The Official 2018 Fastlane Summit Event Thread

[ZCP]

Two quick things before I head to the airport.....

1) When you get back, don't start doing 'things' or trying to immediately implement the 147 ideas you pulled from this event . Sit down, put your feet up on your desk, turn the phone off, close the door, and sit and think. Truely think. Deeply. Make your plan. Sketch it all out. Then get your a$$ to work.

2) As I tell the teams I coach after a good hard practice..... all that running, all those drills, all those things you learned don't mean a damn thing if you go home and watch tv. You need to feed the machine we are creating. It needs nutrition, dedicated practice time, and a commitment to make progress. I challenge you to put a reminder in your phone for 90 days from today. Then post, PM, start a progress thread. List what you have accomplished. What progress (not what actions) have you made? Don't be in the same place you are today.

Safe travels everyone. Your time meant a lot to me.

 

[Vigilante]

For those of you that didn't attend (myself included), think about why you didn't attend. I'm sure you know the excuses you've told yourself, but are aware of the real reasons you didn't attend. I know I do.

"Not successful enough"
"Not enough money"
"Bad spoken English"
"I'm afraid"
Pick yours.

But I also, sure as hell, know that these reasons (excuses) won't stop me next year. You have exactly one year to work on whatever you think is holding you back.

Let this thread, and your FOMO, kick your a$$ back into gear.

See you at the next Summit.


EDIT: Also, thank you all for sharing pictures and small snippets of the event

My first year on the forum, I didn't attend. I posted the "reason" why I didn't attend, and I got rightfully bar-b-qued for it.

The bottom line is if it is important enough to be there, you will be there.

If it's not, you won't.

The key is that for the people who do attend, it is life changing. The people who I consulted with through the sale of my company? 100% of them I met at the gathering. The depth of your rolodex is greatly enhanced through these personal connections, and you will NEVER get that access by posting some witty comments on the forum.

I learned more from @AllenCrawley in his 45 minute presentation than any MBA student will EVER learn from some professor that teaches out of a book. I can't put a price tag on listening to @biophase talk about his company, his exit and his plans. I got from @Kung Fu Steve a condensed version of what people pay thousands of dollars to attend motivational events get. And it cost me a plane ticket, a hotel room, and a few hundred bucks? Holy shit I got to meet @James Fend ! Seriously. I hope I didn't show my fan boy star worship too much. @million$$$smile and I got a private investment lesson from @James Fend beyond anything he would ever post on the forum. A couple hundred bucks for this? Are you KIDDING ME?

The attendees don't really grieve for the people who didn't attend. Not attending is your choice. There's not much sleep lost over the guy or gal who wanted to come but didn't. There is literal sleep lost at the meetup feeding off the energy of the common bond. The attendees have a common bond and a level of commitment that is not shared with non-attendees.

Some of the presenters there blew me away, specifically because their presentations were unexpected gold. Every year. New faces, same results. Gold. This is a meetup like no other. There's no other ticket anywhere in the United States you can find that will bring you into the inner circle this will be. @MJ DeMarco doesn't do this for himself... if he did, he would listen to me and charge the few thousand dollars he should and could. He won't. He puts this on for you. He pays this forward for you. All of this is arranged not for him, but for you. It is maybe the only such conference in the United States that isn't selling you anything. It's giving, not taking. Some recently self-exiled jackass wanted @MJ DeMarco to pay him to attend and speak. Guys like that aren't even worthy of an attendee ticket. That's not what this is.

There will be dozens of people next year who today are like "I am not going to miss it" but next year will roll around and there will be another reason. Another crisis. Another shortage. Another excuse. Another "next year." And that's fine. That is natural selection, which carves out the room for the 99% of the people that are SUPPOSED to be there.

With only one or two exceptions that were predictable, everyone engaged and lives were impacted. There is nothing like it. Stories were told of how MJ's work has made permanent blessed impact. I saw introverts step out and step up and engage, and hopefully they will be blessed by daring to take the risk. I am thinking of one dude who I love on the forum. He took risks, stepped out, stepped up. Definitely not an extrovert, but he put himself in position to meet all of us. And I hope his life is blessed and changed as a result. This takes guts.

Hope to see you there next year, but the only one that gets to decide your level of engagement is... you.

And for those of you who were in attendance, now you REALLY have no excuses. We're depending on you to lead the next wave. Figuratively and literally the leadership mantle torch gets passed every year. Get yourself up to the podium.

My thanks for my boss and mentor and friend @MJ DeMarco. Legacy. You did it again.

 

[G_Alexander]

It only took me 10 F*cking years to get my a$$ here! I could kick myself.

For those of you reading this that didn't attend or are "waiting till your successful" to attend... F THAT. Get an INSIDERS subscription and get your a$$ here next year.

Success is NOT A DESTINATION. Don't wait to come. I have been missing out on time with my Fastlane "family"
-----

I love you guys. Seriously. What an amazing weekend.

Can't begin to express my thankfulness to the man, the myth, the legend: @MJ DeMarco

PS MJ... please check your FB messages. I know most of us have moved off of that toxic site, but I couldn't PM you so sent it there.
---

GOOD LUCK IN 2018 my friends. Looking forward to hearing more legendary progress from you all next year

 

[GlobalWealth]

Whew, what a week. I finally got settled into my next locale and decompressed a bit after the summit.

I have been coming to this meetup for 8 or 9 years now (hard to keep track), and I say it every year - but this event just keeps getting better and better.

The quality of presentations as well as the networking opportunities are tremendous. The pure energy of this event is incredible. It truly fills my motivational tank. Hearing what people are doing and especially hearing from the previous attendees how they've progressed is mind blowing.

I used to host conferences as well as speak at a dozen or so a year for many years, but now have stopped hosting and only attend 2-3 events per year now. This event is one of my "must attend" events. I won't miss this one.

As usual, it was great to catch up with many old friends as well as meet a few new members of the forum.

Unfortunately, being an extreme introvert, I didn't get to meet as many people as I would have liked, but I did my best to break out of the shell.

I wanted to do a brief rundown of my own takeaways from the speakers both for the attendees to share the experience and for the non-attendees who are trying to decide if this is worth it or not.

@Arrabista . I'm not sure if I even want to come if Wadih is not the opening speaker anymore. He continues to impress me with his incredible ability to connect with nearly every individual and make you feel special. His strategies for connecting with people from different cultures should be required reading.

@MJ DeMarco . In all my many years attending the summit, this was hands down your best presentation. I am also a very analytical person and the wealth equation was really enlightening. I have worked for years to create my own wealth equation, but after your presentation I can definitely see a gaping hole.

@eliquid . Honestly I am woefully ignorant on your topic but it was fascinating to learn about a saas business model. My biggest takeaway was your relentless commitment to customer retention. Too many people focus on client acquisition and forget about nurturing the existing clients. It was a good reminder.

@DaveC . My biggest takeaway from you was your willingness to put in the hard work to find the deal. Most people would quit at looking at just a few deals when they don't find a good fit. But not you - your willingness to keep digging through hundreds of deals to find the one that works is inspiring.

@Chitown . Put the F*cking donut down. 'Nuff said.

@TheTruth . I've seen your progress over the years and have witnessed a lot of your ups and downs. I am ecstatic to see your success here and it is truly inspirational. The hard work you are willing to put in and keep driving and pushing is a great reminder of why most people never reach success - they just aren't willing to work as hard as people like Boris. Well done.

@million$$$smile . Randall, the RudeDog. You my friend are the example we should all aspire to. Your presentation a few years ago was incredible. Just to blue collar guy who "stumbled" into selling tool belts and hard hats online. It was an amazing story then. Now to hear about your private label deal on the boots, making your own products, and growing an amazon store from zero to X in a period of time that would just embarrass 99% of the ecomm kids....wow. Just F*cking wow. The problem have now is that you can never come back tot he summit and bullshit us about how you don't know what you are doing...

@AllenCrawley . Allen's Cream....bwahahahahaha. Still can't stop laughing about that. I'm sure it goes well with Allen's Meat.... That aside, excellent presentation. I have followed your journey for a few years now and I love to see this "overnight success" in progress. Your attention to detail on product quality as well as brand image is second to none. I seriously cannot think of another personal care product that comes close to my impression of the high end quality of your products. And for anyone that knows you, this should not come as a surprise.

@csalvato . My takeaway from your first presentation was that hiring right from the start is essentially a sales process and doesn't end on the employees first day on the job. But the payoff is much happier workers and a significantly better long term business model when you have team members who buy in to your vision. Your crypto presentation was also excellent. You were able to take a complex topic and explain it in such a way that even people like @Vigilante were capable of understanding. And that in itself is a feat...

@Kung Fu Steve . Unfortunately I had to miss this presentation due to some personal issues. My greatest apologies to my heterosexual life partner - Steve. You know I love you boo.

@biophase . Between my clients and friends, I have a lot of people in my network doing ecommerce - A LOT. But not one of them does ecommerce like Kenric. He is exceptionally thorough in his strategy and his social mission results in amazing profits. If you want to learn ecomm, this is who you listen to, bar none.

@SteveO . Best line of the summit....."When I go to hell I hope cattails aren't there". Pretty sure I spit my coffee. No one works harder than Steve, no one. The way he analyzes a deal, creates a turnaround plan for the project, the works the plan is incredible. I'm looking forward to the presentation where the rich neighbor makes you a sizable offer and you hook up that travel trailer and go undo all the parenting of your grandkids.

@Envision . Seriously, every single young entrepreneur should be doing exactly what you are doing. I love this story. Building wealth, building your business and living rent free. Love it.

@Get Right . In case the spec home thing doesn't work out, I am certain netflix would create a comedy show for you. I seriously forgot how funny you are. That aside, I love the never give up attitude as well as the detailed analytical approach to finding opportunity. And btw, the fb pics of your spec homes look cool af.

And as always a very special thanks to my JD Mudslide buddy @Red for making this happen. We all know MJ just shows up as the pretty face, but you are the one that makes shit happen. Oh, and also a pretty face.

 

[million$$$smile]

I’m sitting at the airport, waiting for Big Bird to fly me home. Thoughts of the Summit crisscross my mind.

There were so many takeaways from the last couple of days that it would be hard to list them by their importance…

But there is one takeaway that is preeminent in my mind. One defining thought that encapsulates the entire weekend for me.

And that is the meeting of likeminded entrepreneurs who are on the same journey of providing value of some kind to the masses and striving for their life of Unscripted .

I liken the Summit to a huge repository-filled with knowledge, ideas, dreams and aspirations.

I met so many cool individuals.

Some that have already ‘made it’ and many of us that are still walking that journey.

My only regret was not meeting everyone…

One personal thing I’ve been working to incorporate in my life is learning to hold lightly of things, and to grip tightly to friendships, memories, and relationships.

Much of the latter was added this weekend.

I met new friends, created great memories and developed a few awesome relationships.

I was inspired having heard incredible stories of perseverance, overcoming obstacles, and not giving in to discouragement or setbacks.

I met with future game changers in their industry.

Others that had great ideas but needing a bit of direction.

And a few that just wanted to receive knowledge bombs and wisdom from those more experienced on this trail.

It was a minor investment with huge returns.

If there is another meetup anywhere in the world as good as this, I would be shocked.

And if there is, I am sure it would run into the thousands of dollars to attend.

Thanks to all the speakers who were bold enough to share about their failures, and successes.

Thank you @MJ DeMarco, @Red, @AllenCrawley and @Eskil for putting on an incredibly awesome couple of days.

And to all attendees:

BE INSPIRED!

Take that next step, walk the next mile, climb that yonder mountain. The destination is there in the far distance. Don’t give up. When discouragement comes reach inside and grab a little more.

If you believe in what your doing, then grow your grit.

It can be very character building.

I’ll see you there…

R

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Someone had told me there will be a Facebook group of sorts like there has been in the past years for the attendees, is this still going to happen this year?

I hope not.

One exists now, for all current and past attendees.

But please if I may say...

Contributing content (and moving users) to Mark Zuckerburg's platform (FACEBOOK) does NOT help the forum.
It does not help me.
And it does not help spread my message.

In some respects, my biggest competitor is Facebook.

When people want to move off the forum and onto Facebook, I look at it like someone walking into mom-and-pop burger shop and saying, "Hey, why don't we take our burgers and go to McDonalds?"

There's a reason why I spend all my time here, and not at Facebook.

Every year at the Summit I get a few dozen people who say to me, "You've changed my life, how can I return the favor!??"

It's very flattering and humbling. And yet my response is always the same. If you want to pay me back, simply:

• Visit the forum.
• Contribute.
• Be active.
• Share your stories, both failures and success.
• And hopefully, win a big success story that we all can be proud of.
• And finally, when you become a billionaire, don't forget the forum and the 2 books that helped tweak your mind...

At the end of the day, Facebook is not a part of this equation.

The Fastlane Summit exists because of the forum, the forum doesn't exist because of the Summit.

Hope that makes sense.

 

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[amp0193]

Who is going to earn a spot at the podium for 2019?

This guy.

@Kung Fu Steve helped me realize that 2017 was a 2 out of 10 for me. Gonna get my limiting beliefs in check, my shitty habits reprogrammed, knock down the anti-productive addictions, and replace it all with a year of massive F*cking action.


My only regret from this weekend was not getting a chance to speak or meet with everyone. Too many amazing conversations. Too little time. 3 nights of 4-hours of sleep.

If we talked even once, please keep in touch, PM me anytime. I may have forgot your name, or forum name, but I seriously loved every one of you, and learned so much.

True story!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I'll post my thoughts in a day or two, gotta decompress and get my bearings back, truly exhilarating event, people, and more.

In the mean time, I highly recommend everyone go out and buy Allen's Crème.

 

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[Vigilante]

Loved seeing you all. Sitting at the airport reflecting on a whirlwind 24 hours. So many memories packed into such a short window of time. The quick trip ended perfectly with some down time with friends and an unbelievable private meeting with one of the best cryptocurrency minds in the country.

Until next time, my friends. You have 364 days to get your shit together.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Some call outs for next year... either to SPEAK, or to ATTEND...

@MidwestLandlord
@IceCreamKid
@SinisterLex
@Fox
@MTF
@Kak

Would love to meet (or hear you guys speak) next year!

Just a few off the top of my head!

Feel free to bop in a few of your own suggestions!

 

[Red]

Now that things have settled a bit & I have caught my breath, I wanted to write up my thoughts as well....


These events are always incredible. My only lament (which mirrors just about everyone else's) is that I didn't get to spend more time with more people & get to shake the hands of more newcomers.

Thanks to all the ladies who showed up. Thanks to all the guys who were awesomely respectful & welcoming to those ladies. I truly appreciate that this has been made into a space that is welcoming, supportive & protective of all. Both online & in person.

Thank you to those attendees who offered to lend a hand where you saw one was needed.

Thank you to those who spoke, I picked up at least one tidbit from every. single. presenter. And often, quite a bit more.

Thank you for the feedback, the write-ups on this thread & the input for how to make things even better next time around.



For those of us who never had supportive friends or family, for those of us who never quite felt like we had a tribe, and for those of us who never quite felt understood, I'm thankful for all of you.

 

[Philip Marlowe]

How the hell do you describe the last two days? A dozen speakers - who obviously have other ways to spend their time - distilling decades of success and failure into 45 minute talks for the benefit of a group of strangers.

And when the speakers stopped on a break, some friendly person would approach you as you look around blankly and ask you about yourself, your goals, and what you hope to get out of this.

How on earth did we all find each other? Even the people who were self-professed jerks where obviously there to help. And not really jerks. At all.

I don't want to sound hyperbolic, but words can't really describe what I saw over the last two days. Just....kindness.

Until next time. Safe travels.

-PM

 

[Vigilante]

Now is when it starts.

The slide.

The meetup is over. The weekend is here. I had to settle back into my day job this week. All of the bullshit I hate was waiting for me when I got back.

And I made it to the weekend after.

I'm not in Scottsdale any more. I don't have Wadih or Steve to jump start my morning. I don't have a room of 100 other people that think like I do to walk into.

All I have is a Saturday, right back where I started from. And Sunday is the pre-cursor to Monday.

And the slide begins.

The next meetup is 51 weeks away. You have plenty of time. After all, you were gone last weekend. This weekend you just need to relax. Regroup. Maybe Sunday night you promise yourself you'll look at your notes from last weekend. Only Sunday night... well that's the closing ceremony for the Olympics.

Then the alarm rings, and it's Monday morning, and you're right back where you were.

And now it's April. And you stop by the forum, but you really don't have any updates for your progress thread. Remember your progress thread?

And now it's May. And June. No longer a slide. It's who you are again.

I was so excited that weekend. So happy to be in Scottsdale. So comfortable around people who "got" me. Who wanted the same things I did.

Wow those speakers were awesome, weren't they? Those people are amazing. I want to be one of them at some point.

But now it's July. I really need a vacation. I am so sick of this shit. Half the year is over already. My job sucks.

Next weekend I am really going to kick some shit in gear. I even bookmarked VistaPrint. I will come back to that. Got my Facebook name reserved.

The forum is a lot slower than it was in February. Not much going on there. I need a book or something to get me motivated. I am going to head over to Amazon and check out there entrepreneur books. No business books.

So F*cking sick of this. Tonight I am going to do some work. I am going to get this started.

Shit where did the night go? Oh well. I have committed to myself that this coming weekend, actually next weekend I am going to start kicking some a$$.

I have no idea how it's possible it is September already. F*cking job. F*cking life. F*cking no money. Meetup discussion already? How is that even possible?

I have no F*cking money. I want to buy a ticket anyway. I need to get out of here. I am NOT going to miss the next meetup. Speak? LOL. What would I speak about?

How much my job sucks? Maybe I can figure out something between now and then so at least I have something to talk about.

Merry Christmas, everyone. - Vigilante

 

[eliquid]

For example, I'd love to have heard each speaker talk about what their coping strategies are for when they hit the wall - things are going horribly wrong, they're discouraged, they haven't found the next step yet, they want to quit - but they don't - what are they saying in their head and what are they doing that is, effectively, their coping strategy for how they get themselves out of that space.

I'm going to write mine out, but here goes...

If it's a real wall, I pretty much shut down as a first twitch.

I'm the kind of person I tackle one thing at a time and I can't move past it if it's not tackled.

So if I hit a wall and can't get around it, everything else shuts down almost for me. When I start to see I am having unproductive days ( 2-3 in a row ), I know I'm stuck. Sometimes I don't need this trigger and I just know upfront, but this is how I also unconsciously know if I don't experience it upfront.

At that point, I just start eating the elephant.

How do you eat an elephant? 1 bite at a time.

Since I am really in tune with who I am ( Not Fulfilled? Depressed? Maybe You Need An Alignment ) one of the first things I do is clear my plate entirely of all workload and dump everything out of my brain.

Next step, I try to get some alone time to think and recharge.

If this means taking a road trip for 2-3 hours, I do it.

If it means reading a book for the whole day, I do it.

I just try to get myself out of the funk and to a baseline mentally and get my energy levels back up to start doing work and begin on a fresh plate.

At that point, I can start to eat the elephant and tackle the wall.

You just gotta start doing something against it, even if its a tiny bit of progress.

I can't stop or shut down though, too much is riding on it

• I refuse to go back to a job
  
  
• I can't let my kids down, they look up to me and I can't give them failure as a role model
  
  
• Im gonna look like a fool on this forum if I start giving up
  
  
• I'm not going back to eating Ramen with hot sauce every lunch. I hate that. I love my nachos, wings, and steak too much.
  
  
• I got F*cking dreams yo, I can't learn to surf if I am working and living hand to mouth
  
  
• Nothing, I mean nothing is impossible. I've figure out and done shit before harder than this.
  
  
• If I can't tackle this, what other greater challenge is there in my life at this moment ( hint: none )
  
  
• Maybe I can't tackle this, with this mindset. But what if I tackle it from X, or Y, or Z mindset? As in, how would a 21 year old teenager just out of college handle this? etc.
  
  
• Let's break this down to 12 steps. What are 12 milestones to getting this complete and how do I tackle the first one?
  
  
• Can someone else jump on this and look at it with different eyes?
  
  
• Maybe I cant do the 1st milestone bc of some hard issue, but can I work on the 2nd one? Maybe doing this will help me reveal how to tackle the 1st milestone.
  
  
• If this doesn't get done ( for me personally ), every other task behind it in my life is gonna get delayed. Putting off something isn't worth delaying my goals. Not 1 bit.
  
  
• Did I say I refuse to go back to a job? Wanna know what's worse than going back to a job? The mouth breathing SOB who is 20 years my junior telling me when I can eat and how much I am worth 5 days a week. He tells me when I get up and what I do all day, although he has never done the job himself. The fact he doesn't care Christmas is on the way I need my bonus to buy my kids presents a week before Christmas is actually here. The fact that instead of a bonus, I get laid the F*ck off and have to come home and face the music from my wife and feel like a total damn loser and ask my mom for a temp. loan just to pay next month's utility bill while I still havent bought the Christmas presents yet for the kids. That's whats F*cking worse then this "wall" I have to tackle.

That last bullet point is a true story ( no joke on @Chitown )

Sometimes you just gotta know WHO you are. Past, present, and planned future...

If you want it bad enough, you'll get around the wall and discouragement.

.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Main takeaways?

Don't miss next year?

 

[Red]

Ladies pic! (this is the only one where EVERYONE'S head is actually turned towards the camera so this is what you get!)

 

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[Red]

a few more venue pics:



And those Arizona sunsets....

 

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[James Fake]

Wow... De-compressing from a trip like this is... hard.

For those that don't know.. I've been on & off the forum before the first book came out and back during my senior year of college when I had absolutely no clue what I was going to do in life and seeking direction.

After years and years of talking & interacting, I finally get a chance to meet these same people. And I'm still a bit speechless. This may get a bit long here lol.

One; I got to finally thank @MJ DeMarco in person. I thought about this moment for years and years. What was I going to say? How was I going to say it? I mean MJ's influence completely changed the direction of my life & the successes I have achieved so far in life, MJ planted that seed 9 years ago. I can solidly say, without this forum; I would not be no where near where I am today.

So when I met MJ; I completely duff'ed it. None of what I rehearsed in my head went to plan lmao. I think 9+ years of relentless hustle, grind, and sacrifices was well said in 2 tear drops of gratitude (just 2 right @AllenCrawley lol) with no words really needing spoken.

- - - - - - - - - -

My head space is still in a bit of cloud, so sorry if I missed anybody.. @Vigilante - you were excited to meet me? Nooo way... I was way more excited to finally get a chance to meet and talk to you! The amount of respect I have for you throughout the years, it was an uber-humbling feeling after I brain-dumped crypto to you & @million$$$smile - Here I am spilling my crazy non-sense to these OG's that have achieved so much & they are full-ears ingesting everything I'm saying. Absolutely humbling to say the least.. Thank you!

@LightHouse - apart from being a complete comedian, his insights and advice were so good; it had me waking up the morning in a completely soaked shirt from an anxiety-filled dream. I've interacted with him for years on here, and after just 20mins, I get the most honest, raw advice ever.. stuff I needed to hear! Thank you!

@biophase - this guy needs a clone machine. Some of the best advices I got this weekend was not about business, but about handling life & balances. And everything you said will resonate with me for years and years to come. Thank you!

I met quite a few other forum OGs like @JAJT @JasonR @Jill @Kung Fu Steve @SteveO @Eskil @DBXI @DaveC and others - time was the enemy here and I regret not getting a solid convo in! Sooo many others I missed.

Made some life long friends here: @TKDTyler @nitroheadz28 @Ungodly @vitality11 @amp0193 and others.. the level of connection on another level. I've been looking for friends like this for the past 10 years, and here they were the whole time. Now they know I am 110% serious when I hurl insults at them on Slack & I hope they take all of it personal lmao

- - - - - - - - - -

Amazingly, somehow, there were many that met me in a different light. There were those that have read my breadcrumbs throughout the years, looked up to me, & excited to meet me. All of them reminded me of me 9 years ago. The hunger in their eyes, the passion & enthusiasm in their energy bubble, etc.

I hope me rambling to them came across okay lol. Many, if not all, of them all were taking actions, taking steps towards their goals, etc. and not just "action faking". I wanted to make sure they heard it from me personally as someone who's been in their shoes, they are on the right path! Persistence will be tested and tested and tested in the following years, but one foot ahead of the other every single day.. you will get there.

- - - - - - - - - -

The speakers were all amazing. The location, atmosphere, the energy, etc. out of this world. Thank you to the team who put it all together, Danielle, @Eskil , etc.

I got serious a$$-kicking to do in 2018 to have a story to tell at the next summit. I can't wait, and I look forward to it & hanging with all the friends I made in the between time.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Hey gang,

I'm getting shit ton of requests for Chicago UPW info -- please email me @ stephen.hilgart@tonyrobbins.com with those requests and I'll handle those.

I mentioned to all attendees I'll be sure to get you at cost but here are the rules:

1. you can't tell people outside of our crew
2. you can't be a douche about it

I'm thinking about asking MJ for permission to do a paid ad on the forum for tickets but if/when I do that -- I'll be doing that to make money so don't expect me to do this again

If you did not attend the summit... well... you missed out on more than just a few drinks with friends!

 

[Eskil]

all those things you learned don't mean a damn thing if you go home and watch tv. You need to feed the machine we are creating.

Exactly. The first thing I do now after these events is this:
I sit down at my computer, take out all of my notes, ideas, new connections, and everything else that I learned - and I put them all into actionable items in Trello.

Right now is the perfect time to bring up this super valuable thread by @LightHouse :
GOLD - Achieve Laser FOCUS + PRODUCTIVITY With The System Legendary Fastlaners Use...

I cannot recommend this tool enough! It seriously propelled my own efficiency, structure, accountability, and task planning into the stratosphere.

Do NOT procrastinate on this. Don't let all those notes you made get left to gather dust in your backpack Don't let all the memories of conversations you had the last two days fade out and be forgotten before you know it. Right NOW is when everything is still fresh in our minds.... and it's the best time now to make them ACTIONABLE. ITEMS.

I already have several new ideas and new action steps that I now cannot avoid doing because my Trello (or whatever task manager you prefer) forces me to be reminded of them until I have completed them.

 

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[SteveO]

As always, blown away by the quality of people that attended this summit. This is the only place I can go where everyone speaks the same language. A language that few of us understand. We can be comfortable. We can be ourselves. We can converse without glazed or condescending eyes looking back at us.

 

[Get Right]

Wow, what a summit! @MJ DeMarco thank you so much for trusting me to present to the group. I'm not a public speaker and frankly 120 high achievers giving 45 minutes of their life to listen to me was terrifying....until I looked around the room and saw the reassurance of so many friends (new and old).

Absolutely! And we like failure stories too! I was quite impressed by @Get Right 's laundry list of "occurrences" before he hit pay dirt.

Badges of honor, ha!

@Get Right your talk blew me away.

I confess I almost skipped it. The subject matter didnt interest me. Until you started talking. And I realized that your story... is all of our story. The discovery. The attempts, the failures. The win. The CENTS. The home run and the beautiful end game.

While I could only understand part of what you said (due to the drawl) the parts I did understand, I loved. You are an excellent, captivating winner and next year I would like to hang out with you fire side for a while as I have much more to learn from you. I'll bring the whiskey.

Well done, sir. Well played.

Wow, thank you for the nice post @Vigilante ! It would be an honor to have a fireside chat with you next time. I think I will be the one learning though!

And he has a lot of "pop" in his golf swing. (bell ring) "Big hitter, the Lama"... It was nice to have @Get Right come play the course. It is also good to know the inside info on his forum name.

@SteveO - I had one of the best golfing experiences in my life playing your course. The hospitality you showed was truly appreciated. You are an inspiration. I'll work on my driver so I can limit the broken house windows, ha! (picture of SteveO playing his own course!)


@Robert R - Thanks for all the pictures! I don't take many and always regret it. You made a lot of people's trip more memorable. Wife approved also
@Red - Thanks for everything you do! I can't wait to hear about your new venture(s).
@AllenCrawley - Cream jokes aside, I was truly impressed with your progress and humbled by your introductions. Thank you.

I was going to tag everyone I spoke too but ran out of room, ha! Love YA'LL and I'll shoot you a PM.

 

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[Castillo]

For those of you who didn't make it, I can honestly say that the relationships I built with some of the guys here over the last two days have returned my investment in magnitudes. There is nothing better than physical human interaction. There are many things you can talk to people about on the forum, but nothing will be the same as the conversations you have with the peoole you meet. Even if you didn't make it, make a conscious effort to find other like-minded people in your community that you can converse with in such a way.

Thank you all for the good times and I will certainly be seeing you year after year from now on.

Edit: one thing I have to admit, I was scared to talk to real entrepreneurs that have done these amazing feats in their lives. But upon coming here, it made me realize that these F*ckin guys are just people too. Majority of guys on this forum, and in your life would be happy to help (when they have the time of course) so don't be afraid to network.

 

[eliquid]

I cant speak for others, but this event really is like none other.

We all take away something different and we all experience something unique, but I've been to several events/conf/summits in my life:

1. Ad Techs
2. Affiliate Summits
3. Smaller and private events similar to MJ's in other locations

Etc.

I have a certain type of personality and attitude, but all those other events always felt formal, stiff, unfriendly, cut and dry, and bland. Cookie cutter almost when it came to the people that attended and the way they interacted with each other.

This event wasn't like that.

I actually stopped going to events a few years ago overall because it was so stiff and cut & dry. I was paying money, listening, trying to network and it just felt "business". I didn't need that, or really gain much from them so I stopped going overall because that is what I always left with once the "shiny" from the event was over.

But on the first day, I see Allen and Bobby cutting up on stage. Actually it was pretty much Bobby and whoever was up on stage was cutting up.

Then the inside jokes, the back and forth, the interaction....

You could tell there was a friendship among most of the people. One that went back years even.

I heard stories privately of how many of them help each other, not only in business but in their personal lives.

You could tell people in the room actually did care for others and it wasn't just from the presenters or organizers.

People were genuine in this event and that makes it totally radical and unique.

I learned a lot, about a lot of things. Especially how to give a better presentation that involves audience participation, personal storytelling, imagery, and connecting with others. So even if I forget the topics of each presenter, I'm coming away with a tremendous amount of value just in "teaching others".

I generally don't tell myself, "I'll be back next year" after these events. This event has totally changed that now though.

.

 

[GuestUser4aMPs1]

Here comes the sappy post. As I’m writing this, it’s still hard to wrap my head around everything that has happened this past weekend. It went so fast, and it all feels so surreal. There are many, many memories I know we'll all cherish for years to come.



First, it goes without saying that the organizers did an incredible job in putting this event on. @
AllenCrawley , @Eskil , @MJ DeMarco , @Red , we all owe every last memory from this past weekend to you guys. 
A resounding “THANK YOU” to you folks, as well as all the speakers involved.

Now that the dust has settled a bit, I'll attempt to catalogue these memories as best as possible to give the attendees I've interacted with something to remember, to publicly thank the individuals I've spoken with, and to open a window to the amazing possibilities that can happen if you decide to attend next year.

The goal was to get humbled and learn. It's very easy to think you're hot shit if you're a small-town shark amongst peers with a non-business mindset. I'll admit that even posting on the forum, I get nervous about tough love, despite knowing that it's what leads to growth. I don't know what made me think speaking to many of you in-person would make it any less intimidating…Nevertheless, I went.

Boy, if you don’t get the chance to talk shop with anyone back home, you’re in for a treat. Not only are the attendees incredibly knowledgeable, they are friendly and very open and willing to listen to your struggles.

 On that note, I've been at capacity and behind ~2 weeks in production, and afraid to push on the gas for more sales.

Phil (@lowtek) and I met beforehand for coffee, and I have to thank him for grilling me on the business saying, paraphrasing: "I'd rather die fighting than die still. In the same way, I'd be more worried about being broke than being overwhelmed with work." In addition, he had great advice for allocating current staff.

 I have to thank @Growth & Learn for taking the time to help me look at the mathematics behind making smart business decisions. What began as two people chilling out and decompressing became one of the best conversations I’ve had in a while.

In the same token, it was very good news getting confirmation that I'm on the right track, definitely have @Kung Fu Steve and @Gary to thank for that. I genuinely appreciate you two taking the time to listen to a young gun run his mouth 



It was amazing to personally thank some of the people who’s content on the forum has been game-changing, if not life-changing. Special thanks to Jason (@eliquid) for getting me on track with his alignment post a few months back, and his PPC post, which has directly resulted in me more than doubling the business.

Now for the fun stuff...

I never expected some of the crazy adventures that were to be had, like getting packed like Sardines in the back of @Greg Rutkowski 's car with Gamee (@Water) James (@jimmeboy), and Ed (forum name?) while heading to hike. Gamee, Ed and I doing l33t p@rc0re on the trail while scratched and beaten by thornbushes and rocks. Getting lost on the trail and not giving the slightest damn, because taking the path less traveled has its own reward:





It was great catching up with familiar faces from the Tampa, FL family (@Ronak, @Vigilante, @S. Brown, and @Arun Siva - who a year ago couldn't make it to the meetup).



At some point, the young guys in their early 20’s all ended up finding each other and creating a common bond. Special thanks to @PTP, @inputchip, and @Water for making this weekend a blast. You guys are awesome to hang with, and I hope we all stay in touch on our climb to the top.

There are many people who also had a part of this, either in passing conversation or some people who don’t come to mind at the moment. If I haven't mentioned your name, please get in touch. I still have a huge list of people I’m reaching out to individually to follow-up on the conversations we had.

Bottom line: there were many friendships made at this meetup, and many conversations in that room that simply can't be bought. I’ve had the unique privilege to meet some of the greatest minds in many industries, who were willing to chat over a drink or dinner simply because they truly care about pushing everyone. The people in this community are solid, principled individuals with incredible stories and genuine hearts, and I can’t thank them enough for their contributions here and in-person.

True. F*n. Story.

 

[Eskil]

Starting to see new progress threads being made as a result of attending the summit.
I encourage all the first timers who attended the summit, and who feel like they have not yet made much progress (or are maybe new to all of this), to:

1) Create yourself a progress thread. It will help keep yourself accountable, teach others your takeaways, lessons, and failures to avoid along the way, and also give you valuable feedback from others.

2) Make it your goal to some day be a presenter at a future summit. Start today by writing down what the title of your presentation would be, and imagine yourself standing up there speaking to the room about your accomplishments and hurdles (the same accomplishments and hurdles you may have yet to face - but that you are soon about to get into).

 

[JAJT]

Home finally - wish I stayed till Tuesday. Live and learn

First time I touched my laptop since Tuesday - I have some serious catching up to do, haha.

What an amazing weekend.

Reconnected with some fantastic friends I haven't seen in years.
Got to put a face to some names that I've been chatting with online for a while now.
Also made some awesome new friends that I've never seen or talked to before the event.

It was a wild, amazing ride from start to finish.

The presentations were awesome and inspiring and super helpful as always. I can't even list how much I learned and took away from them all. A HUGE thank you to everyone who got up there and for James to have everyone's back, just in case.

ALL the speakers were fantastic but I'm never not going to single out @million$$$smile as one of my favorite speakers of all time. You (once again!) had the entire room hooting and hollering and on the edge of their seat while you stood up there completely reserved and humble and just told your story like it was. Hat's off to you man, seriously.

The greatest challenge this weekend was getting more than 3 minutes with anyone. And my voice is still destroyed at that.

So much "this".

Even an entire week is simply not enough time to spend with such fine company. I got in Tuesday and spent basically every waking hour with amazing folks and I STILL didn't get around to meeting everyone.

I'd say I got to "go deep" with a solid handful of folks (@LightHouse nailed it on that one) and other folks very unfortunately ended up being little more than a handshake, a smile, and a "great to meet you" before one of us got pulled away for a dozen different reasons. And everything in between for that matter

Just know that if I met you for even 10 seconds - I'm happy to have done so!
And if I missed you entirely - trust me - it wasn't for any lack of trying!

I was going to do some shout outs to folks I met with and a few quick comments on the weekend but honestly - I can't do it.

EVERYONE was amazing.

There wasn't even ONE person who I wasn't happy to meet.

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone again next year.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Wut, was Klaw at the summit ?

Was not Klaw.

How old are you...like 6?

To your credit, I'm guessing u would talk to people, be conversational, and not walk around ignoring everyone like you are King Farook among the peasants.

I only spoke with ONE person who felt like this summit "wasn't what he expected" and that the presentations were supposedly "disappointing".

Ya mean the guy that talked to no one, concealed his name tag, had his head down the whole time, ate lunch with no one, and had his ear plugs in during presentations!?

NAWWWWWWW, he should have loved the Summit!

True story!

well then maybe this forum is not for you.

We already knew that. @Vigilante even alluded somewhere in a post (some days ago) that he should double-check his reasons for attending, spidey-senses were already tingled. In fact, I almost did not approve that ticket transfer. And I should have trusted my gut. Someone who would have found value in the ticket (another life shift) didn't get to go. And we could have saved this gentleman a few bucks.

Other than stated above, this will be my only comment on it. I'm not gonna talk about one sour apple among the orchard when the orchard was the best ever. I'm just sad that we missed the boat on that one, both for his sake to save time/money, and the person that didn't get to go.

2) Make it your goal to some day be a presenter at a future summit. Start today by writing down what the title of your presentation would be, and imagine yourself standing up there speaking to the room about your accomplishments and hurdles (the same accomplishments and hurdles you may have yet to face - but that you are soon about to get into).

Absolutely! And we like failure stories too! I was quite impressed by @Get Right 's laundry list of "occurrences" before he hit pay dirt.

Not every talk or presentation was applicable to my business or anyone's business for that matter, but if you look for the similarities in how people from different backgrounds, ages, cultures, education levels, etc. have become successful and you apply those principals in your life and business it will have a profound impact on your life and your business.

That's always a concern every year. A RE guy might not find value in a talk about PPC and vice versa, but in every instance, I found the stories and presentations valuable to me, even though I have zero chance of owning a golf course and zero chance of owning an ironworker store ... the value is in hearing the process, the mindset, the reaction to failure and trials, and the stories...

Attending this event proved to be one of the best choices I made in life.

Great to hear it! YES!

And thanks to MJ for mathematically showing us this.

At only of a cost of $101... he got lucky!

 

[Raoul Duke]

ATTENTION

ATTENTION

ATTENTION


All non summit attendees. Everything you read on this thread is a;

@Chitown​

 

[PedroG]

I almost cancelled my trip—even after the ticket swap time period had expired.

I forced myself to go way out of my comfort zone to attend this event.

Holy shit, I cannot believe by how much my expectations were exceeded!

It’s weird. I met people that I felt like I already knew before.

I feel extremely lucky to have found this forum.

But we know better than to credit luck for anything.

Not only because of MJ’s mind blowing presentation where he proved without a doubt that if you haven’t succeeded yet, it’s only a matter of mathematically-proven-time--as long as your are following CENTS...

... But because as I heard someone say a while back...what we sometimes refer to as Luck is nothing but the point where Preparation meets Opportunity.

I hope to soon be able to contribute half as much as what the speakers and others contributed to me, because as @Kung Fu Steve taught us, without fulfilling the need of Contribution, we aren’t quite complete.

My only regret is that I didn’t get to thank MJ in person.

Thanks to all the speakers, and of course, @MJ DeMarco , @AllenCrawley, @Red, and Eskil for making all of this possible.

Know that what you do is tremendously appreciated.

@IlyaP, @Dunkafelics, @c4n, @Beatingtheodds, @Eskil, @eliquid, @JAJT, @Hyrum, @DaveC, @Water, @Castillo, @James Fend, @Jill, @Greg Rutkowski, @rogainer, @ZCP, @Kung Fu Steve, @Ungodly, @vitality11, @becks22, @Ronak, @Raoul Duke, @Chitown, @UnrealCreative, @Arrabista, @powderhound100, @LightHouse, @nitroheadz28

Forgot your user names: Dave, Brett, Zach, Chad, Adolfo, Antoine.


-Pedro