Chapter 27: Change That Dirty, Stale Oil - The Millionaire Fastlane

CHAPTER 27: CHANGE THAT DIRTY, STALE OIL

Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
~ Albert Einstein

Change the Oil Every 3,000 Miles

The first lesson of car ownership: Change the oil every 3,000 miles. Neglect the lesson and your car dies well before its useful life. Frequent oil changes keep your car running efficiently; unchanged oil goes stale and turns the ride rough. Rough rides stall to the shoulder of the road.

The Fastlane road trip demands fresh oil changes. But what is oil? Oil is education. Knowledge. Street smarts. But be careful … it must be the right oil and for the right purpose.

Sidewalkers don't bother with oil. After 3,000 miles, they're done. Graduation is the last oil change. Slowlaners oil their vehicles for the explicit purpose of raising intrinsic value. Advanced education and certifications: What's going to command a bigger salary? Fastlaners oil their vehicles until they hit the junkyard.

Graduation Is Not the End; It Is the Beginning

Face it. What you know today is not enough to get you where you need to be tomorrow. You must constantly reinvent yourself, and reinvention is education.

Unfortunately, graduation traditionally signals the end of education. Regardless of your graduating age, adulthood begins. The party is over and real life begins. To cease learning at graduation is wealth suicide. Your most effective earning years happen AFTER graduation, so wouldn't it be smart to continue the educational process long after formal schooling?

Jim Gallagher graduated 11 years ago and is unemployed. Jim is a stockbroker, but because of Internet technology his expertise has become endangered and flirts with extinction. Jim's education for that specific job-set has become dated and no longer applies to the current world. The world has moved on, yet Jim and his education have not. Jim contemptuously takes a menial sales job at a local furniture store. His financial plan stalls because he operates with the same stale oil last changed 11 years ago. Jim fails to change his oil so Jim's road trip to wealth also fails.

Education, your oil, is a critical component to your wealth road trip. When you continually inject yourself with new education, new skills, and new competencies, new roads open and things run smoothly. The right education has incredible horsepower.

Education's Role

Education is virtuous under both Slowlane and Fastlane roadmaps, but their roles are profoundly different. In the Slowlane, education is used to elevate intrinsic value, while in the Fastlane it is used to facilitate and grow the business system. Also, Fastlane education is secured by methods that do not produce parasitic debt or conformity. The purpose of education within the Fastlane is to amplify the power of the money tree and the business system. You're not a cog in the wheel; you learn to build the wheel.

For example, if I go to a training seminar that gives me skills to “hire top-gun sales people,” I'm engaged in activities that specifically enhance the fertility of my business and my money tree. If I read a book on a new computer technology that illustrates how to create new interactive Web site features, I'd be learning to facilitate the system. Again, Fastlane education is to foster growth of the business system. Conversely, Slowlane education is designed to specifically enhance the intrinsic value of the person receiving the education. It is to become a gear in the system.

A Fastlane Forum user had an opportunity to pursue an MBA and he asked if it was worth it. My answer typically would be no, but this scenario was different. First, the MBA had no money cost, only time cost, as the government was paying for it. Second, this gentleman espoused the Fastlane ideology so his purpose was not intrinsic value elevation, but expansion of his knowledge to facilitate a Fastlane system. I voted yes.

“I Don't Know How!”

If an oil change puts your car on a lift for months or years, what's the point? Your continued education must not come laden with conformity or parasitic debt, but must facilitate your Fastlane system. How? Make the real world your university. Yes, you are your own university.

Ask any successful entrepreneur and they will validate this truth: You learn from engagement, from doing, and from getting out and taking repeated action, more so than from any book or professor.

But “I don't know how!” you cry.

Oh, stop. Public enemy No. 1 on the most used excuses list is, “I don't know how!”

Well, why don't you know how? I'll tell you why.

You don't know because you haven't taught yourself how, nor have you wanted to “know how” badly enough. You see, it is easier to relent under the weight of “I don't know how” than it is to actively pursue the knowledge. In today's information society, there is absolutely no excuse not to find out how.

I graduated from college with two business degrees, marketing and finance. Neither of them was related to computer science. I graduated with no computer programming experience. Yet I made my millions on the Internet.

Funny, after 13 years of expensive institutional education, I NEVER took a formal class about the Internet or Web technologies. Heck, my computer classes were limited to introductory business courses. If I didn't go to school to learn the Internet, how the heck did I learn and become educated within this skill set? I sought to change my oil frequently. I educated myself. I read books. I hit the library. I spent hours on the Web and read articles, tutorials, wikis. I sought and consumed knowledge.

Years ago, when I started my career with Internet media, I could have easily quit and leaned on the obvious: I don't know how! I don't know how to program a Web site! I don't know how to design graphics! I don't know how to manage a server! I don't know how to write marketing copy! These excuses are like a plastic bag ready to smother your dreams, but only if you stick your head in the bag. Instead, my vision of a Web site didn't end with “I don't know how,” but started there. So, get your head out of the bag!

Had I not refreshed my skill set (my oil), my journey would have stalled. My religious pursuit of knowledge kept me efficient in an ever-changing world and primed me for Fastlane opportunities. Education didn't end with graduation, it started. And best of all, my self-taught education was a twin-turbo acceleration into the Fastlane; my skills didn't come loaded with parasitic debt or conformity.

Education Is Freely Available

The greatest travesty of the free world is the under use of knowledge. Walk into your local bookstore and inhale. Smell that? That's the smell of infinite knowledge. Walk into your local library and look around. Amazing. Wall-to-wall books, free for the taking. Imagine if you could digest every book, every paragraph, and every sentence. Would “I don't know” be a detriment to your success?

I'm astonished that education is freely available, yet most choose not to take it. Education is unplucked fruit from a tree, and all it needs is a ladder. Yet, people cling to the limiting belief that “I can't afford education.”

Sorry, but it's an excuse to be lazy.

Education is free for your consumption. Infinite knowledge is at your fingertips and the only thing preventing you from getting it is you. Yes, YOU. Turn off the TV, pick up a book, and read it. Quit playing Guitar Hero and hit the library. Quit playing Gameboy grab-ass and hit the books. A committed Fastlaner has his nose in a book weekly. He attends seminars. He trolls business forums. He's on Google, searching different topics and strategies.

You have the innate power to become an expert at anything not requiring physical talent. Anything! No book in the world can make me a professional basketball player or a professional singer, but books can transfigure novices to experts in nonphysical disciplines. You can become a currency-trading expert. Real estate. Business. Web programming. Sales. A public speaker. The expertise for any discipline not requiring physical coordination is out there. What does it take? Your commitment of pursuit, and then the biggie: applying it.

When I remodeled my house, the walls of my grand foyer needed to be faux painted. Faux finishing is a complicated painting technique that's used to create lavish surfaces with depth and luminance. I had two choices: Call a professional or learn to do it myself. Since I was retired, I viewed this as a fun challenge, so I opted to do it myself.

I hit the Internet and watched a few hours of video tutorials. Then I hit The Home Depot and bought supplies. Over the next several days I practiced on cardboard boxes. Within a week I became proficient at faux painting. I built myself a skill in one week. Days earlier I was in the sphere of “I don't know how!” and days later, I possessed a new skill that I could aptly sell if I wanted. The best faux painters earn $10 per square foot. In one week, I built myself a skill that opened a tiny road into the Fastlane equation.

Skills and expertise are waiting just for you. No one drops a book on your lap and gifts knowledge. You have to seek it, process it, and then use it. The acquisition and application of knowledge will make you rich.

So where do you find infinite knowledge inexpensively? Like the air you breathe, it's all around you, like an apple tree waiting to be plucked.

Bookstores:
Books possess the greatest return for your educational dollar. Buy them, borrow them, or steal them. Just read them.

The library:
The greatest free repository of knowledge and the disabler of the “I can't afford to buy books” excuse. I got my start at the library. Internet forums: Find like-minded congregations and learn from those who have succeeded. Find tailwinds!

Internet classes:
Can be pricey, but convenient.

Internet blogs/podcasts/screencasts/Web casts:
Another excuse destroyer. Seminars: Good seminars bring good value, assuming they are sponsored by the right entities and not get-rich-quick gurus.

Television:
Cable TV has turned television educational. Deviate from the mindless reality TV garbage and tune in to channels with educational value: History, Discovery, Science, HGTV, Military, and National Geographic.

Continuing education classes:
Offered mostly by community colleges, these classes offer a wide array of formal training in specific disciplines. Free magazines: Visit TradePub.com and FreeBizMag.com and sign up for free magazines subscriptions pertaining to your topic of interest.

Unfortunately, while infinite knowledge surrounds us, most people ignore it. Take for example this comment about education from successful real estate investor Lonnie Scruggs (LonnieScruggs.net):

I used to work two jobs. EDUCATION changed my life. Before I learned how to put my money to work, I was doing all the work. I was so uneducated back then that I thought the answer to financial freedom was working two jobs. And that's what I did for many years. Finally, I realized there weren't enough hours in a day and I couldn't work enough hours in a month to reach financial security. There had to be a better way. I started looking for that way. When I realized that education and knowledge was the answer, I made up my mind to get an education. Before that, all I had was some “schooling.” Now I realized I needed some education.

Now I can look back and see that I didn't do all the easy and fun things like many people were doing, but I did all the right things. And today, we enjoy financial security and financial freedom. We can do what we want. Many of our friends are still working jobs, searching for financial security that they will never know. They had the same chance to make choices that I had; they just made the wrong choices. They all had schooling but they didn't have the necessary education that provides financial freedom. Now they tell me how lucky we are. The best investment you can make is in yourself. So be willing to pay for your education now, or be prepared to pay a much bigger price for your lack of education later. The choices you make today will determine your financial future. Be sure you make the right choice, because you will have to live with the results of that choice.

The rich understand that education doesn't end with a graduation ceremony; it starts. The world is in constant flux, and as it evolves your education must move with it or you will drift to mediocrity.

“I Don't Have Time!”

Tailgating the crutch of “I don't know how!” is “I don't have time!” Where on earth will you find time to change your oil? I mean seriously, between the full-time job and the two kids, where is there time? It's in between everything else.

Changing your oil isn't difficult when you attach it to existing activities of repetition and consistency. While time might be linear, it can be manipulated by performing double-duty on one time block, as in the old cliché, “Killing two birds with one stone.” Maximize time and you maximize wealth. Accomplish two objectives in one time frame. Make life your university. Here are some time-cheating, “life university” strategies.

Driving University:
Listen to audio books or financial news radio while stuck in traffic. Traffic nuisances transformed to education.

Exercise University:
Absorb books, podcasts, and magazines while exercising at the gym. In between sets, on the treadmill, or on the stationary bike, exercise is transformed to education.

Waiting University:
Bring something to read with you when you anticipate a painful wait: Airports, doctor's offices, and your state's brutal motor vehicle department. Don't sit there and twiddle your thumbs-learn!

Toilet University:
Never throne without reading something of educational value. Extend your “sit time” (even after you finish) with the intent of learning something new, every single day. Toilet University is the best place to change your oil, since it occurs daily and the time expenditure cannot be avoided. This means the return on your time investment is infinite! Toilet time transformed to education.

Jobbing University:
If you can, read during work downtimes. During my dead job employment (driving limos, pizza delivery) I enjoyed significant “wait times” between jobs. While I waited for passengers, pizzas, and flower orders, I read. I didn't sit around playing pocket-poker; no, I read. If you can exploit dead time during your job, you are getting paid to learn. Dead-end jobs transformed to education.

TV-Time University:
Can't wean yourself off the TV? No problem; put a television near your workspace and simultaneously work your Fastlane plan while the TV does its thing. While watching countless reruns of Star Trek, boldly going where no man has gone before, I simultaneously learned how to program Web sites. In fact, as I write this, I am watching the New Orleans Saints pummel the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football. Gridiron gluttony transformed to work and education.

Think about the time you already use. How many hours do you waste in the trivialities of life? This time doesn't need to be lost, wasted time. This time is ripe for Fastlane oil changes.

To start your oil recharge, choose a topic that interests you or an area in your life that needs improvement. Not good at sales or writing? Get to the library and start reading. Before I started writing Fastlane, I bought six books relating to publishing, writing, and authoring. I didn't blindly write and publish a book; I educated myself thoroughly during the process.

Set a goal to read at least 12 books per year, or one per month. If you are aggressive like me, you'll read a book every week. I can't stress enough that the more knowledge you consume, the more torque you create on the Fastlane road trip.

The $50,000 Oil Change

The last time I went to one of those while-you-wait oil change places, an advertised $21.99 oil change morphed into a $110 bill because of extra service suggestions. An oil change shouldn't cost more than 25 bucks, and anything heavier should arouse your suspicions. Twenty bucks is the average price of a book. Used books are less. Library books are free. Continuing education at a community college is $30 per credit hour. Oil changes are cheap. Yet, we continue to strap the chains of debt to our ankles and pay thousands of dollars for our oil changes.

I saw a picture the other day of a student publicly protesting one of the government financial bailouts. She hoisted a large placard that read: “I've got a 4.0 GPA, $90,000 in debt and no job-where's my bailout?” Where's your bailout? Let me tell ya, walk into the bathroom, flip on the light-switch and look in the freaking mirror.

There's your bailout.

I'm tired of sob stories from well-intended students who graduate from college with mountains of debt and can't get a job. Take responsibility. You bought into the myth that college ensures a job. The fact is, when you allow market forces to drive your vehicle you're likely to end on the street with a homemade poster proclaiming the value of your 4.0 GPA and the crushing burden of your six-figure debt.

No one cares. You're in debt because you borrowed. You're in debt because you bought into the lie and relinquished control. You bought the Slowlane. Were you forced to take loans? You don't have a job because you voted for the politicians who penalize producers and reward consumers. Face facts.

An expensive oil change that forces a lifetime of indentured time is stupid. Again, parasitic debt doesn't care about the source; it only wants to eat your free time, preferably seasoned with a little salt and pepper.

The Seminar Fail

What idiot would pay $50,000 to attend a seminar? Many do. This is a common question at the Fastlane Forum. So-and-so is offering a three-day seminar on real estate investment for $50,000. Should I buy it? What? Are you a smoking crack? Do you know what you're buying? Let me tell you. You're paying $50,000 for someone to explain a book that's found at the bookstore for 19 bucks.

A $50,000 seminar is exploitation of what we producers know: People are lazy. People want it handed to them. People don't want to read and connect the dots; they want it done for them. People want to be steered. They want someone to drive their vehicle. People want events, not process, and what better event than a $50,000 seminar!

Seminars can be great for education, but it has to be the right seminar, which is affordable and given by producers and experienced experts, not by professional, career public speakers. Most high-dollar seminars are well-orchestrated marketing machines tailored to extract every dollar from your wallet. Most cheap seminars are day long up-sells to a more expensive seminar. And those well-suited presenters? They suffer the typical Paradox of Practice: rich from public speaking to millions but not rich from what they teach.

A member of the Fastlane Forum reflected on her recent seminar experience with a popular book guru:

First, you won't be “allowed” to network. If you were allowed to network then people would find out quicker that the seminar is just one giant sales pitch for a larger, more expensive seminar to the tune of $50,000. Second, you won't learn a damn thing, except that you should have listened to your gut and not gone. There really is a sucker born every minute. Amazing how people have nothing in the bank but can come up with $50K just for the hope of something better.

And finally, there is a segment in the seminar where they have you increase the balance on your credit cards, because after all, the rich make money and the poor earn it. So then everyone goes and increases their balances, and then guess what-they hit you with the purchase price of anywhere from $16K to $50K, depending on how “serious” you are.

Ridiculous? Apparently not, because people go rushing to the back of the room like cattle to slaughter, credit cards in hand. They leave with a nervous sense of self-satisfaction and a cute little sticker on their shirt that says “I invest in myself.”

A $50,000 oil change is as shocking as a $50,000 seminar. Good seminars are under $1,000 and are given by respectable experts, practitioners, and seminar firms. Good seminars are educational and don't come at the price of a new Cadillac Escalade. Bad seminars are hyped, high-pressure, and exploitative. Bad seminars are about making money and not about helping you.

How can you tell a good seminar from bad? The first tip off is price. Anything unreasonable is a warning sign that the provider is more interested in making money than education. The second is price again. Be wary of FREE. FREE usually means eight minutes of education and eight hours of up-sell to a higher-priced seminar. Thirdly, who is giving it? Is it a professional speaker? Or someone who actually practices what he or she teaches? Read the fine print. “Johnny Guru's strategies have made millions!” and then the fine print says, “Johnny Guru will not be in attendance.” Huh? Would you allow an acting surrogate to perform surgery on you if the real surgeon wasn't available? Fail!

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions

• Fastlaners start their education at graduation, if not before.
• A Fastlaner's education serves to advance their business system and their money tree, not to raise intrinsic value.
• Fastlaner's aren't interested in being a cog in the wheel. They want to be the wheel.
• I don't know how” is an excuse dismantled by discipline.
• Infinite knowledge is everywhere and it's free. What's missing is discipline to assimilate it.
• You can become an expert in any discipline not requiring physical skills.
• Educational recharges can occur within time blocks already allocated for other objectives.
• Organizers of expensive seminars take advantage of Sidewalkers and disenfranchised Slowlaners by marketing empty promises as “events.”