Hello everyone !
After a pause of a few weeks, I'm back, and I'd like to ask you for your opinion about three success gurus : James Maverick, Victor Pride, and Brian Tracy.
I confess that I've actually learned a lot from all three of them, at least as far as general lifestyle/personal improvement is concerned. I've especially learned a lot from Maverick's first book, The Sovereign Man. I don't think it would be an overstatement to say it changed my life.
But when it comes to what they preach about creating and leading one's own business, I'm unsure (indeed, sceptical) whether to believe them. Bc I've also read MJ's book and, alas, what they preach often conflicts with what MJ preaches.
Maverick and VP do say, as MJ does, that working for someone else (esp. in the corporate world) is slavery; it's trading your most precious commodity (time) for some money while making sb else rich. Accordingly, both say you must quit your job and start your own business.
Both of them also warn that, at the outset, there will be years of sacrifice, toil, sweat, blood, and tears before you become wealthy, and that failure is part of the learning process; and that you must eliminate all self-limiting beliefs like "I can't do it" and "I don't have the time".
This, unfortunately, is where the similarity with MJ's book and videos ends.
Firstly, these guys say that you can, and should, follow your PASSIONS (Pride uses the word "obsession" when creating your own business. Take this article from Maverick's blog:
"This is the only formula that truly works. It’s the only way to build real wealth. That’s because the easiest way to consistently fail and become miserable in life is to do the complete opposite. It’s to ignore what matters to you and do something that’s not linked to your interests or passions. It’s to do something because of some abstract goal like “want to be rich” or “want to make lots of money.”"
VP says the same thing, although in different words :
"I don't like the word passion, that's a word for women's romance novels, the correct word is obsession. You have to live like an obsessed freak.
When you’re obsessed you start working on something at 6am and the next thing you know it’s 5pm – you haven’t eaten, you haven’t gone anywhere, you haven’t been to the gym, you haven’t showered, and you haven’t heard the phone ringing. And you keep doing it.
If you can be obsessed with it for long enough you can turn it into money."
Did you hear that? Victor Pride is essentially saying that you can turn any passion/obsession into a money printer - even if no one wants to buy what you're selling!*
How does that jibe with what MJ has said on the subject? Maybe the Big Man Himself would like to comment on this?
2. No Free Time - Ever !
Secondly, the type of business that VP is encouraging you to start and lead sounds like a job masquerading as a business. In several of his articles, he has said explicitly that if you want to own a business, if you want to get rich, if you want to be your own boss, you will have to work every day for the rest of your life, no exceptions. Not just during the founding and growth phase of your business' existence - EVER. You can NEVER take a single day off, he says:
"If you want to be your own boss and make your own rules there is one thing that is absolutely required of you, that one thing is sweat equity. Your time. Your effort. (...) There is no such thing as a day off for a great man."
That doesn't sound like a Fastlane business, or like a way to get rich, to me. Does it to you? I thought the whole point of the Fastlane was to work all day, all week now, for the next several years, so that you can ultimately change enough people's lives (with products or services) that they will reward you with enough money to enable you to retire early and then have infinite free time. (If I got it wrong, please correct me.)
Businesses of the sort that VP wants you to start and lead are actually jobs masquerading as businesses, because they work on EXACTLY the same basis as "normal" jobs do : your most precious commodity (time) exchanged for money. You don't work, you don't earn a cent. That's not a money tree, that's just a job.
If you're not making enough money to live comfortably, what is Victor Pride's solution ?
Take a guess ?
Yeah, you guessed it, it's the same Slowlane solution : work more! Do like Azur from MJ's Egyptian history did!
"All I ever did was simply work more and not quit", says Victor.
This is wrong not just bc it's Slowlane, but also because it simply eats even more time than a 9-5 job. You not only don't get rich, you sacrifice ALL of your life rather than a part of it.
Now, I know that many people here, especially Americans and Brits, will disagree with me, but work is not all there is to life. You have to reach a work/life balance. Of course, that will have to be put on hold while you build your business, but the whole point of the Fastlane, if I got it right, was to ultimately have ALL of your time free while letting your money tree work for you.
Our most precious commodity is time. Not money. Wasted money can be replaced; wasted time, never. If you spend all your life working - for yourself or sb - without ever enjoying your free time, you're just going to waste your life.
That's not Fastlane and it's not financial freedom, it's slavery to your job (masquerading as a business) !
That 7-0 servitude is even worse than corporate five days a week slavery!
When you die, will you wish you had more money or more time to live? Well, an Australian palliative care nurse already has an answer to that question. She has cared for THOUSANDS of terminally-ill people. The second most frequent regret of these dying people was, "I wish I hadn't worked so hard/so long."
Guess how many people said, "I regret not having made enough money" ?
Any guess?
One person? Two people? Five? Ten?
ZERO. That's right. Zero. Aucune. Nada. Keine Person.
As that Titanic officer said in the Titanic movie, and as MJ reminds us, when you die, your money can't save you.
3. Never Quit! Ever!
Now, what if your business idea doesn't work, doesn't make any profits, because nobody is buying?
Well, VP and Brian Tracy say, "never quit", for any reason whatsoever. Even if your idea clearly HASN'T panned out. If you quit, you're a quitter, a weakling and a coward.
"If you never give in and quit, if you possess endurance, you will be victorious. (...) So never never never give up. You must show up, you must put in the time."
Again, what has MJ said about the subject... ? Uh.... oh yeah, I remember.
4. Save Money and You'll Get Rich
This applies only to Brian Tracy; he says that you can get wealthy in the long term by saving money and investing in the stock market, an IRA, and other saving methods authorized by the IRS. (Well, how noble and gracious of you, IRS, that you allow me to save my own hard-earned money! How infinitely grateful am I to you, my fiscal overlord!)
Do these guys really do what they preach? I doubt it. Mav earns money by selling apps and and mentorship programs plus royalties from his three books (all of which are great, BTW - I've read the first 2 and am reading the third one these days). VP and BT also make money from their books, plus, of course, speaking fees in the latter's case. Problem is, their mentorship programs and seminars sound like they're done to make them rich rather than make other people become better people.
What do you think, folks?
--------------------------
*BTW, so says Maverick in advertising his Maverick Bootcamp program, although to be fair, once you sign up for it, he does tell you (as does MJ) that you need to determine where demand exists for something and think honestly about what unique value you can contribute to other people's lives. Value that no one else is currently providing.
After a pause of a few weeks, I'm back, and I'd like to ask you for your opinion about three success gurus : James Maverick, Victor Pride, and Brian Tracy.
Learned A Lot From Them
I confess that I've actually learned a lot from all three of them, at least as far as general lifestyle/personal improvement is concerned. I've especially learned a lot from Maverick's first book, The Sovereign Man. I don't think it would be an overstatement to say it changed my life.
But when it comes to what they preach about creating and leading one's own business, I'm unsure (indeed, sceptical) whether to believe them. Bc I've also read MJ's book and, alas, what they preach often conflicts with what MJ preaches.
Maverick and VP do say, as MJ does, that working for someone else (esp. in the corporate world) is slavery; it's trading your most precious commodity (time) for some money while making sb else rich. Accordingly, both say you must quit your job and start your own business.
Both of them also warn that, at the outset, there will be years of sacrifice, toil, sweat, blood, and tears before you become wealthy, and that failure is part of the learning process; and that you must eliminate all self-limiting beliefs like "I can't do it" and "I don't have the time".
This, unfortunately, is where the similarity with MJ's book and videos ends.
What These Guys Preach
1. Follow Your Passions/Obsessions!
Firstly, these guys say that you can, and should, follow your PASSIONS (Pride uses the word "obsession" when creating your own business. Take this article from Maverick's blog:
"This is the only formula that truly works. It’s the only way to build real wealth. That’s because the easiest way to consistently fail and become miserable in life is to do the complete opposite. It’s to ignore what matters to you and do something that’s not linked to your interests or passions. It’s to do something because of some abstract goal like “want to be rich” or “want to make lots of money.”"
VP says the same thing, although in different words :
"I don't like the word passion, that's a word for women's romance novels, the correct word is obsession. You have to live like an obsessed freak.
When you’re obsessed you start working on something at 6am and the next thing you know it’s 5pm – you haven’t eaten, you haven’t gone anywhere, you haven’t been to the gym, you haven’t showered, and you haven’t heard the phone ringing. And you keep doing it.
If you can be obsessed with it for long enough you can turn it into money."
Did you hear that? Victor Pride is essentially saying that you can turn any passion/obsession into a money printer - even if no one wants to buy what you're selling!*
How does that jibe with what MJ has said on the subject? Maybe the Big Man Himself would like to comment on this?
2. No Free Time - Ever !
Secondly, the type of business that VP is encouraging you to start and lead sounds like a job masquerading as a business. In several of his articles, he has said explicitly that if you want to own a business, if you want to get rich, if you want to be your own boss, you will have to work every day for the rest of your life, no exceptions. Not just during the founding and growth phase of your business' existence - EVER. You can NEVER take a single day off, he says:
"If you want to be your own boss and make your own rules there is one thing that is absolutely required of you, that one thing is sweat equity. Your time. Your effort. (...) There is no such thing as a day off for a great man."
That doesn't sound like a Fastlane business, or like a way to get rich, to me. Does it to you? I thought the whole point of the Fastlane was to work all day, all week now, for the next several years, so that you can ultimately change enough people's lives (with products or services) that they will reward you with enough money to enable you to retire early and then have infinite free time. (If I got it wrong, please correct me.)
Businesses of the sort that VP wants you to start and lead are actually jobs masquerading as businesses, because they work on EXACTLY the same basis as "normal" jobs do : your most precious commodity (time) exchanged for money. You don't work, you don't earn a cent. That's not a money tree, that's just a job.
If you're not making enough money to live comfortably, what is Victor Pride's solution ?
Take a guess ?
Yeah, you guessed it, it's the same Slowlane solution : work more! Do like Azur from MJ's Egyptian history did!
"All I ever did was simply work more and not quit", says Victor.
This is wrong not just bc it's Slowlane, but also because it simply eats even more time than a 9-5 job. You not only don't get rich, you sacrifice ALL of your life rather than a part of it.
Now, I know that many people here, especially Americans and Brits, will disagree with me, but work is not all there is to life. You have to reach a work/life balance. Of course, that will have to be put on hold while you build your business, but the whole point of the Fastlane, if I got it right, was to ultimately have ALL of your time free while letting your money tree work for you.
Our most precious commodity is time. Not money. Wasted money can be replaced; wasted time, never. If you spend all your life working - for yourself or sb - without ever enjoying your free time, you're just going to waste your life.
That's not Fastlane and it's not financial freedom, it's slavery to your job (masquerading as a business) !
That 7-0 servitude is even worse than corporate five days a week slavery!
When you die, will you wish you had more money or more time to live? Well, an Australian palliative care nurse already has an answer to that question. She has cared for THOUSANDS of terminally-ill people. The second most frequent regret of these dying people was, "I wish I hadn't worked so hard/so long."
Guess how many people said, "I regret not having made enough money" ?
Any guess?
One person? Two people? Five? Ten?
ZERO. That's right. Zero. Aucune. Nada. Keine Person.
As that Titanic officer said in the Titanic movie, and as MJ reminds us, when you die, your money can't save you.
3. Never Quit! Ever!
Now, what if your business idea doesn't work, doesn't make any profits, because nobody is buying?
Well, VP and Brian Tracy say, "never quit", for any reason whatsoever. Even if your idea clearly HASN'T panned out. If you quit, you're a quitter, a weakling and a coward.
"If you never give in and quit, if you possess endurance, you will be victorious. (...) So never never never give up. You must show up, you must put in the time."
Again, what has MJ said about the subject... ? Uh.... oh yeah, I remember.
4. Save Money and You'll Get Rich
This applies only to Brian Tracy; he says that you can get wealthy in the long term by saving money and investing in the stock market, an IRA, and other saving methods authorized by the IRS. (Well, how noble and gracious of you, IRS, that you allow me to save my own hard-earned money! How infinitely grateful am I to you, my fiscal overlord!)
Slowlane or Fastlane Advice?
Now, I don't want to badmouth anyone, least of all Maverick, from whom I have learned A LOT. But does the above advice sound like Fastlane to you? Or does it sound like the same things that many other Slowlane Gurus preach?
Do these guys really do what they preach? I doubt it. Mav earns money by selling apps and and mentorship programs plus royalties from his three books (all of which are great, BTW - I've read the first 2 and am reading the third one these days). VP and BT also make money from their books, plus, of course, speaking fees in the latter's case. Problem is, their mentorship programs and seminars sound like they're done to make them rich rather than make other people become better people.
What do you think, folks?
--------------------------
*BTW, so says Maverick in advertising his Maverick Bootcamp program, although to be fair, once you sign up for it, he does tell you (as does MJ) that you need to determine where demand exists for something and think honestly about what unique value you can contribute to other people's lives. Value that no one else is currently providing.
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