Poignant message in this graphic about risk, pursuing what matters, and life itself. A bit too word heavy to share via text. Enjoy. ~MJ 💪

Don't be afraid to compete against big business. If you stole $50M in revenue and $10M in profits away from Google, Apple, or some other big biz, they might not even notice. Mosquito meet elephant. In the last month, 2 stories have been posted on the forum of small companies competing in tech-giant spaces. FACT: Most people want to do business with small, responsive private companies, not nebulous non-responsive monolithic corporations.

Following is the link to the story referenced in the last message: From 0 to $500K/ARR competing against Google. Reveals, once again, the power of a Productocracy... via the founder: "If you hear about [us] these days, it likely comes from one of our 4,802 paying customers. People who use and enjoy using Plausible help us spread the word to even more people. We have a $0 paid advertising budget & we don’t have an affiliate program either. We pretty much ignore all the best marketing practices." Good marketing is a good product! Have great weekend! ~ MJ

https://bit.ly/3BNQu9g

Via The Great Rat Race Escape: The definitive guide to living your best life. If you want to live unlike anyone else, the 1%, you can't think like the 99%. This chart explains the difference between someone who lives a Scripted mediocre life, and someone living Unscripted exceptionally. Change your mind, and you change everything.

Productivity Pro Tips: 1) Every morning write a to-do list, I prefer pen/paper over digital. 2)Tackle urgent/important tasks first 3) Write down “needle moving” goals daily to keep top-of-mind 4) If u think a task will take longer than 2hrs, break it down into component parts: Ex: Task A(33%) Task A(33%) Task A(33%), this fires the feedback loop as u complete, big projects made more manageable!

Here is my personal to do list that I use daily. I also have a modified version coming soon that builds on the 1/5/10 Strategy as outlined in The Great Rat Race Escape. Please do NOT distribute, for your personal use only. Enjoy!

Any kind of failure can be simplified into 1 of 3 things: 1) A failure to create value in the market's eyes 2) A failure to communicate (& then execute) on that value or 3) A failure to reach the right folks who WANT your value. If you miss the target on any 3, you will fail. Great value poorly communicated can false flag a fail. The latter 2 proves/disproves 1: It defines when to quit or go on.

Tip: Whenever you find yourself needing a solution in your business, visit AppSumo first. Often they will have a solution offered, and even better, it will be sold at a 1-time flat fee, not recurring. Countless times I've found reasonable solutions there, & to problems I didn't know I had. Link below is an aff link, but feel free to just do a type in. Highly recommend! https://appsumo.pxf.io/c/1242131/416948/7443?subId1=dtxt&u=https%3A%2F%2Fappsumo.com%2F

Resource Tip: If you need to find hard-to-find email addresses for marketing and cold outreach, I've heard a lot of entrepreneurs recommend Hunter.io which is a plugin for Chrome. I installed it and it looks like it could be quite a valuable tool to have in your marketing arsenal as you try to grow; finding JV partners, suppliers, influencers. etc.

Just an FYI, someone posted on the forum that tonight is one of the worst days (nights) for drunk driving, at least in the USA for the Thanksgiving holiday. Please be careful and always be mindful of DARE potentialities as you celebrate any upcoming holiday. Hope you have a great holiday with friends and/or family! Best, ~MJ 👍🙂

Sorry I haven't posted in days, been really sick (non-Covid) and feel a bit better now. In fact, a new emerging business is responsible for me feeling better. I was so impressed, made a forum thread about it, perhaps it can help someone either in business, health, or better, both.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/medical-mobile-iv-service.102008/post-975917

SALES TIP: There's a scene in Indiana Jones where he threatens to blow up the ark, in exchange for a hostage. Jones spent his entire life searching for the sacred ark and his opponent refused, calling his bluff. It worked, no way in hell Indy would blow up his life's work. TIP: Know how bad your opponent wants what you have so you can spot bluffs and increase leverage.

Fact: Anytime you change something in your business, people will complain. Example: TheFastlaneForum recently underwent a redesign with the intent to be more mobile friendly. Some people complained, some people loved it. User data (MATH!) is the ONLY WAY to ascertain if such changes are a net good, or net bad. It's still early, but the forum's user data seems to indicate the change was a net good. (And it still isn't complete!)

Credit to Navil Ravikant for the theme of this message which parallels my own philosophy: If you follow the "news" and the acceptable consensus for wealth, health, and morality, you will end up financially, nutritionally, and morally bankrupt.

If you didn't see this on the forum, it is a must read: What boxes have you imprisoned yourself in? Your self-imposed boxes are what hinders growth, achievement, and success. I identify them and you can break out of your boxes.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/what-box-have-you-locked-yourself-up-in.102134/

Want to know why you binge watch an entire Netflix series in one weekend? Want to know why you read that entire advertisement and bought that product? It's one of the most used MARKETING TACTICS and if you want to succeed, you must use it too. In fact, I'm using it in this message right now... get the answer below.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/a-marketing-must-how-to-get-more-eyeballs-to-buy-your-stuff.102250/

Money today is always better than money tomorrow. The "time value of money" is taught at ever UNI on the planet. But you know what isn't? The "time value of time": YOUTHFUL wealth is better than OLD wealth. I take a deep dive into this concept in my latest YTube video, the 1st "in person" video I've done in 10yrs. Learn the lesson now, or let time bludgeon you with it later.

https://bit.ly/3pnzseX

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry XMAS and Happy Holidays. No matter your beliefs, the holidays are a great time to pause, to reflect where we've been and where we want to go. Life sometimes seems chaotic and unmanageable, but you're always in control of your thoughts and the actions they produce. And don't forget the benefits of "no thoughts" every so often via meditation! Enjoy! 🙂🎄☃️~MJ

You might benefit from one of my 2021 reflections: I have an inverse correlation between my happiness and media consumption, namely network news, social media, partisan websites (both sides) and "Americanized" television. In short, the less I consume this media, the happier I am. Some types of ignorance is indeed, bliss. You might want to experiment with a media detox: then observe how you feel.

As we head into 2022, I'll depart your 2021 with this message from the past US President Theodore Roosevelt: "Far better to dare mighty things, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." Happy New Year! 🎊🎉~MJ