ms222
[00:00:00] Mike Parsons: Hello and welcome to the Moonshots Podcast. It's episode 222. I'm your co-host, Mike Parsons. And as always, I'm joined by Mr. Mark Pearson. Freeland. Good
[00:00:12] Mark Pearson Freeland: morning, mark. Hey, good morning Mike and good morning listeners and subscribers. Boy, do we have an action-packed episode number 222. Mike, I'm loving that alliteration, I'm loving this this trio of twos.
[00:00:26] Mark Pearson Freeland: I think what a perfect bookend we have for this current series that we're doing on mar money, but also the build that we can do based on that. First series on financial wellbeing that we did a few months ago as well. I think today we've got a bit of an action packed episode, don't we? We do.
[00:00:43] Mike Parsons: I think 2 22 just sounds fast,
[00:00:46] Mark Pearson Freeland: doesn't it, mark?
[00:00:47] Mark Pearson Freeland: Oh, it does sound fast. You're right. Moving at 222 kilometers, miles, maybe just millionaires, who knows? Is. MJ DeMarco and the Millionaire Fast Lane. MJ DeMarco is an entrepreneur, author. He's actually a well renowned, get rich, slow anti guru as he puts it on his website, which I quite liked. Mike, a get rich, slow anti guru who I think is gonna have a lot of.
[00:01:15] Mark Pearson Freeland: New insights as well as a lot of practical tips with regards to how we think about money, but also how we go out and try to achieve it. And I think the builds that MJ is gonna put forward to us today are, additional elements that we can apply as we've already. Delved into the work of Morgan Houser, the Psychology of Money, as well as last week with Dave Ramsey's the Total Money Makeover.
[00:01:40] Mark Pearson Freeland: I think as a package, what we're finding is the Millionaire Fast Lane is helping us crack that code to wealth, isn't it?
[00:01:48] Mike Parsons: I think he brings dj mj DeMarco, he really brings a new level. I think go, if you were to zoom out a little bit, Dave Ramsey was all about live within your means.
[00:02:02] Mike Parsons: Get on top of your finances, knowing what you're spending and earning, and that's a great foundation. Morgan Houser was like, okay, now you've saved a bit of money. You need to go and invest that. And he was helping us understand the psychology of the markets. The psychology of investing. I think the great thing for our listeners is that mj DeMarco takes it to another level.
[00:02:22] Mike Parsons: He says, you can get rich. Slowly, but you can also do it fast as well. And this takes a really big step, something that is very close to our hearts. It really takes us towards entrepreneurship. So what we have ahead of us in this show is with NJ DeMarco is really the opportunity to look comprehensively at wealth management and in particular, We don't just want our money to work for us.
[00:02:50] Mike Parsons: We need to create new value in the world if we do want to acquire wealth. And remember, for us at the Moonshots Podcast, wealth is the opportunity to enjoy freedom. It's the opportunity to have options and it creates an environment where we can truly live the life that we dream. We can be the very best version of ourselves.
[00:03:12] Mike Parsons: We are so not about the bling. So you might hear the millionaire fast line and go, what's happened to Mark and Mike? Yeah. Have they got onto some influencer scheme and they're gonna sell us some crappy pyramid marketing opportunity Uhuh. What we're gonna talk about is what I believe is the greatest challenge, and on the other side's, the grace opportunity to create value through for others through entrepreneurship.
[00:03:37] Mike Parsons: I think it's super exciting that we are gonna get a roadmap, a playbook, the mindsets, the rituals, the habits that it takes to create value, to build a business, and to create really dramatic. Wealth. Wealth that is generational wealth that affords you to live the life that you wanna live. So Mark, let's bust apart this whole get rich slow.
[00:03:59] Mike Parsons: Let's actually see is there something real in getting rich quick and what does it take to do? So why don't you launch us in with a clip mark. Let's see what this whole get rich quick thing is
[00:04:10] Mark Pearson Freeland: about. Look, let's hear from the author. Mj, DeMarco himself all through of the Millionaire Fast Lane. Let's calm down and make sure our listeners know that we are not trying to tell all of our listeners and subscribers that they can get rich quick overnight six pack abs as well, like me and Mike instead.
[00:04:27] Mark Pearson Freeland: Let's take a step back and let's set the scene. Let's hear from MJ himself. Break down the idea of get rich quick, as well as the concept of asymmetric returns. Funny how people
[00:04:38] MJ Demarco: love to curse the phrase. Get rich quick as if it does not exist. But the fact is it does exist and there is one concept responsible for it occurring.
[00:04:51] MJ Demarco: And if you remove your cultural blinders for a second and stop listening to these morons, Who say that wealth is a product of stop drinking coffee, you would understand that it does exist as well. Now, what does not exist is get rich easy, and that is where often people are led astray. So the big key to a get rich quick type of event is actually a process.
[00:05:19] MJ Demarco: A process that often takes several years and behind that process, Is a concept I call asymmetric returns. If you look at any billionaire under 40 or a multimillionaire under 30, eight or nine figures in net worth, you're going to find asymmetric returns. Asymmetric returns is making a small investment, a thousand bucks, 5,000, 10,000 into a business venture.
[00:05:50] MJ Demarco: That has scaling power. In other words, it has a compound yield that exceeds mainstream expectations, which we all know is 8%, 10%, 12%, but in this case, the business venture returns 10000%, 20000%, even a hundred thousand percent. In other words, I started this business with $5,000 and now three years later, it is worth 25 million.
[00:06:22] MJ Demarco: Get rich quick exists because asymmetric returns exist. And this concept of asymmetric returns has been the cornerstone of my philosophy for over 10 plus years. It is the fast lane sense based strategy. So the question you want to ask yourself is the business that you're in or potentially going to be in?
[00:06:48] MJ Demarco: Does it have the potential for asymmetric returns? If it does not? It might be something you want to reconsider.
[00:06:58] Mike Parsons: Asymmetric returns, mark. I think when we study, what does he mean? What the hell is DJ is m I keep wanting to call him dj. DeMarco. It's got a better ring than mj Anyway. Mj DeMarco, what's he really talking about here?
[00:07:16] Mike Parsons: So I believe what he is talking about is these. Asymmetrical exponential returns come from not just working. You know this, that saying, working for the man. Then there's also this idea of what he's not talking about is essentially going freelance, going as a one man thing, just doing your job. So you like to self-employed.
[00:07:45] Mike Parsons: He's talking about doing something. That has the capacity to scale, to earn money. And this is, I believe this is the key about what he's talking about, earn money while you are asleep. Because the crossing this threshold is really important. To give you an idea, I recently renovated my house and there are all these Smart, talented tradespeople and they have their own plumbing, electrical business and they work for themselves.
[00:08:16] Mike Parsons: Maybe they have one like assistant person who's helping out, but their problem if you're a trades person is that as soon as they are not turning up on the work site to build to plum to do the electricity, they're not earning any money. So effectively, whilst they might fill or enjoy some benefits because they're working for themselves, and sure you can feel proud and you can have your own little business and be doing things and you get some satisfaction there, there is a level above this.
[00:08:53] Mike Parsons: For example, if I was an electrician and I created a new circuit, In my work, and then that got retailed and distributed when every time that circuit was sold that can earn money while I'm asleep. That means that there is a scalable distributable thing, a widget that can be sold while I'm asleep. So when we get into this getting rich quick, If we have made the step to work for ourselves and we're not working for somebody else, which of course has huge limitations, cuz you're invariably have no, or just a little bit of stock in the company.
[00:09:38] Mike Parsons: So let's say you have your own small business, you're only working for yourself and you're only earning money Monday to Friday, nine to five. There is a limit. And it is certainly not asymmetrical because it's directly related to you turning up and working. So what's the classic thing that we see, mark?
[00:09:54] Mike Parsons: When small business owners get sick? The business doesn't earn any money,
[00:09:57] Mark Pearson Freeland: does it? It solos right down, right? Because, and I think to build on some of the areas that you are exploring there, Mike, and I think we're gonna run into a lot of these. Mindsets, these concepts and insights throughout the rest of our show with MJ DeMarco, is that in order to try and follow this level of asymmetric returns this concept of maybe get rich quick as well as you say, earning money while you sleep, what you need to put into practice is a number of Concepts or approaches that I think we've started to really uncover across our series on financial health as well as money, which is all about, thinking long term maybe diversifying the areas that you are interested in or the experience that you might have with regards to money your.
[00:10:45] Mark Pearson Freeland: Want to try and expand and consider where else you might be able to either lean in towards, like you say, with the business case study that you just provided with the trades, that's something that they want to consider. What are those long-term diversifications that they could do, but also it's taking ownership, it's paying attention, it's taking control of the areas that you can.
[00:11:06] Mark Pearson Freeland: Take control of, particularly with regards to your finances and working on them, isn't it? It's making sure that you understand those bare bones essentials and that foundation that you can then go out and build upon in order to get rich. We're both, we're hearing two things really.
[00:11:21] Mark Pearson Freeland: One, get rich quick, but also get rich slow. Yeah. It's somewhere in the middle.
[00:11:26] Mike Parsons: Yeah so let's. Let's try and frame it. I think there is a model that we should be aware of. All right let's imagine that we're all sitting together with our members and we're talking about what are the options to wealth.
[00:11:41] Mike Parsons: You can work for somebody else that's the slowest, and you could definitely like, spend. Less than you earn and start saving your money, good step. Then you could go and invest in really sound things such as property. And long-term, as we heard from Morgan Housel, long-term stocks, cuz they, over time they always increase in value.
[00:12:10] Mike Parsons: It's the problem is everybody buys at the highs and sells at the lows. So if you just buy a good company and hold for a long time, you're bound to win. But there is this third dimension that MJ DeMarco is making us aware of, which is you can become an entrepreneur. Now I think it's important to say not.
[00:12:30] Mike Parsons: These options aren't for everyone, and entrepreneurship not necessarily is for everyone because I do believe it's incredibly challenging. In fact, what I loved about what MJ DeMarco said is, you can get rich quick, but she can never get rich easy. Yes. And the easiness reduces the closer you get to entrepreneurship.
[00:12:50] Mike Parsons: But you know what, mark? The rewards on the other side are the biggest. That's for sure. You only need to look at Bill Gates. Bezos Musk. What did they all share? Entrepreneurs who built and created value for customers solved huge problems, and that is beyond any Any welfare we could imagine.
[00:13:09] Mike Parsons: Now, whilst that is extreme, I think what's important here is that if you have a vision of living a life where you travel lot, maybe you have a holiday home and enjoy the good things, that's perfectly fine, but you are gonna be trending towards not just investing. Not just like buying property, but you're gonna have to go build a business.
[00:13:33] Mike Parsons: You're gonna have to go be an entrepreneur because if you have that appetite, you need to go in that direction. I think that's the next build. Once you know that option's there. If you are happy to live in a small apartment, 90 minutes from the city. And work three or four days a week and enjoy a really relaxed lifestyle.
[00:13:55] Mike Parsons: Super minimal, don't own a lot of things, zero debt, but you don't have exorbitant tastes. That is just as good. Yeah. But if you want to pursue adventure travels, if you want to go places, do things. Drive fast cars, it doesn't really matter. The point for me is that you must accept that there's no easy path.
[00:14:18] Mike Parsons: You have to put in the work, and I think this is perhaps one of the greatest aha moments, is to go, oh, to calibrate what's the dream? The vision I have of my life. And we talked a lot about designing your life on this show. Once you've got that North star, you need to work backwards and say, how am I going to save?
[00:14:39] Mike Parsons: I think a critical question would be based starting point, Mike, how much do I need to save every month to achieve my goals in 10 years? Yeah, that is a killer question, isn't it?
[00:14:49] Mark Pearson Freeland: It really isn't it? And that's certainly where we were leaning towards with Morgan Hausel and the psychology of money, creating those goals in order to find that independence.
[00:15:00] Mark Pearson Freeland: I think where Dave Ramsey then. Took us on the journey was maybe you had to stay motivated how to build that foundation. But you are right. When it comes to DeMarco, we're now getting into the point, the pointy end of the stick, so to speak. Yeah. Now you've made that decision. Yes, maybe you've got those goals in mind.
[00:15:16] Mark Pearson Freeland: How are you actually gonna go out and create that business? How are you gonna go out and be that entrepreneur in order to put in the effort and maybe get rich at the end of the
[00:15:25] Mike Parsons: day? Just to also share an insight that I have having started businesses is that the money is nice, but man, the profound sense of wellbeing you have from creating a business that serves its customers.
[00:15:43] Mike Parsons: Delights its customers enjoying the sense of satisfaction and fulfillment is so powerful. To know that you are helping 5, 10, 50, a hundred people, thousands. It doesn't matter. The to know that something you've built is really making a difference. To me that's where the scale of your legacy and your impact is truly felt.
[00:16:10] Mike Parsons: And what's so beautiful Mark, is that you can build a cust a company that serves its customers, but you can equal, equally, take care of your employees too. And that, I think that is a true sense of wellbeing that many entrepreneurs experience knowing the difference they've made to all of the stakeholders.
[00:16:29] Mike Parsons: And at the heart of it, mark. Oh, there's a big secret. There is a huge secret to getting this done. I, I think about it as a sort of a value secret, but when we talk about value, the important thing to remember is we have members who are creating value for us. In fact, we're like in an exchange, we're doing this show and the Moonshots Master series.
[00:16:54] Mike Parsons: Particularly for our members, and I think it's only appropriate that before we reveal the value secret to all of our listeners, that we tip the hat to our members and subscribers.
[00:17:05] Mark Pearson Freeland: That's right, Mike. Joining us on that Moonshot's Family Bus are like-minded individuals who just en enjoy learning out loud and finding insights in frameworks, authors, entrepreneurs, and books.
[00:17:20] Mark Pearson Freeland: So please welcome without further ado. Bob, John Terry, Ken Dimar, Marja and Con Rodrigo, Lisa, Sid, Mr. Bja, Paul Berg, cowman, David, Joe, crystal, Ivo, Christian, and Samuel, all of whom Mike have been with us for well over 12 months now. So these are our lifers. The individuals who deserve not just one, but maybe two extra bits of kudos for today.
[00:17:47] Mark Pearson Freeland: But also hot on those heels is Barbara, Andre, Eric, Chris, Deborah Lase, Steven Craig, Daniel, Andrew, Ravi, eVet, Karen Row, pj and Niko, Ola, Ingram, Dirk and Emily, Harry, Karthik, Vanatta, and Marco, Roger, Steph Ga, Anna Raw Nilan, Eric and Diana Wade, Amanda, Christoff, and Denise, and our brand new members, Theresa and Bolan.
[00:18:15] Mark Pearson Freeland: Who joined us on Spotify as well. So we are really expanding our memberships across all of our different platforms, particularly orientated around our master series, which Mike is just growing month or month. I really enjoyed our most recent series as well, which all of our members can get access to on designing your life.
[00:18:35] Mike Parsons: Yeah, so a big tip of the hat to our annual members. Thank you, who've been with us for over 12 months. We really do appreciate you and just like we. Respect, appreciate, and I was super grateful to Theresa and to our, one of our new Spotify subscribers, cuz the thing is you can head into Spotify and subscribe to the Moonshots Master series there as well.
[00:18:59] Mike Parsons: So we have Uhk. And I hope you respect the fact that we are definitely trying our best to pronounce this exotic name this very cool name. So big tip of the hat to you. We appreciate your support. And we really look forward to hearing feedback from all of our members. Tell us what you want us to focus on.
[00:19:22] Mike Parsons: What books you'd love us to cover. We get tons and tons of tips and suggestions, but we're really looking to our members to push us forward and talking about pushing forward. Mark, I think I. We talked about the value secret. I think it's time to reveal it. Let's go into a world where we really think like an entrepreneur, and let's master what what good old MJ DeMarco calls the language of complaints.
[00:19:48] Mike Parsons: So if you're on the fence
[00:19:50] MJ Demarco: and you're saying to yourself, I wanna start a business. I wanna start a company, I just can't find that opportunity, or I just can't expose that need in the marketplace, where do I find them? The answer is really shocking. You find that opportunity in our language.
[00:20:07] MJ Demarco: The language of opportunity is always exposed in language, specifically the language of complaints. Disgruntlement dis. Sesh bitching and moaning. So the next time you find yourself saying, or you hear somebody else saying, I'm sick and tired of blank. That's a potential vine idea. Great example. I was looking into the background, the story of the Netflix founder, and he said he started Netflix because he was sick and tired of paying late fees from Blockbuster.
[00:20:42] MJ Demarco: That was the birth of the idea. He was. Sick and tired. So again, our language exposes these opportunities and it's covertly hidden within there. Just before I did this video, I went on to twitter.com specifically for the intent to find a fast lane business. So I went to the search box and I typed in I hate, and immediately page after page came up of people tweeting.
[00:21:13] MJ Demarco: I hate. Blank, and it took me five seconds to find a fast lane business. A woman tweeted, I hate packing. Obviously she was moving her house or moving her apartment, and she was packing it up. I hate packing. So immediately I thought to myself, this is a potential fast lane opportunity. Why? Let me tell you here in Phoenix, I'm not aware of any companies that spec.
[00:21:42] MJ Demarco: Specifically pack your house up there are moving companies. Yes, moving companies here are a dime a dozen and they'll come and pack you, but they also wanna move you too. However, I'm not aware of any companies and the fact that I'm not aware is also the opportunity of any companies that specifically will pack you.
[00:22:02] MJ Demarco: Maybe they have a crew of five or six people, they come over with the boxes, they come over with a packing tape and wham, within two hours your whole house is packed. This is a great idea to look into, to potential fast lane idea if it works in the Phoenix area as profitable. Perhaps it could be franchised around the country or around the world.
[00:22:26] MJ Demarco: You have a need there. I hate packing and you know what? I hate packing. I would hire this company. Yes. So that tells me this is a potential opportunity that could be exposed into a millionaire making idea, and it took me five seconds to find it. So to wrap this up, if you're on the fence and you're looking to start this business, look no further than the language of disgruntlement, the language of complaints, and I guarantee you, you will find opportunity.
[00:23:01] MJ Demarco: Go on to yelp.com, find out what. People are complaining about with specific companies you can attack that go to Twitter, type in I hate type in this sucks. See what people are bitching about. That's where the opportunities are.
[00:23:16] Mark Pearson Freeland: Mike, this is a pretty substantial clip actually coming from Mr. Mj DeMarco because it touches on so many.
[00:23:25] Mark Pearson Freeland: Passions I suppose that we've uncovered during the Moonshot Show. Oh,
[00:23:29] Mike Parsons: mark, it is total Richard Branson. He walks around looking for problems and writes 'em into his notebook.
[00:23:34] Mark Pearson Freeland: And also he's reminding me of Tony Fidel who was telling us the story about his son, who, he gets told to go and look in the letter box to see if they've got any posts, and he says why can't it just.
[00:23:44] Mark Pearson Freeland: Tell it for me. And this idea of identifying as MJ put it, disgruntlement hates frustrations. It's such a fantastic. Level setter, isn't it? To put into practice that, a checks your product as you've already got it. Yes. For example, if you and I are pitching out a product, we wanna make sure that actually it has a fit for those customers.
[00:24:07] Mark Pearson Freeland: And we're not just, living behind a closed door and we're only thinking in our own minds. This idea of getting customer feedback, I think we'll probably touch upon later as well. But just that this identification.
[00:24:18] Mike Parsons: And not wishful thinking
[00:24:19] Mark Pearson Freeland: Mark, e, exactly. Exactly. Not the, that blind.
[00:24:23] Mark Pearson Freeland: Having those blinders on, thinking that your idea is the best thing since sliced bread.
[00:24:27] Mike Parsons: Yeah, because we hear those stories of family and friends who start a company and it all goes wrong, and invariably there's a lack of testing demand before you build
[00:24:39] Mark Pearson Freeland: it. Yeah. And a lot of money, but also more importantly, a lot of time and effort goes into those, doesn't it?
[00:24:47] Mark Pearson Freeland: Yes. And the secret that MJ has just revealed is very practical. Hopping onto Twitter, typing in, aye, hey, I'm frustrated with, and uncovering those little insights. What a practical, but also very easy first step in any business' journey.
[00:25:04] Mike Parsons: Yes. Yeah. So you can totally test demand before you actually build the solution.
[00:25:09] Mike Parsons: Obviously, if you see the problem yourself, that's one of the most powerful routes that you're like, I keep having this problem. So Mike let's have some fun and do this for a second. I was doing some experimenting. And the I hate thing on Google. It gets a lot of songs and stuff like that, but I've got like a variation just to inspire our listeners and members, which is how do I fix?
[00:25:33] Mike Parsons: And then what you do is you go to Google, you type in, how do I fix? And you see the common thing that people are trying to fix. And here's what I've got. I, and I have no idea if this is personalized to me but let's see. How do I fix my posture? So that seems to be a very popular thing. How do I fix my email?
[00:25:51] Mike Parsons: Not working? How do I fix my credit score? Hello business there. How do I fix no a signal. Now this is really interesting. How do I fix ingrown toenail? Like, why is that? How do I fix my relationship, my, my sleep schedule, and so on? Isn't that Interestingness just starting to reveal what people are actually going to, to the internet to try and fix.
[00:26:18] Mike Parsons: And it's a suggestion of what they might be working on. So how do I fix, how do I solve? These are just prompts, but obviously the, this is such a powerful way to start. If you look at. Great entrepreneurs like Richard Branson or really evidence-based experts like Eric Reese and the Lean Startup, everyone is about solving the right problems.
[00:26:44] Mike Parsons: Do that, and you've got a great business on your hand. I think this is really powerful advice to get started, and I really think that if you have this itch, to go and create, This kind of wealth. If you have this itch to create value in the world, it's a great place to start. But I think we need to frame this option relative.
[00:27:04] Mike Parsons: This is very much the fast lane option, isn't it? My, I think we need to put this a bit in context.
[00:27:10] Mark Pearson Freeland: I think you're right, Mike. So let's, before we dive any deeper into these different approaches, these different practices, these different habits, let's actually take a step back and let's go back to our author, MJ DeMarco, who's now gonna break down for us the three different lanes that he has in mind within his book, the Millionaire Fast Lane, and we're gonna hear from Fighting Me Bureaucracy Break down those three Financial Pass.
[00:27:32] Mark Pearson Freeland: From the book,
[00:27:33] FightMediocrity: there are really three financial paths. The sidewalk, the slow lane, and the fast lane. The sidewalk is basically your average person living from paycheck to paycheck. No matter how much he earns, he'll match it with how much he spends. Sidewalks can actually have a huge income. Let's say someone like a professional athlete.
[00:27:53] FightMediocrity: The problem with being a sidewalker, however, is having no financial intelligence or responsibility whatsoever. So if something goes wrong, if you lose your job, if you aren't needed anymore, you're basically screwed. This is why you'll see even professional athletes who made millions at one point be completely broke.
[00:28:11] FightMediocrity: Now, Don't take the sidewalk, then you have the slow lane. This is basically your standard. Go to school, get a decent job, save 10%. Invest it in the stock market. Hope it grows at 7% interest annually. And when you're 65, that is if you aren't dead and can still walk, you can be a millionaire. Yay. So why does the slow lane suck?
[00:28:33] FightMediocrity: Because I don't want to drive around in my favorite car when I'm 65. I want to do it while I'm still young. It's also like selling your soul for 40 years so that when you're in a wheelchair, you can finally start having fun. Not that different from what people do on a weekly basis. Actually sell Monday through Friday for two days at the end of the week and do that over and over again.
[00:28:55] FightMediocrity: With that said, I actually think that sadly this is the best strategy for most people. Why? Because most people aren't capable of meeting the demands of the fast lane and the slow lane is definitely better than the sidewalk. More on this later. Now, let's talk about the fast lane. The whole idea of the fast lane is this, the more value you give to the world, the richer you will become.
[00:29:18] FightMediocrity: And I absolutely hated hearing those kinds of quotes and things when I was young. It sounds so esoteric. How do I get rich if I give? It makes no sense. The reason it made no sense was because of how the principal was explained to me. I thought, okay, let's say I go outside right now and hand my money out.
[00:29:35] FightMediocrity: How will that make me rich? And it won't. I was right, but had it been explained to me I wouldn't be so confused. So if you went outside right now with a thousand dollars and gave 10 people a hundred dollars each, that would actually be one of the lowest forms of giving possible. The person will take that 100, engage in mindless consumerism, and basically end up in exactly the same situation as when he started.
[00:29:58] FightMediocrity: What would be a higher form of giving? If you went into your kitchen right now and created a pill that could cure cancer, that would be one of the biggest things you could give to the world. That would be a higher form of giving. And yes, you would absolutely be rich. Assuming you weren't completely naive and knew how to protect your invention.
[00:30:15] FightMediocrity: The general rule is this, the more value you provide to more people, the better you will do. Sounds great, right? So why do I say that the slow lane is actually a good strategy for most people? Because realistically speaking, most people have not developed themselves where they can give something of true value to the world,
[00:30:34] Mike Parsons: true value to the world.
[00:30:37] Mike Parsons: I think the interesting thing that we heard here, I think the lanes are pretty clear. I think the catch. That I certainly became aware of with the slow lane is that you are working for the man deferring. Like all the fruits of your hard work until you're at an age where you're like, I'm old and I can't really enjoy it.
[00:31:03] Mike Parsons: So what I remember very vividly is reading Tim Ferris's for our work week and being, he talked about why would you defer life? Why would you basically be trapped until your sixties having sacrificed family, friends, and health to work for the man to work for somebody else, to be entrapped is what it felt like to me.
[00:31:27] Mike Parsons: And then go, oh, finally I have some cash I can enjoy life. Hey, family, friends, health ain't so great and I'm making it a little dramatic, but I think we need to be aware of this trade off because I think a lot of people that I know who are in their thirties and forties are realizing they chose the slow lane and they're like, Oh my gosh, I've got two kids.
[00:31:58] Mike Parsons: I've got a mortgage. I've gotta work for a long time. Even to get on top of life, let alone really enjoy freedom in life. And that thing is when you are only creating wealth, slowly means that you are looking at, I gotta work all my thirties, forties, fifties, and sixties just to have enough to retire. And I think a lot of people only realize this when they do the math in their late thirties, early forties, and they're like, oh gosh.
[00:32:31] Mike Parsons: It's gonna take ages before I have enough wealth that would create a monthly or yearly income equal to that of a job. Yeah. So they're like, oh my gosh. Like they do this math where they're like, I need to be worth three or 4 million in order to have enough to retire and live comfortably. But I'm way off that, and I'm in my late thirties, early forties, so this means 20 more years.
[00:32:57] Mike Parsons: And I think that's the catch. The slow lane. If you are ready for that, prepared for that's okay. But I think a lot of people were expecting fast lane results in the slow lane, and I think that's what catches us out. Yeah.
[00:33:10] Mark Pearson Freeland: I think you're totally right. When you've got that habit that we were hearing, And as well as working pattern or let's say mindset towards your finances as we were just hearing from that clip specifically to mj.
[00:33:22] Mark Pearson Freeland: I think you're right. This idea of working for the man, so to speak, saving diligently, that is what a lot of classic books, a lot of classic ways of managing a finances would already orientate themselves around. But I think you're totally right. What, what's coming through in the frameworks, the books that we've really uncovered on this show is that your mindset towards your finances needs to be different.
[00:33:48] Mark Pearson Freeland: You don't need to hunker down and almost ignore your finances. And I think that's perhaps somewhat what I see within this slow lane. Let's call it roadmap, the idea of saving diligently, but you just put it to one side and you leave it. You leave it. Maybe you don't take it out, invest it, you don't put it into, maybe property or shares.
[00:34:10] Mark Pearson Freeland: You just leave it as it is and almost forget about it to a certain extent. What I remember hearing from Dave Ramsey was take much more of a proactive step. Oh, your finance, make your made of work. Make your money work.
[00:34:24] Mike Parsons: Make work. Particularly putting it in your money in a bank account and not putting it in some sort of asset that yields a return.
[00:34:32] Mike Parsons: That's like super risky business. That's the slow lane.
[00:34:35] Mark Pearson Freeland: Correct. That's exactly what I'm thinking. I think the slow lane definitely represents, and I think similar to what we are hearing from fight mediocrity, he calls out that's where he thinks that a lot of people probably are.
[00:34:46] Mark Pearson Freeland: And I think that's probably true. Yeah. A lot of us, including myself, will spend a lot of time, and I'm talking years of our lives and our careers putting. Your finances as a second or third priority? Yes, it's something important. Yes, but it's not ever gonna be something that you will take a look at perhaps every day, prioritize and so on.
[00:35:08] Mark Pearson Freeland: And I think that's the thing that we are learning about this fast lane approach, isn't it? Take more control, work hard, put time into it. Yeah.
[00:35:16] Mike Parsons: Because if you if you wake up too late, it's a terrible aha moment, right? So I've certainly had one or two instances where you see people getting to that retirement age and not having sufficient wealth and health to actually enjoy it.
[00:35:37] Mike Parsons: It's that classic thing like half of America gets to retirement age with no net worth, no money in pay, no, no assets. That is such a huge challenge when you're in your sixties and seventies. That is I don't wish that upon anyone. Hey, I. You lived a good life. Like sure you, you've deserved the opportunity to kick back.
[00:35:57] Mike Parsons: So the key thing here is if you appreciate compound interest, which has been both a financial concept, but also the compound effect from Darren Hardy, is that good habits such as good savings, Such as good investing, such as creating value through entrepreneurship. Do it consistently year after year, and you will create wealth, freedom, and opportunity.
[00:36:20] Mike Parsons: And what I believe is you, on top of that, you'll also feel hugely satisfied and fulfilled in the work that you're doing. Not only because you're rewarded, because in order to be an entrepreneur, you must be helping and serving others. You must be solving their problems, otherwise they're not gonna pay for your
[00:36:35] Mark Pearson Freeland: product or service.
[00:36:36] Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah, exactly. And that's where I interpret this idea of value. The true value that an individual can bring to the world. I'm hearing that, speaking back to that fir, the second clip that we heard today with the language of complaints. Yes. Understanding what customers frustrations are, as well as the story that you gave Mike with regards to the individuals that you work with the.
[00:36:58] Mark Pearson Freeland: Happiness or the passion that you are putting into that is then being reiterated within that true value. So in the eyes of businesses, partners and so on. That's the stuff that, that makes a difference, doesn't it? It totally does. And ultimately if it ladders towards good money management wealth increasing and so on, obviously that's even better.
[00:37:17] Mark Pearson Freeland: But I think what's interesting is when we can make these connections, like you've just said with Darren Hardy, both habits that are physical, behavioral, as well as then applying them towards our finances. Once again, we're seeing this relation between, a conceptual idea as well as a physical.
[00:37:34] Mark Pearson Freeland: Result that happens to your money. Yes.
[00:37:37] Mike Parsons: So it probably has all of you wondering now, okay, I'm buying this legitimate. It's not gonna be easy, but there is a fast way to accrue wealth and to live your best life. And the good news is we now have a clip from the Swedish investor who's gonna reveal to us the five fast lane commandments from mj DeMarco.
[00:37:59] Mark Pearson Freeland: Okay.
[00:38:00] Swedish Investor: So we've established that to reach financial freedom fast, you need to quit your job and start a business, but not any type of business. This is not a do what you love or be your own boss advice. No. A business should fulfill as many as possible of the five fast lane commandments to be worthy of pursuing the commandment of control.
[00:38:27] Swedish Investor: If you're not in control of your business, someone else is. For instance, hitchhiking, a content distribution platform to distribute your educational videos violates this commandment. Another example, there are lots of businesses that earn good money from Google's AdSense program, but you know what? The company which brings in the great box is Google itself.
[00:38:52] Swedish Investor: Ouch. Anyways here's an ad for you. The commandment of entry.
[00:38:59] Swedish Investor: If the road you are choosing is crowded with other people, you can count on being stuck in a traffic jam, you'd like some kind of barrier of entry to your business. A certain knowledge that people must possess to participate. Large sums of money required for investments, contacts that you need to have, et cetera.
[00:39:21] Swedish Investor: The commandment of need, doing what you love is a flawed strategy. People do not care about what you love. People care about having their problems solved. Selfish motives doing what you love is a free ticket to the road with a traffic jam. Again, because if you love it, chances are that everyone else loves doing it too.
[00:39:46] Swedish Investor: It's quite simple. Really offer the world more value and you'll become rich, affect millions, and you'll make millions The commandment of time. Somewhere down the line, you must be able to detach yourself from your own business. You must create a business system that can survive without any input from yourself.
[00:40:09] Swedish Investor: We want passive income, otherwise you've just created yourself a job in disguise. Money is not king. Time is the commandment of scale. Mj DeMarco talks about something he calls the Law of Affection, and this is so important in my opinion, that I'd like to make it into its own takeaway.
[00:40:33] Mark Pearson Freeland: Mike, the five stages, the five fast lane commandments getting broken down for us there, straight out of MJ demarcos book, the Millionaire Fast Lane.
[00:40:43] Mark Pearson Freeland: We're hearing this is actually quite an interesting little acronym, sense, C E N T S. So control entry needs scale time and then scale. It's quite a nice little breakdown, but the one that I'm specifically attracted to there, I think is actually within this idea of time. Because it's speaking back to that first clip that we heard this idea around, get rich quick, this idea of how much time, but also more importantly, maybe effort that goes into becoming rich.
[00:41:12] Mark Pearson Freeland: A lot of people think it's gonna be high yield, but low effort. But actually I think it's the other way around, doesn't it? You got, you're so right. Strapping.
[00:41:22] Mike Parsons: I think we, we see too much propaganda for it's easy to make money. Just watch my YouTube video and I'll show you how The reality is, Sophie, so few people achieve their wealth quickly.
[00:41:38] Mike Parsons: If it was as easy as watching a YouTube clip, then there would just be so many more people that we would know who have done and gone and acquired it, because frankly who wouldn't do it if it was easy and quick. I think the reality here is, There's some really big insights. Know those lanes we talked about?
[00:41:56] Mike Parsons: I think that one, and being aware of the trade-offs that come with each of those. Yeah. Know that it's never gonna be easy, but you can accelerate it if you choose entrepreneurship. But you don't have to, you just need to know. If you take the slow lane, just be careful of the sacrifices, be mindful of the sacrifices.
[00:42:14] Mike Parsons: And I think here what we are seeing is a great format. We love a great framework, don't we, mate? Oh,
[00:42:19] Mark Pearson Freeland: we do. We love
[00:42:20] Mike Parsons: frameworks. And this one's really good, I think when I look at it, and of course we're gonna have it in the show notes, so make sure you head to Moonshots AO and check it out. And Really, grab the book, study this because this is a very powerful entrepreneurship model.
[00:42:36] Mike Parsons: You can also use some of the work from Darren Hardy and many others if you wanna study this. We've actually done master series on entrepreneurship, and we've done many different series on it. I think here, time control, scale entry, and need. It's really important to study all of these. Don't guess use frameworks like this.
[00:42:55] Mike Parsons: It is a clear model to follow. So if you have the mindset that you want to maximize your freedom, you need to look at entrepreneurship. If you want to have a growth mindset, you will be totally well suited to the learning and being resilient to be an entrepreneur. And you can use. This model to go and crack the right business.
[00:43:16] Mike Parsons: But Mark, this is not, and mj DeMarco, he ain't done. We got one more clip Mark. Why don't you set it up for us, because we've got one last big idea to take home with us from MJ DeMarco and his book The Millionaire Fast Lane.
[00:43:32] Mark Pearson Freeland: Just one more clip, Mike, and that's it. We are learning out loud with MJ demarcos, so closing the show and helping us really appreciate, understand, but also put into practice some of this advice that we've heard from him.
[00:43:46] Mark Pearson Freeland: Today is a clip that breaks down the 1 5 10 strategy. What
[00:43:52] MJ Demarco: if I could tell you that in a few years from now, your life could be 10000% better? From dead broke and struggling in a one bedroom apartment to a multimillionaire who has everything including free time. The fact is most people fail to succeed because they fail to plan their life.
[00:44:11] MJ Demarco: If you wanna radically change your life, you have to make a plan. You have to give your life a roadmap or a G P S system. For my entire life, I've been using what I call the one five ten strategy. And let me tell you, it works beautifully and it is responsible for the awesome life I lead today. And yes, I still use this to this day.
[00:44:35] MJ Demarco: It works like this. Get a journal or several pieces of paper, do not use a digital device, and then on one page, write 10 years and then envision how your life would look in 10 years from now if everything went as well as it could envision it as a best case scenario. Where would you live? What would you drive?
[00:44:56] MJ Demarco: What would you be doing? What's your net worth? Where would you vacation? What would your daily day look like? Write everything down and be specific. Clip photos if you need to. So for example, let's say in 10 years you see yourself with a $20 million net worth because you just sold your company for $15 million.
[00:45:16] MJ Demarco: You live somewhere sunny in a house on the ocean, you have an awesome spouse. You are perfectly debt free. You are doing what you wanna do without constraints of money. Now at this point, your 10 year vision might seem a bit like a fantasy, but trust me, it isn't. Now get another piece of paper or turn the page and write five years underneath that, write what your life would need to look like to be halfway to your tenure vision.
[00:45:45] MJ Demarco: So if you just sold your company for 15 million in year 10, at year five, you probably have a business that is doing several million dollars in revenue and several hundred thousand dollars in profit. Maybe you have a million dollars saved on the spouse front. Maybe you've been in a relationship with somebody awesome for several years.
[00:46:05] MJ Demarco: Write down your halfway point in what it should look like. Then turn the page or get another piece of paper and write one year. What would your life need to look like one year from now to be 20, maybe 25% closer to that five year vision? If you have a business that does several million in revenue at year five, then at year one, maybe you just have a business that is profitable.
[00:46:31] MJ Demarco: You have the foundation laid for scale with an awesome product, autocracy. Maybe you've paid off your first credit card. Maybe you've been on 20 dates in pursuit of your soulmate. Maybe you've become proficient in some computer language and built yourself a high leverage skill. Write it all down one year from today, what it should look like now, once you have all this mapped out, congratulations, you now heavy roadmap for your life, but more importantly, you now created a decision framework for action.
[00:47:03] MJ Demarco: From this point on, after you create your 1 5 10 strategy, you now have a framework that tells you the right decisions to make and not make you know exactly what choices you should and should not be making. If any decision advances you toward the one year vision, it's the right decision because it moves you toward the five and the 10.
[00:47:26] MJ Demarco: Any decision or action that does not move you closer to the one year vision? No. Then it's an action fake, a detour from your dream life. Of course, I'm not suggesting you can't go to the movies or to a baseball game, but in general, the 1 5 10 plan acts like a decision compass for moving the needle on
[00:47:43] Mike Parsons: your life.
[00:47:44] Mike Parsons: Wow. The compass for moving the needle on your life. Mark, what's crazy about this is like classic working backwards, right? Which we've studied a lot in our thinking models and mental models. We even had the book from Amazon who also think above, think in the future and work their way backwards. Now we can do it for our own life, and I'm a huge fan of this.
[00:48:07] Mike Parsons: I think of the life that I wanna live this year, next year and beyond, and I actively work towards it. If something contributes to me living like the perfect life, the life that I would die for, then I can totally judge something today based on that criteria. How does this contribute to my goal?
[00:48:29] Mike Parsons: Isn't this crazy that we're seeing models that work in the enterprise for Amazon can also work for you in your personal wealth
[00:48:36] Mark Pearson Freeland: management? I look, I think this is. I'm jumping the gun a little bit, Mike. I know you're gonna ask me later, which was my standout clip, but actually I think I'm gonna call it now, interestingly enough, listeners and subscribers, because I think this 1 5 10 strategy helps break down the barrier to entry.
[00:48:55] Mark Pearson Freeland: That often comes with putting in practice and putting in place a long-term strategy. So sometimes in, myself included, I'll be looking at my situation and think, oh, I wonder where I'll be. In six months time, let alone three years and so on. What I love about and obviously that I don't want that to be the case for too long, but whenever I have found myself in those situations where I want to consider whether what I'm doing is in train with my ultimate goal, maybe I am living beyond my means.
[00:49:29] Mark Pearson Freeland: Maybe I have made. Or maybe I need to make a question about maybe a vacation that we're putting in place or moving house, whatever it might be, or making a substantial purchase. This strategy, I think helps an individual like myself, not only. Choose which decision is right from the that decision tree.
[00:49:49] Mark Pearson Freeland: I think this could be a nice way of cross-referencing with some second order thinking and understanding the outputs of each decision that you're gonna make, but specifically orientated around where you want to get to. Yep. And whether it is in line with the behavior as well as the strategies that you've got in place to reach those.
[00:50:07] Mark Pearson Freeland: Ultimate goals. And for me, the hardest thing that comes with trying to know where to start when you are creating an outcome or creating a long-term goal, potentially where you wanna live, how much money you want to be have a net worth, is putting that into practice. And what I really is mjs.
[00:50:27] Mark Pearson Freeland: Like you say, working backwards approach. Yes. Because it's ha it makes so much sense to me. What are you gonna be in 10 years? You probably want to be around the 50% mark in, in half that time. Yes. I'm bringing it down, obviously into one year. I think, Mike this is a pretty undeniable process to take part in, isn't it?
[00:50:46] Mike Parsons: It is. I'll tell you why it's so powerful is that if you set your goal for five or 10 years, okay. And you say, I wanna live a life like this. And then you say what's that gonna take financially? What would we need to be saving in order to hit that goal in 10 years? And then you ask yourself, am I saving that amount today?
[00:51:08] Mike Parsons: And all of a sudden you go, oh I'm actually a fair bit off. Then you are able to course correct and say, okay. We're gonna reduce going out for dinner one night a week. We're only gonna or order Uber Eats once a week, et cetera, et cetera. The this empowerment to make choices today for a deferred future is really important because what we've talked about here is too many people wake up.
[00:51:34] Mike Parsons: Too late. This technique helps you go, oh my gosh, I can take full control right now by changing how I spend, save, invest money, or perhaps even get closer towards the fast lane. If the Delta's huge, you might say, I better go create something, cuz there ain't no way I'm getting there on the yes slow lane,
[00:51:53] Mark Pearson Freeland: yeah, that's exactly right. Some of us might be thinking that we're in different lanes. Yes. That's another truth, isn't it? Yeah. By putting into practice this little framework, I think you can quite quickly realize, Ooh, I'm a little bit of a way off from that target. Yes. I'm a little bit of a way away and I need to.
[00:52:10] Mark Pearson Freeland: Maybe think about an extra revenue stream. Maybe it's cutting down those expenses like you just suggested. Exactly. Maybe it's something else.
[00:52:19] Mike Parsons: So there you have it, mark. You stole my fund. You've already given me the favorite one, and I'm gonna jump all in on the 1 5 10 strategy from MJ DeMarco.
[00:52:29] Mike Parsons: And I want to say a huge thanks to you Mark, and to our members and to our listeners, to we have gone deep to wrap up the Financial Money Management Wealth Creation Super series with Show 222 with NJ, DeMarco, and the Millionaire Far. And this story begins with, you can actually get rich quick. But never easy.
[00:52:53] Mike Parsons: And it starts by you really going out into the world and creating value as an entrepreneur, finding problems worth soul. Because if you do that, you're on the fast lane and you won't be on the slow lane or the sidewalk. So stick to those five fast lane commandments, employ your 1 5 10 strategy, and you will be on your way to the moon.
[00:53:11] Mike Parsons: And that's exactly what we're doing here at the Moonshots podcast. That's exactly what we're all about. Learning out loud together, being the best version of yourself because you. Know what life is too good to refuse. So get on board, jump into the Moonshot podcast. Get everything you need to be the best version of yourself.
[00:53:31] Mike Parsons: And for today. That's a wrap.