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15 YEARS since leaving slowlane behind !!

fastlane_dad

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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working as an engineer for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet 4 bedroom rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Even though I've always been 'entrepreneurial' and driven towards setting up my own business - nothing was working out for me at the time.

Unknowingly to him @MJ DeMarco did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE reconfirmed that it is possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and not only did everything start making more sense, but the book reconfirmed everything I believed to be true deep inside of me. Slowlane was not the answer to the 'young , rich and fabulous life'.

Moving forward -- many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
 
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Mr27

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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, exactly 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures! At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine with several roommates thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spent the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of this panning out, I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas. Many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.
A touching read man. It makes you realise that the 7-8 figures you want is more realistic as you break away from the Matrix (unscripted ) way of thinking.

As well as that, you realise that wealthy people are people too who have their own story, which actually is more close to home than 'normal' people realise.
 

Ronnie Bryan

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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Unknowingly to him he did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE made it seem possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and it all made sense at that point.

Moving forward -- many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
Thank you, for sharing @fastlane_dad if you would not mind. Please, could you pass on wisdom from your failures? What in your opinion are red flags to look for? There is literally too many rabbit holes on the internet. What is important to pay attention to? Thank you in advance for mentoring both young and old .You are appreciated.
 
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fastlane_dad

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Your story is super inspirational..

Thank you for all you do around here!!
Thank you !
A touching read man. It makes you realise that the 7-8 figures you want is more realistic as you break away from the Matrix (unscripted ) way of thinking.

As well as that, you realise that wealthy people are people too who have their own story, which actually is more close to home than 'normal' people realise.
Exactly - and I've seen a few others now around me follow more or less the trajectory I've been on. 'Normal people' making extraordinary income and living amazing lifestyles.
Thank you, for sharing @fastlane_dad if you would not mind. Please, could you pass on wisdom from your failures? What in your opinion are red flags to look for? There is literally too many rabbit holes on the internet. What is important to pay attention to? Thank you in advance for mentoring both young and old .You are appreciated.
To answer your question – internet is rampant with rabbit holes – because there are unlimited ways to fail and some are and are not legit. Every business and marketplace has it’s own struggles and challenges to overcome, so it’s tough to paint a general picture to encompass everything.

BUT

Here are again a few takeaways, that will later make it into a thread of their own.

Majority of these points are geared towards e-com business but can be applied more generally as well.

1 – It took us too long to realize that we should have a product of our own to control rather than marketing and selling someone elses. This includes business ideas such as affiliate marketing and drop shipping etc. That’s not to say you can’t be successful doing that – it’s just that it requires more work, with less profit margin.

2- Pricing the products too cheap. Again this leaves little room for advertising, marketing, improving your products, hiring a staff and expanding the business. We now aim to be the premium product / price leader in the category of all products we sell. You can’t compete on price, or just look around at the competition to figure out what your ‘pricing’ should be. You should aim to be the highest priced product on the market no matter what you sell.

3 – Some strategies, plans and ideas we gave up too quick on. This can be a pro or a con. It DID lead us to a profitable business after several burns – BUT we left a lot of great concepts and plans on the table that could of materialized into huge successes as well given the right execution. At the time, with no capital or income coming in, the motto was always VERY quick to fail, and then move on. Test the market. If something did not strike a cord fairly immediately, we moved on. It’s still a great way of thinking starting out – BUT some of this philosophy changed for us with the years, and now some of the investments, and plans are way more longer thinking with incrementally larger investments (that we can afford to lose). More on this topic HERE.

4 – Certain marketplaces, ad channels, and promotion are just not a good fit for the product. You won’t know until you go in and try. Try to limit your downside (time and money invested) – but what can work phenomenal for one product on one channel will be a total flop for another.

I will add more with time as there are always lessons learned additionally with supplier relationships, hiring and firing employees, being at the right place at the right time, staying lean, etc, but this is a good start. Happy to help as always!!
 
G

Guest111683

Guest
So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet 4 bedroom rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Even though I've always been 'entrepreneurial' and driven towards setting up my own business - nothing was working out for me at the time.

Unknowingly to him @MJ DeMarco did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE reconfirmed that it is possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and not only did everything start making more sense, but the book reconfirmed everything I believed to be true deep inside of me. Slowlane was not the answer to the 'young , rich and fabulous life'.

Moving forward -- many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
Congratulations! Your story is truly inspiring, fastlane_dad. Thank you for sharing, and I hope you enjoy your new life!
 

The Sandman

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Very cool!
Total sidebar but I got a kick out of hearing you call Arizona the "west coast." That's such a midwestern perspective! Like when I was in Arkansas anyone from north of the local town was a "yankee" (if from north of the state they're a "damn yankee"). People here in Oregon talk about Montana as "back east."
It's all a matter of perspective...
 
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fastlane_dad

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Congratulations! Your story is truly inspiring, fastlane_dad. Thank you for sharing, and I hope you enjoy your new life!
There is really no 'new life' here. I've been living more or less the same the last 15 years after leaving my corporate job, building up my net worth to the point where I am now completely FI.

Took many gradual steps over many years ('process'), but finally put me in a position where I have time, money and energy to spend as I please day to day now.

The point was to unplug and focus on building and selling my fastlane business, over the course of the last 15 years.

Very cool!
Total sidebar but I got a kick out of hearing you call Arizona the "west coast." That's such a midwestern perspective! Like when I was in Arkansas anyone from north of the local town was a "yankee" (if from north of the state they're a "damn yankee"). People here in Oregon talk about Montana as "back east."
It's all a matter of perspective...
Recently I've been hearing New Mexico referred to 'out west' (to someone coming from florida) - so I guess it IS all a matter of perspective !!

People tend to only see the car for what it is; a materialistic item. Instead, it is so much more than just a drop top lambo. It defines you, your success, your struggles and most importantly your journey. Thanks so much for sharing! - Mike
Exactly!! It's a phenomenal reward for years of calculated risk, sacrifice and hard won accomplishments.
 
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fastlane_dad

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Thank you for sharing, @fastlane_dad! I appreciate you being willing to share. Needed this reminder today!
Thank you. Sometimes I gotta look down and remind myself as well. Many small iterations daily, taken consistently, head down left foot in front of the right.

Next thing you know it's 15 years later!!
 

Albert KOUADJA

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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet 4 bedroom rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Even though I've always been 'entrepreneurial' and driven towards setting up my own business - nothing was working out for me at the time.

Unknowingly to him @MJ DeMarco did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE reconfirmed that it is possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and not only did everything start making more sense, but the book reconfirmed everything I believed to be true deep inside of me. Slowlane was not the answer to the 'young , rich and fabulous life'.

Aller de l'avant - beaucoup, et je le répète, beaucoup d'idées et de plans ont échoué. Peu de temps après, @NeoDialectic et moi étions sur quelque chose et nous avons commencé à gagner de l'argent grâce à une première entreprise de commerce électronique que nous avons lancée et à un marketing d'affiliation qui a repris.

La suite de l'histoire se trouve ici Fastlane Exit .

En repensant à ces 15 années, avec maintenant mon 40e anniversaire à venir - mec, j'ai l'impression qu'il y a une vie complètement différente. J'ai traversé tant de risques, d'essais et d'erreurs, d'incertitude, d'inquiétude, de panique, d'innombrables décisions, d'embauche et de licenciement d'employés, de travail dans un appartement pour traverser des entrepôts de plus en plus grands, des gains et des pertes et finalement une sortie FASTLANE 8 FIGURE dans 2021.

Pour paraphraser également MJ - je n'ai pas grandi avec de l'argent (nous étions au mieux de la classe moyenne inférieure), je n'ai pas la chance d'avoir l'apparence d'une star de cinéma, les proportions d'athlètes, leur endurance ou tout autre talent important que j'aurais pu monétiser. J'ai contracté mes propres emprunts pour toutes mes études et je suis allé dans des collèges publics moyens. J'étais loin d'avoir le statut de major de promotion et j'ai toujours su faire « juste assez » pour avoir des notes. Je me fatigue vite et je suis aussi introverti. A toujours eu quelques amis proches, mais loin d'être un « réseauteur » ou quelqu'un qui essaie juste de sortir devant les gens.

MAIS - je voulais aussi et je croyais pouvoir réaliser des Lambos, des voyages de luxe dans le monde, des repas 5 étoiles le jeudi et autant de café que je voulais n'importe quel jour de la semaine. Pourquoi ne devrais-je pas ? Et tout cela et PLUS s'est réalisé pour moi-même.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
motivating story. It's good to hear such stories because it increases belief and proves the reality of fastlaners.

Thanks for sharing this with us.
 

SebKor83

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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet 4 bedroom rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Even though I've always been 'entrepreneurial' and driven towards setting up my own business - nothing was working out for me at the time.

Unknowingly to him @MJ DeMarco did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE reconfirmed that it is possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and not only did everything start making more sense, but the book reconfirmed everything I believed to be true deep inside of me. Slowlane was not the answer to the 'young , rich and fabulous life'.

Moving forward -- many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
Hey man, awesome story. Thanks a lot for sharing. If I may ask, how did you deal with failure and did you have fear of not making it at some point? I appreciate it. Enjoy the Lambo ;-)
 
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Shadow237

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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet 4 bedroom rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Even though I've always been 'entrepreneurial' and driven towards setting up my own business - nothing was working out for me at the time.

Unknowingly to him @MJ DeMarco did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE reconfirmed that it is possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and not only did everything start making more sense, but the book reconfirmed everything I believed to be true deep inside of me. Slowlane was not the answer to the 'young , rich and fabulous life'.

Moving forward -- many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
You said "you were a disappointed in your parents' eye when you were 24 and left your job".
That line really clicks for me because I looking to quit my job but my parents are really against this idea and my fastlane vision (btw I am 24 too).
I really feel down and discouraged when we argue about this subject.
@fastlane_dad , how did you overcome this situation with your parents ?
 

CardinalFlame

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You said "you were a disappointed in your parents' eye when you were 24 and left your job".
That line really clicks for me because I looking to quit my job but my parents are really against this idea and my fastlane vision (btw I am 24 too).
I really feel down and discouraged when we argue about this subject.
@fastlane_dad , how did you overcome this situation with your parents ?
What momma don't know, won't hurt her ;)
 

Karume

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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet 4 bedroom rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Even though I've always been 'entrepreneurial' and driven towards setting up my own business - nothing was working out for me at the time.

Unknowingly to him @MJ DeMarco did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE reconfirmed that it is possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and not only did everything start making more sense, but the book reconfirmed everything I believed to be true deep inside of me. Slowlane was not the answer to the 'young , rich and fabulous life'.

Moving forward -- many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
Congratulation on your success. Very inspiring and thank you for sharing.
 
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fastlane_dad

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Hey man, awesome story. Thanks a lot for sharing. If I may ask, how did you deal with failure and did you have fear of not making it at some point? I appreciate it. Enjoy the Lambo ;-)
You know in my mind there is almost never actual 'failure' - at worst I invest some money, time, resources - but always get a lesson in return if it didn't go as planned. Nothing to me ever seemed 'that bad' (especially at that time) - as in I'm young and nimble enough to always downsize my life, move in with more roommates, get a job to pay bills, get more education etc. With no kids or family to support - my idea of supporting myself did not seem all that hard to master. Use youth and agility to your advantage to take more RISK. I was confident I can make it work on my own whether I was living in NYC or BISMARCK north dakota (everywhere needs servers and bartenders?).

Sure - some things were delayed or took longer then expected, and FAR from anything was a complete WIN all the time (there were many, many setbacks) - but just enjoying the actual process and being optimistic helped stayed the course.

I always look forward to brainstorming, discussing ideas, making a plan, and executing on that plan no matter what route is taken. I also always enjoyed seeing how the market responded to some of the ideas we came up with. Some were completely off the wall that we just rolled with to gauge market response.

Not everything had the 'response' we expected, but many things exceeded our expectation. We always took it a day at a time, stayed VERY lean for a while, and used the mantra 'left foot in front of the right'.

For a plan or at least a starting roadmap, that I started to come up with for the 'right' mindset, see my post on Actionable Steps Towards becoming a Millionaire.

That particular lambo has already been enjoyed and sold - with countless exotics that followed after.

I always knew when/if that time comes to purchase my FIRST exotic car, it was gonna be a bright orange, convertible Lamborghini!!
You said "you were a disappointed in your parents' eye when you were 24 and left your job".
That line really clicks for me because I looking to quit my job but my parents are really against this idea and my fastlane vision (btw I am 24 too).
I really feel down and discouraged when we argue about this subject.
@fastlane_dad , how did you overcome this situation with your parents ?
Awesome question - there were MANY battles of this through the years once I ditched my 'prestigious full time job'. I wrote a whole post on this, can be seen HERE!
 
Last edited:

Shadow237

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You know in my mind there is almost never actual 'failure' - at worst I invest some money, time, resources - but always get a lesson in return if it didn't go as planned. Nothing to me ever seemed 'that bad' (especially at that time) - as in I'm young and nimble enough to always downsize my life, move in with more roommates, get a job to pay bills, get more education etc. With no kids or family to support - my idea of supporting myself did not seem all that hard to master. Use youth and agility to your advantage to take more RISK. I was confident I can make it work on my own whether I was living in NYC or BISMARCK north dakota (everywhere needs servers and bartenders?).

Sure - some things were delayed or took longer then expected, and FAR from anything was a complete WIN all the time (there were many, many setbacks) - but just enjoying the actual process and being optimistic helped stayed the course.

I always look forward to brainstorming, discussing ideas, making a plan, and executing on that plan no matter what route is taken. I also always enjoyed seeing how the market responded to some of the ideas we came up with. Some were completely off the wall that we just rolled with to gauge market response.

Not everything had the 'response' we expected, but many things exceeded our expectation. We always took it a day at a time, stayed VERY lean for a while, and used the mantra 'left foot in front of the right'.

For a plan or at least a starting roadmap, that I started to come up with for the 'right' mindset, see my post on Actionable Steps Towards becoming a Millionaire.

That particular lambo has already been enjoyed and sold - with countless exotics that followed after.

I always knew when/if that time comes to purchase my FIRST exotic car, it was gonna be a bright orange, convertible Lamborghini!!

Awesome question - there were MANY battles of this through the years once I ditched my 'prestigious full time job'. I wrote a whole post on this, can be seen HERE!
Thanks for the feedback.
 

Diego Liu

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I turn 24 in 2 months. Though different from you in some ways (I grew up in an upper-middle-class family), your story resonates with me so much:
- I dropped out of Dentistry (a highly prestigious and lucrative career with great work-life balance here in Taiwan. I can expect to earn a 6-figure income in the next 5 years down this route, which is A LOT considering the cost of living here) 2 years ago.
- An introvert
- No super talent (or even the desire to peak early in life and start going downhill as many top athletes, singers, and actors do)

I just felt my soul dying inside while I was studying Dentistry. But reading TMF and watching MrBeast (who's only 5 months older than me) eat a $70,000 golden pizza, really opened up my eyes and made me realize there's another whole world out there. Freedom, wealth, and fulfillment, they are all possible!

I love a quote I recently read from Dr. Benjamin Hardy's Be Your Future Self Now:
"We are kept from our goals not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal."
-
Rober Brault

Super inspiring story. Thank you.

I'm not an ultra-energetic person like Gary Vee. I hate just "grinding" too. It's constantly consuming positive shit like this that shifts my mind frame to take inspired action.
 
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I turn 24 in 2 months. Though different from you in some ways (I grew up in an upper-middle-class family), your story resonates with me so much:
- I dropped out of Dentistry (a highly prestigious and lucrative career with great work-life balance here in Taiwan. I can expect to earn a 6-figure income in the next 5 years down this route, which is A LOT considering the cost of living here) 2 years ago.
- An introvert
- No super talent (or even the desire to peak early in life and start going downhill as many top athletes, singers, and actors do)

I just felt my soul dying inside while I was studying Dentistry. But reading TMF and watching MrBeast (who's only 5 months older than me) eat a $70,000 golden pizza, really opened up my eyes and made me realize there's another whole world out there. Freedom, wealth, and fulfillment, they are all possible!

I love a quote I recently read from Dr. Benjamin Hardy's Be Your Future Self Now:


Super inspiring story. Thank you.

I'm not an ultra-energetic person like Gary Vee. I hate just "grinding" too. It's constantly consuming positive shit like this that shifts my mind frame to take inspired action.
Thanks for the feedback!

It's funny you mention MR beast, it's one of the very few episodes/personalities I actually mentioned and linked to on this forum.

I loved his story, how unpretentious his journey was, and many things learned along the way.

Many things said and done reminded and resonated not only of our path and journey the last 15+ years (although his is on a 10X supercharged level), but also the mentality we shared all along.

Here is the post I made on here, and I think everyone should give it a listen as there are many lessons there to be had.

MR BEAST MILLIONAIRE MINDSET

------------------------------------------------------

So now let me ask you what are your plans for the future, now that you dropped out of Dentistry? Do you have another route / lucrative slowlane job in mind? How will you pay the bills?

Something that won't be as 'soul crushing' for you? I believe everyone needs to have a plan, while they are working on their fastlane journey to ensure they can cover the bills and have calm mind/ time and money left over over to invest in building your business up.
 
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So I just crossed the exact date when I said goodbye to the slowlane world, 15 years ago.

I was 24 years old, living in the Midwest working for a Fortune 500 company, and made great money for a single bachelor at the time. They pleaded with me to stay, offered me better terms and threw more money in my face – but nothing could have stopped my ambition and the desire to get into warmed ARIZONA pastures!

This is Summer 2007. At that point I was a disappointment in my parents eyes, abandoning my 'prestigious job' and doing 'god knows what' with my life.

I left my job with nothing lined up outside of a sweet 4 bedroom rental on the west coast. I also felt like I was onto bigger and better things coming up.

I had a little bit of money saved up from my ‘slowlane’ job and some online marketing that I was doing that proved to be (short lived) but lucrative. I took a one month EUROPE trip with my friends, then packed my bags, jumped into my 5-series BMW and made the cross country trip to Arizona. I was a young ambitious dude living in the land of sunshine, a sweet bachelor pad with several roommates, 'partying' ... thinking that life couldn’t get any better.

With time, all of my money dried up, to the point that I was starting to get into credit card debt. I was panicking. I started throwing out ‘job’ applications left and right. I moved to a cheaper part of town. I was calculating if it was less expensive to buy myself a chipotle burrito or spend the money on gas to drive to my girlfriends house ½ hour away to get fed there. I remember panicking over buying a movie ticket for myself and her at one time.

After several interviews (circa 2008), with none of them panning out, I felt defeated. Countless others around me were climbing the corporate ladder, getting yearly 3% promotions, and upgrading their Infinitis to the latest model.

OMG DID I ROYALLY F*CK MY LIFE UP by leaving my 'slowlane' job I kept on thinking.

Every company had 'hiring freezes'. My degree, which was useful in the midwest was all of a sudden worthless in Arizona. I almost landed an 'opportunity' to slave away once again, at a chemical plant, 45 minutes away under bosses that would watch my every move. SO glad they passed on me at the time. One of the interviews I had there STILL haunts me to this day.

I HAD to do something. With real estate crashing all around us, I took a real estate course figured it would lead to somewhere. I didn't want to become a realtor and had absolutely zero capital or income to invest, so hit a dead end there.

I deemed that getting MORE education was the right path (and an excuse to delay inevitable reality) – so I signed up for 2 more years of college to get through. Figured it would also give me a bit more 'time' to figure it all out. I STILL knew there was a better way.

I was simultaneously reading everything I could (around the time Four Hour Workweek and Millionaire Fastlane came out) – and spurred my a$$ in gear to try and think of ideas.

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

As I enviously looked upon MJs ride -- 'That dude is living the life. He must own the entire internet' - I told myself as I countlessly recall seeing that beautiful topless MURCIELAGO enjoy the gorgeous Arizona days.

I had less than $1000 in my bank account and roughly $10K of CC debt piling up. Even though I've always been 'entrepreneurial' and driven towards setting up my own business - nothing was working out for me at the time.

Unknowingly to him @MJ DeMarco did for ME what the Countach 'INVENTOR' did to him in the MFL story. HE reconfirmed that it is possible to be young and rich without athlete status or a trust fund emptying it's wallet onto you at 18.

It was around the same time that I picked up TMF and not only did everything start making more sense, but the book reconfirmed everything I believed to be true deep inside of me. Slowlane was not the answer to the 'young , rich and fabulous life'.

Moving forward -- many, and I repeat many ideas and plans failed. Shortly after, @NeoDialectic and I were onto something and we started to bring in some money through an early e-com business we started and some affiliate marketing that picked up.

The rest of the story can be found here Fastlane Exit.

Reflecting back on these 15 years , with now my 40th birthday coming up -- man it feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. I have went through so much risk, trial and error, uncertainty, worry, panic, countless decisions, hiring and firing employees, working out of an apartment to going through bigger and bigger warehouses, gains and losses and eventually a FASTLANE 8 FIGURE EXIT in 2021.

To also paraphrase MJ - I did not grow up with money (we were middle-lower class at best), am not blessed with movie star looks, athlete proportions, their stamina or vastly any other significant talent that I could have monetized. I took out my own loans for all of my education, and went to average public colleges. I was nowhere near valedictorian status, and always knew how to do 'just enough' to make grades. I tire quickly, and I am an introvert as well. Always had a few close friends, but far from a 'networker' or someone who just tries to get out there in front of people.

BUT - I also wanted and believed I can achieve Lambos, luxury world travel, 5 star meals on Thursday and as much coffee as I wanted any day of the week. Why shouldn't I? And all that and MORE came true for myself.

MJ’s premise in the book kept that dream alive for me, and there is nothing that was stopping me. I’m still happy and glad I took that courageous move back on that great summer day in 2007 and never looked back.

Looking forward to the next 15 years, giving back and encouraging young lost souls such as I was 20 years ago, thinking I had it all figured out. There are plenty of things that 'could have' or 'should have' been done different - but I wouldn't change a single part of my story for the world. The main takeaway is to start young -- and know that the FASTLANE dream and success is not only possible, but highly REALISTIC.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. and if any of you are WONDERING, I did pick up a BEAUTIFUL BRIGHT ORANGE $300K DROP TOP LAMBO at one point of my journey.

6wCQxXv.jpg
Wow , amazing story
 

Diego Liu

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So now let me ask you what are your plans for the future, now that you dropped out of Dentistry? Do you have another route / lucrative slowlane job in mind? How will you pay the bills?

Something that won't be as 'soul crushing' for you? I believe everyone needs to have a plan, while they are working on their fastlane journey to ensure they can cover the bills and have calm mind/ time and money left over over to invest in building your business up.
I'm now geeking out on the ins and outs of YouTube, helping a business owner run a second channel all by myself. Getting around 200-300k views/month at the moment (mostly got lucky because some clips caught onto the trend and blew up), aiming for 1M views/month by the end of the year.

Basically "getting paid to learn" right now as I know the skills and knowledge I gain right now will help me immensely down the line.

It's all documented in this thread (haven't updated it in a while, will surely do so soon):
GOLD! - EXECUTION - Mastering YouTube & Traffic in a "Fastlane Job"

I'm excited about some big plans but don't want to disclose them yet. ;)
Thanks for the advice. I'll indeed think more thoroughly, execute, learn from both my successes and failures, and keep going.
 
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I'm now geeking out on the ins and outs of YouTube, helping a business owner run a second channel all by myself. Getting around 200-300k views/month at the moment (mostly got lucky because some clips caught onto the trend and blew up), aiming for 1M views/month by the end of the year.

Basically "getting paid to learn" right now as I know the skills and knowledge I gain right now will help me immensely down the line.

It's all documented in this thread (haven't updated it in a while, will surely do so soon):
GOLD! - EXECUTION - Mastering YouTube & Traffic in a "Fastlane Job"

I'm excited about some big plans but don't want to disclose them yet. ;)
Thanks for the advice. I'll indeed think more thoroughly, execute, learn from both my successes and failures, and keep going.
Great plan and please keep up on posting your progress update!!
 

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Thread marked GOLD. I almost missed this entire thread, and for weeks!

Congrats on your continuing journey!

Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer. The only other time I saw one of the same LAMBOS was down in South Beach a year earlier with SCOTT STORCH and LIL KIM cruising together. 'Famous Music Moguls - of course!!'

Wow, no shit? How did you link the Lambo and the car to me?

So cool to hear that a mere sighting was a motivational force.
 
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Ironically also at my lowest, @MJ DeMarco (unknowing to me who he was at the time) lived not that far away from where I was and I saw his bright orange LAMBO with the 'DOT COM' license plate being whipped around town. I still have a picture or two of it saved from my old flip phone tucked away on my computer.
Easily my favorite part of your post. I love when universes slide into each other.

Pretty much everyone believes what you described happening was a miraculous winning lottery ticket. A handful of people understand it's an intentional decision. Might not be conscious, but definitely intentional. I'll bet the house that you thought it was random coincidence back in the day and for many years afterwards.

When the student is ready...
 

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@fastlane_dad with the coolest story ever. now you drive in the lambo and help the next one coming behind!
 

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I also love the burrito vs. buying gas decision.

Wow - you went BACK to college in your late twenties?!? After having a corporate job?!?
 
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After you saw MJ's Lambo, did you ever get to meet him in person and learn from him?
@NeoDialectic and I attended one of the local Fastlane Meetup events in Phoenix several years ago hosted by @MJ DeMarco . Was a pleasure meeting some of the forum members including @biophase and @G_Alexander

We have learned much through experience (trial and error), these forums and just overall COUNTLESS books + podcasts over the years.( Actionable Advice from Me Here!)

There was not one 'ultimate' mentor - although what @MJ DeMarco stands behind, illustrates and preaches through BOOKS + this FORUM - we would resonate the closest with.

I wanted a lambo (and other lifes luxuries) at a young age - and realized ENTREPRENEURSHIP is the only ticket that would get me there. Not 'high' education, 60 hour corporate grinds or $100/monthly stock market investments trying to nail a lucky strike.

Thread marked GOLD. I almost missed this entire thread, and for weeks!

Congrats on your continuing journey!



Wow, no shit? How did you link the Lambo and the car to me?

So cool to hear that a mere sighting was a motivational force.
I linked the LAMBO to you shortly after my sightings -- when I stumbled on TMF as soon as it was published.

I thought the coincidence is CRAZY, the fact that I kept seeing your CAR (also in front of the LTF!) and then reading the book of how you got there. If not for the 'cheezy lambo cover' - I might of never picked up the book to connect the dots.

MANY lights went off in my head and it all made sense at that point. Prior to then - just assumed you were some 'RICH MOGUL' , with voodoo magic where luck striked to put you in that car.

@fastlane_dad with the coolest story ever. now you drive in the lambo and help the next one coming behind!
Try to do the best I can now!

With (older) years I'm not as forward facing with flashy cars etc as I used to be - but nevertheless try to inspire and teach however/whenever I can.

I also love the burrito vs. buying gas decision.

Wow - you went BACK to college in your late twenties?!? After having a corporate job?!?
Yeah - that memory sticks in my head heavy to this day. I've always been pretty analytical but even more so during that period trying to weight the pros/cons of every dollar spent. I had ALL of my meals 'priced out'. One of my favorites during that time for health that didn't break the buck? Cooking chicken breast, with a side of instant mashed potatoes. Think that came out to no more than a dollar and change (in 2008 dollars ;-0 ). Sharing CHIPOTLE + JAMBA JUICE smoothie for dessert was a 'cheap date' between my gf and I at that time.

Yes - went back to college in late twenties. I was tired of searching for a 'job', and this is one good way to procrastinate actually doing something. Funny enough it was during this period of 'school' - that our business picked up again and got back to some solid ground after again MANY trial and error attempts.
 
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