UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship

MJ's previous book was an instant classic and exposed a lot of truths about entrepreneurship and the unhappy state of modern society in general. This book tackles many of the the same ideas from a different more in-depth angle, and takes it to another level for several reasons. For starters, it is side-splittingly, roll-on-the-floor, unrelentingly hilarious and entertaining (at least to my mind). To me, almost every single page is full of funny anecdotes and analogies. Listening to the Audible version of this is better than listening to a good HBO stage comedian, and far more useful. Second, the book makes a concerted effort to address the psychological barriers that I've come to believe are the biggest obstacles to entrepreneurship. As the Romans (apparently) understood, a proper slave doesn't need chains to remain in bondage...once conditioned, a person's attitudes and beliefs are far more effective tools of servitude. This applies not only to the poor, but to many of us who have successfully navigated years of 'success' milestones, and yet found themselves with a career environment that has not held up its end of the bargain. That's the reason for the title "Unscripted", to re-engineer years of ingrained and indoctrinated beliefs that won't really serve your dreams of success and freedom. Finally, this book is impressively in-depth and detailed. It doesn't (and can't) give you a specific formula for a successful business for your situation. But it works from a number of angles, over and over, chipping away at the roadblocks that will snare most of us who decide to go for something more. In that sense its a useful reference with some meaningful ideas and approaches to tackle challenges, many of which are not in The Millionaire Fastlane. If you're a cozy, happily employed person who is deeply satisfied with your weekend lifestyle, then this book is absolutely not for you. In fact, run away! Its only going to cause you trouble. But if you find yourself among the discontented 70%, stuck in traffic and depressed, profoundly disillusioned with your own past choices; pay close attention. Whining about the traps of our modern society will get you nowhere, and the true cause of your ills is not really the common scapegoats: politics, racial or class issues (although they have their moments). It's your mental framework and a lack of understanding of and experience with entrepreneurship. The truth is that America can be a truly great country for anyone, but its rewards mercilessly and relentlessly go to those entrepreneurs who deliver relative value. Provide real value to others and whatever limits you presume exist in your life (sex, age, race, upbringing, education) will rapidly vanish. In that sense, its a real hopeful step forward and a useful tool for many of us. Absolutely highly recommended, he's now among my favorite authors. UPDATE: I've now completed the book 3 times, and it only gets better. Each time I go through it I realize there are some useful pearls of wisdom in there that I had grasped conceptually but not completely faced (about myself). Some people might regard the material in this book as shocking. But what's really shocking is that here in the 'Land of Opportunity' after years and years of college and real world experience, this is not common wisdom. You don't hear this material anywhere. It should be Business 101, or Prosperity 101, Life 101.

While I would recommend this book, it was sort of a mixed bag. I read DeMarco's The Millionaire Fastlane, and it was much stronger. I feel like he was emboldened by the success of the first book and kind of went off the rails here. The vast majority of the book is him complaining about the media, or financial institutions, or the college loan system, or whatever, and it reads more like a conspiracy theorist's unedited manifesto then an actual self-help book. Sure, I agree that college loans can be deceiving and difficult to pay off. Or that Chase Bank giving 0.02% interest on a savings account is useless. Or that mainstream financial advice should not be followed without doing your own research. But I feel like too much of the book seems like a counter-culture rejection of the system, and the rhetoric doesn't necessarily help you get out the game or, more importantly, play the game better. But I'm still giving it 5 stars. Why? He does break down how you can sustain wealth once you find some success. The numbers he states in that book show specifically how much money you need to retire young, and what types of investments you can make to protect your savings and become financially independent. That part of the book is great and worth the price of admission. While I did find it worthwhile overall, it was a bit of a pain to read. It felt aggressively negative and more of a knee-jerk rejection of the whole system rather than anything insightful. Yes, there are systems in place that may not always be in your best interest, but that doesn't mean that everything is a scam or that "the man" is out to get you. It is a game, and you need to understand how the game works to get ahead, which is more important to me that an outright rejection of the whole system. So if you're looking to quit your 9-to-5 job and go on some crazy venture, this book may give you some gusto, but honestly I found the advice to be primarily reckless. You can save a lot of money in a 401(k) or an IRA. You can play the stock market and win if you make smart decisions. Compound interest can grow your savings over the long run. I understand his point, but I feel like it comes off too strong and jeopardizes the actual good information that is in the book. But I learned some priceless bits of information here, so if you can look past the conspiracy nonsense, it's worth reading.

Wow, Be ready to question your beliefs. And beliefs drive behavior. And behavior creates results - the results you have right now. So if you want better results, it's time to question everything and think better thoughts, develop better beliefs, take better actions and get better results. I originally read MJ's first book Millionaire Fastlane and loved it. I stumbled across it on Amazon and thought what the heck if I get one good idea from it, it will more than pay for itself - It is a book about making money after all. It was filled with a whole new way of thinking and changed how I looked at entrepreneurship and wealth building. I recommended the book to a lot of people whom I thought might be frustrated with being a wage slave, a jobpreneur vs. and entrepreneur and hate toxic debt slavery and lifestyle limitations. Wow, was I ever wrong. Few got the book, fewer started reading it, no one finished it and everyone has "reasons" why their life is the same way it was five years ago. And that can be you five years from now. Both books are great books, and if you’re really interested in changing yourself so you change your life, I’d recommend getting both books because immersion learning helps unlearn all the wage slavery hope and pray maybe I’ll get lucky thinking that has been repeatedly drilled into our head. Full disclosure. I am not an active member of the forum mentioned by other reviewers At tops, I've been to the forum six times to search specific business ideas. I got an early copy because I paid for it early through Amazon who recommended it to me along with their usual book recommendations.

Llevo años leyendo libros sobre riqueza, emprendimiento, negocios y desarrollo personal. Encontré en The Millionaire Fastlane una oda al sentido común para emprendedores, muy alejado de todos los gurús que pululan en el mercado. Éste segundo libro me ha costado más leerlo. No porque sea peor, sino todo lo contrario. Es mucho más extenso y trabaja mucho más las creencias y la mentalidad necesarias para emprender con éxito. Te da una patada en el culo cuando hace falta, y después te da las respuestas para saber por dónde empezar, y continuar. Está muy orientado al mercado U.S., así que algunas cosas (pocas) no aplicarán literalmente a España u otros mercados. Pero todo lo demás funciona estés donde estés. Los principios son los mismos, y MJ los expone en un marco que hace que no puedas olvidarlos. Es un gran storyteller y sabe de lo que habla. Sigo recomendando más el primer libro que éste. Lo dicho: no porque sea mejor, sino porque éste es más denso. Tiene todo el contenido de TMF, pero expicado con más detalle y más ejemplos. Lee los dos y no te arrepentirás. Es la mejor inversión que puedes hacer. Y después de leerlo, no pierdas la oportunidad de unirte al foro. No vas a encontrar una comunidad de emprendedores como esa en muchos sitios.

It’s a slap in your face, calling for wake you up. Absolutely recommended, loved the way that the book is written

Great book eye opening... Especially when you think success is an easy road.

I wish I cd rate it 10 on 5. Some books act like a bridge and carry u to the other side safely over deep waters . This is the one. It's a must must must read. For anyone who hates 9 to 5 job and wants to break free.

This is an absolutely life-changing book. This is for you if you're someone who isn't satisfied with a 'normal' life of slowly working your way up the career ladder to get slightly more money and slightly less free time at each step. It will inspire you and give you a belief that there is another way. This is absolutely not a how-to-get-rich-easy book, of which the author clearly hates. This is a book for people who want out of the rat race, are prepared to work really hard, take risks, expect failure, bounce back and find ways to win. It's not a step by step guide to how to set up a winning business, but there are tons of nuggets of wisdom in there, and more importantly for me gave me the mindset needed and started me dreaming. I've read this and the author's other book, The Millionaire Fastlane. Both are excellent but largely cover the same ground and I wouldn't say it's essential to read both - there's probably 15% added value in reading both but you'll get the idea from either. I've really come to like MJ Demarco and the way he writes, but honestly it took a few chapters before I was convinced. He writes in a casual and sweary style which can appear a bit arrogant at first - then you realise he actually is a multi-millionaire and can back up everything he says; he's talking from experience, has been hugely successful with his businesses and not just through luck or fortunate timing. That puts him in a position where he can afford to really not care what you think of him or his writing. He'll tell you things in a frank way that others trying to create a more favourable impression would shy away from. He's not saying his opinions to be popular or to sell more books - he really doesn't need to. This frankness and openness grew on me and I found it easy and very enjoyable to read. Not everyone will like this book, many will read it and find a reason not to act on the contents, and even more will play the victim role of why it couldn't apply to them or why they couldn't have the dream life that it offers. Not for the closed-minded. For everyone else, it could well change your life.