MJ DeMarco
I followed the science; all I found was money.
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The following is an article direct from the Fastlane newsletter and MJDeMarco.com <- visit to subscribe.
This food entrepreneur, let’s call him TB, walked into a bank to discuss a potential loan. The banker slid a personal financial disclosure form across the desk and told him to list his assets.
TB scribbled down his liquid reality: “$1,000 – emergency savings.”
The banker looked at him puzzled, and said, “You need to list the value of the shares you hold in your company.”
TB scoffed. “But the company isn’t even profitable yet.”
But behind TB’s company was a product that was selling, scaling, and making its way through stores.
The banker replied: “Right now you own 100% of a company that is valued at $350,000. So, your total net worth is $351,000.”
Boom.
That was the exact moment TB realized that his last two years of grinding, hustle, and surviving weren’t for nothing. Yup, he might be cash-poor today, but he is fundamentally wealthier than anyone his age.
He birthed a $350,000 asset out of thin air.
Let’s look at the mathematics of this, because the contrast should make you pop your eyes out of their sockets like one of those cartoons.
What is the Slowlane alternative? You get a job, submit to the corporate gulag, and dutifully save a “responsible” 10% of your paycheck while clipping coupons for single-ply toilet paper, the kind that insufficiently soils your fingers.
If you make $50,000 a year and save 10% ($5,000), how long does it take to amass a $350,000 net worth?
At straight-up math? 70 freaking years.
Even with the stock market cooperating (7.7% annually) you might reduce that existential insanity down to 25 years of indentured servitude, budget spreadsheets, and denying yourself a decent cup of coffee.
And let’s be clear… what are the realistic odds of you actually saving that $5,000 yearly when your after-tax take-home pay is likely about $40,000?
Slim and none.
And if you do, it will take a whopping twenty-five years.
Twenty-five years of your life, gone. Throw in unrelenting inflation and that $350K will have 25% less purchasing power in 25 years.
TB manifested that exact same wealth in two years. TWO YEARS.
2 years vs 25 years (again, assumes stock market gains) which means TB built wealth 12.5X FASTER than his average citizen or peer.
Pure, unadulterated wealth acceleration.
Now, I can already hear the haters in the peanut gallery. Some edgelord yah-hoo is going to comment and whine, “Yeah, but MJ, if that company goes belly up, it’s worth zero! Meanwhile, I still safely saved my $10,000 at my job!”
Oh, really? Let’s talk about Fastlane “failure.”
Using my own “failed company” example, I had a venture that, by all conventional metrics, was a dud. But when it came time to liquidate and exit that abomination—the domain name, the proprietary code, the accumulated customer list—that “failure” still netted me a lump sum equal to about 5 or 6 years of this precious 10% savings plan.
That’s the undeniable power of leveraging compressed time using a Fastlane strategy. Even when you fail in the Fastlane, you can still outpace a regimented, austerity-like Slowlane process.
This is the fatal flaw of the Slowlane and its core wealth accelerator, a job: a job pays you a linear wage, but it never builds equity simply because you can’t save enough to outpace TIME and INFLATION.
When you clock out, the value stops. When you build a Fastlane business, you aren’t just working for cash flow —you are building an independent asset with intrinsic, scalable value. You are building a machine that can be valued, leveraged, and eventually sold for a massive, life-altering payday.
Wealth creation for the 1% is less about how much you can stack into a 401(k) after forty years of painful frugality. It’s about saving $20K/month when you’re making $100K/month. It’s about selling that cash-flowing asset for $X millions.
And then doing whatever the “F” you want to do for the rest of your life.
As Captain Picard would say, “Make it so…”
- MJ
Image generation: ChatGPT.
Story time.
This week at The Fastlane Forum, a French entrepreneur posted something that perfectly encapsulates the sheer horsepower of the Fastlane, its mathematics, and how it can make you rich in 5-10 years instead of 40-50.This food entrepreneur, let’s call him TB, walked into a bank to discuss a potential loan. The banker slid a personal financial disclosure form across the desk and told him to list his assets.
TB scribbled down his liquid reality: “$1,000 – emergency savings.”
The banker looked at him puzzled, and said, “You need to list the value of the shares you hold in your company.”
TB scoffed. “But the company isn’t even profitable yet.”
But behind TB’s company was a product that was selling, scaling, and making its way through stores.
The banker replied: “Right now you own 100% of a company that is valued at $350,000. So, your total net worth is $351,000.”
Boom.
That was the exact moment TB realized that his last two years of grinding, hustle, and surviving weren’t for nothing. Yup, he might be cash-poor today, but he is fundamentally wealthier than anyone his age.
He birthed a $350,000 asset out of thin air.
Let’s look at the mathematics of this, because the contrast should make you pop your eyes out of their sockets like one of those cartoons.
What is the Slowlane alternative? You get a job, submit to the corporate gulag, and dutifully save a “responsible” 10% of your paycheck while clipping coupons for single-ply toilet paper, the kind that insufficiently soils your fingers.
If you make $50,000 a year and save 10% ($5,000), how long does it take to amass a $350,000 net worth?
At straight-up math? 70 freaking years.
Even with the stock market cooperating (7.7% annually) you might reduce that existential insanity down to 25 years of indentured servitude, budget spreadsheets, and denying yourself a decent cup of coffee.
And let’s be clear… what are the realistic odds of you actually saving that $5,000 yearly when your after-tax take-home pay is likely about $40,000?
Slim and none.
And if you do, it will take a whopping twenty-five years.
Twenty-five years of your life, gone. Throw in unrelenting inflation and that $350K will have 25% less purchasing power in 25 years.
TB manifested that exact same wealth in two years. TWO YEARS.
2 years vs 25 years (again, assumes stock market gains) which means TB built wealth 12.5X FASTER than his average citizen or peer.
Pure, unadulterated wealth acceleration.
Now, I can already hear the haters in the peanut gallery. Some edgelord yah-hoo is going to comment and whine, “Yeah, but MJ, if that company goes belly up, it’s worth zero! Meanwhile, I still safely saved my $10,000 at my job!”
Oh, really? Let’s talk about Fastlane “failure.”
Using my own “failed company” example, I had a venture that, by all conventional metrics, was a dud. But when it came time to liquidate and exit that abomination—the domain name, the proprietary code, the accumulated customer list—that “failure” still netted me a lump sum equal to about 5 or 6 years of this precious 10% savings plan.
That’s the undeniable power of leveraging compressed time using a Fastlane strategy. Even when you fail in the Fastlane, you can still outpace a regimented, austerity-like Slowlane process.
This is the fatal flaw of the Slowlane and its core wealth accelerator, a job: a job pays you a linear wage, but it never builds equity simply because you can’t save enough to outpace TIME and INFLATION.
When you clock out, the value stops. When you build a Fastlane business, you aren’t just working for cash flow —you are building an independent asset with intrinsic, scalable value. You are building a machine that can be valued, leveraged, and eventually sold for a massive, life-altering payday.
Wealth creation for the 1% is less about how much you can stack into a 401(k) after forty years of painful frugality. It’s about saving $20K/month when you’re making $100K/month. It’s about selling that cash-flowing asset for $X millions.
And then doing whatever the “F” you want to do for the rest of your life.
As Captain Picard would say, “Make it so…”
- MJ
Image generation: ChatGPT.
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