The Millionaire Fastlane

by MJ DeMarco

  While there is a small sliver of validity to these claims, they cloud the real essence of MLM, which is sales, distribution, and training—not entrepreneurship.

  I was involved in four MLM companies. Not once do I remember dictating product decisions, research and development, marketing restrictions, rules, cost analysis, or any other activity fundamental to owning a business. As a network marketer, you don’t own a business—you own a job managing and creating a sales organization. That’s like stuffing money under the mattress and calling it an investment.

  Years ago, I had friends who did well in MLM, and some of them still do. Heck, even I did OK. But two things nagged at me. First, I had no control. I was at the company’s mercy, its policies, its procedures, its product line, its cost structure—and whatever mandate put forth, I’d be stuck with it. When my company discontinued its best product, I remember my income plummeted through no fault of my own.

  My friend who was making a nice living at MLM? He quit due to opposition over corporate decisions, and from what I hear, he jumps from opportunity to opportunity every few years. He repeats the cycle: Climb aboard some hot opportunity, run it dry, and move to the next. Last I checked, he isn’t rich, nor is he retired. He’s not stuck in a rat race, but a rabbit race from one carrot to the next.

  The second nag at my mind was clear: I didn’t feel like an entrepreneur. I felt like a worker bee stuck in a chaotic hive. I felt like an employee of a large company that was benefiting from my hard work, even when that work yielded few dollars. My subconscious knew I was violating a multitude of commandments and unspoken rules, the Commandment of Entry, the Commandment of Control, and the rule of “everyone”(Chapter 31).

  My dislike for the model lies in the misdirection conveyed to would-be participants; they think they’re entrepreneurs when they’re just sales managers in a Fastlaner’s plan.

  Can these folks make a huge chunk of change? Of course, I don’t argue that fact. Top salespeople in Fortune 500 companies also make a lot of money. Lottery winners also make lots of money. We’re talking odds here, not absolutes. MLM distributors are commissioned employees disguised as entrepreneurs and working for a Fastlaner in a regime they don’t control, but the Fastlaner does. Network marketers are soldiers in the Fastlaner’s army.

  So let me be clear to all those MLM folks out there ready to hang me: I love network marketing as an entrepreneur. If I ever invent a product that needs distribution, network marketing would be my first consideration. Furthermore, MLM has excellent educational value: sales, motivation, team-building, and networking. I believe if you can succeed at network marketing, you can succeed at anything.

  As for my friend, he is a hitchhiker of a Fastlane. What he doesn’t realize is that Fastlane wealth rarely comes from joining a network marketing company, it comes from creating it. You must create the company people are dying to join. You must control the product and the policy. Take the producer’s role.

  The Fastlaner creates and invests in his own brand; the hitchhiker climbs aboard someone else’s and hopes to piggyback. If you don’t control your system, your money tree, and your brand, you control nothing. You must sit atop the pyramid and serve the masses.

  Stop climbing pyramids and start building them.

  Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions

  ➡Hitchhikers relinquish control of their business to a Fastlaner.

  ➡There is a difference between “good” money and “big” money. Hitchhikers can make good money while Fastlaners make big money. Sometimes legendary money.

  ➡In a driver/hitchhiker relationship, the driver retains control and the hitchhiker is at the driver’s mercy.

  ➡Hitchhikers are subordinated to someone else’s Fastlane plan.

  ➡Make the world your habitat of play in an organization you control.

  ➡Network marketing has little to do with entrepreneurship but more to do with sales, networking, training, and motivation.

  ➡Network marketing fails both the Commandments of Control and Entry, and sometimes, Need.

  ➡Network marketers are soldiers in a Fastlaner’s army.

  ➡Network marketing is a powerful distribution system. As a Fastlaner, seek to own one, not join one.

  ➡Network marketing can have some excellent education value in the realm of sales, motivation, and team building.If you can succeed at network marketing, you should be able to succeed in a Fastlane venture.

  [31] - The Commandment of Entry

  Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

  ~ Seneca

  You Can Be the Sheep or the Sheepherder

  It was 1994 and I was stuffed in a hot auditorium, tucked away in a chaotic horde of people—an ant within an anthill. Months earlier, I got involved in a network marketing company, and this was their monthly motivational meeting. The crowd was excited, anxious, and revved up.

  I wasn’t. I looked around and didn’t see a business, I saw a religion. I saw an army of drones clutching onto whatever was said, critical reasoning cast aside, and myself about to be indoctrinated. I didn’t go so easy. I asked questions. I was persistent, nosy, and curious about the road I was about to take.

  “How much money are you making?” I asked early and often. Like politicians, the answer was sideswiped and deflected to a default person in the organization, but I wasn’t fooled. OK, you’ve already told me that Bill Hanson makes $30,000 a month, but how much do you make? And you? And you? And the other 3,000 people in this room?

  The fact is, few of them made any money at all.

  Why?

  They were stuck driving a congested road full of traffic that failed the Commandment of Entry. Crowded, jammed roads move slowly, if at all.

  The Commandment of Entry

  I failed networking marketing four times because subconsciously I possessed the truth: The road violated the Commandment of Entry.

  C – (Entry)– N – T – S

  The Commandment of Entry states that as entry barriers to any business road fall, or lessen, the effectiveness of that road declines while competition in that field subsequently strengthens. Higher entry barriers equate to stronger, more powerful roads with less competition and need for exceptionality.

  Low-barrier-entry businesses are weak roads because easy entry creates high competition and high traffic, all of which share the same pie. And where there is traffic, there is no movement.

  In other words, if “getting into business” is as simple as paying $200 for a distributor kit, there are no entry barriers, and the opportunity should be passed. If any Joe Blow alley-napping next to a dumpster behind Chan’s Chinese restaurant can start your business in minutes, it isn’t a business you want to be doing! The world is littered with so-called businesses that have no entry barriers. And that is why they suck and the people who follow them aren’t rich.

  A decade ago the big buzz was “Make millions on eBay!” It didn’t last long because this opportunity eventually violated the Commandment of Entry. If you could create an eBay business in 10 minutes, guess what? So could millions of other people. And who made the millions? The early adopters, eBay, and eBay’s founders. They drove the Fastlane and picked up millions of hitchhikers along the way. Few did well, while millions did not.

  Another big buzz years ago was Internet blogging. Bloggers are making thousands! True, but nowadays, the multimillionaire blogger is now the exception. Why? The opportunity has been beaten down by easy entry, causing traffic, competition, and saturation. Saturation causes declining sales volumes. Declining sales volumes cause profit erosion. If anyone can start a business in one day or less doing what you do, you probably are violating the Commandment of Entry and tough odds are ahead. This is why there are more dead blogs, than active ones.

  Network marketing, or multi-level marketing (MLM), always fails the Commandment of Entry—unless you own and create the MLM company yourself. If you’re in a room wit
h 2,000 other people who do exactly what you do, you’re fighting stiff odds. Who is the innovator, the leader, and the one standing on a cliff parting the Red Sea? The guy on stage who founded the MLM company is the Fastlaner. And you? Sorry, but you’re just another soldier in his Fastlane army, a cog in his marketing strategy. The MLM founder doesn’t need to climb the pyramid, because he built the pyramid! You can be a pyramid builder or a pyramid climber. You can be the sheep or the sheepherder.

  “Exceptionalism” Is Required to Overcome Weak Entry

  If you violate the Commandment of Entry, be prepared to be exceptional. Exceptionality breaks the odds of entry. Unfortunately, exceptionality is a long shot, much like an above-average high school athlete going pro.

  For example, when I sat in that auditorium with thousands of other network marketers, I realized that success among thousands doing the same thing, I had to be exceptional. I had to be the best. Honest with myself, I knew I couldn’t be exceptional in that construct. Could I be exceptional among 50,000 like-minded “distributors”? I was doubtful. Conversely, when I started my Internet business I had roughly 12 competitors. Could I be exceptional among 12? Absolutely.

  Another example of exceptionality is playing professional poker and financial trading, like stocks, futures, and currency trading. Both disciplines violate entry and have little access restrictions. I can go to Vegas with $10,000 and enter a poker tournament at any time. I can deposit $10,000 in a brokerage account and start trading currency. Lack of entry itself creates the marketplace, and to succeed in that marketplace, you have to be exceptional. The best (and the richest) poker players in the world are exceptional and take advantage of the weakest lured by weak entry. The pros call these folks “dead money.”

  The same playing field exists in the currency markets. Newbies come and go, trading currencies, expecting to make a fortune, while the only folks making the millions are the exceptional participants and the purveyors of the field, like the currency platforms, brokerage houses, and poker websites.

  There’s an old saying, “In a gold rush, don’t dig for gold, sell shovels!” When it comes to entry, your industry and your business should not be available to everyone, because if it is, you need to be exceptional. And if you are exceptional, easy entry becomes not a liability, but an asset.

  Entry Is a Process, Not an Event

  Want to know if your business violates entry? The answer is simple: Is getting into business an event or a process? Real business startups are processes, not events. If you’re suddenly in business because you bought a distributor kit, or completed an online form, you’re violating entry. If you’re suddenly in business because you took one or two actions, you violate entry. Conversely, if I wanted to start a bed-and-breakfast in Sedona Arizona, I’d have to find a property, fix it, finance it, insure it, get licensing and permits, hire a staff, and perform about 10 other steps. Entry is a detailed process.

  Starting a business, like wealth, is a concerted series of choices that form process. Founders of network marketing companies do spectacularly well because they know that people love events, and what better event is there than “Complete this application and you’re in business!” They leverage entry ease as an advantage.

  As entrepreneurs, we want to start companies that others can join as an event. Don’t fool yourself. Mailing a check to some address listed in the back of an entrepreneur magazine isn’t a business launch. Any business that takes 10 minutes to do/join/participate violates entry. Violate entry and you stamp your ticket into the world of everyone and become a screw in someone else’s Fastlane plan.

  Everyone Is Doing It!

  Ever get stuck in traffic on the expressway and go nowhere for hours? Welcome to “everyone is doing it.” A road full of traffic is a road full of everyone. If everyone is doing it, I won’t be doing it. I’ll exit the road, and you should too.

  Why?

  Because everyone isn’t wealthy. If everyone were wealthy, “everybody is doing it” would work.

  When it comes to money, the best warning flag is “everyone.” Everyone is a red flag that the Commandment of Entry has been violated. If everyone is bewitched by the same activity, it surely will fail.

  While “everyone” was buying houses like crazy during the housing boom, I did the opposite. I sat on the sidelines and sold. When the frenzy is buying, you should be selling. When the frenzy is selling, you should be buying or staying pat.

  History is littered with “everyone is doing it” booms and busts. The tech stock boom of the late 1990s, the great oil price explosion thereafter, the housing crash that led to the worldwide financial meltdown, and even recently, the bitcoin / cryptocurrency rise into the mainstream vernacular. All exemplify “everyone is doing it”—a heavily trafficked road that usually crawls toward impending doom, like a herd of lambs heading for slaughter..

  The Warning Signs of “Everyone”

  In the late 1990s when tech stocks were skyrocketing, I lost money because I followed everyone. I learned. During the latest housing boom, I didn’t buy a house. No, this time I sold three properties before the decline. While the housing market collapsed and stocks soon followed, I was long gone and sitting in cash. How did I know?

  I spotted the signs of “everyone is doing it,” because if everyone were rich, “everybody is doing it” would work. While this logic might seem spurious, it has never failed me. How do I know when “everyone is doing it?” Simple. When there is irrational exuberance about any investment that pervades to Team Consumer—the general populous—that’s when I know it is time to GET OUT AND STAY OUT.

  When the plumber comes over to fix the toilet and raves about his three rental properties that have appreciated 15% in the last three months, it’s time to get out and stay out.

  When your personal trainer raves about his Internet stock portfolio that earned 40% in two months, it’s time to get out and stay out.

  When your truck-driving cousin says you need to invest in this great cryptocurrency altcoin because it’s up 250%, it’s time to get out and stay out.

  Dumb money—EVERYONE—always shows up at the end of a boom.

  Who is dumb money? Consumers! Money chasers!

  But some shrewd people have mastered the Rule of Everyone. Instead of getting out, they short the other side and profit from the downfall. With every busted boom, new millionaires and billionaires are created because they saw the impending collapse inevitable in every meteoric irrational ascension.

  While the stock market imploded in early 2009, who was buying and who was selling? Everyone was selling. I was long gone and sold a year earlier. Warren Buffet was buying. Everyone sells and the richest man in the world buys. Hmmm. Could it be that everyone is wrong? Yes it could.

  If you want to live unlike everyone, you can’t be like everyone. Don’t confuse that with exceptionality. You have to lead the pack and have “everyone” follow. When the sheep are lining up single-file for slaughter, you want to own the slaughterhouse.

  Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions

  ➡The Commandment of Entry states that as entry barriers fall, competition rises and the road weakens.

  ➡Easy access roads carry more traffic. More traffic generates higher competition, and higher competition creates lower margins for the participants.

  ➡Businesses with weak entry often lack control and operate in saturated marketplaces.

  ➡Exceptionalism is required to overcome weak entry barriers.

  ➡Access to a business road should be a process with a toll, not an event.

  ➡“Everyone” consists of the general populous and is served by the mainstream media.

  ➡If everyone were wealthy, “everybody is doing it” would work. And if everyone is wealthy, then no one is wealthy.

  ➡“Everyone is doing it” is a signal to overbought conditions and the entrance of “dumb money.”

  [32] - The Commandment of Need

  What do we live for, if not to make life less diffic
ult for each other?

  ~ George Eliot

  Sand Foundations Crumble Houses

  Ninety percent of all new businesses fail within five years, and I know why they fail. They fail because they fail the Commandment of Need.

  C – E – (Need) – T – S

  When you build a business on a flawed foundation, it will fail. Sand foundations crumble houses. Businesses which violate the Commandment of Need enter the 90% failure category or masquerade as a job. The winning business premise is a simple and often forgotten concept that should be ridiculously obvious, but it isn’t. Businesses that solve needs and provide value win. Businesses that solve problems win profits. Selfish, narcissistic motives do not make good, long-term business models.

  Think about the purpose of businesses. Why do they exist? To satisfy your selfish desire to “do what you love?” To satisfy your craving for wealth and financial freedom? Seriously, no one cares about your desires, your dreams, your passions, your “whys” or your reasons for wanting to be rich. No one cares that you want to own a Ferrari and prove your parents wrong. No one cares that corporate America wronged you. No one cares! Yes, the world is a selfish place and nobody gives two shits about your motives to “go Fastlane.”

  So what do people care about?

  People care about what your business can do for them. How will it help them? What’s in it for them? Will it solve their problem? Make their life easier? Provide them with shelter? Save them money? Educate them? Make them feel something? Tell me, why on God’s green Earth should I give your business money? What value are you adding to my life?