#343: How To Fail Your Way To Success With Leila Hormozi CEO of Aquisition.com

We really ended up failing our way into this model. Like it just didn't work. Didn't work, didn't work. Kept trying, kept changing until we found one that just randomly did work on a whim. Basically trying to get out of the business. It was like we struck gold. There was just this hole in the market that nobody was serving. And we went and I think the first six months we did $7 million, and then the second year we did 27 million in revenue and like 18 million in profit. I mean, it was just insane. It was ridiculous. And it was also horrifying because you don't feel like you know what you're doing.

Come on this journey with me each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow.

I'm ready for my close up.

Hi, and welcome back. I'm so glad for you to meet our guest this week. Over the last seven years, Layla Hermozi has started and scaled four eight figure businesses. Four across four different industries. Unheard of. Layla is the active CEO of acquisition.com, a portfolio of companies which currently exceeds 200 million a year in revenue. Layla is known for her expertise in scaling businesses by focusing on the people. She is passionate about mentorship and teaching CEOs how to build a company through praise rather than punishment. That's a novel idea. Building a culture that reinforces employees to work hard and enjoy what they do. Layla, thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks for having me on, Heather. I'm excited.

Okay, let's get into your story because, listen, the reality is this and you know it. People look at you and all that you've achieved and you're so young and you've done it so fast. I hate when people see this for the reason that they'll say, oh, she did it because she's pretty, she did it because she's smart. She. There's something that you have different than, you know, this magic sense sauce. When you and I both know the struggle was real for you. Right. Like you weren't born into some CEO position. I'd love to go back to what that beginning was like for you.

Yeah, I'll kind of give like a really brief of, you know, teenage and then where it kind of more so started. Started. You know, I think that what had a big influence over me growing up was watching my dad and listening to him and him talking about, you know, he was a professor of mechanical engineering and him talking about choosing that path versus choosing an entrepreneurial path that others in his family took. And I think seeing kind of his always wondering what it would have been like to just do something on his own, that sparked the curiosity for me, especially because I was in a town. I grew up in a small town where pretty much everyone. It was like you waitressed in high school, then you got enough money, went to college, you worked your way through college, usually pay for it yourself because it wasn't like a town where a ton of people had a shit ton of money or anything. And then you end up getting a job at you either the hospital, an insurance company in town, or one of the car dealerships, because, you know, Michigan cars. And so that was kind of the path for a lot of people. And, you know, I was like, I just don't feel like I want to do that. It just sounds. It honestly sounded boring to me. And so at a young age, I started listening to, you know, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, a bunch of like, self development speakers at the time, you know, people might not even have heard of them at this point, but they were, you know, kind of who was ringing in my ears. And I want to say I was 17, 18. That is when I was probably at the worst point in my life where, you know, I've been listening to all these people. But at the same time, I still fell prey to some of the things that I think you do when you're young, which is, you know, social pressure, wanting to fit in, wanting to rebel when, you know, you've been in a house where there were strict rules for a decent amount of time. And so when I was between the age of like 17 and close to when I turned 19, uh, I actually got arrested six times. I gained like 50 pounds. So one. It's like I hadn't always been in shape. I don't even think until that point in my life I was in shape. I was not really, you know, I was drinking all the time. I was doing drugs. I was hanging out with people who weren't productive whatsoever. You know, they were just going in the opposite direction of, you know, all the, like, quote, mentors that I had kind of ringing my head. But I was still doing it. And I think I was doing it because I felt like, like, honestly at the time, the voice in my head was just like, none of this really matters. Like, you're young and is any of this going to matter in 10 years? And I think that what ended up snapping me out of that was the sixth time I was arrested. They took me back to My dad's house, which, of course, I don't remember because I was so drunk. And I woke up at my dad's house, and I was like, oh, my God. Like, just the worst feeling of anxiety, like, just sheer panic sets in. And I was like, oh, my God. And then I look and there's, like, an arrest ticket next to my bed. And I was like, oh, my God. So, you know, you have to walk downstairs, right? Like, I'm like, I need water. I need. I have to go. And I'm going to see my dad. And he's sitting on the couch, and I was like, hello? He was like, why don't you get some water or something first? Right? So I do that, and I come back and I sat down, and I was expecting some, like, huge speech from him because, you know, I'd been getting arrested. He knew, but I was living on my own, and, you know, he kind of just didn't talk to me as much. I think my dad just kind of took the route of, like, you know how I feel about this. This is not acceptable, but you're not in my house anymore. And so, like, do you want to up your life? Go with your life? And he sat me down. I just remember, like, in that moment, he looked at me, and he didn't try to punish me. He didn't try to make me feel bad. He just said, I just genuinely want you to know that, like, you can keep doing this, but I honestly think you're going to end up killing yourself. And he said it so matter of factly that I just felt so terrible because I was like, you know, I think at that age, you always have the thought of, like, it's not gonna be me. It's gonna be somebody else, right? Like, I'm just partying and having fun and being irresponsible, right? But in that moment, I was like, oh, my gosh, like, it could be me. Like, I really could do that to myself. And it was so scary to think that, like, I was putting him in that position where he felt that way. And I think I felt immense guilt because my dad has always been such a positive supporter in my life. And I felt like I had really let him down. And to put him in a place where he felt, like, worried that his daughter was going to kill herself. Just, like, by being so irresponsible, I was just like, I can't do this. Like, I don't. I don't want to be this person anymore, you know? And I think up until that point in my life, Like, I'd always aspired for a lot of things, like, thought, like, oh, I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to do this and that. But, like, zero action had been taken, right? Like, I was mediocre in school, mediocre in work. Like, I just got by, I think, because I was likable and nice to people. And I think that was probably what got me as far as I did, is, like, I was always very nice and kind, but I didn't put in the work. And that point was such a. A turning point in my life for me because I realized, like, I can't just float by anymore. I need to make big change in my life. And so that was what really put me on the path, you know, that literal next day, I was like, I need to become a different person. I need to. I can't drink anymore. I need to stop eating like shit. I need to get my ass in the gym. I need to start studying. I need to. Even though I don't believe that, like, college, which I was in college, is going to, like, give me the job I want. I need to be disciplined. And I think that it matters just being disciplined in general, you know, no matter what facet of life. And so I completely changed my environment. I moved out. I had, like, six roommates, you know, so they're smoking, drinking, all. I was like, I gotta live on my own, because at this point, nobody else wants to focus on really being that productive. Like, they're all still partying on weekends. And so I moved out into my own apartment. I started working two jobs. I committed to studying and, you know, trying to at least get good grades on my classes, even if I thought it was irrelevant, just, like, because I wanted to prove a point to myself. I got on an exercise program and got with a trainer and lost £85. And that was really when I turned my life around. And I honestly think that turning my life around at that point, I built the character traits then that have led to so much of the success now. And I remember people saying that, they're like, if you can do this, like, you can do anything. And I do think it's very transferable. Like, the same things that allowed me to lose the weight, allowed me to turn around my grades, allowed me to get better at school, allowed me to just be a better person. They've also led to a lot of success in business.

Oh, my gosh, that's. I just got chills when you were saying that. And I can see that when you see that transformation occur, how that can be applicable to when you started out as an entrepreneur and really getting to that next level. I mean, it makes. It makes so much sense, and it's important for everyone listening. We all have those moments in our life. Maybe it's not that profound. You know, I've never lost £85. We all have our own little moments in time we can look back on and use those as leverage and social proof that now we can do that next thing. So I love that you shared that with us. So you and Alex start out, and I know they were living. You guys were living at your dad's.

House, weren't you, for, like, a period of time? Yeah, we bounced back and forth. We stayed with him a couple times when we were, like, between things.

One of the parts of your story that I just. I love so much. I'm a big believer that you can speak truth into others, and saying one thing can change another person's life. And I just love the story of how you believed in your husband when it seemed like he definitely wasn't believing in himself. If you could share a little bit around how that changed everything.

Well, I'll kind of give you a little context, which is, you know, Alex and I met. I had, at this point, my life had been cleaned up years before, Right. And then I had moved out to California on my own to pursue fitness. I knew that I didn't want to use my degree to get a job in a traditional setting because I remember hearing how much money I would make in the first five years, and I was like, that's not nearly enough. So I was like, let's just take a try at business. And so my idea was like, let me move out to California where it's most competitive, and let me apply at every gym within walking distance. Let me get a job at the gym, work my way up, learn the fitness business, and then take that and decide, do I want to open up a gym? Do I want to try something else? Like, at least get the experience? And so I was more focused on learning rather than earning. And I knew that I was going to sacrifice money in the short term, but I felt like it was worth it. And so moved out there, got a job at a Big box Gym, took those skills, and then took my clients, went to a smaller gym, started learning, really, the business as a whole. Marketing, sales, backend, you know, even, like, technology, making content. All the things I didn't really get to learn at Big Box Gym. And then I started taking online clients. So at that point, I had half my clients Online, and half my money was being made there, and then half my money was from still training clients in person. And I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, because I actually had somebody who wanted to partner with me to do the online thing who was already a successful online business owner. Like, very successful in my mind, right? Making six figures plus a year online, which I was like, that's all I want to do right now. Like, that's the next goal. And I, at the same time, was dating. And it was very hard for me because I was like, after I did that turning point in my life, I was so career focused. I was like, I'd had plenty of boyfriends, and I always just felt like it was a distraction a little bit for me. So I was like, I just want to focus on career. I don't even want to think about dating. Then I kind of realized I was like, okay, I don't even have any friends. Like, I. I don't have any problems.

All I do is work.

Yeah, all I do is work. So I was like, okay, every lunch for 30 minutes, I'm gonna swipe on Bumble. You know, Tinder's gross, and I just get dick fix. So I was like, I'll just go on Bumble, and that's where I'm gonna look. And I liked it because the guys couldn't message you first. You had to message them so no creepers could, like, get through. And I remember seeing Alex's profile, and I was like, amazing. Like, he literally likes all the same stuff as me, like, fitness business. And then, like, you know, had him, like, doing something at the beach. I'm pretty sure he was just shirtless in the water. And I was like, oh, I like all these things, right? And so I messaged him. And what I loved was that he so quickly reached out and basically said, hey, like, let's talk on the phone. And I was like, oh, I love it. I love that he's so straightforward and to the point. And so we ended up actually going on our first date. It was froyo. And I just remember thinking, like, I was just so interested in talking to him, but he had other intentions. He realized my skill set and was very quickly, like, listen, even if this doesn't work between us, like, dating, I would love for you to just work for me. And I was like, what? Like, also, I just told you how, like, I'm thinking about doing my own business. You want me to work for you? He's like, well, you would learn way more. And I Was like. Because he'd had six gyms at the time. I was like, well, you're not wrong, but I don't know how I feel about that. And so I was like, just thought, I don't want you to keep asking me, like, let's just keep dating and see how it goes, right? Which lasted for about like a week. And then he just kept saying it. It was like, he wouldn't stop. He was like, it would be. It would make so much sense. Like, if you can do what I can do, then that means that this business concept I have or idea would be proven, which was basically, he would go. He was able to build his own six gyms by, you know, doing marketing and doing sales and then filling it up. And he was like, you know how to market and sell? Like, if you can do it too, then it proves out this model. So I was like, okay. And then I think it was probably three weeks into dating that I've been talking about it with, like, one of my mentors and one of my, I would say, friends who is also like, semi mentor. They were really ahead of me in their career, and they were both like, I mean, what do you have to lose? I was like, I really, you know, I don't have much to lose. Like, worst case scenario, I could just build my client roster back up. Most of them would come back to me anyway, anyways, and I could just go back and continue and be at this fork in the road again. And so I think it was about three and a half weeks into dating. I said, you know what? It, like, I'll do it with you. And he was like, are you serious? And I was like, yeah. And when I said that, what it meant was like, I'm not just going to, like, do this business with you, but this business is like an on the road business. We would physically go into a gym and sit there and fill it up. And so. And a week later, after making that decision, I flew out to Virginia. And that was the first time that I launched a gym. And it actually went really well. And that was like the start of us working together, which in the beginning, for the first, I want to say, like, few months, it was me really learning what Alex had been doing for his gyms and then continue to kind of like help innovate from there. And I would say that then when we ended up, basically what ended up happening is that we would fly out to these gyms and do these launches. Then we built a team which was like, all my friends from college that I Hired that we would fly out to do all these launches. And then eventually it turned into what is now gym launch, which is, we don't fly out anywhere. We teach people how to do this themselves. And that's when we really became partners in the business, when we made it that model. But along the way, there were so many ups and downs, and there was, you know, a lot of points where I think it was more of an emotional burden on Alex than me, because, though I had quit everything, and I felt like I was in this situation where one, honestly, he was not in a good mood ever. He was very stressed. And so I felt like I was living in this hotel room with this guy who, like, I was. At this point, I'm like, I don't know. Are we. Like, do you feel good about this? Do you not? Like, are you happy? Like, I'm closing 80%. You're closing. Like, things are going well, but at the same time, he has all these gyms back home that he's dealing with. He's got his mom who's sick, he's dealing with. He gets a DUI he's dealing with. Then his partner takes all the money that we just made out his account. I mean, there were so many things that I was one degree removed from. I was incredibly stressed at the time as well, and I think that that's probably something that gets lost. But I didn't show him my stress. I think that I am aware enough to know that when somebody else is very stressed, it's not going to be helpful if the person next to them is also that way. Like, it just compounds, and you just kind of make each other worse. And it's like this escalation of each other's stress. So I was like, okay, the best thing I can do is just try and be, like, just hunker down and just, like, do the best I can to, like, go to crush this launch, make us some money, whatever. And so that's what I did. But unfortunately, there were more times where, you know, I went and crushed this launch after he had gotten money stolen. And then the next thing that happens is the processor shuts us down because the business model that we had was not what he had signed up with. And so they shut us down. They said, we can't give you any of the money that she just made. And that was when he hit probably the lowest point. I think he felt very defeated, which I understood. But in that moment, you know, I think he said to me something to the degree of, like, I'm A sinking ship. Like, I don't feel like you're going to be any better off being with me. And I feel like you should just go be with somebody who's winning. And I just remember thinking to myself, like, what the fuck, man? Like, that was actually what I was thinking was like, no. Like, you are a winner. This is just the short term. Like, shit we have to go through to get there. And I remember I told him, I was like, I would sleep you with you under a bridge if it came to it. And then I painted the picture of what I believed it could be. I said, I know that right now. I feel like we're not the best versions of ourselves because we're under so much stress. I'm like. But I just so. I so believe that if we get through this, we can be one of the best couples that's ever existed together. And I. I don't know why I was able to see that. Honestly, I just felt like we always saw reality the same way. And though we were so stressed and there was so much going on, I just always. We always were able to borrow each other's belief. It's like he really encouraged me in the beginning and really believed in me, and I was able to do the same for him. And I think I just knew. I was like, if we were in a better situation, imagine how powerful we could be together. And I always tried to hold that vision when he was feeling frustrated or feeling down. And I think that we've always done that really well for each other, even since day one is just when the other person's down, you kind of pull them up. I think a lot of the times it's the opposite, where it's like one person's down, they pull that person down. But we've never really allowed that, so I think that's what was able to get us through some of those times. We've just always been able to help. Pull the other one back up.

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How in the world you guys go from that moment to correct me if I'm wrong. It was a year later, you're making a million dollars.

Yeah, I mean, it was pretty crazy and it was a lot of luck. You know, we were essentially flying people out for this model, right? Like saying like, we'll launch your gym for you. And it didn't work fundamentally, because essentially what would happen is they'd see, you know, 23 year old Layla come into their gym, generate $100,000. Layla takes 70,000, gives them 30. Even though they still got 30 and did none of the work, they're like, screw this bitch. Like, I can do this better on my own. And so what happened with a few of the locations is they would call the customers and say, tell Layla you want a refund and then I will give you the same thing for half the price. Right? And we had no contracts, we had no nothing. We had no legal anything. And so they were able to do that. And so that model didn't work. And it was quickly going to make us bankrupt. I mean, I remember we were researching bankruptcy lawyers and we learned everything about bankruptcy because we thought if one more gym does this, then we go under. And it was in that moment that we thought we were going to transition into doing something different. Alex had an idea. He said, you're still training clients online? I was like, yeah. He was like, what if we just. I just build a marketing funnel and you actually make that into a business. And I was like, I'll do whatever I need to do so that we don't go bankrupt. Right? And so we actually quickly pivoted to that. It started working and it started generating like a thousand dollars a day. And so our hypothesis was, if we take then the sales team we had that was at these gyms and put them on this product, we could sell $8,000 a day. And so we said, okay, we have to call up all the gyms that we're about to go launch and tell them, like, we're ending that business, we're doing something else and we just can't come launch your gym. Which there was no harm in doing that because they hadn't paid us anything. We would go launch it for free and split the revenue. And so that day, Alex calls the first gym owner and the guy is like, dude, you have to launch my gym. Alex is like, no, I don't. You didn't pay us anything. So, like, we're not coming out there. And the guy is like, I literally am going to go out of business if you don't help me. And he's looking at me, and we're looking at each other. We're like. And, you know, we have so much empathy because, you know, he was a gym owner. I worked in gyms for, you know, the last whatever, four years. So we're both like, gosh, like, that. It just sounds awful, right? Like, these are our people. And so he's like, I don't know, man. Like, I'll teach you how to do what we were doing, but, like, you have to pay me, and I'm not coming out there to, like, fly into your gym. The guy was like, I don't care. That's fine. That works for me. Like, how much does it cost? And Alex looks at me, and we're like, I don't know, six, $8,000? So he's like, six, $6,000? $6,000? The guy was like, done. Like, here's my credit card. And I was like, oh. And so that was how every single conversation went to call the gym owners to tell them that we weren't gonna be able to come the next month. And so by the end of the day, I think we had made $48,000. And we were like, holy crap. Like, we were just doing this wrong. Like, I think that we still are in this business. It's just not the business that we were doing. You know, we were just doing it in a way that was so much harder. And that first week, Heather, it was insane. The gym owners went in. I remember, like, we. We took all our internal training for our teams and ourselves that we used to teach, like, our sale and marketing team for what we were doing, and we just flipped them into external. And then that first week, in the first, I think it was like, 10 days on average, those gym owners that went through the program made $28,000 extra. And we were like, holy crap. And so then my calendar was linked. Was linked to basically, like, our opt in page. I looked, and my calendar filled up, like, every single day of the week from, like, morning till night. I was like, holy crap, what's going on? Cause I was still taking on, like, most of the sales calls, and Alex is like, oh, my gosh, I don't know. And we started talking. They're like, oh, I've been telling all my friends that are gym owners. Like, they have to do this. And we were like, holy what? And so then that was what really created the company. You know, it's really funny because I think now how I look at creating a company is so different and so much more methodical, but we really ended up failing our way into this model. Like it just didn't work. Didn't work, didn't work. Kept trying, kept changing until we found one that just randomly did work on a whim, basically trying to get out of the business. And then it was like, it was like we struck gold. There was just this hole in the market that nobody was serving. And we went and I think the first six months we did $7 million and then the second year we did 27 million in revenue and like 18 million in profit. I mean it was just insane. It was ridiculous. And it was also horrifying because you don't feel like you know what you're doing.

So it was still scary even though you were succeeding financially.

Oh my gosh. I tell people all the time, I'm like, listen, succeeding and failing both feel scary because it's this unknown and that's really what we're scared of, is the unknown. And I think that even when you're experiencing success, when you don't know what comes next because you've never had success, you're nervous, you're worried that you're going to make the wrong move and you're going to lose everything that you've just created. And so I think that is, it's equally as nerve wracking as failing can feel it just, you know, you're technically going in the right direction but it's very overwhelming, you know, and to go from never having managed people before to having a team of 100 plus people and I'm 24 years old, I mean, that was also very nerve wracking. And I, I didn't know how to handle, I didn't know how to act, I didn't know I was just voraciously reading books, you know, trying to get my hands on anything I could, like constantly consuming. But oh my gosh, I was so stressed the entire time because I didn't want to mess something up. I didn't want to build a place where people didn't want to work. I didn't want to manage people poorly. I didn't want to ever under deliver to customers. I mean there were so many things that like I think I fundamentally, just because of who I am and how I see the world, was afraid of doing wrong. And that led me to the right direction, but it was hard to get there and it was a lot at once. Because you know, I say this is that when you're a bit new business owner, the reason it feels so hard is because there's a few things one you typically make a huge life change that allows you to go into business. So not just are you learning business, but you're dealing with the ramifications of this life change you just made, which is typically emotional and it pays a toll on some people. The second reason is because there's not just one skill that's required to start a successful business. There's often multiple that you are starting at level zero on. You don't need to just understand sales, you also need to understand an offer and you also need to understand marketing in the very beginning and you're at level zero and you need to be at like level five in all three of those. And so there's just so many skill gaps that you're trying to fill whilst also dealing with the emotions of just quitting a job and starting a business.

The way that you just described it sounds so challenging. I've gone through it myself and I, I concur. It is incredibly challenging. Right, so how do you advise people when they're in that suck moment where it is so hard and you aren't qualified for most of it?

I think it's all about support. You know, I think that there's a lot to in the beginning. So I'll give you this. Y Combinator, for example, which is a. You know, they are essentially an accelerator for SaaS startups. They don't even take solo SaaS founders because the rate of failure is so high. Not because they fail, but because they opt out. They choose to fail because it's very hard to do on your own. And so I'm not saying that everyone needs a co founder, but I am saying I do think that the reason that Alex and I have been able to sustain success is because we have each other. We say it to each other literally all the time. I couldn't do this without you, or at least I wouldn't want to. We have each other to lean on for so many things and I just have to do my job. I don't have to think about what Alex is doing. And same for him, he can think about what he's doing, he doesn't think about what I'm doing. So I recommend for all founders, like when we take a company in at acquisition, it's like, okay, if somebody's on their own, we immediately need to get you a very strong supporter. You know, whether that's a number two or it's like an extension of yourself or an ea, like somebody needs to be your supporter. And I think that's very important in the beginning of a business, and it's underestimated. Obviously, in the very, very beginning, when you're taking the leap, it's, do you have friends that support you? Do you have a network that supports you? Do you have. You don't need that many, but you need, like, at least one. Otherwise, I do think it is much more challenging and the rate of failure is much higher when you don't have at least one person rooting for you in your corner.

That's so important in life. Forget about even business. I'm totally, totally with you on that.

Yeah, exactly.

So how do you go from, you've blown up the gym launch business, you got it right finally. You know, you made so many changes and adjustments to it. How do you go from that to having this vision of acquisitions?

You know, we built gym launch, and we built prestige labs within gym launch. And I think that it was probably a few reasons why we wanted to do acquisition.com instead. You know, I was proud of what we built, and I'm still proud of what we built. You know, the company continues to grow, which I think it being able to grow without us is like, what I deem as successful for it. Like, they have a very, very good team. It's a very durable business. Along the way, I think we had a few moments, and I think it's different for Alex and myself. So I'll just speak to my experience, but the business in the very beginning, if you remember, it was really Alex's idea to start Jim Walsh. You know, he was the one who came to me with the idea. And though I am definitely the executor between the two of us, like, our lines are not that hard in the sense of, like, I still very much come up with ideas and like to have a say in the direction and the strategy and very much more. Now I'm quite strategic. So, you know, I think there came a point where I realized, if I were to start over today, is this the business that I would build and say I can commit the next 10 years to? And I thought to myself, probably not. And not because I didn't love the business and the people in it, but because I felt the opportunity was too small for my skill set. You know, I looked at my skill set and how much harder it would be to grow gym launch versus if I were to start something from scratch. And then I thought to myself, well, do I want to continue to be in this industry for the next 10 years? And the answer was no. I felt like I would rather be in an industry that has a larger tam and where I felt like my skill set was better utilized, and I felt like I wasn't able to fully utilize my skill set within Gym Launch. And I really wanted that for myself. And Building Acquisition.com was built with that in mind, which is, where do we have the intersection of. It fits Alex's strengths, Layla's strengths. What Alex likes to do every day, what Layla likes to do every day, what are our natural, like, gifts or talents, you might say, and what does the market want? And that's really what led to coming up with acquisition.com and so I think it really just is, you know, I think a lot of people's first business isn't like their legacy business or isn't the business that they build with the intention of, like, having this big impact on the world. You know, for us, Gym Launch did so much for us. We learned so many lessons. But at the same time, you acquire a lot of information that tells you, like, well, is this the best opportunity for me? And I think a lot of people have sunk cost fallacy, so they'll never change their minds on those things. But, you know, because it is a great business, you know, I think a lot of people think it's silly that we sold it, given how much money it does.

I'm sure people must have been telling you you were crazy.

Yeah, but money doesn't make you happy. And I think both of us know that about ourselves. Of, like, what we do on a daily basis is what fulfills us. And I think both of us wanted to have a larger impact than we were having at the time. Maybe if I had known what I know now and I had the skills that I have now and I've acquired, you know, running acquisition.com I would have been able to, you know, build it in a way that I would just have it as part of the portfolio. I mean, I would be lying if I hadn't thought about that or hadn't told somebody about that, but I didn't. And I don't know if I would have acquired those skills had we not sold it. And so I think that's. That's really what led to acquisition.com and within, like, why acquisition.com why take stake in these businesses and help these people grow? Because in a way, that is a lot harder than having your own business. You know, I know I can grow and run a business. Do I know that Sally, who just applied to be a portfolio company, can. No, I have to bet on her. But what I really, really enjoy and love is learning and development I love. I saw how much it changed me as a person, how much confidence I gained, how much I learned, how many skills I acquired during the time of growing the business. And like, I really want that for other people and I would love to be the person that can help guide them through that. And so acquisition.com allows me to do that. And that's what I really enjoy about it, is there's probably ways that could be more efficient that we could have built the business, but it also would take out some of the pieces that we really just enjoy in life.

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So yet again, it just feels like you're moving into the unknown, not having a clear blueprint, taking a chance when others were telling you maybe this isn't the greatest idea, but saying this is our belief, this is our vision for the future and we're just going to keep going till we figure it out.

Yeah. And you know, I think I've just found that so often in life when everyone's telling you not to do something, it's like I just look at where they're at and I'm like, well are you where I would like to be? And if they're not, then I'm like, okay, well I should just do the opposite of what you're saying.

Exactly.

And it makes sense though, right? And it gets hard because like some people are very successful, but I don't want to be very successful, I want to be extraordinarily successful. So you have to go try and find people or even just say like how would this person who I can't even gain access to think through this decision and you have to really sit down and ask yourself like, do you think that they would encourage you to make this decision you know what I mean? And that was probably the hardest part about making it is just like the people whom, whose frames I would like to think through, I don't have access to talking to. But I think taking on that frame of like, what would this person decide in this moment? You know, based on the stories I've read and the books that they've published and all those things, that's kind of what I, I put that decision through. And so there weren't that many people like in the intermediate that were supportive of it. I think everyone just kind of like, ah, whatever you guys want to do. You know, it seems like it's making a lot of money though. So I don't know if I would sell that because I think it's very hard to quantify what you have to gain, only what you have to lose.

No, that's very, very well said. All right, so now that you are working with all of these Sally's and different people that you don't know if they're going to have the potential. What are some of the common themes that you see people struggling with that you can advise for listeners right now on, on some better decisions or think changes that they can make to help them accelerate revenue and accelerate their business?

The first one is being open minded. I know it sounds like trivial, but we have found that oftentimes people start a business and what gets you from a zero to a million dollars sometimes behooves you from getting to a million to 10 million. But if you believe that you have just like figured everything out, you know, because you're able to get to where you are and you reject help and you don't remain open minded. I, I cannot think of a scenario where I have not seen it bite someone in the ass. There were times in my journey in the beginning, not in the very beginning, but as it, as I continued to have success more and more. You know, early on with gym launch, there were probably moments where I was like, who can help me at this point? You know, but you have to be able to still take, I think that being able to take others perspectives, you know, I think that that's a skill and I think that a lot of early entrepreneurs lack that. They're not able to take perspectives of outside mentors, they're not able to take perspectives of their employees, they're not able to take perspectives of their customers. They take their perspective and they're like, this has worked for me and I will continue to do it. And we just have found that people that are able to take all those perspectives. And those are the people that succeed. You know, I think always remaining open minded, always trying to see through the different lenses of everyone that touches the business. Those people succeed very much so. The second is that I would say in the beginning, when people are first starting out, especially before the business gets to 10 million in revenue, having a very strong operator, typically the founder being that operator, you know, I think that, I would say that probably software is an exception to this because typically they raise money and hire an experienced operator. But bootstrapped businesses, the ones that end up having the longest Runway, we have identified that the founders themselves are really talented operators. Not due to experience, but just due to they have a high threshold for execution. They're not like idea idea people. In fact, they can take strategy and like put it into execution, but they're high executors. And that takes you a lot further than like this. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's like there's a lot of ideas out there and there's a lot of great ideas. Being able to actually execute on those ideas, I think is a much more rare skill set. And so I think that being able to hone in on that in the beginning, a lot of people probably think, oh, I should hire people that can do those things. But I, you know, when I look at our portfolio and the companies that have done the best, the founders are the executors. And what happens is that then at a point they pass that on to somebody else and they don't have to be anymore. And then they learn how to be more strategic and we teach them that. But in the beginning, it's just really tough if you're not, you know, And I would say that the skill that I see, like the crux that I've seen work really well is founders who are highly skilled in marketing data or technology and operations, it's like they have this like trifecta skill set, which is like they can lead and manage people, they can market in a really persuasive way and they can understand systems enough to get proper data to guide their decisions. Those three things together I think make like I always say, I'm like, it's just like, you see that guy and you're like, he's a killer. He's got like the trifecta. And I think all of our founders who have the most success all have that skill set, that skill stack.

I would say that's an impressive skill stack for sure to have. And definitely to your point, you know, with a lot of founders. They are so idea driven, creative, and not the people that can execute. I feel like there are so many people like that out there that it is. I think it's more rare to find ones that can be a visionary and also execute because that's not easy.

It's not. But, you know, I think it's a really common theme. I've also seen amongst my friends that are billionaires, they still have an insanely high level of execution, higher than many people I know. And if you talk to them about what it looked like in the beginning, high levels of execution, you know, maybe it was because they came from a job where they had to have super high levels of activity and execution, or maybe it was just because that was what the work ethic that was instilled in them. But they are machines and those people will find a way no matter what. And so, you know, I'm. There are always exceptions to the rules. That's. This is not. But as a general statement, I have seen those people tend to be more successful than the opposite.

One thing I've heard you talk a lot about on your podcast, specifically, is about the importance of not getting caught up with Shiny object Syndrome. Can you talk to us a little bit about what some of the downfalls are there?

Yeah, I think we tend to in the beginning, like, overestimate our abilities and underestimate circumstances and how they affect our ability to execute. And so in the beginning, simply usually just due to ignorance of knowing what does good really look like. A lot of people think that they've maxed out their current opportunity only because they lack experience, not because of any ill will or like being lazy or nothing like that. They simply don't know what good looks like and they don't know the potential something has. And so because of that, they say, oh, gosh, you know, I've been trying so hard for the last six months and I still can't get this past 2 million revenue. Therefore, I need to start a different business because a different business can for sure get past 2 million in revenue much more easily than this one. And we always tell ourselves, I say it's like special snowflake symptom. We're like, here is why, Layla, my situation is different than this podcast that you made about this tiny object. Right? It's like, here's why I'm the exception. But the reality is we all feel that way. We all feel like we're the exception to the rule because that's how our brains work. And so I think it's Being able to, I would say, give ourselves other options. Right. I think that the best entrepreneurs, like a lot of people would say like I'm patient. I don't think I'm patient. I think that I find other things to do in the meantime. You know, I, I too have ideas, I too have other things I would like to do for acquisition.com I do have ideas for businesses that we could start and I could just find a founder. I'm like go crank this out and like it would be amazing. We could start a nose trip company, we could start a cracks. Like there's so many things that we could do. Right. And I think they would make a lot of money. But I'm like, that would deter me from my long term goals and probably create a lot of friction in the short term. In the super short term it would feel good and probably make a lot of money. But in the medium term, probably negative and the longer term, probably negative. So I think that what I've acquired the skill set of doing is finding something to do in the meantime, which is a lot of entrepreneurs, I think they have this big external goal of like how much money they want to make and what they, what they want their product to look like or how they want to market. Right. But those things take time and they take, at some point, you know, other people are iterating on them and it might take a quarter, two quarters, three quarters a year to get something to progress where you need it to. So the question is, what do you do in the meantime to prevent yourself from like starting a completely different business? And so, you know, I focus on the team and developing them, investing in them. How can I make my team more valuable today than they were yesterday? That's how I think when I wake up every day. I think a lot of people don't see that. I, I really think that I distract myself with focusing on the team so that it allows me to be patient or to be perceived as patient in the long term. Right. Because I have this other thing I'm working on and I think that to be like, oh, don't work on anything, that's not a great option. Like what are we going to do? Meditate all day? You know, I think that most people want something to do, so I think my, my friend Trevor just calls it the skill of doing something else.

It's good. No, it's smart. It's just distracting yourself, being cognizant of it. And like you said that that allows you to appear patient, which I love. Okay, so you brought up team. One of the things that you've talked about in regards to team is the importance of holding people accountable and how to do that. How are you able to hold your team accountable?

I think there's three things that go into accountability. There's setting expectations, measuring the expectations you set and then reinforcing the measurements. And so the way that I see it is set expectations. How might that look? Well, a way of expectations could be a job description. I would say that's a form of an expectation. An expectation could be a core value. That's a company expectation. How might I measure a job description? Well, I might have KPIs that they report to on a weekly basis. So they fill out an end of week report report on their KPIs that are tied in with their job description. And then how do I reinforce that to them? Well, on our one on ones that we have next week, I talk about their KPIs, I ask them about their KPIs. I ask how do you think you're doing with these KPIs? And so when I break down accountability, I just think it's expectations plus measurement times. Reinforcement. Reinforcement which is essentially like providing or strengthening the bond between two things, is the only thing that can make accountability stronger or weaker is how many times it is communicated, whether verbally or otherwise to a person of their results. And I think that's where a lot of people miss on accountability is. You know, they might have a leaderboard for sales but they don't show it. It's not sitting anywhere, it's not within eye distance, right?

That happens so often in so many companies. It's shocking to me, right?

So it's like that board should be everywhere and every time you make a sale you should get rah rah, ding ding, you should hit a bell, you should get a congratulations from the team. It should be on your end of week report. You should have to report on it every day. You should have to say what are in the chat. You should say every rep drop your numbers every morning, right? You're not condemning them or even congratulating them. They have to self report. Therefore they see it themselves, they're reinforcing it for themselves. And so I think that the, the reason that accountability is so weak in so many companies is simply because there's not enough reinforcement mechanisms to keep it top of mind for people. You know, their, their measurements are just not kept top of mind because there's not systems put in place to do so because managers just don't know How. And I think that a lot of, like, the traditional ways of managing and holding people accountable are like, yeah, if they're doing. They're not doing their job. You tell them that they suck. And you better make sure you tell them that they suck before we fire them. It's like, okay, well, are we trying to make people feel bad? Are we trying to make them better? Because if we're trying to make them better, then let's look at putting systems in place where we make it easy for people to see how they're doing. If we want to make them feel bad, then let's tell them that they're doing a bad job.

I love the analogy when I'm leading sales teams is to say, listen, the police, the government is posting speed limits everywhere. You can see the speed. No one's keeping it a secret from you. No one's trying to hide it.

Right.

You can see you're constantly face to face with what speed you're supposed to be going versus what speed you are going. And then there is accountability in regards to if you're going to be speeding, you're going to get it ticket. It's no different in any organization that. Why wouldn't you want people face to face with what the goals are, where they are versus their goals, and, you know, and ultimately where they stand. It does develop such a different culture when you have that level of transparency, too, where people can celebrate one another or offer help or guidance, and it's such a more positive experience for everyone. So I love that you dive into that.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. And I, you know, I think I thought about it a lot, and I've observed it in so many. I think it just comes from ignorance. I think a lot of founders, a lot of them that I know have never even had a job. And so, you know, I think I got the benefit of working at big gyms where, like, those things were posted everywhere. I reported at them every day, middle of the day, end of the day, beginning of the day, when I was doing sales. Right. And so you think of how that applies to other departments and. But a lot of people have just never had that experience. And so what they tell me is they say, well, Layla, they should know that they're not doing a good job. It's so obvious. And I'm like, well, it's obvious to you, but not to them.

Well, for everybody that's listening right now, they need to hear about your podcast. Can you tell us a little bit about your show?

Yeah, my podcast is just called Build. I Just talk about, I would say, like, building teams, building people, building a business. I guess that's why it's called Build. I, like, consider myself to be a builder, and that's where I talk about most of those things, I think. I. I tend to talk more about team than not. I mean, I try to go and talk about other things like business and strategy and starting, but, like, I just. I always end up deferring to team because I just think that's what's allowed most of the success I've had in many ways.

Well, Layla, you are such an inspiration for not only anyone out there looking to innovate and achieve success at a young age, but for women too. So where can everybody follow you on social media?

They can go to Instagram, Layla and Hormozi. YouTube, Layla Hormozi. Twitter, Layla Hormozi. It's just my name for all the handles, so I'm on all the social platforms.

What's coming up next for you?

Well, what's next is that we're working on launching Alex's book. So that's what's top of mind for me, is making sure it goes off really well.

Oh, my gosh. The book launch is never easy. And I am on your email list. You guys are all over it offering. Because, of course, you have the unbelievable offers to get the secret chapters. And yes, we'll put links to that in the show notes below. Layla, thank you so much for making time for us today. And thanks for all the work you're doing to help others.

Thanks, Heather. Have a good one.

Until next week, guys. Keep creating your confidence. I decided to change that dynamic. I couldn't be more excited for what you're gonna hear. Start learning and growing. Inevitably something will happen. No one succeeds alone.

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