2015 Fastlane Summit, Official Thread

[LightHouse]

What @Eskil said is exactly the point I was trying to make with my post earlier on...@Eskil just does a much better job of getting to the point and I tend to ramble on

It is such an excellent point for ALL of us to heed and we should all have that quote printed out on our desk like @LightHouse 's picture. We all just met 70+ other people who are still riding the adrenaline high...connect with a few and hold yourself accountable. Do something like what @JasonR suggested in his presentation, start writing people checks to cash if you don't accomplish your goals/tasks. Whatever it is, find a system that works to hold you accountable and make it happen.

As a side note, I have no one to blame but myself, and even though I met a TON of people, I didn't really get to connect with you, @LightHouse, or @JasonR for that matter. I really have enjoyed the content of both your posts and will make it a point to make sure we connect next year.

Absolutely, In reality we aren't far from each other. I am in Dillsburg /Harrisburg area frequently throughout the year, so we can connect sometime before 12 months from now.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[thorn]

Absolutely, In reality we aren't far from each other. I am in Dillsburg /Harrisburg area frequently throughout the year, so we can connect sometime before 12 months from now.

I would love to connect. I have a slowlane day job currently, but a fair amount of flexibility on when I come and go. Just need to know in advance, but could easily take a day or two and head east.

 

[LightHouse]

I would love to connect. I have a slowlane day job currently, but a fair amount of flexibility on when I come and go. Just need to know in advance, but could easily take a day or two and head east.

It would be a weekend pool party if anything. We can chat via FB about it to get off this thread.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

Two years ago I went from having literally no assets, to growing a portfolio of Real Estate that pays for my living expenses in just 6 months. The main difference was the people I associated with and learned from.

The best part of this meetup for me were the connections I made.

These connections will last longer than any of the content or lessons that were taught.

Took a lot of great notes and I learned a lot but the true ongoing value will be staying in touch with my fellow Fastlaners who attended. For those of you who I haven't sent a request yet feel free to hit me up on Facebook (Evan Goode). I would love to provide value for years to come.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Eskil]

Edit, I added a word that @MJ DeMarco re-enforced to me at RnR saturday night...

Edit: in practice... (Thanks Eskil)

Nicely done!! Makes me happy to see someone took my words to heart and is dedicated to follow them. +rep

 

[DiemTrader]

Awesome!

Edit, I added a word that @MJ DeMarco re-enforced to me at RnR saturday night...

 

[Jake]

Sawat dee kap jake , be careful what you wish for
i think i will be passing through bangkok in June , i will hit you up for a catch up .

Brilliant, mate. A few members have contacted me about an up and coming trip but I think they may depart just prior to your arrival. Would be awesome to all meet get together. Anyway, I'm available for a Bangkok meet. Or.. if you head elsewhere ( I quite enjoy the island you told me you went to when we met last) I don't have much of a schedule so am available to travel.

Keep in touch and let me know your plans a few days before you arrive. Happy to hear the event went well.

Cheers

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jill]

Edit, I added a word that @MJ DeMarco re-enforced to me at RnR saturday night...

Edit: in practice... (Thanks Eskil)

Love that, @LightHouse (Chris). So easy to slip into when your life is pretty darned comfortable. Funny that you and I had this exact conversation several times over the course of the weekend...

Thanks for the reminder, @Eskil

 

[OperationMyWay]

Edit, I added a word that @MJ DeMarco re-enforced to me at RnR saturday night...

Edit: in practice... (Thanks Eskil)

This aptly describes me as well. My mind can come up with endless reasons not to upset the status quo and to sink back to being comfortable. I was told once that "if you're not uncomfortable at least once a day you're not growing as a person". I feel it applies to business as well. You have to push yourself constantly or you will keep getting the same old results. We must strive for more than mediocrity.

 

[Chadi]

My biggest takeaways from this event:

1-Own your own product
When you own your own product you control the manufacturing, the brand, the distribution channels. You set your prices (and margins), your terms, your packaging. You can sell retail and/or wholesale. You can set licensing terms or sell the business altogether. This goes for both physical and digital products. I know I heard/saw/read the above in some way or shape in the past but this past weekend it sunk deeply into my mind.

2-Numbers are numbers
MJ talked about how his limo business kept growing revenues month after month. Even though we may perceive a jump from 1K to 20K as huge, MJ (and I guess people going through the same growth curve) realized that numbers are just numbers. There's no reason to get attached to or be afraid of reaching a high number. Money follows value. Concentrate on creating value and the money will follow.

3-Cognitive biases and fallacies
I've heard/read about some of these biases and fallacies. I've looked at them as some abstract concepts that somehow vaguely interfered with our lives. But MJ really drove the point home for me when he made it clear that these things can actually run our entire lives, undetected, or worse, accepted by us as the reality of how things should be. MJ talked about a few but there's way more than I thought. I don't want to go in details here but if you're interested here's a list of them here.

4- Be happy
Really! Be happy! I've met people from all over the world and they all seemed to be happy despite the fact that they probably had their own vision of happiness. We all fall into the trap of chasing materialistic goals, I'll be happy when I make $10K. I'll be happy when I quit my job. I'll be happy when I get a Ferrari. I'll be happy when I move to Scottsdale (although if you do I don't blame you ).
But really, just do whatever the hell is going to make you happy and don't worry about anybody's expectation, judgement or stereotype. Whether in your close circle of family and friends or on this forum. If you're going to start something new ask yourself, will I be happy doing this for the next 5,10,20 years and still be happy? If you're already doing something don't be afraid to ask yourself if you're still happy? Will you continue doing that for the next 5,10,20 years and still be happy?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[pickeringmt]

My biggest takeaways from this event:

1-Own your own product
When you own your own product you control the manufacturing, the brand, the distribution channels. You set your prices (and margins), your terms, your packaging. You can sell retail and/or wholesale. You can set licensing terms or sell the business altogether. This goes for both physical and digital products. I know I heard/saw/read the above in some way or shape in the past but this past weekend it sunk deeply into my mind.

2-Numbers are numbers
MJ talked about how his limo business kept growing revenues month after month. Even though we may perceive a jump from 1K to 20K as huge, MJ (and I guess people going through the same growth curve) realized that numbers are just numbers. There's no reason to get attached to or be afraid of reaching a high number. Money follows value. Concentrate on creating value and the money will follow.

3-Cognitive biases and fallacies
I've heard/read about some of these biases and fallacies. I've looked at them as some abstract concepts that somehow vaguely interfered with our lives. But MJ really drove the point home for me when he made it clear that these things can actually run our entire lives, undetected, or worse, accepted by us as the reality of how things should be. MJ talked about a few but there's way more than I thought. I don't want to go in details here but if you're interested here's a list of them here.

4- Be happy
Really! Be happy! I've met people from all over the world and they all seemed to be happy despite the fact that they probably had their own vision of happiness. We all fall into the trap of chasing materialistic goals, I'll be happy when I make $10K. I'll be happy when I quit my job. I'll be happy when I get a Ferrari. I'll be happy when I move to Scottsdale (although if you do I don't blame you ).
But really, just do whatever the hell is going to make you happy and don't worry about anybody's expectation, judgement or stereotype. Whether in your close circle of family and friends or on this forum. If you're going to start something new ask yourself, will I be happy doing this for the next 5,10,20 years and still be happy? If you're already doing something don't be afraid to ask yourself if you're still happy? Will you continue doing that for the next 5,10,20 years and still be happy?

Great thoughts @Chadi, I think this is more than I could get out of you through the entire meetup! hahahaha

 

[throttleforward]

It's been one week since the meetup started. There are only 50ish weeks until the next meetup.

For those of us who resolved to be in a different place next year, we need to be asking ourselves "what did we do this week when we got back - are we any closer to our goals?"

 

[pickeringmt]

It's been one week since the meetup started. There are only 50ish weeks until the next meetup.

For those of us who resolved to be in a different place next year, we need to be asking ourselves "what did we do this week when we got back - are we any closer to our goals?"

Dang, when you put it like that....

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Eskil]

Was coming here this morning to post and say what @throttleforward said.
Week 1 has passed. That is 2% of the one year until next year's meetup.

Visualize a progress / 'loading' bar and know that by next Friday a week from today, it will read 4%
Taking action is great - but don't forget to take CONSISTENT action, not sporadic action.

Also, to keep the spirit and energy of last weekend alive, I put together this little inspirational video for us all:

Do not. Lose. Your. Momentum.

 

[pickeringmt]

Was coming here this morning to post and say what @throttleforward said.
Week 1 has passed. That is 2% of the one year until next year's meetup.

Visualize a progress / 'loading' bar and know that by next Friday a week from today, it will read 4%
Taking action is great - but don't forget to take CONSISTENT action, not sporadic action.

Also, to keep the spirit and energy of last weekend alive, I put together this little inspirational video for us all:

Do not. Lose. Your. Momentum.

Awesome, makes me feel like crap for missing Sunday

Maybe you could do another cut using "eye of the tiger" - help me get pumped to get things done first thing in the morning

 

[K.Y.]

Was coming here this morning to post and say what @throttleforward said.
Week 1 has passed. That is 2% of the one year until next year's meetup.

Visualize a progress / 'loading' bar and know that by next Friday a week from today, it will read 4%
Taking action is great - but don't forget to take CONSISTENT action, not sporadic action.

Also, to keep the spirit and energy of last weekend alive, I put together this little inspirational video for us all:

Do not. Lose. Your. Momentum.

You all are so damn sexy.

Amazing work on the video Eskil!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[randomnumber314]

We were suppose to shoot video of us? Huh. I had the camera pointed across the pool

 

[FionaS]

That may be an idea for next year. Supply some people with cameras or give some people the job of filming lots of stuff. It'd be cool to record it some more.

 

[Iwokeup]

Was coming here this morning to post and say what @throttleforward said.
Week 1 has passed. That is 2% of the one year until next year's meetup.

Visualize a progress / 'loading' bar and know that by next Friday a week from today, it will read 4%
Taking action is great - but don't forget to take CONSISTENT action, not sporadic action.

Also, to keep the spirit and energy of last weekend alive, I put together this little inspirational video for us all:

Do not. Lose. Your. Momentum.

Great video brother. So sad that we had to fly out after and missed the pool party!

Progress is being made. I promise.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GlobalWealth]

Damn that was one stable camera. Amazing.

 

[Iwokeup]

Another idea for next year: have a built in 1 hour session where we talk about whatever, get into arguments, etc. So that the whole group can chime in/listen/learn. I learned so much from "accidental" conversations at the meetup that it'd be cool to have one built in.

 

[Mrs. BRKb]

Do not. Lose. Your. Momentum.

Wow, @Eskil !

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[The Duc]

Was coming here this morning to post and say what @throttleforward said.
Week 1 has passed. That is 2% of the one year until next year's meetup.

Visualize a progress / 'loading' bar and know that by next Friday a week from today, it will read 4%
Taking action is great - but don't forget to take CONSISTENT action, not sporadic action.

Also, to keep the spirit and energy of last weekend alive, I put together this little inspirational video for us all:

Do not. Lose. Your. Momentum.

Damn Eskil that video is all so . . . so . . . stable.

 

[Chadi]

Great thoughts @Chadi, I think this is more than I could get out of you through the entire meetup! hahahaha

Well you left too early, it all came to me on Sunday, afternoon

 

[Even Steven]

That's a great point @throttleforward and @Eskil.

I'm a little late to the post-summit-recap party, but here are my takeaways and what I've done since getting back.

I think I can honestly say that I got something useful from every speaker and every person I talked with while I was there. The talks were just jam-packed with great information. Also, let me take a second here to thank @MJ DeMarco, @AllenCrawley, and especially @Red for creating, planning, and hosting this thing. The location, the food, the speakers, the schedule...it was just put together and run very, very well.

Although all of the speakers were great, I was most intrigued by Eskil's presentation, and not just because I like looking at tall, sexy Norwegian men About a week before the meetup, I finished reading One Simple Idea by Stephen Key, and the things he talked about regarding prototyping, manufacturing, and market validation were reinforced by what Eskil was saying. For some reason, after reading the book and hearing the presentation, developing and manufacturing a product just seemed so much more do-able.

The information about prototyping in particular got my gears turning. I realized that I don't have to have any knowledge right now about how my idea would be manufactured for production. And that realization was huge to me. I learned that I can take an idea and build a works-like prototype with whatever-the-hell happens to be readily available just to prove or disprove the concept. I can get in touch with people later who can give me the information I need about how to design for production, but I can test my ideas really quickly and cheaply (like Eskil making parts out of wood in his workshop). This had been a missing step for me.

So, since I got back, I've committed time each day to brainstorming to find some of the needs and pain points in my life. One idea in particular piqued my interest, so I committed time to fleshing out the design a bit in my head and investigating how I could build a proof-of-concept. Yesterday, I spent an hour at Lowe's scouring for parts I could use, and then about another hour after the kids went to bed building it. Surprisingly, it kind of worked. And it cost me a grand total of $56 to make.

Now, I may get a little further down the line and find out that there's no market for it or that it would cost too much to make and sell, but having taken this step is huge and very motivating for me. Seeing my idea take physical form and do what I wanted was inspiring. And I had the knowledge and motivation to do it because of attending the meetup. I really can't express how glad I am that I flew 3/4 of the way across the country to meet a bunch of people I didn't know. $299 was F*cking cheap.

P.S. Have to shout out to @Arrabista. I got a chance to practice some of your stuff this week. I did something to piss my wife off, and when she confronted me, I matched her energy (but not her emotion), and then deflected and talked it out. Worked like a charm. Then I told her to take her clothes off, but that just seemed to make her mad again. Maybe my tone was a little off

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[FastLanePursuer]

Dope @Eskil! I might have been just a little tipsy in that video

i played the video with porter robinson - language as the music in the background. seemed to work just need to adjust a bit. song ahead by 4 secs to video

 

[Eskil]

Maybe you could do another cut using "eye of the tiger" - help me get pumped to get things done first thing in the morning

Meh...Eye of the Tiger puts me to sleep. On request from @thorn I made a metal version as well.

If this relentless guitar/drum assault doesn't give you a kick in the butt - nothing will:

It's like caffeine for your ears!

 

[Jill]

Another idea for next year: have a built in 1 hour session where we talk about whatever, get into arguments, etc. So that the whole group can chime in/listen/learn. I learned so much from "accidental" conversations at the meetup that it'd be cool to have one built in.

We actually did that one year while we sat around the pool on Sunday afternoon and another time as part of the main session. I loved it. One person would throw out a challenge with which they were struggling. Then everyone would brainstorm, throwing out their ideas for 10 or 15 minutes before moving on to the next problem. It was VERY interesting, exciting, inspiring and helpful, IMHO.

Then again, that's when we had 30 people, not 75. Soooo.... Not sure how it would work. But I'd love to see it again.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[thorn]

Meh...Eye of the Tiger puts me to sleep. On request from @thorn I made a metal version as well.

If this relentless guitar/drum assault doesn't give you a kick in the butt - nothing will:

It's like caffeine for your ears!

Haha, Awesome! Now I have energy to get back to work...before you made me all sad and stuff

 

[Eskil]

Great takeaway points from @Chadi and several others here as well.

And @Even Steven - proud of you for already getting a prototype made that quickly, and on a budget. If you need any help or guidance along the way, pm me.

LOL @thorn Seriously, the reason I love listening to Dragonforce so much is because they literally give me a huge boost of energy and drive to get shit done. Funny how sounds coming out of a speaker can be just as much or more effective than a pint of caffeine. I think of their music as audible adrenaline.