The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Has anyone on this forum become a millionaire from reading TMF?

GatsbyMag

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
171%
Jun 20, 2016
268
459
**Please move thread if in wrong place or lock thread and post a link to a duplicate question with answers if the question has already been asked, sorry if it is!**

I'm curious as to how many millionaires have been made as a result of reading TMF and applying all its principles. It's probably a silly question because every time I'm online I see a new progress/update thread about a member of this forum who is sharing a story of how well he/she is doing. I only ask because I've recently began to really study TMF and it makes a lot of sense to me and I said the same thing about Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Richest Man in Babylon and Think And Grow Rich.

Fortunately there is an online community based around TMF and I get to communicate with readers of this book through it at no cost, I'm not putting it to waste.

P.S. Please understand I'm not implying anything by my question. It means exactly what it says. I'm already seeing positive impact being made in my life as a result of the 192 pages I've read so far (I got the book a few days ago).

As always, thank you all!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Phones

Break your boundaries
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
202%
Aug 13, 2011
610
1,234
29
Praia da Areia Branca, Portugal
No one *becomes* a millionaire from reading TMF .

Now, has TMF inspired people who, by their own efforts and resilience, later became millionaires? Yes, definitely.

And many more who even tho may not be millionaires, have been able to *acquire* their own freedom and achieve successes they never though possible. Myself included there. Stick around for a while, finish the book, you will see them.
 

LightHouse

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
163%
Aug 13, 2007
4,297
6,994
Northern VA
Plenty of people here have become millionaires after the time they signed up on the forum... But was it because they read the book? No. Did the book help tune their mind and was a factor in their success? Possibly.

I'm not really sure what it matters, because success is created everyday, and it is not because of any one single thing. It's because people take control of their lives, dig deep, provide massive value to other people's lives, and become focused on their growth and contribution.

Stick around, read a bunch, and make moves every day that put you closer to your goals. You will get there as well.
 
Last edited:

GatsbyMag

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
171%
Jun 20, 2016
268
459
I just realized that I'm focusing on the event of reading a book and then becoming a millionaire. Gosh dammit, I should keep off this forums for awhile haha. But I only ask to get a testimonial of how effective the principles are along the journey from an actual millionaire that has read the book, if that makes sense.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

jon.a

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
329%
Sep 29, 2012
4,306
14,175
Near San Diego
I just realized that I'm focusing on the event of reading a book and then becoming a millionaire. Gosh dammit, I should keep off this forums for awhile haha. But I only ask to get a testimonial of how effective the principles are along the journey from an actual millionaire that has read the book, if that makes sense.
For me it's not the book as much as it's the forum members. Many are priceless.
 

Jon L

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
272%
Aug 22, 2015
1,649
4,489
Bellevue, WA
I just realized that I'm focusing on the event of reading a book and then becoming a millionaire. Gosh dammit, I should keep off this forums for awhile haha. But I only ask to get a testimonial of how effective the principles are along the journey from an actual millionaire that has read the book, if that makes sense.
don't stay off the forum. Post honest questions like this. You'll learn much more quickly that way.
 

LightHouse

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
163%
Aug 13, 2007
4,297
6,994
Northern VA

jesseissorude

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
213%
Jun 12, 2014
379
809
41
Nashville
I just realized that I'm focusing on the event of reading a book and then becoming a millionaire. Gosh dammit, I should keep off this forums for awhile haha. But I only ask to get a testimonial of how effective the principles are along the journey from an actual millionaire that has read the book, if that makes sense.

No worries!

To answer the question in the spirit it was asked: I think MJ will be the first to say that reading that book won't make you a millionaire. It's a combination of a lot of things, and adopting the mindset put forward in the book is just one piece of the puzzle.

Have people become millionaires without the book? Absolutely. Have people become millionaires after reading the book? Also absolutely.

It's one extremely small piece of the puzzle... plus it's such a fast read there's no downside :)
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,076
169,472
Utah
Here's another question you should ponder...

If I gave you a treasure map which identified a hard-to-reach location of a treasure halfway around the world, would READING the map over-and-over make you a millionaire?
 

RHL

The coaching was a joke guys.
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
747%
Oct 22, 2013
1,484
11,082
PA/NJ
More like, if MJ handed out a blueprint for a tested, proven machine that could turn rocks into gold, but the parts that went into the device were expensive and rare, so you'd have to check hundreds of hardware and scientific supply stores and watch eBay 24/7, and the construction time for the device would take 3-7 years, would you put in the money and effort to build it?

Or just sit around at night, browsing rich people's Snapchat stories and dreaming about how nice your life would be if you actually took the time to build that machine, which you could totally build anytime you want, it's just, tonight, HBO is having a marathon of your favorite show, and it's almost Christmas, so better to start in the new year, you know, when your schedule is clear.
 

ChickenHawk

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
468%
Aug 16, 2012
1,281
5,991
Butt in Chair
One terrific thing about the book is that it helps you rule out ideas that are unlikely to make you a millionaire. Sometimes, I think that's half the battle. Let's say you're smart and ambitious and willing to work hard. If you're working on the wrong things, you might be wasting your time. But when you turn that energy to a Fastlane venture, your odds of success skyrocket.

(Now, if I'd only read the book before that unfortunate coffee-shop venture...)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MidwestLandlord

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
759%
Dec 6, 2016
1,479
11,226
More like, if MJ handed out a blueprint for a tested, proven machine that could turn rocks into gold, but the parts that went into the device were expensive and rare, so you'd have to check hundreds of hardware and scientific supply stores and watch eBay 24/7, and the construction time for the device would take 3-7 years, would you put in the money and effort to build it?

I bought into someone else's already built machine. I get to keep a lot of the gold it makes, but in exchange he gets to tell me how often I can run it, how to run it, and that I am not allowed to hire someone to run it for me. He's too old and tired to improve this machine, or to even replace parts that are missing and broken. So it steadily makes less and less gold, until one day it won't make any gold at all.

I've built other machines myself, but I keep ignoring the instructions, using the wrong parts, and get silver instead of gold. So I hire others to run my silver machines while I continue to work on building a gold making machine, this time using the right parts.

I really like this analogy.
 

RHL

The coaching was a joke guys.
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
747%
Oct 22, 2013
1,484
11,082
PA/NJ
One terrific thing about the book is that it helps you rule out ideas that are unlikely to make you a millionaire.

You'd think, but I still see *loads* of people on here launching businesses that are intimately tied to their time or individual talents, location dependent, or unlikely to scale. They're playing the game on hard mode. Why?
 

Waspy

Float like a butterfly
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
461%
Dec 6, 2016
480
2,214
30
U.K.
You'd think, but I still see *loads* of people on here launching businesses that are intimately tied to their time or individual talents, location dependent, or unlikely to scale. They're playing the game on hard mode. Why?

I suppose for most it's better to play on hard mode than not to play at all.

Told to start a business, but can't find one which makes CENTS, so start one that doesn't.

Large group of people who are happy to launch a business out of pure desperation and hatred for the 9-5 grind
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

lowtek

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
332%
Oct 3, 2015
2,164
7,186
42
Phoenix, AZ
Plenty of people here have become millionaires after the time they signed up on the forum... But was it because they read the book? No. Did the book help tune their mind and was a factor in their success? Possibly.

I'm not really sure what it matters, because success is created everyday, and it is not because of any one single thing. It's because people take control of their lives, dig deep, provide massive value to other people's lives, and become focused on their growth and contribution.

Stick around, read a bunch, and make moves every day that put you closer to your goals. You will get there as well.

is it ok if I dabble, dip my toes, test the waters, see how it goes, give it the ol' college try?

:D
 

Ayanle Farah

Silver Contributor
Speedway Pass
Dec 13, 2016
394
509
29
I'm curious about this aswell.

Are there any fastlane success stories(made millions) that started their journey reading the book who're still around?
 

thinkandgrowrich

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Nov 29, 2016
191
320
38
Here's something I realized, I want everybody to correct me if I'm wrong.

If you had a step-by-step plan of becoming a millionaire, guaranteed to give you results, and it was offered to the public, 75% of people would ignore it, 20% of people would buy into it but take no action or give up after a couple tries, and 5% of people would actually follow through and thus become millionaires.

This is just some stupid theory I made up but yeah lol
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

RHL

The coaching was a joke guys.
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
747%
Oct 22, 2013
1,484
11,082
PA/NJ
I suppose for most it's better to play on hard mode than not to play at all.

Usually not, actually. I hate to be so down about this, but lots of small business owners end up making functionally the same take-home pay as an employee ($100,000 or less), and there are waaaaay more headaches. Your boss won't call you in at 3AM to assess the damage from a burst pipe and contact a plumber. Your boss won't dock your pay if your inventory has shipping problems. You won't be in charge of advertising and R&D and shipping and customer service if you're employed by a company. If your employer gets sued, you won't lose your house. Working a soul-sucking job is bad. But, I'd argue, starting a non-CENTS business with very limited potential (most businesses) is even worse. Yes, following orders sucks. Having your day scheduled sucks. But it's life on easy mode, even if the rewards are low.

The Chinese restaurant near me (one of about 20 within a 15-minute drive), the same three guys and two girls work there ELEVEN HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. There is rarely anyone in there. They look incredibly tired each time I go in there. I walk past there late at night in the summer when I'm jogging: They all pile in a 90's Mercury minivan with severe rust damage and a broken side window when they leave. That's what it looks like when you violate CENTS.

If you have no degree or a useless undergraduate degree, then it might make sense, because it'll be hard for you to find a job that pays more than 35,000/yr in most areas. But if you have any sort of valuable professional degree (CS, engineering, nursing, etc.) or a skilled trade, I absolutely would not give that up for a non-CENTS business.
 
Last edited:

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,563
68,688
Ireland
Here's something I realized, I want everybody to correct me if I'm wrong.

If you had a step-by-step plan of becoming a millionaire, guaranteed to give you results, and it was offered to the public, 75% of people would ignore it, 20% of people would buy into it but take no action or give up after a couple tries, and 5% of people would actually follow through and thus become millionaires.

This is just some stupid theory I made up but yeah lol
Very optimistic...
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

GatsbyMag

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
171%
Jun 20, 2016
268
459
Usually not, actually. I hate to be so down about this, but lots of small business owners end up making functionally the same take-home pay as an employee ($100,000 or less), and there are waaaaay more headaches. Your boss won't call you in at 3AM to assess the damage from a burst pipe and contact a plumber. Your boss won't dock your pay if your inventory has shipping problems. You won't be in charge of advertising and R&D and shipping and customer service if you're employed by a company. If your employer gets sued, you won't lose your house. Working a soul-sucking job is bad. But, I'd argue, starting a non-CENTS business with very limited potential (most businesses) is even worse. Yes, following orders sucks. Having your day scheduled sucks. But it's life on easy mode, even if the rewards are low.

The Chinese restaurant near me (one of about 20 within a 15-minute drive), the same 3 guys and two girls work there ELEVEN HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. There is rarely anyone in there. They look incredibly tired each time I go in there. I walk past there late at night in the summer when I'm exercising. They all pile in a 90's Mercury minivan with severe rust damage and a broken side window when they leave. That's what it looks like when you violate CENTS.

If you have no degree or a useless undergraduate degree, then it might make sense, because it'll be hard for you to find a job that pays more than 35,000/yr in most areas. But if you have any sort of valuable professional degree (CS, engineering, nursing, etc.) or a skilled trade, I absolutely would not give that up for a non-CENTS business.
I couldn't agree more! One of my past b2b businesses showed me how badly run some local businesses can be. Some of these local businesses didn't even market, they just expected people to come in! And the business owners would just stand there in their shops waiting for someone to walk in, it was so sad to witness.
 

bringitnow28329

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
98%
Mar 30, 2013
168
165
Providence
If you need to ask on a forum if anyone's a millionaire then you are looking at things wrong. Reading a book will not make someone a millionaire. Forget using this as a gauge altogether. A million dollars isn't even that much anymore but that's besides the point. Set a goal that's realistic and work towards it. Then increase that goal and keep doing this. That's all that matters. Fancy cars, and all this other bs is pointless and counter productive to think about. The fast lane book has the principles to make you think outside the norm, that's it. You don't get wealthy in a 9-5 but you also don't get wealthy reading a forum unless you take action and utilize your skills to put a spin on providing something of value to the market place.
 

Waspy

Float like a butterfly
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
461%
Dec 6, 2016
480
2,214
30
U.K.
Usually not, actually. I hate to be so down about this, but lots of small business owners end up making functionally the same take-home pay as an employee ($100,000 or less), and there are waaaaay more headaches. Your boss won't call you in at 3AM to assess the damage from a burst pipe and contact a plumber. Your boss won't dock your pay if your inventory has shipping problems. You won't be in charge of advertising and R&D and shipping and customer service if you're employed by a company. If your employer gets sued, you won't lose your house. Working a soul-sucking job is bad. But, I'd argue, starting a non-CENTS business with very limited potential (most businesses) is even worse. Yes, following orders sucks. Having your day scheduled sucks. But it's life on easy mode, even if the rewards are low.

The Chinese restaurant near me (one of about 20 within a 15-minute drive), the same three guys and two girls work there ELEVEN HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. There is rarely anyone in there. They look incredibly tired each time I go in there. I walk past there late at night in the summer when I'm jogging: They all pile in a 90's Mercury minivan with severe rust damage and a broken side window when they leave. That's what it looks like when you violate CENTS.

If you have no degree or a useless undergraduate degree, then it might make sense, because it'll be hard for you to find a job that pays more than 35,000/yr in most areas. But if you have any sort of valuable professional degree (CS, engineering, nursing, etc.) or a skilled trade, I absolutely would not give that up for a non-CENTS business.

I full agree. To be clear, I was putting forward what I imagine their mindset to be, not defending it.

The grass is always greener. Until you jump the fence and realise it's a swamp
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
Usually not, actually. I hate to be so down about this, but lots of small business owners end up making functionally the same take-home pay as an employee ($100,000 or less), and there are waaaaay more headaches. Your boss won't call you in at 3AM to assess the damage from a burst pipe and contact a plumber. Your boss won't dock your pay if your inventory has shipping problems. You won't be in charge of advertising and R&D and shipping and customer service if you're employed by a company. If your employer gets sued, you won't lose your house. Working a soul-sucking job is bad. But, I'd argue, starting a non-CENTS business with very limited potential (most businesses) is even worse. Yes, following orders sucks. Having your day scheduled sucks. But it's life on easy mode, even if the rewards are low.

The Chinese restaurant near me (one of about 20 within a 15-minute drive), the same three guys and two girls work there ELEVEN HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. There is rarely anyone in there. They look incredibly tired each time I go in there. I walk past there late at night in the summer when I'm jogging: They all pile in a 90's Mercury minivan with severe rust damage and a broken side window when they leave. That's what it looks like when you violate CENTS.

If you have no degree or a useless undergraduate degree, then it might make sense, because it'll be hard for you to find a job that pays more than 35,000/yr in most areas. But if you have any sort of valuable professional degree (CS, engineering, nursing, etc.) or a skilled trade, I absolutely would not give that up for a non-CENTS business.
I agree to an extant that life as an employee is "easier" for some people but I disagree that having a non cents business is worse than a job. If someone were to start a business selling handkerchiefs online and they imported them, they shipped them, they marketed them, they literally ran everything. After one year of running the business they are making say 50k in profit. Someone else at his job is still there making his 50k a year. Which one is in a better position going forward? The handkerchief business violates a huge chunk of the cents but the business owner now knows how to market, how to import, how to set up and operate a website etc. Which one of them now has some tools in their belt that they can use to start another business or branch off into more profitable products?
 

Chimp

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
190%
Sep 30, 2016
96
182
43
Which one of them now has some tools in their belt that they can use to start another business or branch off into more profitable products?
This is what I love about business. No matter how hard you fail there is something very important to learn each time you mess up. If you spent your entire business career selling bags of dog shit you have the skills of a salesman. Even when you're dog shit business fails you learn from your mistakes and transfer the skills and lessons to a business with CENTS.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

RazorCut

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
358%
May 3, 2014
2,032
7,269
Marbella, Spain
I agree to an extant that life as an employee is "easier" for some people but I disagree that having a non cents business is worse than a job. If someone were to start a business selling handkerchiefs online and they imported them, they shipped them, they marketed them, they literally ran everything. After one year of running the business they are making say 50k in profit. Someone else at his job is still there making his 50k a year. Which one is in a better position going forward? The handkerchief business violates a huge chunk of the cents but the business owner now knows how to market, how to import, how to set up and operate a website etc. Which one of them now has some tools in their belt that they can use to start another business or branch off into more profitable products?

In that scenario I agree, except that scenario is rare. @RHL 's is sadly a much more common theme. Walk around any town and you will see business after business that is struggling to make decent money and proprietors putting in hours most millionaires would shudder at.

Many are family businesses, many are started with redundancy money foolishly built on the premise 'do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life again'.

Watch these small businesses churn over as time goes by. Open one year, closed the next. Dreams soured, saving gone. But always a new hopeful ready to take up the challenge and build their own little business.

I've seen people who were comfortable, with a house almost paid for and savings in the bank go down this route and lose everything including their home in their 40's and 50's.

For the ill-prepared running their own business is nothing like they imagined and if you asked them "if you could turn the clock back would they do it again?" their answer almost invariably is a resounding NO!
 

#nowhere

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
152%
Jan 29, 2016
192
292
Germany
Usually not, actually. I hate to be so down about this, but lots of small business owners end up making functionally the same take-home pay as an employee ($100,000 or less), and there are waaaaay more headaches. Your boss won't call you in at 3AM to assess the damage from a burst pipe and contact a plumber. Your boss won't dock your pay if your inventory has shipping problems. You won't be in charge of advertising and R&D and shipping and customer service if you're employed by a company. If your employer gets sued, you won't lose your house. Working a soul-sucking job is bad. But, I'd argue, starting a non-CENTS business with very limited potential (most businesses) is even worse. Yes, following orders sucks. Having your day scheduled sucks. But it's life on easy mode, even if the rewards are low.

The Chinese restaurant near me (one of about 20 within a 15-minute drive), the same three guys and two girls work there ELEVEN HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. There is rarely anyone in there. They look incredibly tired each time I go in there. I walk past there late at night in the summer when I'm jogging: They all pile in a 90's Mercury minivan with severe rust damage and a broken side window when they leave. That's what it looks like when you violate CENTS.

If you have no degree or a useless undergraduate degree, then it might make sense, because it'll be hard for you to find a job that pays more than 35,000/yr in most areas. But if you have any sort of valuable professional degree (CS, engineering, nursing, etc.) or a skilled trade, I absolutely would not give that up for a non-CENTS business.


Obviously a chinese restaurant like the one you mention isn't going to follow CENTS.

But which degree is ok to compromise? For me a perfectly CENTS business would be an online business that touches the whole world and having no staff.

I ask this, because I do have a professional degree and pursue to have a business that won't follow the time aspect in the first place.
There is staff involved, lots of it. This will cause a severe involvement of mine. But with process and systems to lead this "weakness" could be overcome.

I ask this because I think that many businesses could be a start for a fastlane, even if they don't seem to in the first place (the above example of the restaurant is never a good start obviously...).

What's your opinion, RHL?

Thank you for your "push".
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top