What book are you reading? Right now. Post up!

[MJ DeMarco]

Saw this advertised on BookBub... only 99c on Kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D9BHRH0/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20



Might be worth a peek, I haven't read it, but at 99c, the EV on finding something helpful to your biz is probably worth a stab.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Daniels]

Currently reading 'Purple Cow' by Seth Godin:



Great read so far. It's all about making your products or services remarkable. Reminds me a lot of what Mj says on violating your customer's expectations in positive ways. Wow them consistently. (SUCS I believe? Correct me if I'm wrong @MJ DeMarco )

Next on deck: Getting to YES, by Roger Fisher/Bruce Patton

 

[MTF]

Recommended by @Tiago. Very solid book so far (I'm at 26%) showing a very different way on how to get things done while doing less (so right up my alley as I'm a devoted fan of the 80/20 principle).

 

[Deleted78083]

Who knew the 22 immutable laws of marketing was such a mainstream yet good book?!

It's simple, short, to the point, full of marketing lessons but also full of life lessons!

Loving it so far (I am at rule 13).

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[deliux]

"Never split the difference - negotiate if your life depends on it" by Chitopher Voss

I am listening 2nd time it one of the best books of technical things not general concepts. Highly recommend!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Tyrant]

I'm currently reading (The $1,000,000 Web Designer Guide ) by Rob Anthony O'Rourke or Fox. As I'm about 65% through his book I can confidently say his book was worth my time. Even though I've only gone through the mindset section I find it incredible how much value you can actually get from those simple concepts your not a web designer but a PROBLEM SOLVER. The best thing about his book is that it clearly shows you the difference between someone who is a problem solver and one who isn't. I believe it's a valuable book for anyone who thinks of using web design to jumpstart your path. The $1,000,000 Web Designer Guide by Rob Anthony O'Rourke is a 10/10 book for me as I got actual value from it.

 

[David Fitz]

I'm currently reading Who Not How by Dan Sullivan

Instead of asking how you can do something, start asking who has done this before and who can help me? Then go find them.

 

[rsrs]

Breath - James Nestor

Incredible studies and ideas about the simplest thing we all do all the time. Getting better in breathing can be the key to unclock powerful energy in your brain as well as physical performance. The importance of carbon dioxide and how to breath the right way are shocking things to me.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Per @GIlman and his recommendation...

I think anyone who has any smidgen of wealth should be reading it...

Minimally has some decent historical stories.

Amazon.com: Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail (Audible Audio Edition): Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb, Ray Dalio, Simon & Schuster Audio: Books

Amazon.com: Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail (Audible Audio Edition): Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb, Ray Dalio, Simon & Schuster Audio: Books

www.amazon.com

 

[nicajeleen]

This book is very timely for me.

I am in the preparation phase of starting a blogsite. I am usually a private person and don’t share much on social media or the public. Until I recently came to a realization that hoarding what I know won’t help me. Others should benefit from what I know even if I’m not an expert of anything. But I am still very overly conscious of what others might think of me.

Going back to the book, I am reading this to give me that push I need to start what I want to start.

 

[MTF]

Continuing with the theme of mental toughness.

Finished these two:




Will soon finish this one:

 

[woken]

Lots of business books here lately.

How much of it was practical advice that you actually implemented and seen results?

I decided I know enough for now and stopped reading. Well well, I am more productive than ever.

Funny enough,
Only 5% of what I read so far was actually useful.
I don’t want to sound biased, but :
Pick any of MJ’s books if you haven’t so far. It’s the only read you need from start up to exit.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MitchC]

What a man. I can assure you that he's considered one of the biggest legends in Jiu jitsu and martial arts. A lot of things in his book find a clearer explanation once you practice the actual discipline. I had the honour of training under one of his black belts for 3 years. It made me a better human on so many fronts. I became 10 times more focused and able to solve problems, in touch with my emotions. This man's obsession with breathing is extremely meaningful.

He was on joe rogan and wow, definitely one of my favourite episodes. The way he speaks so slowly and clearly, but also so surely, he just struck me as so put together.

I love listening to guys who are in that stage of their life, they’ve gone hard and have a lot to show for it and now are backing off the gas peddle and just enjoying sharing what they know.

I’m reading Mr China.

My last book was navals almanac and it was good but I don’t remember a huge amount of it, and I definitely remember struggling to get through my 10 pages each day for 75 hard. It’s not really meant to be read cover to cover so that’s probably part of the reason.

On the other hand, I cannot put Mr China down. I’m reading a full chapter at a time and they are long chapters. I have to stop at the end of the chapter and get on with my day or I’d just read the whole thing in 1 go. It’s always temping me to pick it back up too. What a book!

This section and others like it made me laugh. They also give me hope. This communist socialist left wing agenda 2030 great reset thing is going to look exactly like this. It will not work at all.

Anyway that’s a bit of a tangent, just enjoy this page, it gave me a good laugh.

 

[Antifragile]

At the recommendation of @Kak I just started reading The Science of Success by Charles Koch

 

[Kak]

At the recommendation of @Kak I just started reading The Science of Success by Charles Koch
View attachment 42822

Freaking game changing management book. Literally no other management book is on this wavelength and it makes incredible sense.

I think the invention of this management style will ripple through industries for centuries. What the Gutenberg press did for the flow of information, Charles probably did for management. It’s a shame that few want to listen.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MitchC]

James Dyson - invention, a life

So far I’m finding it incredibly difficult to read, he’s just rushing through all these different historical moment and inventions and all these people.

I just kind of have to force myself to blast through it rather than keep thinking who was that again, where did this guy suddenly appear from etc.

I hope it gets better and easier to read.

It’s almost the total opposite of Mr China which I sped through easily and could not put down.

I will say though, it is interesting, the history of these inventions and companies he’s talking about, and it is interesting to hear his experienced insight, what he learned from them and how he thinks about them.

His personality is coming through as well, he’s ripping into politicians and British people and all sorts of things which I’m enjoying.

I just really hope this is some kind of really long introduction and the rest of the book gets a lot easier to follow and read as it becomes more focused on him.

Just an update on this, probably the very page after I wrote this the book got really good.

It just switched into a chronological account of his business journey and became much easier to read.

And what a story he has.

One of the takeaways is that he ignores market research and does everything differently. He can do this because he owns the whole company.

People in focus groups with new products might say they don’t like something, but then you do it and put it on the market and turns out everyone loves it.

A couple things that surprised me was 1, how innovative and focused on innovation and engineering Dyson is, which you can tell from the products they’ve made, but not to the level that this book explains.

You might see oh he made a better vacuum, or hand dryer. But to do that he entirely reinvented how vacuum cleaners work, and to do that he had to prove that all the leading experts at the time were wrong because all their studies said it wouldn’t work.

He also reinvented how electric motors work to make them way smaller and way more powerful. At a cost of like 100m, when there was no real need since the current ones worked and the new ones would be way more expensive.

And 2, he owns the whole company, started it from nothing, invented a new type of vacuum cleaner in his garage, and now spends billions on developing new ideas and hiring engineers.

And 3, we take for granted so many products. The first part of the book is talking about different things and it just kind of brushes over how he made a new boat trailer and the existing models used some kind of seat belt straps and weren’t that easy to use. Now we just take it for granted that you use ratchet straps and trailers are fairly simple and well designed. Vacuums would be another obvious one since that’s his main product, old vacuum cleaners absolutely sucked.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Daniel.]

This isn't the typical book recommended but I have to post the book that literally changed my life. I finished this in one sitting (while hungover) and literally stopped drinking after having trouble cutting it out completely. I DO NOT live in temptation at all, I have completely changed my mindset towards alcohol - and has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I haven't had a drink in about 5 years

COMPLETELY CHANGED MY LIFE

This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life - Kindle edition by Grace, Annie. Professional & Technical Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Buy This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life: Read Kindle Store Reviews - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[Antifragile]

 

[biophase]

View attachment 43466

Just finished reading. It features some interesting stories of solopreneurs and/or small businesses that make a lot of money without working a lot. @biophase is also featured in this book.

Main pros: some unique examples of cool businesses and honest experiences including both successes and failures

Main cons: C19 was mentioned on almost every single page - how it affected each business, how it sucked, how they had to adapt, how people's behavior changed, how to protect your business from another C19 blah blah blah. It was so tedious that this book was pretty much destined to fail commercially as it has zero longevity.

What was interesting to me in this book is that there were also many businesses that weren't making alot of money relative to their revenue. One wasn't even profitable because they spent so much money on getting customers.

The shocking one to me was the girl running the high end Airbnb. I think she had 14 homes and did $15 million in revenue!

 

[Kak]

Pretty fitting for our times. Better to have and not need than need and not have.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

When I listen to something I don’t understand, I don’t feel stupid. I feel the author sucks at explaining.

That’s how I felt throughout the entirety of “A Brief History Of Time.”

I was like “Gee Hawking, you really don’t care if I get any of this.” Lol

 

[MJ DeMarco]

The last book I read is considered a classic that most schools force kids to read... The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. I read it out of curiosity as I remember being forced to read this as a teen. Can't say I remembered anything from that first read, other than I hated it. Then again, anything a teacher forced me to read was not going to be liked.

Considering this was written in the 40's (and set in the same time) it really transcended time well. Before I picked it up, I had no idea what it was about. Considering its story is about a depressed, suicidal teen who sees through the cultural facades (or phoniness) it's message is probably more relevant today than ever. I definitely found myself identifying in the character with respect to feeling like an alien in his culture.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MTF]

Nathan Latka - How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital

I had seen this book a few times before and the douchey cover and weird title always put me off. I heard about it again recently, recommended for those interested in buying businesses instead of building them.

And it's one of the best business books I've ever read.

The guy is sometimes douchey (bragging how he posted on Instagram a picture wearing a borrowed $4k jacket to appear rich - cringe as F*ck; his IG account has been inactive since 2019 so it looks like he has changed) and, to my standards, unethical at times (for example, seemingly "innocent" lies to gather data or get a better deal).

But this aside, the book contains extremely creative tips how to get rich through business and investing. He shares a lot of creative deal-making I've never seen before except for Jay Abraham's stuff (and that man is legendary).

I particularly liked his personal examples of acquisitions. He turned free apps into paid ones. He got paid $15k to acquire a company that had $100k in debt (which he restructured in such a way that the business paid it off). He invested $6k in a food truck after a 20-minute conversation and created a royalty stream for life.

Here are a few highlights of business/investing advice as that's easier to showcase how great the book is:

Buying companies is so simple. Actually, that’s the most important tenet to follow when doing this. Keep it simple. If a deal or company looks too complicated, it’s not worth your energy. Eventually your wealth will be nicely diversified with ten, twenty, even thirty passive income streams (I have about thirty). Owning companies can make up a huge part of your portfolio, but not if you take on complex projects.

Free apps and web extensions are perfect buys for beginners. They hit all of these criteria and you can usually get them for little money because the owners aren’t making substantial income off them. (Hello, The Top Inbox and SndLatr.) Another bonus: the owners are often individuals or tiny companies that built the software as a side project. Because the asset is not their main focus, they’re more likely to let it go.

So, my basic strategy, step-by-step:

1. Buy free digital properties with a big user base.

2. Hire a Toptal developer to put up a pay wall that appears after someone uses the product a certain number of times.

3. Reinvest the revenue back into the company as needed. Also use the income from this business to buy other companies (and to fill my pockets!).

In his book Zero to One, Peter Thiel talks about how important it is to launch a company that has a monopoly. He means you want a Google—a company so good at what it does that no others can compete with it. It owns the market. We’d all love that, but those companies are hard to find and hard to buy. But what’s close, and much easier to acquire, is a company that has a monopoly over a distribution channel. That’s the number one thing I look for when analyzing a business to take over.

(...)

There are lots of different ways to monopolize a channel. A company might be one of the most popular apps in the Apple App Store for document signing. It might be number one in its category on G2 Crowd or another review site.

If a business has a natural monopoly on a distribution channel, it’s a great sign that the company is running itself, or at the very least, that it’s not a complete disaster. People wouldn’t constantly download an app and give it strong reviews if it weren’t functioning smoothly. That’s huge. You don’t want a company that requires you to be smart or work hard. You want one that you can put on autopilot with just a few tweaks by freelancers.

What’s even better is if you find a company that hasn’t monetized its top spot in that distribution channel.

If buying a business sounds intimidating, know that it’s actually way smarter, easier, and less risky than starting one. I’m not saying you shouldn’t launch a new venture. Most of this book is advice on starting and running a business. But buying a business, by comparison, is much more efficient. Once you take a company over, all the groundwork is done. Your systems are in place and running themselves. You have a built-in customer base. All you have to do is tweak and monetize what’s already there. If a company needs more than that, you’re not going to buy it. It’s that simple.

One way to not do it wisely: getting stuck in a business. A lot of people will buy a company and their ego is so big that they think they have to do everything themselves. So they end up in the weeds every day, answering support emails, returning phone calls, recruiting people, updating designs, pitching salespeople, traveling to get clients. That’s working in your business and that is not what you want. You’re buying companies to build up revenue streams that free up your time, not hijack it. The only way to do this is to buy a business with an infrastructure that lets the business run itself, like an assembly line that prints you money.

It’s also a great investment to buy distribution channels—if you can—instead of paying to be put through them. So instead of paying, say, $5K for someone to mention you on their email list one time, try to buy the whole company so the list becomes yours. That’s exactly what I did with The Top Inbox. You can do this with anything—a curation website, a reviews website, a YouTube channel, or any other distribution channel you can think of.

I highly recommend it if you need to get a fresh perspective on business and creative ways to get rich.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Currently reading

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/W/WEBP_402378-T2/images/I/8138FlghokL.jpg

@MTF you might find value in this book to help you with some of the mind battles you face daily.

I'm about 1/2 thru it and it's had some interesting points.

The Fearless Mind (2nd Edition): 5 Steps to Achieving Peak Performance: Manning, Dr. Craig L.: 9781462121496: Amazon.com: Books

The Fearless Mind (2nd Edition): 5 Steps to Achieving Peak Performance [Manning, Dr. Craig L.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Fearless Mind (2nd Edition): 5 Steps to Achieving Peak Performance

www.amazon.com

 

[DougRMR]

What are you reading?

Currently going through three books:

1) Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. Abraham Lincoln went through some very wacky stuff, to say the least. Really focuses on the mythical status that Lincoln has but also humanizes him. Pretty inspiring to read and also very humbling in the sense that all of us are essentially the same. If you're human you go through the same problems, worries and sorrows in life, no exception.

2) Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks. Technically a workbook. Pretty good DIY way of handling depression and anxiety. Currently through week 4.

3) The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie. Getting into public speaking and selling so wanted to dig my heels into this one. Pretty good and gives you good basic theory while also telling you to practice a lot.

 

[James007Hill]

Currently listening to Die with Zero and getting the realisation that I need to be enjoying my life more while I'm still young.

Some experiences can only be made while you're young and healthy.

I enjoyed that book. Loved the concept of the "memory dividend" that experiences pay. Gave me a different perspective on the cost of experiences. Suddenly things that cost thousands seemed cheap when I thought about the joy they provided not just in the moment but for the months and years after.

 

[Bohemi]

Im currently reading the Millionaire fastlane but I am also reading a book with my 13 year old kid about programming - he has to practice his reading and I wanted to get him a bit away from the computer while still supporting his interest in them (he also plays soccer a lot, but that I really dont fancy to read about ) It is actually quite interesting to learn about programming - who knew

 

[fastlane_dad]

I enjoyed that book. Loved the concept of the "memory dividend" that experiences pay. Gave me a different perspective on the cost of experiences. Suddenly things that cost thousands seemed cheap when I thought about the joy they provided not just in the moment but for the months and years after.

Currently listening to Die with Zero and getting the realisation that I need to be enjoying my life more while I'm still young.

Some experiences can only be made while you're young and healthy.

Die With Zero is definitely a book that 'sits' with you and in your subconscious long after you set it down.

At first I didn't think much of it. Surely no one NEEDS help or encouragement to spend extra money --- or DO THEY?

As time goes on, (and you get closer to the end), you start pondering more and more what your life will entail, and the ratio of memories given to your family / friends VS money left over in your bank account takes root. Other philosophical questions pop up along the way as well, that need to be framed and help you release some of the tightly wound views many of us hold around the purpose of making and spending money.

Overall a great topic to ponder and debate, especially as one climbs the fastlane ladder.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MJ DeMarco]

Anyone who has experience with bodybuilding knows David Goggin is just the more extreme triathlon version of Ronnie Coleman, and will end up the same

I've been saying this for years. The cult of Goggins and the mental illness required to part of his club won't end well for many, including its leader, despite the chest thumping.

 

[Vigilante]