I'm Marcus Garrison. I write practical books and field notes for people who want to understand what they own.
Most personal finance writing falls into one of two buckets: it either assumes you already speak the language, or it talks down to you. I try to do neither. My job is to take the things I had to learn the slow, expensive way and translate them into something a smart adult who didn't major in finance can actually use.
I write across five tracks: the foundations of a real financial life, the specific architecture that self-employed workers need to build what employment used to provide automatically, the active strategies that grow what you've built, the AI-powered income playbook for solo professionals who want to turn their expertise into a six-figure business, and the frontier of money itself—crypto, stablecoins, and where the next decade of monetary plumbing is most likely to bend.
No advice here is personalized—everything is general education. But it's the kind of general education that's hard to get without paying someone $400 an hour to deliver in a soft voice.
Every term is defined on first use. Every concept gets a real-world example. The books are written for smart adults who didn't major in finance — not for people who already know the answers.
The books don't ask you to be more disciplined. They show you how to set up automations that run without you. A direct deposit to your index fund doesn't need willpower. The best financial plans work even when you're not paying attention.
Index funds, tax-advantaged accounts, a written budget, an emergency fund — these don't make for exciting headlines. They do make for compounding, durable wealth. The books give you the unsexy strategies that produce 90% of the result.
Most personal finance books were written for people with a paycheck, a 401(k) enrollment form, and an employer splitting their FICA taxes. If you work for yourself, that advice has a footnote problem. Finance for Freelancers treats the self-employed financial architecture as the primary case, not an afterthought.
Million-Dollar Bitcoin isn't a pitch for crypto. Learn, Trade, Profit isn't a get-rich-quick trading manual. Each book takes hard questions seriously, gives both sides a fair hearing, and leaves you with a framework for making your own call.
AI has changed the economics of expertise delivery in a way that creates a genuine, time-limited opportunity for solo operators. Make $150K with AI doesn't sell a fantasy. It documents a structural shift and gives you the specific plan to act on it before the early-majority window closes.
No. Every book on this site is general financial education. Nothing here is personalized advice for your specific situation, income, or goals. For that, hire a fee-only fiduciary advisor who knows your full picture.
Start with Grown-Up Money. It covers emergency funds, budgeting, debt strategy, and investing basics — the foundation before any of the more active or specialized material. If you'd prefer to test the writing first, the free guides and Growing Your Wealth track on the blog are a good preview.
Each book stands alone — you don't need to read them in sequence to get full value from any one of them. That said, they're written to build on each other. The recommended order: Grown-Up Money first for the universal foundation; Finance for Freelancers next if you're self-employed; Make $150K with AI if you want to build a six-figure solo business using AI tools; Learn, Trade, Profit once your foundation is set and you want to put capital to work; Money Moves in Your 40s when the decade-specific planning tools become relevant; and Million-Dollar Bitcoin when you're ready to think about the frontier.
Finance for Freelancers is for anyone who earns self-employment income — full-time freelancers, independent consultants, sole proprietors, side-business owners, and anyone with a Schedule C. If you're paying self-employment tax, operating without an employer-sponsored retirement plan, or managing variable income without a payroll department, the book was written for your situation. You don't need to be a full-time freelancer for the tax strategy, Solo 401(k) mechanics, and income smoothing system to apply.
All six are available as paperbacks on Amazon and as eBooks on Gumroad. Links for both formats are on each book's individual page and in the Books section. Each book also has a free first-chapter PDF preview you can download before buying. Audiobook editions are on the roadmap but not yet available.
No technical background required. Make $150K with AI is written for professionals with 5–15 years of domain expertise who want to build a solo service business — not for developers or engineers. The tools covered (Make.com, Claude, Perplexity, and a few others) are no-code or low-code platforms designed for business operators. What the book requires is professional knowledge of something businesses need: marketing, operations, finance, HR, consulting, content, or any specialized field where you've spent years building real expertise. AI amplifies that expertise. It doesn't replace it, and it doesn't require you to write a line of code.
The five models each reach $150,000 through different mechanics and suit different skill sets. The AI automation agency builds no-code workflows for small businesses and earns monthly retainers for maintaining them — best for operators who are process-oriented and enjoy solving systems problems. The AI content agency produces blog posts, newsletters, and social content for 4–8 retainer clients — best for writers, marketers, and communicators. The AI consulting practice monetizes deep domain expertise through project engagements and retainers — the fastest path to the first paid client for most professionals. The productized AI service delivers one fixed-scope deliverable at a fixed price, over and over — best for operators who want clean scope, predictable revenue, and high margins. The digital products model packages expertise into courses, templates, and guides that sell without your direct time — best layered on top of an existing practice. The book covers all five in full, including the revenue math, the required toolkit, and how to land the first three clients for each.
No. The book is explicit about this from the first chapter: it's about building a real service business with real clients, real deliverables, and real recurring revenue — not a passive income system or an arbitrage scheme. The $150,000 target is based on documented performance from solo operators who built service businesses the book describes. AI is positioned as operational infrastructure that lets one skilled person deliver at the scale of a small team, not as a magic shortcut that replaces judgment and expertise. If you're looking for a "make money while you sleep from day one" promise, this isn't that book.
Short quotes with attribution are welcome. For anything more substantial — a classroom, a coaching program, a corporate workshop — email MGarrison.books@gmail.com and we'll work something out.
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