How They Keep You POOR! (Watch This To Become A MILLIONAIRE In 2025) | Alex Hormozi

1. 0:00 – 3:48

   Time, Money, and Why Skills Beat Low-Leverage Work

   1. AHAlex Hormozi0:00

      For people who are poor, it's because they actually don't see reality for what it is. Because the way they see reality, they see making money to be impossible or incredibly difficult, or it's only for a certain select people, not for them, right? And it's just because they-

   2. LHLewis Howes0:10

      I think you gotta have a dream.

   3. SPSpeaker0:12

      The School of Greatness.

   4. LHLewis Howes0:13

      Really? [laughs]

   5. AHAlex Hormozi0:14

      Yeah.

   6. SPSpeaker0:14

      Please welcome Lewis Howes.

   7. LHLewis Howes0:16

      I feel like a lot of society keeps people kind of trapped in this broke mindset. It's hard to kind of get ahead, right?

   8. AHAlex Hormozi0:22

      Mm-hmm.

   9. LHLewis Howes0:22

      Because of people investing in things when they don't have money, so they're in debt, and they kind of stay in debt.

   10. AHAlex Hormozi0:27

       Mm-hmm.

   11. LHLewis Howes0:29

       What is necessary for people to break the broke mindset that society has kind of trapped people in that keeps them poor?

   12. AHAlex Hormozi0:38

       So I think, um, like, people have two sets of resources, right, that they allocate. So they've got time, they've got money.

   13. LHLewis Howes0:44

       Yeah.

   14. AHAlex Hormozi0:44

       And so if you look at someone's bank statement and you look at their calendar, you know what their life is, and you can also predict where their life is gonna be in X amount of years, right? And so if someone wants to change what their life is going to look like, you have to reallocate where you're investing the resources that you have. And so from a time perspective, people who are poor, in my opinion, spend a lot of time not doing stuff, and that sounds terrible to say, but, like, at the base level, they're distracted, they're procrastinating.

   15. LHLewis Howes1:11

       They're not doing the right stuff.

   16. AHAlex Hormozi1:12

       Right. Well, I was... I would even say not doing anything.

   17. LHLewis Howes1:15

       Just distracting them.

   18. AHAlex Hormozi1:16

       Right.

   19. LHLewis Howes1:16

       Playing video games.

   20. AHAlex Hormozi1:17

       Netflix, et cetera. You know, all that stuff, right?

   21. LHLewis Howes1:19

       Yeah.

   22. AHAlex Hormozi1:19

       So they've got... There's, like, the basis, like, they don't do anything. They're purely distracting themselves from their current state, which is hard because it's hard to confront reality. If you're, like, not happy, it's easier to just distract yourself, right?

   23. LHLewis Howes1:30

       Mm-hmm.

   24. AHAlex Hormozi1:31

       Now, the level above that is you've got people who are operating, they are working every day, but they're operating in low leverage opportunities, right?

   25. LHLewis Howes1:38

       Mm.

   26. AHAlex Hormozi1:38

       So they're, they're doing things that do not give them a lot of return on their time, right? And so it's like I could work... It doesn't matter how many hours I work at McDonald's, like, it's very, very difficult to become wealthy there, right? Just alm- near impossible, right?

   27. LHLewis Howes1:50

       Mm-hmm.

   28. AHAlex Hormozi1:50

       Um, versus, like, you could buy a building for $10 million and then sell it to somebody else for 11, you know, for $11 million, just get the contract and make a million dollars on the exchange. Super high leverage, right? From a time perspective-

   29. LHLewis Howes2:04

       Sure

   30. AHAlex Hormozi2:04

       ... which is crazy for somebody who doesn't have money to even contemplate something like that, but the only way that that happened and that required no money is skill, right? And so, like, that's an example of, like, it didn't require money to make that money. That's skill that's required to do that. And so first is the time, right? People are not doing stuff with the time that they have, or they're doing low leverage activities with the time they have, and then they're not trying to increase their output per unit time, which means investing in their skill set. So, like, one of the easiest ways to gain leverage on your time, and, and when I say leverage, just for everybody, like, leverage is the difference between inputs and outputs in a system. So, um, you know, Archimedes said, "If you give me a lever long enough, I can move the world."
2. 3:48 – 10:47

   Investing in Education, Mentors, and Masterminds

   1. AHAlex Hormozi3:48

      And so I think one of the things that the formal education system did really well that people poo-poo on it is the idea of going into debt to gain education is something that fundamentally makes sense.

   2. LHLewis Howes3:58

      Yes, but it's got to be the right education-

   3. AHAlex Hormozi4:00

      You gotta-

   4. LHLewis Howes4:00

      ... that can make you money.

   5. AHAlex Hormozi4:01

      You gotta get a return on it.

   6. LHLewis Howes4:02

      Yes. [laughs]

   7. AHAlex Hormozi4:02

      That's the, that's the issue, right?

   8. LHLewis Howes4:04

      Yes.

   9. AHAlex Hormozi4:04

      You have to get a return on it, 'cause, like, the idea of borrowing from a future self that can make more money to pay for the thing that you're getting the skill for makes total sense. Um, I think E- Elon was saying something about how Neuralink in the future, it's gonna be such a competitive advantage that they could price it at whatever they want because once you have it, you'll be so much more able than anyone who doesn't have it that you could so easily pay off the price of the thing. That's how it should work conceptually, right?

   10. LHLewis Howes4:27

       Crazy.

   11. AHAlex Hormozi4:27

       That's how education is supposed to work.

   12. LHLewis Howes4:28

       Yes.

   13. AHAlex Hormozi4:29

       And so, um, I like... This is the simplest example that I have. So a friend of mine has a, a 17-year-old daughter. She got a job at a bowling alley, and she makes minimum wage, and he said, "Why don't you become a phlebotomist?" And she was like, "Well, I don't want to spend the money." And he's like, "It's 500 bucks, and it's a two-day certification, and then after you have that, you make $25 an hour." So she didn't have the money. Now, she could save it to get the $500, right? Or she could take a loan for the 500 bucks from her dad-

   14. LHLewis Howes4:55

       And pay it back in a few months

   15. AHAlex Hormozi4:56

       ... and pay it back in a week.

   16. LHLewis Howes4:57

       Right.

   17. AHAlex Hormozi4:57

       Right? Because she has higher earning capacity. And so it was like she could, she could either save for eight weeks, right, from her, her bowling alley to pay the 500, or she could take a loan for the 500, do the two days, and then pay it off in a week. So at that one week, she now has seven more weeks of earning capacity. This is a micro example, right?

   18. LHLewis Howes5:17

       Yes.

   19. AHAlex Hormozi5:17

       Seven weeks of earning capacity at her new level, and she'd be net positive on the next seven weeks of earnings, right? And so that's just a micro example of, like, what skill investing does. Um, and so that... 'Cause I... A lot of us talk about, like, you gotta get educated, you gotta learn stuff, and, like, you learn stuff by doing it, and a lot of times you pay for that education or access to people who can teach you those skills. 'Cause a lot of people aren't gonna give it to you for free, and that makes sense. It's all right.

   20. LHLewis Howes5:38

       Right, right.

   21. AHAlex Hormozi5:38

       Like, it took them time to learn the thing, and they compressed that time to give it to you.

   22. LHLewis Howes5:43

       Mm-hmm.

   23. AHAlex Hormozi5:43

       So, I mean, that's why I'm a hu- like, educa- if there's one thing that's my, like, life's mission, it's education, and so...

   24. LHLewis Howes5:47

       I was telling my coaching students last night, um, on a call that I had with them, that I have multiple coaches that... Someone was asking about mentors. Like, "How do you find mentors? How often do you stay in touch with them?" And I was like, "Listen, when I was broke," whenever it was, 15 years ago, just getting started in this space I was lucky enough that I had a couple local mentors-

   25. AHAlex Hormozi6:07

       Yeah

   26. LHLewis Howes6:07

       ... in Columbus, Ohio-

   27. AHAlex Hormozi6:08

       Yeah

   28. LHLewis Howes6:08

       ... that kind of had pity on me.

   29. AHAlex Hormozi6:10

       [laughs]

   30. LHLewis Howes6:10

       But they saw that I had this hunger-
3. 10:47 – 12:58

   Stacking Skills: The Jay-Z and CFO Examples

   1. AHAlex Hormozi10:47

      And so I have this example where I break down Jay-Z, right? And so if you look at Jay-Z in the beginning, like, he had, you know, he probably had a natural proclivity for rhyming and beat or rhythm, whatever.

   2. LHLewis Howes10:56

      Mm, mm-hmm.

   3. AHAlex Hormozi10:56

      Right? So that was his first, like, kind of skill. He probably practiced that a little bit because he was into it, right? And then he started rapping, right? So that was his first level skill. And then he learned, you know, writing lyrics and psycho, 'cause that's another skill.

   4. LHLewis Howes11:06

      And producing and then-

   5. AHAlex Hormozi11:07

      Right, exactly. Then he learned producing, and then he learned marketing, and then he learned-

   6. LHLewis Howes11:10

      Performing on stages or something else.

   7. AHAlex Hormozi11:11

      Yes. And then he learned how to sign other people to his-

   8. LHLewis Howes11:14

      Mm

   9. AHAlex Hormozi11:14

      ... how to start a label, and then he started a label.

   10. LHLewis Howes11:15

       Mm-hmm.

   11. AHAlex Hormozi11:16

       And so with each of these skills, it wasn't one plus one, it was like one plus one plus one equals 10.

   12. LHLewis Howes11:20

       Mm-hmm.

   13. AHAlex Hormozi11:20

       Right? And so, like, in a, in a formal world, like the world that's not rap, like, if someone's good at math, they can learn accounting or bookkeeping first, right? It's like, okay, that's a level one skill. And then you learn accounting. Okay, now you're making more. And then you learn how insurance works, and you're like, "Oh, okay."

   14. LHLewis Howes11:34

       Mm-hmm.

   15. AHAlex Hormozi11:34

       Now you can start to see this person evolve. And then you learn how tax and tax efficiencies work, and you're like, "Oh." And then you learn how to, how to package and sell businesses and negotiate those deals with, you know, private equity and things like that. All of a sudden, that's a CFO. That's somebody who's making multiple million dollars a year. But it's the same basic few skills-

   16. LHLewis Howes11:51

       Yeah

   17. AHAlex Hormozi11:51

       ... that stack on top of each other and get disproportionate returns on all the prior skills with each new additional skill.

   18. LHLewis Howes11:57

       Yes.

   19. AHAlex Hormozi11:57

       And so the idea is not... Like, people ask the wrong question when they're like, "Which course should I buy? Which program should I do?"

   20. LHLewis Howes12:03

       It's yes.

   21. AHAlex Hormozi12:03

       Do them all.

   22. LHLewis Howes12:04

       It's, yes.

   23. AHAlex Hormozi12:04

       Do them all.

   24. LHLewis Howes12:05

       Yes to all, yeah.

   25. AHAlex Hormozi12:05

       Yeah. You w- like, 'cause each one of them you will learn things.

   26. LHLewis Howes12:08

       Mm-hmm.

   27. AHAlex Hormozi12:08

       And there's gonna be either different ways that someone's teaching, they'll have different communities, they'll have different beliefs. You'll learn from all of them.

   28. LHLewis Howes12:13

       And this is something I think... [sighs] You'll... I hear this sometimes when people say, "Well, I just invested in this program. I, I don't know if I have the time to invest in this next course-

   29. AHAlex Hormozi12:21

       Yeah

   30. LHLewis Howes12:21

       ... or read this book," or whatever it is. And you gotta think of, like, I believe... You know, I'm doing five, six interviews a week where I'm constantly learning.
4. 12:58 – 18:11

   The Three Core Skills: Sell, Build, Lead

   1. LHLewis Howes12:58

      What would you say are the three main skills for someone to want to have the potential of being a six or seven-figure earner?

   2. AHAlex Hormozi13:05

      Yeah.

   3. LHLewis Howes13:05

      Um, that they need to start learning now, so 2023-

   4. AHAlex Hormozi13:10

      Yeah

   5. LHLewis Howes13:10

      ... they have that potential.

   6. AHAlex Hormozi13:11

      Th- in my opinion, there's three main skills in business in general. You gotta learn how to sell, you gotta learn how to build, and you gotta learn how, learn how to lead. So you gotta learn how to get people to give you money for stuff, gotta have the stuff to sell them, and then you gotta have people that work on your side to help deliver on those other two. If you can do those three things, you're unstoppable. And if you do one of those three things, you can make as much... Like, you can still make a ton of money, but if you-

   7. LHLewis Howes13:33

      Yeah

   8. AHAlex Hormozi13:33

      ... if you can do all three, you're unbeatable.

   9. LHLewis Howes13:35

      Mm-hmm. Sell, build, like building a team, building-

   10. AHAlex Hormozi13:38

       Building. So that would be on the lead side. The building is, like, the product and services that you have, so you have to figure out a way to deliver value to somebody.

   11. LHLewis Howes13:44

       To develop a program-

   12. AHAlex Hormozi13:45

       Right

   13. LHLewis Howes13:45

       ... a product, a service that you can package-

   14. AHAlex Hormozi13:47

       Yes

   15. LHLewis Howes13:48

       ... and sell.

   16. AHAlex Hormozi13:48

       And people are like, "Well, how do I do that?" All you have to do... There's... [laughs] This is the perspective thing we were saying earlier. It's like I don't know where the opportunity is, and people who are-

   17. LHLewis Howes13:56

       Mm

   18. AHAlex Hormozi13:56

       ... entrepreneurs see opportunity everywhere. It's like, and my biggest regret in life is that I can't live multiple lives 'cause there's so many things I wanna do. But it's because all you have to do is look for problems. You look for things that people hate. You look for inefficiencies. You just look for things that are nuisances. Like, what are things that people do every day that they hate doing? Like, and a big one, a big misnomer, I think, is that people think they need to have a new thing. You can start a cleaning business and become a billionaire. You can start a lawn care business and become a billionaire. You can start a roofing business and become a billionaire. Like, there's clear problems.

   19. LHLewis Howes14:22

       Mm-hmm.

   20. AHAlex Hormozi14:22

       Like, all you have to do is just do what everyone else is doing, learn how to sell [laughs] , learn how to deliver consistently, and learn how to lead.

   21. LHLewis Howes14:26

       Yes.

   22. AHAlex Hormozi14:27

       If you do those three things, you can do just as well as everyone else and just do it better.

   23. LHLewis Howes14:30

       I was in the elevator this morning, uh, coming here, and I have this, this cat sitter that, uh, used to watch my cats, right? And, um, but he mostly works in a different building that I used to live in. Now I'm in a new building. He was in the new building 'cause he had some other dogs. He's a dog-

   24. AHAlex Hormozi14:47

       Okay. Yeah

   25. LHLewis Howes14:47

       ... he's a dog, like, walker, right?

   26. AHAlex Hormozi14:49

       Yeah.

   27. LHLewis Howes14:49

       But I asked him to watch my cats one time.

   28. AHAlex Hormozi14:51

       [laughs]

   29. LHLewis Howes14:52

       And, um, he, literally for 30 seconds in the elevator, I was like, "Hey, man, good to see you." And, uh, I go, "Dude, how much you making now?" 'Cause I see him hustling.

   30. AHAlex Hormozi15:03

       Yeah.
5. 18:11 – 19:52

   Leadership, Enrollment, and Earned Certainty

   1. LHLewis Howes18:11

      And l- and leading is also selling, in a sense. If you're-

   2. AHAlex Hormozi18:14

      100%. [laughs]

   3. LHLewis Howes18:15

      If you're a leader-

   4. AHAlex Hormozi18:15

      100%

   5. LHLewis Howes18:15

      ... if you're a leader-

   6. AHAlex Hormozi18:16

      Yeah

   7. LHLewis Howes18:16

      ... your energy is an enrolling energy.

   8. AHAlex Hormozi18:19

      Yeah.

   9. LHLewis Howes18:20

      Your way of being, how you show up, how you communicate is selling you-

   10. AHAlex Hormozi18:24

       Yeah

   11. LHLewis Howes18:24

       ... and your vision.

   12. AHAlex Hormozi18:25

       Yeah.

   13. LHLewis Howes18:26

       Uh, you don't need to know how to sell a product and get on stage and say, "Buy my stuff."

   14. AHAlex Hormozi18:30

       Yeah, right.

   15. LHLewis Howes18:30

       But you need to be able to enroll people into a vision-

   16. AHAlex Hormozi18:33

       Totally

   17. LHLewis Howes18:34

       ... that they are in alignment with.

   18. AHAlex Hormozi18:35

       Yeah.

   19. LHLewis Howes18:35

       And I think that is one of the hardest skills, 'cause people don't have the belief in themselves.

   20. AHAlex Hormozi18:39

       Yeah.

   21. LHLewis Howes18:40

       A lot of people don't believe in themselves. They don't love themselves enough to- Be enrolling, in my opinion.

   22. AHAlex Hormozi18:45

       Yeah.

   23. LHLewis Howes18:46

       And, uh, so they discount, and that doubt, people can feel that energy and that doubt.

   24. AHAlex Hormozi18:50

       Yeah. You have to be certain, not confident. You know what I mean?

   25. LHLewis Howes18:53

       Yeah.

   26. AHAlex Hormozi18:53

       I think part... and so it's easy to say what, like, what we just said about the whole leading thing. And, like, as much as everyone's like, "Well, I'll just jump straight to leading."

   27. LHLewis Howes19:01

       Yeah.

   28. AHAlex Hormozi19:01

       I feel like there's some sort of like... and this is me. I could be speaking as, uh, a limiting belief of my own or, so I... you know, disclaimer, right?

   29. LHLewis Howes19:07

       [laughs]

   30. AHAlex Hormozi19:08

       But it is my belief that there's a certain amount of, like, spiritual strength that you gain from having done stuff, right?
6. 19:52 – 25:44

   Daily Habits and the 20-Hour Rule

   1. LHLewis Howes19:52

      What would you say are the most important habits someone can develop for themselves on a daily basis to support their opportunities for earning more?

   2. AHAlex Hormozi20:03

      Most of the impor- most important lessons that I've learned in my life have come from doing and mentors. And so on a day-to-day basis, it's reducing the time between when you wake up and when you begin working, right? A lot of people lollygag and delay and procrastinate and things like that. And if you just think about there's only a certain amount of time in the day.

   3. LHLewis Howes20:24

      Mm-hmm.

   4. AHAlex Hormozi20:24

      I want to increase my output per unit of time as much as possible. A lot of people have these superstitions that they have to do a certain thing or they must do X, Y, and Z, but all you have to do is talk to a single mom who has, like, five kids and-

   5. LHLewis Howes20:34

      No time

   6. AHAlex Hormozi20:34

      ... still start businesses. They're not doing any of that stuff. They're waking up and they're working before their kids are up, and then once their kids go to bed, they work then, too, right? And they're not doing all the lollygag [laughs] stuff that, you know, you see out trending all over social media. It's like they're working. And so, like, the single greatest skill in my opinion is being able to find a s- a place that you can shut out external stimuli and you can focus.

   7. LHLewis Howes20:54

      Yes.

   8. AHAlex Hormozi20:54

      'Cause for me, the single s- like, the single hi- highest ROI habit that I have is that for me, between 5:00 AM and noon, I have nothing on my calendar. It is just work. No meetings, and then all my meetings happen after noon.

   9. LHLewis Howes21:10

      Mm-hmm.

   10. AHAlex Hormozi21:10

       This is for the entrepreneur. Now, if you're, if you're, like, in a job right now, then it's gotta be in the morning before you go to work-

   11. LHLewis Howes21:15

       Mm-hmm

   12. AHAlex Hormozi21:15

       ... and in the evening after you come back from work. But, like, having that dedicated time, and if you're like, "Well, I'm not a morning person," fine, then just work late. Like, that's okay. Like-

   13. LHLewis Howes21:22

       Right

   14. AHAlex Hormozi21:22

       ... I've, I've got billionaire buddies who are like, "Oh, I wake up at 10:00," but they work really late.

   15. LHLewis Howes21:26

       Mm-hmm.

   16. AHAlex Hormozi21:26

       That's their, that's their special time that no one bothers them. It tends to be at the bookends of the day though, just from my experience, because in the middle of the day, you get pestered and it's hard to get into that deep focus, that really, that deep learning that you get when you really pour yourself into something.

   17. LHLewis Howes21:38

       Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think, uh, I think I saw Layla mention this in a video clip where she was like, "I just wake up and I start working."

   18. AHAlex Hormozi21:45

       Yeah.

   19. LHLewis Howes21:45

       She's not spending an hour morning routine or something like that. And I think you gotta figure out who you are.

   20. AHAlex Hormozi21:50

       Totally.

   21. LHLewis Howes21:50

       Like, if you wanna spend an hour or two in the morning and-

   22. AHAlex Hormozi21:53

       Yeah

   23. LHLewis Howes21:53

       ... taking coffee and going for a walk and working out and kind of like-

   24. AHAlex Hormozi21:56

       Yeah

   25. LHLewis Howes21:56

       ... preparing yourself, great. I think for me-

   26. AHAlex Hormozi21:59

       Yeah

   27. LHLewis Howes21:59

       ... there is some importance to at some point in the day setting an intention either for the day or at night for the next day.

   28. AHAlex Hormozi22:06

       Agreed.

   29. LHLewis Howes22:06

       So if you wanna get up and work right away, at night-

   30. AHAlex Hormozi22:09

       Totally
7. 25:44 – 33:11

   Breaking Down the Math to Seven Figures

   1. LHLewis Howes25:44

      Let's talk about, like, the daunting number for a lot of people, which is seven figures.

   2. AHAlex Hormozi25:47

      Okay.

   3. LHLewis Howes25:47

      Which is... It was hard for me to d- to get over the hump mentally and psychologically of, like, how do I go from $5,000 a month-

   4. AHAlex Hormozi25:57

      Yeah

   5. LHLewis Howes25:57

      ... to $10,000? Then 10,000 to 20,000, and then how do you get a business, I'm talking about business owners, how do you get it to six figures and then to the seven-figure mark as a business owner? What... Do we overcomplicate money in our minds if we've been taught stories as kids or been taught beliefs about it? And how do we get over the overcomplication of making seven figures-

   6. AHAlex Hormozi26:22

      Yeah

   7. LHLewis Howes26:22

      ... as entrepreneurs?

   8. AHAlex Hormozi26:24

      I would... I agree with you that I think it gets overcomplicated, and so we just have to boil it down to the, the first principles of the math. Like, what, what math is required to make a million dollars, right? Like, we can either sell, you know, 100 $10,000 things, we can sell 1,000 $1,000 things, we can sell... And by, when I say things, you don't have to price your product at $1,000, you're just lifetime value of a customer has to be $1,000, right? So just how much somebody's gonna spend with you over the period of time that they, they buy from you in general, right? Now, if you sell physical products, that might just be the, the-

   9. LHLewis Howes26:51

      Mm-hmm

   10. AHAlex Hormozi26:51

       ... the lifetime value, but if you sell services like the, the, the dog guy-

   11. LHLewis Howes26:54

       Yeah

   12. AHAlex Hormozi26:55

       ... he probably has people who stay with him for years.

   13. LHLewis Howes26:57

       Yes.

   14. AHAlex Hormozi26:57

       And so he has to add up that total lifetime value as the number, and it's like, "Well, how many of those do I need to sell?" And then you just divide it by, you know, to, to, to back into it. And so once you know the math, right, so the first is, like, what is the math to get to the million? And you have to figure out how many units you're gonna sell. So let's just use something that's, um... Let's use $1,000 'cause it's, it's a-

   15. LHLewis Howes27:14

       Yes

   16. AHAlex Hormozi27:14

       ... it's an easy one. Okay, so-

   17. LHLewis Howes27:15

       So you have 1,000 sales of 1,000 bucks.

   18. AHAlex Hormozi27:17

       Yeah, exactly. So we have to do 1,000 sales. Now, how are we gonna break that down on an annual basis? 'Cause 1,000 sounds like a huge number. Well, it's about three a day, right? Like, okay.

   19. LHLewis Howes27:26

       Mm-hmm.

   20. AHAlex Hormozi27:26

       Well, three a day is all of a sudden a lot more manageable.

   21. LHLewis Howes27:28

       Yeah. [laughs]

   22. AHAlex Hormozi27:29

       And we're like, "Okay, well, what creates a sale?" So at some point, to get s- I'm gonna take one step before for six figures for anybody who's not there. It's like you have to sell, and this is again for business owners and entrepreneurs. If you have a job, then awesome. But, like, [laughs] if you're trying to, trying to make money, it's you have to sell something to someone. That's it. That's all you have to do to get to six figures, to do that. So that's one avatar, one, uh, one medium, one channel, right? One product, one channel. That's all that is. You add the fourth piece, which is consistency, right? That's what gets from six to seven, is that-

   23. LHLewis Howes27:56

       That's hard for people

   24. AHAlex Hormozi27:57

       ... and the consist- Yeah, 100%, because then you can tackle all the emotional or whatever-

   25. LHLewis Howes28:00

       [laughs]

   26. AHAlex Hormozi28:00

       ... it is on why you're not being consistent. But from a math perspective, we just have to break down what are the primary actions that result in the, the output, right? And so if three sales means that I sell one out of three people who want to walk... or one out of two people who come for the, for the dog walking. Okay, well, then I need six appointments a day. Okay, how do I get six appointments a day?

   27. LHLewis Howes28:18

       Mm.

   28. AHAlex Hormozi28:18

       It's like, well, I have six ways that I can get appointments, right? I can get appointments from referrals. I can get appointments from affiliates. So I, I, I make a deal with, um, the local grooming place for dogs-

   29. LHLewis Howes28:28

       Mm-hmm

   30. AHAlex Hormozi28:28

       ... or the local vet for dogs or the-
8. 33:11 – 41:24

   Limiting Beliefs and Changing the Game for the Next Generation

   1. LHLewis Howes33:11

      Why do you think it's so hard for people to overcome their limiting beliefs around money in general?

   2. AHAlex Hormozi33:16

      A lot of people were told things about the world that were not true, and they take them as fact, and so they're making their decision calculus off of something that is not true, and so they're making conclusions off of false data. And that... So that's why they can't see it, because what they're basing their assumptions on is false.

   3. LHLewis Howes33:32

      Mm-hmm.

   4. AHAlex Hormozi33:32

      Right?

   5. LHLewis Howes33:32

      But they've been believing it for so long.

   6. AHAlex Hormozi33:34

      Yeah. So-

   7. LHLewis Howes33:35

      How do they change that belief when it's been baked in their psyche for decades?

   8. AHAlex Hormozi33:39

      Yeah. I think that the way that the biggest beliefs have been broken for me have been one of two ways: reality proves me wrong, or someone tells me a story and gives me evidence from their lives. Like, I remember when I... We went to a mastermind and I... We were just starting out. I was not making a ton of money. Um, and the guy, a guy got up there and he gave his little spiel and he was like, "Yeah, you know, we're making 3 or $400,000 a month. I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm not really sure I like the business," blah, blah, blah. And the guy did not seem smart.

   9. LHLewis Howes34:06

      [laughs] And you're like, "How is he doing this?"

   10. AHAlex Hormozi34:08

       And it's funny you say that because my actual first thought was, "If he can do it, I can do it."

   11. LHLewis Howes34:12

       Right.

   12. AHAlex Hormozi34:12

       And so that was like he threw evidence-

   13. LHLewis Howes34:14

       [laughs]

   14. AHAlex Hormozi34:15

       ... like he reshaped my reality. It was one of the most momentous thing. I remember Layla and I both had the same takeaway, 'cause she was next to me, when we both saw this guy do this. Like, we walked out and we're like, "Dude, if he can..." Like, we both immediately had the same conclusion, like, if he can do it, we can do it. And so I think that that's like, how do you... You either, you either have reality prove you wrong or someone else is that reality for you-

   15. LHLewis Howes34:34

       Mm-hmm

   16. AHAlex Hormozi34:34

       ... when they tell their story about, "Hey, I used to feel the same way. I used to think this thing, and then I will share my story so you don't have to have the scar."

   17. LHLewis Howes34:40

       Yes.

   18. AHAlex Hormozi34:40

       "So you don't have to give up five years of your life to learn this lesson. I'll just give you the story-

   19. LHLewis Howes34:45

       Mm

   20. AHAlex Hormozi34:45

       ... so you don't have to have the scar."

   21. LHLewis Howes34:46

       There's certain things I think we need to learn on our own and fail and, you know, and make mistakes on our own.

   22. AHAlex Hormozi34:51

       [laughs]

   23. LHLewis Howes34:51

       But there's a lot of things we can learn from other people.

   24. AHAlex Hormozi34:53

       Yeah.

   25. LHLewis Howes34:53

       Being the youngest of four kids, I watched, you know, my older siblings fail and succeed in their own ways-

   26. AHAlex Hormozi35:01

       Yeah

   27. LHLewis Howes35:01

       ... as a model and say, "Okay, I don't want to make this m- same mistake."

   28. AHAlex Hormozi35:04

       Yeah.

   29. LHLewis Howes35:04

       I made other stupid mistakes, but I didn't make certain mistakes that they had made and, um, and able to accelerate that time from the pain that I was gonna feel by making the same mistakes.

   30. AHAlex Hormozi35:14

       Yeah.
9. 41:24 – 55:54

   Billionaire Vision and the Cash Flow Comfort Zone

   1. LHLewis Howes41:24

      What is the vision for you now? Because when did we first have you on? I can't remember. It was a few months back.

   2. AHAlex Hormozi41:29

      Yeah.

   3. LHLewis Howes41:29

      And we've hung out for dinner a couple of times.

   4. AHAlex Hormozi41:30

      Yeah, yeah.

   5. LHLewis Howes41:31

      And I've seen you a few times. But there's a, there's been like a transition in you in like three to four months, you know? There's been like an evolution already. I'm hearing you say you're having realizations and recently and...

   6. AHAlex Hormozi41:42

      Yeah.

   7. LHLewis Howes41:42

      And before it seemed harder, right?

   8. AHAlex Hormozi41:45

      Yeah.

   9. LHLewis Howes41:45

      And now it seems like there's something that's unlocked inside of you. So I'm curious, what is the business vision that you have? What's the number you wanna reach?

   10. AHAlex Hormozi41:52

       Yeah.

   11. LHLewis Howes41:53

       And personally, for the business, all these things.

   12. AHAlex Hormozi41:55

       Yeah.

   13. LHLewis Howes41:56

       I know you've talked about being a billionaire.

   14. AHAlex Hormozi41:57

       Yeah.

   15. LHLewis Howes41:57

       It's just gonna take a matter of time.

   16. AHAlex Hormozi41:59

       Yeah.

   17. LHLewis Howes41:59

       When do you think being a billionaire will happen for you?

   18. AHAlex Hormozi42:01

       Um, I'd like to do five to seven for a billion. I'd like to hit 10 in 10. That's, uh, that's what I would like to do. I think that we can do that math-wise, um, based on kind of the in- inflow of deals that we have, how, like the returns that we're getting, um, in general.

   19. LHLewis Howes42:17

       Mm-hmm.

   20. AHAlex Hormozi42:17

       Like I think we can do that. Um, but the thing that like really drives me though is acquisition.com is the wealth machine that is behind Alex and Layla's media, right? And so I, I wouldn't be a very good business educator unless I had proof or evidence that I actually was good at business, right?

   21. LHLewis Howes42:34

       Mm-hmm.

   22. AHAlex Hormozi42:34

       So we obviously could just sit on the laurels of the three exits that we had last year, three exits we had last year, but to me, that's not like... As, as crazy as this will sound, it, it, it's not super impressive. You know what I mean? At least for where I wanna go. Um, and so I want to have a billion or multi-billion dollar thing because I think it would be so cool. Like how cool would it be if we, if, if Jeff Bezos and, and Warren Buffett and Elon Musk and all those guys had documented everything that they learned throughout that path? All we get is these snippets, shareholder letters every once in a while, and it's just like they're so little, and they're gonna die, and then we're gonna lose it.

   23. LHLewis Howes43:04

       Mm.

   24. AHAlex Hormozi43:04

       We're gonna lose all those lessons. And so Part of it that excites me is just calling my shot because I think, um, that always just, like, uh, enlivens a little bit of the competition. But I do believe from a mathematical standpoint we will get there, so it's not... To me, it doesn't feel like a super big [laughs] ... I'm not really putting that part of the fence.

   25. LHLewis Howes43:18

       Sure, sure.

   26. AHAlex Hormozi43:19

       Um, but seeing the hordes, the scores of businesses that are using the stuff in the books, in the courses, and YouTube and podcast and, you know, TikTok and Instagram and, and LinkedIn, and use those, and the message I get every day of like, "Dude, you helped me go from a million to 5 million a year. You helped me go from... You know, quit my job and then start my dog walking business, and now I'm doing, you know, six figures a month." And, like, those stories, I know that I will probably never meet most of them. I will probably never work with the vast majority of them. But the fact that it's happening just amps me up.

   27. LHLewis Howes43:51

       Mm.

   28. AHAlex Hormozi43:51

       Like, it just gets me so lit.

   29. LHLewis Howes43:52

       That's cool.

   30. AHAlex Hormozi43:53

       And so the media has been really cool and new for me, um, but I like it, and so I'm learning it, and so it's just a... It's a new thing that I get to learn, and so I'm really loving that.
10. 55:54 – 1:05:35

    Self-Worth, External Validation, and Achieving Potential

    1. LHLewis Howes55:54

       What would need to shift in, in inside of you after three months of feeling no cashflow come in to stack your bank account in order for you to be okay with it to get to that billion quicker?

    2. AHAlex Hormozi56:05

       I would just have to be more secure, just realistically. Like, I, I use-

    3. LHLewis Howes56:10

       What does that mean? Is that an internal-

    4. AHAlex Hormozi56:11

       I use, I use cashflow, uh, from businesses as evidence to the fact that I'm not a failure.

    5. LHLewis Howes56:16

       Mm.

    6. AHAlex Hormozi56:17

       And so I use... I, I've al- like, it [laughs] it has been easier for me to change my conditions than to change who I am. And so I have used my material success and accolades to quiet the voices of not being good enough. And so for that, like-

    7. LHLewis Howes56:30

       Wow

    8. AHAlex Hormozi56:30

       ... me having that, w- if I have that little voice that peeps up, it's like, "Hey, look at that." And I'm like, "Okay. No, no, I'm, I'm okay. I'm not, I'm not that bad." You know?

    9. LHLewis Howes56:37

       This money just came in every month. You're like, "Check." Yeah, yeah.

    10. AHAlex Hormozi56:40

        Yeah, no, I'm not that bad, right? And so, so I'd have to... I'd really have to reengineer the conversation I have with myself around how I value myself.

    11. LHLewis Howes56:46

        Wow.

    12. AHAlex Hormozi56:46

        Um, 'cause then people are like, "Well, if you, you know, if, if everything disappeared, you know, how would you feel about yourself?" I like to think that I would be uncomfortable and that I would change my views, but I haven't needed to do that yet, and so my Africa is elsewhere. [laughs]

    13. LHLewis Howes56:57

        Right.

    14. AHAlex Hormozi56:58

        But that's what probably would have to happen in order for me to make that change.

    15. LHLewis Howes57:00

        Is it a... What is the thing that is, you're afraid of inside of yourself? Is it a self-worth thing? Is it a, a self-love thing? Is it a belief that you're not good enough or-

    16. AHAlex Hormozi57:10

        Yeah, it'd definitely be a good enough thing. For sure.

    17. LHLewis Howes57:12

        Really?

    18. AHAlex Hormozi57:12

        Yeah. It's just, like, maybe, maybe, maybe I'm, maybe I'm not as good as I think I am. Maybe-

    19. LHLewis Howes57:17

        Mm

    20. AHAlex Hormozi57:17

        ... maybe everything that I've been putting on media, maybe my book, maybe all these things are actually not true and I don't know what I'm talking about, right? 'Cause clearly, I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm not making any money. Like, so these things have been... That's why acquisition.com is the other half. Like, the, the actual businesses of acquisition.com compared to the media of acquisition.com, it is the other half because it's the evidence of the fact that the things that I say are true.

    21. LHLewis Howes57:39

        'Cause those are getting results.

    22. AHAlex Hormozi57:41

        100%.

    23. LHLewis Howes57:41

        And they're growing.

    24. AHAlex Hormozi57:42

        Right.

    25. LHLewis Howes57:42

        Yeah.

    26. AHAlex Hormozi57:42

        And so that way I feel bulletproof when I make, when I make the content, when I make the book, when I write the stuff. Like, you know, there's a zillion people who are like, "You suck. None of this is true," whatever. And for me, it rolls off my back because I have evidence.

    27. LHLewis Howes57:56

        Right.

    28. AHAlex Hormozi57:56

        And I'm like, "No, no, it is true, and here's how." But if I didn't have that, I would probably have to... It's, 'cause I don't know what the right call is there, because if I didn't have the evidence, it would be hard for me to say, "You're wrong," because I don't have any proof that they're wrong.

    29. LHLewis Howes58:10

        Mm. But you have-

    30. AHAlex Hormozi58:11

        It's evidence now
11. 1:05:35 – 1:10:05

    What Makes a Good Cash-Flowing Business

    1. LHLewis Howes1:05:35

       so what do you look for when you're, you're acquiring a business or investing in a business that has cash flow, and what businesses have the best cash flow?

    2. AHAlex Hormozi1:05:43

       So this will be relevant for everybody in the audience, and also hits on what we were talking about with the wealth thing, like wealthy people choose higher leverage opportunities, and we went over what leverage was earlier. Um, the best businesses, especially in an inflationary period, are businesses that have low capital expenses.

    3. LHLewis Howes1:05:57

       Okay.

    4. AHAlex Hormozi1:05:58

       Um, and that's because if you're-

    5. LHLewis Howes1:05:59

       Can you have some examples?

    6. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:00

       Yeah, yeah.

    7. LHLewis Howes1:06:00

       Yeah.

    8. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:00

       So like I'll give you opposite examples to make, and then I'll drive it. So the... something that does have high capital expense, which is what you would not want to get into, would be like stuff that has lots of inventory, stuff that has lots of supply chain, lots of manufacturing, heavy equipment, things where you have to constantly buy more stuff in order to increase capacity, right?

    9. LHLewis Howes1:06:17

       Mm-hmm.

    10. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:18

        A low capital expense business are things like services, right? Services, uh, you know, digital businesses. Uh, software is mixed 'cause sometimes the development team can be considered-

    11. LHLewis Howes1:06:27

        Stuff, yeah

    12. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:27

        ... a capital expense. It really depends on how you build the dev team. But the idea is that if you can produce 10 times more units without phenomenally changing the, the cost basis, then you will have a business that has lower capital expense.

    13. LHLewis Howes1:06:42

        Yes.

    14. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:42

        And so that's what you... like, and most of those types of businesses produce more cash flow, have more pricing power, and so I mean, that's what Warren Buffett invests in, right?

    15. LHLewis Howes1:06:50

        Mm.

    16. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:50

        It's high ca- you know, like, um, insurance, Geico.

    17. LHLewis Howes1:06:54

        Right.

    18. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:54

        There's no capital. It's risk. They're literally assessing risk.

    19. LHLewis Howes1:06:58

        [laughs] Air.

    20. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:58

        It's, it's math.

    21. LHLewis Howes1:06:59

        Yeah.

    22. AHAlex Hormozi1:06:59

        Like the business is math.

    23. LHLewis Howes1:07:00

        Yeah.

    24. AHAlex Hormozi1:07:00

        Like if you really think, it's just math is the entire business of insurance. And what's crazy, just as a side note, is that a great way of figuring out the highest leverage businesses that exist is looking at the business that have been here the longest.

    25. LHLewis Howes1:07:12

        Mm-hmm.

    26. AHAlex Hormozi1:07:12

        Insurance has been here since before world, the world wars.

    27. LHLewis Howes1:07:15

        Right.

    28. AHAlex Hormozi1:07:15

        Bank-

    29. LHLewis Howes1:07:16

        Banking

    30. AHAlex Hormozi1:07:16

        ... the banks have been around forever, right? JP Morgan was around the 1800s.
12. 1:10:05 – 1:18:34

    Is It Easier to Get Wealthy Now? Capitalism and the 100% Death Tax

    1. LHLewis Howes1:10:05

       What, do you think it's gonna be harder or easier to become wealthy and, and start businesses over the next few years with everything that's happened in the last couple years, and where this whole great, you know, 2030 agenda is coming-

    2. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:18

       [laughs] yeah

    3. LHLewis Howes1:10:18

       ... and all these different things are happening, the war and all the, you know.

    4. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:20

       Yeah.

    5. LHLewis Howes1:10:20

       There might be another pandemic, whatever it might be.

    6. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:22

       Yeah.

    7. LHLewis Howes1:10:23

       Do you think it's gonna be easier or harder ma- to make money?

    8. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:25

       I think technology in general makes things easier for most people. I mean, 'cause at the end of the day, it's just, it's, it's increased access-

    9. LHLewis Howes1:10:32

       Mm-hmm

    10. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:32

        ... for more people.

    11. LHLewis Howes1:10:33

        Yeah.

    12. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:33

        And so I think-

    13. LHLewis Howes1:10:33

        To reach more people-

    14. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:34

        Yeah

    15. LHLewis Howes1:10:35

        ... at any moment.

    16. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:36

        Yeah. If I were just to use history as a, as a, as a guide, business has only gotten easier to get into. It's gotten more competitive and easier to get into. And so I think that what happens is just the arena gets bigger. So you got more gladiators-

    17. LHLewis Howes1:10:49

        Mm

    18. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:49

        ... so it's more competitive-

    19. LHLewis Howes1:10:50

        Right

    20. AHAlex Hormozi1:10:50

        ... but more people can walk in. And so I think, but it, but for the world in general, the more people you have fighting to make amazing products and services, the better it is for society.

    21. LHLewis Howes1:11:00

        Yeah.

    22. AHAlex Hormozi1:11:00

        But the downstream effect of that is that in a capitalist system, it is a winner take all for most, for, for many, not all, but for many businesses. And just by the nature of it, that does create social disarray.

    23. LHLewis Howes1:11:13

        Mm-hmm.

    24. AHAlex Hormozi1:11:13

        And it's just, but the thing is, is like it's still the best system that we have. We don't have a perfect system, 'cause the other, other systems remove incentive, and humans-

    25. LHLewis Howes1:11:20

        Right

    26. AHAlex Hormozi1:11:20

        ... are driven by incentive.

    27. LHLewis Howes1:11:21

        Yeah.

    28. AHAlex Hormozi1:11:21

        Even the survivorship bias, like every MLM in the world exists off the fact that there's that one guy who makes-

    29. LHLewis Howes1:11:26

        Yeah [laughs]

    30. AHAlex Hormozi1:11:26

        ... $500,000 a month selling shake mix, and the other 5 million shake mix producers are like, "Someday-"
13. 1:18:34 – 1:30:27

    Selling a Company: The Exit, Lost Purpose, and Delayed Gratification

    1. LHLewis Howes1:18:34

       And you just had a big exit, right?

    2. AHAlex Hormozi1:18:35

       Yeah.

    3. LHLewis Howes1:18:35

       Last year. What was that for? How much?

    4. AHAlex Hormozi1:18:37

       It was, it was 46 point something.

    5. LHLewis Howes1:18:38

       46 million.

    6. AHAlex Hormozi1:18:39

       Yeah.

    7. LHLewis Howes1:18:39

       So when that enters your account-

    8. AHAlex Hormozi1:18:41

       Yeah

    9. LHLewis Howes1:18:41

       ... what did you expect would happen? What did happen, and what can you teach other people about what they should expect to happen when they have a big exit?

    10. AHAlex Hormozi1:18:51

        [laughs] So I will say that I, I did not feel the money. I did feel the loss of cash flow because I had this, you know-

    11. LHLewis Howes1:18:58

        Interesting

    12. AHAlex Hormozi1:18:58

        ... I had measured myself off cash flow for since-

    13. LHLewis Howes1:19:01

        Now you don't have any.

    14. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:02

        Right.

    15. LHLewis Howes1:19:02

        You got a big chunk-

    16. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:03

        Yes

    17. LHLewis Howes1:19:03

        ... but then no money coming in every month.

    18. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:05

        So I actually felt-

    19. LHLewis Howes1:19:06

        Interesting

    20. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:06

        ... and I probably still, still feel-

    21. LHLewis Howes1:19:08

        [laughs]

    22. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:09

        ... horror now than I did before the exit-

    23. LHLewis Howes1:19:12

        That's interesting

    24. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:13

        ... because the cash flow is going down. Now, I, I know that acquisition.com is gonna be, I think, significantly bigger than-

    25. LHLewis Howes1:19:19

        Sure

    26. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:19

        ... than those companies were. Um, but in the interim, I definitely did not feel any better after that. Um, I am happy that I did it because I do think I'm in the right, you know, vehicle doing what we're doing now, making the books, making the, the YouTube channels, the, the Twitters, the-

    27. LHLewis Howes1:19:34

        Yeah, yeah

    28. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:34

        ... the social medias, all of them. But the cash flow is what I felt. And because I'd taken dividends my whole life, the amount of money that we got out was pretty much about what we already had anyways.

    29. LHLewis Howes1:19:45

        Right.

    30. AHAlex Hormozi1:19:45

        So it was not life-changing in any way. Um, it didn't change how I lived at all. Um, like not at all. We didn't, we didn't have any big, like, "What are you gonna buy?" I was like, "Well, I could, you know-

Episode duration: 1:30:28