Several months ago I read a great book titled The Millionaire Fastlane by M.J. Demarco. I learned about the book on Amazon® and took a chance on it. Needless to say, I really enjoyed the book.
What I want to do in the rest of the post is provide a review of The Millionaire Fastlane and share some of my favorite M.J. Demarco quotes from the book. Enjoy.
My Review of The Millionaire Fast Lane
I really enjoyed the book. It was fun to read, loaded with great information and well-organized. My copy of the book has so many underlined passages and dog-eared pages. It is a great book for any new entrepreneur or anyone thinking about becoming an entrepreneur. Overall, I give the book an 8 of 10.
Top MJ Demarco Quotes from the Book
What you will see below are my favorite quotes from the book. Each quote is in bold and italics. After each quote I will share my own two cents on the topic.
1: Fast wealth is created exponentially, not linearly.
Trading hours for dollars is the slowest way to gain wealth. When you trade hours for dollars, you will either max out or burn out, because there is only so much time in one day. You need something that gives you leverage.
2: All self-made multimillionaires create their wealth by a carefully orchestrated process.
As we often say, failing to plan is planning to fail. You must make a plan and follow it. It comes down to doing certain things in a certain way.
3: Wealth eludes most people because they are preoccupied with events while disregarding process.
Don’t be so busy picking up pennies off the group that you let hundred-dollar bills fly by you. Don’t let today’s challenges keep you from pursuing your long-term goals.
4: If you want to change your life, change your choices.
We are all the result of our own decisions. We must take 100 percent responsibility for our own lives and make the right decisions whenever possible. If you want to change your life, change your daily habits first.
5: Everyone’s freedom is different.
While one person may consider freedom owning a nice house and a car, the next person may believe that freedom is just having a garden. We should never assume that the next person will accept our freedom as their freedom.
6: Debt is the leading cause of strife for the newly married.
It would be wise if every newlywed couple took some courses on financial management. If we were to poll a percentage of divorced couples, we would probably discover the leading cause would be finances (or lack of finances).
7: The happiest people in the world have a tight sense of community and strong family bonds.
No man is a failure who has friends. Take the time to develop and nurture your relationships with your family and close friends. These relationships are the “glue” that keep us happy and give us purpose.
8: Consumerism is the leading obstacle to happiness.
Shopping for many people is like a drug. It can be an overwhelming addiction that destroys us from the inside out. Sure, we all like to buy stuff, but if it is an addiction and you are not happy unless doing so, you should seek help.
9: Short-term feel-good is often long-term bad.
We see it constantly. People who are on a mission to feel good for a very short moment – alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.… The long-term effect usually leads to stress, heartache, bad health and even death.
10: Happiness stems from good health, freedom, and strong interpersonal relationships, not necessarily money.
When we realize that money is just one of many tools, and we do not give it the power of providing us with ultimate happiness, we are much better off.
11: People who don’t take responsibility are victims.
There is no successful victim in life! You must take 100 percent responsibility for your own life and decisions.
12: Life does not begin on Friday night and end Monday morning.
There is so much more to life than the weekends. If you live for the weekends, you probably have the wrong career and should find a new one. You should love what you do for a living so you can enjoy each day to its fullest.
13: For me, every day is a Saturday because I haven’t sold off Monday through Friday.
When you love what you do you won’t work a day in your life. You will have six Saturday’s and a Sunday.
14: Jobs suck because they’re rooted in limited leverage and limited control.
I have always looked at jobs as a form of legal slavery. Some of us have broken free of those chains and have found a wonderful freedom through entrepreneurship.
15: If you don’t control your income, you don’t control your financial plan.
In a nutshell, your income is the primary ingredient in your financial plan. When you have a job you have no control over your income. Instead, the employer pays you the least amount it costs to replace you. Plus, they can fire you at any time.
16: Because to trade your time away is to trade your wealth away.
Time is money, and if you are giving that time away, it is the same as giving your money away.
17: You don’t want millions to accompany your cane, you want it to accompany your youth.
This is one of the main problems in the world. Many people try to accumulate wealth to supposedly enjoy retirement. It makes more sense to enjoy youth.
18: Sorry, hope isn’t a plan!
There is nothing wrong with wishing and hoping, but without a plan of action, none of those hopes will come true. Make a plan and all your wishes can come true.
19: Debt that traps you to a job is not good debt.
People are funny. They get a job so they can have money and buy things on credit. Then they get stuck in a job they hate because they owe too much money!
20: Hoodwinking expenses does not create wealth. Exploding income and controlling expenses creates wealth.
You really can’t nickel and dime your way to wealth. Yes, it makes sense to have a budget, invest a portion of your income and keep track of your expenses. But, it makes even more sense to make more money, while keeping your expenses low.
21: Reshape life’s focus on producing, not consuming.
This quote speaks for itself. Just consider consumption red and production black. It is that simple.
22: Producers get rich. Consumers get poor.
This is economics in its simplest form; producers make money while consumers spend money.
23: A business does not make a Fastlane – some businesses are jobs in disguise.
If you are consistently working 10-12-15 hours per day in your business and are not trying to develop a system in which you will make the same or higher revenues without you working so much, you are just in a job scenario.
24: Almost all penta-millionaires made their fortunes in a big lump sum after a period of years.
What I see here is they made a successful business and sold it for a fortune.
25: Compound interest pays my bills. It’s my passive income source. Yet, compound interest is not responsible for my wealth.
We should always look for multiple streams of income. Compound interest is one passive source.
26: Thinking never made anyone rich, unless that thinking manifests itself into consistent action toward application of laws that work.
We need to act upon our thoughts and dreams.
27: Scale creates millionaires. Magnitude creates millionaires. Scale and magnitude creates billionaires.
The two work hand-in-hand to create wealth beyond the imagination.
28: When you have a job, someone owns you.
You are a slave…Like it, or not.
29: Our choices have consequences that transcend decades.
Every decision we make comes with consequences.
30: Choice is the most powerful control you have in your life.
I would go so far to say that choice is essentially the only control you have in life.
31: If your past defines your existence, it will be impossible for you to become the person you need to become in the future.
We must learn to let the past be the past…Learn from our mistakes and move forward. If we are always looking back, we cannot see what is coming.
32: Value your time poorly and you will be poor.
Time is more valuable than gold. Treat it accordingly.
33: When life sucks, escapes are sought.
When people are unhappy with their lives, they frequently turn to alcohol, drugs and other forms of escape.
34: Time is the greatest asset you own, not money, not the 1969 restored Mustang, not grandpa’s old coin collection. Time.
Time is the only thing you can’t get back or get more of.
35: The reality is that time is deathly scarce, while money is richly abundant.
The government can always print more money causing inflation, but no one can manufacture more time.
36: The leading cause of indentured time is parasitic debt.
Debt causes the highest amount of stress as some people are working jobs they hate just to cover that debt.
37: The ultimate wealth is having the free time to live how you want to live.
If we can do what we want when we want without concern of debts, that is true wealth.
38: What you know today is not enough to get you where you need to be tomorrow.
Knowledge is the key to growth. Strive to get better and learn something new each day of your life.
39: You learn from engagement, from doing, and from getting out and taking repeated action, more so than from any book or professor.
Trial and error is the greatest teacher. You will learn more in one hour of actually doing something that you will in 20 hours reading about it.
40: A committed Fastlaner has his nose in a book weekly.
Reading is one of the best ways to gain knowledge. Make it a goal to read at least 30 minutes per day, every single day of the week. Read about business, success, happiness, leadership, etc. More importantly, read auto-biographies of successful people.
41: The best investment you can make is in yourself.
Investing in yourself is the only investment you can’t lose money on.
42: Money trees, businesses, and systems aren’t built overnight.
It takes hard work and determination to build successful businesses and create systems. Wealth doesn’t just grow on a tree.
43: Interest is quitting after the third failure; commitment is continuing after the hundredth.
We fail our way to success. Success is never a straight line. It is filled with zigs and zags, ups and downs.
44: Most people are consumers who are two paychecks from broke. Most people won’t invest long hours into their business system while friends are living it up on credit.
Most people would be bankrupt if they didn’t get their next two paychecks. Very people are truly committed to building wealth and making temporary sacrifices today to have a better future.
45: You can’t experience success without failure.
You probably would not even recognize success if you did not fail multiple times on the way there.
46: Hard work and commitment separates the winners from the losers.
Most people expect instant gratification. Very few people will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to become successful.
47: Businesses that solve needs win. Businesses that provide value win.
The more people your business serves the more money you make.
48: Never start a business just to make money.
If we do it just for the money, the money will probably not come.
49: Ninety percent of all new businesses fail because they are based on selfish internal needs, not external market needs.
Find a need in the marketplace and fill it. Offer value to your customers and you will make more money than you can even dream of.
50: Help one million people and you will be a millionaire.
You get paid based upon the value you bring to the marketplace. The more people you help the more money you make.
51: EVERYONE – always shows up at the end of a boom.
The majority of people are procrastinators. They will put off a good thing until it is too late.
52: I cannot imagine running a company in which another entity has the power to instantaneously kill your revenue stream.
You don’t want someone else, or another business, to be in control of your income stream. Ultimately, you need to be in control of it.
53: When you blindly invest your life and time into someone else’s brand, you become part of their marketing plan.
Why not have your own brand instead of building someone else’s brand?
54: Owning a business doesn’t guarantee wealth or detachment from time.
It is how you plan and manage that business that can create wealth, or not.
55: A successful business isn’t fun and games, especially one that violates the Commandment of Time.
Success in business can be difficult and stressful. We must use our time wisely.
56: A business attached to your time is a job.
If your business depends 100 percent on you, it is not a business, it is a job.
57: I consider content-based revenue models the most difficult for success because entry barriers have significantly declined and its success is predicated on high traffic.
Since content is part of my revenue model, I would have to say that I agree, but it can be a success if you create killer content.
58: Writing a book is not a business; selling a book is.
Writing the book is the easy part. Marketing and selling that book is where it gets difficult.
59: Competition is everywhere. Just do it and do it better.
I would also add that making your product slightly different can make sales come.
60: Solve other’s problems and you will solve your own money problems!
The more people you help and serve the more money your business will make.
61: I made many changes, but I didn’t give up on the dream.
We make a plan, but during the process we may have to make slight changes. The key is to keep moving and not to quit.
62: The key to achieving enormous tasks is to break them down into their smallest parts.
This is a lesson I learned long ago. A large task can be completed quickly if you break it down into bite-size pieces.
63: In the world of wealth, ideas are worthless yet treated like gold.
An idea isn’t worth anything until it is acted upon.
64: The owner of an idea is not he who imagines it, but he who executes it.
I know of several inventions that I had thought of, but I never received credit because I didn’t follow through with a plan of action.
65: The ultimate judge-and-jury of ideas is the world and the marketplaces that serve them.
Ultimately, your customers will determine whether or not your idea was good.
66: Business plans are useless until they are married to execution.
A great plan is nothing unless you start acting on that plan.
67: Leads are only as good as the person following them.
A salesman with bad sales skills won’t be able to close good leads. An excellent salesman can close good and bad leads.
68: If more money were spent on pleasing existing clients rather than trying to find new ones, the average business would survive longer than five years.
It’s cheaper and smarter to keep a current customer than it is to go out and find a new one.
69: Partnerships are marriages. After the love affair and the lust wears off, they must survive on character, synergy, and complementary attributes.
Choose your business partner as cautiously as you choose your mate.
70: Most business owners paid more attention to their competition than to their business.
It is wise to know your competition, but you should not overdue that area and neglect managing your own business.
71: Businesses survive. Brands thrive.
Create a brand that is unforgettable and watch the revenues flow in.
72: Most consumers buying decisions are driven by emotions.
The highest percentage of consumers will buy from an emotional state instead of a logical one.
73: If you get someone’s attention, half the battle is won.
In these times, attention spans are short, so if you are able to get someone’s attention, make the most of it.
74: People want what they want. People don’t care about you, your business, your product or your dreams; they want to help themselves and their family.
The sooner you realize the above quote, the better. Don’t be hurt when you realize the customer doesn’t care if your dog died or even if you have cancer. By knowing this, you will be able to care about them.
75: Most people have a lack of confidence in themselves and their ability and are willing to settle for so much less.
Every one of us are capable of so much more than we realize. Don’t settle for little…GO BIG!
76: The richest people in the world got rich by focusing on one core purpose.
It is easy to overextend ourselves into too many areas. Pick one thing and run with it.
77: Pledge to never stop learning.
Make it a goal to learn something new every day for the rest of your life.
78: Get your time detached from your business.
Time should not be dedicated just for your business. Your family, friends and you deserve some of that time too.
79: Focus on one business and one business only.
If we try to do more than one business, we do not give 100% to any.
About the Book
The Millionaire Fastlane was published in 2011 by Viperion Publishing. It has 336 pages of information that can help you get on the fastlane to success. The ISBN is 0984358102 and it has over 1,100 reviews on Amazon averaging 4 ½ out of 5 stars.
About the Author
M.J. DeMarco is the author of The Millionaire Fastlane. M.J. founded Viperion Publishing, but he first founded the highly successful Limos.com. He grew that company into a multimillion dollar success with little money in his pocket and very few employees.
Final Thoughts
Just knowing the background of the author lets us know that this book isn’t written by someone who isn’t an expert. M.J. DeMarco showed he can build a company to multimillion success and he is willing to show us how to do the same.
This is an outstanding book that every entrepreneur should read. I give it an 8 of 10. Have you read The Millionaire Fastlane? If so, how did you like the book? Also, what was your favorite quote listed above? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Chuck Holmes
Network Marketing Professional (21+ years)
Top Recruiter & Top Rep
mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
Well thought out replies.
As to you challenge at the bottom; from past experience, I don’t expect you will get any replies. People that read these kind of books so not usually visit sites like yours to get their information and motivation. (No offense intended.) I have not read the book and don’t intend to; at least not in the foreseeable future.
I will copy the quotes down for future references. Thank you for preventing cut-and -paste as it forces me to do the hard work of writing down the quotes and then doing so a second time on my computer. This process helps me with the retention of the information in the same way as highlighting and underlining a book does. I would encourage your readers to do likewise. Thank you very much for your effort.
Thanks for the comment, Howard.