You can purchase “The Millionaire Fastlane” By MJ DeMarco here if you would like to read the book in full.
Millionaire Fastlane Book Summary.
Has the millionaire Fastlane been on your list of must-reads?
We have collected all of the key points from the millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco and condensed it into this book summary for you.
The Millionaire Fastlane is about accelerating your path to financial freedom, completing the journey in 10 years rather than 40 years when you are too old to enjoy your financial freedom.
We all want to get rich quickly, don’t we?
Nobody wants to get rich slow, but many people choose what MJ Demarco classes as the “slow lane” to reaching their financial goals or, even worse, the “sidewalk.” MJ Demarco shares his insights and lets us in on the secrets he used on his road to success after making millions of dollars creating an online limousine booking service.
In the book, The Millionaire Fastlane, MJ Demarco categorizes three paths to financial freedom, or the roadmap as he calls it: the sidewalk, the slow lane, and the fast lane. So, let’s look into each of these in more detail.
The sidewalk.
MJ Demarco explains the sidewalk as living for today rather than making decisions that will benefit your future self. He explains that taking the sidewalk route is when you are spending all the money you earn on pleasure experiences, shiny objects, and entertainment.
As a result of this “spending every penny you earn” mentality, people who take the “sidewalk” to financial freedom are usually living paycheck to paycheck and are even going backward by being in debt and always owing money out with interest on top.
Taking the sidewalk to financial freedom is not always about being broke.
People with a very high income can also be talking the sidewalk to financial freedom because they spend more than they earn.
Look at people like Mike Tyson and several other celebrities and athletes. They have earned millions of dollars but still end up broke because they are spending more than they are making in a cycle that cannot last forever and leads to eventual bankruptcy.
This is one of the critical points the millionaire Fastlane is trying to convey. So, the sidewalk is the one you need to try and avoid on your path to financial freedom.
The slow lane.
MJ Demarco defines the slow lane as sacrificing today for tomorrow; in other words taking the time to financially educate yourself now with finance books, saving as much of your paycheck as you can on a weekly or monthly basis as you can, reading educational blogs like this, by investing in various funds, receiving dividends and understanding compound interest.
Most people think the slow lane is the way to financial freedom; it is undoubtedly better than the sidewalk we referred to earlier.
But, the slow lane to financial freedom can take decades, and who wants to wait that long?
The millionaire fastlane.
Taking the slow lane, as MJ Demarco explains in his book the millionaire Fastlane, means penny-pinching, cutting coupons and missing out on things we enjoy, sacrificing the now for some potential rewards way out in the future. By this time, you may be too old and tired to enjoy anything you made sacrifices for when you were younger.
This is not exactly “living the dream”; we want to be financially free at a time when we still feel young and energetic enough to enjoy it.
MJ Demarco explains that the slow lane isn’t a guarantee either, it is sold to us by our parents and teachers as the safe path, but nothing is guaranteed. Many unexpected barriers are put up along the path we call life, including health issues, market crashes, kids, divorce, and even death.
Let’s look at the fastlane in more detail.
In the fastlane we are looking at starting a business to accelerate the path to success. Most people who have become wealthy at a young age have created a business of some description.
Starting and running a business puts you in control of your money and income and gives you a far greater potential for increasing your wealth than you would have from earning a salary from your day job.
The Fastlane is all about making enough money early enough to fully enjoy it while you are still young.
While money alone will not make you happy, it can provide the thing which most people want money for, and that is freedom.
Fastest way to financial freedom
In the book, MJ Demarco is not saying the fastlane method is about getting rich quickly but advocates that the fastlane strategy is the fastest way to financial freedom.
MJ Demarco explains several elements which make up the Fastlane method to financial freedom.
Produce Don’t Consume
One of the ways to financial freedom and the book’s whole premise is to advocate the “produce, don’t consume” mindset. Try to build a business or a product that adds value to the world.
The vast majority of people are on the sidewalk to financial freedom, and they live their lives from a consumer’s perspective and are blind to the fastlane approach to financial freedom.
Being a consumer rather than a producer means buying products and services without regard for where they come from or how they offer value.
Shift your mindset from consumer to producer
To start our journey on the path of fastlane success, we must shift our mindset from consumer to producer.
For example, the next time you buy something online, take note of the sales funnel they use, how they first got your attention, and how they pulled you into their website and eventually made you buy their product.
How do the staff act?
How do they organize products the next time you visit a retail store?
Do they try to upsell you at every opportunity?
Next time you visit a free website ask yourself:
- How are they making money?
- Are they monetizing data?
- Selling advertising space?
- Selling a course?
Trying to approach life with this mindset means that we are always trying to learn the business strategies that are working right now. This will, in turn, give you the most incredible and most informed business ideas.
Let’s look at the five commandments of business to put you on the millionaire fastlane.
Build a business based on the five commandments
MJ Demarco explains in this section that you need to start a business based on the five commandments “CENTS”:
- Control
- Entry
- Need
- Time
- Scale.
From the last parts of the book, we have established that to reach financial freedom we need to start a business.
This business we need to start must adhere to the five commandments of the fastlane as laid out above, or at least as many as possible.
So, let’s look at the five commandments in detail:
The first commandment is “Control”
You need to retain control of the business, not start a business on someone else’s platform, for example. Suppose you started a business that relied mainly on Instagram still being a thing in 10 years.
In that case, you are not in control because if Instagram shuts down for some reason or changes its algorithm, this could negatively impact your business.
The same thing to an Amazon FBA business; if, for some reason, Amazon stops allowing third-party sellers on the site, your business is finished.
So, you need to retain control within the business by not being reliant on another platform or relying on anything that is out of your control, where if it changes, it is detrimental to your business.
The second commandment is “Entry”
Try to ensure that the business you are entering is not overcrowded. You need a barrier to entry to start the company, which is not easy for just anyone to do. I.e., having certain knowledge of an industry, requiring a large amount of capital to start the business, or having contacts in a particular field to start the business.
The business you start needs this barrier to entry so that you do not have a mass of competition from day 1.
If the business is easy to get off the ground, you will have many other people starting the same company over and over, which means the pool of potential customers is diluted.
The third commandment is “Need”
When you are just starting a business, you need to know that the company you are going to create is not too niche. People say to start a business doing what you love. But this is not always going to be the best route to success. This may be a niche business a few people are interested in.
Like the subscription model, you need a business that appeals to the most significant number of customers and on a reoccurring basis. People want their problems solved. It’s as simple as that, the more people you can impact with your product or service, the more money you will make. It’s that simple.
The fourth commandment is “Time”
When the business is set up and running, you must be able to detach yourself from that business, meaning that the company can run without you needing to be there on a day-to-day basis.
This means that the business becomes a passive income for you. If you need to be there daily to run the business, you have just created another full-time job.
This is not what you want; it’s the financial freedom we are looking for, not another 9-5 job.
The fifth commandment is “Scale.”
MJ Demarco talks about the law of affection in his book the millionaire Fastlane.
This boils down to two areas we are covering within scale:
The magnitude is how much value you provide per person you affect millions with your product or service, and the scale is how many people you affect with your product or service business.
If you do not have either Magnitude or Scales, your business is not on the millionaire Fastlane.
Fastlane wealth equation.
Wealth= Net Profit + Asset Value
The Fastlane Wealth Equation is the secret formula for building wealth. It is a simple yet powerful equation that can calculate your net worth, which is the total of all your assets minus all your liabilities.
Net Profit= Income – Expenses
In this case, income is everything you make: salary, commissions, and bonuses. You spend expenses: rent/mortgage payments, food, entertainment, etc. The difference between these two numbers is your net profit or loss.
Asset Value= Total Assets – Total Liabilities
Your total assets include anything that has value: stocks & bonds; property (land & buildings), art collections; jewelry; collectibles (antiques); cars & trucks; boats; planes; etc.
Your total liabilities include any debts you owe on these items, such as mortgage payments on property or loans taken out for cars & trucks or planes.
Ability to increase scale or magnitude.
When building your business, you need to have the ability to increase scale or magnitude, and MJ Demarco’s profit equation sums this up:
Net profit = units sold (scale) x unit profit (magnitude)
When MJ Demarco was building his limousine hire business, his primary focus was to increase these two numbers’ scale and magnitude.
He could directly affect these numbers by increasing the number of visitors to his website and therefore increasing the number of sales.
Or he could increase the conversion rate of his website, meaning that he had the same number of visitors to the website, but they all buy more things.
Growing money trees through your own business.
MJ Demarco talks about growing money trees. This means starting businesses that generate income regardless of whether you are present.
There are five different types of business that MJ Demarco talks about in his book the millionaire fast lane.
Rent-based businesses.
The first is a rent-based business, which includes real estate, or a royalty-based business, where you earn royalties from licensing a product or a service.
Rent-based businesses are the most common type of business.
These companies make their money by renting out commercial or residential property. A real estate agent may be considered a rent-based business, as they make a commission on selling a property.
Software business systems.
The second is a computer or software business like an e-commerce store where you put up your digital storefront, and people repeatedly come back to you to buy your products.
Revenue business systems.
The third is a content-based revenue business, such as monetizing a blog or website with advertising revenue.
Distribution based business.
The fourth is a distribution-based business, such as retailing and franchising, where you have a physical store to sell products.
Distribution-based businesses are usually involved in the process of selling and distributing products. The business owner will be responsible for selling the product, but they will not make it themselves.
This can be a great way to start a business because you do not need to invest in the production process and can focus on marketing and sales.
Employee run business.
The fifth is an employee-run business: having employees do all the work for you, but this is about managing people.
This is one of the reasons MJ Demarco eventually sold his business. MJ Demarco explains that the best money tree you can have is money itself.
Employee run business is where the employees are in charge of the company. They can decide what to do and how to do it. They can make changes as they see fit, but it’s important to remember that an employee-run business isn’t a democracy.
The owner must still be involved and have the final say over decisions. This means that sometimes employees will make mistakes or choose a direction that doesn’t work out well for the company.
Using money itself to grow money.
Investing wisely, saving money to earn compound interest, and putting your money to work while you sleep. This is how MJ Demarco was able to retire young in his thirties. He sold his business for millions, invested it wisely, and now earns passive income from it yearly.
For example, if you have $1,000,000 and invest it in a fund that generates a 5% annual return, you would have an income of $50,000 yearly for doing nothing.
Final thoughts.
e not already read MJ Demarco’s Millionaire fast lane, I highly recommend doing so.
The book contains some priceless advice for wannabe entrepreneurs. You can order this book here.
Take the wisdom from the millionaire Fastlane and build a business that meets all the five commandments mentioned earlier and allows you to develop your fast lane to success.
Learn the roadblocks and pitfalls to avoid before you start your business journey and get a head start making sure that you set off on your path to financial freedom on the right foot, which is in the Millionaire Fastlane.
If you would like to get a copy of “The Millionaire Fastlane” by MJ DeMarco you can do so here.
