28 Ways To Reprogram Your Mind & Become Rich w/ Alex Hormozi EP 1340
31 Oct 2022 · 45 min
Alex Hormozi shares 28 strategies for rewiring your thinking to build wealth. He breaks down the mindset shifts that separate people stuck in poverty from those who accumulate money, offering concrete tactics for changing how you approach financial success.
Chapters
This is like when we talk about these, these perspectives that we have that are false, that we think are true. Like, this is, this is what I thought reality was and it was false. And I've tried to. I couldn't even fathom the goal because literally how I thought I was achieved was wrong. You don't make a billion dollars. You own worth a billion dollars. That's how you become a billionaire.
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I made this tweet that was just like how to stay poor, right? Because I'm a big Charlie Munger guy because everyone's like, I was talking about how to get rich. I was like, let me tell you how to get poor. Like no one's Ever told you how to get poor? I was like, how to stay poor, Right? And so I made a tweet and it, like, blew up. And so then the next day I made another tweet on how to stay poor, and then it blew up again. And then I made another tweet. And so, like, 28 days in a row, I just tweeted another way to stay poor. And it ended up becoming this big thing. And we made a video on YouTube and I just consolidated all 28. And so they're surprisingly simple. And the reason I talk about them in the anti is that Charlie Munger talks about inversion thinking. And so when we try and solve problems, it's actually easier to solve them in reverse. And especially when it comes to, like, making money and things like that. Because we are naturally programmed to look out for threats. And so it's so much easier for us to find problems in things than it is. Like, why is it so much harder to be great than it is to find problems?
Sure.
So easy to find problems. But you can. You can trick your mind into using that naturally ingrained mechanism, but to make you prosper. But you just trick it by saying, I want you to tell me how to stay poor. And you're like, hey, brain, tell me how to destroy my business. And you think about every way that you could destroy your business. And if you really want to add a little juice to it, you say, how could I destroy my business? In as few decisions as possible. And then you reverse those decisions and. And you say, these are the strategic anchors that fuel our business. Right. Like, if I had an email marketing business, like, the first thing I would do is stop sending emails. Right? That's the first thing I would do. The second thing I would do is probably treat my entire team like crap. And if I didn't incentivize them to do things, that would be against the benefit of the business. Right. So it's like you think through those few moves that would have the biggest swing on destroying your business, and those become the anchors for your strategy.
Right?
So from a personal perspective, you can think about the same way in terms of like, rather than saying, like, I want to get rich, how do I get rich? It's like, how do I stay poor and then avoid that and then by default, become rich.
Do the opposite. Yes.
So number one is how to stay poor. Start tomorrow, whatever it is.
That's a good one.
Just start tomorrow, whatever. Even if. Yeah, just wait. Number one. Number two, read books. Do nothing. So just keep reading. Keep consuming. Take no action. It's the best way to just stay poor, Right? Because that one's a good one. Because it makes you feel like you're making progress, but you're still poor because you didn't do anything. Next one. Take advice from poor people on how to get rich.
Right.
Best people to talk to. Right? And all your friends are poor. You should totally listen to them on how to get rich, because they've never achieved it. So you should listen to them. It's a great way to stay poor. They have no idea.
Right, right.
Don't listen. And obviously, with each of these, you can take the equal opposite. And so instead of starting tomorrow, start today. Instead of reading books and doing nothing, read the books and then take immediate action. Instead of taking advice from poor people on how to get rich, take advice from rich people on how to get rich. Number four, how to stay poor. Pick a spouse who makes you feel guilty about working.
Oh, man, that's the worst.
Yeah. Have the number one person who literally influences you more than anyone else make you feel terrible about the thing that's going to help you achieve your goal. That's what you should do. Of course you want to find somebody who supports your goal, who's either in it with you or. Or they're cheering you on from the sidelines. And the real thing is that most people don't even have a cheerleader. Most people have somebody who's at home, doesn't even have the channel turned to the game that they're playing on and is just calling their cell phone the whole time while they're on the game and the game's on the line. They're trying to make this winning pass and trying to get them get out of the game when the game's on the line. That's what most people have. And so, like, people think they have a cheerleader when most people would just benefit from not even having a liability. Just a neutral.
Yes.
Number five. Think the world is fair. Most people will sit there and complain for years about how the world isn't fair rather than accepting the fact the world isn't fair and then making money as a result of that. Right. They just sit there, fail once, quit forever. Great one for staying poor. So you finally get the mojo to actually start fail once again and then just quit. Just do that because that'll help you stay poor. Because the worst thing you could do is try again. Because if you try it again, you might get rich.
Right. Watch out.
Yeah. How to stay poor. Expect the government to save you. Right handouts Bailouts. Yeah, because that's going to get you rich is literally something that doesn't provide money. Handing you money, like you have to provide value to get rich. It's never going to get disproportionately shifted to you. How to stay poor. Value the opinion of others over your own. It's a great one. Right, because all the people around you, especially if you're poor, probably are also poor. And you should value their opinions who don't like the stuff that you're doing that makes them feel bad about themselves. Because when you start working, you stop not drinking, you start going to exercise, start eating healthier, you start listening to podcasts, you start watching YouTube videos. They walk in and you, hey, why don't you watch Netflix? Like, I want to watch this right now. Oh, come on. More of that motivation stuff. Like, yeah, just get people like that in your corner and they will just beat you down until eventually you won't be successful. So that'll just keep you there. It's a good one. Good one to have in your back pocket. How to stay forward. Avoid discomfort. As soon as it gets uncomfortable, just stop. Stop.
Just comfortable all day long.
This is what hard feels like. Ick. Yucky bears. How to sleep. Or make promises. Break promises. Repeat. Yeah, that's it. So just keep making promises and then breaking them over and over. Yeah. And especially to yourself.
Yes.
How to stay poor. Tolerate mediocrity from yourself first and foremost and others.
There you go.
Yeah. I mean, it's the best thing to do is just have a bunch of mediocre people around you and especially yourself. How to stay poor. Blame your circumstances. That's it.
Blame memory.
Put all the power that would normally be in you and give it to something that you have no control over. It's a winner. It's a great combo. This is a good one. How to stay poor. Wait for perfect conditions.
Oh, yes. I mean, because they're coming eventually.
Eventually they're coming. And you know what it also means is that if you wait for perfect conditions, it means that if in the future, after you have started, near perfect condition, if the conditions become imperfect again, it assumes that you'll stop.
Yeah, perfect, right?
It's just like saying, I'll start when I'm not as busy. It's like, does that mean that when you get busy in the end, in the future, you're going to stop for all those people who are trying to start their weight loss journey, by the way, if you want it to be forever, then you have. This is A belief I can give to the audience real quick. If you want it to be forever, then you have to assume that you're going to be busy again in the future. And so if you want to endure, the best time to start is when you're busy. Because then you learn how to do it when you're busy. So that when you're not busy, it's easy. And when you're busy again, you can think, I've already done this before. I know I can get through it because I've done it. I have evidence. Right. So it's one of my favorite ones. How to support. Do what everyone else is doing. It's just such an easy one.
Nothing unique.
No, just do what everyone else is doing. Because, I mean, think about it. If you want to be the top 1%, don't act like the 1%, act like the 99.
Yeah, absolutely.
Right.
I mean, that's the easiest way.
Yeah. Just emulate the people who are also not succeeding. It's just a winning. It's a winning combo. How to stay poor. Avoid working on what matters most. Right. So take action.
Distract yourself sometimes.
Yeah, 100%. Just do busy work. Do things that don't actually add value. Do stuff that it just like gets you, you know, gets your juices flowing, but actually doesn't drive the business because you just love continually editing the same thing over and over again rather than just making the hundred cold calls that you said you were going to do and you haven't done for 10 days straight. Instead of doing that, which you know is going to make you more money. Be afraid of it.
Yeah.
And avoid working on it. Absolutely. There you go.
Perfect.
It's a winning combo. How's it work? Do your best. Not what it takes. So many people, they're like, I did my best. Right. And. And the real talk is like, did you really? And then the second line underneath of that is that oftentimes when we start, our best is beneath what is required. And the sub, sub answer of that is that we just need to be better.
Absolutely.
And so rather than, than, than wanting, you know, like it's the classic, like, don't want it to be easier. You know, want to be better. But it really does come down to that. A lot of people lament the fact that their best was given and it was not enough. And they lament the game rather than lamenting themselves and being like, how do I improve? How to stay poor. Oh, this is a good one. Prioritize looking rich over being rich.
Buy the Gucci bags Buy the fancy cars and just go into debt.
Spend the small amount of excess money you have on looking wealthy rather than increasing your earning capacity. Absolutely. It's just, it's the fastest way because then also then you'll never be able to get out of it.
Yeah.
Right. Because you're stuck in these leases and you don't have excess cash flow to actually invest in the earnings power. So you basically just sit there looking rich and being poor the whole time. And then you also feel like fraud, which is a night. It's just a side note.
Yes.
Yeah, it's a really, it's what I recommend. So. Yeah. Side quest. How to say poor. Be born in a dead end town. Don't move. Yeah, stay there, Stay there.
Stay in the bad environment.
Yeah. It's just, I mean if you're like I want to get in show business and I'm in Cincinnati, it's like, then stay in Cincinnati. Best thing you can do how to stay poor. Say you're going to do something, don't do it. It's just, that's just a winner. That's a timeless classic. How to stay poor. Talk more, do less. Especially if you can talk publicly, you know what I mean? And do nothing as a result of it. It's always that one.
Always say the things you're going to do and this never do them.
Yeah. Because it actually makes you feel better to tell people that you're going to do them because it makes you feel like you're doing them by telling them. But reality hasn't changed at all. But you feel better. And it's a great way to say poor because it just, it satisfies that temporary itch. Right. When you feel bad, you talk about it more and then you feel better.
I'm going to do this.
Yeah. Because then you feel better about it. Once you've talked. How to stay poor. Start something new today, start something new tomorrow.
Repeat every day, start something new 100%.
Start building that bridge and then start building another bridge tomorrow and another bridge and then you look back five years from now and you'll have a whole bunch of half built bridges and no dollars that ever came across. That's great. But the nice thing is it makes you feel like you're making progress because you have all these half built bridges. So I think that's a, it's a good one if you want to say poor because you could stay busy on that one for a long time.
A long time.
Yeah. Because if you focused on something, you might actually follow through and Then you might make money. And so that's not the. That's not the goal of staying poor. So you have to do that. How to stay poor. Believe what other people think of you more than what you think of you.
Right.
Yeah.
Because those opinions are so important, you.
Know, your parents especially, so deep.
Trolls on the Internet.
Oh, absolutely. Everything they say is so read and believe. All the comments.
Read and believe.
That should be another one. I should probably add that to it. How to stay poor. Be replaceable. This is also really for the employees. If you can think of a way that you can do the same thing everyone else can do and do it a little bit worse.
I mean, that's easy. Yeah.
It's a good way to stay poor. How to support. Complain about things you can control and then don't change them.
Yeah. So can I control what I put in my mouth, What I eat?
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Oh, but I don't want to change them.
You could complain about it, though.
Okay, gotcha.
Yeah, There you go. Got it. How to support. Make a mistake. Repeat the mistake every day. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you date a certain kind of person. It's always the same person. Just keep repeating it.
Just do that pattern.
Yeah. You get stuck at a certain point of business because you always get sidetracked and you start some side thing and then both things explode. Do it again. You know what I mean? Like, you hire a terrible manager that has these traits. Hire them again. Right. Looks like the same person. Just repeat it over and over again. It'll just. It'll ensure that you just keep giving.
Them more and more chances.
Yeah. Oh, even better. Right. When they come back, let them back in. How to stay poor. Assume you're always right.
Always right.
Yeah.
Even if I'm wrong, Assume I'm right.
Yeah. And if somebody has advice who's further along than you, don't listen. Yeah. I mean, because you're always right. And what would they know? They've never lived your life. They've never gone through what you're about to go through. The best thing to do is experience every mistake for yourself.
Never have a mentor.
Right. I mean, we could.
That's 29.
Oh, yeah. How to stay poor. Find something that works. Stop doing it. Because the thing is, if you find something that works, the best thing to do. Because, like, if you did it again.
You might build momentum.
Right.
You can't do that.
Right. And then volume starts increasing. You start getting better at it. You got to nip that in the bud. If something works, get distracted and stop Doing it. It's a great one. How to say poor, Hire dumb people. This one is just, I mean, like, nothing destroys a company faster than you trying to destroy it, than having lots of people trying to destroy it at the same time. Because it's just. It's a more efficient way to destroy business than you just because you only have two hands. But, like, if everyone is destroying the building and the company, like, you can do it way faster. Need permission to be rich, right? Wait for somebody to make room for you. Wait for somebody to invite you to a seat at the table. Wait for those podcasts to just invite you. Wait for permission because everybody at the top wants to see you there, too.
Yeah, there you go.
Right, last one. How to stay poor. Focus on your lack of resources rather than your lack of resourcefulness.
Ooh, that's a good one. What's the one that you would add to it that has come to you in the last period of time?
Change my mind when it feels hard. Whenever something feels hard. Change direction.
Do you think affirmations help people make more money or have more belief in themselves to be able to earn potential?
I think if they believe they do, they do. So it's like, you know, I think Admiral McRaven said, you know, he had that clip that went viral that, like, everything starts with, you know, making your bed. Making your bed. Exactly. And if you make making your bed mean I am somebody who follows through with my. With my commitments. If I. If I start with making my bed, then the next thing's going to get easier. And you. Those are the things that you believe as a result of making your bed, then by all means. But making your bed does not make you sell more stuff. Making your bed does not make you make more content. Making your bed does not get you to improve your product. Right. But if you make making your bed mean something else, then sure. But I try to cut as many of those transmutations out and just get to the core as fast as I can.
Just take action.
Right? Yeah. Which is like, how do we wake up and then do the thing? So that's, you know, so to the degree affirmations are important, I think they're important if the person thinks they're important. But I think the thing that affirmations are linked to are the beliefs that we have about ourselves. And so that belief that you have needs to be reshaped into something closer to what reality reflects, which you can either do by the stories we tell ourselves.
Right.
It can be by the evidence that you present yourself, which is something that I obviously cling very hard to, evidently. Or it can be something that probably has been something that you've been told your whole life that you don't even know you believe. Which is my other favorite quote, the one that'll probably be my tombstone, is we question all of our beliefs except for those that we truly believe and those we never think to question. Who's that by Orson Scott Card.
Speaking of the beliefs we were taught as kids, do you think you ever want to have kids?
Right now? No. Eventually, maybe, but at this season, if Layla got pregnant tomorrow, we'd have the kid. You know what I mean? But it's right now, like our baby is acquisition.com and all the stuff we're putting out. And we went to Tony Robbins thing and talked about the six human needs, and both of us were looking at it, and we're like, this is why we haven't had the desire to have kids, because it made sense to us.
It's not all your needs.
It's because all of our needs are being met through the machine. Right. And so one of the things, too, is because Layla works with me. A lot of times entrepreneurs, they're. Tony was talking about this, how his many entrepreneurs don't have this huge desire to have kids. Some of them do, but many of them don't. And so they have kids because their wife wants to have kids because not all of her human needs are being met. Right. And so that's where you get a little bit of, you know, a little bit of friction. That's okay. But for us, since we're both in the business, I mean, Layla's CEO, I'm really just founder, and she definitely does more actual work than I do in terms of running this of the business. So we both get our contribution, all the aspects of human needs from that. And so for now, we're good.
Just playing the game based on what you were taught from your parents around money, based on what you know now, obviously not a parent yet.
What would be three things you would.
Want to instill in your kids or that you wish parents taught their kids.
About money.
About money, to set them.
Up for good beliefs around money so that at least they have a good foundation.
Yeah, I had very good personal finance hygiene that was taught from my parents. So another thing I was given, right? So number one is just spend significantly less than you make. I always did that. I got that just as a gift for coming into the world.
You didn't need more to feel good. You didn't need to buy More things.
That was always disconnected from me. I mean, my dad lived super cheap and I was used to that. He lived far below his earning capacity. So spend less than you make, number one. The second one is. I mean, it's. Remember what we were saying, which is that excess money, like talk about investing, the best investment is in increasing your earning capacity, is that you should be able to take that money and then invest it in a skill that makes you more money over time than it costs you to get it. Number two. Number three is that the fastest way to make more money is to gain access or buy access to communities of people who are making more money. Because there are so many intangibles that come from those communities, masterminds, Facebook groups, whatever you can get access to that you'll learn. So many perspectives that you have that are wrong. Like, it's too hard to quantify one, because there's thousands of micro beliefs. And so it's spend less than you make, take the money that you're now saving and invest it in your earning capacity, and then get around those people who you want to emulate, who are all on the same path as you. Because one of the best ways to become an amazing swimmer is to join a champion swim team. Because you get all, like. Angela Duckworth looked at this inside of Grit, that book, her book. It's like one of the best ways is that you just adopt all of the culture, the beliefs of the group of people who are further ahead. And so those are. Those are the three things that probably the biggest influence.
What's the thing to look out for for people that earn a lot of money if they're not prepared for the money? What is the biggest challenge that might happen to them if they're not emotionally, psychologically, physically prepared for money? Big amounts of money that come into their lives.
I think you have to have a plan for the money. Like, you got to know what you're going to do with it, I think so. There's. There's. So, like if you're having an exit or something like that, right. I think there's two big things. One is if you're actually exiting a business per se, I think you need to have a plan of what you're going to do next. Because the big difference I see between the entrepreneurs who had big exits and are awesome now and are even better, and the ones who haven't is that they had a plan of what they were doing next. So I feel really grateful because I'm happier now than I was even when I had the first business because I knew this is what I wanted to do. And that's part of the reason why I sold it. Because I was more excited about this than my current thing and I couldn't live like that. I was more excited about what I wanted to build.
Wow.
And so I mean, to be fair, the day that I'm more excited about something else in acquisition.com youm're not thinking then you'll move on to it and I'll move on. But I don't because how big this bone is, I think I can keep my vision big enough that I can keep reinventing it. Anyways, so one is having a plan for you next, and then the second is having a plan for the money that you get. And now those might not be necessarily mutually exclusive. Like part of the money you get might be to invest in the next thing you want to do. But I think just having a plan for it rather than just being surprised by it and then trying to figure it out once you have it, because the emotions around getting it also shift your thinking. So it's better, in my opinion, to plan for it before you have the emotional experience. Because we're human, we experience things and that impacts our thinking in a negative way from a logic perspective. So we can make the plan before we become emotional and we can always go back to the plan that we made when we weren't. When we didn't have this the School.
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What happens when we tie our emotions around the money that comes in? Like we're so excited or we're scared of it. What happens when emotions are connected to money in a negative way?
Well, when it goes away. You feel worse about yourself. What's interesting about that question, the reason I was hesitating is because almost every guy that I know who's had a windfall of some kind, some big win, some big cash thing, almost all of them, actually. I haven't had any of them that I've met to this point say they felt any different. And I think it's because you don't have context to process the information because it's so much. Typically, if it's a big windfall, it's so much outside of, like, your realm of understanding size that you get basically no reading. Right.
Neutral.
You're just neutral. Like, no one's happy, no one's sad. They're just like, yeah. And then a whole bunch of money showed up.
Right.
Right. Now what do I do? Right. I guess I'm the same as it was yesterday. Like, you realize that nothing actually changes in your life, which then you get evidence. You get evidence that nothing changed, and you're like, oh, shoot, I guess I have to deal with all these other things anyways, right? Yeah.
And it's getting back to, like, what's my purpose now? What's my vision now?
Once you sell the thing.
Yeah.
But I will say that you get a certain amount of credibility, which is helpful. Right. That means that absolutely does help, especially if that's aligned with what you want to do next. You know, I got so much more credibility for gym launch when we sold than we had when we owned it, even though technically my net worth was higher when I owned it because I hadn't had a tax event as a result of the liquidity. Right. And so technically I was richer before I did the sale, but I got more credibility after. So just kind of interesting.
So you said you want to do a billion, and then to get it to 10 billion. What will you do with the billion? And what will you do with the 10 billion once you have it? What's the plan?
So I won't have it because it'll just be the asset that I own. And so all we're going to do is just keep doubling down on the main thing. I mean, the big epiphany that I had was I had probably three stages of my own development in terms of understanding a billion dollars. Right. Because when I started out, billion dollars was, like, even too hard to even fathom. Right. But then I started thinking, okay, to be a billionaire, I have to make a billion dollars a year. That's what I thought being a billionaire was. That was the first thing that's not true. This is like when we talk about these, these perspectives that we have that are false, that we think are true. Like, this is, this is what I thought reality was, and it was false. And I've tried to. I couldn't even fathom the goal because literally how I thought I was achieved was wrong. You don't make a billion dollars, you own worth a billion dollars. That's how you become a billionaire. So just fundamentally, even the word, the words and the verbs we use to describe the outcome are different. Huh. Interesting. Second phase for me was I have to make a billion, $2 billion over my career, which after taxes are worth a million. A billion dollars. Right. That was my second phase of thinking what a billionaire was. Right. And the third phase, which is my current one, hopefully, maybe I'll have one later. Right. Is that you just have to own assets that other people would pay you a billion dollars for. And so now that I also understand how businesses are valued, et cetera, for a business to be worth a billion dollars, conservatively, you'd probably have to do about $80 million a year in profit in EBITDA. Right. And that would be valued at like 12 and a half times, which is pretty conservative because, I mean, if you.
Look at, depending on the industry you're in.
Yeah. And you look at like The S&P5, you know, companies that are being publicly traded right now, like 20 is fairly normal on the stock market for companies of that size. And so you might be able to do it at 50 million in EBITDA to have a billion dollar valuation. For me, I've set the goal at 100 as my tactical goal. So I need to do 2 million a week in earned income from the assets that we have. And then that conglomeration of assets would be worth at least a billion, probably two, realistically. So that's the path to a billion now, as I understand it. And you can see the evolutions of just even thinking through it. And you're not even making it, you're owning the thing because it's worth that.
Sure, sure, sure. What do you think are the three biggest skills you need to develop personally over the next few years that will help you get there as well, besides the one we already talked about?
Yeah, well, I mean, to consolidate that one, it's. I have to be more comfortable with risk. I am more risk averse, and I think I need to be more willing to go all in than I am. And so I have to be willing. I have to be willing to put more on the line, period.
How much more do you need to put on the line, you think? How uncomfortable do you think you need to be for a few months until you feel like, okay, I'm more comfortable at this baseline now.
Very. Yeah. I mean, I'm super risk averse. Like, I'm so afraid of being poor that I'm so afraid of being poor, I've made all this money. That's how afraid of being poor you can measure how afraid of poor I am. Very. But yeah, so the risk aversion piece is number one, is the thing that probably has to change. That's the biggest one. I mean, that's really the biggest because the other ones are tactical. You know what I mean? It's like, okay, I need to create more unique content around certain subjects that I want to make. I have like some shows and stuff that are coming out. Very excited about. Yeah, very cool. So that, like, that is one of the things, you know, like in terms of talent, it goes back to risk. But Layla was talking to somebody who is dating the former CEO of a massive top 10 company in the US like huge company. And she was saying that he doesn't hire anybody who doesn't make half a million dollars or more minimum. Like, he doesn't even have them around him. And I love that at the company.
Yeah, I mean, like his senior leadership.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it was just, he actually ended up just recently quitting and starting his own startup. And so he ended up flying 50 of the top candidates in from like Harvard and like all these places, doing a full day of interviews with 50 candidates and then picking the 10 that he wanted or the five that he wanted to do his next thing. Right. And all of them are like 500 base with, you know, multiple million dollars that they can make a year. Right. And so for me, my perspective on talent has consistently increased. Now I have some employees that can make a million dollars a year, like right now, but not all of them. Right. And so I just think that from a perspective standpoint, I have to be more comfortable with even higher levels of players on my team.
And so who can execute high level tasks.
Exactly.
That you don't have the time for.
And it's because of risk, you know what I mean? Because whenever you, you know, it's, it's always expensive.
What if they don't?
What if they mess up?
What if they.
It's 100%. Like when you're, when you hire a million dollar employee, you're making a million dollar profit per year. Bet that you're going to make more than that on the talent that they're bringing to the table. Now, all the best investments I've made have been besides in myself have been in other people, you know what I mean? All of them across the board. But I still have that fear, you know what I mean? I have one or two employees that'll cross a million in income. Not all of them. Right.
And then the ones who are generating the most sales and bringing in the most revenue for you.
Yeah, they're the most strategic. I can trust them to lead because they have that skill, which means that I get even more leverage, you know what I mean? Because they can, they can go in, parachute, already know what the problem is, already know what the solution is and do it. Build the team around it and then they can lead it. I don't even. I'm not involved at all. Right. And that's, you know, that's the difference. And so I remember this is, I think it'll be an interesting corollary. But like. Or side note, but like I remember when I hired my, you know, my first $50,000 employees, everybody before that was all minimum wage and I fired my first 50,000 a year.
It was a lot of money.
Whoa. And yeah, and then I got so much out, I was like, this is, this is what I'm talking about. I need somebody like this. Right? Then I hired my first 70,000 year employee and I was like, oh my God, like, that is what I need. I need more people like this. Then I heard my first six figure year employee and it was like, okay, six figures has got to be the new benchmark. And then it was my first $250,000 employee and the most $500,000 a year employee. And then hearing this story about 500 base with, you know, almost unlimited cap on, all of these different roles of everyone being, you know, a million, two million a year plus, it's just another.
Right.
It's funny, it's like I have to, it sounds ridiculous, but like I have to learn these lessons at every level. You know what I mean?
We all do. Yeah, yeah.
And every time I think I've learned and I'm sure there's another one that's like, yeah, don't take anyone who get paid less than 10 million. Like if they're not getting paid less than 10 million, what are we talking about?
Based on the scale, you're. At least people have, you know, 15, 20 years of experience. Probably they've done this before. So it's. Yeah, it's all based on where you're at. You know, some people, when you're starting out, you might need a minimum wage person. You can't afford these things.
Yeah, of course.
But it's based on where you're at, the risk you're willing to invest in.
And there are.
I have friends who've, like, I have a good buddy of mine who went on a four month hiring process to find like a, you know, like a $350,000 lead of his team.
Right.
He hired the recruiter, which is expensive. Then he did three or four months of interview process. This guy was like a former vice president at some big company. That was exactly what he wanted to. And after three months, it didn't work out. And he spent all this money and he gave his big salary and it didn't work out. And so you have to also be aware that not everyone is going to be this, oh, they're outperforming everyone else. And if I could just find more people and pay them all this money. You have to learn the skill of leading. You have to learn the skill of culture, of building, of also managing or having someone else who can do that.
So.
Yes. And it's also a risk.
Yeah. We had a. We had a CTO that we hired for a software company that we ended up selling. We paid, I think 140,000 for the. Just a headhunter. Just for that. Hunter.
Crazy.
Yeah. I mean, you know, it's tech. You know what I mean? Like, to get that kind of talent.
Just to find the talent.
Yeah, just to find the talent. Not even pay him. Just find the talent. And we fired him three days later.
Oh, my gosh.
And that was after three or four months of, like, interviews and vetting all that stuff. And it was just. We, like, just immediately, we're like, this was wrong. Like, all these. It just. It was immediately wrong. And so, like, yeah, like, I've been there.
Like, it sucks and it's not fun.
Yeah.
And I think this is the risk of being an entrepreneur. It's not for everyone. It's not easy at times. Yeah, it can be. You know, that's why a lot of.
People fail at it.
Or they're just like, oh, this is not for me.
Yeah.
And I respect that, too. It is freaking hard, man. Every day you've got to overcome a challenge.
Yeah. You know, one of the things that Layla said yesterday in her talk is she's like, you know, if I had one thing that I would. I would wish it would be, like, left behind for me. So this is me Just stealing Layla's stuff is. I want to normalize. Hard. She's like, a lot of people feel things are hard. They get stressed, and then they have another voice that judges them for the stress. She's like, if we could just change the narrative to, like, it's hard comma, and or comma. Of course it is, comma, it's okay. I expect it to be hard. Why wouldn't it be hard? It would be unreasonable for it to be easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it and then it wouldn't be worthwhile. And so, like, I remember this. This is a two minute story, but I think it'll. It'll. It'll go. It'll drive home. So way back in another life, I was in a fraternity many, many, many, many lives ago.
What school?
Vanderbilt.
Yeah.
And during the pledging process, invariably two weeks in, it was like clockwork. Two weeks in, they were almost the whole pledge class would come together and try and quit. And it happened every year. So I got you. I mean, the first time it happened.
They'Re trying to make you quit.
No, they try and quit the process and say, I don't. You don't want to do this. This is not what we thought it was going to be. This is way too hard. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. Every time. Because it was such a shift in reality of like, parties and fun and whatever. And then you're pledging and you get none of that. At least that's how it was in our school. Like, no drinking. You have to study all the time. You can't talk to girls. Like, it was this whole thing anyways. It was just. The point was to make it. Make them commiserate so they get closer together. That was the whole point of the process anyways. So I remember when I was president, I got to deal with it, right? And so I remember the whole. The whole class was there, you know, the whole pledge class. And I said, hey, guys, who here, when you started, thought this was going to be easy? No one raised their hand. I was like, who here expected it to be hard? And they all raised their hand. And I was like, I want you to pause once you close your eyes. I was like, this is what hard feels like. This is what it feels like. The feeling you have right now is hard. I was like. And that's what you said you expected. I was like, you just didn't know what it felt like. And so I think a lot of people are in the entrepreneurial game and they expect it to be hard. They expect the word, but they don't know the feeling of hard. I'm like, it's okay, it's hard. And you persist and you keep going. And so for me, learning what hard feels like, I think once you learn it, it's like, oh, there you are, my old friend. This is hard. And that's why it's worth it.
Yeah. And I think you get more comfortable with hard, where it doesn't feel hard anymore. You're like, okay, I've done this for five years now. I'm used to this. I'm familiar with it. I learned how to manage my emotions, my feelings around it. I'm becoming a better leader to myself. And so this is more norm. It's not hard.
And as a fun one, the feeling of the heart changes. So it's like when you're, you know, in the beginning, the hard is that you don't know what you're doing. You just feel like an idiot all the time. You're like, I have no idea what I'm doing. Right? And then the feeling is the giving up of control, Right. Once you get into the, you know, 7ish figures, it's like, you have to give up control. You have to. You can't control delivery anymore. You can't control. You can't get on every sales call. Like, you have to give up control. And that's hard.
And trust people, it's different.
But it's hard. It's just different, right? And then as you start making more and more money, then, then, then it gets around. Focus. You can't pursue every opportunity you want. Like, in the beginning you did because you only reported to you, but now you have an entire company that you're, that you're responsible for, and you have to really allocate resources. And you're like, I've got this idea for the show. I can't start it yet. I really want to, but I can't start it yet. And it might not be for. It might not be for a year. And you got to be like, okay with that. And it's a different kind of hard, right? So, like, at every level, like, and if anyone's curious, the one after that is that, like, your character, how you spend your time outside of work starts to come into question, because the level of talent you're able to attract is going to be attracted to who you are as a person and the values that you espouse that you represent, right? And so you're like, well, what I do in my own time shouldn't be anyone Else's problem. Right. It's my own life doesn't work that way. Humans can't separate things like that. They just see you for who you are on the field and off the field.
Right.
And so it's like you have to start changing things. Like if you're somebody who drinks and does a ton of drugs, hey, more power. It's legal. It just might not be what everyone thinks is what they want to admire and emulate.
Right?
Right. And so it's like, it's a different kind of heart. And so one is about being. One's about control, one's about focus, one's about ignorance. Right. And so at each level, the heart changes. But you're like, there you are, my old friend. I was waiting for you to show up again. This is the heart. And being able to identify which thing you need at every level is, that's where the mentors come in. Because they'd be like, this is the next thing that's going to come up here. Want to get distracted? You got to keep doing the thing. Or like, right now, I think you need to quiet this outside stuff in your life because, like, it's a distraction. You're not gonna be able to attract the talent. You need to get to the next level. They're not gonna like that. Right. And then you have to. You have to change. Right? Yes.
Inspiring stuff, man. I want people to follow you.
Thanks, man.
They can go to hermozi.or I guess hermosi on Instagram and also on YouTube. Is that Alexa?
Yeah. Alexi, if they type Alexa anywhere, listen, see it.
But your YouTube has been blowing up. Your Instagram, your TikTok. Also, if you're a business owner and you want to partner with you, go to acquisition.com to learn more about that process. You can apply there. This book is really powerful. A lot of people have gotten this. How many copies have you sold now?
Two hundred and something. Thousand.
A couple hundred thousand. So if you guys want to learn more, this will be an amazing investment for you. I think it's, you know, the digital version is only a few bucks. I think if anyone.
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Great examples.
Again, you do a great job of creating frameworks, which I like. You know, it's like you make it simple for someone like me who can't read but the images, you know, and the framework so I can visualize success.
I had to make them simple for someone like me. That's why it's good.
Big pages, big spacing.
Exactly.
But if you guys want to learn more, make sure you check this out. What is the thing you're most passionate about right now? Is it the content.
In the content world?
Is it the long form YouTube stuff? Is it the Instagram? What's the place we should go follow you? If they're gonna pick one place.
YouTube or podcast? Yeah, those are the two. I mean, podcast has been growing too. Podcast is doing really well.
Audio man.
Yeah, we got number two on entrepreneurship.
I saw that, man.
It's big. I'm trying to be like you, man. I'm trying to be like you.
That's awesome, man. And what's the biggest results you've seen from your podcast and YouTube growth? What's the biggest benefit you've seen?
It's just been, you know, people tagging me on, I mean, like, I don't, I don't. The only thing we quote, advertise, is that, yes, if you're a company doing, you know, 10 million a year or more, ideally, if you're a little below that, we'll look at the deal. But, you know, it just allows me to just talk to more cool business owners. So the more the podcast grows, the more cool, interesting businesses come our way and we get to grow them. And that's like, I don't know if I shared this last time. So we did our stats on, because now we've been doing it for two years. And so the average company that we work with increases their top line by 1.8 times in the first 12 months and triples their profit in the first 12 months. Amazing. In the next 12 months, the average company increases their profit by 4.2. I think it's 4.27 times or 4.75. There's a 4 and a 7 in it.
It's not bad.
Yeah. In the next 24 months, it's like we can almost 5x the profit of the companies the first 24 months. And so that's just the average. So, yeah, it's cool. We love doing it. That's the stuff we live for. I mean, like, I've never been more amped to do what I'm doing. Excited, man.
What do you feel like your future mentor self, when it hits the billion dollar valuation, would say to yourself, now, if you were three years out, five years out, whenever you hit this billion dollar valuation and you could speak to yourself from the future. What would your mentor, future self say to you right now that you need to hear?
Keep having fun. Because I mean it would be like if I had hit that at that point, you'd be like, keep doing it. Like everything you're doing, you got here because you're having a good time. So just don't lose track of that because in three generations everyone's gonna forget that you're alive. No one's gonna remember your name and you're not going to be the greatest all time because if you did your job, someone else would be even better and younger than you. And so like the only point of the game is to play and just, it would just remind me of something that I already know to be true, but it would just be from future me. Hopefully he would just say it perfectly to my heart. I would just become a new person and I would transform and I'd ascend, you know what I mean? And a halo of light. But that's hopefully what happened. Love it man.
Alex, thanks for being here brother. Appreciate it man.
Great stuff. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links and also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most. And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.
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