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Is MJ DeMarco making money with this forum?

Idea threads
A

Anon101637

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Hi ! So I'm on my way to build my fastlane business and semester soon finishing so I'm going to bust my a$$ on my website this summer.

I would be curious to ask a question to MJ DeMarco or author of TMF or any other members here does he make any money with his forum because I see he's using ads for his marketing to target his audience so I'm guessing that his forum makes a little of money with his ads and that he's contributing to many member so he is providing a lot of value.



I'm asking this question because I would be interested to add a forum section on my website for addiction so people would talk about different addictions and problem and it seems to me an excellent genius idea I saw other forums such as nofap and this one also so my bet is that MJ DeMarco kind of make a little of income with his forum what are you guys though on this ? And it seems a great idea since I could also add the forum on my own mobile application.
 
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Mathuin

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Yes MJ makes money with the forum, but it's nothing compared to what his Fastlane business made. Remember, this forum is primarily a Passion/ Purpose project for MJ, not a Fastlane endeavor.

Have you read any of the books? It gets mentioned a bit in Unscripted .
 

Black_Dragon43

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I would imagine MJ makes anywhere from $1-3K/mo or so with the forum. The value of a forum, though, isn’t in the money. It’s in the relationships, community and network effects you get access to.

For MJ, the forum is a way to spread the Fastlane message using the effort of all the members who join.

That, of course, in addition to building relationships with other business owners.

It’s like with a restaurant business… restaurants are on average the least profitable business there is. And yet, many business owners with a modicum of success buy or open a restaurant. Clearly it’s not for the money directly, is it? It’s for the indirect benefits, such as being able to control and organise events, being able to wine and dine his own clients and so on. It ends up being a way of getting access to people and building relationships.

You must stop seeing value merely in terms of immediate money to start seeing these things yourself.
 

Choate

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In Chapter 100, The Great Rat Race Escape , MJ says: "In one decision—merely using the 3A method—I found a 7-figure fortune hiding underneath my forum pages." in reference to allowing users to pay $7.99 per month to view TheFastlaneForum ad-free - but there's also other value-adds like more serious discussion and deeper relationships.

So yes, one could fathom that MJ has made a lot from the forum, in the millions perhaps. Is that the case for 99.9% of forums? No. The majority of forums fail to even establish a regular userbase.

To put it bluntly, if you're trying to replicate this because you are seeing it as a way to "monetize" before you even have an audience, you don't stand a chance. "Monetization" can come after, after you've provided value and established a repeat audience. This forum generates money for MJ because the amount of value it offers back to users is far beyond what you could put a number to.
 
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Kak

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I hope he makes a ton of money with it. It provides value to thousands of people every day!

It’s probably more like hobby money for him at this point though.
 
A

Anon101637

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In Chapter 100, The Great Rat Race Escape , MJ says: "In one decision—merely using the 3A method—I found a 7-figure fortune hiding underneath my forum pages." in reference to allowing users to pay $7.99 per month to view TheFastlaneForum ad-free - but there's also other value-adds like more serious discussion and deeper relationships.

So yes, one could fathom that MJ has made a lot from the forum, in the millions perhaps. Is that the case for 99.9% of forums? No. The majority of forums fail to even establish a regular userbase.

To put it bluntly, if you're trying to replicate this because you are seeing it as a way to "monetize" before you even have an audience, you don't stand a chance. "Monetization" can come after, after you've provided value and established a repeat audience. This forum generates money for MJ because the amount of value it offers back to users is far beyond what you could put a number to.
Thanks bro ! Really appreciated
 
A

Anon101637

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Yes MJ makes money with the forum, but it's nothing compared to what his Fastlane business made. Remember, this forum is primarily a Passion/ Purpose project for MJ, not a Fastlane endeavor.

Have you read any of the books? It gets mentioned a bit in Unscripted .
I'm reading unscripted I've read millionaire fastlane like 2-3 times I will finish unscripted this summer
 
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WillHurtDontCare

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yeah, and probably a lot less than he deserves
 

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And it seems a great idea since I could also add the forum on my own mobile application.
Gosh no. Not a great idea.

I mean, potentially useful idea. But to make $? You'll feel underpaid and underappreciated.

yeah, and probably a lot less than he deserves

The same will be true for the op if he follows through with the plan. Likely worse so.
 

MJ DeMarco

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The forum does not make a lot of money, either in subscriptions or ad revenue as I've never focused on "monetization" in a traditional sense. However (as I stated in my last book), it has earned over 7-figures since inception (13+ years!!!) either directly or indirectly (book sales) which IMO, is a terrible return on my time.
 
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Kevin88660

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Hi ! So I'm on my way to build my fastlane business and semester soon finishing so I'm going to bust my a$$ on my website this summer.

I would be curious to ask a question to MJ DeMarco or author of TMF or any other members here does he make any money with his forum because I see he's using ads for his marketing to target his audience so I'm guessing that his forum makes a little of money with his ads and that he's contributing to many member so he is providing a lot of value.



I'm asking this question because I would be interested to add a forum section on my website for addiction so people would talk about different addictions and problem and it seems to me an excellent genius idea I saw other forums such as nofap and this one also so my bet is that MJ DeMarco kind of make a little of income with his forum what are you guys though on this ? And it seems a great idea since I could also add the forum on my own mobile application.
You can do some estimation.

I remember there are external website tool that you can gauge the ad revenue of a specific site url, and that would make 10k-20k per annum for this site.

Assuming 500 INSIDERS sub, at 200 dollar a year, that would bring another 100k a year.

Adsense alone would be horrible.
 
A

Anon101637

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The forum does not make a lot of money, either in subscriptions or ad revenue as I've never focused on "monetization" in a traditional sense. However (as I stated in my last book), it has earned over 7-figures since inception, either directly or indirectly (book sales) which IMO, is a terrible return on my time.

You can do some estimation.

I remember there are external website tool that you can gauge the ad revenue of a specific site url, and that would make 10k-20k per annum for this site.

Assuming 500 INSIDERS sub, at 200 dollar a year, that would bring another 100k a year.

Adsense alone would be horrible.
True
 

Two Dog

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Hi ! So I'm on my way to build my fastlane business and semester soon finishing so I'm going to bust my a$$ on my website this summer.

I would be curious to ask a question to MJ DeMarco or author of TMF or any other members here does he make any money with his forum because I see he's using ads for his marketing to target his audience so I'm guessing that his forum makes a little of money with his ads and that he's contributing to many member so he is providing a lot of value.



I'm asking this question because I would be interested to add a forum section on my website for addiction so people would talk about different addictions and problem and it seems to me an excellent genius idea I saw other forums such as nofap and this one also so my bet is that MJ DeMarco kind of make a little of income with his forum what are you guys though on this ? And it seems a great idea since I could also add the forum on my own mobile application.
There's plenty of good reasons to host a niche forum, but monetizing from ad revenue probably isn't one of them. You need a lot of traffic to generate anything more than coffee money from ads. Forums give you the opportunity for market research, build an audience, build a brand, establish yourself as an expert and generally serve as a launch vehicle for any kind of venture.

Forewarned: It usually takes a HUGE amount of active participation from the host for a long time to spin up a self-sustaining forum with a large audience. It better be a topic you're personally committed to having the same conversation about with strangers about a thousand times over and over.

You could also - just mentioning it - host the forum and participate because it provides real value to the members. ;-)

Personally, I think the reason TFF hosts ads is to cover expenses and provide a paid option to avoid the ads. Paywalls filter out a huge amount of people and tend to leave only dedicated souls to participate in the "INSIDERS" version. The difference between free and $1 is enormous when it comes to consumer behavior.
 
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A

Anon101637

Guest
There's plenty of good reasons to host a niche forum, but monetizing from ad revenue probably isn't one of them. You need a lot of traffic to generate anything more than coffee money from ads. Forums give you the opportunity for market research, build an audience, build a brand, establish yourself as an expert and generally serve as a launch vehicle for any kind of venture.

Forewarned: It usually takes a HUGE amount of active participation from the host for a long time to spin up a self-sustaining forum with a large audience. It better be a topic you're personally committed to having the same conversation about with strangers about a thousand times over and over.

You could also - just mentioning it - host the forum and participate because it provides real value to the members. ;-)

Personally, I think the reason TFF hosts ads is to cover expenses and provide a paid option to avoid the ads. Paywalls filter out a huge amount of people and tend to leave only dedicated souls to participate in the "INSIDERS" version. The difference between free and $1 is enormous when it comes to consumer behavior.
But could I use the forum so people would talk about addiction problems I think the main idea is great
 

Two Dog

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But could I use the forum so people would talk about addiction problems I think the main idea is great
Absolutely.

Addiction is a huge business. Just recognize that it's a pretty sensitive topic for most people, especially for anyone actively participating in the forum discussions. Helping people vs. taking advantage of them isn't exactly a bright line in this world.
 
A

Anon101637

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Absolutely.

Addiction is a huge business. Just recognize that it's a pretty sensitive topic for most people, especially for anyone actively participating in the forum discussions. Helping people vs. taking advantage of them isn't exactly a bright line in this world.
Wait wait wait are you seeing me as a capitalist or what it seems like everyone here is seeing me as a core capitalist
 
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