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finished reading The Millionaire Fastlane
by mj demarco, founder of limos.com
i highly endorse the book, give it 9/10 and a must-read for any aspiring entrepreneur
i even learned 3 new words, bloviate palliative and a secondary definition of primordial
you can check the book out here
notes follow
fast wealth is created exponentially, not linearly
process makes millionaires. events are by-products of process
to seek a wealth chauffeur is to seek a surrogate for process. process cannot be outsourced, because process awns wisdom, personal growth, strengths, and events.
process/event dichotomy
how your life unfolds is determined by your choices, and these choices originate from your belief systems, and those belief systems evolve from your predisposed roadmap
“when you’re the first person whose beliefs are different from what everyone else believes, you’re basically saying, “I’m right, and everyone else is wrong.” That’s a very unpleasant position to be in. It’s at once exhilarating and at the same time, an invitation to be attacked.” Larry Ellison
“i have a cashier’s check for $44,000 and i want to buy that car. i need a yes or no.”
the more you try to look rich, the tighter the grip of poorness becomes
affordability is when you don’t have to think about it
anything destructive to freedom is destructive to the wealth trinity, which is health, freedom & strong interpersonal relationships
sidewalkers are ripe for swindling because they seek events and want to avoid process
belief 1: luck is needed for wealth
belief 2: wealth is an event
belief 3: others can give wealth to me
when the markets crashed, mj didn’t lose a lot of money because the markets weren’t his wealth acceleration vehicle
when you’re accountable to your choices, you alter your behavior in the future and take the driver’s seat of your life
responsibility = acknowledge that you had causality
accountable = own the causality
what is dollar cost averaging?
“the ultimate insanity is to sell your soul monday through friday for the paycheck of saturday and sunday. yes, give me $5 today and in return i’ll give you $2 back tomorrow. 5-for-2. No? how about five loaves of bread today and in return, I’ll give you two back tomorrow. no again? why? this is a smoking deal!”"
would you make a 5-for-2 trade knowing that it could transform into a 1-for-10? would that be something to invest in?
the slowlane is a natural course correction from the sidewalk evolving from taking responsibility and accountability
your time should be an expendable resource for wealth because your wealth itself consists of time
the paradox of practice asks, “do you practice what you preach? are you a model, an exemplification of what you teach?”
the best quarterbacking advice comes from Peyton Manning, not MJ Demarco (zb: or peyton manning’s coaches)
most gurus teach slowlane practices (invest; do what you love; etc.) while getting rich from fastlane practices (selling systems en masse)
You can’t overcome the limitations of mathematics. a car that has a top speed of 10 mph will always have a top speed of 10 mph, no matter HOW HARD YOU PUSH THE ACCELERATOR. if you travel across the country at 10mph, you’re going to need 40 years!
the slowlane is predisposed to mediocrity because the numbers are always mediocre
the slowlane is risky because its variables are uncontrolled and leverage is absent. Uncontrollable Limited Leverage really means “ULL” never get rich. yet, lifestyle is the one variable Slowlaners can effectively manipulate.
MJ didn’t accumulate wealth because of expense dickery.
income explosion and expense control created wealth.
intrinsic value (skill, talent, etc.) has leverage when there is strong demand
become a producer first and a consumer second
5 fastlane business seedlings.
rental systems
computer/software systems
content systems
distribution systems:
savvy fastlane entrepreneurs recognize that a successful local business with weak leverage can be made highly leveragable by franchises or chains
human resource systems
hr systems are the most expensive and complicated to run. humans are unpredictable, expensive, and difficult to control.
mj thought about investing in parking lot but didn’t: while the business model was truly a “rental system”, the operation itself was a “human resource system”
one dollar has the power to give you a nickel of passive income for life. yes, for life. while one nickel buys squat, it unlocks the DNA implicit in money–it’s fully passive.
since inflation rises in unison with interest rates, MJ’s income has inflation protection.
for fastlaners, compound interest works because they’ve reached critical threshold where the interest gives sufficient income
fastlaners eventually become net lenders
the more lives you affect in an entity you control, in scale and/or magnitude, the richer you will become
get in a position to impact millions
make a giant impact a few times or make a small impact millions of times
certain choices have lots of horsepower
an extravagant car would always be “out of his league” and therefore his choices would reflect that mindset
“business ownership is a big risk. i’ll never do that again” or “next time, i’m going to be selling franchises, not buying them” the former is treasonous, while the latter is accelerative. you have a choice in framing failure and framing the past. it serves or hinders.
_huge_: you can change your choice of perception by aligning yourself with those who experience the perception as reality
when you spout excitement over actions or ideas, bloviators react with doubt and disbelief and use conditioned talking points such as, “Oh that won’t work,” “someone is already doing it,” and “why bother?” in motivational circles they call them “dream stealers”
defend yourself or suffer the consequence of slow assimilation to mediocrity
people who wait in line for hours for black friday etc. these people value their time at zero
indentured time is actual work and the work you must do for the work. morning rituals, traffic, compiling reports at home, solitary “recharges” — whatever time spent earning a buck is indentured time
in the slowlane, education is used to elevate intrinsic value, while in the Fastlane it is used to facilitate and grow the business system
a $50k seminar is exploitation of what we producers know: people are lazy. people want it handed to them. people don’t want to read and connect the dots; they want it done for them. people want to be steered. they want someone to drive their vehicle. people want events, not process, and what better event than a $50k seminar!
interest vs commitment: interest works on your business an hour a day monday through friday; commitment works on your business seven days a week whenever time permits
interest is quitting after the third failure; commitment is continuing after the hundredth
intelligent risks have a limited downside, while their upside is unlimited. moronic risks have a bottomless downside and their upside is limited or short term. (c.f. nassim taleb and fragility)
make someday today
when it comes to opportunity and risk minimization, people wait for perfect timing– they wait for all lights to go green, which summons the “somedays”
if your road doesn’t lead through effection’s neighborhood or have an off-ramp onto it, sorry, you’re on the wrong road
five fastlane commandments, NECST
1) need – vitamins vs pain pills
to succeed as a producer, surrender your own selfishness and address the selfishness of others.
money-chasers hop from one business to the next, scalping and arbitraging market imbalances, rarely solving needs or creating momentum
make 1 million people achieve any of the following:
make them feel better
help them solve a problem
educate them
make them look better (health, nutrition, clothing, makeup)
give them security (housing, safety, health)
raise a positive emotion (love, happiness, laughter, self-confidence)
satisfy appetites, from basic (food) to the risque (sexual)
make things easier
enhance their dreams and give hope
“doing what you love” for money often isn’t good enough because we aren’t good enough. additionally, so many people are “doing what they love” that the marketplace for that activity is so crowded and margins become depressed and heavy competition reigns
2) entry – barriers to entry
if everybody were rich, “everyone is doing it” would work
exceptionalism is required to overcome weak barriers to entry
“everyone is doing it” is a signal to overbought conditions and the entrance of “dumb money”
3) control – own the platform
fred wilson in his FOWA “10 golden principles” says build an API. that means you own the platform
MLM distributors are commissioned employees disguised as entrepreneurs. makes me think of silicon valley internet engineering craigslist ads looking to hire “entrepreneurs”
4) scale – be able to serve many or a few extremely significantly
without scale or magnitude the business has weak asset value
effection is always biased towards the architect of the system
5) time – does not require your time; i.e. not a job
need to be able to afford general manager so you can work ON the business rather than in it
fastlane interstates: internet, innovation, intentional iteration
leadgen is popular with fragmented industries where the industry players consist of mostly SMBs
opportunity is putting weak companies out of business
open roads: examine your thought process
“I hate..”
“I don’t like..”
“This frustrates me..”
“Why is this like this?”
“Do I have to?”
“I wish there was..”
“I’m tired of..”
“This sucks..”
marketers make money on planned obsolescence. planned obsolescence is a marketer’s expectation that whatever they’re selling you, you won’t use it. and if you don’t use it, you are unlikely to ask for your money back.
the world tells you which direction you should be going at all times. heed the signs.
mj’s limos.com roadmap: black book. not a treasure trove of phone#s from female hotties but a written record of all complaints, grievances and issues my business experienced daily. this book has served as my guide for over a decade
one complaint meant there were 10 others who felt the same way
complaints are the world’s whispers hinting the direction you should be moving
complaints of change are the least informative and therefore are the ones most difficult to decipher
when you change not all complaints are actionable simply because human psychology is in play, not the integrity of your work
complaints of expectation: you either need to do a better job in fulfillment or a better job in managing their expectations
“your service sucks”
advertisers who complained, “your service sucks” didn’t use my service as intended. their expectations were malformed
if i couldn’t manage the complaints, i could manage the expectations
complaints of void are when your customer continually requests something and you simply don’t have it. complaints of void are extremely valuable, as they expose unmet needs.
how do you deal with exploitive complainers? you respond once with grace, explain your position, and move on.
when you violate your client’s customer service expectation profile positively, you turn your customers into loyal, repeat buyers, and ultimately, disciples of your business
make a subjective call on how you customers expect service. then VIOLATE it.
any tiem you violate your customer’s expectations to the positive, you get a dual benefit. first, they buy from you again. second, raving customers become liaisons and disciples for your business and unpaid HR systems. both build speed. speed builds wealth
if more money were spent on pleasing existing clients rather than trying to find new ones, the avg business would survive longer than five years. unfortunately, business owners who seek money first and needs last often spend their advertising wad on the pursuit of new customers who aren’t familiar with their uninspired and sucky customer service. it becomes a constant battle, like emptying a leaky boat with a bucket: replace the old disgruntled customers with newer, oblivious ones.
success in business coems from making your customer the boss and the no. 1 stakeholder to your business
my repeated, and often preached, motto to my employees was, “the customer pays your paycheck, not me — keep them happy.” my loyalty was with my customer. yes, i had a boss, and the boss had the keys to everything i selfishly wanted.
look big, act small
look small and act big and you dig your own potholes
complaints of change are difficult to decipher and often require additional data to invalidate or validate
complaints of expectation expose operational problems in either your business or in your marketing strategy
complaints of void expose unmet needs, raise the value of your product or service, and expose new revenue opportunities
great customer service is as simple as violating your customer’s low expectation in the positive
your customer and their satisfaction hold the key to everything you selfishly want
what happens when you trust everyone? you get burned. you get lazy. you hire criminals.
spectacular product features can’t overcome poor service but the opposite is true
a business partnership is as important as a marriage
airline customers are loyal to airline w/ best price; airlines commoditized
most business owners paid more attn to their competition than to their own business. when this happens you neglect your own product and become reactive instead of proactive
=> good for mktg to biz owners “keyword spy” but bad for you
if you’re following you aren’t leading and if you aren’t leading you aren’t innovating
limos.com crushed websites/yellow pages bc of risk: to advertise you had to pay a big upfront fee regardless of benefit.
differentiation is a defense to commoditization. what are they doing wrong? what inefficiency is there?
everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, ‘make me feel important.’ never forget that message when working with people. – mary kay ash
marketing is a game of perceptions and whatever the perception is, that’s the reality
get into business for the right reason: to solve a problem or a need
USPs should use powerful action verbs that create desire and urgency. lose weight => shred pounds
uniqueness of your USP creates a consumer divergence when it comes to their buying decision
be specific and give evidence
rise above the noise: polarize; arouse emotions; be risque; encourage interaction; be unconventional
social media: you just don’t want to read an article; you want to comment on it! your two cents must be heard!
if you get someone’s attention, half the battle is won. the other half is leetting selfishness take over your audience and tailor your message to self-interest
people rent convenience and events, not limousines
you don’t buy a dress; you buy an image. you don’t buy a toyota; you buy reliability. you don’t buy a vacation; you buy an experience
translating features into benefits: four step process
1. switch places
2. identify features
3. identify advantages
3. translate advantages into benefits
what does your buyer want? what do they fear? what problem do they need solved? or do they just want to “Feel” something?
after you isolate the features, translate those features into benefits, or a specific result
e.g. schedule vehicles translated to: “maximize your fleet’s road time and receive leads based on your vehicle availability!”
he didn’t let them fill in the blanks; he filled in the blanks for them
