by MJ DeMarco
MJ, is affiliate marketing “Fastlane”? I know some guys who are killing it!
Affiliate marketing (AM) violates the Commandments of Entry and Control, and if you can subvert those restrictions, it can be Fastlane. Unfortunately, by the strictest of definitions, AM is not Fastlane. Nonetheless, it can be a great strategy for income and serve as a digital marketing education. It also can be a great place to get started in business. Sometimes you just need to start doing something, anything! Remember, “Fastlane” starts in the head.
As for the big money marketers, sure they exist. Likewise, lottery winners do too. And yes, there are some career network marketers who are millionaires. My viewpoint is not about absolutes but about probabilities. Whenever you violate control, you relinquish control. Whenever you violate entry, you must be exceptional.
For every affiliate marketer earning $30,000 a month there are 300,000 earning less than $100. For every network marketer who earns $50,000 a month there are 500,000 making less than $100. For every lottery winner who wins $1 million, there are one million losers. Probabilities!
If you think you can defy probability and be exceptional, go for it. And congratulations! I can think of several exceptional affiliate marketers worth millions. If they can succeed in that field, I have no doubts they can kill it in the Fastlane!
Experience in non-Fastlane disciplines doesn’t mean that the discipline is worthless or to be avoided. I am about mathematics and probabilities—that’s why my bread isn’t in someone else’s basket. Affiliate marketing is a powerful mechanism to grow your business; that’s why I advocate creating affiliate programs that the masses will want to join, not joining them.
MJ, should I skip college?
I can’t make your life decisions, especially when I know nothing about you, your culture, or your background. For me, it all depends on its cost, your maturity, your goals, and its marginal benefits. If you want to be a doctor, engineer, or a nurse, yes, you need school! If you want to invent a product that needs significant engineering, you’re probably going to need college! Just be careful of education servitude and know that a college degree is not a prerequisite to wealth. The velocity of any education varies by its intended purpose and cost. I went to college and I have no regrets, although today, I wouldn’t pay $50,000 for it.
MJ, my upline MLM sponsor said you’re a dream stealer and that your viewpoint on network marketing is flawed.
Great, then keep taking advice from him. Let me know how that goes in five years.
I have a wife and two children to support and I can’t afford to quit my job. Where can I find time to go Fastlane?
Time isn’t the issue—desire and passion are. Without burning passion, your desire manifests as interest, not commitment. Committed Fastlaners build wealth, while interested Fastlaners build excuses. You are deep in the trap because you have responsibilities. This is how the Slowlane wins and keeps you amenable to its plan. To break free, you need to commit and draw from an insatiable passion personal to you and your family. That passion will find you the time, whether it’s early mornings, late evenings, or on the weekends. Remember, the average American watches 9 years of TV in a lifetime. Start there.
MJ, you’re pathetic. Lamborghini’s and flashy cars don’t make people happy.
LOL. I agree. Cars and expensive toys won’t make you happy. I was already happy when I bought my first Lambo, and it reflected my reward (fastlane SuperchargeR). Happiness evolved from the achievement’s process, while the purchase was the reward and the event. Achievement is the cake, the reward is the frosting. Your repeated action toward specified goals will make you happy, not a car! And when that happens, you might be shocked that the ostentatious car is no longer desired.
Additionally, scientific studies have proven that autonomy (freedom) represents 50% of a person’s happiness equation. I am free and the sports car symbolized that freedom. Are you free or just a hater hating?
I’m a single mom and a dental hygienist. How do I go Fastlane?
Ugh. Again, “Fastlane” starts in your head. Then it grows. You could be mopping floors and “be Fastlane”. Going “Fastlane” in business lies in the commandments CENTS (Control, Entry, Need, Time, and Scale). Can you create a business that solves a need on a massive scale? On your existing road (dental), is there a dental need that could help thousands? If you can’t expose value opportunities or solutions respective to your industry, you have to open your mind to the world. Remember, you aren’t just a dental hygienist; you’re a mother, a woman, and a daughter. There are hundreds of roads in those subsets. What are you passionate about? Politics? Natural living? Gardening? Are there unmet needs therein? If you can’t figure out a new road, let a problem that needs a solution uncover your road.
Starting a business is risky. Is there any way to minimize that risk?
Yes. Get in business for the right reason, and the right reason is to fill a void in the marketplace or to do something better than anyone else. Business becomes risky when entrepreneurs start companies based on flawed, selfish motives. Remember, strangers don’t care about your dreams and we’re inherently selfish.
Risk is escalated when you get into business without a defined need, brand, or purpose. Risk is escalated when you get into business doing what you love versus doing what needs to be done. Risk is escalated when you cede control over major business functions to someone else. Yes, business is a risk because entrepreneurs lose perspective on the fundamental purpose of business, and that is to solve problems, skew value, and help your fellow man. Profit follows—it doesn’t lead.
MJ, it’s clear that you are a control freak. Since the Fastlane is predicated on passive income from interest, how do you deal with interest rates since you cannot control them? If interest rates are zero, doesn’t that invalidate the Fastlane?
Yes, when it comes to my financial plan I’m a control freak, and you should be as well. If you aren’t in control, then you’re dependent on someone else for your comfort and security. Not for me. Second, yes, I cannot control interest rates. However, your number (Chapter 37) should be large enough to accommodate interest rate variances. Even in this low-interest-rate environment, I still can find safe, predictable 5% returns because I think globally, not locally. Also, income is not limited to interest, but corporate dividends and partnership income. If your nest-egg number is predicated on a 10% yearly return, you are fooling yourself and will feel interest rate pains. Set your number high enough to expect variance.
MJ, can’t a good mentor be a form of a wealth chauffeur?
Mentors are excellent resources if they’re sought for guidance and not as personal escorts. I’ve mentored some individuals who weren’t genuinely interested in hard work or sacrifice; they wanted someone to absorb risk and hand hold process. Mentorship is not about outsourcing process, but about providing guidance as you forge your own journey. Good mentors are accelerative tailwinds!
MJ, aren’t you being hypocritical by scourging “material extravagance” and yet describing the Fastlane by material items like Lamborghinis and big houses?
No, because the Fastlane isn’t about buying stuff but about freedom, and the freedom to afford whatever you want. There’s a difference between being imprisoned by your stuff and buying what you can afford. If you can drop $300,000 for a car and not be a shackled to the purchase, go for it. See my answer above with respect to autonomy.
MJ, why should I listen to you? You got lucky.
Fact: the larger the outcome, the more likely “luck” will be perceived and/or felt. Luck is merely a function of probability and I strive to manipulate probability. Some people don’t manipulate probability and their wealth chances amounts to calling a coin flip 10 times in a row. I work to put myself in a position where I only need to correctly call the coin flip once. Both scenarios are functions of probability.
MJ, I can’t come up with any ideas. Every time I think of a problem or find a need I discover someone else is solving it. It’s impos
sible to find legitimate ideas!
You’re thinking about it too esoterically. As long as the world is imperfect, there will always be ideas. To profit in business, you only need to skew value on a couple of value attributes. A skewed value attribute could be better ingredients, better delivery, better customer service, better packaging, better user interface, better website, better functionality, better this, better that. Skew two or three value attributes and you have yourself a business. I detail this process in my newer book, Unscripted.
MJ, aren’t you being a hypocrite because you’re getting rich selling books?
Writing is my passion and I can do it without the confirmation of money. Most of my net worth (over 90%) comes from activities NOT related to the authorship of money books. Yet, If I “get rich” selling millions of books, it’s only because the mathematics (CUL) of the Fastlane work. The equations that made me rich, continue to make me rich. Isn’t that what I’m teaching here?
MJ, I’m in a rut and can’t seem to break free. I stock shelves during the day and wash dishes at night. I can’t seem to make headway.
Change starts with your beliefs, because they dictate your future choices. If you want to make headway, you have to believe you can make headway. Starting your process starts with a simple choice. Make better choices and your first choice should be an examination of your past choices.
Why are you where you are?
What has been treasonous to your life that has put you at a stainless steel sink washing dishes?
Second, you need to reflect on how you can help others within your talents. If you lack talent, you need to acquire it. You can become an expert at anything with enough study and application. This is fact. Unfortunately, such dedication comes with a price and often involves turning off the TV and making a sacrifice of immediate pleasures in lieu of a more favorable future.
I don’t care if you’re scrubbing toilets; if you solve the needs of many, you will solve the needs of one.
And that one person? That one person is YOU.
APPENDIX B - The 40 Fastlane Lifestyle Guidelines
I SHALL . . .
(1)Not dismiss “Get Rich Quick” as improbable.
(2)Not allow the Slowlane to bury my dreams.
(3)Not allow Slowlane prognosticators to contaminate my truth with
their dogma.
(4)Not ordain the Slowlane as the plan, but let it be a part of the plan.
(5)Not sell my soul for a weekend.
(6)Not expect nor seek a chauffeur to wealth.
(7)Not trade my time for money.
(8)Not put time in control over my financial plan.
(9)Not forsake control over my financial plan.
(10)Not demote time as abundant and effervescent.
(11)Not assign faith to events, but to process.
(12)Not take advice from gurus who preach one roadmap, while getting rich using another.
(13)Not use compound interest for wealth, but for income.
(14)Not disrespect the passivity of a dollar.
(15)Not cease learning at graduation, but start it.
(16)Not impose the burdens of parasitic debt into my life.
(17)Not play on Team Consumer, but switch to Team Producer.
(18)Not dismiss the plausibility of my dreams.
(19)Not chase a path of money, but a path of need.
(20)Not fuel my motivation by love, but by passion, purpose, and why.
(21)Not focus on my expenses, but on my income.
(22)Not pay myself last, but first.
(23)Not do what everyone does.
(24)Not trust everyone, but allow trust to be proven.
(25)Not relinquish control over my business.
(26)Not hitchhike, but seek to drive.
(27)Not operate within limited scales and in tiny habitats.
(28)Not dishonor the horsepower of my choices.
(29)Not swim as a guppy in a pool, but as a shark in the oceans.
(30)Not consume first, but produce first, and consume later.
(31)Not partake in barrier-free or entry-weak businesses.
(32)Not invest in other people’s brands, but in my own.
(33)Not give credence to ideas, but to execution.
(34)Not forsake my customer for other stakeholders.
(35)Not build a business, but a brand.
(36)Not focus my marketing messages on features, but benefits.
(37)Not be a polygamist opportunist: Focus!
(38)Not operate my business like checkers, but chess.
(39)Not live above my means, but seek to expand my means.
(40)Not live without the insurance of financial literacy.
APPENDIX C - Weighted Average Decision Matrix (WADM)
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 6
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UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship

