“The Millionaire Fastlane” by MJ DeMarco is the book that we should have read in 5th grade. Although the concepts are deep and intricate, I would rather know them sooner rather than later. The basic concept of “The Millionaire Fastlane” is how to create wealth through a business. However, during the book, the author makes the distinction between a true wealth-building business and a job business. Wealth building businesses have both scale and magnitude. Job businesses have neither. This is the difference between creating an iPhone app that reaches millions or opening a coffee shop. One can reach the world, the other can reach 100 people a day. His favorite saying is “In order to make millions, you have to reach millions”. Now, after I read this book do I want to run out and start a business? Not really. The more I read, the more I understand that adjusting each book to fit into MY LIFE is the best practice. I did not create a millionaire business in my 30’s, however, I believe I made a difference in people’s lives through the Marine Corps. We all have different skillsets in life, and we need to go our own paths. That being said, I do have small businesses that can have scale and magnitude. I have a blog, a YouTube channel, and a Facebook Group. Over time I believe that these businesses will reach thousands of people, and I am okay with that. My final goal in life is to have my family living a comfortable life and I feel that I am on the correct path already. However, it is good to know how to create a millionaire business. Maybe it is something I can strive for when I retire from my day job. With that, let’s jump into my five takeaways:
1) Know the difference between a “Fastlane” business or a “Slowlane” business. MJ states that there are three different speeds in life, Sidewalk, Slowlane, and Fastlane. Slowlane is the standard practice of “get an education, get a job, invest in your 401k, and wait 45 years to retire”. Fastlane is creating anything that you can reach millions of people. When we start a business we need to have the mindset of how will we reach millions. That is where true wealth and money are. Even if we start a coffee shop, we should be thinking about how we can either expand it to multiple locations, franchise it, or have someone else run it so that we can jump to our next endeavor. We do not want to create a business that is just a job.
2) The Slowlane sucks. The Slow lane tells you to invest 10% of your income into the stock market over 40-50 years. Eventually, you may become rich. Yes, with time and compounding, this may be true. However, how long do you have to wait to have the good things in life? How old will you have to be in order to enjoy the fruits of your own labor? I find that a combination of Slowlane and Fastlane works best for me. I have a standard 9-5 job but I also have investments, real estate, and Fastlane business through blogs, YouTube, and Facebook. So I am keeping my toes in all pots. I have greatly accelerated my wealth by reading and learning new skills. If I keep this up, I will be on a scaled-down version of the Fastlane.
3) Wealth is a process, not an event. This is something that he preaches throughout the book. For Sidewalk and Slowlane people, they view Fastlane’s wealth as an event. They may say “He just got lucky and made millions”. For example, if someone came down and bought my blog tomorrow for $2 million, a Slowlane person may say “He got lucky to get his blog bought out. Now he is a Fat Cat like the rest of them”. However, they do not take into account the 200 articles that I have written. They do not take into account the books that I have had to read and the writing I have had to do. My blog is a daily process that I created in my own personal time. Too often people who do nothing, want everything. Wealth is a process. Once you start yourself down the road of creating a process, magically, things start to go your way. Funny how this works.
4) People who declare “Money doesn’t buy happiness” have already determined that they will not have money. I add this because I have already experienced this with friends and family. As soon as Kris and I started to take a vested interest in our financial future, people start to change around us. I have already heard words like “Balance” “Money doesn’t buy happiness” and “You are all about money”. Actually, I am all about my family. Be very careful when you start down your Fastlane path. People do not like when someone takes the road less traveled.
5) Control is an important part of the wealth equation. This book is huge and has many, many facts and procedures. I have only really covered the first 10% of the book. However, control is important. In our day jobs, we have no control. In order to get on the Fastlane, we need control of something. I have control of my YouTube channel and my blog. However, Google has control of my finances because it controls advertising on these platforms. So, what if I control what advertising I upload into my videos? What if I get my own sponsors for my blog and Facebook group? Then I would have more control. If you do not have control of something in your life, go get it. Find something that you can dictate pricing or availability. Something like a billboard, real estate, or money lending. You need to be part of the wealth creation portion of life.
Overall, this book is too big to cover fully. My notes alone were the size of many other books I have read. Use the book as a guide to brainstorming what businesses you can build. Remember, when you start a business, solve someone else’s problem. Do not start a business to get rich or make money. Once you start solving peoples’ problems, the money will come to you. I started my blog in order to help educate other employees on ways to generate wealth. My wife and I had no resources that could help us see the light. We literally pulled it out of our rear end. Now, we are trying to help a few others see the light. Get on the Fastlane. Create additional income streams and invest in the stock market and real estate. I have no idea if we will make any money from our endeavors, but I truly enjoy sharing the information that has set us free from the stressors of money. Read this book and you will start to look at the world through the lens of either a producer or a consumer. In the end, you will want to be a producer.
This link is to a physical product. The link above is to the digital book. Sorry. I get no credit for digital product links.
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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