Yves, from the Potion de Vie blog, rates this:
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