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.

"Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship” by MJ Demarco is an outstanding guide for anyone who wants to live a meaningful and fulfilling life via entrepreneurship. The author challenges conventional wisdom and provides guideposts that we can use for an UNSCRIPTED existence which means doing whatever you want, wherever and whenever. Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, who sang the lyric, I can’t get no satisfaction, captures a lot of the spirit of part I and part 2 of this book. MJ provides a diagnosis of the human predicament with vivid examples that we can all relate to. The author poses two questions that I found thought-provoking and his answers were spot-on: how do you feel on Sunday night or Monday morning?, What is the greatest con of the civilized world? Both questions made me think about my predicament and the myths that we follow or accept as the facts of life. For instance, who came up with the rule that Saturday and Sunday are for relaxing while work occurs Monday through Friday or retirement happens at sixty-five after 40 years of doing what you don’t like. Once you become aware and understand our predicament, then the author provides a framework that can cure us. I was skeptical about this framework because of how complex it was and the odds of success. But after, researching other successful entrepreneurs like Phil Knight and Scott Adams, I realized that MJ has provided the most complete guide for entrepreneurial success. There isn’t a magical checklist we can use that will provide the path for successfully starting a business but MJ’s framework can improve our odds. The Unscripted Entrepreneurial Framework (TUNEF) is the prescription for our predicament and represents the bulk of the book. There were five key takeaways for me: 1. Change your head will change your results - we have been brainwashed by the media and many other sources to have delusional and limiting beliefs that prevent us from transforming ourselves. For example, if you believe “entrepreneurship is risky,” you’ll avoid starting a business. But, if you can change your identity and actually believe that “I am a successful entrepreneur” than you have a shot. 2. Process-principle - extraordinary results require an extraordinary effort consisting of daily habits, routines, and sacrifices. For example, when Michael Phelps won 9 gold medals in the 2008 Olympics and makes millions in endorsement afterwards, most of us only see his successful outcome. But behind his wins was a grueling process that required rigorous training and sacrifices. So, to be successful entrepreneurs we need to modify our habits and daily routine. 3. The Commandment of Need - Need defines our opportunity in the market place. The author said think about the market as “a spoiled brat, narrowly-minded and singular in its purpose….Its laser-like focus is centered on one fundamental truth: What value are you to me?” By reframing the market as a spoiled brat, I’ve become more aware of the need of others. 4. Sell or be sold: “If you don’t have any ideas, learn how to sell. Selling and all of its cousins (marketing, copywriting, negotiation) are the most important skills, no matter what your business is… The best sales secret isn’t about sales at all. It’s peer testimonials and reviews.” 5. Comparative immunity - Abstaining from the unwinnable game of comparison which is the drive for more when more isn’t needed. We tend to focus on what’s missing such as the person driving a Mercedes while your driving a Subaru or the person with the perfect nose while yours is crooked. I agree with the author that you will never find happiness if you are constantly comparing yourself with others because the finish line always moves. I highly recommend “Unscripted” because it has allowed me to better understand my predicament, see the world differently, and provide a backtested framework for entrepreneurship.

If you had the choice between purchasing one of the popular financial “guru’s” books or this book Unscripted which would you choose? Not having read the authors previous book you might assume the popular “guru” book is a no brainer right? As wise ole Yoda said “Judge me by my size, do you?” For me and those who have read the author’s previous book the answer is clear – buy, read and most importantly apply the framework provided in Unscripted! This book is not only huge in size (416 pages) but more importantly it is huge in value it can provide to you and your future of breaking free of the “scripted” life. This isn’t a feel good book or “here is the 30 steps you need to do to become a millionaire and work from the beach when you want to” book. This is a book that helps you see how our life has often become one big “scripted” voluntary slavery where we work all week for two days off with a mountain of debt over our heads. Realizing our current reality is worth the price of the book alone but it goes on to showing you the framework to break free and lead an “unscripted” life. There is so many high value wisdom nuggets provided in this book but some of my favorites are: • The Careless Whispers from you Soul • Action faking vs action taking • Sunday evening is the ultimate test if you are leading a scripted life – how do you feel about going back to work Monday morning? • Don’t be a “Time Prostitute” – time is scarce money is not! • Don’t be part of the “herd” headed to slaughter! • Hyperreality and observational bias (Jedi Mind Tricks) • Being a producer vs consumer – “you can’t be owned by what you own” • The “pain of discipline or the pain of regret” • Micro-processes + macro-processes = success – no silver bullets just small habits focused • There are no shortcuts! • The “event” is the result of the “process” • Have a growth mindset • The Kaizen Principle • Getting rich isn’t done by desiring wealth it is in providing “perceived value” to others • “Perceived Value vs Actual Value” • “Luck vs Probability” and the “Gumball Machine” Brilliant analogy! • Investing and all the popular falsies/scams • Cancer Corollary – “do I have something I want and what will it cost me” • Autonomy (control) as the number one reason for our happiness! This is again worth the price of the book 10x over! • “How to create a business that changes your life” this is the framework! • The “CENTS” commandments again worth the price of admission! • “Expected Value” – holy cow batman this is good stuff! • From Process to Productocracy! • Best (13) Execution practices! • Lifetime Passive Income! • “The last business ever – if you want” Unscripted is a book that I read slowly because it is so jammed packed with valuable wisdom that you need to process. It is a book that I will re-read many times over taking more notes and putting actionable habits that move my life from the Scripted to the Unscripted! This is the one book I will give to all my kids and close friends!

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.

'Unscripted' refers to not only living but understanding life that's liberated from the shackles of conventional wisdom in money, work, freedom, and life. Let me provide examples for each: - Conventional wisdom in money is the notion that you get rich [slowly] by investing in mutual funds and 401ks in atleast yearly installments while compound interest silently does it's work and ultimately the end result is a "rich" individual at the latter stages of their life. - Conventional wisdom in work is the notion that you invariably work for a boss, earn a scaled paycheck with small intermittent increases, and work 5 days a week just to enjoy two. - Conventional wisdom in freedom is the notion that freedom has to be obtained when you retire at 65 (around that time) and that you can finally choose to live out the scheduled you want after a life's work. - Conventional wisdom in life incorporates the above and may falsely accuse the rich of being "lucky" or "evil". These conventions are what the author refers to the "scripted life". Like MJ's last book, The Millionaire Fastlane, this book unearths those same supposed dictums and gives you the real. The ultimate (mostly unspoken) truth is this: entrepreneurship is the most viable path towards financial freedom because it is as (if not less) risky as the scripted get-rich-slow life. The difference in this book from the Millionaire Fastlane is that the author goes into much more detail thus resulting in a much longer read. And this is where it's weakness lies. The greater part was spent repudiating the conventional wisdom underlying the Scripted life. And when I say repudiating I mean to say that the author was brash, overwhelmingly vitriolic, and seemed almost indignant to the point of broken pencils when writing it. Not that the author doesn't have a point in many topics, but perhaps he should tone down because one would especially see this mistake of overreach when an author becomes political as the author did (albeit admittedly not that much as he tried really hard not to). Now as far as the content on entrepreneurship, money, production and methods that was introduced in the second half of the book, the information was sublime to be curt. My only knock on this part was the fact that there were a superfluous amount of labels, symbols and even equations just about everything. It is almost certainly impossible to keep up with and extremely unnecessary because to be honest only the concepts themselves are important. Now I understand that throwing all these concepts under many labels and sub-labels would seem to make them structured and easier to remember but the sad truth is that it just does the opposite. Unless of course you can do a good job ignoring the overabundance labels and word equations. There was no need to include them in my opinion unless the author thought that he would be the first and last person to ever tout these principals. Many others will preach them in many different ways. In my opinion, with the surfeit amount of information to peddle the author is better off leaving the labels to the chapters and chapter sections and just spilling out the information in between. Not everybody is going to retain everything but a good amount of the magnificent information of this book will be retained regardless by the interested reader. Despite my criticism (borne out of me juxtaposing it with his previous gem), this is one of the better books I've read and definitely deserves to be in the hall of fame for the success and entrepreneurship genre.

The Unscripted will change the way you think in what being an entrepreneur truly means, at least the way it should be if you really want to live freely and not be enslaved to your job and even your business. Think differently, and free your time to do whatever you want wherever and whenever you want to. DeMarco will show you how to be successful in your pursuit of freeing yourself from the corporate script to eventually live on passive income every month and never have to be enslaved to your job or your business ever again. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be free again to pursue whatever it is that inspires you - the sooner the better.

I'm going to start this review with the following quote... "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Unless you're in high school (college is probably too late), chances are you're already "balls deep" in the "SCRIPT" of life and will not be able to swallow the truth of the situation you're in (a.k.a. the real-world matrix). This book cuts so deep that I literally can't recommend it to anyone I know. It has nothing against this amazing book, but it would hit way to close to home (including myself). I don't want to be the bearer of the bad news... I'd rather grab a beer and talk about sports or some other superficial BS and not start any fights over this book. Don't talk about money, religion, politics, and MJ's new book. Why? Because people want to believe what they already believe and aren't looking to change unless life forces change on them. Chances are it's too late. So anyone who doesn't give this book 5 stars is trying to shoot the messenger. That's fine, just keep grinding away at life and wondering why others are so "lucky" or watching TV wishing about a great life or the freedom of retirement. You were indoctrinated to not value your true worth and time. This is by design. OPM (other people's money) or OPT(other people's time) a.k.a. leverage doesn't exist if everyone values their time/life and efforts. You were not chosen/born to live a mediocre life, you were conditioned to. But the truth will set you free... and this book is full of truths and will save you a lot of blood, sweat, and tears AND REGRET. My final advice, buy this book for someone young enough to save themselves (or read it for your children's sake). Otherwise, it will fall on deaf ears. Thank you MJ for having the balls to call it like is.

There are many so-called "Gurus" out there who speak about how to get rich or attract wealth. But it's just the usual advice you hear from everybody. Consume less, save, and invest in the stock market. Nobody tells you how they actually got rich or into the 1%. This book itself I am sure get's a lot of hate from people who don't understand the process or how this book exposes how the rich actually got rich. This book is a MUST read for any individual who wants to become an entrepreneur one day. I would totally recommend this book as well as The Millionaire Fastlane and The Great Rat Race Escape. Read the books in the following order: The Millionaire Fastlane, Unscripted, Wealth Exposed, and The Great Rat Race Escape. To be fair, I normally don't leave reviews much for any products or services that I purchase. This was a must do. This author is genuine and tell's you how it is, the truth can hurt people, but it's what you do with the truth. He also doesn't tell you the same crap that everyone else tells you about how they got rich. Also, wealth isn't just about money it's more than just money itself. Money is just a vehicle that will allow us to go where we want to. If you seek freedom as much as I do, this book is a must purchase.

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.

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

MJ's second book has been one of my most anticipated reads in a long time. As a fan of Millionaire Fastlane, I have raved about it to friends that, having studied self-development for 15+ years, if I had to do over and could only read one book, it would be Millionaire Fastlane. Even with this new release, I still wouldn't change my opinion, since reading Millionaire Fastlane would lead me directly to Unscripted. Unscripted builds on Millionaire Fastlane as a tangible and comprehensive roadmap towards accelerated wealth and the self-actualising lifestyle: It parallels John Galt's 60+ page rant in Atlas Shrugged, and Goldstein's manifesto in 1984, in terms of truth-bombs to deconstruct and analyse the entire facade and mechanism of mainstream society, ultimately providing a convincing answer book/cheat sheet on how to live life properly. The comparison is only approximate, since MJ's material is actually exponentially more valuable, as it directly applies to our current dominant social structure of capitalism: In a less open society, such revelations would be considered forbidden knowledge, reserved for the highest echelons of society - such is the impact of the book's messages. If there's anythings to fault about the book, it would be that some literary devices such as profanity or hashtags fall flat in impact: But for a self-funded book by a millionaire who doesn't need your money, and who dishes out life-changing knowledge because he can - criticism of the book just seems counterproductive for the betterment of oneself and society in general. Whether you are: - An entrepreneur looking for a better roadmap - A wantrepreneur looking for your next fix of inspiration - A self-developer looking for paradigm shifts - Anyone going through a mid-life crisis or quarter-life crisis, struggling with vocational choices or life direction, or senses that something about this life just seems "off" (like a splinter in one's mind, to paraphrase Morpheus from The Matrix) - Anyone who has dreams and passions and an ever-expanding bucket list, and feel that the conventional "work/rest/play" lifestyle wouldn't lead to fulfillment in this lifetime You should read Millionaire Fastlane first for the lingo and premise, then read Unscripted for the extended worldview and step-by-step processes. The only people the book might not be right for are: - Terminally ill patients - Really old people Because such knowledge would be a one-way ticket to #RegretCentral, even though it's unlikely the regretter's fault, since the Fastlane/Unscripted mentality is rarely understood or consciously chosen, and one shouldn't regret what was never an option to them. Still, such individuals can still benefit by spreading the knowledge to their loved ones, and breaking as many Sidewalk and Slowlane cycles as possible, for karma points and nepotistic upward mobility alike. Unscripted and Millionaire Fastlane are the types of book you read, then gift to at least everyone you really care about - because it'll be lonely when you go against the grain, lonely when you struggle to build something of value, and lonely at the top: The journey will be even more rewarding with your loved ones cheering you on, or fighting alongside you. Read it, share it, and act on it.

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.

I really don't know how to describe what it felt for me reading this book. It is like someone giving you the slap on the face to wake up and see the things and the life around us for what they really are. How life can be stolen, just like that .. The book is heavy, also maybe a bit depressing .. but it is so raw, brutally honest, and genius in the way it is written and explained.