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My First MillionAlex Hormozi’s Plan To Grow Acquisition.com To $1 Billion (#462)
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EVERY SPOKEN WORD
95 min read · 18,898 words- 0:00 – 4:14
Intro
- AHAlex Hormozi
Like everybody here, we can all consume whatever we want. So we can fly on whatever planes we w- like, you know, you can fly private, you can stay in the nicest hotels, get the nicest Airbnbs, go out to dinner every single night of the week at the five-star restaurant, at the Michelin Star, and you can do that for the rest of your life. Like, you- your personal needs as a human being are satisfied. But I can't buy that skyscraper right there, and I can't buy this huge company. And so what happens is like the things that you wanna buy change, and so you create a new deficit for the amount of wealth that you want. Again, this is just assuming you like the game, and so like I like the game and so I just wanna keep playing it. [upbeat music]
- SPShaan Puri
Where should we, where should we start? 'Cause you do a lot of these interviews. What, uh, what's the fun version of this for you? Because I feel like if somebody actually wants to know an answer to something, it's been published. You got a book, you got a Twitter, you got, you got 1,000 YouTube videos. Like, if you're motivated, you can go find the answer. Like, I tweeted out, "Yo, Alex is coming on the pod today. What would you like to know?" They're like, "I'd like to know his thoughts on offers, making a cheaper offer." Like, that's literally his book. It... And I think the book is, like, free or 99 cents. So, like, that's just a lazy, lazy question at this point. Um, but I know whenever I do interviews, there's some version of the conversations that are more fun or I'm like, yeah, when, when we talk about that stuff, it's more interesting to me and that kinda lights me up in a different way. What, what is that for you?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Well, I'll say there's two things that I've been, um, probably focused a lot on. One is, uh, obviously acquisition.com, and so, like, what we're doing and, and, um, kinda clarifying the mission between, well, all the stuff that we're actually doing every day. Um, and then the other side of it is just that the leads book is coming out. And so it's tough 'cause I, I'm sure you guys have had stuff that you've worked on and, uh, it's like been on its way coming out, and all of your energy is going into writing it, or building it, or recording stuff about it, and then you can't talk about it because I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna talk about it all the time until it's, like, ready to, to go off. And so the six weeks beforehand is when it's like, we have all this pre-recorded stuff. I've got, like, full courses. Like, I've got all this shit that's gonna, that's gonna drop, um, when the next book comes out. But I haven't talked about anything leads related for like two years because I've known, because I've been working on it for two years, uh, for the next launch. So those are the two things, um, that are, like, top of mind for me, like what we're doing on the Mozi Media side and acquisition.com, and then, and then the, the leads stuff.
- SPShaan Puri
What's the split between those two? So you got media, you got acquisitions.com. Give me the time split. So given, on a given month, you know, what percent, if it's a pie chart, what are you spending on the, on the content versus acquisitions?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
And then also on the money side, like, uh, are you making more off the media, or are you making more off acquisitions? What's the s- what's the relative difference between the two?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah, we, we lose money on media. Um, so no, we, we don't make money. I think, I think between, like, AdSense, and if you consider book sales a part of that, um, but I give the book away for 99 cents. Actually, Amazon updated it 'cause we reuploaded it with, like, some fix its, and they wouldn't let us go b- below $1.99, which now makes all the times I said 99 cents, like, people will be like, "He's trying to get us."
- SPShaan Puri
Right.
- AHAlex Hormozi
It sucks. Anyways. Um, but no, I think the book does, um, the book does about a million bucks a year in profit in terms of, like, what it, what it makes. Um, and then, and then AdSense is probably like 500 grand a year. So it's like one and a half million. And that, that, that barely covers the media team. Uh, and so that's why I-
- SPShaan Puri
How big is the team right now?
- AHAlex Hormozi
We've got 10, and then we've got vendors.
- SPShaan Puri
Are you enjoying it?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah, I dig it. It's fun. Right now we do, I record once... So to answer your question, Shaan, about time split, uh, we do one recording day every 14 days. That's like the direct to camera stuff. And then, you know, if I do a podcast, like I got one of my guys here, Trevor, um, who's recording, you know, our, our side of it so that they can clip this stuff later. So-
- SPShaan Puri
Are you enjoying, like, the celebrity that comes with this? You know, getting noticed and things like that?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Um, enjoy is probably, like, 'cause I feel like there's some people who love attention, and there's some people who hate attention. I'm, like, right in the middle. You know what I mean?
- 4:14 – 10:51
Upsides and Downsides of being famous
- AHAlex Hormozi
Like I was, I was purposefully, deliberately not public because I wanted to be rich and anonymous, and that was kinda like the mission for a long time for me. Um, and then now that we are on there, I would say that there are pros and there are cons of increasing, you know, fame or whatever you wanna call it, recognition. Um, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but there are cons.
- SPShaan Puri
Like what?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Uh, you get weirdos, you know what I mean? Like we're, we have, we have security, you know what I mean? Like, we go to, like, I can't, I can't attend any event. Like, I can't attend an event. Like, I can't go to somebody's like small group meetup. Like, I can't, like, it's, it's very hard, uh, because I can't enjoy anything, uh, because I'll have a line of people who are, you know, asking for advice or signatures or pictures or whatever. And like, again, I am grateful as shit to everybody to do that. It's just like, it's a different experience, so I just have to, I have to, if I'm gonna go to something, I go into it knowing that's what my experience is gonna be, not whatever or whoever's on stage.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
It makes the online experience dope, but it makes the real life experience less-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Different
- SPShaan Puri
... uh, um-
- AHAlex Hormozi
It's different. That's, it fundamentally just changes what the in-person experience is like. If I walk out... So, like, what's interesting is that I was able to, or I have been able to, to, to mark how social media and, like, the, the audience has grown by the number of real world interventions I had per unit of time. And so, like, I remember the first time I got recognized public, and then it was once a month, and then it was once a week, and then it was once a day, and then it was every time I'd walk outside the door. And now it's about five times or six times every time I walk outside, um, I get, I get recognized. Um, and so, like, I just imagine that that just continues to compound, you know, with time and with distribution. So it's just, it's different. But here's the pros. We get the best talent for our portfolio companies and for acquisition.com because so many people wanna come here. Um, we get them for at market rate or, or below because of all the learnings that they want and the other people who are also pro players on the team. Uh, we get the best deal flow that's all proprietary, companies that wanna work specifically with us. They're not trying to exit to anyone or sell to anyone. They want to work with us deliberately to scale the company. So like, I continue to do it because I'm more rewarded for doing it than I am punished for doing it. But there are definitely, you know, you get weird letters and you get, you know, weird attacks and things like that. Like, it's just, you know, it's, it comes with the territory and it's to be expected. And so, um, for us the pros outweigh the cons, but there are cons.
- SPSam Parr
I remember talking to, uh, Tim Ferriss, and you could just tell from the outside, but he... I don't know if he's mainstream famous or not, uh, or if I'm in a bubble, but he's popular enough that he has all these people listening to him and all that stuff. But he, what the cool thing about him was he had high profile people and people who... Like, a lot of people who listen to you, you're like, "Uh, I'm thankful that you listen, but I don't exactly wanna go hang out with you." But he would, would actually have a ton of listeners who would reach out to him who were like, you know, like the Matthew McConaugheys of the world or, or some, like, football coach or Ryan Holiday has that too, where it's like someone who's like a big deal who you're like, "Oh my God, you listen to me? That's amazing. I would, I, I would be honored to go and hang out with you."
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
And he had, he had stories like that. And Shaan and I have had that a little bit where, like, some, like, business person who we both admire will be like, "Yeah, I heard your pod on this thing." And I'm like, "Oh, wow, you listen to that?" Has that... Have you crossed that threshold where you have people who you admire who are messaging you and being like, "Man, what you said was really cool. What's your... You know, I have a question about X, Y, and Z." And you're like, "Oh, man, that's amazing. My heroes wanna talk to me now."
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah. Um, w- I mean, yes. Uh, I don't wanna put anyone on blast, but, like, there have been some mega, mega influencers who have, like, followed me and, like, hit me and they were like, "Dude, this is awesome." And I'm like, "Well, now I think less of you because you follow my content."
- SPSam Parr
[laughs] Yeah.
- AHAlex Hormozi
So, uh, big red flag there. You know, I, I told Layla the biggest red flag I had with her was that she was into me. Um, and so [laughs] ... Um, no, I'm kidding. But, um, but yeah, like some NFL players that I used to, like, you know, really look up to, like, huge MLB stars, like, and, uh, like, huge, huge podcasters that, that, you know, followed me and, and, uh, yeah, it's been cool. One of the, one of the reverse situations is when I, like, go to, like, see... I'm like, "Oh yeah, how is so-and-so celebrity?" And I click and it says, like, follow back. And I'm like, "Oh, shit. [laughs] Okay." Uh, but no, it's, it's cool. I mean, it's, it's, it's surreal. I'm sure you guys have had. It's surreal. It's very, um-
- SPSam Parr
Well, I grew up, like, admiring Lance Armstrong. I'm, I'm big into endurance sports, and one time I got an email and it was like, uh, "Hey, just to let you know, I love The Hustle." Uh, and he signed it with Lance, and, uh, y- you could tell it was Lance Armstrong by his Gmail. And I was like, "I don't believe this is really Lance Armstrong. If it is, here's my phone number, call me right now."
- AHAlex Hormozi
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
And he, he, he called me within like three minutes, and I was like... He paused and he goes, "Sam, what's going on?" And I was like, "Lance? Is this really you?" [laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
Bother. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
And then, yeah. [laughs] And I, and then I, we... I had a couple other athletes holler at us, and I remember thinking, like, growing up playing sports, I would've killed to have-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPSam Parr
... an athlete like this recognize me, and I could never achieve the athletic greatness enough for them to acknowledge m- me or my talents. And then now you just take this total, like, outside path and you get to... Or, like, one time we had, like, this was really weird, but, like, the lead singer of Linkin Park, uh, Mike, he, like, tweeted out that he likes our pod and The Hustle, whatever. And I was like, "Oh, that's sick." Like, I never kn- I would've wanted to have met you, but there's no way I could have gone down this normal path.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
But if we went this weird way, we finally kinda met, and I found that to be very strange and awesome.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah. It's sort of that, uh, be so good they can't ignore you as a general advice for life. Uh, like, whatever, whatever you want is on the other side of you being so good that you can't be ignored. Um-
- SPSam Parr
At anything
- SPShaan Puri
... at, at, at anything. And also, um, like, it doesn't have to be, I think that's kinda what you're saying, Sam, it doesn't have to be the thing you expect.
- SPSam Parr
Right.
- SPShaan Puri
Um, like, oh, you want, you know, you want to meet Warren Buffett someday? You don't have to be a stock picker. That's not, that's probably actually the least likely way that Warren Buffett's gonna wanna, gonna wanna know you. And in general, you shouldn't really pick based on what they want, you should just pick based on the thing you can actually get so good at that you can't be ignored. And, uh, it's hard to do. Obviously, that's hard to do, but it's, like, more of the, it's more of the right guidance than, uh, than many other p- bits of advice you could take as, as far as, like, a North Star for how you're gonna, like, you know, what you're gonna go for.
- SPSam Parr
Right. Exactly. Um, and so anyway, it's cool that we're all kinda, like, seeing that in reality, uh-
- 10:51 – 30:20
Status of Acquisition
- SPSam Parr
I was gonna say, are you enjoying Acquisitions.com? Because I know when we first talked to you, I think you were maybe only a year or two years in.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPSam Parr
You were relatively new. I think you had just sold, um, Gym Launch. Are you happy with, like, uh, i- i- is it what you thought it was going to be, and do you actually like doing it? And by the way, explain what Acquisitions-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah, yeah
- SPSam Parr
... what, what that is.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah. So it's Acquisition.com. The reason I, I emphasize that is 'cause there's somebody who bought Acquisitions, plural, .com, and it's just a not, it's not me, it's a different company. But Acquisition.com, um, is our portfolio of companies. And, uh, so I'll give you the, the, the TLDR in 90 seconds. So I, uh, had a chain of gyms, took that, licensed the IP to 5,000 locations, started a supplement company to sell through that distribution base-
- SPSam Parr
Mm-hmm
- AHAlex Hormozi
... and then started a software company. We exited all three of those companies in 2021. Uh, we'd taken about $40 million in distributions prior to the exit, and we sold for $46.2 million. And the software company I did separately or sold separately in a strategic deal that was all stock. Um, and I, [laughs] I say that because you guys will probably laugh because, like, it, I, I, people were like, "I Googled Alex Hormozi net worth and it says $15 million." It's like, well, I sold the company for 46 in all cash. So, like, I don't know where you got that. And the only reason you do that and get that money is because it was making money, so... So anyways, um, that was pretty much 2021. So we closed December 20- 5th or 6th, I can't remember. It was, it was one of those days. It was right around Chri- it was the 24th. It's Christmas Eve, that's what it was. Christmas Eve, we, is, we closed. Um, and then we started Acquisitions.com the next day. Uh, and so that was when we like publicly made our kind of declaration. At that point, though, I'd already made three, uh, minority investments, uh, that had done really, really well. Uh, and that's why I wanted to make that kind of my next big thing.
- SPShaan Puri
So if you started it the next day, that means you kinda had this idea cooking.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
So what was the, what was the genesis? Why did you... Why did, what made you realize, "Oh, this is what I should do next. I should buy these-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... minority stakes in, in companies like the one that I just built."
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
"And I should get this domain name," uh, which I assume you had to buy.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
So w- how were you so ready to do that? What was the thought process?
- AHAlex Hormozi
So, um, during COVID, 'cause obviously gyms were affected by COVID, uh, you know, we took a hit. Like we took a major hit. We were still profitable, but it was a, it was a big, you know, it was hard. Um, and so to kinda get some space, 'cause there wasn't a lot, like I couldn't do more. You know what I mean? There was, you know what I mean? Like obviously we, you know, we, we pushed things harder, but like I was on, above the business enough that there was nothing I... I wasn't, I wasn't gonna do anything, right? Um, and so I kinda just needed to take my, my mind off things. And so by, by happenstance, uh, a guy who owned a photography, a single photography studio, um, made his way on my calendar. And in the first... And this is not how you do this, everyone. Like do not do this. Uh, but I was actually still taking some calls for Alan because I wanted to do some like testing, and this was before I had a big brand. So I was just kinda like founder, talking to customers to get an idea of what was going on. But he knew me enough from just like I had written a small book in the gym space, it's called Gym Launch Secrets, that he had read that book, like loved it, applied it to his photography business, and he took a sales call through my software company 'cause he knew I was taking the calls.
- SPShaan Puri
Okay.
- AHAlex Hormozi
And so he hopped on and was like, "I have no interest in your software." [laughs] He's like, "But can you please give me 20 minutes?" And I was like, "Sure, man. All right." And I just liked his vibe. And so anyways, we ended up doing a deal. Uh, and so we took a minority, uh, percentage of the business. And um, that business I think had done 1.6... They were doing 1.6 million a year at a single, single location, um-
- SPShaan Puri
Wow
- AHAlex Hormozi
... which is pretty awesome for a tiny like photography studio. And he had, I think he had taken... And this isn't all the book clearly, 'cause there's a million things, but he had taken some of the concepts from the Gym Launch Secrets book, applied them, um, and it had grown the business a lot. And he had an agency, uh, for photographers to kinda like do the same model for them, right? And so we were having a conversation, um, and he was like, "Yeah, I did exactly what you said, and all the photographer studios add 400,000 a year, uh, to the top line, uh, when they use our thing." I was like, "They add 400,000 a year?" He was like, "Yeah, on average." And I was like, "Okay. Uh, how much are we selling this thing for?" And he, he was like, "Pennies." And I was like, "Okay, so, um, let's not do that, and uh, let's own them all." And so that kind of pi- so he actually... And this is where like the, the trust factor of what, like the inbound deal flow, which is what I love about Acquisitions.com, is that we have a lot of trust. And so he actually shut down a business that was making him I think 500,000 a year, uh, in profit, uh, that agency side, and shut it down to zero, um, because he like believed that, he believed me enough to, to go all in on this other direction of private ownership of all the locations. And so, um, as of today, and that was 2020, as of today we have 36 locations, um, in that bus- you know, does 30-plus million a year. Uh, and it continues to grow by one or two locations every month. And so-
- SPSam Parr
And, and what's, what's that business do?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Enchanted Fairies. So it's children's photography.
- SPSam Parr
Right. Dude, that's insane.
- SPShaan Puri
And you, so when, when we last had you on, I saw, I went to the website and I was like, "Okay, cool. What, what are the acquisitions? Great. What are the, what'd they acquire?"
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
And I saw basically like, uh, Enchanted Fairies, and I was like, "Okay, cool. They're doing like the, the Gym Launch playbook on this other space. That makes a lot of sense."
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
And if I go there today, they're still those same companies. So how come you're not putting-
- 30:20 – 39:46
Regrets about selling
- SPSam Parr
then." Do you wish that you would've just held onto it and, and, and never sold that, that company?
- AHAlex Hormozi
No. Because the person I was then wouldn't be able to do what I can do now. Could I do that, could I s- today, would I hold onto it? Yes. But I don't think I could have done it then. And so a lot of the re- like transparently, if I had... I got more credibility from selling GymLaunch at 46, and it was valued at 150 before COVID. So to your point, it was a shit sale. Um, but I was done. I was emotionally done with the business. I just didn't wanna do it anymore. And I still own a third of the business, so like when they crush the exit, the next exit at 250 million, I'll still get my $100 million check from that. Um, but I was, I was emotio- I had moved on. And, uh, my big thing is like all my friends, all my close people were like, "Dude, you sound depressed as fuck." Like, "You're not interested." And I was like, "Dude, I wanna do this new thing." And they're like, "Dude, you light up when you talk about this new thing." And so, um, I actually walked away from the deal during the deal process and then came back. Uh, and so like, yeah, it was not like... It's funny, 'cause people give me a lot of... I, I'm glad you brought it up 'cause a lot of people give me praise for that, but they don't have the context. Like, it wa- like, you know, we had done s- we had done 30 million in EBITDA the two, the 24 months prior to the deal. So like, you know, selling at 46.2 is not like... Like, I, I told them I needed to be public about the number because I do know that the vast majority of people don't get it. Um, and the, that, that is enough to give me credibility for fucking TikTok. Um, but it's not like, the transaction itself isn't necessarily one that I'm like proud of. I'm proud of what we built and that the contin- the company's grown 40% since we sold it. [laughs] Um, and so they're gonna kill on that deal. But now that I also understand how debt works, which I didn't understand then, like again, this is like knowing versus experiencing. Like, I understood that they were gonna get debt, but when I realized that 80% or 90% of the money that they put in, they then just immediately pulled right back out, leveraging the company's books, I was like, "Well, shit, I could've kept the whole fucking thing and gotten 90% of the money not personally guaranteed and de-risked myself." But would that have created the same story of something that is sellable from a personal brand perspective? And I think the answer's no. And so, um, I don't regret the sale. I think the sale was required for that step in my journey. I think that now because we have the credibility... Like, no one cared that I had taken 40 million in distributions. No one gave a shit. Like, it didn't matter. Like, the day I sold, my neighbors were like, "Oh, I saw you on Forbes." Like, "Congratulations." So I was like, I was richer before I did the transaction. [laughs] Like, I was wealthier before that point. Um, but like it allowed us to do Acquisition.com, 'cause I don't think I could've... 'Cause my s- my brand was still so, I was still the CEO as far as people were concerned of that company, and I needed to have that space so that I could create Acquisition.com. [upbeat music] Our software's the worst.
- SPSpeaker
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- AHAlex Hormozi
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- SPSpeaker
Our software is the best. HubSpot. Grow better.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Shaan, would you have done... What do you think? Would you have done that?
- SPShaan Puri
I, I think he explained it beautifully. I think he explained it exactly beautifully and honestly, which was that... Two, two things you just said that, uh, resonate deeply with me. One, this is the last thing you just said, which is to have what you want sometimes you just need to make space. And so this is like, uh, I learned this through relationships. Uh, you're dating somebody, you kind of... They're not exactly what you want. They're not bad. There's nothing wrong. There's nothing terrible about it, so most people just stick with it for years, and years, and years, and then they're kind of like, "Well, if there was like a much better option, then yeah, like I would feel more comfortable just like going s- being single." But I, I've always been very quick to just if I know this isn't it, I'll break up. I don't need to have another great option ready, uh, or, or, or like shown to me to make it real. I know that if I make space, then great things can appear.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Totally.
- SPShaan Puri
And then sometimes you just gotta do that. Like, I've taken, like when we sold Bebo, it was the same thing. I had, I had been doing this thing for six or seven years, and the business was doing okay at that point. I thought, like, you know... But in my heart of hearts, I knew this was never gonna be massive, and we had all gone into that business with a basically like, "Yo, let's do something massive." So by other people's standards, it might've been a good business. By our, our own mission, it was gonna be a failure. I knew that. And so it was when I was out with a friend and he was like, "I don't get what you're doing here." And he's like, "You just need to shake things up." And, um, you know, the, I was shook. I couldn't sleep. I was like, "He's right." Like, "I've been doing this for too long. I need to shake things up." And so I went into our, our investor the next day and I just said, um, "I think it's time we change things up." I said, "I need to change things up." I said, "You, uh, you know, if you wanna keep going, uh, I will help you hire a CEO and you can take, have somebody else take this over. I'll give you back my shares. I don't need a thing from this. Like, I, I, I will do whatever I can or give me 30 days and I'm gonna see if I can sell or I'm out." Like, those are the, this is, either way, in 30 days, this is gonna change for me. I've, I've just decided to make space basically to, for something. He's like, "Well, what do you wanna do next?" And, uh, I was like, "I have no idea." Like, he's like, "Well, no, really, like, you know, usually people when they're, you know, they, they come to me, it's 'cause they already kinda lined up something else." I was like, "No, honestly, I have no idea. I just know that I need to make some space." And so, uh, that part resonates with me and also the idea of like you... Like, when I look back now and I'm like, oh, like before I sold our company, if I didn't, if my company wasn't gonna be the next big thing, I would just shut it down. Literally just turn it off, take a zero on it. And then I just started looking around and, uh, I learned this word acqui-hire in Silicon Valley. I was like, oh, people just sell failing companies? And then I learned like, you know, they, asset sale. It's like, oh, you could just sell the code and the assets? Like, wait, be the, w- who are these buyers? And I didn't even really understand what my options were. And so when you talked about basically I could have refinanced, I could've just refinanced based on the business assets, took 90% of the value, it, I felt that same like stupidity later, but like that's life. Life is basically looking back- And being like, "I was such an idiot." And that's how I mark years of time, not by like the calendar days, but by number of times I look back and say, "God, I was so dumb. I didn't even understand this." I was sitting on something, I didn't even really under- I didn't really un- know what I sh- I, now, knowing what I know now, I know exactly what I should have done. And at that time I didn't even, I wasn't even aware that I was making a mistake.
- SPSam Parr
Well, the difference is like, I think that we all, uh, us three actually have been, we're, we are tacticians. So like I understand how to grow shit, and I understand, like, you build this page, you do this thing, uh, you write these words, here's the customer, you talk to him, whatever. I think the, the, the gap you have to bridge is becoming a, a, from tactics to strategy. And I used to, like, make fun of all my buddies who were in finance. I'm like, "Dude, you're just like an Excel monkey. You don't know anything. Like you're just this stupid fucking hedge fund, and maybe it makes money, but you don't know shit." And then I realized, like, when they talk about debt and stuff, I was like, "I'm not gonna pay attention to any of that, 'cause I think that's stupid." And then I realized how it starts working and I'm like, oh my God, that's the strategy. So it's like that's the strategy and that, and I was like, oh, I used to think I'm, I've got good vision. I understand how this shit works. And then I realized how money worked a little bit more with debt and borrowing other people's money to do this, and like taking money off the table, and all of these like terms that I kind of heard about but I didn't exactly understand. I realized, shit, if I'm gonna be like really good at my job, I, I gotta be good, I gotta understand the tactics. You really also have to understand the strategy, which Alex, it seems like you're actually now, now you get the strategy of how money and business works, not just the tactics. Which the whole $100 million offer book, which, uh, I read, I think it's awesome-
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah
- SPSam Parr
... that's mostly ta- tactical. But the strategic shit is what you're saying of like, oh, you can borrow other people's money a- to do this? That, that's some big picture shit.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah, without a personal guarantee. So 'cause a lot of people are like, "Well, why don't I put that on the business? 'Cause I don't wanna risk that." I was like, "You are not risking it. Like the, the business is risking it." And if you're willing to do a sale for X, it's like, well, are you willing to do, uh, like 'cause the business is gonna take the risk on either way. I mean, depending on the acquirer, but if you're selling to private equity, like I know you have a lot of, a, a bigger tech audience, but I probably have a bigger like, uh, like cer- like I would say everyday business audience. You know, guys who have massive roofing businesses or, you know, sh- a huge chain of, you know, teeth whitening studios. You know what I mean? Like just, just those types of businesses are the ones that tend to, to follow more of my stuff and like that's usually gonna be a roll-up or a private equity acquirer for the most part, right? Maybe a strategic if you like have another big teeth whitening chain that wants to buy you, but like that's about it. Um, and I, I think I, I resonate with what you said, Sam. I always thought those guys, like I was like you don't even understand business, and I, to a degree, I actually don't think they understand business.
- SPSam Parr
Right.
- AHAlex Hormozi
But they understand the macro level of business, and I think where you can get really dangerous is when you know both.
- SPSam Parr
Totally.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Because you can play both games. Like you can, because what they do is they do al- almost purely inorganic growth. They try and staple shit together that, okay, well we bought four companies that do, you know, 3 million in EBITDA, and so now we have 12 million in EBITDA and we're gonna have some equity arbitrage, and we're gonna be able to sell this thing for-
- SPShaan Puri
Financial engineering
- AHAlex Hormozi
... yeah, saddle them up with debt, and then it's just, then it's just a math equation. Like it doesn't even matter about growing the businesses. But it's like what if [laughs] you do that and you could also triple all the businesses? And it's like, that's when you create these like breathtaking home runs. And that's kind of what, I mean, that's what we're trying to do with that acquisition, and I don't,
- 39:46 – 56:29
Why do people get mega rich?
- AHAlex Hormozi
I don't have, I don't have a, I don't have a, a huge need for more money unless it's a g- a, a, an enormous... Like there's nothing I can do... I'm, I'm... Have you heard, have you heard Felix Dennis's, uh, like, uh, How to Be Rich?
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah.
- AHAlex Hormozi
I think that's the name of the book.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
We love it.
- SPSam Parr
The first, like, we talk about that table a lot, like the comfortably poor-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah
- SPSam Parr
... you know, c- uh, comfortably rich, then you get to like rich rich.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Dude, it super resonated with me. It's like I'm the, I'm the, the comfortably rich. So like not the super rich, not the op- like so I, like everybody here, we can all consume whatever we want. So we can fly on whatever planes we w- like, you know, you can fly private, you can stay in the nicest hotels, get the nicest Airbnbs, go out to dinner every single night of the week at the five-star restaurant, at the Michelin Star, and you can do that for the rest of your life. Like you, your personal needs as a human being are satisfied. But I can't buy that skyscraper right there, and I can't buy this huge company. And so what happens is like the things that you wanna buy change, and so you create a new deficit for the amount of wealth that you want. Again, this is just assuming you like the game. And so like I like the game, and so I just wanna keep playing it.
- SPShaan Puri
The, the, the funny thing is that what you actually like is just playing the game, and if you just said, "Well, I'm rich enough," then you'd have to stop playing the game you really love. And so instead you start to come up with like things you want that in actuality sound a little bit silly. It's like, actually, I don't even think you want that skyscraper or to buy that. You know, I, I don't even think that's actually what motivates you. It's just that I, I'm actually peak loving the game right now, and the game only works if you care about the score.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
And so y- y- you know, it, it is impossible to p- to enjoy the... You can't play the game if you've said, "I've already scored the maximum number of points."
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
Then the game becomes kinda silly. And so it's funny, like this is with all of our friends, it's like, "Well, why are you doing this? Don't you, you kinda got enough money, man." And it's like, "Yeah, but I don't have enough enjoyment." The enjoyment, the game is infinite, and the thing I enjoy the most is playing this game. And, um, you know, I'm g- so I'm gonna continue playing, but in order to do so, I have to like construct these silly, like, dreams that, that are I'm not even sure I really care as much about as far as just playing the game.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Dude, that was huge. And, um, as a side note, it's like if you think, there's, there's kinda like, I feel like two ways you can create a deficit, right? So one is like you can create a financial deficit by saying like, "I want this thing. It's costs a billion dollars, and so I need to go make a billion dollars. There's my deficit between where I am and where I wanna go." The other side is what I would say like when you asked like what are you like excited about, 'cause I know you said like what are the worst parts, but like I'll tell you what's, what's good right now, is that we have finally separated Mozy Media, which is basically like my, my and Layla's personal brand and like the, the content we put out. I would say the books kind of fall under that, like the courses, the books, all the materials we give out to, um, to Mozy Media. And so what we originally were saying when we started Acquisition.com is that the mission was to make real business knowledge accessible to everyone. Like that was the, that was the mission of the company. And that is still very much the mission of Mozy Media. What we realized is that HoldCo's team, so like- Our ex-consultants are our people who, who recruit talent, our heads of sales who build out sales teams, our heads of marketing who build out marketing departments and marketing functions, our head of customer success who build out product and the client experience, et cetera. Like, those people didn't really resonate with making business, uh, education accessible to everyone. Like, that wasn't actually, like, what their mission was. And so we got really clear on what the mission of Acquisition.com is, which is, and this kind of came organically, so it's, like, really exciting for me. Um, but one of the things I've always envied about Elon is that, like, every company he gets involved in basically saves the world. Or like, what, like, he finds a way to tie the mission of what he's doing to saving the world. It's like even Twitter, he was like, "Free civilization needs free speech."
- SPShaan Puri
Speech, yeah.
- AHAlex Hormozi
And it's like, boom. I was like, man, how did he take a, a, a meme platform with, with tweets of, of arrogant dudes, you know what I mean [laughs] , and turn it into a f- you know, free speech for civilization? Like, that's where I think a lot of his genius is. Um, and so for us, I was like, "What's that thing?" And so we have the external gap of like, yeah, I wanna hit the billion or whatever, um, but I think the internal one is that we wanna build a company off of praise and not punishment. And so we have this huge thing in terms of how we try to build things is like, you can punish people or you can praise them, and we believe that you get more performance out of praise. Now you look at Goldman Sachs, you look at JP Morgan, you look at McKinsey, you look at Bain, you look at these massive companies, even some of these, like, huge ones, and it's, a lot of people are like, "Man, it's a toxic, toxic work environment. It's really hard, blah, blah, blah." And so those are usually pume- punishment driven cultures. And so we want to... And so what's, what's happened is like, by doing that, that has aligned all of our holdco team in terms of how we wanna build these companies, and the billion-dollar Alex mark is basically irrelevant because, like, to really win by their standards, we need to build something that's 10 or 50 or 100 billion. You know what I mean? And that might take the rest of my lifetime, and it'll probably happen after I die. But if we can do that, then we can prove one thesis, which is like, people wanna work, and most environments are set up to punish people. And all you do is you raise the bar of what it takes to not get punished, but what happens is people churn out of work, they burn out, they hate their jobs, they hate their lives, and I think that there's a better way, and Layla and I are, are gonna try and dedicate the rest of our lives to trying to prove that. And so that is the mission of Acquisition.com and what we do with the companies, and we can show that, that it's not just, like, floofy stuff. And I think if it were just Layla, it'd be a woman-driven thing. People are like, "Oh, it's a girl who's saying you should be nice to people." But I think I, given how I look, how I talk, I can probably deliver that message. Um, and it may take the rest of my life to do it, but, like, I haven't felt, like, fucking amped about anything in a long time. The last time I was this pumped was when the mission of GymLaunch was to take the gym industry from its knees to its feet, because the average gym owner takes home $36,000 a year in personal income, um, and has, like, maxed out credit cards and has, like, 18 days of cash on hand. And I was like, "I wanna fix this." And what ended up happening is like, I, because I wasn't emotionally mature enough, um, I took enough licks from people really close to me, both clients and employees, um, that I just like, I just needed to put distance. Like, I had 17 different people who worked for me try to start their version of my business. You know what I mean? I had, uh, clients try and st- you know, like, start their, like... Because it was a, it was a business based on consulting, right? It was a consulting business, so, like, once you had kind of the models, you could, in theory, try and compete with us. Now, no one has succeeded, um, but it was enough that I was like, "Dude, you were bankrupt, and like, and like on the brink of divorce, and you used all of our stuff, and then, like, you scaled to three locations and sold them, and now your family's financially set off, and like, now you wanna attack me?" Like, it happened enough times-
- SPShaan Puri
I got you from your knees to your feet and then you kick me? This is how I get repaid for this? [laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
Well, that's how it felt. That's how it felt. And so I wasn't, I, like, I think now I can handle it a lot better, but at the time, I just, like, I felt so disenfranchised. I just felt hurt, honestly, because I really poured my soul into trying to fix the gym industry.
- SPShaan Puri
Right.
- AHAlex Hormozi
And so when I felt that way, we created space, and then it just became an asset we owned, and that's why I was open to selling it. Um, but like, I haven't felt like that until now.
- SPShaan Puri
It's so funny you mentioned the Elon big mission thing. Like, this guy, uh, he did it with Twitter too, which was really funny, and then, uh, while he was doing that deal, news came out, it's like, "Oh, Elon Musk impregnates, like, this woman who worked for him," and he's like-
- AHAlex Hormozi
[laughs] Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... and he was like, he's like, "Overpopulation, uh, underpopulation. Like, we, we're, we're at risk of population collapse. It's actually the biggest risk of all." And ba- he's like, "I'm just doing my part." [laughs] And I was like, this guy-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... is a Teflon Don. Like, how did he get away with it? He spun that shit like a, like, he did a full, like, 540 on that thing, spinning that to be like, "Actually, actually, I was also saving the planet with that one too." [laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah. You're welcome.
- SPShaan Puri
And I was like, there's-
- AHAlex Hormozi
You're welcome
- 56:29 – 1:02:54
Who do you admire?
- AHAlex Hormozi
it yet, and we will.
- SPShaan Puri
I wanna ask you two, two questions. The first is around people you admire. So we talked about the Panda Express guy-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... on our, on just our own last episode 'cause we were-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... featuring, it was, like, crazy rich Asians, basically was the theme-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... of the episode. And then, [laughs] uh-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... it turns out he lives near you or whatever, like, you know-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... you're both in Vegas. Um, who are some people that you admire? So, um, I always find this interesting to hear who kind of, like, stands out and why, f- uh, for, for, for different folks. So w- who are some people that you admire, either past or present, you know, people that you've met? Um, 'cause I know that this kind of, like, getting famous on YouTube thing opens up a bunch of doors. You meet a bunch of cool people that, like, you otherwise m- you expand your circle of people y- you, you get to know, um, through this stuff.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah.
- SPShaan Puri
So who are some people you admire?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Well, I definitely admire Andrew Cherng, uh, from Panda Express, 'cause they're a married couple that built this whole thing, and they didn't, they never took out outside money and they've owned the whole thing privately. They have 2,600 locations. They do $3.7 billion a year with 27% net margins, and they take $935 million a year in personal income. And I think that's only possible because they have created a new vision for what they wanted the company to be about, which is about their employees. Um, I am inspired by Warren Buffett, you know what I mean? I mean, I, I, I am because of the long-term mentality he has, and he built Berkshire Hathaway. And in some ways I feel like he, he built it, he has, like, a beautiful life story of, like, just believing in the power of compounding and patience, and, like, that's what I feel like his virtues are that he's demonstrated, and rational decision-making. Um, I would say that for us, it's like if we can build something like that, but just with our own, our own spin, our own zest, which is around praise, not punishment, and building companies that, like, we can win by their scoreboard, but we do it our way. Um, so that's the, the, the Warren angle. And, um, I mean, I admire Elon a lot, um, a ton. You know, just, like, what we were talking about earlier, like, his ability to s-see vision and connect to a larger mission, he seem- he's been able to masterfully do that in every single company he's been a part of. Um, and his track record's incredibly fucking [laughs] impressive.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Um, and he just continues to, like, defy the laws of, like, what seems to be, like, normal or possible over and over and over again. And so I think, just like how he just, like, stares into the abyss and says, like, "Let's do it," I think that's something that I really, really admire. Um, he obviously has flaws, like all of us do, but I think he also has been really good about, like, owning his flaws, um, and being public about that he's just a human, and I think he may create a new model for how big public CEOs run, and maybe that, you know, maybe we're in the beginning of, of that world. Um, and, uh, I think on, on the totally other side of the coin, I think I admire what, like, MrBeast has done from a personal branding perspective. Um, I've been able to, to get to know him really well. Um, and, uh, and Jim's, Jim thinks really big, and, uh, has tremendous work ethic, and I think seeing the merger, like, seeing where all these things are... Like, Elon has been able to build a personal brand and, you know, in a lot of ways, like, if you're a fan of Elon, you wanna buy all of the things, but he just happens to have enormous monetization vehicles. Um, and to your point, Sam, about, like, how they use, like, yeah, sure, we make tires, yeah, sure, we sell orange chicken, um, like I, in a lot of ways, I see, like, all the companies that we have in acquisition.com as like, yeah, of course we transact and we build businesses, but, like, the reason we do it is this, and I think that's, um, really dope. And so that's, that's, like, those are probably the, like, if you were to, if you were to mix, like, what are the things that I'm drawing inspiration from at current, it's a m- And if you look at what we're doing, it probably would make sense to see all three of those as the three biggest kind of influencers. You got, like, MrBeast on personal brand side here, you've got Warren Buffett on the investment side, and then Elon from, like, the big vision, and I feel like those three things are probably where I draw the most inspiration from in terms of, like, our day-to-day and what we try to do.
- SPShaan Puri
What's interesting about you is that you're pretty good at... You're very catchy, so, like, the whole knees to feet thing is, is pretty awesome. Um, and then, uh, what was the line for your current company? It was, uh, reward versus punish.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yep.
- SPShaan Puri
Uh-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yes
- SPShaan Puri
... you're pretty, uh, reward-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah. We wanna beat 'em, we wanna beat 'em at their game and we wanna do it our way.
- SPShaan Puri
Well, you said, "We wanna beat 'em on, we wanna use their scoreboard, but do it our way." So you've got, you're quite lyrical. Um, you've also done a few, uh... There's, like, actually a handful of things that you've talked about very, uh, like, casually that I've caught onto that I really like. So for example, you say, uh, you say dessert, what do you say, dessert every day or something?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Never skip dessert.
- SPShaan Puri
Never skip dessert. And then you also, because your whole, like, dieting thing is you eat all of your protein earlier on-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... and then you're like, "All right, now I have, uh, I, fat and carbs, I, we can go big on those." Uh, and like, you've done, like, a few things outside of business that I find, like, almost more impressive or I actually use on my daily life more so than your business stuff, which I actually found is pretty funny.
- SPSam Parr
Um, you also have... I don't know if you've seen this, Shaan, but if you Google, like, there's this, like, 23-year-old Alex who does a thing where he's like, "I'm gonna do a bulk over the next, like, eight weeks."
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yep.
- 1:02:54 – 1:11:47
Secrets of successful marriages
- SPShaan Puri
What's the, uh, simple, not easy for marriage?
- AHAlex Hormozi
I mean, I think it's, it's reward more than you punish. I mean, it, it actually comes down to that. So like, okay, if I want my wife to scratch my back more, I have to wait until she scratches my back of her own volition, and then I have to reward her immediately.
- SPShaan Puri
Okay.
- AHAlex Hormozi
And then she will want reward more, and so she will do it again. Uh, and then s- and I reward again, and I reward again.
- SPShaan Puri
Very Pavlovian of you.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Well, yeah. I mean, I think we're all that way.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
You know what I mean? I think fu- fundamentally, there's three things you can do when anyone does anything around you, is that you can punish them for doing it, you can ignore that they did it, or you can praise them for doing it. And-
- SPShaan Puri
Have you ever heard, um, the Tony Robbins, like... I forgot what he calls it, but it's, like, the four, uh, the four styles of being in a relationship. He, he says something like this. I don't know. Have you heard this thing? It's like, um, the first one, uh, let me see if I can remember it off the top of my head. So basically he goes, uh, you know, fir- first one's like a baby. It's like, uh, "I need love and I don't have to give anything to you." So it's just like I cry, you give, and that's it. Like, uh, you better be happy with that arrangement. So that's, like, one relationship you can have. One style of relationship you can have, and obviously, like, doesn't work out very well once you're an adult. Um, you can't just cry, expect to be given everything you want, and then s-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Right
- SPShaan Puri
... then not have to do anything in return.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Right.
- SPShaan Puri
He goes, the s-
- SPSam Parr
He calls that baby love. So that's baby love.
- SPShaan Puri
Baby love. Then he has, uh, the next one, which is basically tit for tat. So it's, uh... And this is where almost everybody falls into. So this is probably gonna sound familiar to at least to, like, to an extent, and is probably the root of all problems in relationships is tit for tat, which is you measure what you get and then you give based on that. Uh, when you're, when you're giving a lot, you give a lot, but then as soon as somebody breaks the cycle and they short you, w- consciously or s- or unconsciously, they, they, they don't do what you, what you wanted, um, you also withdraw or pull back some amount of giving, and then they reciprocate, uh, give. They, they also measure and pull back and both sides do that, and you end up with a sort of a, a race to the bottom. And so that's tit for tat, and that's where most people stand and they... It's just a cycle that resets over and over again. Um, the next one is unconditional love, which is basically I give regardless of what you give back. Uh, I give because that's who I am. Uh, I give because that's how I h- that's how I want to roll in my relationship and I control what I control. And, uh, obviously, that's way better and, like, to me, that's the simple, not easy in of, of-
- SPSam Parr
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... being in a relationship is just go, go unconditional mode rather than tit for tat. Um, and then he has, like, some higher one, which is monk, monk love or something like that he calls it, where it's like-
- SPSam Parr
Spiritual love.
- SPShaan Puri
It's like-
- SPSam Parr
Oh
- SPShaan Puri
... I love you even though you hate me. Uh, like, a monk can be like, "I, I, I pray for and love even my enemies and those trying to hurt me." And he's like, you know, "Nobody gets there," but, like, that's-
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- SPShaan Puri
... aspirationally what you could, what you could get to as well is, like, you know, the l- love like a monk who, who loves even their enemies-
- SPSam Parr
Yeah
- SPShaan Puri
... um, and those who try to cause harm. And so th- th- that- those are the, the four levels of love I remembered.
- SPSam Parr
Alex, do you ever... So, like, I saw this video of you the other day, and now everyone's, like, giving you a hard time or they're just teasing you in a good way about, like, your outfit, because you wear the same clothing all the time. So you made a funny video about it [laughs] and you go, instead of just saying, "Oh, comfortable," you go, "Dude, I'm just more Darwinian than them. These shorts, you wanna go work out? I can go work out. You wanna go to a restaurant?"
- SPShaan Puri
They're waterproof. [laughs]
- SPSam Parr
Yeah. That's, that's what he said. He goes, "You wanna go swimming? These are waterproof. You wanna go, uh, out to a restaurant? These look just good enough that I can go and do that. I can do anyway. I can do anything. I'm Darwinian. You're not."
- SPShaan Puri
That's it.
- SPSam Parr
"I win, you lose."
- 1:11:47 – 1:17:49
What products/brands are you obsessed with?
- SPSam Parr
but what products and brands, uh, do you obsess with and love, like, uh, in your daily life?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Well, um, I won't say them because I'm in talks with, like, half of them [laughs] right now, um, to try and figure something out. Um, but I, I, I will, I will caveat that with, I think that in general for people, like, my life might be different than theirs, and I think just being deliberate... Like, so many people are just, like, sleepwalking through life that, like, they're always sitting there with their pants that just don't fit just right or always don't have this thing. Like, a lot of stuff I modify. So, like, I mo- like, my gym bag, like, there was a video about my gym bag. Like, I tried out a bunch of different bags, and I finally found a bag that I liked, and then I modified the shit out of it. And, like, that bag, now every time I go into a gym, people are like, "Dude, that bag's awesome." I was like, "I know because I made it for this function, and it's great, and I love it. It's really good." You know me.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
So I think it's more just, like, finding the, like, whatever your 40 to 120 is. 'Cause maybe you live in Michigan and it's always cold, and it's like, well, you're gonna have a different standard-
- SPSam Parr
What-
- AHAlex Hormozi
... standard wear.
- SPSam Parr
What shorts are, are they? I thought you used to wear just jorts. I used to make fun of you for wearing-
- AHAlex Hormozi
I used to wear jorts, but jorts di-
- SPSam Parr
Yeah
- AHAlex Hormozi
... the re- So I'll, I'll tell you. I used to wear jorts 'cause they were more comfortable, um, and I could do more casual settings with them, right, than, like, always showing up in, like, athletic shorts. You know what I mean? Just, like, just it looked, it looked, like, almost too casual I think. Um, and s- a lot of restaurants are like, "No athletic wear." And so I was like, "Okay, well, that's annoying." And so then it went through this whole thing where I had to find, like, the best short. And then while I was doing that, like, the ones that I have have back hooks on them so that if I can hang them to dry, I've got an iPhone pocket in there that's built in, so like... 'Cause I hate having to sit, and then you take it out of your pocket.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Every time, it's like, it's such a pain. Like, there should be a pocket for this. Everyone has one, right? And there's, like, a, a little place that I can put, like, an iPa- a iPad pencil in my shorts, 'cause I, I use my iPad a lot.
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
Um, like, I've got cargo on the other side, and, uh, these are stretchy, but not too stretchy, but they're stretchy enough that I can-
- SPSam Parr
What, what, what, what freight you hauling in there, buddy? What do you got? What type of... What do you need the cargo pockets for?
- AHAlex Hormozi
[laughs] Dude, a lot of times it's mic packs.
- SPSam Parr
You packing gummy bears? Yeah.
- AHAlex Hormozi
No, a lot of times it's mic packs. So a lot of times it's mic packs 'cause we're getting rep- like right now, my mic pack's in my cargo pocket. Um, but, like, I can fit a water bottle in here if I need it. Um-
- SPSam Parr
[laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
... or, uh, or a hotel key. Like, hotel key is there whenever we're traveling. Uh, or I use my Nicorette, 'cause I chew Nicorette, so I'll have Nicorette in my pocket if I go on a podcast. So I just... I, like, always have the stuff that I, I need there, you know?
- SPSam Parr
Well, it's just about-
- SPShaan Puri
You're a weirdo in the best, the best way possible, man. This is my-
- SPSam Parr
Yeah, it's about-
- SPShaan Puri
These are my favorite kinds of pods when you, you find out... You know, it's like, I wanna see your weird. Uh, that's when I know you. Until I see your weird, I don't actually know you, I feel. This is my, this is my personal, my personal thing, and, uh, I'm glad we went down this rabbit hole 'cause-
- SPSam Parr
[laughs] Well-
- SPShaan Puri
... uh, I got to see your weird.
- AHAlex Hormozi
It's funny 'cause when w- when I ch- right now, my, uh... Actually, I'm not gonna show you the brand, but, um, I've got this backpack here, right? And this backpack, I wore, um... I can wear it... Like, when we travel, I can wear it everywhere, and it has everything that I use to travel, and I can travel for f- for four weeks with that, because all I have to pack is three pairs of shorts that are identical, that are multi-everything, and then I just have an amount of tanks that is whatever the laundry cycle of the trip is.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- AHAlex Hormozi
And that's it. And I can put one flannel on top, and I'm, I'm good. Like, and I don't even have to use the expansion part of that backpack, which I have options if I need it.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- 1:17:49 – 1:19:42
What are you doing with your money?
- SPSam Parr
like, what are you doing with your money? Are you keeping it in equities, bonds, cash? I think last time you were super heavy cash, if I remember correctly. Or-
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yep, all treasuries
- SPSam Parr
... maybe it was... Yeah, that's what it was. It was treasuries. You were like, "I'm almost entirely treasuries." What's it, what's it looking right now in terms of, like, a, if you could do, like, a pie chart and percentages?
- AHAlex Hormozi
Probably still half treasuries.
- SPSam Parr
Except now they're a lot better than before.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah. So we're probably half treasuries. Probably have a quarter in just, like, indexes. Um, and the other quarter is in private companies.
- SPSam Parr
So pretty simple.
- AHAlex Hormozi
Yeah. Probably not by value. And over time, that, that treasury part is gonna continue to decline as we do more and more deals. Um, but yeah. I, I still think that, like... I mean, I don't know what the future looks like, so I like... I, I tend to like having lots of cash. Like, I feel g- I d- I never wanna not be able to do a deal that's gonna 10X because I don't have cash. Like, that, like, the, the cost of missing the 10X is well worth the, quote, "inflation" that I'm suffering for the difference between the treasury yield and the inflation cost.
- SPSam Parr
Well, thank you for, uh, coming on again. You, um, if you go to our YouTube page, My First Million, you're actually, like, the... I don't know what they call that video, but you're, like, our main page video.
- SPShaan Puri
Yeah. He was, like, the pinned video for a while.
- SPSam Parr
Yeah. And it's, like, a quote of, like, "I've come to the conclusion that I just like to work, and I don't like when people ask me why am I working all the time," or something like that.
- SPShaan Puri
[laughs]
- SPSam Parr
But, uh, thanks for doing this again, and, uh, uh, we really appreciate it.
- AHAlex Hormozi
No, th- I mean, thank you guys for having me on, and thank you to the audience for maybe making a request to have me back on. So I, I, I appreciate it and it, it means a lot to me. So, uh, thank you guys for just being awesome hosts in general.
- SPSam Parr
Awesome. Well, that's the pod. [upbeat music]
Episode duration: 1:19:42
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Transcript of episode ZMHpgu2C84I
