The "$1K A Day" Test - Do You Have a Scale Problem?

[MJ DeMarco]

I mentioned this in another thread, and it bears repeating, and its own thread.

You want a test to see if your business has the potential to scale?

The $1K Scale Test is a strategy visualization that’ll expose whether your venture’s got Fastlane potential, or if it’s just another time-sucking job masquerading as a business.

The $1K Test: Ask yourself... “If You Made $1K in Profits on One Day, What Would That Day Need to Look Like?"

This simple question isn't about revenue that gurus like to flex on Instagram.

I'm talking about PROFITS.

If you hit $1K in profits in a single day (which is $30K/mo in profit, an amount that starts to shift lifestyles and change lives) what systems need to be in place?

What processes?

What bottlenecks show up?

This thought experiment can help you identify if your business has a scaling problem inherent to industry or economic constraints.

Step 1: Reverse-Engineer the $1K Day

See it: $1,000 in profit after 1 day. What had to happen? Break it down like a mechanic tearing apart an engine...

• How many sales? If you’re selling $100 widgets with $50 in margin, that’s 20 sales. If it’s a $500 service, that’s 2 clients. Do the math--what’s your number?
• How many customers? Did 20 people buy one thing, or did 5 buy multiple? Where did they come from--ads, referrals, organic traffic, walk-ins to a store?
• What’s the delivery look like? Did you ship product, send a digital file, flip burgers, make sandwiches, or trade time for money?
• Costs? What costs are also scaling--materials, ads, labor? If you’re spending $900 to make $1K, is that sustainable?

Step 2: Systems Check—What’s Gotta Be in Place?

• Lead Generation: What's your funnel process? Think paid ads, SEO, email lists, or a referral system.
• Sales Process: What's it look like? Automated checkout, landing pages, or a phone pitch? Can it handle 20 transactions without you babysitting every one?
• Fulfillment: How do you get the product in the hands of customers? What software are you running? Is there a team, or is it automated?
• Cash Flow: How fast do you get the cash into your bank? 3 days? 30 days? Invoicing?
• Inventory? Do you have any? Do you need warehousing? Third party fulfillment center?
• Labor: Is it possible by yourself? Need employees? Multiple locations? Multiple chefs in the kitchen?

Step 3: Bottlenecks—Where Will It Break?

• You’re the Bottleneck: If every sale, decision, or shipment runs through you, you’re the problem. Fix it by delegating or automating—hire a VA, use Zapier, train someone. Do something!
• Demand Weakness: Not enough leads? Your marketing’s weak. Glengarry Glen Ross: The leads are weak! Test new channels--Facebook ads, TikTok, door flyers, doesn't matter if it works. Usually only 2 or 3 channels will represent 80% of your inbound leads.
• Fulfillment Failures: Can’t deliver 20 orders without chaos? Upgrade your tools--Shopify, a 3PL, again, a VA or employee.
• Profit Bleed: What isn't enjoying economies of scale? Renegotiate suppliers, shippers, cancel the low-ROI ads, or raise prices and pivot to a more premium brand image.

Step 4: Some Fastlane Best Practices

• Nail a Value Skew, or Better Two or Three: Offer something so unique that people can’t say no--faster delivery, better quality, a no-brainer bundle. Unscripted and TGRRE goes deeper into value skew.
• Stack Traffic Sources: Again, your best traffic sources will likely only come from 2-3 sources. Problem is, its like kissing frogs looking for your soulmate. You might need to dabble with 20 sources to find those 2-3 heavy hitters. No matter what, build an email list.
• Avoid ONE OFF Products If Possible: A one off product is one and done. Like selling a book, or something that does not compel repeat buys. Conversely, if you sell a food product, or a personal grooming product, one customer offers far greater Lifetime Customer Value ... one customer might order hundreds of times. This is where scaling magic can happen.
• Automate the Grunt Work: AI agents, AI tools, there is likely an automation for some grunt work.
• Act, Assess, Adjust: Run small experiments--$50 ad spend, a new headline, a 10% discount. Double down on winners, kill the losers. Gather data which beats guesswork.
• Leverage Other People’s Audiences: Influencer marketing has been my best channel for marketing -- except I rarely pay for it. See below and the power of Productocracy.
• PRODUCTOCRACY: Aim for the productocracy so new customers become your unpaid sales force. A productocracy is when other people love your product so much, they tell others.

Start small, but think big. That $1K day becomes $2K when you duplicate what works. Rinse, repeat.

Cant Do $1K a Day? You’ve Got a Scale Problem! Fastlane Exit: CLOSED.

If you can’t hit $1K in profits daily and keep it steady, your business is a hamster wheel. It won’t build wealth. It won’t set you free. It’s a job with extra steps.

Scaling isn’t about “hustling harder”, it’s about building a Fastlane system that runs without you chained to it.

If your $1K day relies on you working 18 hours, begging for sales, or praying for a viral retweet from Musk, Cuban, or Gates, you’re not scaling; you’re surviving.

Fix the systems, clear the bottlenecks, or confess the reality: you’ve got a scale problem, and the Fastlane is a fairy tale.

Wealth comes from leverage: time, money, people.

Before starting a business -- run the The $1K Test and see what things look like.

Fail it, and you’re stuck in a fake Fastlane that exhibits Slowlane mathematics, picking up pennies while riding a tricycle that can't go faster than 2 mph.

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Lou7]

I mentioned this in another thread, and it bears repeating, and its own thread.

You want a test to see if your business has the potential to scale?

The $1K Scale Test is a strategy visualization that’ll expose whether your venture’s got Fastlane potential, or if it’s just another time-sucking job masquerading as a business.

The $1K Test: Ask yourself... “If You Made $1K in Profits on One Day, What Would That Day Need to Look Like?"

This simple question isn't about revenue that gurus like to flex on Instagram.

I'm talking about PROFITS.

If you hit $1K in profits in a single day (which is $30K/mo in profit, an amount that starts to shift lifestyles and change lives) what systems need to be in place?

What processes?

What bottlenecks show up?

This thought experiment can help you identify if your business has a scaling problem inherent to industry or economic constraints.

Step 1: Reverse-Engineer the $1K Day

See it: $1,000 in profit after 1 day. What had to happen? Break it down like a mechanic tearing apart an engine...

• How many sales? If you’re selling $100 widgets with $50 in margin, that’s 20 sales. If it’s a $500 service, that’s 2 clients. Do the math--what’s your number?
• How many customers? Did 20 people buy one thing, or did 5 buy multiple? Where did they come from--ads, referrals, organic traffic, walk-ins to a store?
• What’s the delivery look like? Did you ship product, send a digital file, flip burgers, make sandwiches, or trade time for money?
• Costs? What costs are also scaling--materials, ads, labor? If you’re spending $900 to make $1K, is that sustainable?

Step 2: Systems Check—What’s Gotta Be in Place?

• Lead Generation: What's your funnel process? Think paid ads, SEO, email lists, or a referral system.
• Sales Process: What's it look like? Automated checkout, landing pages, or a phone pitch? Can it handle 20 transactions without you babysitting every one?
• Fulfillment: How do you get the product in the hands of customers? What software are you running? Is there a team, or is it automated?
• Cash Flow: How fast do you get the cash into your bank? 3 days? 30 days? Invoicing?
• Inventory? Do you have any? Do you need warehousing? Third party fulfillment center?
• Labor: Is it possible by yourself? Need employees? Multiple locations? Multiple chefs in the kitchen?

Step 3: Bottlenecks—Where Will It Break?

• You’re the Bottleneck: If every sale, decision, or shipment runs through you, you’re the problem. Fix it by delegating or automating—hire a VA, use Zapier, train someone. Do something!
• Demand Weakness: Not enough leads? Your marketing’s weak. Glengarry Glen Ross: The leads are weak! Test new channels--Facebook ads, TikTok, door flyers, doesn't matter if it works. Usually only 2 or 3 channels will represent 80% of your inbound leads.
• Fulfillment Failures: Can’t deliver 20 orders without chaos? Upgrade your tools--Shopify, a 3PL, again, a VA or employee.
• Profit Bleed: What isn't enjoying economies of scale? Renegotiate suppliers, shippers, cancel the low-ROI ads, or raise prices and pivot to a more premium brand image.

Step 4: Some Fastlane Best Practices

• Nail a Value Skew, or Better Two or Three: Offer something so unique that people can’t say no--faster delivery, better quality, a no-brainer bundle. Unscripted and TGRRE goes deeper into value skew.
• Stack Traffic Sources: Again, your best traffic sources will likely only come from 2-3 sources. Problem is, its like kissing frogs looking for your soulmate. You might need to dabble with 20 sources to find those 2-3 heavy hitters. No matter what, build an email list.
• Avoid ONE OFF Products If Possible: A one off product is one and done. Like selling a book, or something that does not compel repeat buys. Conversely, if you sell a food product, or a personal grooming product, one customer offers far greater Lifetime Customer Value ... one customer might order hundreds of times. This is where scaling magic can happen.
• Automate the Grunt Work: AI agents, AI tools, there is likely an automation for some grunt work.
• Act, Assess, Adjust: Run small experiments--$50 ad spend, a new headline, a 10% discount. Double down on winners, kill the losers. Gather data which beats guesswork.
• Leverage Other People’s Audiences: Influencer marketing has been my best channel for marketing -- except I rarely pay for it. See below and the power of Productocracy.
• PRODUCTOCRACY: Aim for the productocracy so new customers become your unpaid sales force. A productocracy is when other people love your product so much, they tell others.

Start small, but think big. That $1K day becomes $2K when you duplicate what works. Rinse, repeat.

Cant Do $1K a Day? You’ve Got a Scale Problem! Fastlane Exit: CLOSED.

If you can’t hit $1K in profits daily and keep it steady, your business is a hamster wheel. It won’t build wealth. It won’t set you free. It’s a job with extra steps.

Scaling isn’t about “hustling harder”, it’s about building a Fastlane system that runs without you chained to it.

If your $1K day relies on you working 18 hours, begging for sales, or praying for a viral retweet from Musk, Cuban, or Gates, you’re not scaling; you’re surviving.

Fix the systems, clear the bottlenecks, or confess the reality: you’ve got a scale problem, and the Fastlane is a fairy tale.

Wealth comes from leverage: time, money, people.

Before starting a business -- run the The $1K Test and see what things look like.

Fail it, and you’re stuck in a fake Fastlane that exhibits Slowlane mathematics, picking up pennies while riding a tricycle that can't go faster than 2 mph.

That’s why we will have 2 distribution channels on our fashion jewelry brand:

1. E-commerce
2. Woman sellers that get 40% of profits (no labor contract, partners)

Will attack b2b and b2c in a scalable way

 

[TheWiseGuy]

Avoid ONE OFF Products If Possible: A one off product is one and done. Like selling a book, or something that does not compel repeat buys. Conversely, if you sell a food product, or a personal grooming product, one customer offers far greater Lifetime Customer Value ... one customer might order hundreds of times. This is where scaling magic can happen.

This point resonated with me. As my journey continues, I see the utmost importance in this.

Unless your product is F*cking mind-blowing, single product businesses can sometimes be an acquisition treadmill.

At least there's some survivability if you have 15 people paying €XYZ per month.

Don't get me wrong-- single products can make a killing; I'm just finding it extremely difficult to manage.

Great gold post. There's a lot to dissect here!

 

[Supa]

Awesome post, thank you MJ!

I just made the $1k calculation for the app I'm currently working on. At $3.99 for the monthly subscription, that I currently plan, minus the percent that Apple gets from that, this would mean around 360 new subscribers in one day to make $1k. And around 10,000 monthly subscribers to make this every day.

Those numbers maybe should scare me a bit, but for some reason they seem achievable to me.

 

[Lou7]

Awesome post, thank you MJ!

I just made the $1k calculation for the app I'm currently working on. At $3.99 for the monthly subscription, that I currently plan, minus the percent that Apple gets from that, this would mean around 360 new subscribers in one day to make $1k. And around 10,000 monthly subscribers to make this every day.

Those numbers maybe should scare me a bit, but for some reason they seem achievable to me.

Totally achievable!

Check how many others achieved this number. If they can do it, so can you!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Unless your product is F*cking mind-blowing, single product businesses can sometimes be an acquisition treadmill.

They are an acquisition treadmill, having more demands for marketing, even if operating with a productocracy.

It's one of the things of book publishing I hate - as an author, you continually need to drive books into the system to leverage the audience or fanbase you've built.

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[StrikingViper69]

At the moment my business is mainly selling a single book.

Step 1: Roughly 95 sales a day, if my ad costs are good. Ad costs would be around $300-400/day. Best days at the moment are around 25 sales a day.

Step 2: I could ship 100 paperbacks a day if I needed - no bottleneck there. Shipping, manpower, storage; I can scale this overnight. Hell, I could ship 1000 a day without doing a thing.

Step 3: With a bit of planning for stock, I could handle the sales without a problem.

What's stopping me? I either sell more books, which would need to test a LOT of creative to find the videos and ads that work consistently; or I need "more stuff" to sell people that buy the book. I've been selling some courses with mixed success, but the sales are small fry compared to the book sales.

What's stopping me 2: Well I made some good profits recently, so I'm going to reach out to some people and get a few more videos made. I can also expand to other platforms, so far I've only used Meta ads, I can try my video ads on YouTube too.

EDIT: After thinking about this for more than five minutes, if I can finally crack increasing my AOV with a few more videos and ads on YouTube... I can probably hit that this year... well that's the rest of the year planned out

 

[Frances Kelleher]

I mentioned this in another thread, and it bears repeating, and its own thread.

You want a test to see if your business has the potential to scale?

The $1K Scale Test is a strategy visualization that’ll expose whether your venture’s got Fastlane potential, or if it’s just another time-sucking job masquerading as a business.

The $1K Test: Ask yourself... “If You Made $1K in Profits on One Day, What Would That Day Need to Look Like?"

This simple question isn't about revenue that gurus like to flex on Instagram.

I'm talking about PROFITS.

If you hit $1K in profits in a single day (which is $30K/mo in profit, an amount that starts to shift lifestyles and change lives) what systems need to be in place?

What processes?

What bottlenecks show up?

This thought experiment can help you identify if your business has a scaling problem inherent to industry or economic constraints.

Step 1: Reverse-Engineer the $1K Day

See it: $1,000 in profit after 1 day. What had to happen? Break it down like a mechanic tearing apart an engine...

• How many sales? If you’re selling $100 widgets with $50 in margin, that’s 20 sales. If it’s a $500 service, that’s 2 clients. Do the math--what’s your number?
• How many customers? Did 20 people buy one thing, or did 5 buy multiple? Where did they come from--ads, referrals, organic traffic, walk-ins to a store?
• What’s the delivery look like? Did you ship product, send a digital file, flip burgers, make sandwiches, or trade time for money?
• Costs? What costs are also scaling--materials, ads, labor? If you’re spending $900 to make $1K, is that sustainable?

Step 2: Systems Check—What’s Gotta Be in Place?

• Lead Generation: What's your funnel process? Think paid ads, SEO, email lists, or a referral system.
• Sales Process: What's it look like? Automated checkout, landing pages, or a phone pitch? Can it handle 20 transactions without you babysitting every one?
• Fulfillment: How do you get the product in the hands of customers? What software are you running? Is there a team, or is it automated?
• Cash Flow: How fast do you get the cash into your bank? 3 days? 30 days? Invoicing?
• Inventory? Do you have any? Do you need warehousing? Third party fulfillment center?
• Labor: Is it possible by yourself? Need employees? Multiple locations? Multiple chefs in the kitchen?

Step 3: Bottlenecks—Where Will It Break?

• You’re the Bottleneck: If every sale, decision, or shipment runs through you, you’re the problem. Fix it by delegating or automating—hire a VA, use Zapier, train someone. Do something!
• Demand Weakness: Not enough leads? Your marketing’s weak. Glengarry Glen Ross: The leads are weak! Test new channels--Facebook ads, TikTok, door flyers, doesn't matter if it works. Usually only 2 or 3 channels will represent 80% of your inbound leads.
• Fulfillment Failures: Can’t deliver 20 orders without chaos? Upgrade your tools--Shopify, a 3PL, again, a VA or employee.
• Profit Bleed: What isn't enjoying economies of scale? Renegotiate suppliers, shippers, cancel the low-ROI ads, or raise prices and pivot to a more premium brand image.

Step 4: Some Fastlane Best Practices

• Nail a Value Skew, or Better Two or Three: Offer something so unique that people can’t say no--faster delivery, better quality, a no-brainer bundle. Unscripted and TGRRE goes deeper into value skew.
• Stack Traffic Sources: Again, your best traffic sources will likely only come from 2-3 sources. Problem is, its like kissing frogs looking for your soulmate. You might need to dabble with 20 sources to find those 2-3 heavy hitters. No matter what, build an email list.
• Avoid ONE OFF Products If Possible: A one off product is one and done. Like selling a book, or something that does not compel repeat buys. Conversely, if you sell a food product, or a personal grooming product, one customer offers far greater Lifetime Customer Value ... one customer might order hundreds of times. This is where scaling magic can happen.
• Automate the Grunt Work: AI agents, AI tools, there is likely an automation for some grunt work.
• Act, Assess, Adjust: Run small experiments--$50 ad spend, a new headline, a 10% discount. Double down on winners, kill the losers. Gather data which beats guesswork.
• Leverage Other People’s Audiences: Influencer marketing has been my best channel for marketing -- except I rarely pay for it. See below and the power of Productocracy.
• PRODUCTOCRACY: Aim for the productocracy so new customers become your unpaid sales force. A productocracy is when other people love your product so much, they tell others.

Start small, but think big. That $1K day becomes $2K when you duplicate what works. Rinse, repeat.

Cant Do $1K a Day? You’ve Got a Scale Problem! Fastlane Exit: CLOSED.

If you can’t hit $1K in profits daily and keep it steady, your business is a hamster wheel. It won’t build wealth. It won’t set you free. It’s a job with extra steps.

Scaling isn’t about “hustling harder”, it’s about building a Fastlane system that runs without you chained to it.

If your $1K day relies on you working 18 hours, begging for sales, or praying for a viral retweet from Musk, Cuban, or Gates, you’re not scaling; you’re surviving.

Fix the systems, clear the bottlenecks, or confess the reality: you’ve got a scale problem, and the Fastlane is a fairy tale.

Wealth comes from leverage: time, money, people.

Before starting a business -- run the The $1K Test and see what things look like.

Fail it, and you’re stuck in a fake Fastlane that exhibits Slowlane mathematics, picking up pennies while riding a tricycle that can't go faster than 2 mph.

I mentioned this in another thread, and it bears repeating, and its own thread.

You want a test to see if your business has the potential to scale?

The $1K Scale Test is a strategy visualization that’ll expose whether your venture’s got Fastlane potential, or if it’s just another time-sucking job masquerading as a business.

The $1K Test: Ask yourself... “If You Made $1K in Profits on One Day, What Would That Day Need to Look Like?"

This simple question isn't about revenue that gurus like to flex on Instagram.

I'm talking about PROFITS.

If you hit $1K in profits in a single day (which is $30K/mo in profit, an amount that starts to shift lifestyles and change lives) what systems need to be in place?

What processes?

What bottlenecks show up?

This thought experiment can help you identify if your business has a scaling problem inherent to industry or economic constraints.

Step 1: Reverse-Engineer the $1K Day

See it: $1,000 in profit after 1 day. What had to happen? Break it down like a mechanic tearing apart an engine...

• How many sales? If you’re selling $100 widgets with $50 in margin, that’s 20 sales. If it’s a $500 service, that’s 2 clients. Do the math--what’s your number?
• How many customers? Did 20 people buy one thing, or did 5 buy multiple? Where did they come from--ads, referrals, organic traffic, walk-ins to a store?
• What’s the delivery look like? Did you ship product, send a digital file, flip burgers, make sandwiches, or trade time for money?
• Costs? What costs are also scaling--materials, ads, labor? If you’re spending $900 to make $1K, is that sustainable?

Step 2: Systems Check—What’s Gotta Be in Place?

• Lead Generation: What's your funnel process? Think paid ads, SEO, email lists, or a referral system.
• Sales Process: What's it look like? Automated checkout, landing pages, or a phone pitch? Can it handle 20 transactions without you babysitting every one?
• Fulfillment: How do you get the product in the hands of customers? What software are you running? Is there a team, or is it automated?
• Cash Flow: How fast do you get the cash into your bank? 3 days? 30 days? Invoicing?
• Inventory? Do you have any? Do you need warehousing? Third party fulfillment center?
• Labor: Is it possible by yourself? Need employees? Multiple locations? Multiple chefs in the kitchen?

Step 3: Bottlenecks—Where Will It Break?

• You’re the Bottleneck: If every sale, decision, or shipment runs through you, you’re the problem. Fix it by delegating or automating—hire a VA, use Zapier, train someone. Do something!
• Demand Weakness: Not enough leads? Your marketing’s weak. Glengarry Glen Ross: The leads are weak! Test new channels--Facebook ads, TikTok, door flyers, doesn't matter if it works. Usually only 2 or 3 channels will represent 80% of your inbound leads.
• Fulfillment Failures: Can’t deliver 20 orders without chaos? Upgrade your tools--Shopify, a 3PL, again, a VA or employee.
• Profit Bleed: What isn't enjoying economies of scale? Renegotiate suppliers, shippers, cancel the low-ROI ads, or raise prices and pivot to a more premium brand image.

Step 4: Some Fastlane Best Practices

• Nail a Value Skew, or Better Two or Three: Offer something so unique that people can’t say no--faster delivery, better quality, a no-brainer bundle. Unscripted and TGRRE goes deeper into value skew.
• Stack Traffic Sources: Again, your best traffic sources will likely only come from 2-3 sources. Problem is, its like kissing frogs looking for your soulmate. You might need to dabble with 20 sources to find those 2-3 heavy hitters. No matter what, build an email list.
• Avoid ONE OFF Products If Possible: A one off product is one and done. Like selling a book, or something that does not compel repeat buys. Conversely, if you sell a food product, or a personal grooming product, one customer offers far greater Lifetime Customer Value ... one customer might order hundreds of times. This is where scaling magic can happen.
• Automate the Grunt Work: AI agents, AI tools, there is likely an automation for some grunt work.
• Act, Assess, Adjust: Run small experiments--$50 ad spend, a new headline, a 10% discount. Double down on winners, kill the losers. Gather data which beats guesswork.
• Leverage Other People’s Audiences: Influencer marketing has been my best channel for marketing -- except I rarely pay for it. See below and the power of Productocracy.
• PRODUCTOCRACY: Aim for the productocracy so new customers become your unpaid sales force. A productocracy is when other people love your product so much, they tell others.

Start small, but think big. That $1K day becomes $2K when you duplicate what works. Rinse, repeat.

Cant Do $1K a Day? You’ve Got a Scale Problem! Fastlane Exit: CLOSED.

If you can’t hit $1K in profits daily and keep it steady, your business is a hamster wheel. It won’t build wealth. It won’t set you free. It’s a job with extra steps.

Scaling isn’t about “hustling harder”, it’s about building a Fastlane system that runs without you chained to it.

If your $1K day relies on you working 18 hours, begging for sales, or praying for a viral retweet from Musk, Cuban, or Gates, you’re not scaling; you’re surviving.

Fix the systems, clear the bottlenecks, or confess the reality: you’ve got a scale problem, and the Fastlane is a fairy tale.

Wealth comes from leverage: time, money, people.

Before starting a business -- run the The $1K Test and see what things look like.

Fail it, and you’re stuck in a fake Fastlane that exhibits Slowlane mathematics, picking up pennies while riding a tricycle that can't go faster than 2 mph.

Needed this today, thank you MJ.

What a one liner- wages put you in traffic, profits put you in estates! Love the black and white of it!

 

[juresesko]

Just started training a guy today.

 

[justusmunene]

It's when you remember that companies like Apple need to only sell one phone to meet this target that you laugh at how easy they make it seem.

This has made me reframe my thinking.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Avoid ONE OFF Products If Possible: A one off product is one and done. Like selling a book, or something that does not compel repeat buys. Conversely, if you sell a food product, or a personal grooming product, one customer offers far greater Lifetime Customer Value ... one customer might order hundreds of times. This is where scaling magic can happen.

100 customers who buy from you once at $100 profit = $10,000.
100 customers who buy from you 10 times at $100 profit = $100,000.
10,000 customers who buy from you once at $100 profit = $1,000,000.
10,000 customers who buy from you 10 times at $100 profit = $10,000,000.

This demonstrates HOW critical it is to have something that is repeatable so those current customers stack with new ones.

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[SJuan9]

Thanks @MJ DeMarco. Currently on a crossroads between a few options, but can't attack all of them. Perfect framework to disqualify and focus on the most asymmetric winner.

 

[DarkZero]

At the moment my business is mainly selling a single book.

Step 1: Roughly 95 sales a day, if my ad costs are good. Ad costs would be around $300-400/day. Best days at the moment are around 25 sales a day.

Step 2: I could ship 100 paperbacks a day if I needed - no bottleneck there. Shipping, manpower, storage; I can scale this overnight. Hell, I could ship 1000 a day without doing a thing.

Step 3: With a bit of planning for stock, I could handle the sales without a problem.

What's stopping me? I either sell more books, which would need to test a LOT of creative to find the videos and ads that work consistently; or I need "more stuff" to sell people that buy the book. I've been selling some courses with mixed success, but the sales are small fry compared to the book sales.

What's stopping me 2: Well I made some good profits recently, so I'm going to reach out to some people and get a few more videos made. I can also expand to other platforms, so far I've only used Meta ads, I can try my video ads on YouTube too.

EDIT: After thinking about this for more than five minutes, if I can finally crack increasing my AOV with a few more videos and ads on YouTube... I can probably hit that this year... well that's the rest of the year planned out

Yup you definitely want to increase AOV and/or include back-end sales. Those can include courses, supplemental materials, events (not entirely fastlane but I have clients who enjoy this part of their business), community (MRR), etc.

You're on the right path. Just don't stop at the books!

 

[Fruitcake]

I mentioned this in another thread, and it bears repeating, and its own thread.

You want a test to see if your business has the potential to scale?

The $1K Scale Test is a strategy visualization that’ll expose whether your venture’s got Fastlane potential, or if it’s just another time-sucking job masquerading as a business.

The $1K Test: Ask yourself... “If You Made $1K in Profits on One Day, What Would That Day Need to Look Like?"

This simple question isn't about revenue that gurus like to flex on Instagram.

I'm talking about PROFITS.

If you hit $1K in profits in a single day (which is $30K/mo in profit, an amount that starts to shift lifestyles and change lives) what systems need to be in place?

What processes?

What bottlenecks show up?

This thought experiment can help you identify if your business has a scaling problem inherent to industry or economic constraints.

Step 1: Reverse-Engineer the $1K Day

See it: $1,000 in profit after 1 day. What had to happen? Break it down like a mechanic tearing apart an engine...

• How many sales? If you’re selling $100 widgets with $50 in margin, that’s 20 sales. If it’s a $500 service, that’s 2 clients. Do the math--what’s your number?
• How many customers? Did 20 people buy one thing, or did 5 buy multiple? Where did they come from--ads, referrals, organic traffic, walk-ins to a store?
• What’s the delivery look like? Did you ship product, send a digital file, flip burgers, make sandwiches, or trade time for money?
• Costs? What costs are also scaling--materials, ads, labor? If you’re spending $900 to make $1K, is that sustainable?

Step 2: Systems Check—What’s Gotta Be in Place?

• Lead Generation: What's your funnel process? Think paid ads, SEO, email lists, or a referral system.
• Sales Process: What's it look like? Automated checkout, landing pages, or a phone pitch? Can it handle 20 transactions without you babysitting every one?
• Fulfillment: How do you get the product in the hands of customers? What software are you running? Is there a team, or is it automated?
• Cash Flow: How fast do you get the cash into your bank? 3 days? 30 days? Invoicing?
• Inventory? Do you have any? Do you need warehousing? Third party fulfillment center?
• Labor: Is it possible by yourself? Need employees? Multiple locations? Multiple chefs in the kitchen?

Step 3: Bottlenecks—Where Will It Break?

• You’re the Bottleneck: If every sale, decision, or shipment runs through you, you’re the problem. Fix it by delegating or automating—hire a VA, use Zapier, train someone. Do something!
• Demand Weakness: Not enough leads? Your marketing’s weak. Glengarry Glen Ross: The leads are weak! Test new channels--Facebook ads, TikTok, door flyers, doesn't matter if it works. Usually only 2 or 3 channels will represent 80% of your inbound leads.
• Fulfillment Failures: Can’t deliver 20 orders without chaos? Upgrade your tools--Shopify, a 3PL, again, a VA or employee.
• Profit Bleed: What isn't enjoying economies of scale? Renegotiate suppliers, shippers, cancel the low-ROI ads, or raise prices and pivot to a more premium brand image.

Step 4: Some Fastlane Best Practices

• Nail a Value Skew, or Better Two or Three: Offer something so unique that people can’t say no--faster delivery, better quality, a no-brainer bundle. Unscripted and TGRRE goes deeper into value skew.
• Stack Traffic Sources: Again, your best traffic sources will likely only come from 2-3 sources. Problem is, its like kissing frogs looking for your soulmate. You might need to dabble with 20 sources to find those 2-3 heavy hitters. No matter what, build an email list.
• Avoid ONE OFF Products If Possible: A one off product is one and done. Like selling a book, or something that does not compel repeat buys. Conversely, if you sell a food product, or a personal grooming product, one customer offers far greater Lifetime Customer Value ... one customer might order hundreds of times. This is where scaling magic can happen.
• Automate the Grunt Work: AI agents, AI tools, there is likely an automation for some grunt work.
• Act, Assess, Adjust: Run small experiments--$50 ad spend, a new headline, a 10% discount. Double down on winners, kill the losers. Gather data which beats guesswork.
• Leverage Other People’s Audiences: Influencer marketing has been my best channel for marketing -- except I rarely pay for it. See below and the power of Productocracy.
• PRODUCTOCRACY: Aim for the productocracy so new customers become your unpaid sales force. A productocracy is when other people love your product so much, they tell others.

Start small, but think big. That $1K day becomes $2K when you duplicate what works. Rinse, repeat.

Cant Do $1K a Day? You’ve Got a Scale Problem! Fastlane Exit: CLOSED.

If you can’t hit $1K in profits daily and keep it steady, your business is a hamster wheel. It won’t build wealth. It won’t set you free. It’s a job with extra steps.

Scaling isn’t about “hustling harder”, it’s about building a Fastlane system that runs without you chained to it.

If your $1K day relies on you working 18 hours, begging for sales, or praying for a viral retweet from Musk, Cuban, or Gates, you’re not scaling; you’re surviving.

Fix the systems, clear the bottlenecks, or confess the reality: you’ve got a scale problem, and the Fastlane is a fairy tale.

Wealth comes from leverage: time, money, people.

Before starting a business -- run the The $1K Test and see what things look like.

Fail it, and you’re stuck in a fake Fastlane that exhibits Slowlane mathematics, picking up pennies while riding a tricycle that can't go faster than 2 mph.

This is a great test to see whether you can scale your business.

We should have a test for all five pillars of the CENTS framework. These tests will simplify the startup process and save many wasted hours on conceiving businesses without any fastlane potential.

I see a new book coming “The Fastlane Process”.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I see a new book coming “The Fastlane Process”.

Sorry, the new book isn't about Fastlane!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

100 customers who buy from you once at $100 profit = $10,000.
100 customers who buy from you 10 times at $100 profit = $100,000.
10,000 customers who buy from you once at $100 profit = $1,000,000.
10,000 customers who buy from you 10 times at $100 profit = $10,000,000.

This demonstrates HOW critical it is to have something that is repeatable so those current customers stack with new ones.

Should I plug this into the AI and create a forum calculator so someone can experiment with the numbers, and how much difference "repeat buys" means?

There's one here...

Fastlane Profit / Net Worth Calculator

Determine how many UNITS and PROFIT you need to sell to reach certain financial milestones.

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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[dipankar das]

MJ DeMarco great post! I think it would be great if you could add initial process of validating an idea- demand verification, gathering soft and hard proofs, finding the first 100 customer (hungry crowd).

 

[MitchC]

Totally achievable!

Check how many others achieved this number. If they can do it, so can you!

This is actually a really F*cking good way to decide what business to get into

Are lots of people doing this and making money and living the life you want? Then it’s probably a good idea

If everyone doing it is struggling or broke and stressed out then it probably isn’t

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Don’t be intimidated by the fact that everyone else is doing it and seeing success and think there’s no room for you and you need to go do some weird unheard of new method

Literally just do what’s working and worked before

Plenty of ecommerce, saas and real estate success stories, those are probably good spaces

I don’t really know of anyone who day trades and makes a good income and lives a good life, probably a bad idea for most people

I don’t know anyone who hit it big off a meme coin, so it’s unlikely to happen to you

 

[Kevin88660]

This is actually a really F*cking good way to decide what business to get into

Are lots of people doing this and making money and living the life you want? Then it’s probably a good idea

If everyone doing it is struggling or broke and stressed out then it probably isn’t

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Don’t be intimidated by the fact that everyone else is doing it and seeing success and think there’s no room for you and you need to go do some weird unheard of new method

Literally just do what’s working and worked before

Plenty of ecommerce, saas and real estate success stories, those are probably good spaces

I don’t really know of anyone who day trades and makes a good income and lives a good life, probably a bad idea for most people

I don’t know anyone who hit it big off a meme coin, so it’s unlikely to happen to you

Yes. Seeing what works is a lot easier than calculating, predicting and anticipating if something will work.

 

[Kevin88660]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD0X-PLax5I&pp=ygUUYWxleCBob3Jtb3ppIHZvbHVtZSA%3D


This is relevant.

 

[Frances Kelleher]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD0X-PLax5I&pp=ygUUYWxleCBob3Jtb3ppIHZvbHVtZSA%3D


This is relevant.

Loved it but my problem is I hate having cleaners in my house! The last one broke the toilet.

 

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[Kevin88660]

Loved it but my problem is I hate having cleaners in my house! The last one broke the toilet.

Alex Hormozi introduces two concepts into scaling.

Nothing is unscalable, if you intend to run a human resource model and learns to create systems to manage people. It’s hard and many people hate it (including me) but just don’t run away from it.

Scaling doesn’t work when you are working below a volume threshold. Volume creates good skill and experience, and experimentation on what works (80-20) rules requires heavy volumes of trial and error.

 

[Frances Kelleher]

Alex Hormozi introduces two concepts into scaling.

Nothing is unscalable, if you intend to run a human resource model and learns to create systems to manage people. It’s hard and many people hate it (including me) but just don’t run away from it.

Scaling doesn’t work when you are working below a volume threshold. Volume creates good skill and experience, and experimentation on what works (80-20) rules requires heavy volumes of trial and error.

Great points, I am definitely not getting in the volume I want. Systems are my downfall too.

 

[KJBe]

I'm going to apply this to my business as soon as I have time after work tomorrow

 

[The Sandman]

Interesting thought experiment. Looking at my store, I'd need to increase average daily sales from 2.7k to 4.8k. That's an increase of 80%. We do see days that high, but they're exceptional peaks, not averages.

I don't see it happening in the current building. A 2nd location would double expenses and require a MUCH bigger volume increase. Moving to a bigger store would probably be a better option.

But yeah, looking at it like this says I DO have a scale problem. But I already knew that. That's why my goal is to reduce my workload here and free up time to do other things.