Is This Idea/Business/Blah Blah Fastlane? (Uh, no, it isn't.)

[MJ DeMarco]

Is this Fastlane?

Folks, the worst thing you can do after joining the forum is asking the question, “Is this Fastlane?”

If you have been linked to this post, there’s a reason why.

From this point forward, I will officially ignore any post that contains any variation of “is this Fastlane?” And the sad fact is, most regular contributors here already do so. I thought I should speak up why I don't respond to these.

First, anyone who asks such a question has clearly misinterpreted my book. From a strict interpretation, with zero room for gray area, the answer of “is this Fastlane?” has already been answered in the book. Reread chapters 29 and beyond.

Second, the question “is this Fastlane” implies that some idea in your head is Fastlane. Such could be further from the truth. No idea is Fastlane. And no idea will ever be. In fact, a well executed “NON-FASTLANE” is 10,000% better than a zero-executed idea that you *think* is Fastlane.

Think of it this way: If "Fastlane” was a bike ride across the country, asking the question “is this Fastlane” is akin to sitting down on the bike and staring at the garage floor. So in effect, asking “is this Fastlane” is NOT FASTLANE.

Third, putting all the commandments aside, Fastlane is about process. Consistent actions transforming into habit. It’s about doing something, getting results and feedback, and adjusting along the way. Fastlane is about ACTION, ANY ACTION, even if that action is a campaign on TeeSpring, a Craigslist hustle, or something that would typically be classified as “non-Fastlane.”

Expanding your experience, knowledge, and wisdom in a daily effort IS FASTLANE.



When I see these threads “is this Fastlane?”, I literally want to close the browser and come back tomorrow. And please, it’s nothing against you.

It’s just that “is this Fastlane” is becoming one gigantic excuse NOT TO DO ANYTHING. If you think you have a great idea that isn't Fastlane and you have zero experience in life, by all means, go for it. Quit worrying about Fastlane this, and Fastlane that.

“Oh, it doesn’t meet the 5 FL Commandments, so I’ll do nothing until I think about the next greatest idea."

Wrong approach.

Some of the most popular threads here aren't Fastlane per se'. But they are Fastlane from the perspective that someone is DOING SOMETHING to improve their life. And that, puts you leaps and bounds ahead of most people.

Folks, Fastlane is not something you do. Fastlane isn’t something you try. And it certainly isn’t some great idea you think you have.

Fastlane is about building your story.

Your process.

Your failures, your trials, and your errors.

If you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, yes by all means, use the Fastlane commandments as your guide. However, if you’re 20 years old and have NEVER STARTED OR ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING, by all means, do SOMETHING— ANYTHING to ramp up your experience. "Fastlane" shouldn't really be much of a consideration.

The truth is many Fastlane's don't show themselves as Fastlanes until someone has hustled their a$$ off for years... and then suddenly, like magic, they appear. And they appear because someone trusted the process of action over the promise of events shimmering in the guise of "Fastlane".

Get out there and engage.

Good luck and best wishes,
~ MJ

PS: Tagged GOLD because it needs to be read.

 

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[Vigilante]

Your business may not satisfy all of the commandments, but just knowing them, being aware of them and possibly aligning even one of them can create a massive difference, and has in my case. But it all means naught if you do nothing. Test, fail, succeed, improve, repeat.

Control. Many people cheat on this one. However, I can tell you that when I lost control of a company, it got taken in a hostile takeover. Today, my business is too dependent on other people's venues like Amazon (loss of control, again). Control is a hard one to master, but provides security.

Entry. If you don't have barriers to entry, your business can be killed by someone who is smarter, faster, better financed, and better operating. There is one high flying example of this I have witnessed from a forum member over the last couple of years that got beat at his own game due to ease of entry.

Need. If you cheat this one, you lose. The #1 reason businesses fail is they don't have a basic value proposition or need.

Time. It's not manditory, but it keeps you from working 70 hours a week for the rest of your life. The single largest gift MJ ever gave me was when I learned the concept of separating time from income.

Scale. I am convinced you can't skip this one either. If you can't effect masses of people, you create a much more difficult path towards making masses of money.

The two that I see as softer rules are control and time. However, I will reflect on the TIME commandment some time this week while I am sitting at the beach and you are at work.

 

[pickeringmt]

Man, this is killer. Thanks for this.

Im not going to lie, I have asked myself this question about my own business - this really puts things in perspective.

 

[Digamma]

Oh, thank God. You wrote pretty much what I would like to explain every time I read that question, but never care enough to do so.

All it matters is cash. Are you making cold hard cash hand over fist? Then keep doing it. Are you not? Then re-evaluate. Can't be simpler, really.

Asking yourself "should I do this, since it doesn't respect the N/E/C/T/S commandment?" is pure, simple procrastination.
Because if you are asking the question, it means you have the time to do it. So if you didn't you would just waste that time. Time doesn't stop, you either take action or waste it.

This post wins.

 

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[csalvato]

I believe that most if not all ideas have the potential to meet the CENTS commandments eventually. But most don't meet the commandments at the beginning. Especially time. Anything will require a lot of your time to get started.

If you get creative, you can make any business fastlane. Therefore, pick an idea and just start. You can worry about the fastlane thing later.

All of the billionaire entrepreneurs I have been studying explicitly state that scalability is never built into version 1.0. It's possible in the future, but a lot of unscalable stuff is done first (like convincing family and friends to buy your stuff, etc.)

This right here explains why certain commandments may actually need to be violated to start out.

In my current venture, I am lacking control. I am working hard to regain that. Once I do, my business will be on the right path.

 

[Unknown]

Fast lane to me is more of a mindset. It's something I couldn't see before MJ opened my eyes. Like the man said, go do something.

 

[axiom]

I believe that most if not all ideas have the potential to meet the CENTS commandments eventually. But most don't meet the commandments at the beginning. Especially time. Anything will require a lot of your time to get started.

If you get creative, you can make any business fastlane. Therefore, pick an idea and just start. You can worry about the fastlane thing later.

 

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[Vigilante]

I wasn't going to read this because the headline was "Is this Fastlane" but you suckered me in with the GOLD.

 

[vinylawesome]

Bump.

"God dangit just work. Just work. Don’t wait. Everyone wants to wait until they have the perfect idea to start working. Even if you have an inkling of what you want to do, start moving towards it. It’s going to flesh itself out through the process of moving towards the goal. By the time you get to where you’re going to be, it’s not going to look anything like it did when you sat on the couch thinking about it. If you wait until it’s perfect in your head before you get off the couch and start working on it, that’s never going to happen."

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/frances...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[Danweebly]

Fastlane is not some arbitrary sum of money.
It's not passive income while sitting on a beach.
And it's not retiring at 30.
Fastlane at its core is a mentality.
And as soon as you obtain that mentality, you are in the Fastlane.
So as long as continue your entrepreneurial pursuits, even if you fail this venture or the next,
you CONTINUE.

This is something that is lived, not tried.
The money comes later as a result of living it.

The Money comes later maybe in months or in a few years relatively shorter than the slowlane (decades).

I'm 17 and I'm currently studying CS in college as a fresher. I'm determined never to apply for any corporate job after college.

Business is all I want to do and that, the right kind of business that obeys the CENTS Principle not masquerading as a job.

Most people including my parents thinks I'm silly for making such decisions and tell me lots of slowlane dogmas. My mind is already fixed. The Millionaire Fastlane was the best decision I've ever made in my entire life.

 

[Phones]

But... Is it Fastlane?

 

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[c_morris]

Bump.... with a helpful summary quote.

Fastlane is not some arbitrary sum of money.
It's not passive income while sitting on a beach.
And it's not retiring at 30.
Fastlane at its core is a mentality.
And as soon as you obtain that mentality, you are in the Fastlane.
So as long as continue your entrepreneurial pursuits, even if you fail this venture or the next,
you CONTINUE.

This is something that is lived, not tried.
The money comes later as a result of living it.


- MJ DeMarco

 

[Greyson F]

This is probably one of the biggest traps new wantrepreneurs, like me, fall into. This new lifestyle demands new criteria, and we focus on the wrong things, assuming that its not how we are doing it thats wrong, but what we are doing thats wrong. This post helped me out a lot. Thank you MJ!

 

[MatthewPL]

@MJ DeMarco

If I had you pay for your wisdom I would be indebted for entire life.

Thank you for your knowledge and sharing it with us - this is invaluable.

 

[GMSI7D]

Bump.

I have a degree in statistics and i have learned a very interesting thing.

It is called the pareto principle. It says that there is an imbalance in life.

The common example of this law is that generaly 20 % of the causes produce 80 % of the effects.

and it says also , by definition, that VERY FEW people can or will have great success in their life, like becoming free in 5 years like you.

And i think you will agree with that because we are talking about facts.

So my point is that people who are aware of your teaching are in fact a part of an elite according to the pareto principle.

So they have to endorse this leadership in society to enhance the quality of people's life. This is like a moral duty.

This is not arrogance at all, this is mathematics at work.

 

[Andy Black]

Related thread:

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/my-friend-you-are-already-in-the-fastlane.69573

 

[azntitan]

no Plan + no Action = Sidewalk
Fastlane Plan + no Action = Still Sidewalk (wantapreneurs)
no Plan + Action = Slowlane. Still better than Sidewalk. Anyone who takes action is going to be in a better place than a wantapreneur
Fastlane Plan + Action = Fastlane

 

[AllenCrawley]

Timely bump.

 

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[MattR82]

Your business may not satisfy all of the commandments, but just knowing them, being aware of them and possibly aligning even one of them can create a massive difference, and has in my case. But it all means naught if you do nothing. Test, fail, succeed, improve, repeat.

 

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[WJK]

Is this Fastlane?
The truth is many Fastlane's don't show themselves as Fastlanes until someone has hustled their a$$ off for years... and then suddenly, like magic, they appear. And they appear because someone trusted the process of action over the promise of events shimmering in the guise of "Fastlane".

There's armies of us out there -- day after day, in the trenches working and working and working... I've never seen an "instant success" in all of my years of being out there. BUT, I have seen people who have become shining examples of what consistent, hard & smart work can bring in the end.

Now they come to me -- those who made fun of me when I was young because I worked too hard. Now they tell me how luck I am to be successful! I just look them square in the eye and start laughing each time it happens. They haven't paid the entrance price, and they sure have no idea what tolls have to be paid along the way in order to find that elusive success star. I just explain to them that the harder I work, the luckier I become -- which is met with blank stares.

 

[vladikcm]

After reading this forum for some days I found three types of posts:

#1 - Post written by a Fastlaner telling his advice/story.
Slowlaners read about his life story and look amazed (probably eating pop corn) just to wish to be like them (not saying the posts are not useful).

#2 - Slowlaner (like me) posting threads asking for advice about how to be Fastlaner but without actually doing something.

#3 - Fastlaners selling courses (that may work) to impact the most peole possible.


After all I can conclude (and that is why I don't usually post anything) that if you want to find this forum useful and get its maximum potential you have to take action and show with other people what are you doing to achive your goals. I think reading posts will not help you. I will start posting here when I start doing something. Until then I will be punishing my lazy a$$ onto why I am not doing it NOW.

 

[PhotoKid95]

Like MJ said in the book:

People don’t take action because they’re waiting for *someday*.
Someday I’ll start a business, someday I’ll do this or that, etc.
The problem is, *someday* never comes.
Making plans but not acting on them is dangerous and paralyzing. Make *someday* today.

 

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[GMSI7D]

thanks MJ,

i have always thought that the universe owes me something, the good life , whatever.

i thought i could not achieve anything worthwhile in my life until i read your book.

the reality is now i will be 40 in 2016 and my life is a mess. it's time to wake up. your story is inspiring.

i have a clear goal with a dateline and a vision for my life.

 

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[MonicaK]

I'm going to re-read this post over and over so I stop going into 'analysis paralysis'.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Bump.

 

[Surpasser]

Getting wealthy reminds me so much of lifting. I've been lifting for more than a decade and each year I come to a realization I only was serious about it during previous year. Because I learn so much that it almost makes all the time before year ago - "not serious" time.

There are many similarities - like in lifting: there are basic principles but everyone is different and you can put 2 ppl on same routine and they have different rate of success, not every routine is for everyone (what works for someone might not work for a different someone), countless books have been written on it but most of the work is done learning your body and your particular style, the more serious about it you are - the more you experiment and less follow "rules" others put down. To be ahead of the curve you gotta experiment and take chances. After many years in it you develop "a feel" for it and dont need to review basic principles that much since you know yourself well enough and you know the game well enough.

I think mastery in any subject can draw parallels with other areas.

Also - "but what are the exact steps" could be a scene in those buddhist stories (koans) when the apprentice asks the master that Q and the master winks at him and the apprentice "achieves enlightenment".
I still might ask something like that in the future

 

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[TheFrancophile]

Hello everyone,

I'm preparing my future business these days and I'd appreciate your feedback on whether you think it can be Fastlane. My business project is to sell Western AND Eastern European wines in China, in a 2nd-tier or even a 3rd-tier city.

First, what problems am I going to solve? What are my future customers' needs?

China's demand for imported wine is growing rapidly, at double-digit figures, year after year and is projected to grow still. More and more Chinese consumers are discovering the beauty and good taste of wine and the fact that it's healthier than both beer and traditional rice-based spirits.

Moreover, because wine is seen as elegant and classy, and even by many Chinese as sort of a luxury product and a symbol of wealth, more and more Chinese people want to buy and drink it to show themselves to other people as affluent and a man or woman of taste.

But not all wines are equally liked by the Chinese; some 75-80% prefer reds. Only 25% of Chinese wine drinkers consume white or rose wines. This is due in part to their ignorance about wine (reinforced by heavy advertising by Chinese winemakers) and their belief that all wine is red, as well cultural superstitions (red is the color of luck, health, love, and prosperity; white is the color of death and therefore of funerals). However, this is now changing; the imports of still whites and of sparkling wines are growing rapidly, although from a low base.

At the same time, the Chinese don't like bitter, heavily-tannic wines (especially those that have a wood-like taste), which works against the wines that were aged for a long time in oak barrels (especially those made of young oak wood). Many Chinese consumers mix wine with juice or other soft drinks like lemonade (I guess they've never heard of sweet wine).

At present, 77% of all wine imported into China comes from one of the following 3 countries: France, Australia, Chile (the latter two have FTAs with the People's Republic). But, although French wines enjoy (and have long enjoyed) an excellent reputation in the Chinese people's eyes, and are still seen as a symbol of elegance and wealth (esp. those from Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne), this is now rapidly changing. Imports of wines from many other countries (esp. from Australia, Chile, NZ, Portugal, and Georgia are rapidly growing).

It is not clear, though, whether price is a big issue for Chinese customers or not. According to some specialized articles and some of my Chinese friends, it is, and many customers would be scared away by high prices of wine bottles (especially if this were the first thing they see upon entering a wine store). OTOH, according to many other sources, and some of my other Chinese friends, the Chinese people's main concern with wine right now is its quality, even if it means paying a higher price. In fact, some sources claim that a low bottle price may give the impression that the wine in it is of low quality.

MY SOLUTION : Import and sell a wide range of Western and Eastern European wines (from France, Italy, and Portugal, incl. Porto, as well as from Hungary, Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria). They will mostly be red but light and fruity (although I'll also include some prestigeous Bordeaux and Burgundy reds in my offer for those seeking famous wines, as well as Porto). I will also sell some dry, semi-dry, and sweet white wines as well as sparkling wines from Champagne, Alsace, and certain regions of Italy.

I will essentially be selling three types of wines:
1) Prestigeous wines from various domains in the Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne regions;
2) Light red (and not exclusively French) wines for those concerned primarily about their health (many Chinese women believe that red winemakes them look prettier and younger); and
3) Wines from various little-known wine producing countries like Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia for those looking to discover wine.

I will hire a Chinese salesperson and together we'll offer 5-star customer service: always being available and polite (in person, on the phone and by email) during the opening hours, giving professional advice about what wine to choose, offering the possibility of tasting some of the wines before buying them, and promptly resolving any problems in a polite manner. (And using excellent body language.)

I will also hire a professional to design an easy-to-use website for me (in the .cn domain, of course), coupled with an online store and a blog. The website will include detailed information about the wines I'll be selling (Chinese customers want it and do serious research before buying), TOS, and a nice About Us section with a photo of me and my Chinese friend smiling.

I will be selling wines both at a physical store (in a busy shopping mall in a 2nd- or 3rd-tier city, i.e. outside Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen) and online (on my own site and thru popular e-commerce portals such as Alibaba, Tmall, JD.com, and Taobao).

All of my wines, whatever their cost of burchase and sale price, will be of good quality - no cheap but crappy wines like what they sell in Chinese supermarkets (and often online). And of verifiable origin (with import certifications of origin, which are obligatory anyway) - no fake wine, again in stark contrast to many supermarkets and online sellers. My success will be built upon honesty and quality.

Now, how does it stack up against the CENTS commandments?

NEED: The need for quality wine of verified and verifiable origin obviously exists. The need for light and fruity reds (as opposed to heavily-tannic ones) and for sweet wines also exists. Both of these needs are poorly met these days.
ENTRY: Not everyone can start any kind of business in China as this involves some time, paperwork, and patience dealing with local bureaucracies. Not everyone has the knowledge to give pro advice about wine, either.
CONTROL: For the first several years, I will be selling wine at a rented store (in a large shopping mall downtown) as well as through my own online store and through portals like Alibaba and Tmall. Although someone might suddenly terminate my lease of the physical store, they can't kick me out of my own website/OL store. And in the future, I will buy my own store in a busy downtown street. Besides, in the future, most wine sales in China will occur online, so this will be less of an issue.
SCALE: This business will start small, as a single boutique, but if it succeeds, I will open more of them, hopefully a national chain in the long term. China has a population of 1,37 bn people, most of whom aren't wine drinkers yet, so there is a huge potential (but still not filled, much less saturated) market there. And obviously, the Internet gives me unlimited sales possibilities throughout China.
TIME: This, unfortunately, cannot be deconnected from my time, at least not unless this grows into a national chain and I sell it. As long as I'm in the business, I will have to run the business. But I wouldn't mind it at all, because that's what I want to do in life: sell things and run businesses that fulfill other people's needs. I don't plan on retiring until I'm too old and too sick to work.

What do you think, folks?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I see it was a mistake to remove this linked thread from the forum's home page.

Bump.

 

[Jake Knight]

Fastlane is what you make it.Everybody is going to get a different angle of meaning from the book.First and foremost any endeavor is going to require a persistent action and a well developed plan.The book is meant to inspire and open your mind to a much broader horizon,at least that what it has done for me.Everybody wants a solution,but fail to realize it is the formula that is the most potent.

 

[Vigilante]

I'm still trying to figure this one out. It's bitten me multiple times already, and it's definitely the most difficult to master. Each time Amazon decides to put an "item under review" I'm stressed out the entire time.

Control can't exist with Amazon in the distribution strategy. Double edged sword.

 

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