The Millionaire Fastlane

[freddy]

Any one have a opinion about this book? I wanted to know if you were able to apply anything from it that has changed your life.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by freddy

Any one have a opinion about this book? I wanted to know if you were able to apply anything from it that has changed your life.

I looked it up on Amazon and his book's 49 perfect 5-star ratings, and no lower ratings, set off an immediate red flag.

If you read through those reviews, you can tell that it is obvious that they have not actually read the book. Each one sounds contrived by someone whom the author paid to write a book review, which is why there are 49 perfect ratings and not a single negative comment or lower rating for the book. Also if you read the reviews, not a single reviewer gives any specific detail whatsoever from the book at all. With normal pages full of Amazon reviews, this is not the case at all, and people share tons and tons of specific info about the book; but for this book nobody has done that.

It appears the only people who are telling you to buy the book are the ones on the author's payroll.


Edit: Also, it appears the very same reviews are listed on the sales page of the author's website. Again, if you read between the lines, you can tell each one was written by a copywriter and not an actual reader of the book.

Personally I wouldn't want to learn about how to get wealthy from someone who has to lie to your face to get you to buy his product.

[mikethedrummer44]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I looked it up on Amazon and his book's 49 perfect 5-star ratings, and no lower ratings, set off an immediate red flag.

If you read through those reviews, you can tell that it is obvious that they have not actually read the book. Each one sounds contrived by someone whom the author paid to write a book review, which is why there are 49 perfect ratings and not a single negative comment or lower rating for the book. Also if you read the reviews, not a single reviewer gives any specific detail whatsoever from the book at all. With normal pages full of Amazon reviews, this is not the case at all, and people share tons and tons of specific info about the book; but for this book nobody has done that.

It appears the only people who are telling you to buy the book are the ones on the author's payroll.


Edit: Also, it appears the very same reviews are listed on the sales page of the author's website. Again, if you read between the lines, you can tell each one was written by a copywriter and not an actual reader of the book.

Personally I wouldn't want to learn about how to get wealthy from someone who has to lie to your face to get you to buy his product.

Yeah, no.

I read the book. I loved the book. I wrote a review on Amazon. I gave it five stars.

It all changed my life. Buy this book.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

Yeah, no.

I read the book. I loved the book. I wrote a review on Amazon. I gave it five stars.

It all changed my life. Buy this book.

Care to explain what it is about?

From the presentation on the website, it seems like it is selling a re-spun version of just about every book on wealth that's been written since Think And Grow Rich.

[mikethedrummer44]

Sure. The concept is based on three different 'roads' you can take through life.

The Sidewalk: People who play the lottery, max out on credit cards, basically, people who want something now, and don't worry about the consequences. If they do win the lottery, they lose it, and go bankrupt.

The Slowlane: The typical go to college, get a job, invest in your 401k, retire with $1,000,000 plan. He talks about how it rarely ever works, and how 'job security' doesn't exist. He also talks about how if you factor in inflation and taxes, your $1,000,000 is a hell of a lot less. Slowlane people are usually extremely stubborn and closed minded.

The Fastlane: The fastlane is a philosophy based on creating a business that caters to specific factors. Mainly control, volume, need, value, and passivity. He talks about why most people fail at business, because they do what THEY want, instead of what the market wants. He talks about finding a need, and answering it with a business that is profitable, and allows you to earn money while you sleep.

It might sound similar to the four hour work week, or think and go rich, but actually, TMF talks about BOTH books, and talks about why they're bad books. The Millionaire Fastlane is definitely the best business-related book I've ever read, and I've read the majority of the popular books (think and grow rich, science of getting rich, four hour work week, rich dad poor dad).

Also, here's a big difference. MJ DeMarco was worth $10,000,000+ BEFORE he wrote his book. He didn't gain his fortune through book sales. He's a legitimate millionaire (creator of limos.com, before he sold it). Although the book might sound 're-spun,' and although it does repeat SOME information (with a new twist on it), it has enough new concepts that it's worth the purchase.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

The Sidewalk: People who play the lottery, max out on credit cards, basically, people who want something now, and don't worry about the consequences. If they do win the lottery, they lose it, and go bankrupt.

The Slowlane: The typical go to college, get a job, invest in your 401k, retire with $1,000,000 plan. He talks about how it rarely ever works, and how 'job security' doesn't exist. He also talks about how if you factor in inflation and taxes, your $1,000,000 is a hell of a lot less. Sidewalk people are usually extremely stubborn and closed minded.

The Fastlane: The fastlane is a philosophy based on creating a business that caters to specific factors. Mainly control, volume, need, value, and passivity. He talks about why most people fail at business, because they do what THEY want, instead of what the market wants. He talks about finding a need, and answering it with a business that is profitable, and allows you to earn money while you sleep.

Okay, based on the author's credentials, perhaps it is legit after all. It is just hard to tell with all the scams and re-hashes that everyone in internet marketing tries to sell. I still do think the Amazon reviews don't read like real book reviews though.


However, I think there is an important group left out of these three that you mentioned: What about investors? You don't have to start a business in order to make money work for you. It is a great way to do it, but if you invest in stocks and mutual funds - and actually know what you are doing - you can achieve a similar effect by creating wealth over time, albeit a bit more "passively" so to speak.

[Mounds]

Hey Mike,

I think you sold me on this book. I love the concept of the sidewalk, lol. I've met plenty of people who are on there.

About the investing thing, I think that would be better off in another book. It's one way of making money but I think it relies on too many outside factors to make the average person a millionaire. In other words, it's tough and most people are bad at it. I know a guy in his 60's who's been investing in different ventures all of his adult life. A few bad investments later and he's in financial trouble... at retirement age.

Anyhow, I'll look into this one.

[freddy]

So Mikethedrummer44, I skimmed through a chapter about the investing in the market and understand that it is a slow lane way of living as he explains it.
But what you explained on the fast lane living step, seems out of reach for the average joe. I mean, find a niche everyone might need, and make money at it. Seems like that is missing alot of steps leaving you in a very dark room only to give up before you get started.
What can you give as an example that you have personally use to make more money faster out of his book. Thanks
Sorry I'm a little like Curtis2011. Just thinking the book just rehashes stuff I already read.

[Mounds]

Originally Posted by freddy

So Mikethedrummer44, I skimmed through a chapter about the investing in the market and understand that it is a slow lane way of living as he explains it.
But what you explained on the fast lane living step, seems out of reach for the average joe. I mean, find a niche everyone might need, and make money at it. Seems like that is missing alot of steps leaving you in a very dark room only to give up before you get started.
What can you give as an example that you have personally use to make more money faster out of his book. Thanks
Sorry I'm a little like Curtis2011. Just thinking the book just rehashes stuff I already read.

I've got a doozy for you and I wonder if you'll see it too. The above quote is quite common among people. The way I read this is...

"I can't possibly do what he is describing. That's for those people over there. I'm over here with these people and we don't have the advantages, knowledge, time or drive to get on the fast lane.
What we need is a new book that will teach us new things about how people like US can make more money."

There's a reason that the personal development industry is like a run-away train. The market is constantly thirsty for more knowledge and more ideas. The problem is that knowledge and ideas are useless on their own. They're worth the paper they're written on.
I once bought a book, read it, implemented it and I believe that book made me upwards of $20,000 last year. Thousands of other people will read the same book and say, "Nothing new here..." as they wait for the next book that will make them magically float around the room, doing the exact actions to make them millionaires. That book that is worth $20,000/year to me is worth $1.00 in paper to them. What's the difference between them and me? Shoe size...? Taste in music...?

Not to bust your and Curtis' chops. That's the reality though. At some point, everything is a rehash and it comes down to the reader to make change. It's a matter of cause and effect. Are you on the cause or effect side of the equation? Effect will always have a reason it didn't work. Cause will find a way.

[BillyTheAdult]

I agree with what your saying Mounds, you can always find some reason some thing won't work. (In fact I'm gonna change my signature to that effect) But I think what would be a more accurate way to look at things here would be this: Imagine you are going to buy one or at most two financial books as they cost money, time, and you don't want to fill your head with bad advice, this was the exact situation when I started a thread about the best financial books a little while back. Now say you have about five intriguing recommendations but are going to buy and read at most two. Do you want to buy the ones that a recommended over and over or the one recommended once or twice with a flashy name and at minimum at least a few falsified reviews. This is exactly what happened when I made that thread. This exact book was recommended, but it hadn't been out long and when I read the amazon reviews several of them were clearly either fake or made by friends/family/associates of the author. I don't remember how many reviews it had at the time but not a lot and at least 50% of them were clearly fake. I bought Amazon.com: i will teach you to be rich: Kindle Store instead which I know is one of your favorites.

[MJD]

My name is MJ and I am the author of this book.

If you read through those reviews, you can tell that it is obvious that they have not actually read the book. Each one sounds contrived by someone whom the author paid to write a book review, which is why there are 49 perfect ratings and not a single negative comment or lower rating for the book.

After reading this I could only laugh. Really? I got better things to do than to pay people for writing reviews. If the product was so bad and I had to bribe people to write reviews, I would have stayed retired.

Also if you read the reviews, not a single reviewer gives any specific detail whatsoever from the book at all. With normal pages full of Amazon reviews, this is not the case at all, and people share tons and tons of specific info about the book; but for this book nobody has done that.

Nobody? You might want to reread again; multiple folks talk about the 5 Commandments and the 3 Paths. Several are bloggers who interviewed me personally after reading the book, loved it, and chased me down for an interview.

It appears the only people who are telling you to buy the book are the ones on the author's payroll.

Before the book was released, I've was retired for nearly 4 years. I have no payroll other than myself. Technically now, I can only say "semi-retired".

Edit: Also, it appears the very same reviews are listed on the sales page of the author's website. Again, if you read between the lines, you can tell each one was written by a copywriter and not an actual reader of the book.

I pull off Amazon reviews and use them in my own sales material because they are verifiable. If I post reviews from people emailing me privately, those can be questioned.

If you want more opinions on the book, here is a laundry list of people who have read it:

I've Read the Book!

Also, a review a B&N gave it 4/5 stars.

Personally I wouldn't want to learn about how to get wealthy from someone who has to lie to your face to get you to buy his product.

And neither would I ... question is, it looks like you are so jaded that you don't know the difference between fact and fiction.

I read the book. I loved the book. I wrote a review on Amazon. I gave it five stars.

It all changed my life. Buy this book.

Thank you and wow, did I pay you to write it? Thanks Mike for standing up to misinformation. It is nice to have someone commenting on what they've read, who knows the philosophy behind FL, and not the mangled misconception they read "between the lines".

Cheers,
MJ

[Mounds]

I went ahead and bought this book. Gonna start it tonight.

Two reasons.

One is that the description resonates with me. I have a similar belief system, except I call the people on the sidewalk "The Living Dead".

Two is that it's recommended by mikethedrummer. Here you have a young guy who built something out of nothing. He literally took an idea and (as far as I know) is making a living from it. If he says this book kicks ass, that's good enough for me. He's got nothing to gain by saying it, no affiliate or anything. The bottom line is that he's young and successful and as of right now, I'm 27 and after three years of piddling around, I still don't have a side income. If Mike says this book is gold, I'm going for it

Consider this: $10 buys you a meal at McDonalds. Then you spend 5 hours regretting it.

Alternatively, you use that $10 to buy this book and spend 5 hours reading it. You really can't lose.

-Tim

[BillyTheAdult]

Originally Posted by MJD

My name is MJ and I am the author of this book.

MJ

How did you find this thread so fast!?

[MJD]

Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult

How did you find this thread so fast!?

Someone tweeted it and I have a search param set-up for the book.

[freddy]

Good point Mounds, I looked for the book a month back, and the book store did'nt have it. I will check again this week. However the only reason It came to mind now was because of an email to me from the author. MJD
Sound interesting and I look forward to learning some bit of advice from it.Anyone else have first hand knowledge about the book.
Thanks for answering some points about your reviews MJD

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by MJD

My name is MJ and I am the author of this book.

Hey, I apologize for my incorrect criticism of your product and reviews, and of your integrity. That was my mistake.


I suppose I was overly suspicious because almost every product on Amazon has a distribution curve of ratings from 1 to 5 stars, with almost no products ever receiving large numbers of only one rating. Even great products usually have a few "haters" who rate it unfairly low.

And reading the reviews, well honestly I read through about 15 of the reviews on Amazon, and I still think they read like marketing hype. Perhaps that is a bad sign of how effective some marketers have gotten at imitating the real thing. Or perhaps I am a bit paranoid after seeing too much internet marketing material.

Originally Posted by Mounds

At some point, everything is a rehash and it comes down to the reader to make change. It's a matter of cause and effect. Are you on the cause or effect side of the equation? Effect will always have a reason it didn't work. Cause will find a way.

I suppose this is my attitude. After reading tons of business and success-related material, it all becomes a re-hash after awhile.

[MJD]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

Hey, I apologize for my incorrect criticism of your product and reviews, and of your integrity. That was my mistake.

I appreciate that. Thx.

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I suppose I was overly suspicious because almost every product on Amazon has a distribution curve of ratings from 1 to 5 stars, with almost no products ever receiving large numbers of only one rating. Even great products usually have a few "haters" who rate it unfairly low.

True, however the fact is, the book is relatively new and unknown, as am I.

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I suppose this is my attitude. After reading tons of business and success-related material, it all becomes a re-hash after awhile.

I get it. It is one of the reasons why I felt compelled to write it because I thought what I wrote needed to be said, in the way I said it. We've all been "gurufied" into numbness.

[aelle]

Originally Posted by Mounds

I went ahead and bought this book. Gonna start it tonight.

Two reasons.

One is that the description resonates with me. I have a similar belief system, except I call the people on the sidewalk "The Living Dead".

Two is that it's recommended by mikethedrummer. Here you have a young guy who built something out of nothing. He literally took an idea and (as far as I know) is making a living from it. If he says this book kicks ass, that's good enough for me. He's got nothing to gain by saying it, no affiliate or anything. The bottom line is that he's young and successful and as of right now, I'm 27 and after three years of piddling around, I still don't have a side income. If Mike says this book is gold, I'm going for it

Consider this: $10 buys you a meal at McDonalds. Then you spend 5 hours regretting it.

Alternatively, you use that $10 to buy this book and spend 5 hours reading it. You really can't lose.

-Tim

Please let us know what you think of it! I'm intrigued. I'll put it on my Amazon whishlist for now.

[BillyTheAdult]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

Hey, I apologize for my incorrect criticism of your product and reviews, and of your integrity. That was my mistake.


I suppose I was overly suspicious because almost every product on Amazon has a distribution curve of ratings from 1 to 5 stars, with almost no products ever receiving large numbers of only one rating. Even great products usually have a few "haters" who rate it unfairly low.

And reading the reviews, well honestly I read through about 15 of the reviews on Amazon, and I still think they read like marketing hype. Perhaps that is a bad sign of how effective some marketers have gotten at imitating the real thing. Or perhaps I am a bit paranoid after seeing too much internet marketing material.



I suppose this is my attitude. After reading tons of business and success-related material, it all becomes a re-hash after awhile.

Yeah copy that. The whole thing, good and bad. Actually when I was first made aware of this book I was very intrigued by it, but a couple of little details got to me. One being the Amazon reviews (plus there were only like 5 at the time) seeming (not necessarily true) mostly written by the author and/or family/friends/associates, and being the same as the web page reviews. As Curtis mentioned, even the best of books have some criticism. Another is something I saw again today when I re-looked. All the info on the web I can find about it seems (again not necessarily true) very controlled. The only material available is ALL good (the old idiom, If something seems to good to be true, it probably is) and mostly seems like affiliates if not a page actually owned/run by MJD. I think you may do well to vary the reviews on your page from that of the Amazon customer review page. If there is some negative information that is somehow being suppressed to some extent (only speculation) I feel it could be helpful to let it come out, to get a more balanced realistic view of your book, even if just to help the skeptics such as myself (they buy stuff too.) That being said I really respect that you would come here and stand up for your product. You also, have done an overall excellent job of marketing, if your first businesses were run this way I can see why they were so successful. As I mentioned even through my suspicions when I first heard of your book I was intrigued and came close to buying it despite the lack of what I viewed as unbiased information. I have a few dollars (not sure exactly how much) credit on Amazon and it is likely I will spend it on your book in order to get a first hand account and not have to rely on impressions and speculation.

[Mounds]

So I bought this book based on mikethedrummer's recommendation.

The verdict? It's very, very, very, very good. 5/5 good.

I skipped ahead a bit and got into the business end of things. In terms of building something out of nothing, I can't think of anything better. It's f'ing good.

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" read to me like someone trying to sell me something. In fact, that's exactly what the author was doing. He was trying to sell me more books and seminars. It's worth the paper it's written on.

"Millionaire Fastlane" can easily be a $10,000 book. I am totally convinced that if a person were to apply what they read in here, there is no reason they can't make money. Not only is it inspiring, it's informative.

[SatvikBeri]

Originally Posted by MJD

My name is MJ and I am the author of this book.

Mark, your response (and Mounds's review) here impressed me enough that I've put this book on my wish list, and will buy it when I'm done with my current list.

[Lioness]

There is a Fastlane website and forum too. Good stuff.

"Wealth in a wheelchair" is exactly what so many of us have been sold on.

Then there's "Do what you love/have a passion for." While you can make money in some cases, it is not a formula for wealth.

I think I will spring for the book. Definitely sounds worth it to get the detailed info.

[MJD]

Originally Posted by Mounds

So I bought this book based on mikethedrummer's recommendation.

The verdict? It's very, very, very, very good. 5/5 good.

I skipped ahead a bit and got into the business end of things. In terms of building something out of nothing, I can't think of anything better. It's f'ing good.

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" read to me like someone trying to sell me something. In fact, that's exactly what the author was doing. He was trying to sell me more books and seminars. It's worth the paper it's written on.

"Millionaire Fastlane" can easily be a $10,000 book. I am totally convinced that if a person were to apply what they read in here, there is no reason they can't make money. Not only is it inspiring, it's informative.

Wow, thank you for that glowing recommendation!

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Lioness

"Wealth in a wheelchair" is exactly what so many of us have been sold on.

I think that before the invention of the internet, this was really the only type of wealth that was even available to regular human beings.

If you think about it, 50 years ago there was no way in hell for a middle class income earner to become a millionaire in one year, two years, or five years. His only option for creating wealth was investing in the stock market to become wealthy later in life.


Today, we have software that can be made by one person and distributed and sold to millions, all through the power of technology.

A lot of people may call "wealth in a wheelchair" a "scam" of sorts, but it's really not. It was simply the best method available for creating wealth, before software and the internet came along.


Nowadays, tons of people who are not tech-savvy are still writing about investing and such as if it were still the best way to create wealth. It is still a decent way, but the internet has become the future of creating wealth as fast as possible

[microELVIS]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

If you think about it, 50 years ago there was no way in hell for a middle class income earner to become a millionaire in one year, two years, or five years. His only option for creating wealth was investing in the stock market to become wealthy later in life.

I don't think I agree with this because I am sure Bob Proctor or Earl Nightengale and Napoleon Hill before they died, would have been able to site many examples of wealth from middle class.

Like mentioned above, it's all between our ears. Creativity and market create wealth, always has and that's how you do it.

Peter....

[Mounds]

IMO, all the internet did was make the world smaller and easier to market to. There is opportunity but it's like you say, micro. It's all between your ears.

[SnerpGoodWord]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

If you think about it, 50 years ago there was no way in hell for a middle class income earner to become a millionaire in one year, two years, or five years. His only option for creating wealth was investing in the stock market to become wealthy later in life.

Actually, there were plenty of self-made millionaires in the 60s and 70's, some of whom got there quite quickly. Market Wizards documents a double handful of them. The distinction being that they were traders, not investors. Investing to a million starting from zero and a middle class income would probably take at least 20 years if you were VERY good.

[enmartinson]

I read this book too after hearing a number of interviews/reviews... I must say after reading the book that I agree with them 100%. After reading it I completely changed my outlook as to what I should be doing with my time.

I am the type of person that sees opportunity everywhere and comes up with new product/service ideas daily. As a result my focus can become scattered and frankly I haven't been able to get where I want to go. I can see now how I was completely stuck on the sidewalk and the slow lane, because I would work on things that did not get me what I needed. They might be lucrative on a per hour basis, but in the end where did that get me? Back on the treadmill next month.

So now I am focusing completely on creating something that can be leveraged and built upon to get me where I want to go. I can look at all of my ideas from an objective viewpoint now and drop things immediately if they don't fit in with the plan. That alone will save me a ton of time and effort. I have a framework that has completely change my mindset on what I can and will achieve.

This is one of the best books I've read in years, and is one of the few that I will re-read. It gives you actionable tools without fluff, and also gives you a mindset that will change the way you look at things. I'm not easily impressed, but I honestly can't recommend this book highly enough.

[roxyruby]

I have read this book & thought it was so good, it really motivated me & also changed my thinking in a crucial way.

But I'm worried by what you say, I have been buying books based on Amazon reviews. I just look for lots of positive reviews with lots of like and agreement of each positive review those "this amount of people found this review helpful". Maybe that's not the best way to gauge a good book?

[James81]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

Sure. The concept is based on three different 'roads' you can take through life.

The Sidewalk: People who play the lottery, max out on credit cards, basically, people who want something now, and don't worry about the consequences. If they do win the lottery, they lose it, and go bankrupt.

The Slowlane: The typical go to college, get a job, invest in your 401k, retire with $1,000,000 plan. He talks about how it rarely ever works, and how 'job security' doesn't exist. He also talks about how if you factor in inflation and taxes, your $1,000,000 is a hell of a lot less. Slowlane people are usually extremely stubborn and closed minded.

The Fastlane: The fastlane is a philosophy based on creating a business that caters to specific factors. Mainly control, volume, need, value, and passivity. He talks about why most people fail at business, because they do what THEY want, instead of what the market wants. He talks about finding a need, and answering it with a business that is profitable, and allows you to earn money while you sleep.

It might sound similar to the four hour work week, or think and go rich, but actually, TMF talks about BOTH books, and talks about why they're bad books. The Millionaire Fastlane is definitely the best business-related book I've ever read, and I've read the majority of the popular books (think and grow rich, science of getting rich, four hour work week, rich dad poor dad).

Also, here's a big difference. MJ DeMarco was worth $10,000,000+ BEFORE he wrote his book. He didn't gain his fortune through book sales. He's a legitimate millionaire (creator of limos.com, before he sold it). Although the book might sound 're-spun,' and although it does repeat SOME information (with a new twist on it), it has enough new concepts that it's worth the purchase.

I just purchased it from the Kindle store based on this post alone. You should put up an affiiliate link.