049 mj demarco unleashing your millionaire within the millionaire fast lane by EntrepreneursRadioShow

THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

EPISODE #49: MJ DEMARCO In this episode, Travis and Sandra had an interesting talk with successful business entrepreneur MJ deMarco. MJ is the founder of the Fastlane Forum, an online site for entrepreneurs that are determined to fast track their growth and success in their business. Aside from that, MJ is also a successful author of the book The Millionaire Fastlane which provides valuable insights and rules to follow for budding and even established entrepreneurs. In this episode, the three of them discuss ways on how to establish realistic goals and attain them one by one, as you go up the ladder of success. MJ also gives his shares the 5 commandments for business owners to join the Millionaire Fastlane as well as valuable advice on how to manage one's time and resources, and most specially valuing you customers and making them your top priority. These insights provide valuable nuggets of information for any entrepreneur that's determined to bring their business into even greater heights than where they are today.

Unleashing your Millionaire within – The Millionaire Fast-lane Travis: Hey, this Travis Lane Jenkins. Sandra: And this is Sandra Champlain. Travis: Welcome to Diamonds in Your Own Backyard, episode number 49. Sandra: Wow, have we done that many? Awesome. Travis: Yes. The Entrepreneur's Radio Show. Sandra: What do we have going on for today Travis? Travis: Well Sandra I've got to tell you this is Conversations with high-level entrepreneurs that grow your business. And I'm excited to tell you that today, we're talking with MJ DeMarco, and he shares the 5 commandments for business owners to join the millionaire fast lane just like he did. He also talked about, which I know is a favorite of yours, his road map to wealth. Sandra: Yeah, and I think what's important for all of us is this a man who was a young boy with a dream. He started lower, middle class like many of us did and we'll let him tell his story. But it's really

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THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

quite inspiring and he ended up retiring as a millionaire at the age of 30. So he's got the goods, he's very inspirational; he's very real about what it takes to take your business to the next level in your life. So delighted he's on our show today. Travis: Yeah. So before we get started I wanted to remind you to be sure and stay with us until the very end if you can. I'd like to share a little inspiration with you, and I'll also reveal who we're going to connect you within the next episode. Quick reminder, if you enjoy these free podcast that we create for you, we would really appreciate, me and Sandra, right Sandra? Sandra: Absolutely. Travis: If you'd go to DIYOB.com, that's D-I-Y-O-B.com and click on the iTunes icon, and then just post a comment and rate the show. This would help us reach, instruct, and inspire more great entrepreneurs like yourself with each and every guest we bring on the show. Sandra: Absolutely. Travis: Before I introduce you to our guest today, I want to give our new friends that just started listening to us some perspective for the show. Every interview is as if we're just sitting at a table having a conversation between four friends, right? It's me, Sandra, you, and of course, our guest. Even though we're talking with some of the brightest high-level entrepreneurs and brilliant thought leaders around, again this is still just like we're sitting at the table having that private conversation. Now everyone that we're talking with has found success doing what they teach and I just want to help you by sharing what they've discovered. Normally, the only way to get this level of personal access to so many high level entrepreneurs beyond having your own show is what Sandra? Sandra: Joining masterminds, paying a whole bunch of money to go to seminars, buy lots of books and things like that. Travis: Go to events, take years and years to build those relationships. And now with this podcast, this platform we get to share these great people with you to fast-forward your success and your connections that grow your business. Our guest today is MJ DeMarco. MJ is the founder of the Fast Lane Forum, a business and entrepreneur discussion forum. MJ is also the author of The Millionaire Fastlane, this guy is brilliant. So we've got a lot of different things to talk about today but without further ado, I want to introduce you to MJ or welcome MJ to the show. MJ: Hey guys, thanks for having me.

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Sandra: Hey, thanks for being here MJ. MJ: You bet. Travis: I'm so excited to have you here, I know you're a busy guy and you were talking about getting ready for your next book. There's a lot of things that you talk about that really, you don't know this but, parallel some of my life and some of the things that got me going in my business. And would you mind sharing the back-story of how you got started and what brought you to today? MJ: Sure, absolutely. I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and that really started, I was about 12 or 13 years old and I saw a Lamborghini outside of an ice cream store and being young and totally impressed by the car, I actually went up to the guy who owned who was a relatively young guy and he had said he could afford the car, because I said, "Hey, what do you do for a living that you can afford such an awesome car," and he said he was an inventor. And I came from a lower middle class family, from a family that was always struggling to pay the bills and didn't have what everyone had in the neighborhood. So I knew that in my life I didn't want to live that way, I wanted to grow up with financial security. So that little experience kind of put me in the path to entrepreneurship and for years I went to-I went to college, graduated two degrees but for years I always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur, and one of those businesses I always thought I would want to own was a limo company, or a limo business. So I got a job running a limo company for an absentee owner way back in the late 90's and I did that for several years and really, after those years, determined that this really is not something I want to do. But in that business I exposed the need that was I'm going basically. One of my clients asked me if I knew of any limo companies in New York because that's where he was flying to and naturally because I lived in Chicago at the time I did not have that information. Now, that kind of put me on the path to, you know, "Hey this internet thing is really popular, blowing up. So why don't I create a company that would help people who need ground transportation around the world. Would that work those clients to actual limousine companies?" So that's a company I started in the late 90's, actually I was able to hook up with an awesome domain which was limos.com, I did not, as some people like to believe, I did not actually go to register.com and buy that for $15, I had to purchase that in the secondary market, back in a time where domains were just selling at a crazy amount of money and I was able to get a pretty good price on it, put it on my credit cards. So I started running that company. And I got caught up in that .com craziness that was going on in the late 90's, early 2000. I was able to sell the company in 2001 for 1.2 million which lasted about 3 months. Sandra: Wow. MJ: Most of that was worthless stock options which absolutely went to nothing, I poorly invested so by the time that was said and done I only had like a quarter of a million left. That company ended up going bankrupt and I ended up buying the company back. Held it again for another 6 or 7 years, I sold it again

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in 2007 for a multi-million dollar cash valuation and then at that point I kind of took a hiatus, kind of it is semi-retirement and at that point it was always my dream to write a book so that's where the Millionaire Fastlane came in and I also thought that, that book absolutely needed to be written because I didn't see anything in the market like it, And a lot of the reviews are showing that people are really happy with what they're reading and saying, "I'd never read this before" or "I have never read it in this fashion". And then that bring us to today, we're interviewing with you folks. Travis: Well, so you were a--I want to understand here, you're first business model, you basically were a lead aggregator, you aggregated leads online and then sold them to the limousine companies, is that right? MJ: Yeah, that's pretty much it. It's like you're going to e-health insurance or something and you fill-out some information, you're looking for this. I would distribute it to several companies and then they would actually reply to your question, give the prices and what not. Travis: Well, you were really ahead of your time doing that in the 90's. So you got that going before the 2000? MJ: Yes. 98, probably started at 97--97 -98. Travis: Way ahead of the curve there. MJ: Yeah, I mean, lead generation back then was unheard of and I pretty much was the first to start doing it before no one even knew how to do. Travis: Nice. Sandra: Cool. Travis: You know one of the interesting things about your story is--some of the parallels that I have is I have an affinity for expensive cars also. And I've owned a limousine company, now the--for me as a kid I gotten my dreams of being successful through things like that. That's a very shallow thing as a grown man, if that's what your driving motivation is, right? Now, it's okay to own them, those things don't own me but it‟s okay to own them. But as a young man that lit a fire in my belly and it sounds like that's what happened with you. And I think that's one of the things is--at times you need something to keep you warm at night whenever you've got those tough times and you're on this journey of becoming an entrepreneur, you need to really have a fierce drive for what you're trying to accomplish there. And so that sounds like the main driving force that got you on this path, right? MJ: Oh yeah, sometimes I get a lot of grief or the old guru mantra „follow your passion‟ and I get misinterpreted what I mean by that because passion doesn't pay the bills but passion will motivate you

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to do what other people won‟t do and I always think it's important that you have to put that passion into the marketplace and offer something the marketplace wants because you can have a boatload of passion but if you're offering something that the marketplace just doesn't want or doesn't need, the passion's not going to help you. Travis: And so, now I take that as, and I don't want to dominate the conversation here, I want Sandra to jump in a minute because she comes from a different perspective than I do. But I don't think you can always align what you do for a living as passion, I can be passionate like I was--my first business I was passionate about just being the best at what we did, maybe not the business. MJ: Yeah, very generalized, and I believe that's the best passion to have is like I love being my own boss. That's very, very generalized passion that could translate into a lot of specific activities. Maybe some specific activities that you'd necessarily don't like. I mean I don't packing of books into boxes and send them to Amazon, I have to do that. Travis: I think that that's worth its weight in gold that I think a lot of people misunderstand that and they believe that you've, because it's very--one of the guest said it best. He said, "Most often if you only do what you're passionate about, only do that. Then most often you're poor, you're broke." Now that's not an absolute but I think a lot of people mistake that "Well, I'm not passionate about that, I'm not going to do it." MJ: And I generally would agree with that. my book I talk about this, I talk about a lot of probabilities and odds and my goal is to increase those probabilities and odds for each individual entrepreneur to achieve whatever they want for, every one that's different but whatever it is my goal is to make it maybe instead of 1%, maybe you would have a 50% chance or something higher. Travis: Right. Yeah, great point. Everything that you add to it increases that percentage. 30% 40% 70%, and it just finally tips into your favor. Jump in Sandra. Sandra: Oh I'm just on MJdeMarco.com, and MJ I want, if you don't you bragging about yourself a little bit because I know in my life growing up, I never met a millionaire, I never met a famous person, I never was around anybody to realize that I could have that life to, so even as a kid and as an adult, and even as a business person there's been this feeling that other people do it but I can't. So it's nothing I say out loud, except for what I just did, but I think there's many of us that live like, "Yeah, he could do it because he's rich, he's good looking, he's driving a Lamborghini but I could never." And I think if you wouldn't mind giving us a little bit of the inspiration that, like no matter where anybody is right now, like you can do it, you really can, you don't put on your pants different than anybody else. Like it's impossible, so if you wouldn't mind infusing us with a little of that.

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MJ: The main problem aspiring entrepreneurs have is they're not seeking solutions they're seeking excuses. And the excuses are, "Well, it's too hard" or "I don't know how" or "I don't have money". In my story I neglected to say that I didn't go to college for computer programming or internet technologies, I self-taught myself everything. I moved to Phoenix with this business and had virtually no revenue. I started with 900 bucks. I was willing to drive cabs to pay the bills or do whatever and the sad fact is most people aren't willing to do that or they don't have the discipline to engage in the process. We are very event-driven society and it's just not just entrepreneurs, it's just in general, we're event-driven, meaning we're looking for the quick and easy and I say that in my book that get rich quick exists, I'm the example of it. Hundreds of entrepreneurs exemplified that when they build businesses that create tremendous value and they end up selling it, or they profit 6 figures a month but people don't know what goes on behind the scenes, the trials and tribulations that bring them to that point and they're looking for the easy, it's like this is why the diet industry is huge because people want quick, they want the pill and get rich easy is what does not exist. It's just not easy; I mean if it was, everyone would be rich. Travis: Yeah, good point. Well you know, to jump in, that's the reason we created this show, is because I wanted to de-construct what it takes to become super successful. I come from a very similar background as you, lower lower middle. Constant struggle to pay the bills, very tough neighbourhood, gunshots every night. And it didn't scar me or anything but, it made it crystal clear to me that I want to get out of there, right? MJ: Yeah. Travis: And I built a business to $70 million and I did that one step at a time and not giving up. And then kids see me out driving a high-end car like what you're talking about and they think, "Wow, that's impossible." Well, no it is possible because I barely got out of high school. And so often I believe that success, financial success in business is represented in a way that's not necessarily true and like Sandra said, it looks like, "Wow, I could never accomplish what he did” and really it was just you taking a series of actions, consistently willing to take the hits, willing to make the mistakes and just getting up and moving on and on and on, or at least that's been my story. Same thing for you? MJ: Yeah, absolutely. One of the afflictions I think people suffer from the entrepreneurs is the big picture syndrome, and they have a big picture in their head. It's kind of like gazing up the mountain and you look at the top and that you go, "Oh my god, how the heck am I going to get up there?" And it's overwhelming, and when you're overwhelmed like that, you don't do nothing. That's the excuse, it's just too hard. And they don't understand it, the way you, it's eluding me, something about slicing an elephant, you do it one thing at a time. Sandra: Go eating an elephant one bite at a time. Yeah, I had to eat an elephant one bite at a time, yeah.

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MJ: And that's--you truly have to start and you have to take it in a problem by problem basis. I had people on my forum who were talking about, "What do I do when my first million dollar client comes in?", and I'm like, "Do you even have a product?" They're focusing on problems that may come up, may or may not come up for months to years. That's not the way to do it, you take one problem at a time, solve each problem and it grows one by one, step by step. That's all you're doing when you're building a business, you're becoming a problem solver. If you're looking at problem number 38 and you haven't even looked at number 1 yet, that's all the reason to quit. Travis: Overwhelmed. It's a classic explanation of overwhelmed, right? Sandra: Yeah, and we get to our head so much that nothing's happened in reality but in our head it's just impossible. MJ: Yeah, for example, I'm sorry. Sandra: Oh no, go ahead. MJ: For example is when I wrote my book I didn't say, "Yeah, I want to have a translator. I want to sell licenses and translate it in Japanese and Hungarian, all those different languages." I didn't think about that, I just wanted to sell one book. A year or so into it I'm starting to sell licenses for translation and I figures that out when the time came, not 2 years ahead of time. Sandra: Can you tell us a little bit about the book, maybe the context behind it, possibly a bit more? MJ: It's again, it was my dream to write a book but it truly felt the market needed to hear what I had to say and it was basically, I cover those 3 financial road maps to wealth and the first is the sidewalk where there is basically no financial problem whatsoever, whatever money you make that's what you spend. And it's income exclusive meaning they are very high income people that are on the sidewalk, like pro athletes. When you hear a pro athlete that goes bankrupt after they retire a couple of years later, right? After, they can't get any more jobs and soon they're bankrupt. That's the sidewalk, and it's just you spending everything you have no matter what your income is. And then the slow lane is the typical guru BS that I fight against all the time which is get a job, mindlessly save and be frugal for 4050 years and then when you're 65 years old that's when you'll have your millions and that's when you can enjoy it and I think that is a lifetime prescription into mediocrity, it's based on hope because you have to hope you have a job, you have to hope the stock market gives you 8%, you have to hope that the housing market is conclusive. It's just awful things you cannot control. Sandra: Yeah.

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MJ: And then of course there's the fast lane which is a process to what I call a leveraged entrepreneurship that is creating a product or service or something that definitely solves a need or demand of the market and then it is also scalable where you have the opportunity to sell it across the world of millions of times over because that scale is what is unlocks the key to millionaire potential. Travis: Yeah, and I think there's something in-between there is mathematically you can save your way to being a millionaire, it's just a very frugal life, whereas... MJ: Yeah. Travis: You can have both, you can be wealthy and have a really kick-butt life at the same time, right? MJ: Absolutely and if you have multi-million dollar network, I'm telling you everyone would want it when they're 35 versus when they're 65. Travis: Yeah. You're more inclined to do some fun things with it. MJ: Yeah. Your life is now, it's not when you're 65. Travis: Yeah, right. Well, when I get to be 65 I'm going to give me that car I want. So now, did you go out and once you found this level of financial success, did you go out and buy yourself that car? MJ: Oh, I've been a car fanatic for 20 years, 30 years ever since that incident. My first extravagance was a Corvette and I started owning some Vipers and then it's a Lamborghini Diablo, and then it was a Lamborghini Murciélago. So yes, I've had my share of outrageous cars and it's something I wouldn't trade. I've been there, done that but it's something I wouldn't trade in the world, the experience. Actually the feeling of looking at something and saying, "You know, if I want to buy it I can." And that often is enough to prevent you from buying it. Travis: Right. You know, it's about the most fun you can have and the value. I've owned a Lamborghini and I'm in the transitions of looking at another one and it's just an incredible experience. Now of course that' doesn't define me and I don't sit around thinking about it all day long but it's a great experience, it's a lot of fun and it's something that you can get your money back on unlike most cars. I don't want get too far filled but it's okay to have some of those little afflictions because those are the trappings of that comes with this success that you're looking for. MJ: Yeah, the goal there--it's different for everyone, for me and you it's Lambo's, for some of the ladies it might be those high line bags that cost 10 grand for a purse. It's not for me or you to define what's going to get someone's thing going. So I believe every time you succeed in something, maybe you land

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a new client, maybe your traffic goes up too soon and level your income you should embellish yourself and spend a little money on things you enjoy. Sandra: Yeah, I was at a doctor's office with my grandmother years ago and there was a little old couple and I talked to the wife for a little while. They saved up their whole life for a better day and then the husband had had a stroke and all the money went to his medical care. So she's like, "Honey, work hard but you got to play hard and enjoy your life right now too." MJ: That story reminds me of something someone posted on the forum about--he said, "I vow not to live the life my grandfather led." Well I guess, did what everyone said, you supposed to do your work, you save and then 65 years old, that's when you wanted to start of travel. Well, I guess in 66 he was diagnosed with cancer. Sandra: Yeah. MJ: And here he defers all his travel and there was a young person seeing that and she wondered like, "Why?" Sandra: Yeah. I'd like to hear more about the fast lane because we have 2 groups of people, well we have lots of groups of people that listen to our show but we have entrepreneurs already settled in their business and we have people considering enhancing their life and starting their own businesses and being an entrepreneur. When you talk about the fast lane, creating a product or service that fills a problem or there's a demand for it. Do you give any tips as to actually how to start that, how to look for someone that wants to jump in or maybe even has an established business but doesn't needs to take it to that next level of how do you look for the problems or to jump in to that fast lane. MJ: The market always gives you clues and it's in the language that people use. When they say I hate something, usually there's an opportunity there. When people don't like something or there's an inconvenience or there's poor service somewhere. Any time you're disgruntled in the transaction of business that's an opportunity. Any time you're inconvenienced that's an opportunity. I think a lot of entrepreneurs misinterpret opportunity as, "Oh, I need to create the next Facebook or I need to invent some great product that's never been invented before. And most of the time that's not it, it's just taking something perhaps that another company is there pulling and doing it better in some fashion that you stand out, giving reasons for people to use you. An example is I have roofing work I need done in my house, and I called 8 people and I left 6 messages, only 2 people answered the phone and the all those 6 people that I left messages for, no one returned that call. That there--there's an opportunity in that particular industry but that is a service deficiency, and that creates opportunity for someone to come in and do it better. I was known in my company, people would send us emails and we will respond within a minute, and people would start

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emailing us just to test it and get a laugh because they knew within minutes they'd get a response. And that is unheard of. You send an email to some corporate website or something you'd be lucky to get a response within 48 hours and if you do it some automated canned garbage. Travis: Well yeah, it's funny you say that because that's the first business that I built to that level and a lot of them was driven to what you're talking about. I could see that there was inferior attitudes, inferior service, there were so many things that were inferior in that industry that 20 years ago I thought, "Wow, this is wide open." These contractors are talking to the home owner with no class, there's just so many things wrong with the business and I agree with you. The phone calls should be returned within 5 minutes, right? MJ: That didn't happen at all, believe me. Travis: Yeah, and so just showing up is a big part of that but that's a great way. What other ways, do you teach people online or is it offline, how to build these strategies or really, does it matter? MJ: It's usually in the fast lane forum which is a public discussion forum. It's where I hangout pretty much every day and of course I do have a blog that once in a while I'll pop-up there and at the core article or piece of information. And I also do some speaking. I just gave a speech the other day about, it's kind of in line what we're talking about here, is being product-centric or product-centered and when you have a product-centered company your products that are product or business, you don't have to do any marketing because the product is so powerful that the product does it for and a good example of that is, most of my interviews in podcast that I do, I don't approach the interviewers they approach me because they've read the book, they've enjoyed it, they loved it. Or someone approached them and say, "Hey, got to get this guy on." And that's an example of being product-centered because the product is doing the marketing for you because it's that good, versus the majority of business owners don't have a product set of business, their marketing represents the match to light the fire, and if there is no match there's no fire where your product should be the fire meaning it exists and you meet the matches not there and it still burns. Travis: Right. So the forum is where you do the communication but the things that you teach people, is it dedicated towards online businesses or offline businesses or does that not really matter. I guess that's what I was trying to ask. MJ: Oh no, the internet of course or application development is really the most conducive because it operates in the function of scale, and scale is very important to the fast and it's basically 5 commandments of the fast lane, and scale is one of them. So if your goal is to be a fast lane entrepreneur, make a multi-million dollar company. The internet is one of them but inventing, creating something, authoring, writing a book, because you have to have scale. Now if you're setting up a hot

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dog stand outside of Home Depot, you're going to have a problem with scale and your best day will never make you a multi-millionaire and that's the issue that a lot of entrepreneurs come up is there's a ceiling at their throat and I tell people you got to get rid of that ceiling, in business, where your best day, everything happened right, everything happened the way you wanted to go. What are you stand to make, $50,000, or 50 million? So you want to get that ceiling way up in the sky, and again we're talking about odds here. Travis: Yeah, most people never take enough time to sit down and think strategically about their business, and I believe that's what you're hitting on here, is they don't realize, if I hit perfectly every single day for a whole year, I would still only do maybe $90,000, although you have dreams of 500,000. But you never taken the time to see if your dreams and what is possible align with one another, right? MJ: Absolutely. And if you're working your butt off, and maybe some lucky breaks come your way. You want those lucky breaks to be able to change your life, not pay the bills for 6 months. Travis: Right. Or buy you a new car. MJ: Or buy you a new car, yeah. And that's another reason why I wrote the book because it very, closely tied in to a fast lane strategy. I can print a million books without any consequence; it's a scalable product, much like inventing or selling Uncle Bob's barbecue sauce which is a big hit in the neighbourhood. Or you have some kind of fitness product, something that the world can consume and use, is the key to having a scale. And it doesn't have to be a mass market product; it could be something niche-oriented that is distributed through the world. Sandra: Can you give us some more of those commandments, you got scale as one and I'm just curious if you can... MJ: Sure, the first one and the most important is need which is again being product-centered. The market absolutely needs to demand what you offer. And all the internal motivations become irrelevant. Do what you love, follow your--I want to own a Ferrari; I want to own my own business. All those things are irrelevant to the market place, the market just wants what it wants and it wants to know, are you offering it, and if you are offering while it's open up in money transfers. So need is the very first one, it's probably the most important. And the second is entry. What you're doing cannot be so easy that any bum in the back of a--homeless in the back of a Chinese restaurant can do it. Sandra: Right. MJ: It has to have some sort of barriers to entry so not everyone can do it, and in fact, usually the more complicated the solution you're trying to sell, the better the opportunity because it keeps people out of that business because your solution is that good, or it's that complicated to sell. The other one is

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control and that just basically means you cannot give control to some other company or some other entity that could literally sweep out the rug from under you with one decision. The example is Amazon, once in a while, they'll change their affiliate program terms and thousands of people complain, "Oh I just lost thousands of dollars in revenue because Amazon changed their affiliate program. Or Google changes their algorithm and wham, 90% of your revenue is gone. Or the network marketing company, the founder was indicted for fraud and your business goes down the tubes in one month. That's control, you cannot give other people control over your business, you want to be at the top of the pyramid. You're building a pyramid, you want to be at the top. And the other one we talked about is scale, and then another one is time. At some point you want to be able to have your business disassociate from the time, meaning you wake up in the morning, "And, wow, I already made $200 today." That's time is when your business has legacy meaning it exists while you exist but it's separate, meaning you can be doing whatever you want to do and it exists and it creates revenue or profit while you're doing something else. Legacy is usually the result of creation. My book has legacy, my websites have legacy. If this interview is a podcast and goes on iTunes that has legacy because it exists in time separate from my time. Those are the fact. Sandra: Oh, that's awesome, and it can give people something to brainstorm and visualize and kind of having their head that those and I do believe, like our show is diamonds in your own backyard, people through failures and frustrations in our life's journey can really tap into what we've learned and find our diamonds, find the thing that can bring us those so I do think that there are places that are going to overlap that your life's missions all pointed in one direction and if you can bring these 5 commandments into it, you can actually have a life that you love, a business that you love and have the time and have the revenue. Well, thanks for that. MJ: You bet. Travis: Considering that the subtitle of the show is Diamonds in your own Backyard, and that's from the story of acres and acres of diamonds where basically, metaphorically speaking, quite often some of our biggest failures turn out to be the biggest turning point that points us in the direction of our true destiny and actually high levels of success. What was that diamond for you? MJ: You mean like a..? Travis: In your business, what is the turning point, what was the shift, whether it be a negative, a failure, a loss, or an epiphany, what was that turning point for you? Or was it just a series of small ones? MJ: Yeah, it was a lot of small ones but at one point I remember I've had a lot of failed businesses that most people do and I remember I was following the advice of „do what you love‟ and I was treating

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these businesses they were based upon that. So I was starting businesses and the fitness field and the car audio field, and one day I realize that the market doesn't need what I was offering but I was doing it because that's what I love, that was what I was told to do. Travis: But you love it MJ. MJ: But I love it, but the market doesn't want it. The market don't care what I love, the market wants to know, "What you're going to do for me?" Travis: Right. MJ: And then I can do something for them, that's perhaps when money would exchange but at that point, I started realizing that the market is its own breathing, living entity. As you can see with the stock market at any given day. But the market is the ultimate judge and jury of what you offer. The good examples when I broke this first launched it had a different cover than what you see on Amazon or on my websites. And the feedback that I was getting from the market was, "This cover is nasty. You need to change this cover, I don't like it." Or people were saying, "You got to read this book, it's awesome. But don't pay attention to the cover." Sandra: Oh boy. MJ: So I started getting this a lot. Now I love the cover, I thought it was great but the market was telling that we don't like it. So immediately, probably a year after into it I switched the cover, I changed it to something more neutral, something more I thought people would like. And sure enough, it helped; I stopped receiving stuff like that, comments and negative reports on the cover. So that cover wasn't helping me at all, it was probably distracting. So that's example of--you know, you listen to the market, what is it telling you? And then you adjust because you have to--that's how I built my internet company. I would listen to what the customers were wanting, what they were searching for, and that's what I would go attack. Travis: Yeah, good point. And so people basically vote with their dollars, right? MJ: Yeah. If they like what you have, they vote with their dollars, they give you money, if they don't like it, they keep it, they go somewhere else, they click the back button. Travis: Exactly. What was on the cover that they didn't like? MJ: Well, it had a picture of my Lamborghini on it and it was--the Lamborghini was bright orange and the colors of the fonts were lime green. Again, I liked it but the consensus was people didn't like it and people were being referred to the book. You got to read it and they would disqualify by saying just ignore the cover.

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Travis: What did you change it to? MJ: Now it's a dark navy blue with white letters. Travis: Okay. So a little more upper crust type feel? MJ: Yeah. A little less flashy, probably a little less get rich quickie kind of imagery. Sandra: It's a classy looking cover, I'm looking at it right now, very classy. MJ: Well, thank you. Sandra: You‟re welcome. Travis: Well, you know, Lamborghini is the about one of the only things that can get away with those crazy colors. You know I had a yellow one, now I would not drive a car that color yellow, I just wouldn't. Except if it's a high-end really nice car, those cars get away with stuff that you just wouldn't--would you drive another car that had that green that you're talking about or that orange? MJ: Absolutely. In fact it's my screen saver right now, is the lime green Aventador Roadster which just came out. Travis: Wow, that it's another high-end nice car. MJ: Oh, you mean when I do it normally? Travis: Yeah. That wouldn't even look right on a Corvette, would it? MJ: I would drive one, I would do that, a Corvette too. I don't like Corvette's so... Travis: How about would you do it on a pick-up? MJ: Yeah. If I needed to. You know what, I don't really care what people think so I mean, my current car right now is an old Toyota Tacoma so... That doesn't say anything. Travis: Like lime green, right? I'm just kidding you. Getting back to the book, what are some of the common things that you see, what do you think the low hanging fruit from most business owners are? Is it anything that would be outside of those 5 principles that you teach? MJ: I'm not sure the question...

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Travis: Well, so, we're always focused on--there's a broad range of entrepreneurs that listen to the show. What do you think most entrepreneurs are missing, that's low hanging fruit that they could dial in to their business right now and start making improvements almost instantly? MJ: Just start focusing on what your customer wants, and I just--in fact, I got an example, this that just happened today. I mentioned a roofer. I had a roofer estimate Roofer come over today, and he--I could tell he was trying to sell me a brand new roof. But I don't need a brand new roof, I had a leak, I just want the leak fixed. And yeah there's some other issues with roof but certainly, I don't need a new roof. And the one quote that stood out, again, and I'm getting four, the one quote that stood out was the guy that actually listened to me addressed the needs I was stating and I was stating that, I don't want to spend a lot of money because I'm going to move soon, and... I wanted the roof to look nice for the new buyers if I ever find one. So he listened to that, he goes, he understood and addressed that in his evaluation, the rest of the 3 did not. And this guy that addressed my needs was not the cheapest but I'm going to use him because he addressed it. Travis: Yeah, because he was willing to listen to what you were wanting and give it to you rather than trying to force feed you all the other nonsense, right? MJ: Yeah. And that is again the essence of providing a need versus chasing money, and all these entrepreneurs sometimes lose track of what's important and that is you're filling a need so you can affect the velocity of money or the transfer of money versus, "Oh, here's a guy in a very nice house. Boy, 20 grand on a new roof, then that would be nothing, so let's sell them on a new roof." Travis: Right. Sandra: You know what I read the other day was the founder of IKEA whose worth billions, billions, and billions of dollars. His house that he lives in is just a simple little ranch home. He doesn't dress too fancy. He says he lives his life in the eyes of his consumers, so he really can feel what they feel on a daily basis. So that's how he started this whole business. And so he allows himself some extravagant things but he's really in touch because of his own lifestyle of what the consumers need. And I think that it's easy for us to start a business. Like I started my, I have a coffee and chocolate store also and I started that 22 years ago. And at the time I was at the cutting edge with coffee and chocolate, well now I'm not and it's so easy to forget to get yourself into the consumers point of view and what are consumers wanting now, now great 20 years ago what they wanted. But for all of us business owners like you say, look currently in what is the need now, what are they thinking now, what kind of integrity you can put in and answering the phone within the first 5 minutes or calling them back, and do those things now to really separate you from the next guy.

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MJ: An enemy of small business owners is what I call commoditization and that is the point at which the only reason people pick your company is because you're the cheapest, and that is the ultimate death nail of the business, is you have nothing good about your company that stands out. Are you the one, we're the cheapest, and you have to look at your business and what can we do different, what's going to stand out that is going to impact someone and say, "You know what, I'm going to use that company. They may not be the cheapest but I'm going to use them." Again this roofing guy, not only did he address my needs but I had a good feeling about him, it was almost indefinable that would allow me to pick them. Travis: Good point. Sandra, tell him what you do with the other business also real quick. Sandra: Well, I have 3 Travis. Travis: Yeah, well I said your other... Sandra: I don't know what you mean. Travis: The one that he would be most interested in. Sandra: Oh, you mean the car one? Travis: Yeah. Sandra: That would be--I own a hospitality business MJ, I cater to food for race car teams in the American Le Mans and the Grand Am series. MJ: Oh, wow. Sandra: So I am now cooking for Bobby Ray Hall and all the big fancy race car drivers. MJ: Wow, that's kind of exciting. Sandra: Yeah. MJ: It's got to be filled with all kinds of good stories. Sandra: Oh, fast cars, good stories, great people, down to earth, yeah it's cool. Travis: She's in the middle of those race teams all the time. Sandra: All the time. I'm sure they'll be one of our shows that in the background you're going to hear a vroom vroom.

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MJ: Unless you get a flavor of what so and so likes and doesn't like. Sandra: Exactly. Travis: Hey MJ, we're getting close on time. Will get the lightning round. I prepared you 3 questions that I carrier pigeoned over to you. Did my pigeon arrive, and did you get those 3 questions? MJ: Yes. Travis: Alright, great. And I am going to slip a fourth surprise question in on you, are you afraid, are you scared? MJ: No, because if I don't know how to answer I'll just say I don't know. Travis: Okay, dang it. Sandra: Alright, it's funny, I told you he's fun and then he's fun. Travis: Alright. Sandra: Weird, a bit fun. Travis: Well, thank you for that. Okay so, what book or program made an impact on you related to business that you'd recommend and why? MJ: There's several but the one that stands out to me, they got me through my hard times when I was struggling as an entrepreneur, trying to figure things out. It was an oldie, it's Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins, and it's a huge, thick book. It's really talking about the inner mind game because if you want to win on the outside you're going, you're going to have to defeat what's on the inside. And it talks a lot about changing your beliefs and how some of those false beliefs, they are making you make incorrect actions or taking the wrong action. And that really--when I was going through my hard times I would rip open that book like it was a bible and I would look through it and I would always find something that would keep me moving or keep me motivated. So I still have it to this and it's all wrinkled up and it's got all kinds of highlighted notes in it. You can find it on Amazon now for a buck; it's that old so that's what I would recommend. Travis: I love it. Do you have any other top of mind that you'd recommend, it didn't have to, it could be just one. MJ: The Blue Ocean Strategy because that's a more recent one, probably 3 or 4 years old. That talks about uncovering needs in the market place, thinking out of the box. In uncontested market space really

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is--there's not a lot of books that I would call "fast lane" but that was one of them because it focused on the need which is the most important item on the fast lane strategy. Travis: Right. Excellent, thank you. I'm familiar with the Blue Ocean and I've not read Tony Robbins' book that you recommend. I want to put that on my list. What's one of your favorite tools or pieces of technology that you've recently discovered, if any, that you'd recommend to other business owners and why? MJ: I'm used to walk around with a clipboard and it was my to-do list. Being the colic of clipboard, and this quite recent too, this wasn't like in the 90's or something, this is pretty recent. Walking on the clipboard, I did a soft bugging, I had my little clipboard in the car grocery shopping, I found Wunderlist which is an app which basically is a desktop device, iPhone, iPad, whatever, syncs altogether. It allows you to create lists and I have multiple list. I have a to-do list for today, I have a to-do list for tomorrow, I have a to-do list for the weekend. But I also have it as an idea journal or once in a while I have some ideas about what's a good article, or I'll see something along driving that is worthy of a fast lane mention. So this allows me to literally catalog everything that I'm thinking about in any given moment, and I'm going to get rid of the clipboard and my next book is written on there in bullet point, we just have to put it together at some point. Sandra: Oh, that's awesome. MJ: Yeah. It really has helped me get organized in my thoughts because I'm really a scatter brain then you add in those 5-hour energies and I'm really. Sandra: That's great. Yeah, it's so often we have great ideas come to us when we're driving in our car or we have like little notes here and there, and it just keep them all logged in one place that you can back to and if you want to use some, great, if you don't, great but they will always be there, it's an awesome idea. Travis: Yeah, great point. Hey, what famous quote would best, and it doesn't have to be famous but what quote would best summarize your belief or attitude in business? MJ: It will be actually my quote. "Many people want to change their financial situation but they're not willing to change their choices and this ultimately changes nothing." And the essence of that is anything great in your life will have a process. It might be something that's overnight or it will have a process, a series of choices that you will need to make day in and day out. And the fact is people don't want to change their day in and day out choices, they want the instant result, and again this is what I talk about, about the importance of process versus the event. Good example is, let's say you, you know what I want to start eating healthy. So you open up the refrigerator and you eat a piece of broccoli, well great you just made a good choice. But guess what, that choice ain't going to do a damn thing, because it's

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just one choice. And ultimately, you're going to have to string that together for weeks, months, perhaps years to affect any kind of change. And the same thing goes with, say you're overweight 50 pounds, and I want to start losing weight. Well, going to the gym one day ain't going to make a difference, you're going to have to create a series of action steps or choices that affect the change, and in fact it has to become a lifestyle. So again, that quote is many people want to change their situation but they're not willing to change your choices and ultimately, this changes nothing. Travis: Great point. What do you dream of? MJ: What do I dream of, is that the shocking question? Travis: The surprise, not shocking but the surprise question. I want to know what you dream of personally or professionally. MJ: Honestly I'm living my dream, and every morning I wake up, I look out the window, I have this beautiful mountain view and I have to pinch myself. So to say--I'm going to let the market take me where it wants me to go. At this point people have been saying, "Hey, write another book." So I'm going to do that. But as far as my dream, I'm living it, I'm literally living it right now so to say I have--I want a new Lamborghini or something, that is not a dream, been there done that. Travis: Well, I'm glad to hear that you're living the dream; a lot of people don't get the chance to say that. MJ: Yeah, all you have is right now. This make no sense to, well when I have a million dollars, that's when I'll start to live, or when I pay off my house, that's when I'll start to live. Your dream is now. If you have a dream, whatever it is, if you're pursuing it that is the act of living the dream. Travis: I agree with you. How do people connect with you? MJ: There's multiple ways, I'm on the fastlaneforum.com, I actually visit there every day. It's a free forum so feel free to check-in, lurk, there's a contact button at the bottom there. I also blog once in awhile. Not as often as I would like to but fastlaneentrepreneurs.com, or if anyone is interested in checking out my book, it's the TheMillionaireFastlane.com, and all those websites have, there is contact information. And then of course Twitter @MJdeMarco. Travis: Excellent. I'm going to post all of those links up so that everybody can go straight to the show. I'm going to start wrapping things up and I want to share some inspiration with everybody that's listening, can you hang out a couple more minutes? MJ: Absolutely.

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Travis: Okay, great. I want to remind you that we've created the show notes there where basically you can see MJ's bio and the notes, the links and everything from the show that allows you just to go straight there, click on it, and I'll take you straight to him. I want to remind you to go to DIYOB.com so that's short for Diamonds in your own backyard, so it's DIYOB.com. Enter your name, opt-in, and we'll send you the 2013 Business Owner's Guide, to a profitable million dollar business. In the guide you'll find the 5 things that you should know before hiring anyone to handle your marketing, The 6 marketing rip-offs that are costing you a fortune, The 4 skills that will determine the success of your business over the next 18 months and a lot more items. It's really a candid, behind the scenes look at what you need to know to grow your business to incredible levels of success. In the next episode I'm going to connect you with Jason Falls. Jason shares a brilliant way to reach the influential people in your market, wouldn't it pretty brilliant Sandra? Sandra: Brilliant. Travis: Yeah. Sandra: And you know who else is brilliant? MJ, MJ I just want to thank you, one for your time, two for being an inspiration that, like no matter what you can have your dreams fulfilled for giving us the no BS way to really--it takes persistence, it takes fulfilling the need and to just be real and to be truthful. It's like it feels good to just have someone say that. And then also for reminding all of us to live in the present and your dreams are right now, not someday, and certainly to be going for the big goals, but enjoy the little things, and enjoy the journey. So thank you for that and thank you for spending this hour with us. MJ: Well, thanks Sandra for those kind words, I appreciate that. Travis: I agree. Lots of great advice, living in the now is just, again worth its weight in gold. I have a bad habit of not living in the now, so I'm going to try to take your advice there and I really appreciate you taking the time MJ. MJ: You bet. I appreciate you guys having me, I really do. Travis: Yeah. So, be sure to join us on the next show. Sandra was so excited there that she jumped in before I wrapped up this segment. Sandra: Oh, sorry. Travis: But that's okay, you don't behave yourself quite often. So, you act up on a regular basis. Sandra: But you keep having me back,

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Travis: That's a critical part of what makes our relationship work. Listen, I want to close the show with a quote from Tony Robbins. MJ: Oh. Travis: Yeah. Perfect timing isn't it? MJ: Yeah.

End of Interview Travis: And the quote reads, "Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." This is Travis Lane Jenkins signing off for now. Remember that what you're contributing as an entrepreneur and leader really, really does matter, no matter where you're at in your journey, so keep it up. To your incredible success, may you inspire those around you to go after their dreams too. Take care.

Sandra: Thanks everybody.

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THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

How We Can Help You We know that finding someone that you can trust online today is hard and that so many “so called gurus” are self-‐appointed and have never really even done what they teach you to do. That‟s exactly why we created the Double Your Profits Business Accelerator. This is an exclusive offer for our fans at a fraction of its normal cost. Here's what to expect. We'll Schedule a 'One on One' private session, where we'll take the time to dive deep into your business and tell you what is missing, so that you can have your best year ever! We'll do this by performing a S.W.O.T. Analysis. This tells us your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats within your business. This will be an eye opener for YOU, for several reasons, however some of the most common reasons are. As the 'Business Owner' it‟s difficult to see the big picture of your own business because you‟re in the middle of a daily management. And you are too emotionally involved to completely impartial. This is a common problem for EVERY business owner. It doesn‟t matter if you are a one-man army, or an army of 150, the problem is still the same.

Travis Lane Jenkins Business Mentor-Turn Around Specialist Radio Host of The Entrepreneurs Radio Show “Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs That Grow Your Business"

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