Is Fastlane even 'Fastlane' anymore?

[ZF Lee]

Out of all the online communities I’ve been in, this is the only one which doesn’t actually enforce a party line, or side-line / eliminate people for disagreeing with things or thinking differently.

This is because 'thinking differently' is what will give us our advantage...and what makes Fastlane ACTUALLY 'Fastlane'

 

[TempusFugit]

Saying that the Fastlane doesn't work anymore is basically saying "Since MJ published TMF ~10 years ago, we have solved all of our problems!!!"

If that's the case, then thanks @MJ DeMarco ! According to BigMoneyMoves you've apparently saved the world!

TMF Principles (CENTS (or CENTS depending on which book you read first ), The Unscripted Framework, etc) stand the test of time.
100 years in the future, there will emerge another business model, product, service, or whatever to allow someone to go fastlane. It is a given.

Study problemology, and you will get on the fastlane, too.
Take that from someone who hasn't even gone completely fastlane yet (as in I haven't fully executed yet). I still believe it is possible, and I haven't even been on that road.

"Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed." -John 20:29 (DRA)

 

[theazizmoh_]

The Millionaire Fastlane is now 10+ years old, and with 1,000,000+ copies sold as well as many other creators copying, reformulating and reselling the information provided by the book. My question is: Is it even Fastlane anymore?

Don't get me wrong, i think the points in The Millionaire Fastlane are incredibly helpful and maybe even more relevant today than ever. But now, I feel like every single person on the planet is trying to go 'Fastlane'. From creating 'AI- startups' to 'building' a personal brand' the tsunami of entrepreneurs is making it close to impossible to stand out.

However even if you did stand out, the immense competition is lowering the demand and profitability of your business.

What made people millionaires years ago can (if you're lucky) barely replace a normal job. I might be exaggerating now, but the competition will only get worse in the future as content creators keep pushing the idea of starting a business and getting rich quick.

The things that were Fastlane 10 years ago now violate the commandment of entry.

This doesn't make The Millionaire Fastlane useless, but I do not think that the best way to become a self-made multi-millionaire in the future is through slightly value skewing some online service/product. But rather extremely creative and innovative ideas that stick out in values skews not yet fully explored.

Lastly, I think the demand for high quality and scientifically proven value rather than marketing will become an important factor in clearing out the massive amounts of competition today.

Feel free share your opinions on the subject.

There's literally thousands opportunities around you, you just don't see it, your fastlane "tune" is still low.

"Value vouchers" laying around waiting for someone to collect.

Will it be you?

Don't spend too much time on the Internet just GTFO and do something

 

[jsbjdb10]

I should rephrase my argument since I don't think my point was interpreted the way I intended it, and I fully understand that because of how I formulated myself.

I am not challenging the principles of the CENTS framework. I agree with them.

And it is obvious that the demand for services and products change. Therefore some businesses that were Fastlane 10 years ago would not be Fastlane if created today.

I think that with more and more people reading The Millionaire Fastlane and therefore more and more people using the principles provided by it. More(/or even extremely) unique strategies in building and providing value to a business is necessary to stand out (in addition to The Millionaire Fastlane ).

If you think this is obvious or stupid i apologize.

 

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[Kevin88660]

I’d argue Fastlane is a lot more popular amongst brokies than amongst the rich. Most successful business owners out there have never heard of fastlane… it’s still very much on the periphery.

90% of the users of this forum are brokies and people working jobs. Maybe unpopular, but it’s true. There are a few big hitters amongst the veterans, but that’s it really…

That, of course, doesn’t mean fastlane is not valuable. I’d say it has immense value for thenright target audience. But it does mean that your argument that fastlane has destroyed the opportunity to get rich is nonsense.

Also, I don’t think MJ wrote his books to teach people who already had businesses how to make the cash. His books are meant to teach those who never had a business why it may be worth considering, get them to believe they can do it, and then take action according to some principles that will up their odds of success.

That’s all it is.

But rest assured that the vast majority of successful businesspeople have never read fastlane. Sometimes I ask my clients if they read fastlane. And most are like “fast what?!”

Think of Fastlane as an attempt to democratize entrepreneurship, and give the brokies the tools they need to succeed. I remember somewhere in TMF MJ saying that it’s basically what he wishes his younger self (a kid from a regular American family) knew about business.

I agree that fastlane is about democratizing values that are outside of the informed minority group.

If you grow up as a third generations of business owner family you intuitively understand concepts like entry barrier and need like bread and butter. Or if you are in entrepreneurship club since as a teenager and you know all the techno entrepreneurship buzz word from a to z. You understand fastlane concepts in other terms without knowing fastlane.

The issue is 99 percent of the population does not. Venturing into business usually means getting into the hottest idea at the point in time. Many young people back in 2014-2016 opened a cafe with parents money, burn it to the ground in one year, and concluded that business is risky and never touch it again.

Navigating as an uninformed will face a lot of distractions such as MLM and other get rich schemes sold by guru.

 

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[Panos Daras]

But rather extremely creative and innovative ideas that stick out in values skews not yet fully explored.

What data supports your claim? In the area where I currently live, most millionaires work in the FARMING industry, and 22% are employed. Please stop making assumptions.
Look at what other people rich in your area are doing. If it falls within your circle of competence (or close to it), do that but better! No need to reinvent the wheel.

 

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[Awakened2022]

A punch to the gut of us third-world inhabitants who applaud the government whenever it hands out hoes.
Manually farming crops is what I am doing and I can attest to the fact that while the demand for the products is there, one needs ungodly sizes of land to smell the fast lane.

 

[NervesOfSteel]

The Millionaire Fastlane is now 10+ years old, and with 1,000,000+ copies sold as well as many other creators copying, reformulating and reselling the information provided by the book. My question is: Is it even Fastlane anymore?

Don't get me wrong, i think the points in The Millionaire Fastlane are incredibly helpful and maybe even more relevant today than ever. But now, I feel like every single person on the planet is trying to go 'Fastlane'. From creating 'AI- startups' to 'building' a personal brand' the tsunami of entrepreneurs is making it close to impossible to stand out.

However even if you did stand out, the immense competition is lowering the demand and profitability of your business.

What made people millionaires years ago can (if you're lucky) barely replace a normal job. I might be exaggerating now, but the competition will only get worse in the future as content creators keep pushing the idea of starting a business and getting rich quick.

The things that were Fastlane 10 years ago now violate the commandment of entry.

This doesn't make The Millionaire Fastlane useless, but I do not think that the best way to become a self-made multi-millionaire in the future is through slightly value skewing some online service/product. But rather extremely creative and innovative ideas that stick out in values skews not yet fully explored.

Lastly, I think the demand for high quality and scientifically proven value rather than marketing will become an important factor in clearing out the massive amounts of competition today.

Feel free share your opinions on the subject.

The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. - Thucydides

 

[Black_Dragon43]

CENTS or not, you have a business that...

1. You started yourself from nothing
2. Employs a team of people in skilled work
3. Has grown significantly due to your own proclivities (IE opportunities you created)

In my view, that's a "real" business.

It may not be world conquering at present (IE room to grow) but it's ABSOLUTELY something you should be very proud of and - importantly - you have all of the ingredients for it to go parabolic.

I see, yes I agree with you.

Oh, and most of the business is conducted in your second language.

This isn't correct. English is basically my first language. I think in English and I can speak and write English better than my mother tongue. Not to mention I've been educated my entire life pretty much (apart from my first 3 years of school) in English. So for all intents and purposes English is my first language.

To clarify - I think of a "real" business as one which a founder or founding team starts from nothing and has a creative element which can be used to grow it through prudent investments. I may need to change that definition, but I mean companies that have the ability to further their growth through internal leverage, rather than relying on market forces.

Yes that's all true – the creative element is exactly what you need to grow when you're small. But sometimes, that creative element is found by chance. It's not always entirely your merit.

Here's an example from my own life: -

Love this example. Why didn't you try and scale it or build add-on products? Once you secure distribution for a product with a certain retailer it becomes significantly easier to push other products through.

And yeah, obviously placing advertisements WITHIN the product (& packaging) itself would've been the winning move to create upselling opportunities, or even encourage referrals.

You're the kind of guy who could make lifechanging money with a simple micro SaaS. Solve a specific problem for a niche audience. And just focus on marketing. It's not the product that will be holding you back, but the distribution. Solve the distribution issue, and you'll make a lot of money.

If your SaaS sells for $29/mo if you just get 1,000 users that is $29,000/mo, most of which will be pure profit. And if you can get to 1K users, you can certainly double or triple that.

By "how to do it", I meant outline the nature of how business works on a fundamental level - IE provide value, productocracy, etc. Obviously, every business & journey is different but I do believe, as MJ pointed out in his post above, the fundamentals remain regardless of trend.

I also agree with this. As I said the first time, I haven't come across another book that articulates this. But still – starting a successful business is very hard. And honestly, I think out of reach for the majority of people because they would find the effort required inhuman. Even I may not have gone down this path if I knew from the beginning all that it would take. Of course once you're on it and gained certain skills and what not, it's easier to stay on it.

But, say you took me, stripped me of my skills / contacts, and put me in, say, Argentina, with no possibility of leaving, and blessed me with flawless Spanish and just $1,000 to my name... I would find it virtually impossible to rebuild in 2-3 years. Sure, in 10-15 years it's possible. But 10-15 years isn't a short time haha.

And keep in mind. Despite my intelligence, my path hasn't been easy. I've seen many average people around, they simply wouldn't be able to do what I've done. Much like you I can write contracts, understand balance sheets, create & implementing marketing plans, do public speaking, create websites, program, etc.

Now how many people do you know who can do all these things, all rolled up into one person? I can count them on just one hand.

So if even with all these skills and intelligence it's hard, how much harder is it for an average person, who is good at just one thing? Say an average person, who is just good at being an accountant. They have almost no chance without a cash windfall.

If you take me with all my skills and intelligence, and bankrupt me, I'd be able to make $10K/mo in a few months just by going back to writing copy for people. In fact, someone once dared me to prove this in 2020 or 2021, can't remember. But take the accountant above, if say he became a millionaire in real estate because he made a ton of money as an accountant which he reinvested... and take all his assets and money away. He'd be doomed.

It's why some people commit suicide when they go bankrupt. They KNOW they couldn't do it again, nor be able to live a life that is acceptable to them.

I do not believe that someone at your level would require a cash windfall

But you do require it – that's precisely how you can get started and build all the infrastructure that you talk about. Without it, you're basically at a standstill, selling some sort of service to make some small money to basically go on living. What you need to do is find something that grows explosively over a quick period of time, that basically creates excess profit and allows you to reinvest. There was a guy here from Greece you were talking to in the past – who made a ton of money running a Fiverr company doing product descriptions for Amazon FBA when it started to get big initially. He too had a big windfall of cash. Not sure what he's up to today. But I see this cash windfall in all cases of success – MJ's included.

Look at someone like Iman Ghadzi – most likely he inherited a large amount of money. That too is a cash windfall. Therefore building a personal brand was easy. Building his business and image wasn't hard – because he had the money. Now if you tried to replicate Iman Ghadzi's ascension, without his money, you'd find it virtually impossible.

In your case, the primary driving force is you. That much is obvious - you are the face of the business and your work has driven it forward. You have made the various investments into the backend processes in order to get the business to a point where it has a team that's able to deliver a service that is in demand. The LinkedIn side of it is just the mechanism you've found that fits best with your style. Even if you were selling hotdogs in Times Square, it is likely the same sort of people would show up to pay you because they're buying "you", not the fact you've found a method to help LinkedIn growth.

This is a very interesting way to think about it, and largely may be true. Thanks.

Obviously this is a very different topic but I think there is more to it than just "money". The US arms industry is monumental and produces some of the most effective & advanced weaponry known to man. The Patriot, from what I've seen, is a game-changer along with a multitude of other systems. Whilst these weapons require hard currency to produce, without the industrial base & expertise behind the scenes, none of it would matter.

Indeed, most of the money that's been "given" to Ukraine isn't cash but loans and other IOU's with strict stipulations on where it can be spent... mostly with US arms companies like Raytheon. My understanding is the accuracy & effectiveness of the Western weapons has offset the numerical advantage the Russians have, which is why they're so important.

Yes, 80% of that money is basically the US testing weapons and paying their own manufacturers.

 

[cikatomo]

I am not sure what your aiming too.

If you think scientific studies will make people buy then I bet there will be ads with scientific studies inside. Which goes back to advertising which is part of marketing.

Also world is not operating in vacuum, there's always something change. Once the competition becomes too high there will emerge another opportunity.

 

[futurebillionair]

What made people millionaires years ago can (if you're lucky) barely replace a normal job. I might be exaggerating now, but the competition will only get worse in the future as content creators keep pushing the idea of starting a business and getting rich quick.

these people have always existed, and always will exist, they just have more reach now due to social media being way more widespread

and even with this, probably only like 1-5% of the people who truly go deep into the content creator's stuff will ever actually take action and eventually end up in the fastlane, with a small percentage of these people actually persevering through it and making it

 

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[Dark Water]

Fastlane is a mindset, a journey, and a process—not a destination. It's an evolution of your mindset and habits and it goes far beyond just recognizing that lots of money when managed well = more free time.

How are you controlling your time today? Are you producing? Are you moving the needle towards something that can resemble fastlane?

Or are you stuck in traffic, getting bogged down at work, overextending your lifestyle, doing things that take up your time? Are you surrounding yourself with social media and people that only want to make you the product of their own goals and desires?

Let's reframe:

From creating 'AI- startups' to 'building' a personal brand' the tsunami of entrepreneurs is making it close to impossible to stand out.

From creating 'AI- startups' to 'building' a personal brand' the tsunami of entrepreneurs is making it easier than ever to be a notch above and step out, as everyone else gets stuck in the quagmire of copy that reads the same, sounds the same, and businesses that all copy each other.

However even if you did stand out, the immense competition is lowering the demand and profitability of your business.

Competition means that there's winners and shows that the demand exists. It doesn't give any insight as to whether or not there's enough demand, so go forth regardless if there's an idea or need you want to build on.

The things that were Fastlane 10 years ago now violate the commandment of entry.

This is a sort of nothingburger statement when you think about it. Take two different plumbing companies, two different website design agencies, two different influencers—each one can be a $75k/year job or a million dollar fastlane venture. What the "thing" is has no relevance as to whether or not it's fastlane or not. A 20-year old landscaping business might die out when the owner retires; or it can be scaled to hell and back and franchised @Johnny boy style.

But rather extremely creative and innovative ideas that stick out in values skews not yet fully explored.

It's an interesting thought, but creativity and innovation is really not intrinsically tied to the fastlane. I might just be better at doing my service than my competitors, or I might just have a way of talking with words that puts them at ease and cuts out the sales process. These different factors add up to differentiate a business from its peers. Then you multiply that and scale up and you can see the impact it can have over years of effort or working with dozens of clients.

Lastly, I think the demand for high quality and scientifically proven value rather than marketing will become an important factor in clearing out the massive amounts of competition today.

Why does the competition need to be cleared out? Who says it's massive? What if the demand is still even higher than what this mystical boogieman "competition" is providing?

As you can see, you have boxed yourself in here with your mindset. All of these notions you brought forth can be challenged, reframed, and thought about in a different way to a point that they don't might not even exist in reality—just a figment of your imagination or limited perception of reality (I'm not gaslighting you here, I swear).

 

[realbillperry]

I've only read TMF so far (long story short. It sat on my Kindle for a few years because I bought it but never got around to reading it because I kept getting confused thinking it was a different book).

I say that in case my understanding of all this is incomplete still.

But this idea of "X doesn't work anymore" highlights the difference between building from strategy/principles (like CENTS) vs building from tactics ("Here's what's working like gangbusters right now!")

Jamie Smart wrote a great book called "Clarity" which has more of a coaching/therapeutic bent to it, given his profession. He talks about "Application" vs "Implication". same idea basically.

Application is being able to bake a cake from a recipe. Implication is understanding baking a cake from such a deep level that you can just "throw together" a cake without consulting a recipe.

In my own life, it's exemplified from my days I was actively doing the Zone Diet (I had blood sugar issues). When I first started, I just grabbed the recipes from the original book.

As I was doing that, I also read and re-read the "theory" parts of the book and really took the principles of ZD on board, to the point that if I feel like making a "Zone" meal, I can do it, as long as I have access to the macronutrient information from the label (Protein, Carbs, Fat, etc).

In my case now, I'm diving in on some affiliate marketing stuff (which I know doesn't satisfy the Control aspect of CENTS). But I'm learning enough that I can actually finally see a future where I get good at Aff marketing.

I'm willing to forego the C part of it for now, since it won't be any worse off than having a day job, which I do. And it is slightly better overall with the CENTS framework than a day job. So I'll be building enough aff funnels to replace my day job.

Once that's done I'll start to switch gears and look at CENTS deeper to start building my own thing.

 

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