The Millionaire Fastlane

The Millionaire Fastlane

• ###Section: Introduction - Introduction
  • The road to wealth has a shortcut
    • It is a hidden road to wealth and financial freedom, a shortcut of blinding speed where you can achieve wealth in youthful exuberance over elder entropy.
    • The shortcut is cleverly camouflaged from your view.
    • Instead of the shortcut, you’re led down a paralyzing road to mediocrity—a dulled cornucopia of financial stratagem tailored to the slumbering masses.
  • Financial mediocrity
    • Also known as “Get Rich Slow,” “The Slowlane,” or “Wealth in a Wheelchair.”
    • The usual path is: Go to school, get good grades, graduate, get a good job, save 10%, invest in the stock market, max your 401K, slash your credit cards, and clip coupons.
  • The Millionaire Fastlane
    • It isn’t a static strategy that preaches “go buy real estate,” “think positively,” or “start a business,” but a complete psychological and mathematical formula that cracks the code to wealth and unlocks the gateway to the shortcut.
    • It gives probability to the unspeakable: Live richly today while young, and decades before standard norms of retirement.
  • Why can’t you drive the shortcut?
    • If you aren’t wealthy, STOP doing what you’re doing. STOP following the conventional wisdom. STOP following the crowd and using the wrong formula.
    • The book lists nearly 300 wealth distinctions designed to crack the code to wealth and get you off your current road and onto a new road where you can expose wealth’s shortcut.
  • Your reality doesn’t change mine
    • The Fastlane might insult, offend, or challenge you because it will violate everything you’ve been taught.
    • What you think of the Fastlane doesn’t change my reality; its purpose is to change yours.
  • The Fastlane doesn’t care about your age, your job experience, your race, or your gender.
  • Sorry, no four-hour work week here
    • The road to wealth has no escort and is always under construction.
    • The Millionaire Fastlane is like a yellow brick road paved in psychology and mathematics that put the odds of massive wealth in your favor.
  • Coffee with a multimillionaire
    • The author's assumptions about the reader are listed.
  • How this book is organized
    • At the conclusion of each chapter, there is a subsection titled “Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions” which chronicles the critical distinctions to Fastlane strategy.
  • End of introduction
• ###Section: 'get rich slow' is get rich old - Wealth in a Wheelchair:
  • "Get Rich Slow" is Get Rich Old
• ###Section: Chapter 1: The Great Deception - The Great Deception
  • The typical perception is that wealthy young people get rich through entertainment and sports, not through traditional investment methods like mutual funds and 401Ks.
  • The common financial advice is to get rich slowly through education, secure employment, and long-term investments.
  • "Get Rich Slow" is not a viable strategy for those who want to be rich while they are still young.
    • It's based on the idea of sacrificing the present for a future that may never arrive.
    • This strategy is dependent on the stock market and time, both of which are uncertain.
    • It's promoted by financial experts who themselves got rich quickly, not by following their own advice, but by selling it.
  • The Millionaire Fastlane
    • It's not about being retired old with millions, but about redefining wealth to include youth, fun, freedom, and prosperity.
    • Being able to enjoy wealth while young is not a myth, but it's unrealistic to achieve it through the "Get Rich Slow" strategy.
    • The traditional concept of retirement, which involves old age, health issues, and financial struggles, is not appealing.
    • The "Get Rich Slow" strategy takes a lifetime to execute and its success is dependent on too many uncontrollable factors.
    • If you want to retire young with health, vibrancy, and hair, you need to ignore society's default "Get Rich Slow" roadmap and look for another way.
  • Fastlane Distinctions
    • "Get Rich Slow" demands a long life of gainful employment.
    • "Get Rich Slow" is a losing game because it is codependent on Wall Street and anchored by your time.
• ###Section: Chapter 2: How I Screwed 'Get Rich Slow' - How I Screwed “Get Rich Slow”
  • Exposing The "Get Rich Slow" Dreamkiller
    • As a teenager, the author didn't believe in becoming wealthy young due to lack of physical talent.
    • Common roads to wealth (acting, music, sports) seemed inaccessible.
    • The "Get Rich Slow" philosophy was promoted: go to school, get a job, sacrifice dreams for financial security.
    • Despite this, the author still dreamed, particularly of owning a Lamborghini Countach.
  • The 90 Seconds That Changed My Life
    • Author had a lonely childhood in Chicago, indulging in sweets and TV.
    • Encountered a Lamborghini Countach outside an ice cream parlor.
    • Met the car's young owner who was an inventor, which was unexpected.
    • This event sparked a realization that wealth could be achieved without fame or physical talent.
    • Decided to pursue wealth passionately and aimed to own a Lamborghini while still young.
  • The Search for the Millionaire Fastlane
    • Studied young, self-made millionaires living a rich lifestyle.
    • Criteria for study subjects:
      • Living a rich lifestyle.
      • Under 35 or acquired wealth quickly.
      • Self-made, not through fame or physical talent.
    • Despite thorough research, initial efforts led to disappointment and financial losses.
    • Worked various menial jobs to support himself while continuing his studies.
  • Resistance into Mediocrity
    • Graduated with two business degrees but viewed college as corporate indoctrination.
    • Rejected the "Slowlane" mindset embraced by peers who pursued conventional careers.
  • Roadblocks, Detours, and Depression
    • Faced numerous entrepreneurial failures post-college.
    • Worked low-paying jobs and struggled with debt.
    • Experienced depression due to lack of success and seasonal affective disorder.
    • Continued studying successful individuals despite personal setbacks.
  • The Blizzard of Awakening
    • A cold, difficult night working as a limo driver led to a moment of clarity.
    • Decided to take control of his environment and relocated to Phoenix.
  • The Merge from Slowlane to Fastlane
    • Moved to Phoenix with minimal possessions and a determined mindset.
    • Focused on a website business idea that addressed a real need.
    • Transitioned from manual labor to web development and marketing.
    • Incremental revenue growth from the new business model (selling leads).
  • A New Wealth Equation Yields Wealth Acceleration
    • Innovated by selling leads instead of ad space, leading to exponential revenue growth.
    • Hard work resulted in long hours but was driven by passion.
    • Received positive client feedback, further motivating him.
  • My "Faked" Shortcut to Wealth
    • Sold his business during the dot-com boom for $1.2 million but faced financial setbacks later.
    • Poor decisions by the buying company led to its decline.
    • Repurchased his business at a reduced price and revitalized it.
    • Focused on automation and process improvements, leading to significant passive income.
  • The Birth of the Money Tree
    • Achieved financial freedom through a business that generated money continuously with minimal effort.
    • Lived a life of leisure and indulgence, supported by a thriving business.
    • Eventually sold the business again for a substantial sum, securing multimillionaire status.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
    • Fame or physical talent is not required for wealth.
    • Fast wealth is created exponentially, not linearly.
    • Change can happen in an instant.
• ###Section: Chapter 3: The Road Trip to Wealth - The Road Trip to Wealth
  • Wealth is likened to a road trip, not just a road.
    • There's a need to focus on the journey and the vehicle, not just the destination.
    • Focusing only on the destination can lead to neglecting important aspects of the journey, leading to failure.
  • Wealth's Illusionary Road
    • Wealth often escapes those who are "road-focused" and not using the whole formula.
    • There are multiple variables in the equation to wealth.
  • Millionaires are Forged by Process, Not by Events
    • Wealth creation is a process, not an event.
    • All events of wealth are preceded by a process, a backstory of trial, risk, hard work, and sacrifice.
  • Wealth's Road Trip Formula
    • Success demands focus on the journey and the tools of that journey (process) as opposed to the destination (event).
    • The formula for wealth's road trip has four constituent ingredients:
      • Your roadmap
      • Your vehicle
      • Your roads
      • Your speed
  • The Road Trip is Paved with Toll Roads
    • Successful Fastlane travelers are warriors who live and die on rough roads.
    • Toll roads pave the road to wealth, and that toll can't be paid on Easy Street.
  • The Road Trip Can't be Outsourced to a Chauffeur
    • The journey to wealth is personal and cannot be outsourced.
    • There is no wisdom or personal growth gained in a journey that someone else does for you.
• ###Section: Chapter 4: The Roadmaps to Wealth - The Roadmaps to Wealth
  • The journey to wealth requires a roadmap, not a dartboard
  • Our financial situations are a direct result of our chosen financial roadmap and our subsequent actions and beliefs
  • Beliefs guide our financial choices and actions
    • For example, believing "rich people got rich investing in mutual funds" will lead to investing in mutual funds
  • Beliefs can lead to financial mistakes if they are based on incorrect information
  • There are three financial roadmaps:
    • The sidewalk roadmap
    • The slowlane roadmap
    • The Fastlane roadmap
  • Each roadmap has a psychology, a belief system, and operates within a specific "wealth equation"
    • The sidewalk roadmap leads to poorness
    • The slowlane roadmap leads to mediocrity
    • The Fastlane roadmap leads to wealth
  • Each roadmap has key "mindposts" that guide actions:
    • Debt perception
    • Time perception
    • Education perception
    • Money perception
    • Primary income source
    • Primary wealth accelerator
    • Wealth perception
    • Wealth equation
    • Destination
    • Responsibility & control
    • Life Perception
  • Each roadmap operates under a specific set of mathematical formulas, which determine the speed at which wealth can be created
    • The velocity of wealth acceleration depends on the chosen roadmap's "universe"
  • If unsatisfied with one's financial situation, it is possible to change roadmaps
  • Chapter summary:
    • Changes must come from our beliefs, which are outlined by our roadmap
    • Each roadmap is governed by a wealth equation and predisposed to a financial destination
• ###Section: Chapter 5: The Road Most Traveled: The Sidewalk - The Road Most Traveled: The Sidewalk
  • Larry Ellison's view: Being the first person with different beliefs can be exhilarating and an invitation to be attacked
  • Sidewalk Roadmap: Most followed plan, prioritizing immediate pleasure over future security
  • Sidewalker's state: Always "one something" from being broke, regardless of income
  • Sidewalker's financial destination: Nonexistent, surplus money spent immediately on instant gratification
  • Sidewalker's mindset:
    • Debt Perception: Credit used for instant gratification
    • Time Perception: Time is abundant, spend money without thought for future
    • Education Perception: Learning stops after graduating
    • Money Perception: Flaunt wealth, no saving for future
    • Primary income source: Highest paying gig
    • Primary wealth accelerator: Gambling, lawsuits
    • Wealth Perception: Accumulate as much as possible
    • Wealth equation: Wealth = Income + Debt
    • Destination: Live for today, disregard future
    • Responsibility & Control: Blame outside factors for negative circumstances
    • Life Perception: Live in the moment, disregard long-term planning
  • Disturbing Sidewalking facts:
    • Majority of people under 55 have zero or negative net worth
    • Majority of households in the US have less than $100,000 in net worth
    • Median net worth of 35-44 age range is $13,000 excluding home equity
    • Median net worth of 45-54 age group is $23,000 excluding home equity
  • Income-poor Sidewalkers: Lower to middle class, live paycheck to paycheck, irresponsible with money
  • Income-rich Sidewalkers: High income but no plan or savings, spend more than they earn
  • Sidewalk's gravitational pull: Poorness due to lack of long-term financial planning
  • Money doesn't solve money problems: Poor financial management can't be fixed with more money, regardless of income level
• ###Section: Chapter 6: Has Your Wealth Been Toxified? - Has Your Wealth Been Toxified?
  • Society's definition of wealth includes material possessions like luxury cars, exotic trips, designer clothes, expensive jewelry, and extravagant lifestyles.
  • However, this definition is misleading and can lead to the erosion of real wealth.
  • The author suggests that wealth isn't defined by material possessions, but by the three fundamental "F's":
    • Family (relationships)
    • Fitness (health)
    • Freedom (choice)
  • True wealth and happiness lie in strong relationships with family and friends, health and vibrancy, and the freedom to live life as one chooses.
  • The illusion of wealth, or "faux wealth", is destructive to real wealth.
    • It's easy to appear wealthy by buying expensive items on credit, but this does not equate to real wealth.
    • Real wealth is the freedom to buy things outright, without financial strain or debt.
    • The pursuit of faux wealth can lead to the destruction of freedom, health, and relationships.
  • The author argues that the freedom aspect of the wealth trinity is most important, as it protects health and relationships.
  • Freedom is defined individually and can range from living a minimalist lifestyle to flying private jets.
  • The societal version of wealth leads to a "Sidewalking purgatory", where one is stuck in a cycle of pursuing material wealth at the expense of real wealth.
• ###Section: Chapter 7: Misuse Money and Money Will Misuse You - Misuse Money and Money Will Misuse You
  • Money can't buy happiness, but it can make you comfortable while being miserable.
  • People who believe "Money doesn't buy happiness" have already concluded they will never have money.
  • Analyses fall short because they don't isolate the real thief of happiness: servitude, the antithesis of freedom.
  • Debt is the leading cause of strife for the newly married.
  • Debt keeps people bound to work and unbound to relationships.
  • Consumerism is the leading obstacle to happiness.
  • There are many millionaires and well-paid career folks who are absolutely miserable, and it has nothing to do with the money, but with their freedom.
  • Money owns them, instead of them owning their money.
  • Normalcy is The Rat Race, a Modern-Day Slavery
    • Freedom is fantastic.
    • Normal is waking at 6 a.m., fighting traffic, and working eight hours.
    • Normal is to slave at a job Monday through Friday, save 10%, and repeat for 50 years.
    • Normal is to buy everything on credit.
    • Normal is modern-day slavery.
  • The Proper Use of Money
    • Money doesn't buy happiness when it's misused.
    • Instead of money buying freedom, it buys bondage.
    • Used properly, money buys freedom, and freedom is one parcel in the wealth trinity.
    • Freedom buys choices.
    • The fact is, there are plenty of poor people who live richer than their overworked upper-middle-class counterparts because the latter lack freedom.
  • Lifestyle Servitude: The Trap of The Sidewalk
    • Sidewalkers are embroiled in Lifestyle Servitude, where life is forced into a rat race.
    • Wherever there's Lifestyle Servitude, there's a systematic erosion of freedom.
    • Affordability is when you don't have to think about it.
    • If you have to think about "affordability," you can't afford it because affordability carries conditions and consequences.
    • Affordability doesn't come with strings attached.
  • The Bait of Lifestyle Servitude
    • The siren call of Lifestyle Servitude is the false prophet of feel-good-instant gratification and immediate pleasure.
    • Instant gratification is a populous plague and its predominant side effects are easily spotted: debt and obesity.
    • Wealth, like health, isn't easy and is cut from the same fabric.
    • Their processes are identical.
    • They require discipline, sacrifice, persistence, commitment, and yes, delayed gratification.
  • Look For The Hook!
    • Instant gratification is the bait and Lifestyle Servitude is the hook.
    • The advertising industry is on a great fishing expedition, and their goal is to hook you.
    • Every day you are bombarded with instant gratification's bait.
    • These messages share one commonality: You're their prey and the peddlers don't care if you can afford it or not.
    • Defend yourself by exposing the hook beneath the bait: the bucket of bondage which is Lifestyle Servitude.
    • When instant gratification entices you to bite the bait, you become a casualty of the hook: Lifestyle Servitude.
• ###Section: Chapter 8: Lucky Bastards Play the Game - Lucky Bastards
  • The belief that luck is a key factor in success is a Sidewalker's misconception.
  • The author asserts that he isn't lucky; he's a player of the game, implying that hard work and determination, not luck, are what drive success.
  • Example of Joe and Bill, two brothers both working in construction, demonstrates the difference between a Sidewalker and a Fastlaner.
    • Joe, a Sidewalker, spends his free time on leisure activities, believing that luck is necessary for wealth.
    • Bill, on the other hand, invests his free time in expanding his knowledge and working on his inventions, thus creating his own 'luck'.
  • Mark Cuban's story is used to highlight that success is often attributed to luck when in fact it is a result of hard work and dedication.
  • The belief that "Rich people got lucky" is a disempowering belief that can hinder one's journey to wealth.
  • Wealth Demands Accountability
    • The author emphasizes that one should not entrust their financial plan to others, as this can lead to victimhood.
    • The Law of Victims states that one cannot be a victim if they do not give power to someone capable of making them a victim.
    • The author debunks the Sidewalker's belief system, which is anchored in three beliefs:
      • Belief 1: Luck is needed for wealth.
      • Belief 2: Wealth is an event.
      • Belief 3: Others can give wealth to me.
    • The author asserts that wealth is created by process, not luck or events, and that only you can deliver yourself to true wealth.
• ###Section: Chapter 9: Wealth Demands Accountability - Wealth demands responsibility, followed by accountability:
  • Responsibility is the forefather to accountability, but one doesn't evidence the other.
    • Examples:
      • Admitting responsibility to overdrafting your checking account yet doing it again next week shows lack of accountability.
      • Admitting responsibility to fathering a child out of wedlock, yet continuing the behavior shows lack of accountability.
      • Taking responsibility for having your purse stolen but flaunting it on the table in open view shows lack of accountability.
  • Accountability is being culpable to your consequences and modifying your behavior to prevent those consequences.
    • You can be responsible while not being accountable.
  • A real-life example:
    • A friend had her purse stolen because she left it in open view on a table.
    • Even after the theft, she continued to leave her purse in open view, showing a lack of accountability.
  • Immunize yourself from victimization:
    • Stop being a victim by taking responsibility, followed by accountability.
      • Example:
        • The author hired a contractor without proper investigation and suffered from a prolonged and problematic renovation.
        • The author took responsibility and accountability for the bad decision and changed his behavior by conducting proper investigation before hiring in the future.
    • Responsibility: Admit it was your fault.
    • Accountability: Take precautions to ensure it doesn't happen again.
    • Most bad situations are consequences of bad choices. Own them and you own your life.
    • When you own your decisions, failure becomes wisdom. Deny accountability and responsibility and the keys of your life are given to someone else.
  • You deserve what your actions earned, or haven't earned:
    • Being responsible is one thing; being accountable is another.
    • When you're accountable to your choices, you alter your behavior in the future and take the driver's seat of your life.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane distinctions
    • Hitchhikers assign control over their financial plans to others, which effectively introduces probabilities to victimhood.
    • The Law of Victims: You can't be a victim if you don't relinquish power to someone capable of making you a victim.
    • Responsibility owns your choices.
    • Taking responsibility is the first step to taking the driver's seat of your life. Accountability is the final.
• ###Section: Chapter 10: The Lie You’ve Been Sold: The Slowlane - The Slowlane:
  • Defined by sacrifice of present pleasures for a brighter and freer future.
  • Encourages discipline through doctrines such as getting a job, saving money, investing in stocks and 401K, and delaying gratification.
  • Is often the first exit off the Sidewalk and evolves with maturity and increased adult responsibilities.
  • Though introduces responsibility and accountability into the wealth formula, it's efficacy is a sucker’s bet.
  • The Slowlane is a lifetime wager that a sacrificial today will yield a wealthier tomorrow.
  • The deception of the Slowlane:
    • The Slowlane is rarely challenged and when the ruse is uncovered, decades of life have passed.
    • Buying the lie of Slowlane means selling off today in hopes of a glorious tomorrow.
    • The driving force behind wealth under Get Rich Slow is time—time employed at the job and time invested in the markets.
  • Wealth is best lived young and enjoyed while you have health, vibrancy, energy.
  • The Slowlane roadmap is based on time and factors you can’t control.
  • Slowlane mindposts and missives:
    • Debt Perception: Debt is evil.
    • Time Perception: My time is abundant and I will gladly trade my time for more dollars.
    • Education Perception: Education is important because it helps me earn a bigger salary.
    • Money Perception: Money is scarce and must be accounted for, budgeted, and perilously saved.
    • Primary income source: My job is the sole source of income.
    • Primary wealth accelerator: Compound interest.
    • Wealth Perception: Work, save, and invest. Repeat for 40 years until retirement age.
    • Wealth equation: Wealth = job + market investments.
    • Destination: A comfortable retirement in my twilight years.
    • Responsibility & Control: It’s my responsibility to provide for my family although for that plan to work I have to rely on others.
    • Life Perception: Settle for less. Give up on big dreams. Save, live frugal, don’t take unnecessary risks, and one day I will retire with millions.
  • Slowlane Weapons:
    • Go to school, get good grades, graduate, pay yourself first, overtime, corporate ladder, save X% of your paycheck, contribute to your 401K, invest in mutual funds, buy and hold, paychecks, pensions, benefits, diversify, raise your insurance deductibles, understand compound interest.
  • Negative 60%: The dismal return of the Slowlane:
    • When you trade your life mindlessly for a paycheck, you risk being blinded to life itself as you cursively walk by it in a busy train station.
  • Normal is condemnation to mediocrity:
    • The Slowlaner accepts an existence of frugality and sacrifice to a tipping-point where life feels like incarceration.
    • The Slowlane plan forsakes the now for a faint promise of a wealthy future.
    • Life isn’t great, but it isn’t so bad either. No, it could be better . . . but you’ve got to swap the Slowlane for a new plan.
• ###Section: Chapter 11: The Criminal Trade: Your Job - "The Criminal Trade: Your Job"
  • Personal experience:
    • Attended a job workshop before college graduation
    • Potential job at a big insurance firm in Chicago
    • Job involved cold-calling to build clientele for 10 hours a day
  • Jobs: Domestication into Normalcy
    • Jobs limit both leverage and control which are essential for wealth creation
    • Six reasons why financial plan shouldn’t revolve around a job:
      • Trade Time for Life:
        • Jobs consume time. You trade your life for money
        • Example given of how long one has to work in different careers just to earn $1 million
      • Limitation on Experience:
        • Job experience is usually confined to a set of activities
        • Job experience hinders one's ability to adapt to changes in marketplace needs
      • No Control:
        • Lack of control over income in a job can lead to lack of control over financial plan and freedom
      • Office Politics:
        • Office politics is a constant in any job and can stifle creativity and motivation
      • Subscription to "Pay Yourself Last":
        • As an employee, a large portion of income goes to taxation before it reaches you
      • Dictatorship on Income:
        • Limited ability to demand and receive significant pay raises
  • Chapter Summary:
    • In a job, you sell your freedom (time) for freedom (money)
    • Experience is gained in action, the environment of that action is irrelevant
    • Wealth accumulation is hindered when you don't control your primary income source
• ###Section: Chapter 12: The Slowlane: Why You Aren’t Rich - The Slowlane:
  • Why You Aren't Rich
    • The Slowlane strategy is rooted in Uncontrollable Limited Leverage (ULL)
      • You get a great-paying job, save money, live frugal, invest in the stock market, and repeat for 50 years
      • The variables that define the plan cannot be controlled nor leveraged
  • Uncontrollable Limited Leverage (ULL) – Part 1
    • To accumulate financial wealth, you need to attract large sums of money which requires Control and Leverage
    • The Slowlane has neither
    • The Slowlane's wealth equation: WEALTH = (Job) + (Market Investments)
    • The primary income source: Job
    • The wealth accelerator: Market Investments
  • The warden of wealth: Intrinsic Value
    • Intrinsic value is determined by the marketplace and is the price at which you can trade your time for money
    • Intrinsic value is measured in units of time, either hourly or annually
  • Compound Interest: What “They” Don’t Tell You
    • The second variable in the Slowlane wealth equation is the “primary wealth accelerator,” which comes from market investments
    • These investments use the financial strategy known as “compound interest,” which is a mathematical construct that outlines the power of interest accumulation over great periods of time
    • Wealth creation via compound interest requires the passing of time and lots of it
    • Market investments such as mutual funds and 401Ks, can’t be leveraged nor can they be controlled
  • Uncontrollable Limited Leverage (ULL) - Part 2
    • For compound interest to be effective, you need three things:
      1. TIME, as measured in years
      2. A favorable YEARLY INVESTMENT YIELD within those years
      3. An INVESTED SUM, repeatedly invested
    • Compound interest demands that your investments yield a predictable 10% return per year
    • Neither time nor yield can be leveraged or controlled
  • Why Mutual Funds and 401ks won’t make you rich
    • Compound interest (401Ks, mutual funds, the stock market) cannot accelerate wealth fast
  • The Slowlane’s traitorous relationship with Time
    • Compound interest and a job both consume your time while forsaking control
    • Time becomes the lynchpin for wealth that ties to the mathematical handicaps of mortality: 24 hours in a day and a 50-year work-life expectancy
  • The Slowlane is a Plan of Hope
    • The Slowlane dilutes your control
    • Any financial plan without control immediately disintegrates into a plan of hope
    • To create explosive wealth fast, you must abandon the Slowlane formula and its relationship to time
    • Wealth is built with time as an asset, not as a liability
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
    • Slowlane wealth is improbable due to Uncontrollable Limited Leverage (ULL)
    • The first variable in the Slowlane wealth equation evolves from a job that factors to intrinsic value that equates to your nominal value for each unit of your life traded
    • In the Slowlane, intrinsic value is numerically inhibited because there are only 24 hours in the day (for the hourly worker), and the average lifespan is 74 years (for the salaried worker)
    • Like the Slowlaner’s primary income source (a job), the Slowlaner’s wealth acceleration vehicle (compound interest) is also pegged to time
    • Like a job, compound interest is mathematically futile and cannot be manipulated
    • Wealth cannot be accelerated when pegged to mathematics based on time
    • Time is your primordial fuel and it should not be traded for money
    • Your time should not be an expendable resource for wealth because wealth itself is composed of time
    • Your mortality makes time mathematically retarded for wealth creation
    • If you don’t control the variables inherent in your wealth universe, you don’t
• ###Section: Chapter 13: The Futile Fight: Education - The Futile Fight: Education
  • Slowlaners often attempt to combat Uncontrollable Limited Leverage (ULL) by seeking further education in hopes of increasing their rate of pay.
    • Examples include obtaining an MBA or a certification, with the belief that these qualifications will increase their salaries.
      • However, this typically results in trading time for money at a higher rate, while still lacking control and leverage.
  • The belief that elevating intrinsic value can create wealth is common among Slowlaners.
    • For instance, pursuing high-paying professions such as medicine, engineering, law or accountancy.
  • Issues with formal education:
    • It can be extremely expensive in terms of time and money.
    • It may lead to debt which can trap individuals to specific jobs or careers.
    • Not all education is created equal. Some types of education can hinder your wealth journey.
  • SlowLane Entrapment:
    • Conformity and education servitude can be a result of the expensive cost of formal education.
    • Education servitude refers to the erosion of freedom due to the debt incurred for education.
  • Statistics highlight the dangers of education servitude:
    • Increased credit card debt among college students.
    • High percentage of income spent on debt repayment.
    • Increased student loan debt for both undergraduate and graduate students.
    • Disparity between expected salaries and actual earnings for adults with a college degree.
  • The cycle of debt, job necessity, and lack of time is often initiated by the need to pay off student loans.
  • Whether it's for a luxury car or for student loans, debt steals freedom and creates indentured time.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
    • Slowlaners often try to manipulate their intrinsic value through education.
    • Indentured time refers to the time spent earning a living, which is the opposite of free time.
• ###Section: Chapter 14: The Hypocrisy of the Gurus - Title: The Hypocrisy of the Gurus
  • Introduction:
    • The paradox of practice questions whether an individual practices what they preach and if they are an exemplification of what they teach.
    • Examples of this paradox are:
      • Taking skin care advice from a butterface.
      • Taking financial advice from a bankrupt bum.
      • Taking medical advice from a sanitation worker.
      • Taking bodybuilding advice from a 90-lb. weakling.
  • The Paradox of Practice in Financial Advice:
    • A Paradox of Practice exists when someone promotes a moneymaking strategy that isn't what made them rich.
    • These people effectively teach one wealth equation, the Slowlane, while they get rich leveraging another, the Fastlane.
    • Examples of this include financial powerhouses like "Suze" who instructs people to “dollar-cost-average” their mutual fund portfolios, and “Cramer” who advocates stock in Lehman Brothers.
    • These individuals are considered better entertainers than investment advisors.
  • The Danger of Trusting Individuals with a Paradox of Practice:
    • In the game of money, money is the scorecard.
    • It's important when someone tells you how they “scored,” to ensure they disclose their real method to wealth, not the illusion concealing the real culprit.
    • Most gurus live a Paradox of Practice and are rarely rich because of their advice, but rich because they’re successful Fastlaners who covertly hide their Paradox of Practice.
  • Examples of Financial Gurus and their Paradox of Practice:
    • Suze: Preaches mutual funds, dollar-cost averaging, 401Ks, but has the bulk of her wealth in bonds and only 4% of her wealth is tied-up in the stock market.
    • David: Advocates the Slowlane strategies like compound interest tables, saving 10% of your paycheck, stop drinking expensive coffee. However, it's unclear whether David got rich from his advice or from selling 11 books, over and over several million times.
    • Robert: Explains the real definition of assets and that sophisticated investors are deep into real estate. However, Robert has amassed a great deal of wealth selling books, games, and seminars. It's unclear whether Robert had his wealth and status icon "pre-book" by leveraging his real estate teachings or did the wealth arrive after selling millions of books.
  • The Importance of Understanding the Fastlane:
    • The Fastlane concepts in this book gave the author financial independence.
    • The book has the power to make the author wealthier because it leverages the same wealth equation he teaches.
    • The “do as I say” matches the “do as I do.”
  • Slowlane Gurus Admit Failure:
    • On a Slowlane financial radio show, a caller sought advice: In a few months the recession destroyed more than 50% of her savings, which had taken her nearly 10 years to accumulate. The Slowlane guru’s advice? A palliative “Stick to the plan.” Recommit. Rebuild.
    • Economic recessions expose the Slowlane as a risky fraud with lifetime ramifications.
    • These gurus make their rich livelihood selling the Slowlane roadmap, they need you to believe it works. Their wealth comes from your belief.
    • The Slowlane illuminati will never admit that their strategy is woefully inept, and instead, they have deviously recalibrated their message to conceal the truth.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions:
    • Take advice from people with a proven, successful track record of their espoused discipline.
    • Many money gurus often suffer from a Paradox of Practice; they teach one wealth equation while getting rich in another. They’re not rich from their own teachings.
• ###Section: Chapter 15: Slowlane Victory . . . A Gamble of Hope - Slowlane Victory:
  • The concept of wealth in the Slowlane roadmap is akin to a long, perilous journey that requires decades of effort and offers no guarantees.
  • This path involves graduating from college, getting a good job, investing in the stock market, and serving the boss well with the hope of being rewarded.
  • The reality is that this path is risky and consumes a significant amount of time.
  • Seven Slowlane Dangers:
    • Health: The Slowlane assumes that you will live long enough and remain healthy enough to enjoy your savings in your later years.
    • Job: The Slowlane assumes that you will remain gainfully employed at all times, avoiding issues such as layoffs, corporate politics, firings, poor industry cycles, job skill degradation, and bad job markets.
    • Home: The Slowlane assumes that real estate values will always rise, which is not always the case.
    • Company: The Slowlane assumes that the company you work for and invest in will survive.
    • Lifestyle: The Slowlane promotes a frugal lifestyle and discourages lifestyle improvements such as better homes, cars, or meals out.
    • Economy: The Slowlane assumes that your investments will yield a predictable 8% return year after year.
    • Sidewalk: Frustrated Slowlaners often revert to the Sidewalk due to a lack of control over time, job, and five days of their life each week.
  • Resistance is Futile:
    • The Slowlane is slow, time-consuming, and risky.
    • Slowlaners often try to manipulate their weak mathematical universe by increasing hours worked, changing jobs, going back to school, seeking better investment yields, expanding investment time horizon, or increasing the investment.
    • However, these attempts to manipulate the mathematics are futile.
  • Successful Slowlaners Get Stuck in the Middle:
    • The Slowlane often leads to a middle-class lifestyle or middle age.
    • Slowlane millionaires are usually extremely talented, elderly, or overworked.
    • To win the Slowlane, one needs to find the "secret exit" which is becoming famous or indispensable so that your value to society skyrockets.
  • Successful Slowlaners Get Stuck in the Middle:
    • The Slowlane often leads to a middle-class lifestyle or middle age.
    • Slowlane millionaires are usually extremely talented, elderly, or overworked.
    • To win the Slowlane, one needs to find the "secret exit" which is becoming famous or indispensable so that your value to society skyrockets.
    • Another highly sought-after Slowlane "secret exit" is corporate management.
  • The Difference Between Slowlane and Fastlane Millionaires:
    • Slowlane millionaires make millions in over 30 years, live in middle-class homes, work for their time, are employees, use their house for net worth, etc.
    • Fastlane millionaires make millions in less than 10 years, can live in luxury estates, have time working for them, hire employees, use their house for residency, etc.
• ###Section: Chapter 16: Wealth’s Shortcut: The Fastlane - Wealth's Shortcut: The Fastlane
  • Jim Rohn quote: "People would do better, if they knew better."
  • The Fastlane is an alternative to the Sidewalk or Slowlane. It's a hybrid financial roadmap that can rapidly create wealth and cut down 40 years from wealth accumulation.
    • Example: if you’re 18 you can be rich by 25. If you’re 30, you can retire by 36. Broke at 48 and you can retire by 54.
  • The Fastlane is a business and lifestyle strategy characterized by Controllable Unlimited Leverage (CUL), creating an optimal environment for rapid wealth creation and extraordinary lifestyles.
  • Four segments of Fastlane:
    1. Controllable Unlimited Leverage (CUL)
    2. Business: Your own business, self-employment, and entrepreneurship are centrist to the Fastlane.
    3. Lifestyle: The Fastlane is a lifestyle choice; a commitment of blended beliefs, processes, and actions.
    4. Rapid wealth creation: The Fastlane is about creating large sums of wealth rapidly and beyond the confines of “middle class.”
  • Fastlane mindposts or behavioral characteristics that drive the Fastlaner’s actions along the journey:
    • Debt Perception
    • Time Perception
    • Education Perception
    • Money Perception
    • Primary income source
    • Primary wealth accelerator
    • Wealth Perception
    • Wealth equation: Wealth = Net Profit + Asset Value
    • Strategy
    • Destination
    • Responsibility & Control
    • Life Perception
  • The Fastlane Roadmap is predisposed to wealth because it operates under a wealth equation with controllable, unlimited variables, and the mathematical cage of time is removed.
  • The distinction is that “get rich schemes” aren’t endemic of “Get Rich Quick” but its evil twin, “Get Rich Easy.”
  • Fastlane success stories embody “Get Rich Quick.”
  • Financial freedom via the Fastlane Roadmap is like an industrial revolution for wealth.
  • The Fastlane is a business system, while the Slowlane is a job.
• ###Section: Chapter 17: Switch Teams and Playbooks - The FasTLane RoadmaP: The PLaybook For weaLTh
  • Losing teams use losing playbooks. Winning teams use winning playbooks.
  • The Fastlane roadmap creates financial winners because it uses a winning formula rooted in unlimited and controllable mathematics.
  • To access the playbook, you have to forsake the ideology of the majority and become a Slowlane traitor.
  • Switching Teams and The PLaybook
    • We are conditioned from birth to play for Team Consumer.
    • Jobs exist to facilitate the consumer process.
    • To decode the Fastlane roadmap, switch teams to Team Producer.
  • From Consumer to Producer
    • Instead of buying products, sell products.
    • Instead of taking a job, hire for jobs.
    • Instead of taking a mortgage, hold a mortgage.
    • This mindset switch sharpens perception and exposes opportunities and scams.
  • Producer Reorientation
    • Examine advertising messages from the producer perspective.
    • As producers, our job is to entice consumers to buy.
    • To consume richly, produce richly first. Producers get rich. Consumers get poor.
  • Be a Producer: Leverage The Business of a System
    • To become a producer, you need to be an entrepreneur and an innovator.
    • A Fastlane business is key to Fastlane wealth because it unlocks leverage.
    • Some businesses are jobs in disguise.
    • The more a product sells, the greater the return on the original time investment.
    • When you unlock yourself from the time constraints of the Slowlane roadmap, you assign income to a system that leverages unlimited mathematics, making fast wealth possible.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
    • Producers are indigenous to the Fastlane roadmap.
    • When you succeed as a producer, you can consume anything you want.
    • Fastlaners are producers, entrepreneurs, innovators, visionaries, and creators.
    • Not every business is a Fastlane—some businesses are jobs in disguise.
    • The Fastlane wealth equation is not bound by time and its variables are unlimited.
• ###Section: Chapter 18: How the Rich Really Get Rich - How the Rich Really Get Rich
  • Wealth equation: Wealth = Net Profit + Asset Value
  • Variables to control to get wealthy:
    • Net Profit = Units Sold × Unit Profit
    • Asset Value = Net Profit × Industry Multiple
  • Example of using the wealth equation:
    • Increase units sold by increasing conversion ratio or web traffic
    • Increase unit profit by identifying supply weaknesses or improving value
  • Controllable unlimited variables make you rich.
  • Wealth acceleration options:
    • Grow net income with an income potential only limited by the number of devices you can sell
    • Grow asset value at a factor of 1,700%
    • Liquidate asset value and turn paper money into real money
  • The power of “Asset Value” lies in your ability to control the variable in a virtually limitless fashion.
  • The rich accelerate wealth by accelerating asset value and selling those upgraded assets in the marketplace.
  • Wealth Accelerator is based on creating or buying appreciative assets, adding value and manipulating the variables, and then selling.
  • Liquidation events are the process of selling your appreciable asset to the market. It’s a Fastlane exit strategy.
  • Fastlaners accelerate wealth by building cash-flowing assets that can be sold in the marketplace to realize gains. Their wealth equation has controllable, unlimited leverage.
• ###Section: Chapter 19: Divorce Wealth from Time - Divorce Wealth from Time
  • The author first tasted Fastlane in his late 20s, despite a bad relationship and troubling health news.
  • His income grew during this time as he was divorced from time and had broken the chains of "my time for money".
  • Wealth that is predicated on factors you can't control, like time, the boss, the stock market, won't lead to fast progress.
  • The author escaped these controls by trading his time into a business system, thereby industrializing wealth production.
  • His business system earned money with the passage of time, yet was exclusive of his time.
  • Passive Income: The Holy Grail to Retirement
    • Passive income is earning income while not working, and the author receives checks every month without lifting a finger.
    • Passive income is a successful divorce from the "work-for-money" equation indigenous to the Slowlane.
    • If your monthly income exceeds your lifestyle expenses including taxes, you're retired.
  • To Break Time is To Grow a Money Tree
    • Money trees are business systems that survive on their own.
    • They require periodic support and nurturing but survive on their own, creating a surrogate for your time-for-money trade.
  • The Five Fastlane Business Seedlings
    • Rental Systems (Passivity Grade: A)
    • Computer/Software Systems (Passivity Grade: A-)
    • Content Systems (Passivity Grade: B+)
    • Distribution Systems (Passivity Grade: B)
    • Human Resource Systems (Passivity Grade: C)
  • Recruit Your Army of Freedom Fighters
    • The best passive income venue in existence is money.
    • If you have a lot of money, you can switch teams from consumer to producer, from borrower to lender, from employee to employer, from customer to owner.
    • People pay you to use your money in the form of interest or ownership.
    • Savers aren't losers, as they eventually become lenders and owners in companies.
    • The author retired in his thirties because he is a lender and when you have a lot of money to lend, you live free because passive income arrives every month.
• ###Section: Chapter 20: Recruit Your Army of Freedom Fighters - Dual-Flanked Attack:
  • Passive income is both short and long term goal
  • Amass Your Army of Freedom Fighters:
    • Every dollar saved is a freedom fighter in your army
    • Break the equation of "time for money"
    • Money is your army
    • Focus on income variable, not expense, in wealth equation
    • Think globally, not locally
    • Treat dollar as seed of money tree and freedom fighter
  • How Fastlaners (The Rich) Use Compound Interest:
    • Slowlaners use compound interest to get wealthy
    • Fastlaners use compound interest to create income and liquidity
    • Fastlaners start with $5 million, not $5
    • Compound interest is a passive income source, not responsible for wealth
    • Wealth creation is left to Fastlane business
    • Rich leverage business assets, not markets, to increase wealth
  • How to Really Use Compound Interest:
    • Compound interest is most effective with large sums of money
    • Bypass 30 years of mathematical ineptitude by riding the crest where compound interest is effective
    • Meet compound interest tidal wave at the shore, not out at sea
  • The Tidal Wave of Compound Interest:
    • Ten percent interest on $10 million is $1 million a year
    • Exploit compound interest at its crest
    • Rich use compound interest for income and liquidity, not to get wealthy
    • Money transforms into a fully passive income stream with large sums of money
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions:
    • One saved dollar is the seed to a money tree
    • A mere 5% interest on $10 million dollars is $40,000 a month in passive income
    • A saved dollar is the best passive income instrument
    • Fastlaners (the rich) don't use compound interest or the markets to get wealthy but to create income and preserve liquidity
    • A saved dollar is a freedom fighter added to your army
    • The rich leverage compound interest at its crest, applied against large sums of money
• ###Section: Chapter 21: The Real Law of Wealth - The Real Law of Wealth:
  • The Law of Effection:
    • It is a mathematical, universal law.
    • It states that you become rich by affecting more lives in a controlled entity, in scale and/or magnitude.
    • In essence, the more lives you affect, the richer you will become.
    • It can be summarized as: Affect millions and make millions.
  • The Law of Attraction:
    • It is a mystical philosophy that states you become what you think.
    • It contends that if you know exactly what you want, see it coming and ask the universe for it, you will eventually receive it.
    • However, this law doesn't work with 100% certainty and can't be classified as a law.
  • Application of The Law of Effection:
    • It needs a business to make an impact of either scale or magnitude, or both.
    • The Fastlane wealth equation: NET PROFIT = Units Sold (Scale) × Unit Profit (Magnitude)
      • Scale: Reflected in our Fastlane roadmap via the profit variable in our wealth equation: units sold.
        • Example: If you sell 20 million pens and make 75 cents profit on each, you just earned $15 million.
      • Magnitude: Reflected in UNIT PROFIT. Price always reflects magnitude.
        • Example: If you owned an apartment complex with 400 units and profit $100 from each unit, you’d generate $40,000 in monthly income.
      • Combining scale and magnitude can result in billions.
  • Every self-made billionaire has impacted the lives of many in scale or magnitude, directly or indirectly.
  • To get rich via intrinsic value, you must do it via the Law of Effection.
  • Indirectly connecting to the Law of Effection can also lead to wealth.
  • Examples of people who have used the Law of Effection:
    • Athletes: They entertain millions, hence leverage SCALE.
    • Agents of high-profile athletes: They indirectly connect to the Law of Effection.
    • Real estate brokers who specialize in the homes of the rich: They indirectly connect to the Law of Effection.
• ###Section: Chapter 22: Own Yourself First - Own Yourself First
  • Events and circumstances have their origin in ourselves.
  • They spring from seeds which we have sown.
  • The Paralysis of “Pay Yourself First”
    • Fastlane success requires a well-tuned vehicle primed and prepared for the journey.
    • You are the vehicle to wealth.
    • You are responsible for making the journey and the first step is to own yourself.
    • The concept of "Pay yourself first" is fundamentally flawed.
      • It is a Slowlane doctrine that urges you to save your money before all else.
      • It supposedly forces the Slowlaner’s savings rate to accelerate their wealth acceleration vehicle: compound interest via market investments.
      • The ability to "pay yourself first" is paralyzed if your primary income source comes from a job as governments are paid first!
      • To truly "pay yourself first", you need to pay yourself first in infinite amounts and the government last.
  • To Pay Yourself First, You Must Own Yourself
    • You can’t pay yourself first if you don’t own yourself.
    • When you have a job, someone owns you and hence you are paid last.
    • Owning yourself enables you to truly pay yourself first and the government last.
    • This is accomplished by shelling your business into a corporation that you control.
    • The corporation serves as the Fastlane frame offering the immediate tax benefit of “pay yourself first” versus “pay yourself last.”
    • When you own a corporation, net profits are reduced by expenses and the remaining profit is taxed and those taxes are paid to the government.
    • When you own a corporation, the government is paid four times a year, while you pay yourself first 365 times a year.
  • How To Own Yourself
    • Avoid getting into business as a sole proprietor or a general partnership as they do not protect you and have unlimited liability.
    • The best business structures for your Fastlane business are:
      • C corporation
      • S corporation
      • Limited liability corporation
    • All these structures limit liability and offer tax efficiency.
    • The C corporation is a business structure that survives time and can be easily transferred.
    • The S corporation is like a C corporation but isn’t taxed as a separate entity.
    • The Limited Liability corp (LLC) operates just a like a corporation with the benefits of a partnership or a sole proprietorship.
    • For small startups, either an LLC or an S corp is recommended.
    • The selection of an entity depends on your goals and your vision for your business.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
    • “Pay yourself first” is fundamentally impossible in a job.
    • To own your vehicle (you), start a corporation that formally divorces you from the act of business.
• ###Section: Chapter 23: Life’s Steering Wheel - Life's Steering Wheel
  • Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously.
  • If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life.
  • The Leading cause of Poorness
    • Lack of money is a symptom of the underlying problem.
    • The real cause of poorness is poor choices.
  • The Heart of the Problem
    • To succeed, you must address the problems, not just mask the symptoms.
    • Example: Cholesterol medication only addresses the symptom, not the problem. The problem is poor diet.
  • Success and Choices
    • If you aren't where you want to be, the problem is your choices.
    • Your circumstances are the symptoms of those choices.
    • Success isn't one choice. It’s hundreds. And when you line a string of choices together, they create your process, and your process will create your lifestyle.
  • Your Life’s Steering Wheel
    • Your choices spark the fires of future circumstances.
    • The fabric of your life is sewn by the cumulative consequences of your choices.
    • If you’re dissatisfied with life, your choices take full responsibility.
  • Choose to be Wealthy or Choose to be Poor
    • There’s a difference between thinking wealth and choosing wealth.
    • You can choose the Sidewalk, the Slowlane, or the Fastlane.
    • The common denominator is YOU.
  • The Road to Treason is Always Open
    • Treasonous choices are actions that do irreparable harm to your life, your dreams, and your goals.
    • The consequences of treasonous choices throw life onto unintended detours and hazardous roads that are difficult to escape and often times, permanent.
    • Treasonous choices change your life forever.
  • What’s Chosen Today, Impacts Forever
    • Your choices have consequences that transcend decades.
    • This transcendence is horsepower.
  • The Butterfly Effect
    • Minor permutations (choices) that deviate from your initial conditions can have profound effects over time.
    • Choices have this type of divergence over time and it’s called “impact differential.”
    • When your choices are extrapolated throughout the years, the divergence widens. The divergence can be either positive or negative.
  • The Erosion of Horsepower
    • Your choices have significant trajectory into the future, and the younger you are, the more horsepower they exude.
    • Horsepower fades with age.
    • Youthful choices radiate the most strength and fabricate the trunk of your choice tree.
    • As the branches ascend topside through time, they get thinner and weaker.
    • Your life’s choices are like a mature oak tree with millions of branches.
    • Reflect on your life and analyze the forks in the road and where those forks have taken you. The forks are choices, both large and small.
    • Whatever you decide today impacts tomorrow, weeks, months, years, decades, and yes, generations.
    • If you’re younger than 30, your choices are at peak horsepower because they are growing the thick branches of your choice tree.
• ###Section: Chapter 24: Wipe Your Windshield Clean - Wipe Your Windshield Clean:
  • Anecdote about a teenager admitting he would never be able to afford a Lamborghini, showing a choice to limit his future potential.
  • The author argues that this kind of choice of perception can cripple dreams and lead to mediocre results.
  • We have two types of choices:
    • Choices of perception (thought patterns)
    • Choices of action (choosing to read)
  • The author argues that your choice of perception will determine your choice of action.
  • Our perceptions are not necessarily reality, as demonstrated by the anecdote of the man at a party who believed $10,000 a month to be a lot of money.
  • Perception can be influenced by language, as demonstrated by the example of the man announcing his engagement.
  • Two strategies to make better choices:
    • Worst Case Consequence Analysis (WCCA): asks what is the worst-case scenario of a choice, the probability of this outcome, and whether this is an acceptable risk.
    • Weighted Average Decision Matrix (WADM): a tool for quantifying big decisions based on the weight of different factors.
  • Past experiences should not determine future actions.
  • Your past can either serve or hinder you, depending on how you choose to perceive it.
• ###Section: Chapter 25: Deodorize Flatulent Headwinds - Deodorize Flatulent Headwinds
  • The natural headwind of society
    • Society's natural headwind is the social conditioning that affects all young minds.
    • It's necessary to break free from society's natural headwind to achieve extraordinary wealth.
  • Turning your back to farting headwinds
    • Turning your back on society's expectations and norms can turn the headwind into an accelerant for success.
    • This is necessary to build momentum and break free of society's gravitational force.
  • Who farts headwinds?
    • Family and friends who don't understand your goals.
    • Educational institutions promoting slowlane dogma.
    • Parents conditioned to believe wealth is for others.
    • Sowlane gurus who mislead with bad financial advice.
    • Your environment.
  • Escaping human headwind bloviators
    • People who don't empower your goals add friction to your journey.
    • These people are obstacles to the Fastlane journey.
    • It's necessary to turn your back on them to protect your mindset.
  • Escaping environmental headwinds
    • Environmental factors that affect your motivation and productivity are also headwinds.
    • Active steps must be taken to remove yourself from these headwinds.
  • Creating accelerative winds
    • Turning your back on negative influences and associating with people who empower your goals can create a wind at your back.
    • Positive people nurture growth and invest in dreams.
  • Significant other or significant distraction?
    • A significant other who doesn't support your ideals can be a major headwind.
    • Being in a relationship with someone who doesn't share your destination can weigh you down.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
    • Society's natural gravity is to be average, not exceptional.
    • Toxic relationships drain energy and detract from your goals to be extraordinary.
    • People in your life can either save you, help you, or destroy you.
    • Good relationships accelerate your process, while bad relationships are treasonous.
• ###Section: Chapter 26: Your Primordial Fuel: Time - Your Primordial Fuel: Time
  • Time isn’t a commodity, it is the substance of life.
  • When anyone asks you to give your time, they’re really asking for a chunk of your life.
  • The $6 Bucket of Chicken
    • People who value their time at zero will never get rich.
    • Time, the fuel of their life, should never run empty.
  • The Titanic: How Fast is Your Ship Sinking?
    • Time is the greatest asset you own, not money.
    • Once your time is gone, you’re dead.
  • You were Born Rich and will Die Broke
    • Time is the great equalizer.
    • Time can’t be created outside of your mortal limits.
    • Money is an abundant resource while time is not.
  • Indentured Time is the Ransom of Free Time
    • Your lifespan = Free Time + Indentured Time.
    • “Free time” is yours to spend as you please.
    • “Indentured time” is the total time spent earning money and the consequences of that spent time.
  • The Right Time Vs the Wrong Time
    • The right time is free time; indentured time is the wrong time.
  • Dump the Junk in the Trunk
    • Parasitic debt is everything you owe the world.
    • Parasitic debt is a counter-weight to your road trip.
  • A Poor Valuation of “Free Time” Leads to Poorness
    • Rich or poor, time is equally possessed, shared, and consumed by all.
    • The distinction lies in the valuation of free time, the chosen roadmap, and the acquisition of parasitic debt.
• ###Section: Chapter 27: Change That Dirty, Stale Oil - The importance of continuous learning:
  • Key lesson: Change your "oil" (knowledge) frequently to keep running efficiently.
  • Constant reinvention is necessary as what you know today may not be enough for tomorrow.
  • Graduation is not the end but the beginning of your education.
  • The role of education in wealth creation:
    • For Sidewalkers: They don't bother with continuous learning. After they graduate, they stop learning.
    • For Slowlaners: They continue learning to raise their intrinsic value and command a bigger salary.
    • For Fastlaners: They keep learning until they die, not for a bigger salary, but to facilitate and grow their business system.
  • Case study: Jim Gallagher who failed to update his skills and hence, became outdated and unemployed.
  • The role of education under Slowlane and Fastlane roadmaps:
    • Slowlane: Education is used to elevate intrinsic value.
    • Fastlane: Education is used to facilitate and grow the business system. Fastlane education is secured by methods that do not produce parasitic debt or conformity.
  • Addressing the excuses:
    • "I don't know how": Pursue self-learning through books, tutorials, articles, and more.
    • "I don't have time": Leverage the "dead times" in your life for learning. This includes commuting, waiting, exercising, and more.
  • The cost of education:
    • There are many free and cheap resources for continuous learning such as books, internet forums and blogs, free magazines, cheap seminars, etc.
    • High-dollar seminars are usually a waste of money and are just well-orchestrated marketing machines.
• ###Section: Chapter 28: Hit the Redline - Hit the Redline
  • Winners are forged at the Redline, which represents pure, unadulterated commitment.
  • Building successful businesses and systems requires commitment over time.
  • At the Redline, your limits will be tested, just as the limits of a car are tested.
  • Interest vs. Commitment
    • Many people are merely "interested" in wealth and financial security, but this is not enough to get out of "first gear".
    • Commitment, on the other hand, involves taking action and making concerted efforts.
    • Examples of commitment include applying knowledge from a book, starting a business, working on your business seven days a week, and investing in your system instead of leasing an expensive car.
  • Distance Yourself from "Most People"
    • To succeed, you need to be willing to take actions and make sacrifices that most people aren't willing to make.
    • This might involve living in less comfortable conditions for a while, but the payoff is greater long-term comfort.
    • Most people opt for the comfort of first gear and avoid the discomfort of Redline, but the Redline is where you break through roadblocks and harden your process.
  • Opportunity Doesn't Care About Timing
    • Opportunities often arise unexpectedly, and it's important to seize them when they do.
    • Waiting for the "perfect" time or for all conditions to be met often results in missed opportunities.
    • Taking intelligent risks can lead to lifelong returns.
    • Examples of intelligent risks include investing in a business with a high probability of success, or quitting your job to engage in a Fastlane business.
    • Moronic risks, on the other hand, have a bottomless downside and a limited, short-term upside.
    • It's important to take calculated risks and to be willing to fail, as failure is a natural part of success.
• ###Section: Chapter 29: The Right Road Routes to Wealth - The Right Road
  • Routes to Wealth
    • The road one chooses for wealth creation is crucial:
      • For Slowlaners, their job is their road (doctor, lawyer, engineer, salesman, hairdresser, pilot).
      • For Fastlaners, their business is their road (Internet entrepreneur, real estate investor, author, or inventor).
    • The chosen road must be a route to wealth.
    • Many jobs and businesses fail to lead to wealth due to mathematical limitations and wrong direction.
    • If on the wrong business road, one must make course corrections (exit the road, take a turn, or turn around).
  • Many business owners journey the wrong road and wonder why they haven't achieved wealth.
    • Examples of wrong paths include:
      • Trading time for dollars instead of leveraging a system.
      • Trading more work days for fewer off days.
  • The Fastlane philosophy states that one must start a business, but not just any business.
    • The business must be one that leads to wealth.
    • The road to wealth must go near or through the Law of Effection.
  • The Law of Effection says to make millions, one must impact millions.
    • In the Slowlane, one can achieve this by becoming enormously indispensable and earning millions.
    • In the Fastlane, one can achieve this by engineering a business that touches millions of lives in scale, or many lives of magnitude.
  • The Fastlane wealth equation is ignited by a business that drives to the Law of Effection.
    • Business opportunities that do not lead to the Law of Effection are not Fastlane roads.
    • For example, if one is stuck in a retail store selling $10 haircuts, they cannot reasonably expect to serve millions.
    • To make millions, one must serve millions.
    • A positive attitude is negated if one's business road is directionally challenged.
• ###Section: Chapter 30: The Commandment of Need - To light the Law of Effection and illuminate your Fastlane road:
  • Cross-examine it against the Five Fastlane Commandments (NECST: Need, Entry, Control, Scale, Time)
  • NECST is a Fastlane litmus test and validates your road by answering:
    • Does your road route to wealth?
    • Is it Fastlane?
    • Can it hit Effection?
    • Can it generate passive income and end at a final liquidation event?
  • A road meeting all five commandments can make you wealthy quickly
  • Violations degrade the road's wealth potential and your ability to reach Effection
  • Aim for a road that satisfies all five commandments
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions:
    • Not all businesses are the right road; few move at, through, or near the Law of Effection
    • The best roads and purest Fastlanes satisfy the Five Fastlane Commandments: Need, Entry, Control, Scale, Time
  • The Commandment of Need:
    • 90% of all new businesses fail within five years because they fail the Commandment of Need
      • Businesses that violate the Commandment of Need often belong to the 90% failure category or masquerade as jobs
      • Businesses that solve needs, provide value, and solve problems win profits
      • Selfish, narcissistic motives do not make good, long-term business models
    • Reflect on the purpose of businesses:
      • Businesses exist to satisfy the needs of others, not your selfish desires
      • Consumers care about what your business can do for them (solve their problem, make life easier, save money, etc.)
    • Stop chasing money—chase needs:
      • Entrepreneurs fail because they create businesses based on selfish premises
      • Attract money by focusing on the needs of other people, not your own
      • Example: Joe, a martial arts expert, failed because his business was based on his selfish needs, not market needs
        • He should have asked questions like:
          • Is there a need for a martial arts studio in the neighborhood?
          • What can existing studios do better?
          • What value do I offer?
    • Example: A hip-hop apparel boutique in a middle-class suburb failed because there was no market need
    • Money chasers chase money, not needs:
      • Money chasers often ask questions that expose their preoccupation with money, not needs
      • They hop from one business to the next without solving needs or creating momentum
      • Example: During the housing boom, money chasers became mortgage brokers and real estate agents
    • To attract money is to forget about money:
      • Money is attracted to businesses that solve problems and fill needs
      • Successful businesses satisfy consumer needs as reflected by sales
      • Solve needs on a massive scale or in magnitude
    • Examples of needs to solve to become a millionaire:
      • Make people feel better
      • Help solve a problem
      • Educate them
      • Make them look better
      • Give them security
      • Raise a positive emotion
      • Satisfy appetites
      • Make things easier
      • Enhance their dreams and give hope
    • "Do what you love" and die as you do:
      • "Do what you love" rarely converges with wealth unless it solves a need and you are exceptional at it
      • Example: The author loves to write, but cannot rely on writing to pay the bills
    • "Doing what you love" fakes and derivatives:
      • People often trade doing what they hate for five days in exchange for two days of doing what they love (e.g., weekend hobbies)
      • Derivatives of "do what you love" like becoming a personal trainer or selling crafts online rarely make money fast and can endanger the love for the activity
    • Your ignition: Moving from love to passion:
      • Passion, not love, fuels motivation for a specific goal
      • Passion for an end goal drives Fastlane action
      • Example: Mike Rowe profiles owners of businesses with less than lovable duties, but who are passionate and successful
    • Passion erases the suffering of work:
      • Passion for your "whys" transforms work into joy
      • Example: The author finished writing his book because he was passionate about changing lives
    • Get your road to converge with a fantastic dream:
      • A road that converges with your dreams is essential for motivation and success
      • Dead dreams lead to a dead road and lack of passion
      • Example: Friends stuck in dead-end jobs with no chance to achieve their dreams
    • Find your "snow in the toilet":
      • Passion comes from excitement or discontent
      • Reflect on a time when you were passionate about something
      • Example: Leslie Walburn's passion for animals led her to start a Fastlane business to fund her no-kill dog rescue shelter
    • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions:
      • The Commandment of Need states that businesses that solve needs win
      • 90% of new businesses fail because they are based on selfish internal needs, not external market needs
      • Money chasers focus on selfish needs and often fail
      • Chase money and it will elude you; attract money by solving needs
      • Help one million people and you will be a millionaire
      • "Do what you love" must solve a need and you must be exceptional at it
      • Passion for an end goal drives Fastlane success
      • The right road converges with your dreams
• ###Section: Chapter 31: The Commandment of Entry - The Commandment of Entry
  • Definition: As entry barriers to any business road fall or lessen, the effectiveness of that road declines while competition strengthens.
  • High entry barriers equate to:
    • Stronger, more powerful roads
    • Less competition
    • Less need for exceptionality
  • Low-barrier-entry businesses are weak roads because:
    • Easy entry creates high competition and high traffic
    • Shared pie among many competitors
    • Traffic results in no movement
  • Example: Network marketing
    • Low entry barrier (e.g., $200 for a distributor kit)
    • High competition from easily accessible entry
    • Result: Ineffectiveness and lack of substantial wealth
  • Historical examples:
    • eBay business: Early adopters and founders made millions; opportunity declined as entry barriers fell.
    • Internet blogging: Initially profitable but became saturated due to ease of entry.
  • Consequence of violating Commandment of Entry:
    • Saturation
    • Noise
    • Declining sales volumes
    • Profit erosion
  • Exceptionality: Required to overcome weak entry barriers
    • Example: Professional poker and financial trading
    • Only exceptional individuals succeed due to low entry barriers
  • Process vs. Event:
    • Real business startups are processes, not events
    • Example: Starting a bed-and-breakfast involves multiple steps (property, finance, permits)
    • Events (e.g., buying a distributor kit) violate the commandment
  • Everyone is doing it:
    • Sign of overbought conditions and entrance of "dumb money"
    • Example: Housing boom, tech stock boom, oil price explosion
    • Strategy: Do the opposite of the masses
  • Summary:
    • Commandment of Entry: As entry barriers fall, competition rises, and the road weakens
    • Easy access roads generate higher competition and lower margins
    • Exceptionalism is needed to overcome weak entry barriers
    • Business entry should be a process with a toll, not an event
    • "Everyone" signals overbought conditions and the entrance of "dumb money"
  • The Commandment of Control
    • Definition: Control over your financial plan and business operations
    • Drivers vs. Hitchhikers:
      • Drivers create and control businesses (e.g., MLM companies, franchises)
      • Hitchhikers join and follow (e.g., buying franchises, joining MLMs)
    • Good money vs. Big money vs. Legendary money:
      • Good money: $20,000/month
      • Big money: $200,000/month
      • Legendary money: Over a million dollars/month
    • Control ensures:
      • Stability
      • Higher earnings
      • Less vulnerability to external changes
    • Example: Google AdSense
      • Content providers earn good money
      • Google (driver) makes legendary money
    • Risks of hitchhiking:
      • Lack of control
      • Vulnerability to changes by the driver
      • Example: Google terminating ad revenue
    • Investing in your brand:
      • Focus on building and controlling your brand
      • Example: Network marketing participants promoting someone else's brand
    • Network marketing as a Fastlane:
      • Only if you own the network marketing company
      • Distributors lack control and face vulnerability to corporate decisions
    • Summary:
      • Commandment of Control: Control over your financial plan and business operations
      • Drivers create and control businesses; hitchhikers join and follow
      • Control ensures stability, higher earnings, and less vulnerability
      • Investing in your brand is crucial
• ###Section: Chapter 33: The Commandment of Scale - NECST is a Fastlane litmus test and validates your road:
  • Does your road route to wealth?
  • Is it Fastlane?
  • Can it be made Fastlane?
  • Can it hit Effection?
  • Can your road route to a multimillion-dollar enterprise, generate passive income, and end at a final liquidation event?
  • A road meeting all five commandments can make you filthy rich fast:
    • As violations accrue, the road degrades in its wealth potential.
    • Most business opportunities fail the commandments and don’t deserve your respect or attention.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions:
    • Not all businesses are the right road.
    • Few roads move at, through, or near the Law of Effection.
    • The best roads satisfy the Five Fastlane Commandments: Need, Entry, Control, Scale, and Time.
  • The Commandment of Need:
    • Businesses that solve needs win.
    • Businesses that provide value win.
    • Businesses that solve problems win profits.
    • Selfish motives do not make good, long-term business models.
    • Businesses fail because they fail the Commandment of Need.
    • Ninety percent of all new businesses fail within five years due to this violation.
    • Reflect on what your business can do for others, not your own desires.
    • Focus on needs, problems, pain points, service deficiencies, and emotions.
  • Examples of Violation:
    • Joe opened a martial arts studio based on his love for martial arts.
      • Failed within 10 months due to lack of genuine need in the marketplace.
    • A hip-hop apparel boutique opened in a white, middle-class suburb.
      • Failed within 18 months due to lack of need in the neighborhood.
  • Stop Chasing Money—Chase Needs:
    • Entrepreneurs fail because they create businesses based on selfish premises.
    • Your business attracts money when you focus on the needs of others.
    • Examples of Money Chasers:
      • "How can I make money starting a business?"
      • "What business can I start with $200 and still make $5K per month?"
    • Money chasers hop from one business to the next, rarely solving needs or creating momentum.
  • To Attract Money is to Forget About Money:
    • Money is like a mischievous cat; if you ignore it and focus on what attracts the cat, it comes to you.
    • Money isn’t attracted to selfish people. It is attracted to businesses that solve problems.
    • Successful businesses share one common trait: The satisfaction of consumer needs.
    • Make a million people achieve any of the following:
      • Make them feel better
      • Help them solve a problem
      • Educate them
      • Make them look better
      • Give them security
      • Raise a positive emotion
      • Satisfy appetites
      • Make things easier
      • Enhance their dreams and give hope
  • Beware of "Do What You Love":
    • "Do what you love" rarely converges with wealth.
    • For "do what you love" to work, it must solve a need, and you must be exceptional at it.
    • Markets for "do what you love" activities are often crowded and profit margins shallow.
    • "Do what you love" can endanger your natural love for the activity when done for money.
    • Passion for an end goal drives motivation and action.
    • Find your passion by reflecting on times of excitement or discontent.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions:
    • The Commandment of Need states that businesses that solve needs win.
    • Ninety percent of all new businesses fail because they are based on selfish internal needs.
    • No one cares about your selfish desires; people want to know what your business can do for them.
    • Money chasers often follow their own selfish needs.
    • People vote for your business with their money.
    • Chase money and it will elude you. Focus on what attracts money to draw it to yourself.
    • Help one million people and you will be a millionaire.
    • For money to follow "Do what you love," your love must solve a need and you must be exceptional at it.
    • "Do what you love" often leads to crowded marketplaces with depressed margins.
    • When you have financial resources, you can "do what you love" without needing payment.
    • Slowlaners feed "do what you love" with "do what you hate."
    • "Doing what you love" for money can endanger your love.
    • Passion for an end goal drives Fastlane success.
    • Having a passionate "why" can transform work into joy.
    • The right road for you is one that will converge with your dreams.
• ###Section: Chapter 34: The Commandment of Time - The Commandment of Time:
  • The final Fastlane commandment requires your business to detach from your time.
  • This commandment is about creating a business that can substitute for you and blossom into a money tree.
  • The goal is passive income, which is a Fastlane objective.
  • Owning a business does not automatically guarantee wealth or detachment from time.
  • A business that violates the Commandment of Time can end up being a lifelong prison sentence.
  • The Commandment of Time asks:
    • Can this business be automated and systematized to operate while I'm absent?
    • Are my margins thick enough to hire human resource seedlings?
    • Can my operation benefit from the introduction of a money tree seedling?
    • How can I get this business to operate exclusive of my time?
  • Jobs vs Businesses:
    • Jobs are time trades for income, and so are some businesses.
    • The goal of the Fastlane is to disconnect your time from income.
  • Case Study - Ashlyn Gardner:
    • Ashlyn started a coffee shop featuring art of local artisans and hosts weekly literature readings.
    • After two years, her business normalized and she realized that she was owned by her business.
    • She was unable to hire a general manager due to thin margins.
    • Three years into the business, she closed up shop and considered returning to being an employee.
    • Her failure was in the violation of the Commandment of Time.
  • A Money Tree That Never Grows:
    • A successful business isn't always fun and games, especially when it violates the Commandment of Time.
    • Many people start businesses without understanding what it will be like.
    • The goal as a Fastlaner is to make your business automated and passive.
    • If your business is based on a money-tree seedling, it should be capable of growing a money tree.
    • Content, computer, software, distribution systems, and human resource systems are all seedlings to money trees.
    • If your business isn't based on one, consider if one can be added to make it passive.
  • Fastlane Distinctions:
    • A business attached to your time is a job.
    • A business that earns income exclusive of your time satisfies the Commandment of Time.
    • To satisfy the Commandment of Time, start with a business that uses a money-tree seedling.
• ###Section: Chapter 35: Rapid Wealth: The Interstates - Rapid Wealth: The Interstates
  • The crossroads
    • Most people choose the slowest roads to financial independence instead of the fastest ones.
    • Starting a business should be treated seriously, not as a hobby.
    • The author shares his experience of dabbling in various businesses in his mid-20s with no lasting success.
    • He worked as a limousine driver, thinking he wanted to own a limousine company.
    • After working for a year, he had the opportunity to buy the company but realized he didn't enjoy the demands of the business.
    • He used a weighted average decision matrix (WADM) to decide not to buy the company and to move to Phoenix instead.
  • Fastlane Purity: Five Commandments
    • Do not invest in a needless business.
    • Do not trade time for money.
    • Do not operate on a limited scale.
    • Do not relinquish control.
    • Do not let a business startup be an event over process.
  • The author realized the limousine service didn't satisfy all the commandments.
  • The purest Fastlanes have the best wealth potential.
  • The Three Fastlane Interstates
    • Internet
    • Innovation
    • Intentional iteration
  • The Internet has made more millionaires in the last decade than any other medium.
  • Internet business models fall into seven broad categories:
    • Subscription-based
    • Content-based
    • Lead generation
    • Social networks
    • Brokerage systems
    • Advertising
    • E-commerce
  • The Internet obeys the Five Commandments to the Fastlane, assuming a need-based premise.
  • Innovation encompasses many roads and involves two acts: manufacture and distribution.
  • Intentional iteration is a Fastlane road that possesses super-fast speeds and can meet all five Fastlane commandments.
  • Intentional iteration is the act of satisfying the final commandment, scale.
  • The best Fastlanes satisfy all five Commandments: Control, Entry, Need, Time, and Scale.
  • Successful businesses rarely evolve from some legendary idea but take existing concepts and make them better.
  • The Internet is the fastest interstate, because it overwhelmingly satisfies all Commandments.
  • Innovation can be any variety of open roads: authoring, inventing, or services.
  • Inventing success needs coupling with distribution.
  • A singles-based business is scaled to a home-run business by intentional iteration.
  • Find Your Open Road
    • Opportunities and the open roads they represent are everywhere.
    • 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.
    • Successful entrepreneurs take existing concepts and make them better.
    • Old ideas suffice; just take it and do it better!
    • The author provides examples of successful businesses that took existing concepts and made them better.
    • Open roads, needs and opportunity come prefaced with “code words” or phrases that scream “This is an opportunity!”
    • Some common phrases include "I hate...", "I don't like...", "This frustrates me...", "Why is this like this?", and "Do I have to?".
• ###Section: Chapter 36: Find Your Open Road - Identifying Opportunities:
  • Listen for key phrases that express dissatisfaction, such as:
    • "I wish there was..."
      • This signals a desire for something that doesn't exist, indicating a potential market opportunity.
    • "I'm tired of..."
      • This suggests an existing product or service isn't meeting user needs effectively, presenting an opportunity for improvement.
    • "This sucks..."
      • This is a clear sign of dissatisfaction with the current situation, pointing to a potential opportunity for a better solution.
  • Example: The author's own experience with recurring canker sores led him to develop a prevention formula that could potentially be commercialized.
  • Fastlane Success Factors:
    • Opportunities are often about filling performance gaps or solving small inconveniences and pain points, rather than inventing breakthroughs.
    • Competition should not deter you; aim to do better than the competition.
    • Success lies more in execution than in the originality of the idea.
    • Many successful entrepreneurs improved existing concepts or exposed them to more people, rather than inventing something completely new.
  • Handling Failure:
    • Everyone experiences failure on the road to success.
    • What differentiates winners from losers is how they react to failure.
    • Failures can often lead to new directions and inventions, as in the case of the heart pacemaker, microwave ovens, penicillin, and vulcanized rubber.
    • There's a distinction between "quitting" (giving up on your dream) and "quitting your road" (changing direction while still pursuing your dream).
    • If the current path isn't leading towards your dream, it might be time to change direction.
• ###Section: Chapter 37: Give Your Road a Destination - Give Your Road a Destination
  • The Fastlane doesn't care about your ends; it just wants to be the means.
  • The end of the Fastlane road trip is to crown your happiness with freedom.
  • Freedom comes in different forms:
    • Freedom from financial encumbrances
    • Freedom to travel
    • Freedom from bosses, alarm clocks, two-hour commutes
    • Freedom from bad ratios (9-to-5, 5-for-2, 2 weeks every 52 weeks and 8% over 40 years)
    • Freedom to enjoy the world as your playground.
  • The Price of Freedom: Money
    • Freedom has a price, and that price is money.
    • Big dreams, from materialistic Ferraris to altruistic nonprofit foundations, cost money.
  • Set Your Destination: Four Steps to Starting
    • 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!
  • The Rules of the Road: Financial Literacy
    • You can't build a financial empire if you're ignorant of basic finance and economics.
    • The first rule of financial literacy: "Live below your means."
    • A Financial Adviser Doesn't Fix Illiteracy
      • Hiring a financial adviser might make sense to you aside from one caveat: Hiring a financial adviser doesn't fix financial illiteracy.
      • Literacy gives you the power to evaluate your adviser's advice.
• ###Section: Chapter 38: The Speed of Success - The Speed of Success
  • The potential speed of success is like the maximum speed listed on a car's speedometer; it represents unrealized potential.
  • Turning this potential into actual speed requires execution.
  • Many entrepreneurs fail to differentiate between ideas and execution. They overvalue ideas and undervalue the importance of execution.
  • Ideas are like pawns in chess; they're important but not as crucial as the king, which represents execution.
  • To succeed, you need to approach business as a complex game of chess, not a one-dimensional game of checkers.
  • Each chess piece represents a specific function within your business:
    • 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
  • Execution is what separates successful entrepreneurs from those who merely have ideas. Execution is about turning ideas into reality.
  • Execution is also the key to speed in business. The faster you can execute, the faster you can succeed.
  • While a brilliant idea with no execution might only be worth $200, a so-so idea with brilliant execution could be worth $350 million.
  • It's not the idea that's important, but the execution.
• ###Section: Chapter 39: Burn the Business Plan, Ignite Execution - The world reacts to ideas and plans:
  • It's unpredictable, and may not respond as expected to your business ideas and plans.
  • The ultimate judge of ideas is the market. If people like your offer, they vote with their time, thoughts or money. If they don't, they withhold their money or look elsewhere.
  • When you execute an idea, the world tells you whether it's good or not.
  • Business plans are not as useful as they may seem:
    • The world doesn't care about ideas, it only reacts to them.
    • Business plans are only useful when they are married to execution.
    • The moment you execute, the world will steer your business in unimaginable places that violate your business plan.
    • Entrepreneurs often start with one intention and end up with a different one due to market feedback.
  • The importance of execution:
    • The best business plan is a track record of execution.
    • If you want your business to be funded, create something tangible that reflects execution.
    • Investors are more likely to invest in something tangible and real, not just ideas on paper.
• ###Section: Chapter 40: Pedestrians Will Make You Rich! - The key to success in business is customer service. Treating the customers who buy your product or service in a way that helps, supports, and resolves their issues is crucial.
  • Customer service should serve the same function as priests, rabbis, or pastors in times of trouble, offering help, support, and resolution.
  • The goal is to become the "go-to" person for customers, similar to how religious figures are the "go-to" people for life's problems.
  • One helpful tool in business is keeping a record of all complaints, grievances, and issues experienced daily.
    • This can serve as a guide, offering insight into the minds of customers.
    • Complaints can highlight unmet needs in your business and provide valuable feedback.
    • One complaint can signal that there are likely multiple people who feel the same way.
    • When similar complaints accumulate, it's crucial to evaluate the issue and take corrective action.
    • Complaints can hint at the direction your business should be moving in.
  • Complaints can be categorized into four types:
    • Complaints of change: When customers resist changes to things they love, leading to complaints. These are the least informative and hardest to decipher.
    • Complaints of expectation: When a business fails to meet the expectations of a customer, leading to complaints. These expose either a failing in the service or a deceptive marketing strategy.
    • Complaints of void: When customers frequently request something that the business doesn't provide. These complaints are valuable as they expose unmet needs.
    • Complaints of fraud: Illegitimate complaints designed to exploit the business owner. These are the most disheartening as they reflect the worst of society.
  • The key to successful business growth is prioritizing the customer over self-interests.
    • The customer is the one who pays your paycheck, not you.
    • It's important to give the customer good service and make them happy.
  • A useful strategy is to look big but act small.
    • Big companies tend to give poor service, while small companies give better service with a personal touch.
    • The goal is to appear like a big company with the personal service of a small company. This can lead to Superior Unexpected Customer Service (SUCS) events, creating loyal, evangelic customers.
  • Satisfied customers can become free human resource systems who promote your business.
    • They not only provide repeat business but also new business through their discipleship, promoting your business for free.
• ###Section: Chapter 41: Throw Hijackers to the Curb! - Throw Hijackers to the Curb
  • Your business is like your castle.
    • The quality of the people you put in your business, including employees, partners, investors, and advisors, will determine its quality.
  • Partnerships in business are like marriages.
    • Partnerships must survive on character, synergy, and complementary attributes.
    • Forming partnerships for the wrong reasons, like diversification of risk, expense, and workload, often leads to resentment and failure.
  • Having good accountants and attorneys is crucial.
    • They can help navigate complex legal and financial matters, potentially saving you thousands or millions.
    • Be careful about who you trust with the keys to your castle, as they have the power to make or break you.
  • Trust must be earned and verified.
    • Blind trust can make you vulnerable to being conned.
    • There are a lot of good people in the world, but it takes a mild effort to find them and keep them in your life.
  • Employees are ambassadors of your business.
    • They must deliver your customer service philosophy, which if not done properly, can destroy your vision and public perception of your company.
  • Spectacular product features can't compensate for poor service.
    • Fanatical customer service can help compensate for shortcomings, but fanatical features cannot compensate for poor customer service.
• ###Section: Chapter 42: Be Someone’s Savior - Be Someone's Savior
  • Your product or service should be a solution for someone's problem or need. It should not be driven by selfish reasons, such as getting rich or being your own boss.
  • "Me-too" businesses that do not differentiate themselves from others will not stand out and will not achieve significant income.
  • Commoditization is when a product or service becomes generic among providers, such as air travel or gas. Consumers usually choose based on price for commoditized goods and services.
  • Get in Business for the Right Reason
    • Businesses should be started because there is a need for the product or service, not out of selfish reasons or because it's something the entrepreneur knows how to do.
    • Excess supply and weak demand lead to commoditization and price wars.
  • Get Your Eyes Off The Competition's Ass
    • Business owners should focus more on their own business and innovation, rather than constantly watching their competition.
    • Being reactive to competition's moves neglects your own business and inhibits innovation.
  • How to Use Your Competition
    • Ignore competition 95% of the time and focus on your own business and innovation.
    • Use the remaining 5% to exploit competition's weaknesses and differentiate your business.
  • Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
    • Commoditization occurs when a business is started on a false premise, such as wanting to own a business or starting a business in a field one is familiar with.
    • Constantly copying or watching competition inhibits innovation.
• ###Section: Chapter 43: Build Brands, Not Businesses - Build Brands, Not Businesses
  • Marketing and Branding:
    • Marketing and branding (the queen) is the most powerful tool in your Fastlane toolbox.
    • Businesses survive. Brands thrive.
    • Businesses have identity crises, brands don’t. Identity crises force business owners into price commoditization.
    • Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) are the keys to your brand and differentiate your company from the rest.
  • People's natural disposition:
    • People have a natural disposition to be unique and unlike everyone else.
    • To succeed in marketing, your messages have to break above the advertising clutter, or noise.
    • Polarization is a great above-the-noise tool if your product targets a polarized audience—usually politics, minority opinions, and even sports teams.
    • Sex sells and always draws eyeballs.
    • Consumers make buying decisions based on emotions before practicality.
    • If you can arouse emotions in your audience, you will be more likely to convince them to buy.
    • People have a natural disposition to talk about themselves. If you can incorporate interaction into your campaigns, you will have better success.
    • To be unconventional means to first isolate and identify what is conventional, then doing the opposite, or interrupting that convention.
    • Consumers are selfishly motivated. Always target your messages toward the predisposition of “What’s in it for me?”
  • Features, benefits, and price:
    • Features are translated to benefits when you switch positions from producer to consumer, identify the feature’s advantages, and extrapolate those advantages into a specific result.
    • Price implicitly conveys value and worth.
    • Don’t allow your own perception of price direct your brand to mediocrity.
• ###Section: Chapter 44: Choose Monogamy Over Polygamy - Choose Monogamy Over Polygamy:
  • Monogamy in business refers to:
    • Focusing on one core purpose
    • Not diverting focus to multiple ventures
  • Polygamy in business refers to:
    • Scattering focus across different projects and opportunities
    • Being involved in multiple businesses simultaneously
  • Effects of Polygamy in business:
    • Leads to scattered results
    • Instead of one thriving business, there are multiple weak businesses
    • Weak businesses:
      • Don’t build strong foundations
      • Don’t generate speed
      • Don’t scale to multimillion-dollar valuations
      • Don’t accelerate wealth
  • Monogamy in business:
    • Most successful individuals focused on one thing, achieved success in it and then diverted into other ventures
    • Monogamy leads to successful polygamy
    • Money earned from a successful venture buys systems and time, making polygamy possible
  • Tekel Syndrome:
    • Refers to the compulsion to scatter focus across different projects and opportunities
    • It's a symptom of chasing money instead of fulfilling needs
  • Fastlane success comes from monogamy, not from divided attentions
  • Ultimately, the goal should be to focus on one Fastlane business and excel at it
• ###Section: Chapter 45: Put It Together: Supercharge Your Wealth Plan! - Put It Together: Supercharge Your Wealth Plan
  • Wealth is a Formula: A systematic process of beliefs, choices, actions, and habits that form a lifestyle. Wealth is a process, not an event.
  • Admit the Flaws: Recognize that the preordained path to wealth ("Get Rich Slow") is fundamentally flawed because of uncontrollable limited leverage and weak mathematics. Admit that "Get Rich Quick" exists and that having no plan is not a good plan. Recognize that luck is the residue of engagement.
  • Stop and Swap: Stop following ineffective roadmaps and selling your soul for weekends. Stop thinking that 401Ks and mutual funds will make you rich. Swap ineffective roadmaps for the Fastlane roadmap and switch allegiance from consumer to producer.
  • Time is the Key: Free time is the king asset of the Fastlane. Invest in activities that grant free time and avoid time thieves such as parasitic debt. Invest time into a business system that can transform indentured time into free time. Make decisions with time as a key factor.
  • Leverage: Use controllable and unlimited mathematics to create wealth. No leverage exists within the Slowlane wealth equation. Leverage is harnessed by a system that does the work for you.
  • Assets and Income: Accelerate wealth by exploding income and asset value via a business that can be systemized and eventually sold. Live below your means but seek to expand your means by focusing on income while controlling expenses. Exponential growth of income and asset value creates millionaires.
  • Determine Your Number: Determine the amount of money needed to live a lifestyle of your choosing. Make it real today by saving loose change, opening a brokerage account, and tracking progress. Make your dream lifestyle real by visualizing it with photos and models.
  • Effection: Grace Effection and you'll be graced with wealth. The Law of Effection states that the more people whose lives you affect in an environment you control, the more money you will make. Impact millions and you will make millions.
  • Steer Your Life: Commit to the Fastlane ideology and enforce good decisions using WCCA and WADM. Examine past choices and rectify mistakes to reflect a Fastlane mindset. Become responsible and accountable.
  • Uncouple from the Slowlane: Create your business structure in a favorable Fastlane entity (C-Corporation, S-Corporation, or LLC). Your entity is the body of your surrogate business system, pays itself first, and survives time separate from your time.
  • Passion & Purpose: Passion fuels habitual action. Passion revs you with excitement and enrages you with discontent. Some passions are selfish, while others are selfless. Passion must burn hot enough to drive you into process.
  • Educate Yourself: Education begins at graduation. Never stop learning and seek Fastlane knowledge that fosters business systems. Use existing blocks of time for daily reading and learning.
  • Get on a Fastlane Road: Train your mind to see needs and problems. Observe thoughts and language to uncover unmet needs. Solve problems better and focus on needs to open roads.
  • Control Your Financial Plan: Engage in an organization you fully control, from pricing to marketing to operations. Fastlane entrepreneurs don't cede control over critical business functions.
  • Have What Others Need: Reflects the Commandment of Need. Focus on having what others want, desire, crave, or need. Money comes from providing value.
  • Automate Your Business: Honor the Commandment of Time. Detach your time from your business using money systems, rental systems, computer systems, content systems, distribution systems, and human resource systems.
  • Replicate Your System: Honor the Commandment of Scale. Impact millions by being on a field capable of affecting millions. Replicate your product, service, or process on a global scale.
  • Grow Your Business: Treat your business like a game of chess. Build a brand, treat customers well, listen to the world, resist commoditization, and focus on one business.
  • Exit Strategy: Have an exit strategy. Achieve full passivity through a money system funded by liquidation events of massive asset values. Know when to liquidate assets.
  • Retire, Reward, or Repeat: After liquidating assets, either retire or repeat. Reward yourself for milestones achieved. Celebrate small and large victories along the journey.
  • Fastlane Road Trip: The Fastlane road trip is a personal journey worth living as long as dreams are alive and have probability. Excuses never made anyone rich. Stop making excuses and start taking action. Make a choice today that can change your life.
  • Further Resources: Discuss Fastlane theory at FastlaneEntrepreneurs.com or TheFastlaneForum.com. Contact MJ DeMarco at [email protected] for further discussion.
  • Reader Reflections:
    • High School Teacher: Open another parallel road. Look for problems you can address in your line of work. Leverage your time off in the summer to start a new road.
    • Business Owner Neighbor: Your neighbor's business may fail the Commandment of Time. If it can't divorce your time, it may be a dead-end job.
    • $12,000 in Debt: Understand the source of the debt. Make new choices to keep debt from growing and focus on increasing income. Start a need-based business.
    • Different Roads in Marriage: If your spouse doesn't agree with Fastlane philosophy, tough decisions may be needed. Find common grounds to bridge the divide.
    • Real Estate: Real estate can be a slower Fastlane with magnitude but lacks reach. Focus on high-dollar properties for faster accumulation.
    • Four-Hour Workweek: Achieving wealth with minimal work is possible but requires significant initial effort. Four-hour workweeks can be the result of initial hard work.
    • Affiliate Marketing: Violates the Commandments of Entry and Control. Can be Fastlane if these restrictions are subverted. Focus on creating affiliate programs.
    • College Education: Depends on cost, maturity, goals, and marginal benefits. College is not a prerequisite to wealth but can be valuable for specific professions.
    • Network Marketing: Probabilities favor traditional Fastlane over network marketing. If you defy probability, go for it.
    • Time Management: Time isn't the issue; desire and passion are. Find time through insatiable passion and commitment.
    • Buying Expensive Toys: Expensive toys won't make you happy. Happiness comes from the process of achievement.
    • Single Mom: Create a business that solves a need on a massive scale. Look for needs in your industry or other areas you are passionate about.
    • Minimizing Business Risk: Get in business for the right reason. Focus on filling a void or doing something better than others. Risk escalates with flawed motives.
    • Control Freak: Control your financial plan and accommodate variances in interest rates. Set realistic expectations for returns.
    • Mentorship: Mentors provide guidance, not outsourcing of the process. Mentors can accelerate your journey.
    • Material Extravagance: Fastlane is about freedom to afford what you want. Difference between being imprisoned by stuff and buying what you can afford.
    • Breaking Free from a Rut: Change starts with beliefs. Make better choices and reflect on how you can help others. Acquire talent if needed.
  • The 40 Fastlane Lifestyle Guidelines:
    • Not dismiss "Get Rich Quick" as improbable.
    • Not allow the Slowlane to bury my dreams.
    • Not allow Slowlane prognosticators to contaminate my truth.
    • Not ordain the Slowlane as the plan, but let it be part of the plan.
    • Not sell my soul for a weekend.
    • Not expect nor seek a chauffeur to wealth.
    • Not trade my time for money.
    • Not put time in control over my financial plan.
    • Not forsake control over my financial plan.
    • Not demote time as abundant and effervescent.
    • Not assign faith to events, but to process.
    • Not take advice from gurus preaching one roadmap while getting rich using another.
    • Not use compound interest for wealth, but for income.
    • Not disrespect the passivity of a dollar.
    • Not cease learning at graduation, but start it.
    • Not impose burdens of parasitic debt.
    • Not play on Team Consumer, but switch to Team Producer.
    • Not dismiss plausibility of my dreams.
    • Not chase a path of money, but a path of need.
    • Not fuel motivation by love, but by passion.
    • Not focus on expenses, but on income.
    • Not pay myself last, but first.
    • Not do what everyone does.
    • Not trust everyone, but allow trust to be proven.
    • Not relinquish control over my business.
    • Not hitchhike, but seek to drive.
    • Not operate within limited scales and tiny habitats.
    • Not dishonor the horsepower of my choices.
    • Not swim as a guppy in a pool, but as a shark in the oceans.
    • Not consume first, but produce first, and consume later.
    • Not engage in barrier-free or entry-weak businesses.
    • Not invest in other people's brands, but in my own.
    • Not give credence to ideas, but to execution.
    • Not forsake my customer for other stakeholders.
    • Not build a business, but a brand.
    • Not focus marketing messages on features, but benefits.
    • Not be a polygamist opportunist: Focus!
    • Not engage my business like checkers, but chess.
    • Not live above my means, but seek to expand my means.
    • Not live without the insurance of financial literacy.
  • Further Your Fastlane:
    • Fastlane on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheMillionaireFastlane
    • Discuss the Fastlane: http://www.theFastlaneForum.com
    • Fastlane articles: http://www.FastlaneEntrepreneurs.com
    • MJ DeMarco: http://www.MJDeMarco.com, http://www.twitter.com/MJDeMarco
    • The Millionaire Fastlane: http://www.theMillionaireFastlane.com