The Millionaire Fastlane

One of the books that shaped my character and thinking. When I first read the title I was pretty sure that this would be a huge garbage. But I gave it a shot, I am glad I did.

Even these days I think this book is relevant and has very useful tips and ideas. The goal of the author was to describe a different life that could be reached with deliberate practice and work. In his picky style describes the different lanes we could go through life.

This would be a long review, because the book deserves it.

If you want to keep getting what you’re getting, keep doing what you’re doing.

DISCLAIMER: Although the book suggests that reaching the Fastlane is only possible through entrepreneurship, I believe high-skill, high-paying jobs like those in engineering, healthcare, or cybersecurity can also lead to wealth.

Wealth in a Wheelchair… “Get Rich Slow” is Get Rich Old

Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from.

I still remember getting advice from people, who were financially and mentally broke, to go to school, get good grades, graduate, get a good job, invest in the stock market … then someday, when you are, oh, 65 years old, you will be rich if you are still alive. This is the Get Rich Slow schema. Sacrifice your today, your dreams, and your life for a plan that pays dividends after most of your life has evaporated. The Slowlane gurus know something that they aren’t telling you: What they teach doesn’t work, but selling it does.

I am not saying that these are bad things. I have two BASc in engineering and I do invest. But this equation is missing something, it lacks control, which is essential to have a fulfilling life.

Wealth is Not a Road, But a Road Trip

Wealth eludes most people because they are preoccupied with events while disregarding process. Without process, there is no event.

When a 20-year-old sells his Internet company for $30 million dollars, you read about it on a tech blog. The event is lauded and showcased for all to admire. But you didn’t hear about the long hours of coding the founder had to endure. You don’t hear about the cold dark days working in the garage.

All events of wealth are preceded by process, a backstory of trial, risk, hard work, and sacrifice. If you try to skip process, you’ll never experience events. Unfortunately, as a media-driven, “I want it now” society, we spotlight and glorify the event, but usher the process behind the woodshed, carefully drying its sweat from the public cognition.

We live in a society that wants to outsource everything, from our household chores to raising our kids. Outsourcing might work for a dirty bathroom, but it doesn’t work for wealth. Wealth’s road trip has no chauffeur and the toll can’t be outsourced to a virtual assistant in India.

Your current financial and mental situation is a product of your existing roadmap, whether chosen or not. Your roadmap guides your actions, and the consequences of those actions have created your financial life. How your life unfolds is determined by your choices, and these choices originate from your belief systems, and those belief systems evolve from your predisposed roadmap. If you want to change your life, change your choices. To change your choices you must change your belief system. Your belief system is defined by your roadmap.

You are the driver of your own life’s journey, and no one else can take the wheel. Your “vehicle” is a complex system made up of components like oil, gas, an engine, a steering wheel, a windshield, horsepower, and an accelerator, all requiring regular care and fine-tuning to perform at their best on the roadmap.

Your “roads” represent the financial paths you choose to navigate. For instance, you might take the career road, with endless possibilities like becoming an engineer, project manager, doctor, plumber, or truck driver. Alternatively, you could choose entrepreneurial routes, such as real estate investing, owning a retail store, franchising, internet marketing, or inventing. Just like a cross-country road trip, the options are vast, with countless variations.

“Speed” refers to your ability to act quickly, turning ideas into reality. Even if you’re in a high-powered car on a clear road, you won’t move forward without pressing the accelerator. Without speed, your plans lack momentum, your vehicle stays parked, and your path leads to a dead end.

Successful Fastlane travelers are like warriors, thriving on challenging roads. Wealth lies along toll roads, not on easy paths. These tolls deter the uncommitted, guiding them back to ordinary lives. If you avoid paying the toll, wealth will elude you. If the journey to riches were simple, wouldn’t everyone be rich? The Fastlane demands sacrifices that few are willing to make, but those who do can live a life few others achieve.

Why do so few get rich while the rest wallow from paycheck to paycheck? The distinction lies in the valuation of free time, the chosen roadmap, and the acquisition of parasitic debt. Guess the behaviors-rich or poor? This person sleeps until noon. This person watches hours of reality TV. This person drives two hours to save $20. This person buys airline tickets with multiple layovers to save $100. This person spends hours surfing social networks and gossip blogs. This person is a Level 10 Druid in World of Warcraft.

Each of the three roadmaps comes with its own mindset, a set of beliefs that shape your actions. More crucially, each roadmap exists within a specific “universe” governed by a unique mathematical “wealth equation.” The roadmap you choose determines the rules of your wealth-building universe.

The Sidewalk > Poverty
The Slowlane > Average
The Fastlane > Riches

• Debt Perception: Are you in charge of your debt, or does it control you?
• Time Perception: How do you value and manage your time? Is it plentiful, fleeting, or irrelevant?
• Education Perception: What part does education play in your life?
• Money Perception: How do you view money? Is it a resource to leverage or a plaything? Abundant or scarce?
• Primary Income Source: What is your main method for generating income?
• Primary Wealth Accelerator: How are you building and growing your net worth? Or are you even doing so?
• Wealth Perception: What does wealth mean to you?
• Wealth Equation: What is your mathematical strategy for amassing wealth? Which wealth equation governs the dynamics of your wealth universe?
• Destination: Do you have a goal in mind? If so, what does it look like?
• Responsibility & Control: Do you have authority over your life and financial strategy?
• Life Perception: How do you approach life? Do you prioritize planning for the future, sacrificing today for tomorrow, or living for today at the expense of tomorrow?

If you’re dissatisfied with your situation, you can transform your universe by switching roadmaps. But to make the switch, you first need to understand the roadmaps. Let’s explore the three roadmaps in detail: the Sidewalk, the Slowlane, and the Fastlane.

But keep in mind when you’re the first person whose beliefs are different from what everyone else believes, you’re basically saying, “I’m right, and everyone else is wrong.” That’s a very unpleasant position to be in. It’s at once exhilarating and at the same time, an invitation to be attacked.

Poorness–The Sidewalk

A Sidewalker’s financial journey has no destination. They lack a plan, spending any extra money on the latest gadgets, trips, newer cars, trendy clothes, or fleeting fads. Sidewalkers are ensnared in “Lifestyle Servitude,” driven by an urgent need for instant gratification, status, and pleasure. This creates a vicious cycle that accelerates each month, increasing their burdens and chaining them to their job or business forever.

The Sidewalk is the most common path because it’s the easiest, luring people with the promise of instant rewards. Money is treated like a hot potato, quickly traded for the next quick fix.

Sidewalkers live on the edge of financial ruin, one misstep from disaster. One failed album, one bad business deal, one lost gig, or one layoff could mean homelessness, bankruptcy, or moving back to their parents’ basement.

Even high-earning Sidewalkers don’t achieve true wealth. Don’t be fooled by the illusion. The Sidewalk has no path to riches, only a “DEAD END” sign pointing to financial doom. It’s a treadmill that often ends in bankruptcy or a harsh wake-up call. Any disruption, a recession, job loss, rising interest rates, or loan resets can topple their fragile existence. Living on the Sidewalk can literally lead to living on the streets.

Looking wealthy is far easier than being wealthy, thanks to easy credit and “no payments for a year” deals that tempt Sidewalkers to buy the appearance of success. The author learned this lesson in his early 20s, trapped in a stressful job that drained his entrepreneurial spirit. He couldn’t quit because of car payments, gas, and insurance, his “stuff” had imprisoned him in a job he hated.

Sidewalkers equation for success:

• Debt Perception: Credit lets me have what I want now! Credit cards, car loans, and consolidation loans boost my income and let me live today! If I want it, I get it.
• Time Perception: Time is endless, so I spend money like tomorrow doesn’t exist. I could be gone in two weeks—why save? You can’t take it with you!
• Education Perception: School’s done, I’m free! No more learning needed.
• Money Perception: If you’ve got money, show it off! Saving is pointless. I spend everything I earn, pay most bills on time—isn’t that responsible enough?
• Primary Income Source: I chase the highest-paying gig. It’s all about the money, baby!
• Primary Wealth Accelerator: Net worth? I play the lottery, hit the casino, or wait for a lawsuit payout. That counts, right?
• Wealth Perception: The one with the most toys wins!
• Wealth Equation: Wealth = Income + Debt.
• Destination: Destination? I live for today, not tomorrow.
• Responsibility & Control: Bad things always happen to me. The system’s rigged, I’m a victim, and it’s someone else’s fault.
• Life Perception: Live for now, forget tomorrow. Life’s too short to plan beyond a month. You’re only young once, and I’ll strike it rich someday.

Sidewalkers chase “big hits” because they believe wealth comes from one-off events. They rely on miracles. Three beliefs keep them trapped and vulnerable to scams:

1. Wealth requires luck.
2. Wealth is an event, not a process.
3. Others can hand me wealth.

Luck, like wealth, comes from a process, not a single event. It’s created by taking action to improve your odds. Chasing “big hits” is event-driven thinking, not process-driven, and it keeps you on the Sidewalk, not the Fastlane. “Get Rich Quick” schemes thrive because Sidewalkers believe in events over process. These schemes are rarely as lucrative as selling them to Sidewalkers.

What Sidewalkers fail to realize is that true wealth consists of:

Family (relationships), Fitness (health), and Freedom (choice). This wealth trinity holds the key to true wealth and, ultimately, happiness.

In the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life, the final lesson rings true: “No one is a failure who has friends.” This underscores the value of sharing your life with loved ones, friends, and a supportive community. Wealth is about making a meaningful impact and enriching the lives of others. True wealth cannot be experienced in isolation, it thrives in the moments shared with those who matter most. The richest times in my life were those spent surrounded by friends and family.

Wealth is also fitness: robust health, vitality, passion, and endless energy. Without health, wealth is incomplete. Ask someone battling a terminal illness what they treasure most, or a cancer survivor how their perspective shifted from material possessions to people and experiences. Health and vitality are priceless.

Wealth is freedom: liberation from bosses, alarm clocks, and financial pressures. It’s the freedom to chase your passions, raise your children as you envision, and escape the grind of tasks you despise. Freedom grants you the ability to live life on your own terms.

Money serves as a tool to secure one element of this wealth formula: freedom. Freedom acts as a cornerstone, supporting the other pillars of wealth—health and relationships. Money provides the freedom to be present for your children’s milestones, to pursue your wildest dreams, to make a difference in the world, and to nurture meaningful relationships. It allows you to do what you love without the burden of financial necessity.

Mediocrity–The Slowlane Roadmap

As a Slowlane traveler, you’re bombarded with advice that demands discipline in exchange for a trade-off. Get a job and spend five days a week grinding away. Pack your lunch, skip the $10 coffee, and diligently funnel 10% of your paycheck into the stock market or your 401(k). Forget about that sports car you admire, you can’t afford it! Postpone enjoyment until you’re 65. Save relentlessly, because compound interest is your ticket: $10,000 invested now could grow to millions in 50 years!

But what if I told you that “insane” is slaving away 50 hours a week for 50 years, only to be discarded at the end, left hoping to die before struggling to reach the bathroom in a retirement home? Isn’t that the real insanity?

Have you become so consumed by earning a living that life itself has lost its joy? Are you so caught up in the Monday-to-Friday grind that you miss the beauty around you? Commuters shuffle like zombies, blind to the vibrancy of the week. Would a Saturday experiment yield any different result?

Slowlaner’s equation for success:

• Debt Perception: Debt is the enemy. It must be aggressively paid off, even if it means working overtime forever.
• Time Perception: Time is plentiful, and I’ll happily trade it for more money. The more hours I work, the faster I can clear my debts and save for retirement at 65.
• Education Perception: Education matters because it secures a higher salary.
• Money Perception: Money is scarce, so every penny must be tracked, budgeted, and saved. To retire with millions by 65, I must guard my earnings carefully.
• Primary Income Source: My job is my only income stream.
• Primary Wealth Accelerator: Compound interest is my key to wealth—$10 today could grow to $300,000 in 50 years. Plus, mutual funds, home value growth, and my 401(k) will help.
• Wealth Perception: Work, save, invest. Repeat for 40 years until I retire at 65—or, if the markets perform exceptionally, maybe 55!
• Wealth Equation: Wealth = Job + Market Investments.
• Destination: A comfortable retirement in my later years.
• Responsibility & Control: It’s my duty to provide for my family, but my plan depends on my employer, financial advisor, the government, and a stable economy.
• Life Perception: Settle for less, abandon big dreams, live frugally, avoid risks, and one day I’ll retire with millions.

A job is like riding in the back of a pickup truck, exposed to the elements while the driver sits comfortably in control. If the road gets bumpy, you’re tossed around or thrown out entirely. Centering your financial plan on such a strategy is foolish. If you don’t control your income, you don’t control your financial plan. If you don’t control your financial plan, you don’t control your freedom.

As an employee, you’re automatically enrolled in “pay yourself last,” where everyone, bills, creditors, taxes gets your money before you do. If you’re always last in line, building wealth quickly is impossible.

A job trades five days of your life for two days of freedom. It limits your experiences, forces you to work with people you dislike, and dictates your income. These constraints are barriers to wealth.

When a Slowlaner wants to make more money, he increases his hours worked, switches to a better paying job, or adds jobs. When a Slowlaner wants to get paid more, he goes back to school, hoping to increase intrinsic value. When a Slowlaner realizes that a 3% investment return isn’t building wealth fast enough, bigger risks are assumed for bigger returns. When a Slowlaner watches 40% of his nest egg disappear in an economic recession, he goes back to work arguing that five years is not enough to “get back to even.”

Wealth–The Fastlane Roadmap

To unlock the Fastlane roadmap, align yourself with those who hold the key to wealth: Team Producer. Transition from the majority mindset of consuming to the minority mindset of producing. Instead of buying products advertised on TV, create and sell your own. Instead of searching for gold, provide the tools to mine it. Rather than enrolling in a class, teach one. Instead of borrowing money, become a lender. Rather than taking a job, create jobs. Instead of getting a mortgage, offer one. Break free from the cycle of consumption and reorient your perspective to become a producer.

Becoming a producer requires embracing entrepreneurship and innovation. You must be a visionary, creating a business that delivers value to the world.

Core principles of the Fastlane:

• Controllable Unlimited Leverage (CUL): Unlike the Slowlane, which is limited by uncontrollable factors and minimal leverage, the Fastlane thrives on maximum control and scalable opportunities.
• Business as the Foundation: Entrepreneurship, self-employment, and business ownership are at the heart of the Fastlane, just as a job anchors the Slowlane.
• Lifestyle Commitment: The Fastlane is not just a strategy—it’s a lifestyle built on a blend of beliefs, processes, and actions.
• Rapid Wealth Creation: The Fastlane focuses on generating significant wealth quickly, far beyond the limits of middle-class earnings.

Fastlaner’s equation for success:

• Debt Perception: Debt is useful if it allows me to build and grow my system.
• Time Perception: Time is the most important asset i have, far exceeding money.
• Education Perception: Lifelong learning is essential. My growth depends on continuously expanding my knowledge and awareness.
• Money Perception: Money is abundant and reflects the value I create by impacting others’ lives.
• Primary Income Source: My income comes from my business systems and investments, not a single job.
• Primary Wealth Accelerator: I create valuable assets from scratch or enhance existing ones to increase their market worth.
• Wealth Perception: Wealth is built through business systems that generate cash flow and increase asset value.
• Wealth Equation: Wealth = Net Profit + Asset Value. The more people I help, the greater my wealth in time, money, and fulfillment.
• Destination: Achieve lifetime passive income through business or investments.
• Responsibility & Control: My life and financial outcomes are my responsibility. I choose how to respond to my circumstances.
• Life Perception: My dreams, no matter how ambitious, are worth pursuing. Money is a tool to make those dreams a reality.

In the Slowlane, a job trades your time for your employer’s money. You’re told to “get stronger” by spending on education or earning more through a job, akin to lifting heavier stones. In contrast, the Fastlane focuses on building better systems, products, or solutions that work for you. In the Slowlane, you do the heavy lifting; in the Fastlane, your system does it.

To escape the Slowlane’s “time for money” trap, become a business owner. Business systems act as proxies for your time, enabling passive income. If your passive income surpasses your expenses (including taxes), you’re effectively retired—regardless of age. The Fastlane’s goal is to create a business system that operates independently of your time. Five types of “money-tree seedlings” include:

• Rental Systems: Real estate, licenses, or patents.
• Computer/Software Systems: Internet businesses, software, or apps.
• Content Systems: Books, blogs, or online magazines.
• Distribution Systems: Franchising, network marketing, or TV marketing.
• Human Resource Systems: These can enhance or hinder passivity and are the most resource-intensive to manage.

When you see an advertisement urging you to buy, analyze it as a producer. How does the company profit? What’s the goal of the message? What processes support this product or service? Is it profitable? What’s the revenue model? Is it manufactured locally or overseas? This mindset shift, from consumer to producer, unlocks the Fastlane’s potential.

Your Vehicle to Wealth–YOU

To build wealth, you must first own your time and resources. When you work a traditional job, your employer controls your time, and you’re paid last after taxes and expenses. To truly pay yourself first:

• Incorporate Your Business: Shell your business into a corporation you control. This structure allows you to prioritize your income and minimize external claims (e.g., taxes).
• Avoid Parasitic Debt: Debt from instant gratification (e.g., financed cars, designer clothes) consumes your free time, converting it into indentured time spent working to pay it off. Control the source of debt by resisting lifestyle servitude. Debt needs a constant drip of blood, and that blood comes from your gas tank of life: time. And since time is fixed, an increase in indentured time comes from only one source: your free time.

Wealth is a process, not an event. The Fastlane is driven by hundreds of daily choices that form habits and lifestyles. People value their time at zero. It’s free. Like the air we breathe, they’re convinced that time is abundant and in endless supply. They live as if they were immortal. They are certain that time, the fuel of their life, never runs empty. Value your time poorly and you will be poor:

• Small Choices Matter: Daily decisions shape your trajectory. Choosing to read a book instead of watching TV or to exercise while learning transforms idle time into productive growth.
• Avoid Treasonous Choices: Treasonous choices are actions that cause irreparable harm to your dreams and goals, leading to unintended detours. Ask yourself: Is this choice a step toward victory or victimhood? Will it cloud my path to a better life?

Surround yourself with people who support your Fastlane vision. Unwilling passengers add weight, distract, and sometimes are expensive to remove. Traveling down the road less traveled is already difficult. Why compound the journey by weighing down the car with someone who doesn’t share your destination:

• Choose Your Warriors Wisely: Relationships are like a platoon preparing for battle. Avoid those who create headwinds, unreliable friends, unsupportive partners, or negative influences. A partner who doesn’t share your entrepreneurial philosophy can weigh you down like a trailer of manure.
• Evaluate Your Partner: If your significant other doesn’t align with your goals, they may hinder your progress. A supportive partner accelerates your journey, while an opposing one can be treasonous, leading to emotional and financial costs (e.g., divorce).

The Fastlane road trip demands fresh oil changes. But what is oil? Oil is education**.** Education is the fuel that keeps your Fastlane vehicle running smoothly. Sidewalkers don’t bother with oil. After 3,000 miles, they’re done. Graduation is the last oil change. Unlike the Slowlane, where education increases intrinsic value (e.g., higher salaries), Fastlane education amplifies your business system:

• Continuous Learning: Inject new skills, knowledge, and competencies to open new opportunities. Fastlaners learn until the end, not just until graduation.
• Avoid Parasitic Debt: Pursue education through affordable, non-debt-inducing methods like self-study, podcasts, or audio books.
• Seminars and Gurus: High-dollar seminars often exploit laziness, promising shortcuts. Choose affordable seminars by experienced producers, not career speakers. A $50,000 seminar is rarely worth the cost when you can learn through action and self-education.

Turn everyday moments into learning opportunities:

• Driving University: Listen to audio books or financial news while stuck in traffic.
• Exercise University: Absorb books, podcasts, or magazines during workouts.
• Waiting University: Read during waits at airports, doctor’s offices, or the DMV.
• Toilet University: Read educational material during bathroom time for infinite returns on unavoidable moments.
• Jobbing University: Use downtime in dead-end jobs (e.g., waiting between deliveries) to read and learn.
• TV-Time University: Work on your Fastlane plan while the TV plays in the background, transforming passive time into productive work.

Decision-Making Tools for the Fastlane

Worst Case Consequence Analysis (WCCA)

WCCA helps you avoid perilous detours by analyzing the potential consequences of decisions:

1. What is the worst-case consequence of this choice?
2. What is the probability of this outcome?
3. Is this an acceptable risk?

Use WCCA daily to steer clear of choices that could derail your goals.

Weighted Average Decision Matrix (WADM)

For major decisions (e.g., moving, quitting a job, or returning to college), use WADM to quantify options:

• How to Use: List options and criteria, assign weights to each criterion, and score each option. Calculate the weighted average to make an informed choice.
• Tools: Use paper and pencil.
• Frequency: Apply WADM a few times a year for big decisions, complementing daily WCCA use.

Interest is fleeting; commitment drives results. Most people aren’t willing, and it separates the winners from the losers. The idea of living in the rat race for 50 years has to be more painful than the idea of working your ass off to escape it:

• Interest vs. Commitment: Interest reads a book; commitment applies it repeatedly. Interest dreams of a business; commitment files the LLC. Commitment works tirelessly, even on weekends, while interest sticks to a 9-to-5 schedule.
• Overcome Brick Walls: Challenges exist to test your resolve. They stop those who don’t want it badly enough. Fastlaners trade short-term comfort for long-term extraordinary results.

Success requires intelligent risk and embracing failure:

• Intelligent Risk: Quitting a job to start a Fastlane business has a high upside (millions) and manageable downside (temporary lifestyle adjustments). Minimize moronic risks (e.g., reckless spending) and take calculated risks.
• Failure as Feedback: Failure is the sweat of success. Avoiding failure means avoiding success. Fastlaners view failure as a natural part of the journey, not a reason to quit.
• Act Despite Imperfect Timing: Waiting for the “perfect” moment empowers mediocrity. Time passes, and dreams fade. Start now, even if conditions aren’t ideal.

The Roads to Wealth

Successful businesses thrive by addressing needs, delivering value, and solving problems. Profit follows when you focus on these principles rather than pursuing selfish or self-centered goals, which rarely lead to sustainable business models.

Customers are driven by their own interests. They want to know how your business benefits them, whether it simplifies their lives, saves them money, provides security, educates them, evokes emotions, or fulfills a specific need. As a business, you must answer the question: Why should someone spend their money on your product or service? What tangible value are you bringing to their lives? Consumers are inherently self-focused, demanding to know “what’s in it for me?” To succeed as a producer, you must set aside your own self-interest and cater to the needs of others.

Those who chase money often remain stuck in a consumer mindset, even if they aspire to be producers. They’re driven by personal gain rather than value creation.

To earn significant wealth, stop chasing money and start attracting it. Money is elusive, like a skittish cat, if you run after it, it slips away. But if you focus on what draws it in, it will come to you naturally.

The money you earn reflects the value you provide to others. Ignore this connection, and money will evade you. For a clear example, aim to impact a million people by doing one of the following: improving their well-being, solving their problems, educating them, enhancing their appearance, ensuring their safety, sparking positive emotions, satisfying their desires, simplifying their lives, or fueling their aspirations.

The advice to “do what you love” often falls short. Instead, ask: Does my passion meet a real need? Can I excel at it enough to make money? Most passions don’t translate directly to profit because they’re either too common or fail to address a strong market need, leading to oversaturated markets and slim profits. Moreover, turning your passion into a business can risk tainting what you love. When you’re forced to perform your passion for a paycheck, the joy it brings may fade, putting your love for it at risk.

The Commandment of Entry suggests that businesses with low barriers to entry face declining effectiveness due to increased competition. When anyone can easily enter a market, the result is crowded competition, high traffic, and a smaller share of the market pie. Conversely, higher entry barriers create stronger, less competitive paths that require less exceptional performance to succeed. In oversaturated markets with low barriers, you must be extraordinary to stand out, but high barriers can turn ease of entry into an advantage.

As the saying goes, “During a gold rush, sell the shovels, not the gold.” If your business or industry is accessible to everyone, prepare to be exceptional. With exceptional performance, low entry barriers become a strength rather than a weakness.

Success in business requires only one great decision. You don’t need to be right every time—just once, with impact.

To achieve scale, your business must grow in magnitude or reach. Magnitude often comes from higher price points or costs. For example, selling luxury cars like Lamborghinis inherently carries more magnitude than selling budget vehicles like Hyundais, as the higher price aligns with the Law of Effection, which rewards businesses that impact many. Similarly, a real estate agent handling multimillion-dollar properties achieves greater magnitude than one selling modest homes. High prices naturally amplify scale, and significant impact—such as selling the priciest property in a city—leads to wealth through scale.

To determine if your business aligns with the Commandment of Scale, ask: Can this business generate income that grows exponentially, say from $2,000 to $200,000 a month? Could its asset value reach millions? Can it impact millions of people or just a small local group? Is it replicable through franchising, expansion, or additional locations? What’s the potential for units sold—hundreds or hundreds of millions? Does the profit per unit have significant magnitude?

Wealth creation hinges on the Law of Effection—impacting millions through scale or explosive asset value. For those on the Slowlane, wealth comes from massive intrinsic value, like performing for millions as an entertainer or athlete. For Fastlaners, wealth is achieved by serving, selling, or helping millions. If your business can’t tap into this law, significant wealth will remain out of reach.

Owning a business doesn’t guarantee wealth or freedom from time constraints. Some businesses violate the Commandment of Time, chaining owners to their operations like a job. While pouring your heart into a business is normal during its startup and growth phases, it’s not sustainable for decades. To align with the Commandment of Time, ask: Can this business run without my constant involvement? Are profit margins strong enough to hire staff? Can I introduce systems or automation to make it independent of my time?

Internet business models typically fall into seven categories:

1. Subscription-Based: Provide access to data, software, or information for a recurring fee. Examples include proprietary databases, lead generation, or niche content. When thousands pay a monthly fee, like $9.95, for your service, you’re on the Fastlane.
2. Content-Based: These are online platforms like blogs or news sites offering free niche content while earning revenue through advertising. However, success is challenging due to low entry barriers and the need for massive traffic. Many rely on affiliate programs, which can limit their scalability.
3. Lead Generation: These businesses aggregate fragmented industries and connect consumers with providers. For instance, consolidating a scattered industry like limousine services into one platform and selling leads to businesses. This model works well in industries with small to medium-sized players, meeting consumer needs for convenience and business needs for cost-effective customer acquisition.
4. E-Commerce: Selling goods, services, or information online, from large-scale operations like Amazon to small retailers expanding through online stores. For example, a local Minnesota retailer selling solar lights online demonstrates how e-commerce can create scale for small businesses.

Inventing isn’t always about creating something entirely new. Often, it’s about improving or reimagining existing products or services. Take something outdated, enhance it, or adapt it for a new audience. Successful entrepreneurs rarely invent groundbreaking ideas—they execute existing concepts better, addressing unmet needs with superior solutions.

Opportunities often hide in everyday complaints. Listen for phrases like: “I hate this,” “This frustrates me,” “I don’t like this,” “Why is it this way?” “Do I have to?” “I wish there was…” “I’m tired of…” or “This is awful.” Each signals a problem waiting to be solved. Address the frustration, remove the pain, or fulfill the wish, and you’ve found an open road to a successful business.

Conclusion

This book taught me that there are other ways in life than the general slow lane. Taught me to think in small bets, try things, find ideas that make people interested. Even after reading this review I recommend reading the book as well, you won’t regret it.