Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - #337: You Can’t Lose If You DON’T Quit with Alex Hormozi Entrepreneur, Investor, & Philanthropist

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

In This Episode You Will Learn About:  How to value your own approval over anyone else’s What it takes to keep fighting even when you’ve lost everything The equation to foolproof sales What you can accomplish when you have no choice Resources: Website: www.acquisition.com  Read $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No Listen to The Game w/ Alex Hormozi Facebook, YouTube & Twitter: @AlexHormozi Instagram: @hormozi Visit heathermonahan.com Overcome Your Villains is Available NOW! Order here: https://overcomeyourvillains.com  If you haven't yet, get my first book Confidence Creator Go to 4Patriots.com and use code CONFIDENCE to get 10% off Go to stopboneonbone.com/confidence, stock up 55% OFF today on Native Path Collagen Visit Indeed.com/monahan to start hiring now Find The Millionaire University on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts Show Notes:  What would happen if you never gave up even when you have lost EVERYTHING? Alex Hormozi knows about loss, from leaving his stable job, getting scammed, and business ventures crashing again and again. But he turned massive debts into hundreds of millions of dollars. Now a successful entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, Alex is here to share with us his story and how he cracked the code to sales. Are you ready to take the next step in your success journey? About The Guest: Alex Hormozi is a first-generation Iranian-American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. In 2013, he started his first brick & mortar business. Within three years, he successfully scaled his business to six locations. He then sold his locations to transition to the turnaround business. After that experience, he packaged his process into a licensing model which scaled to over 4000+ locations in 4 years. Over that same four-year period, he founded and scaled three other companies to $120M+ in cumulative sales across four different industries (software, service, e-commerce, and brick & mortar) without taking on outside capital. He has scaled and exited 7 companies. He is known for his expertise in customer acquisition and monetization. He donates much of his free time to advancing equal access to education and encouraging entrepreneurship in underprivileged communities. If You Liked This Episode You Might Also Like These Episodes: The Key To Motivate Yourself When You Aren’t Feeling It, With Robin Arzón Vice President Of Fitness Programming & Head Instructor At Peloton The BEST Negotiation Tips Of 2022 With Chris Voss, Alex Carter & Molly Fletcher  How To Start The New Year Off RIGHT, With Heather!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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then check out, negotiate your best life now. Subscribe to negotiate your best life with Rebecca Zung today on Apple Podcast Spotify or on your favorite podcast platform. You can't lose if you don't quit. Most of the games worth playing in life are infinite. The point of the game is to keep the game going. And so you don't win at being happy. Trying to win at marriage. Like you don't win at marriage, trying to stay married, right? You don't win at health. You're not gonna like just finish health. You just try to stay healthy. And so people try to win at business,

but the point is to stay in business. And so because of the nature of an infinite game, the point is to just keep the game going. And so there are different seasons and there's definitely periods that will suck. But like, at the same time, we think forward to who we want to be later in life. Like, I think about my 85 year old sophomore lot, like who that guy is.

And there's a lot of character traits that I wanted to develop or that I want that guy to have. I'm on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals. Overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow. I'm ready for my close time. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited for you.

Meet our guest this week. Alex Hermosi. He's an American entrepreneur, author and investor. Scaled four companies to 120 million plus in cumulative sales across four different industries. Software, service, e-commerce, and brick and mortar. And under four years, which is insane, without taking on any outside capital,

hello, Sarah Blakely, he's widely considered an acquisition and monetization expert. He and his wife are the managing partners of acquisition.com, a portfolio of companies funded by their own private wealth. The companies generate 200 million per year in aggregate. He also makes mistakes and can't really shares his painful lessons with aspiring

entrepreneurs to help them avoid his pitfalls. Alex, thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. I told you we need to add to your bio now, also known as the only person me and my 16 year old son both follow online. I should lead with that. Yes. It's crazy because the fact that you can capture that broad of an audience, I think, is pretty impressive. And that's why I'm excited you're here other than the fact. And for anyone listening on audio, you've got to go check out the video on this one, because Alex is wearing some weird breathing strip that I had actually heard him talking about on his podcast. So break down for us. What I would

never just PS. This is me. Maybe it's because I'm female. Maybe because I'm older. I would never wear a breathing strip on a show. Break it down for me. I just want to breathe better. So I want more oxygen in my brain so I can say better things for your audience. And so if I can get like one percent better things out of like out of my brain to them, then I'll do it. And since they're listening, they won't even have to look at the eyesore. What is that from like a biohacking thing, or you literally struggled with your breathing? I had two nose surgeries.

The first guy I ever went to refused to take me. He was like, you're a mess. He's like, I'm not even going to touch this. He's like, it is a mess in there. Then I went to one guy. He messed it up. And he was like, I know what I did wrong. I think I can fix it. So I went under the knife again, like a week later, again, to the same thing. And then messed it up again. And so I started with nasal strips. And I continue to wear it. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,'s the day. Okay, that actually makes some sense, because I was in a car accident once and had to have my nose reconstructed and that it's painful and I'm the whole nose thing and breathing. Yeah, breathe. That's what's tough. Because otherwise,

I'd be on here, I'd be mouth breathing the whole time. We'd like, like, so to the audience, this is my way of hopefully, you know, not breathing in your ears. We appreciate you for that. So thank you. So thank you for wearing the nasal strip that now that I understand. All right. So Alex, most people, as you know, look at you on the outside in and because of social media, you know, oh, he's a baller, he's killing it, he's in great shape, he's got amazing wife. You're living the perfect life. So can you break down for us? I love the beginning of your story,

your situation with your father. If you could take us back to how you started. I kind of followed what I would consider the proven path and the well-trodden path. Had a pretty, pretty hardcore dad, Middle Eastern father, I had no siblings, mom wasn't really in the picture. And so it was just me and him.

And so I very much was like, supposed to live up to his legacy. And so that was pretty much what I oriented my entire life around. And then he was a doctor. Yeah, he's a plastic surgeon. And so winter Vanderbilt, which is a school in Tennessee, just relatively hard to get into, I finished in three years, I was president of the fraternity and did all the social thing. I was vice president of the Parallel Sting Club. And then I graduated in three and then I took a Swinky Consulting job at a boutique strategy firm that did defense contracting for the military.

So space, I went intelligence, I got my top secret clearance when I was 20. I think it's 21 or 22, I can't remember. And I did that for two years, and I remember kind of like, I was able to put the down payment on like my first condo is like in a high rise as alone, you know, 22 years old. I just remember looking out of the balcony in me like, is this the principle of the firm, I looked at kind of like what her life looked like

and not to say that she wasn't enjoying it, but I was like, I don't want 30 more years of this, because if it's just more of what I already have, then it's something that I don't want. And so it's been probably six months like deliberating back and forth, so it's about from year one and a half to two, out of college, like saying, I want to quit this

and I want to start a business. And the actual catalyst for that was that I was kind of doing the two and then I was going to go to a business school. And so I was, I actually, it's just weird side-pest, but I studied for the GMAT. I did four hours a day for 16 weeks. I did 16 phone books. I did one phone book of problems every week.

If you've seen those things are like this. And then I would take a test. I did every single week and I got it until I got above Harvard's midscore because I wanted to go there. And the first question on the application was like how will Harvard MBA help your short and long term goals? And I spent like three day staring addicts. So I was like, I want to start a business. And when I realized that I was going to four go two years of income, like incurred debt, and then my starting salary afterwards on average at that time was $120,000 to $130,000 a year for graduating MBAs, I was like, I feel like I could not forego the income and not go $180,000 in debt for like, you know, room and board and all the other

stuff. And I'd probably be able to make $10,000 a month by the time I was out. And so that was ultimately the decision that I had. Now it took me six months to man up enough to tell my dad that I wanted to not do that. Because I think what was sad for me was that I think the proudest moment my dad had in his life was when I was the saddest. So like it was when I was, I had done everything. You know what I mean?

I crushed, you know, high school, I crushed college. I got the nice job. I actually took it at a firm that was close by. So he saw me all the time. I would get lunch two or three times a week. And he was like, just like so proud. And he was tough because it was like, that's what I really wanted, like my whole life.

But I just felt so dead inside, honestly. I just like, I found myself not wanting to wake up the next morning. Like every day, I was just like, it's like people talk about like suicidal thoughts, and I'm not trying to get heavy on anyone, but it was just like, I just didn't want to, I was like, if I just didn't wake up, I'd be fine. And so, you know, kind of being in that state long enough, I was like, I don't think this is good. And so it was actually confronting that. And there's been a common theme throughout my life that like confronting my mortality has been the way that I've been able to take the hard decisions.

And so like the phrase that I kept repeating to myself, and I had kind of like that rock top moment on my balcony, which was like, I either have to die to him or have to die to me. And I felt like I had been dying to me that whole time. And so I think, you know, there's different saying, different cultures, but like one for men is that you don't become a man until your father dies. And I think that you're kind of forced to do it

at that point, or you can choose to do it at an earlier point, which is really just having your own independence and making decisions for yourself. And I think it's when, at that point, that I valued my own approval over my fathers, which is what allowed me to take the leap. But again, it was like, when I just realized I was like, I would actually rather let him down, then let myself down, which was just such a hard thing for me to do. I mean, just for context, everyone, like I actually drove across the country

to California from Baltimore, just where I lived. And I only told my dad when I was halfway there because I didn't wanna tell him when he was even like in the geographical vicinity to like come and fight. Cause I was just like, I just wanted his approval so badly. And a lot of people were like, well, I'm sure he was supportive and was he. He's like, no, we didn't talk much. He was like, you're throwing away your education.

I just paid all this money for you to do to school and you're doing the path. He obviously had his context of being a physician and struggling for a long. He came to the US with $1,000, didn't speak the language. A lot of ways, he accomplished is much more significant than what we have. I won't laugh for that. But anyways, we didn't talk for, you know, sites, you know, once a month for five minutes or whatever to say I'm alive. But yeah, I went to the, I went and started a gym, which in the Middle Eastern culture is not nearly as prestigious as, you know, consultant investment banker, architect, engineer, doctor. And so he's like, yeah, my son's a personal trainer.

After being the prodigal son before that, you know, Acing the GMAT, you know, Acing the SATs and graduating, I had a cum laude in three and all that stuff that he could brag to his friends about. But a lot of it was because I think my father had, his identity in mind were mixed together. So he very much lived through me and so he wanted me to do the things

that he wanted to do. The hardest decision of my life, bar none, out of everything we've done, was quitting my job. I don't wanna get weird on you right now. I was a psych major, I am not a psychologist, but I wonder if this has something to do with you not having kids yet.

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powering albers, Rothies, and Brooklyn and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 170 countries. Plus Shopify's award-winning help is there to support your success every step of the way. This is Possibility powered by Shopify and they make it so simple. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.comcom slash monahen all lower case go to shopify.com slash monahen to take your business to the next level today shopify.com slash monahen and you'll be hearing this before you know it. The interesting dynamic between you and your dad and a lot of the things that you said,

I think everyone listening can relate to it on some level or you know someone they grew up in a similar family where there was so much pressure on a child to really live out the dreams of a parent and the fear of ever doing that to somebody else. And to be clear, I don't think he wanted to be a businessman, but like, it's just more like he had a path that was approved and I could walk down that path or not.

And so this was choosing not to do it that way and do it your own way, I think is very, very hard. Because it makes sense to be risk a versus a parent, right? Because like, you know, you look at, you know, risk a just a return on the move that I made was not high. Like it would have, it would have made more sense for me to stick the path I was on. Go to Harvard or Booth or one of the Stanford MBA or whatever.

And then graduate there and then go back to the consulting world or decide to switch to investment banking or get to some hot new tech startup. And you know, I mean, there's all things that some look a brag about at a dinner partner and partying those would be considered smart moves. But I'd really liked fitness. I was considering opening one was test prep because I was good at taking standardized tests. One was fitness because I knew a lot about it and I enjoyed it. And the other was frozen.

You know, because I actually thought this was like before the boom of frozen yogurt, I thought there was going to be a big boom. And they're ended up being a big boom in frozen yogurt, but it cost 250 grand open that up, and I only had 50 grand save up. And so it was pretty much test prep or fitness stuff. And then I did the huge amount of work that I don't think I ever even told the story,

but I did this huge amount of work with a professor at Vanderbilt. I thought we were gonna do this thing together. And I did all this work and then he ended up just like taking and using it. And to be fair, I was a kid and I might not have understood it, could have been a miscommunication, whatever it was, but like for me at the time, I felt very disenfranchised with the whole idea. And so all I had left was fitness and there was this lady at the gym that I was going to,

who I was in good shape or whatever, and she asked me to talk to her about nutrition. So I just like, met her for lunch. It wasn't weird. I met her for lunch and I like talked to her about her shape or whatever, and she asked me to talk to her about nutrition. So I just like, met her for lunch. It wasn't weird. I met her for lunch, and I like talked to her about her food or whatever. And then she just handed me a check for a hundred bucks. And so that was the first money I ever made in fitness. I didn't even say, I was like, oh, cool.

I was like, I could make money doing this. I was like, that's wild. And so then I started something called the free training project. I've even talked about this in depth much. And the free training project was hosted, you know, on the limiting fall, limited fall I got had from college.

I was like, I am starting this fitness thing. I'll give you nutrition plans, workout plans, etc. online. And this is like before on my training was a thing. This is 2012. In exchange, donate $500,000 to the charity returns. And so I'll training for free, just like I just want you to have skin in the game. And so I had, you know, six people take me up on that. And then I took their results and I posted about them and then I got like 20 more people who wanted to do it. And this time I was like, hey, instead of paying a charity, you could pay me. And they were all cool with it.

And that little business did about $4,000 a month. And so that's what I pretty much lived on. And that's when I went to the West Coast and decided to shadow a gym owner because I emailed 40 gym owners who looked like they were successful and one of them got back to me and hopped on the phone with them.

And I was like, can I just like work for you or something? And he said, sure. And so I drove across the country, like I packed my food so I wouldn't have to like spend money. And I didn't have to stop. So I'd go in 36 hours I drove across the country like I packed my food so I wouldn't have to like spend money and I didn't have to stop. So I'd go in 36 hours and go across the country had nine meals packed. It literally like a cooler sitting on my sitting on my side thing. And then got there and he was like, I do, I'm like busy like you can't just show up here. I was like, oh yeah, he's a grease dang. I was like, I don't know. He's like, what do you mean you don't know? I was like, I don't know. I just got here.

And it's like, geez, he's like, you can stay at my place tonight. And so the next morning, I went to the gym with him at 4 a.m. He like shouted at the gym. He's like, anybody have a spare bedroom in this guy? He went up to me, he's like, you can see one of my rooms. And I'm still front of that guy today. Shouted that guy for three months, started my first gym in Huntington Beach, which was 45 minutes away. And didn't have enough money for rent.

So I slept on the floor of the gym for the first nine months, but by the ninth month, I kept making money. So it actually did do pretty well, but I just slept there because I was cheap. But by month nine, I had the whole gym staff announced first. And then every six months after that, I opened a new location until we had six. It's all this marketing presentation. And I was like, man, I need to get into this marketing stuff. Anyways, a year later, I opted in for that guy's group or mastermind. And it was all in any marketers. I was just like a gem owner. I had no business being in the room. Honestly, I probably shouldn't have been sold.

I remember asking the sales guy. I was like, so there's lots of gem owners in this? He's like, oh yeah, guys, Jim, I like this. He's like, he's like, he's wanting to close you. All this internet stuff. And so he's like, get yeah, guys, Jim went like, he's like, he's like, I just wanted to close you. Did you all this internet stuff? And it's like, get to the first meeting. Not only is there no gyms, there's not even a single brick and mortar business owner. I don't know. And so I get up there and I'm like,

hey, here's how I want to become America's next gym. I was called United Fitness. You know, I was like, here's how I'm going to open my next poor location, get to 10 and then I went to scale. And I gave this whole, this whole spiel. And he was like, I don't think you should be in gyms. And I, it was like, it floored me. I was, actually, it was like really devastated

when he said it, I remember. And I was like, we meet. He was like, I think you have a level 10 skill set and a level two opportunity. Said, I think you should be teaching people to do what you're doing, rather than doing it. At the time, I kind of have this belief where like if someone's not that you should take anyone's, who's ahead of you's advice because sometimes they're only one step ahead, not

five steps ahead and they don't see that they're about to fall into something. But if I pay for advice and I don't take it, I feel like it's the closest thing to burning money. At least earlier on in your career, I would advise you do that later on. Advice has to be more nuanced. But anyways, I took his advice. I fire sold five of my six gyms. I shut one down over the next,

I think it was like 90 days, and I started launching gyms. So I started flying around the country and doing gym turner rounds. So I did 32 turner rounds over the next two years, right around when I met my wife. She flew out with me. And so we started doing these turner rounds together when we hired her high school friends. Well, a couple of things. Back then, you're sleeping on gym floors. You're up at 4 a.m. You're working literally around the clock. And there is a lost art in today's world around this idea that you don't have to work hard anymore.

People don't believe you have to. My own son is like, you can just turn on TikTok and become famous overnight. So I really like that element of your story that you have actually put the hours and the reps in in every element of your business and that you lost everything, you face major obstacles. I love the processing story, so if you can share a little bit of that, I think it's helpful for everyone. So I sold my gyms, right? So this is my life's work at this point. I'm four or five years

in. So all the gyms, I had a little bit of a nest egg and this was kind of like what I had to show for what I had built. So that guy that I did the presentation for in his little mastermind was like, dude, you're really good. You should speak about next event. So I spoke to the next event as the resident burger motor expert. And then all these people came up and were like, I've to this day I've never been more more mobbed in my life, which is kind of interesting. Still, never. I was like bombarded.

And all these guys people came up to me and they're like, what can I buy from you? What courses do you have? And I was like, I'm a gym owner. It's like, I just showed you what I did. And finally, one guy handing me his credit card and said, charge me for $5,000 and tell me what I get later. And I had a hundred business cards in my pocket from that one pocket.

And there was like only 500, 600 people. I mean, it was crazy. So I got home and of course, like, as any good salesman, I like put everything into my excel sheet of all the names and all the numbers and I hit up every single person I called the guy I believe in the credit card. I was like do you really want to run this because like I don't have anything He's like yeah run it. I was like all right, so I ran for five thousand dollars and immediately he was like all right What do I get? I was like?

And that and so it just so happened he had a gym that needed to be open and so by chance of all the people that were there, a guy who was about to open a gym needed help. That isn't by chance, that is staring dipitous, come on. I'm not a big woo guy. So for me, it was by chance that happened. And so I was like, great, I'll just launch your gym for you. I'll fly out, I'll sit at your front desk and I'll just fill the gym up. And so that was actually how the first gym launch happened. And so I flew out there. I think I did a

191 sales in 19 days was like 100 grand. I was 20 shoot was like 2526 and it was 100 grand in 20 days. And I was like, man, I didn't have to staff it and I didn't have to build the gym out or any of that stuff. I got to keep all the sales of a gym launch, except I didn't have any of the headache. And I was like, this is great. I could just fly all the sales of a gym launch, except I didn't have any of the headache. And I was like, this is great. I could just fly around the country and just do one of these every month.

Like this is chill. And so that's pretty much what I decided to do. But that guy was like, dude, I'm really good at running gyms. If you can launch these things at full capacity, he's like, I'll just come behind you and staff him and then we can just split it. And that way every month you open a gym,

like you own the gym. And so me being like, oh, of course. And he's like, oh, of course. And he's like, but I've got some credit issues, no big deal. You'll have to personally guarantee everything and put all the money up. But like we'll split it after that. It's like, oh, yeah, sure. And so you know, as the old saying goes, the money gets the experience,

the experience gets the money. And so I very much live that. And so I want to gym with him, crush this big launch, side all the leases and everything, did the build up. And then one morning I woke up like six,, seven weeks into the launch and I had actually taken all that, again, I didn't know, I was super young, you know, I put all the money that I made from the sale into the business account for this new gym. And he emptied the account, which was all the sale of my gyps, plus the sales from that

gym. And so I was like, dude, what are you doing? And he said, oh, I'm just taking my half the profits. And I was like, what do you mean? And he's like, I know you've been skimming. And I was like, I was like, I'm here every day. What are you talking? So I printed out the bank accounts.

I went over to it. I was like, I went line by line. And as I sat down to show this big thick thing of papers with the highlights and everything, he just threw it off the table. And that's when I knew that I had been skippedammed or robbed or whatever you want to call it. So the fact that he didn't actually want that meant that he didn't, he didn't actually think I was scheming anything. So anyways, I ended up shutting the gym that I launched with him down,

which is why I sold by, I said sold five and shut one down because it was a brand new gym. I was only 12 weeks into the gym and I shut it down. It was horrible. I signed a five year lease. It's terrible. I like news reporters saying that I was trying to take people's homes. I had a coach at the time, like a performance coach or something. So I got a headset, whatever, a headset mindset coach. I was going through a lot. And so he said, just do right by everyone. And just like, if anyone asks for refunds, given the refund, do right by the partner who wronged you, he's like, just anyone asks for refunds, given the refund, like do right by the partner who wronged you,

he's like, just do right by everyone and you'll come out of this unscathed. And so it was so painful for me to write these refund checks to every single client out of my savings, either I mean, and I couldn't, and I had to honor the contracts that I had sold in the beginning for the gym. But I couldn't sell any new people because I want to shut the gym down. And so basically 100% of the rent and the payroll and all the cost of the gym basically just drained my savings because you know the average small business center is like 28 days of savings on hand and so like and I had no way to generate new money. So because all the extra cash from the

earlier clients that gone to actually building the gym like the equipment and the paint and the sign and all that kind of stuff. So I lost everything then, and so then Leila's obviously with me at this point, might not wife yet. You know, right as I met her, I said, you should quit your job and do this thing with me, and she says, I just made it from the internet, no. And so I was like, all right, I'm gonna watch these gyms and come back, and so I did,

and I came with this big stack of contracts, and she helped me process them. We processed like a hundred grand in an hour, when she picked me up from the airport, and she was like, is this legal? I was like, yeah, she's like, all right, I'm in. And so she quit her job and she started doing the launches with me.

As I just lost everything in this gym, she actually launched a concurrent gym and she crushed it. And so she ended up doing 100,000 in sales and that money actually paid for like all the refunds that I had at the current gym. And so at the end of this whole bananza, I'm at basically nothing still.

I don't need anybody. And so anyway, she's like, hey, we should keep doing that launch thing. Like this work, we could make like a hundred grand every time we did it. Like this whole partnership idea was terrible, but like we should still do the launch thing. She got six of her friends from high school

who put their jobs, where we're selling shake mixes for MLMs. And I train on my how to sell gym memberships and gym programs. And so we had time to do one more launch before her friends were gonna start like to quit their jobs, et cetera. And so her friends were gonna start on the 26th of December, which is the best time,

because that's when all the sales for New Year start for gyms. And so we won launch in December to hit. And so by chance, the gym that we were going to launch, I got reached out to because I'd spoke on a different stage for like trainers and something. And this trainer reached out to me, one of the blue, it's like, do you have a sales job? And I was like, no, I don't have a sales job for you. And he's like, well, if you have anything, I was like, well, I do have this one gym that I have to launch next month. But like I was planning on launching it myself. And he's like, well, I do have this one gym that I have to launch next month, but I was planning on launching it myself. He's like, well, where is it? And he lived 10 minutes

from the gym. And we're talking nation-wide. I'm in Virginia when I'm talking to the guy, and it was in San Diego, and it happened to be 10 minutes from his house. And so he's like, I have a new baby on the way. I've got a one-year-old son. I need this money. And so I was like, all right, man, you just need to crush it. And he's like, I'll do whatever it takes. And he crushed it. He did 100,000 in sales. The problem was, so I knew my processing date. So like on Tuesdays, when I would always get my big posit

and then I'd get Wednesday, Thursday, et cetera, and Tuesday came on that first week. And I was like, there's no money. And I processed all the payments. I knew the payments were successful, and I was like, what's going on? I didn't mind it. And then the next week still, I'm no deposits. So then on Wednesday, the payments. I knew the payments were successful, and I was like, what's going on? I didn't mind it. And then the next week, still no deposits.

So then on Wednesday, next week I called, and I was like, hey, what's going on? They're like, oh, it's a standard review. We do it every year. And I was like, okay, I mean, I've been with you guys for five years, I've never had this happen. And they're like, no, no, it's just normal. I was like, all right, another week goes by,

and then still no deposits. So now we've rocked up almost 100 grand at this point. They're just sitting in like escrow and payment processing. It's now Christmas Eve. And I've called a couple more times. They kind of give me the runaround. And so it's Christmas Eve now. I'm also at Layla's parents' house, which I have never met

before. We're six months in dating. She quit her job to go galloping and seeing across the country with this guy. That's lost everything. You're feeling real good in this moment. Oh, crushing life. And so it's Christmas Eve.

I'm on the phone. And I tell the guy, I'm not getting off the phone until you send me money. I will not do it. I will call. I will find where you live. You need to give me the money. I've employees. You have to make it.

It's not your money. It's like we sold services. And they were like, that's actually not true. Per the agreement. And it was a payment processing agreement. And if anyone doesn't know this, if you get flagged for anything weird, and the weird thing that I had was that I was running all of my gym launch stuff through my brick and mortar location and he California.

And so they were getting sales from Canada and Virginia and Kansas. You know what I mean? That we're running through this thing, but it was through a brick and mortar thing. They're like, you didn't get a proof of this use case, so we're just gonna hold it all. By the way, I actually never ended up getting that money, but they said they were going to hold it for six months

and I was like, I have this guy I have to pay, like least give me enough money to pay the commissions on these sales. And so you've done a hundred thousand of sales, I owed about $22,000. At this point, after all the refunds and losing everything and all that stuff, I had $23,000 left in my bank account. And so I wired the guy the money with the baby. And so I went from $23,000 to $1,000. And that was on Christmas Eve. And so Christmas Day, Laila's dad was like,

you know, this guy seems kind of stressed. You think? And so the next day, the 26, because all of our friends with their jobs, obviously, to go support this guy from the internet, I had six campaigns, six flights, six hotels, six rental cars, six per diems for food, not to mention commissions for whatever sales are going to bring in, which was $3,300 a day. That was going to be going out starting the 26th. And so, you know, I sat down with Layla on Christmas.

And I was like, Hey, this might go horribly wrong. I'm kind of a sinking ship right now. And so, like, if you want to like not be with me, like, I respect it. Like, we're cool. And so that's when she kind of like grabbed my chin and was like, I would sleep with you on her bridge if we came to that. I mean, that was probably when I decided I wanted to marry Laila. Anyways, she believed, and that's what I needed

at that exact moment. And so I was like, I have a $100,000 limit on my, from my gym days, they hadn't changed my limit on my AMX. So I was like, I'm just gonna max this out this month and this could go wrong. And so the next day, 30, 300 a day, starting going off this card that I had, mind you for everyone in the audience,

I had no way to process money. That didn't have a payment process. And so these guys are just stacking contracts every day. They're, you know, I'm getting 20, 30, 40 sales a day that are going through here, and I have no way to process them. And so I'm on the phones every day with different processors, and by the way, if you ever get canceled from a pain processor, it's like going bankrupt in business.

It's like, you have a black mark. It's like one of the questions I asked, like, have you ever been turned out by a processor? And so finally, I get like foreign and casino and online gambling and payment processing, which is a totally different world. They charge like 10% of all, it's like a crazy, like it's ridiculous. Huge fees, they have reserves on top of that, which is like a rolling reserve that they keep a percentage and they give it to you six months later ongoing. And so I think I was giving something like 15 or 17% of top line of way, it's just processed the money. And so I got processing turned on the last day of January.

And I was like, great, so I can run this. And the guy was like, not exactly, you have a $50,000 limit. And I was like, I need like $200,000 to run the sales. And he's like, good news is, per month. So on February 1st, you can run another 50. And so I ran 50 and then 50 the next day that covered my credit card bill of $3, you know, $3,300 a day.

Just for everybody's keeping track at home. I'm still broke. Still broke just break even on my credit card. And then we got two more processes, stuff spun up for like another 50 or there's 75 and then got the other guy bombed to whatever. And so the next month I did, I think like 180 or 200,000 sales that we were able to process. And we made like 30,000 dollars a profit.

And I was like, I think I'm in the clear. And then March rolls around. All of a sudden, Layla tasked me on the shoulder one morning. This is like when I feel like I finally figured it out, like escapes death of like, you know, I've done all this stuff, almost feeling good about myself. And so she tasked me on the shoulder and I turned around, she shows me her laptop. And it has like negative, you know, 399, negative 499, negative 599, negative 499, just like you should keep scrolling, it's like ocean of negative negative transactions and I was like, what is this?

She was like, those were all the sales that we did from like last month and the month before and I was like, what happened? What's going on? She was like, I got a text from one of the clients and they said that the gym owner stood up on a chair in the middle of class and was like, everybody just like refot, just go home. I don't want to do with this because we were taking gym owners we had like a hundred clients and selling like 200 more in a month and so you go from a business as a hundred clients 300 clients in 30 days and they just break you know they just they don't have they can't deal with it and that's because I didn't understand as much as a business owner at the time like you have to like look at more facets I was like that's their problem we're here to sell that That's what we're going to do.

But I held the bag on the processing still, because I prefer to always control the processing I can, but I didn't have a risk mitigation tool. And so I think that was $75,000 in refunds. My new, I now only have $30,000 that I just made from the month before. And then a few days later, she comes and shows me a laptop again, another C of refunds. And I was like,

what is going on? And she said, yeah, one of the gym owners told all the clients that they should just refund through us and then sign up for him for half of what they paid us. Because we let you know, we'd fly in, we'd fill it up, and then we'd leave. And so they had the relationship. We didn't have really, we just made the transaction. And so I was like 150,000 on refunds. And I needed to make it up. And it was, I had to be profit in the next 30 days,

and I had no idea what I was going to do. So we start selling more and more to cover the, cover the refunds that are coming in, but the more we sell, the more refunds we create. And so it's just like horrible cycle that I just like, I like couldn't sleep, I couldn't breathe. As I'm not breathing or sleeping, I wake up if you can call that and I start writing down ideas if like, what could I do?

I was like, I could sell supplements to everyone. So I could try and pre-sell next launches. I could try and get deposits from people, but like the numbers never made it to like 150,000 in profit. I was like, I'm not going to do this. So I started like a bankruptcy lawyer. So I was like, I don't know what to do. And so what ended up happening was Lailla comes in that morning when I'm writing these ideas down and she pulls

up her laptop and starts working and I was like, what are you working on? She's like, oh, I'm my online business. I was like, she'd had this this whole time. She transitioned her in-person training clients to online. She was a personal trainer for everyone. And she doesn't know. And I was like, how long does that take you? I was like, I don't know, like 30 minutes a week. I was like, how much does that make you? It's like, like four grand a month. And she was defensive And I was like, how long does that take you? He was like, I don't know, like 30 minutes a week. And I was like, how much does that make you? It's like, I like four grand a month. And she was defensive because I was like so stressed at this point. She was like, hey, it's paying for her food. And I was like, no, no, it's all good.

It's fine. It's like, what if I just start marketing that? We just cut out the middle of it. Like, we know how to sell weight loss. We have all the programs. We'll just make it under your brand. Instead of me being the face, you'll be the face. And I'll just be the back end.

I'll just like do the sales of marketing. Instead of me being the face, you'll be the face, and I'll just be the back end. I'll just do the sales and marketing. She's like, okay. And so I again, didn't sleep and took a lot of stimulants and made the best sales letter my entire life. We started Queen transformation. And so we started running ads. We started doing a thousand bucks a day with her just taking phone sales

and just selling a 16 week program for 500 bucks you'd sell to a day. And so holy shit, we have all eight of our sales guys come, they can fly home, they don't have to do it. The fact that they're on the road all the time. If they eat due to sales, they would do 8,000 a day after cost and commission, it'll be pretty close to 150 in profit

because we'd know it'll cost. So I was like, let's do this. And so what about the gyms that we're supposed to watch the next month? Because I always had to pre-sell a couple months ahead of time to make sure that I had enough gyms for all the guys. I was like, I'll just call them during lunch and just say that we're not doing it. So I call the first guy up and I was like, hey, sorry, we're not flying out.

And he was like, dude, I just maxed out all my credit cards and I just refinanced my house with this gym. Like you blew up a buddy in my gym. Like I know you could do this. And obviously his buddy was like, just a good guy. We did, you know, didn't do anything weird and it worked out fine. Honestly, I was in kind of this really stress spot where I didn't have a lot of empathy. And so I was like, dude, I'm not doing it. And he's like, please man.

And so finally I said, all right, I mean, I'll show you what I do to launch the gym. So I was like, but I'm not flying out there to save your ass if you can't close. He was like, no, no, that's fine. I just need leads. And so he's like, well, how much? And so I just picked the highest number I could think of at the time, which at the time was $6,000. And he was like, 6K. And I was like, yeah, and he was like, done.

And I remember staring at the phone, like I like zoomed out of myself. And I was like, holy shit. Sixth grand. And then I was like, oh, what car would you like to use? And I said, And then I was like, what car would you like to use? And I said, I like writing it down. And so I called the second guy, same conversation. He's like, how much? And I was like, eight grand. And he was like, done. And I was like, holy shit.

I called the next guy, same conversation, how much? I was like, 10 grand. He was like, no problem. And by the end of the day, I had to $60,000 in sales, selling license to materials. All the ads, all the landing page, all the scripts, the follow-, selling license to materials, all the ads, all the landing page, all the scripts, the follow-up sequences, how we set up the gym, all the stuff that we would do, and I already had all these materials because this is what I would train my

team with. And so the only thing that was missing was just giving them the ads and landing page, everything else I already had. And so he was like, all right, well, when do I get the access? And I was like Monday, it was a Friday. And so then I put everything together, put all these videos in, and just like put it facing outwards. And I got back in after selling that day.

Laila came in the door because she was walking outside. We kind of walk and close. And she's like, got another one. I was like, Bay, you wouldn't believe what just happened. And I was like, I actually made $60,000. She was like, what? I was like, yeah, selling the system that we were doing, just selling that to James rather than doing it.

She's like, so what is that, is that what we're doing now? Like I thought we were doing this other thing. And I was like, I think we're still in the gym business. I think we're just doing it wrong. And so that was the big, that was the big turning point when we switched from done for you, like sales teams to a licensing model.

I then called up all the guys that we had launched, we had 30 or so gyms that we had launched up that point. I was like, hey, remember I ripped a hundred grand out of your gym. I was like, well, I'm going to show you how I did it. And they were like, sure. As a total side of things, it's interesting. Like three or four of them were like, how do I know it's going to work? I was like, I literally did it at your gym.

Like, at your gym. I did it at your gym and they didn't do it. Like, just to show you how limited some people's belief sets are. Which is just cause like, you saw me pull a hundred grand in a month out of your gym. Like, what if you could do that every month? Didn't matter.

So anyways, it sold, you know, whatever it was, high 20s, 30. And in that next month, I made enough to make the 100,000, 150,000 in profit to cover the refunds from the from the way lost the done for you side. And then from that point on, it was just like it took off like a rocket. And so we finished that year at like 6.8 million top line, 3 million bottom line, and then the next 12 months, we did 26 million top line, 17 million profit. All from the licensing.

Yeah, it was 27. And then we started a seven company the next year. I think we went to 37 million top line 17 million profit. All from the licensing. Yeah, it was 27. And then we started a seven company the next year. I think we went to 37 million top line and 13 million bottom line is because I put a ton of cash in the inventory. I also over hired. I didn't know a lot about scaling. We went to 135 people in the business and yeah, lots of, lots of mistakes were made. We continue that.

And then in 2021, we sold the business to a private equity group called American Pacific Group, a 46.2 million in an all cash deal. I still own a third of the business. We also started a software company in 2018. We started a software company in 2019. We started the software company in 2021. We sold all three of those. I sold 75% started the software company. 2021, we sold all three of those.

I sold 75% of the software, and I sold 67% of the software and the software and the licensing business. And so between the, we took about 40 million in distributions before we sold, and then we had our cash deal, and then we took that and started acquisition.com. And so the day after we sold, which was also, here's a weird coincidence, we closed the transaction with

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So well done. When you look back over that five year period and you look to other businesses and you help other entrepreneurs, what are the key takeaways that you share with people? It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have no choice. Most of the hard decisions in the hard times,

like I didn't have an option. You know what I mean? Or at least I didn't perceive that I had an option. Like when I quit my job, it was like death or do this. And so then I did it. I actually had a bunch of partnerships. At some point, like when I had my gyms earlier on when I was like, newbie entrepreneur, a shiny object, I had six gyms. I had a chiropractor agency, a dental agency. I had a supplement company that I started early with a different partner that I did know what I was doing and somehow I managed to make no money

Through all these things and I actually got into a DUI head on collision 60 miles an hour and I told you about that mindset coach that I had it was right after that that he was like He was he was his panic. He was like at a hungover. He's like His stress is going to kill you He's like you have these unmade decisions. He's like, you got to make these decisions. He's like, you know, you don't want to be in these partnerships. He's like, you need to close these loops. And so after I was yet again confronted with my own death and walked away from a head-on collision at 60, after that, I felt like I could call anyone. I was like, hey, yeah, I know.

It's not working out. They're like, what do you mean? We can't. I was like, yep. I was like, you can just hate me. That's okay. Because the tough part was that for most of this partnership, I was the rainmaker. And so like, if I wasn't in the business, there wasn't going to be a business. And so ended all those businesses. And that's when I sold everything. Like during that fire sale period, like that's when I sold everything. And so I think, you know, when I lost everything the first and second time, they seem like choices and they seem like, like, tough guy, you know, but I didn't, I just, I didn't perceive a choice. Like, I was like, I just have to keep going.

And I think honestly, a lot of the time when it was, when it was really tough, I just didn't give myself time to dwell on it. Like it just didn't serve me. And so I just honestly didn't think about it. I knew I was screwed. So it was like, well, that's not helpful. What can I do? So just focusing on the controllables, kind of in those circumstances, was kind of my breath of air, my safety or my lifeline. And so I guess four people who are going through it, I say this a lot, but you can't lose if you don't quit because like most of

the games worth playing in life are infinite. Meaning like, the point of the game is to keep the game going. And so you don't win, you know, at being happy. It's like trying to say like, I want to eat all the pizza I'm ever going to eat for rest of my life. It's like, it doesn't work that way. And like trying to win at marriage. Like you don't win at marriage, trying to stay married, right?

You don't win at health. You're not going to like just finish health, you just try to stay healthy. People try to win at business, but the point is to stay in business. Because of the nature of an infinite game, the point is to just keep the game going. There are different seasons, and there's definitely periods that will suck. At the same time, we think forward to who we want to be later in life. I think about my 85 year old self a lot, like who that guy is. And there's a lot of character traits that I want to develop or that I want that guy to have.

You know, when we think about like you have your son, it's like if I think about somebody who's patient, it's like, well, like I probably didn't get everything immediately. And if I think about somebody who's tough, it's like probably through hard times. And so it's like I can't both want these character traits, but not be willing to pay the price of achieving them. And so like if like I can't both want these character traits but not be willing to

pay the price of achieving them. And so like if I'm in one of those seasons, I'm like, oh I'm just paying the price tag for this trait that I want to have. People want to talk like mental toughness and whatnot. It's like, well, how do you know if you're mentally put tough if you haven't been through anything that's tough? And so I think a lot of ways the hard circumstances that we go through are the gift of proof or they give us evidence of who we really are. The good way to look at it, but I feel like these days who has invented hard stuff? Don't you feel like everybody has that?

I wholeheartedly agree. It really just comes down to how we respond to it. There's a great quote I heard from Donald Miller about the different seeing villains and heroes. And if you saw it. It was really good. We said, so an interesting characteristic between heroes and villains is that they have the same origin story. If you look at the heroes usually alone, they're an orphan. The point is that they have some sort of tremendous pain that they have in their early days.

If you also look at villains, they usually have a scar on their face you know, maimed in some way, they've got a limp. And it's to just signify that they've gone through hard times that they've been through something painful. But the only difference between the hero and the villain, which is so interesting, is that why they're so similar, is only how they react to the pain, right? The villain says, like, you hurt me, world, and I'm going to hurt you back. The hero says, you hurt me, world, I'm going to make sure no one else goes through this. And so it's just how we react to pain and hard times.

And I think defines a lot of the character that we ultimately have. I like that. I had never heard of before. All right. So you mentioned that you were the rainmaker in these partnerships. What made you a rainmaker in so many partnerships? Like what are those special skills that's our talents? I knew I had a market, I knew how to self. And so, fundamentally, like you have to be able to generate demand, you have to be able to convert demand.

And so, you can know how to recruit affiliates to go get your business. You can learn how to get referrals from your own clients. You can learn how to run ads. You can learn how to do warm outreach to friends and family. You can learn how to do cold outreach strangers. You can learn how to run ads. You can learn how to do more amount reached to friends and family. You can learn how to do cold outreach strangers. You can learn how to post content. Like all of those are different ways

that you can get customers or at least leads. And then from that point, it's like, you have to learn how to persuade people, which is, you know, for me, I had my Rocky cutscene that No One saw, which was like, I did 4,000, and one of one sales selling gym members shows, but no one sees that part of the story.

And so, you know, I get a lot of comments people are like, oh, so eloquently, when you speak, and when I was like, I talk to strangers, 20 consoles a day, four years, like years of 20 consoles every single day, talking to Sandra, who's coming in the, you know, and she's, you know, rushing her kids, drawing a permanent marker on my wall.

I'm trying not to lose my shit, so I can close her credit cards, so I can pay that repaint the fucking wall. You know what I mean? Like those skills were forged. That's how you were the Rainmaker was from sales and marketing. Okay, so in your book offers, which this book did incredibly well. I've actually read the book. It's amazing for anyone in business. What are the takeaways that you want to share with everyone listening that can help them in their business? I had a really early mental forces two weeks before my first gym, and I hadn't had any ham a gym,

and there was a gym mastermind, different guy. Everything was going way over my head. And there were single-leaves where like CPL, CPL, I was like, how do I know what that was going on? And so he pulled me a sack, because he saw I was like really lost. And I paid like $3,000 for this thing, and I had no idea what was going on.

He said, hey, you want to know the secret to sales? And I was like, yes, please. Like, I thought it was like one thing. I was like, yeah, this is going to be awesome. So I pulled out my notebook. He said, make people offer so good, they feel stupid to say, no, I like highlighted and wrote it down. It changed my perspective on how selling really worked, which is like, you can learn to be exceptional at sales or you can make an incredible offer and it's a lot easier to make an incredible offer than be exceptional at sales. And so it's like a hack. It's a shortcut to getting people to say yes is try and find a way to put as much value as humanly possible to actually solve all their problems. And so if you do that, then you will get a lot more people to say yes.

And so like the nature of the book is all the components that makes something more valuable. And so there's four variables to value as least as I define it. One is that you have the dream outcome that someone wants. So if you, so everyone is listening, just imagine a fraction. So you got two variables on the top, two variables on the bottom. So one is you got the dream outcome. And between different categories, this is where like make money things in general tend to sell for more than like beauty things. That's just because, or at least for guys, they will value them more. And so it's more aligned with their dream outcome. Now, maybe for women, it might be flips, but when is, that's one element of value. All right. The next is perceived likelihood of achievement, which is like the opposite of risk. How likely do I think if I buy this thing, oh, get what I want?

All right, there's always a risk factor that we discount any kind of purchase. We think we're going to get something, but we have some element of chance that we're not going to get exactly what we want. We increase in what's perceived like the achievement by providing it to sort of proof, it's like third-party edification, authority, etc. A simple example here is if a doctor just graduated from medical school and they said they want to do a weight loss surgery for you, for example, and there's another guy who's done 10,000 of them, which of them would you pay more for? The guy's done 10,000, why? Because you perceive like an achievement higher. But even though that

guy might even spend less time with you than the guy who is not as experienced. And so all the other factors are the same. It's just the person's experience that you're perceived likely to go up. So you can actually charge more. And the cool thing about that is that I'm willing to pay more before I get the surgery, just because of my perceived likelihood. So those are the top two parts of the equation. So you want to make something that people really,

really want and make it really, really likely. Now, I spent the first half of my marketing career or really business career only focused on the top half, which is like, I just need to make bigger promises and show people how to improve over and over and over. But the big behemoth companies focus on the bottom part of the equation. There's two parts there. You've got the time to lie, which is the opposite of speed. It's like, how fast is this going to happen or how long do I have to wait?

And so I'll give you a B2B example. So if I own a marketing agency and I sell to carbreakers and I sell leads and there's two agencies, one guy gets on the phone and says, hey, all right, we're gonna need to get everything spun up for you and it'll take us about 60 days for you to start seeing leads from our stuff. All right, that's version one.

Version two is as soon as you the business owner hang up and you give them your credit card, your phone rings with a lead and you pick up the phone. Now the actual lead might be the exact same thing between day one and day 60, but how much more valuable the service would that pay? Significantly. And so one of my favorite business models in the world

is look at a business model, it's already proven, and just do it in half the time. And so it's like, whatever you can do, just if you can do stuff faster, people will value it more. It's just like speed is the ultimate hack for value. And so it's the bottom half of the equation. So we want to decrease the time delay

between when they buy and when they get. And then the final part of the equation is effort and sacrifice, which is kind of two side at the same point. So effort is things that you have to start doing as a result of a purchase that you don't want to do. Like, so you might have to wake up early to go to the gym. You might have to be sore, right?

After you work out there, all things you have to start doing as a result of the decision. On the flip side, you have sacrifice sort of things that you have to stop doing that you want to do that you to start doing as a result of the decision. On the flip side, you have to stop doing what you can't do as a result of the decision. So you want to go to Margarita Mondays and you want to go to Taco Tuesdays and go out with your girls or whatever. You want to sleep in on Saturday and you have to sacrifice those things. And so the idea is if we want to create a more valuable product, we make sure that it's what people actually really want.

We show that it's really, really likely they're going to get it, and it's going to be really, really fast, it's going to be really, really easy. So when we demonstrate all four of those things, then we create a really valuable product. So that's the structure overall, which I call a value equation. Then when we're actually making an offer to someone,

we want to think about what are the next things that they're going to struggle with. So I think about it in sequence. I give a weight loss example because most people can just kind of relate to it. But you know, you sign up at a gym, like what's the next thing you're going to need? Well, you're going to need to go to the grocery store because you're going to buy new food. It's like, okay, well, can I solve that problem? After they do that, what are they like literally what's going to happen? It's like, well, they're going to put in their car, they're going to have to unpack when they get home, they're going to have to prep it, or they're going to have to store it. It's like,

okay, well, what about meal prepping? Is there something I can solve there? Okay, cool. And with any of these things, we can solve the problem in a lot of ways. It's like, I could give someone a cheat sheet. I could give them a course. I give them a workshop. I could walk with them through the grocery store if they're a new customer, like every week, every all new customers do a grocery tour with me.

Like, there's a lot of ways you can solve the same problem. And so the idea is, I write down every single problem that the customer is going to experience, immediately, sequentially, after they make the purchase with me, and then think, okay, what are all the ways I can solve it? And then I look at every single problem in all the ways that I can solve each of those problems. I think, okay, which of these provides the most value and is the lowest cost to me? And so then I, I call trimming and stacking, but basically you just, you trim all the things that are probably too expensive

for you to costly based on whatever price tag you have. And the ones that can still solve most of the value, because what will end up happening is that when you do solve all this problem, you also create an even more compelling offer, because then you start solving problems the person hasn't thought of yet. And so then you can bring that up and they're like, shit, this guy knows more about this than I do. And then they feel like they're in very good hands to proceed like they've achieved and goes up. They feel like it's going to happen faster. It's going to be easier. And so by making a superior offer, you become more persuasive.

And so you actually rely less on your your reporting skills or your obstacles to go over. It's just like make stuff people really want and they'll buy it. The thing about running your own business is every single higher counts. And no hiring partner understands that like indeed. Indeed is a hiring platform where you can attract interview and hire all in one place. Don't spend hours on multiple jobs sites looking for candidates with the right skills when you can do it all with indeed. Find top talent fast with indeed sweet of powerful

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cost per application pricing not available for everyone. Need to hire? You need indeed. I love how the way that you frame it up. I love the equation and it's so, so accurate. I was even thinking back to your gym launch days and then how you ultimately launched the supplement company and always looking at what is that next knee that somebody's gonna have.

So thank you for sharing that. How did you get so big on social media and why did you go all in on social when you would already build up so much success? I'm so interested to know that. Yeah, I had a friend who's pretty famous and we were sitting around the kitchen counter. He's one of the guys I was talking to when I was considering selling versus not. And he gets recognized when he goes out in public and he was telling me how he gets death

threats and letters from where it goes and stuff like that. And I was like, dude, I want nothing to do with this. I was like, I just want to be rich and anonymous. That's going to be the play. And he just looked at me like, square in the eyes. And he just looked at me square in the eyes. And he was like, if that's the price I have to pay to make the impact I want to have, he's like, I pay that price every day

the week and twice on Sunday. And I just felt like he was calling me a pussy. And so I, like right after that, I started making YouTube videos. And I mean, I would say there were chinks in the arm before that, right? So like, I was really big on like no branding. I think I should, I think like seventh podcast episode

of all time, this is six years ago, of all time said stop branding. And it was because for local gyms, like, to be fair, the product is the branding and a local market a lot of times, like, you don't have enough to really affect the marketplace. So we're also what they need to do if they want to go make more money. It's like old outreach, run ads, find affiliate partners that can send you. Those are the ways you will immediately make more money in the business. I had made all my money doing that. I told everybody

like that's all you need to do. Just master those things. You don't need to worry about anything else. Like content's waste of time. But then George Clooney had his exit I think else like content's a waste of time. But then George Clooney had his exit at four a billion. And then, who to beauty sold two third, or sorry, a third at a six hundred million dollar valuation. And then Kylie Jenner was on the cover forabs as the youngest billionaire.

And the rock had Termana. And then Conor McGregor had proper 12. And so each of these Kenyan and six hundred million dollar exit and obviously Termana was then Conor McGregor had proper 12. And so each of these, and he had a 600 million dollar exit and obviously Termana's worth 6 billion now. And when I have this fun, I'm gonna believe that like, if someone's making more money than me, they know something that I don't know. Like they know more about the game of business in some way

than I am and I should learn from them. And so when Kylie was on the cover Forbes, it like fucked me up for a week because I was like, man, I got beat by a chick. And she's like younger than me. Because I felt pretty good about myself. You know what I mean? I was like, I got $100 million not worrying about my young 30s, like whatever. But this girl's billet. And she was a decade younger than me. And so, um, and a Kardashian. Yeah. I try not to give her that because I want to think, who can I learn from this? Right? And so I was kind of forced to realize that I think

my whole perspective on brand was wrong. And so it was all of those things and then that conversation happened. I decided to go all in on brand. And so I started making YouTube videos, channel started growing, and then I had a guy reach out to me and said, hey, you don't have to do anything. Here's the school offer, you'd read the book.

I'll just cut your YouTube videos into shorts. You don't have to do anything. Here's the school offer. You'd read the book. I'll just cut your YouTube videos into shorts. You don't have to do anything. Like literally just give me permission. And I said, sure. And so you did it, and then the shorts started blowing up. So then we hired a team, and we brought everything in-house. And you know, six million person later, and 18 months, like here we are.

Well, where can everybody find you? Where can they get your podcast? Where can they get more of Alps? Yeah. Marker calendars, the next book, Well, where can everybody find you? Where can they get your podcasts? Where can they get more of Alps? Okay. Marker calendar is the next book. 100 moderates is coming out in August. So that's exciting. Beyond that, I have podcasts called The Game.

I think it's with Alex Ramose. If you've type in Alex Ramose, you'll find me. Wherever you listen to podcasts, but if you're more like an Instagram person or a TikTok person or a YouTube person or a LinkedIn person, I'm on all those platforms. You just type in H-O-R-M-O-Z-I.

So, Ramose, you'll find me. Well, guys, check him out, the amount of valuable free content he is putting out at Frequency is incredible. Out, thank you so much for all the work you're doing to help educate and help everybody else out there. Thank you so much, I appreciate it. Thank you for being, letting me be here.

All right, guys, until next week, keep creating your confidence. I'm Kevin Miller, a former pro-athlete author, father of nine, and self-help guide. I broadcast the self-helpful podcast from my sanctuary high up in the Colorado Rockies. I'm a fan and critic of self-help. So I invite today's most important influencers to grapple with their own wisdom and stories in an authentic, relatable conversation about self-help and what drives them. With each guest, I conduct a four-part series that distills the guest's greatest wisdom and methodologies into practical transformative steps that you and I can use to create our

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