Steven Bartlett - Alex Hormozi

1) Alex Hormozi shares his journey as an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He talks about how his wife changed his life by believing in him when everything was crumbling around him. He also discusses his mission to make business accessible for everyone, from entrepreneurs at all stages to those who want to start a business, by providing free and accessible resources. Hormozi explains that he aims to produce relevant, fresh, and cutting-edge content from his experience and portfolio companies. He wants to provide more value to a company before they've spoken to him, even though they plan on buying in. Finally, he talks about how his immigrant parents influenced his life and context.

2) Alex Hormozi talks about his childhood and upbringing. His father was from Iran, and his mother was French, and they met while studying medicine in Europe. Alex was raised primarily by his father, as his mother had many demons and constant struggles, which led to their separation. He was an only child and worked hard in school, trying to gain his father's approval. He got a job in a defense contracting company, which he found unfulfilling and resulted in him experiencing suicidal ideation. He eventually decided to leave the job, move to California, and start a gymbusiness, much to his father's disappointment. He reflects on how he felt like he needed to let his father's dreams for him die for his own life to live.

3) Alex shares his struggles with his father's expectations for him to become a doctor and how he had to break away from that path to pursue a career in business. Despite becoming successful, he still did not receive support from his father, leading to an eventual confrontation. However, Alex recognizes that his father did the best that he could with there sources he had and acknowledges that his struggles have toughened him up and helped him in his career. He reflects on the quote that “everyone you encounter would be doing the exact same thing as you if they were in your shoes”.

4) Alex discusses the importance of empathy and understanding towards those who wrong us. He emphasizes that it's easier to comprehend someone's actions once we put ourselves in their shoes and consider their genetic makeup. Alex also talks about how resentment stems from a lack of understanding, and how, with time and understanding, he personally transformed into a friendlier, better leader, which he credits to his wife, who believed in him and brought out the best in him. He cites a personal experience when he lost everything due to a big misunderstanding with a business associate, but his wife's unwavering support kept him going.

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5) Alex recounts a difficult time in his career when he faced negative transactions caused by a flawed business model of keeping the money upfront before delivery. This led to 150,000 in refunds that he had to cover without any clear plan. With the support of his partner Layla, he pivoted to create the "Queen Transformation" program, an online weight-loss course. Within just 14 days, they were able to generate a thousand dollars a day with a margin of 100%, quickly progressing to eight thousand dollars a day, providing the roadmap for their next step to build licensing packages to train the gyms to improve their sales cycle. Within a day, they sold licensing packages worth 60,000 dollars, marking a turning point in their business.

6) Alex talks about how he turned around struggling gyms and started Gym Launch, which became a multimillion-dollar business. Eventually, they expanded the business by licensing their model to thousands of gym owners and creating a software company that helps gyms get more leads. They then sold all three companies for a total of $46.2 million and started Acquisition.com, where they buy minority stakes in companies and help them grow. Alex credits his success to his wife Layla, who believed in him and supported him throughout the business's ups and downs.

7) Alex discusses his approach to simplifying complex concepts and terms in business to help people better understand them. He believes that many people struggle because they don't have a clear understanding of terms that are commonly used in business, such as "value," and therefore can't solve problems effectively. He also discusses the importance of innovation and why he believes that asking "why" is crucial in entrepreneurship. Alex outlines the key characteristics that an entrepreneur should possess to be successful, including the ability to influence people, sales skills, impulse control, and a clear understanding of inputs and outputs.

8) Alex advises to learn a skill, you need as much exposure as you can to repeat the action and then have quick feedback loops so that you can learn from your mistakes. He notes that delaying the period of life spent learning a skill will only make it more difficult as it will require more time and patience. Alex recommends that to get better faster, you should work longer hours and shadow your mentor, especially in the early days of learning a new skill. Alex also discusses how negative motivation is often poo-pooed, but using emotions like anger and sadness can be beneficial inachieving your goals.

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9) Alex discusses how pain is a stronger motivator than pleasure when starting out in a new venture. He asserts that if someone doesn't have enough pain in their current situation, they should agitate it for themselves, as pain motivates significantly faster than pleasure. Hormozi also shares that one must be willing to risk letting go of others' dreams for their life to pursue their own. In his experience, this was the hardest decision he ever made. While money does not motivate Hormozi, he is driven by playing the game and beating his father, which drove him to aim for financial freedom and accumulate millions.

10) Hormozi believes that death is not something to be feared, and that being "good with it" means feeling a sense of relief and freedom, as well as having a greater motivation to take big shots in life. He also addresses the controversial topic of working hard and the toxicity that comes with it, stating that he works all the time and only takes a break whenhis output decreases.

11) Alex discusses how people often cast their expectations of life on to others, and how he believes that people should do what they want to do instead of following the "shoulds" that society often tells people to do. Hormoziexplains that he works because he enjoys it and that his measurement of work is based on his happiness and fulfillment. He talks about getting into an argument with his stepmother, who told him that she would never want his life because it's unbalanced, but he countered that his life is perfectly balanced becausehe enjoys all aspects of it.

12) Alex explains the concept of making offers and how it became a core concept in his businesses. According to him, an offer defines the terms of exchange, and one should make people an offer that they would feel stupid saying no to. He believes that defining value is key in making an offer, and it involves four variables, including the overall dream outcome of the customer and the perceived likelihood of achievement. By enhancing these variables, an offer can become more valuable regardless of the price. Hormozi emphasizes the importance of expectation setting and being truthful and transparent about the company's values and culture to lead a team successfully.

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13) Alex discusses the different elements that go into making a successful offer in a business, such as perceived likelihood of success, risk, time delay, speed, effort, sacrifice, ease, scarcity, and urgency. By understanding and maximizing these variables, businesses can provide more value to their customers, ultimately increasing their prices and generating more revenue. Hormozi shares an example of how he utilized these elements to 10x the prices of a PR company he invested in, by targeting a specific niche and speaking directly to their needs.

14) Alex also discusses how it's challenging to determine where one is in their entrepreneurial journey, and every entrepreneur feels like they're just getting started, even in their 70s. Lastly, he gives advice on becoming a millionaire, which depends on the path one wants to take, either by staying within a company and growing with it or starting a business that utilizes one's core skill.

15) Alex discusses the concept of talent stacking and how it can lead to business success. He believes that by stacking different skills on top of one another, entrepreneurs can create more value in their businesses. Each skill added to a person’s “skill toolbox” makes the rest of their skills more valuable. Hormozi encourages self-awareness to determine where a person is in their skill stacking adventure and to learn from each skill along the way. He also shares the example of Jay-Z, who stacked his skills such as rhythm, rap, promotion, and making a label on top of each other to become a successful artist and entrepreneur.

16) Alex shares a story of a man who taught his son a valuable lesson about value and shows that it's not about who you are, but rather the people who value you the most. He mentions that understanding where to sell is a skill, and knowing where to go where the whales are is important because it takes the same amount of work, and a lot of it is just belief. Alex then shares that lifting curtains and learning about macro games contribute to changing the games you play from a value money perspective. Finally, he talks about leveraging, defining it as the difference between what you put inand what you get out and encourages people to find more leverage opportunities in order to get more for what they put in.

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17) Alex shares the story of how he and his now-wife went through a challenging time in their relationship and how they came out stronger as a result. He talks about how they both cherish those tough times as it allowed them to build shared spiritual strength and solidified their trust and commitment to each other. Additionally, he talks about the benefits of vulnerability and how it can create a sense of connection between people, as exemplified by the conversation cards he is releasing.