🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

The right path to achieving monetary satisfaction
Ways to develop the right mindset about material life
How to not get sucked in the rat race.

🎨 Impressions

I loved the concepts that were introduced and preached in this book. I believe they drove the nail and made it certain that the world is in absolute fog when it comes to material success and living a fulfilled life. I found this book, just at the right moment, when I was going through a little crisis of my own and I genuinely believe that I will grow to appreciate this even more as I embark on this wonderful, awestruck journey to the land of the 0.5% people.

How I Discovered It

Ali Abdal, my man

Who Should Read It?

Business owners, all teen agers, and yes everyone.

☘️ How the Book Changed Me

[!important]
How my life / behaviour / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

✍️ My Top 3 Quotes

If you want to keep getting what you’re getting, keep doing what you’re doing.’
You can’t be a victim if you don’t relinquish power to someone capable of making you a victim.
Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows. ~ Michael Landon
I’d rather live in regret of failure than in regret of never trying. ~ MJ DeMarco
Affect millions and make millions. - DeMarco, MJ.
Go into a kindergarten class and ask the kids how many of them can sing. EVERY hand will go up. Fast-forward 13 years and ask the same class of seniors the same question. Only a few hands will go up. What changed? The kindergarten kids believed they could sing because no one had told them otherwise. - DeMarco, MJ
You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~ John Wooden
I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

📒 Summary + Notes

Never trade time for money
Enjoy the process- Wealth eludes most people because they are preoccupied with events while disregarding process. Without process, there is no event.
Achieving success is not getting lucky but finding and using the right tools at the right places.
The available lanes ![[Untitled 141.png|Untitled 141.png]]
The Slowlane or the “Normal” is modern day slavery

The Slowlane - job

To trade time for money is like trading life for money.

5 days labor for 2 days freedom
only get paid a reasonable amount
takes away control over your life and choices

You can’t scale time (only 24 hours in a day)
You can only ask for reasonable compensation for the work you put in, in a job.
In a job you are replaceable. A million people can do what you do. The best excuse people have for not having wealth is “I don’t have time.” Well, why don’t you have time? Because you have a job. Why do you have a job? Because you need one. Why do you need one? Because you have bills to pay. Why do you have bills to pay? Because you have debt. Why do you have debt? Oh yes, because you went to school for six years and have six figures in student loans. DeMarco, MJ. The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime (p. 89). Viperion Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The FastLane - business

Divorce Wealth from time
As you look for a job and you eventually get it, because that is the one thing you were always looking for. Look for a business, and yes you will eventually get it. The Fastlane Mindposts

==Debt Perception: Debt is useful if it allows me to build and grow my system.==
==Time Perception: Time is the most important asset I have, far exceeding money.==
==Education Perception: The moment you stop learning is the moment you stop growing. Constant expansion of knowledge and awareness is critical to my journey.==
==Money Perception: Money is everywhere, and it’s extremely abundant. Money is a reflection of how many lives I’ve touched. Money reflects the value I’ve created.==
==Primary Income Source: I earn income via my business systems and investments.==
==Primary Wealth Accelerator: I make something from nothing. I give birth to assets and make them valuable to the marketplace. Other times, I take existing assets and add value to them.==
==Wealth Perception: Build business systems for cash flow and asset valuation.==
==Wealth Equation: Wealth = Net Profit + Asset Value==
==Strategy: The more I help, the richer I become in time, money, and personal fulfillment.==
==Destination: Lifetime passive income, either through business or investments.==
==Responsibility & Control: Life is what I make it. My financial plan is entirely my responsibility and I choose how I react to my circumstances.==
==Life Perception: My dreams are worth pursuing no matter how outlandish, and I understand it will take time and money to make those dreams real.== These mindposts are what formulate the Fastlaner’s lifestyle. It drives action.

From Consumer to Producer - The mindset shift

It’s all about changing the “first want”. Shifting from consumer to producer is just about the shift of mentality. It doesn’t imply that you don’t buy stuff anymore. FYI Applied, this means instead of buying products on TV, sell products. Instead of digging for gold, sell shovels. Instead of taking a class, offer a class. Instead of borrowing money, lend it. Instead of taking a job, hire for jobs. Instead of taking a mortgage, hold a mortgage. Break free from consumption, switch sides, and reorient to the world as producer. To become a producer you need to provide value to the world (people)

Wealth Equaltion

Wealth = Net Profit + Asset Value
Net Profit = Units Sold (Scale) * Unit Profit (Magnitude)
Asset Value = Net Profit * Industry Multiple Options to Raise Wealth

Raise units sold
Raise units profit

Money Tree

Money trees are business system that are autonomous and self sustainable. The require periodic support and nurturing but survive on their own, creating a surrogate for you time for money trade.

Five Fastlane Business Seedlings

Rental systems - real estate, patent licencing, books, any other kind of royalty based system.
Software Systems - SaaS
Content Systems - Sell Information. YouTube, blogs, books, etc.
Distribution Systems - Amazon, Walmart, just move product to the masses. Could be a platform like Udemy as well, it make available the courses to the market.
Human Resource System - appoint people to handle management. (be very thorough with this, as good HRS nurture the tree and bad ones pluck fruits from it.) Just like education, Fastlaners and Slowlaners leverage compound interest differently. Slowlaners (the middle-class) use compound interest to get ==wealthy== while Fastlaners (the rich) use it to create ==income and liquidity==. Slowlaners start with $5; Fastlaners start with $5 million.

The Law of Effection - Get eyeballs as much as you can.

The Law of Effection states that the more lives you affect in an entity you control, in scale and/or magnitude, the richer you will become.
Scale creates millionaires. Magnitude creates millionaires. Scale and magnitude creates billionaires.

Decision Making Tools

Worse Case Consequence Analysis (WCCA):
1. What is the worst-case consequence of this choice?
2. What is the probability of this outcome?
3. Is this an acceptable risk?
Weighted Average Decision Matrix (WADM):

![[Untitled 1 18.png|Untitled 1 18.png]]

Column 1 Factors - Crucial variables in the decision making ranked from 1 to 10 based on importance.

Rest Columns - All the choices available

Find the right 20%

The Fastlane road trip demands fresh oil changes. But what is oil? Oil is education. Knowledge. Street smarts. But be careful . . . it must be the right oil and for the right purpose.

Intelligent risks have a limited downside, while their upside is unlimited. Moronic risks have a bottomless downside and their upside is limited, or short term.

CENTS

The Commandment of Control
The Commandment of Entry
The Commandment of Need
The Commandment of Time
The Commandment of Scale CENTS is a Fastlane litmus test and validates your road.

Control

✓- Drivers create MLM companies; they don’t join them.
✓- Drivers sell franchises; they don’t buy them.
✓- Drivers offer affiliate programs; they don’t join them.
✓- Drivers run hedge funds; they don’t invest in them.
✓- Drivers sell stock; they don’t buy stock.
✓- Drivers offer drop-shipping; they don’t use drop-shipping.
✓- Drivers offer employment; they don’t get employed.
✓- Drivers accept rents and royalties; they don’t pay rents and royalties.
✓- Drivers sell licenses; they don’t buy them.
✓- Drivers sell IPO shares; they don’t buy them.
✓- Drivers don’t join the hottest trend, they serve the hottest trend. Build corporate ladders—don’t join them. Build pyramid organizations—don’t join them. Think manufacture, not retail. To become a shark, you have to think like one. Sharks think big and guppies think small. As a shark, you have to drill into your belief system and change your mindset. ==Think globally==, not locally. ==Think to lead==, not to follow. ==Think to innovate==, not to copy. Invest In Your Brand Only! The Fastlaner creates and invests in his own brand; the hitchhiker climbs aboard someone else’s and hopes to piggyback. If you don’t control your system, your money tree, and your brand, you control nothing. You must sit atop the pyramid and serve the masses. Stop climbing pyramids and start building them. ==This is something that I don’t fully relate with because I have encountered some evidence of getting loads of money by piggybacking on the right trailer. Eg: Netflix stock in covid.==

Entry

The Commandment of Entry states that as entry barriers to any business road fall, or lessen, the effectiveness of that road declines while competition in that field subsequently strengthens. Higher entry barriers equate to stronger, more powerful roads with less competition and need for exceptionality. There’s an old saying, “==In a gold rush, don’t dig for gold, sell shovels!==” Here is nice mind post: ==“If everyone is doing it, I won’t be doing it. I’ll exit the road, and you should too.”== When it comes to money, the best warning flag is “everyone.” Everyone is a red flag that the Commandment of Entry has been violated. If everyone is bewitched by the same activity, it surely will fail.

Need

Businesses that solve needs and provide value win. The below paragraph provides a good amount of categories of questions to target while setting the criteria for the solution. People care about what your business can do for them. How will it help them? What’s in it for them? Will it solve their problem? Make their life easier? Provide them with shelter? Save them money? Educate them? Make them feel something? Tell me, why on God’s green Earth should I give your business money? What value are you adding to my life? Reflect back to our producer/consumer dichotomy. Consumers are selfish. They demand to know is “what’s in it for me!” To succeed as a producer, surrender your own selfishness and address the selfishness of others.

Stop Chasing Money, Chase Needs Stop thinking about business in terms of your selfish desires, whether it’s money, dreams or “do what you love.” Instead, chase needs, problems, pain points, service deficiencies, and emotions. Need something more concrete? No problem.
Make 1 million people achieve any of the following:

===> Make them feel better. (entertainment, music, video games)==
===> Help them solve a problem.==
===> Educate them.==
===> Make them look better (health, nutrition, clothing, makeup).==
===> Give them security (housing, safety, health).==
===> Raise a positive emotion (love, happiness, laughter, self-confidence).==
===> Satisfy appetites, from basic (food) to the risqué (sexual).==
===> Make things easier.==
===> Enhance their dreams and give hope.== . . . and I guarantee, you will be worth millions.

Time - ==Red Flag==

A business attached to your time is a job.

Scale

==In simple terms: Either a lot of people give some money or some people give a lot of money. Nevertheless, money is same== How to Access the Law If you want access to the Law of Effection, drive a road that can break through scale or magnitude while controlling its source. If you can’t be the source, serve the source. Thankfully, you can easily determine which roads run parallel to the Law of Effection. Whatever your road, regardless of roadmap, can it directly scale to impact millions (scale)? Can it tremendously impact a few (magnitude)?

✓- If you invent a gadget that millions can use, you have direct scale and the Law is accessible. Fast wealth is a possible.
✓- If you are chosen as a finalist for American Idol, you have direct scale and the Law is accessible. Fast wealth is possible.
✓- If you build a website that serves single moms, you have direct scale and the law is accessible. Fast wealth is possible.
✓- If you are two management positions away from a CFO position at a Fortune 100 Company, you have indirect scale and the law is accessible. Fast wealth is possible.
✓- If you are an attorney and take cases that involve ==wrongful deaths (importance of the factor is directly propotioanl to the amount of money)==, you have indirect magnitude and the law is accessible. Fast wealth is possible.
✓- If you create a successful retail store and franchise it to 300 entrepreneurs around the country, you have both scale and magnitude and the law is accessible. Fast wealth is possible.
✓- If you invent a machine that detects skin cancer, you have magnitude and scale and the law is accessible. Fast wealth is possible. Think big, but think scale and/or magnitude.

Fastlane Purity: Five Commandments

Thou shalt not invest in a needless business. - Check need, scale, USP, control and HR
Thou shalt not trade time for money. - Focus on creating a surrogate
Thou shalt not operate on a limited scale. - If it isn’t scaleble, it isn’t worth it.
Thou shalt not relinquish control. - risky but might work.
Thou shalt not let a business startup be an event over process. - process is the “right” way to go

The Three fastlane interstates

Internet
1. Subscription-based
2. Content-based - write blog; gather eyeballs; advertise or upsell your own product
3. Lead generation - save time and money for consumers and find new customers for businesses
4. Social Networks / communities / Forums - create a place for creators to create content; gather eyeballs; advertise;
5. Brokerage System: provide service; take cut. Eg: upwork, paypal
6. Advertising
7. E-commerce
Innovation

Manufacture & Distribution

What is the product of innovation? Virtually anything that solves a need or fulfills a desire.
- ✓- Food (beer, barbecue sauce, cookies, secret recipes)
- ✓- Household (robots that vacuum, tools, hangers)
- ✓- Health and vitality (vitamins, herbs, energy drinks, bars, “male enhancement formulas”)
- ✓- Information (books, magazines, subscription newsletters)
- ✓- Personal (clothing, purses, shoes, gloves)
- ✓- Automotive (accessories, add-ons, stick-ons)
- ✓- Games or toys
==Take something old and stale and make it better==. Take an underexposed product, make it your own, and reintroduce it to the world. Take something unconventional and make it conventional.
Intentional Iteration

Franchising is another example of II. If you build a small store with intentional iteration in mind, your goal isn’t one store, but hundreds, perhaps thousands, through the act of chaining or franchising.

At first, people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done— then it is done, and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago. ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

Redefining opportunity

Opportunity is rarely about some blockbuster breakthrough like the light bulb or the car, but as simple as an unmet need, or a need not met adequately. Opportunity is a solution to an inconvenience. Opportunity is simplification. Opportunity is a feeling. Opportunity is comfort. Opportunity is better service. Opportunity is fixing pain. Opportunity is putting weak companies out of business. ==“Competition is everywhere. Just do it and do it better.”==

Some Examples of how execution tops ideas

Successful businesses rarely evolve from some legendary idea. Nope, successful entrepreneurs take existing concepts and improve them. They take poorly met needs and solve them better. Skip the big idea and go for the big execution. You don’t need an idea that has never been done before. Old ideas suffice; just take it and do it better! Execute like no one has! Years ago, what if Sergey Brin and Larry Page looked at the Internet landscape and said “Gee, there are plenty of search engines out there—Yahoo, Snap, Alta Vista—why start Google? It’s being done!” Thankfully, they didn’t, and now Google is the most used search engine, and because of it, Brin and Page are now billionaires. A brand-spanking new idea? Nope, a need solved better with big execution. Department stores have been around for decades, but that didn’t stop Sam Walton from creating Wal-Mart. It was an open road when the road seemed closed. MySpace was thriving well before Facebook, but that didn’t stop Mark Zuckerberg. He saw a niche need and solved it. And then adjusted as growth followed. It was an open road when the road seemed closed. Poorly met needs are open roads often appearing closed. Successful businesses take existing ideas, services, and products and simply make them better, or spin them in new directions. Here are the most common phrases: ==Oppotunities==

“I hate . . .” What do you hate? Solve the hate, and there’s your open road.
“I don’t like . . .” What don’t you like? Remove the dislike, and there’s your open road.
“This frustrates me . . .” What is frustrating? Remove the frustration, and there’s your open road.
“Why is this like this?” I don’t know, why is it? Remove the “why,” and there’s your open road.
“Do I have to?” Do you? Remove the “have to.” There’s your open road.
“I wish there was . . .” What do you wish? If you wish, others wish too. Make wishes come true, and there’s your open road.
“I’m tired of . . .” What are you tired of? Fix someone’s tiresomeness, and there’s your open road.
“This sucks . . .” What sucks? Remove or reduce suckage, and there’s your open road.
✓- Opportunities are rarely about inventing breakthroughs, but about performance gaps, small inconveniences, and pain points.
✓- Competition should not impede your road. Competition is everywhere, and your objective should be to “do it better.” Fastlane success resides in execution, not in the idea.
==✓- The world’s most successful entrepreneurs didn’t have a blockbuster ideas; they just took existing concepts and made them better, or exposed them to more people.==
✓- Opportunity is exposed in your language and your thought processes, as well as other people’s language. Failure cracks open new roads.
✓- Quitting only happens when you give up on your dream.

The System

What is the price for the freedom and lifestyle you want? Find out with this four-step process:

Define the Lifestyle: What do you want?
Assess the Cost: How much do your dreams cost?
Set the Targets: Set the money system and business income targets.
Make It Real: Fund it and open it! Step 1: Define the Lifestyle Define the lifestyle you want and its associated costs. Do you want the big house or the nonprofit foundation? What exactly do you want? Write everything down. For the purpose of this exercise, I will play along. ✓- Three cars: a Mercedes, a hybrid, and a minivan ✓- A 6,000-square-foot house with a fountain, pool, and waterfall ✓- A small cabin in the mountains ✓- The ability to travel three months a year ✓- Private school for my children Step 2: Assess the Cost Determine the monthly cost for each, including all associated expenses; taxes, utilities, maintenance, insurance, etc. Don’t forget life overhead, such as health insurance, food, etc. Three cars: $2,000 House: $5,000 Cabin: $1,000 Travel: $1,000 Private School: $1,000 Lifestyle Cost = $10,000/month Next, determine your monthly allowance and other unknowns. This is for stuff like clothes, gadgets, toys for the children, entertainment, etc. Add this to your Lifestyle Cost to arrive at your Gross Living Cost. Gross Living Cost = $10,000/mo. (Lifestyle Cost) + $4,000/mo. (Allowances)
Gross Living Cost = $14,000/mo. Next, determine your Net Living Cost by dividing Gross Living Cost by .60, or 60%. This will account for potential taxes. Net Living Cost = $14,000 / .60 = $23,333/mo. Step 3: Set the Targets The goal of this step is to set your two targets: the business system income target and the money system target. To calculate your money system target, multiply your Net Living Cost by 12, then divide by .05, or 5%. Five percent is the minimum expected yield on a money system. Money System Target = ($23,333 × 12) / .05 = $5,599,920 For your business system target, multiply your Gross Living Cost by 5, the required parameter to achieve a similar result by a money system. Business System Target = ($14,000 × 5) = $70,000/mo. These are your two targets. First, seek to create a business system that generates $70,000/month in passive monthly income. Of this income, 40% goes to taxes, 40% goes to fund your money system, and 20% pays your lifestyle. This delivers your target lifestyle AND simultaneously funds your money system. The other target is your passive income from a lump-sum money system. To enjoy your designated lifestyle supported by a money system, your target number is $5,599,920. Five percent interest on this amount is roughly $23,000 monthly, which covers lifestyle and taxes. This dual-flanked attack builds a passive income stream from a business that funds a money system. The result is like warping the destination to you. You can experience retirement without being retired.

Get started today by looking three feet in front of you, not three miles. A long gaze at the mountain crest will overwhelm you, so stop looking at it.

The Business

You treat each business function like a chess piece. How they’re played will fate your Fastlane for speed or aimless drifting.

- The King: Your execution
- The Queen: Your marketing
- The Bishop: Your customer service
- The Knight: Your product
- The Rook: Your people
- The Pawn: Your ideas. Potential Speed —> An Idea Actual Speed —> An Idea Accelerated and Executed. The Pawn: Idea (Potential Top Speed)
Awful idea = 1 mph
Weak idea = 5 mph
So-so idea = 35 mph
Good idea = 65 mph
Great idea = 100 mph
Brilliant idea = 200 mph The King: Execution (Accelerator Pressure)
No execution = $1
Weak execution = $1,000
So-so execution = $10,000
Good execution = $100,000
Great execution = $1,000,000
Brilliant execution = $10,000,000 The ultimate judge-and-jury of ideas is the world and the marketplaces that serve them. If the world likes your offer, they vote by giving you their time, their thoughts, or their money. You see, the world tells you which direction you should be going at all times. Heed the signs. How do you get the world to tell you? Put your executed ideas and concepts out into the world and let it tell you. Paint the world with your brush of genius so they can tell you how right or wrong you are. Put your executed ideas out into the box. Business plans are useless. Yes, I said it. Business plans are useless because they’re ideas jacked-up on steroids. If you want investors, get out and execute. Create a prototype. Create a brand. Create a track record that others can see or touch. Dive into process. When you have a physical manifestation of an idea, investors will open their wallets. Heck, be good enough and they will be fighting to give you money. You can explode your business into the stratosphere by deploying a customer service strategy that exceeds expectations: I call it SUCS, or “Superior Unexpected Customer Service.” So fast-forward more than a decade, and who is listed on my website as my chief technology officer? Mark Cegraves. Oh, and look who’s my web developer—Gretchen Hankerson! Wow, so did I hire my friends from high school? No, I didn’t, especially since their names were illusions of real people. None of these people worked for me. Yet if you visited my website’s “Contact” or “About Us” page, they were listed as employees in high profile positions: CTO, business development, or Web Producer. These people weren’t employees, but it looked like my staff was big, and growing. This started as a harmless “inside joke” with my employees, but I eventually realized it had a benefit: it branded my operation to look big. Dominating. Well-funded. Growing. Of course, depending on the person, an employee manifest featuring butchered names from a 1987 gym class tested ethical boundaries, but the result was intentional: I wanted to look big but act small. Complaints are valuable insights into your customers’ minds. ✓- Complaints of change are difficult to decipher and often require additional data to validate or invalidate. ✓- Complaints of expectation expose operational problems in either your business, or in your marketing strategy. ✓- Complaints of void expose unmet needs, raise the value of your product or service, and expose new revenue opportunities. ✓- Great customer service is as simple as violating your customer’s low expectation in the positive. ✓- Poor service gaps are Fastlane opportunities. ✓- Satisfied customers can be human resource systems who promote your business for free. ✓- Satisfied customers have a dual residual effect: Repeat business and new business via discipleship. ✓- Your customer’s satisfaction holds the key to everything you selfishly want. ✓- Looking big but acting small sets up customer service expectation violations in the positive. ✓- Looking big can scare away potential competitors. DeMarco, MJ. The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime (p. 283). Viperion Publishing. Kindle Edition. Trust, but Verify. Exploited weaknesses are where brands are born. What are they doing wrong? Where’s the inefficiency? Within the gray area of unsatisfied customers lies the opportunity to improve value and ramp up differentiation. Differentiation is a defense to commoditization. Gloating over your competition should serve only one purpose: To find weaknesses and then be better at that weakness within your own operation. To the customer, this difference will be interpreted as better value. And better value equals more buyers won. Business Survive. Brands thrive

Develop Your USP

Uncover Benefits:

Get into business for the right reason: to add or create value, solve problems or fill a need. That creates your first USP. If you are already in business, find your greatest product benefit, one that sets it apart from the competition. If you don’t have a distinct benefit that’s obvious to your potential buyer, you’re operating without a USP
Be Unique
Be Specific and Give Evidence
Keep it short and Clear
Integrate your usp into all marketing materials
Make it real

Rise above the noise

There are five ways to get your message above the noise:

Polarize
Arouse emotions
Be risqué
Encourage interaction
Be unconventional As consumers, we buy things to solve needs. We participate in transactions to fill voids. You don’t buy a drill; you buy a hole. You don’t buy a dress; you buy an image. You don’t buy a Toyota; you buy reliability. You don’t buy a vacation; you buy an experience. We must become problem solvers and align our business as a savior to someone. Features must be translated into benefits. Does the fact you are the largest limousine company in Colorado solve my problem? It doesn’t until You’re thinking about it too esoterically. As long as the world is imperfect, there will always be ideas. To profit in business, you only need to skew value on a couple of value attributes. A skewed value attribute could be better ingredients, better delivery, better customer service, better packaging, better user interface, better website, better functionality, better this, better that. Skew two or three value attributes and you have yourself a business. I detail this process in my newer book, Unscripted.

rahul.sharma

The Fastlane Millionaire - Notes and Summary