The Game with Alex Hormozi - When it gets EASY is when you need to go HARD...a turning point in my life & Gym Launch | Ep 101

Episode Date: February 1, 2019

"You need to have momentum in order to succeed as an entrepreneur." Today, Alex (@AlexHormozi) encourages business owners to take their business to the next level and shares stories of entrepreneurs who have achieved success through self-induced pressure and momentum.Welcome to The Game w/Alex Hormozi, hosted by entrepreneur, founder, investor, author, public speaker, and content creator Alex Hormozi. On this podcast you’ll hear how to get more customers, make more profit per customer, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons Alex has learned on his path from $100M to $1B in net worth.Timestamps:(1:07) - Overcoming explosive growth challenges with Gym Launch(2:42) - The moment that changed Leila and my life(6:11) - The power of self-induced pressure & ten-folding your success(10:34) - The benefits of going hard and always evolving(12:25) - Going all in during times of prosperityFollow Alex Hormozi’s Socials:LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Acquisition

I wanted to make this video for you because I saw a post by Nicole Race and she said, you know, she was saying how she has seen herself, give herself the label of like, I'm good under pressure, which basically for her in her business was like she kind of coasted until she needed to and then she would double down and get, you know, GSD, right, and get it done. And I wanted to tell you this story because like when I tell you the things that I've messed up and like all the things that we've learned in gym luncheon that we share with the gym owner is just like I've literally made every one of these mistakes and so I have the scars like none of these were like I read it in a book and I want to share it like I'm I've messed up so many things and so I just don't

like the only advantage that we've ever had is that like I'll just try not to make the same mistake twice so let me tell you this story of how I was able to overcome the thing that she was explaining So when Layla and I started out with gym lunch, and we're obviously, you know, we had the gyms and sold them and now we're doing gym lunch. And this is the very beginning. So we're talking three months, four months into gym lunch. Russell saw what we were doing and saw that we had this explosive growth. And at the time, it was just Layla. It was me, Layla, and I think we had one other employee. And this may not seem real for you. And I say this with no intention of bragging. I'm just trying to give you relative scope. I think we were doing about $250,000 to $300,000 a month from our kitchen table.

And it was, you know, basically 90% margin. And I was like, and we had just got married and we were going into the summer and like life was good. You know what I mean? Like, don't get me wrong. Like we were crushing and we were working and you know what I mean? But like life was good. Like things were working. And I got invited to the Pirates Cove Mastermind, which I've mentioned a couple times in the past, which was, it's kind of this thing. You pay, you pay 10 grand or whatever and you go there for three days and um it's for it was for 10 guys who were doing uh eight figures or more and we weren't doing eight figures obviously so i was like why do we get but thanks anyways russell so anyways everybody goes up and kind of shares their

learnings and whatnot um and it was honestly one of the most impactful experiences of my life and a big turning point for our business and it wasn't because we got any tactics from three days of all these people sharing tactics it was because of one exchange that happened and it changed both Layla and I's life. And so we went up there and, you know, everyone was, you know, way better and cooler and richer and all that stuff than we were because I had been basically facing bankruptcy like seven months prior. So I was like, I'm just happy to be here. You know what I mean? And so we got up there and, you know, I shared all my cool stuff. And I was like, so this is the supplement company that I'm planning to launch. This is, this is June

for like two years ago. This is a cell phone company I'm planning on launching and this is how I'm going to do it and all this stuff. And like the room was silent. Like you could have heard a pin drop and I was like, what did I say?

And Jason Flatland, who had been taking like vicious notes the whole time. And Jason was I think the most successful from a monetary standpoint of the room. He's a huge affiliate marketer, probably like one of the best

in the world. You know, he's, he's renowned for doing. I think he did $9.7 million in a day of commissions. That was just his commissions. He did $27 million in one day of sales for one of his launches. So the guy's about us. And he's actually like,

maybe Jason will never read that. I hear this, but Jason, Jason's like a character. Like Jason, Jason's weird, and I don't think he would mind me saying that in a good way. Like,

he's weird and just like, started reading when he was like six months old, like that kind of, you know what I mean? He's an interesting dude. Anyways, he just like he like he just like looks super puzzled and like everyone's looking at him because everyone can tell like he's gathering his thoughts to like just like say something significant and

he's like if what you're saying is true like if you're actually getting these types of results for gybs he's like you have a hundred million dollar business and i was like uh and then everyone started saying like how we like how we were just missing this huge opportunity and how we're like we were being idiots and I was like okay cool like great like huge feel like huge feelings of insecurity and failure you know what I mean like I could feel my gut like I just feel like rising to my throat and and so they kept kind of you know saying like forget your supplement thing like you need to do this and kind of go all in on this and go even more and because we were getting positive return on ad spend and we're our customers and everyone was staying and they were like dude this is

amazing and so what happened and I'm going to tie it to Nicole's thing is that, you know, after the break or whatever, Jason came like B-line straight for Layla and I. Layla and I were already kind of stressing because of whatever one had said. We're like, shit. I guess we're not that cool. Like, we're actually failing because we're, we're so small based on the size of the opportunity that all these people see, right?

And so he comes up to us and he gets like really close to our, like, to our, like, to my face. But like, Layla's right next to me. And he's like, when it gets easy is when you need to lean in. And he said it like like violently. He was like, this is where you need to go hard. This is where you need to 10x. And he's like,

because we were talking about how like life is actually really good. We're like things are great. Like you don't need anymore making money. Like we, you know, we just got married. Like things are fantastic. And he's like,

if you were, if what you were saying is true, he's like, someone will come in who is much bigger and better than you and will take everything you have. And, it just like shook us to our core and it instilled in us this sense of urgency that has not left to this day, which was when it feels easy is when you need to go harder.

Hey, if you're a return listener and you have not rated or reviewed the show, I want you to know that you should feel absolutely terrible about yourself and everything else in the world. I'm kidding. But it would mean the absolute word to me if you guys would go ahead and do that. You don't even have to pause the show. You can keep listening and you can just do it with your thumb right now. It'll take you less than 60 seconds. And like I said, the only way that podcast,

is through word of mouth and this is you joining hands with me and helping as many entrepreneurs as we possibly can because no one is coming to save us. It's just us. All right. So please go do that now and let's get back to the show. And so for those of you who struggle with momentum, like being like, I only get it done when it's under pressure, I think it's like taking a macro step back and realizing you're always under pressure because it's not just like, like if the pressure is self-induced because you have bills or you have payroll or you have X, Y, If it's self-induced, you can only create so much urgency, right? But when it becomes market-induced and problem-induced based on the customers and the cause that you're serving, then you feel this tremendous sense of pressure at all times that you're not doing enough.

And in some ways, and I'm going to be really real with you, in some ways, it just makes you feel inadequate at all times, which is a choice. You know what I mean? That's whether you want that or not. But that's how I feel always. It's like why isn't this going faster? Why aren't we doing more? Why isn't this thing done yet? Why isn't it released?

Why is the like why is the training not dialed in more? Why did some people have problems? Why did, you know what I mean? Why is this not working for 100% of people? Like these are the questions that I nail our team with and they come back with, you know what I mean? Like and that's the fight, right? But if you're always like, man, how can I keep the momentum?

How can I keep the foot on? And this is one of the biggest things that like irks me, right? And this is why I talk about where when we make, a lot of times I see gym owners who make money and they only make money up to the point of what their limit of how much they believe they should make is. And the reality is, and this is one of Layla saying, it's not mine. She says, success is deserved by no one. It's only earned.

And so a lot of us have these limiting beliefs around success and around money. And I'm going to talk from a different way than I normally do. We think that we've done all of these terrible things. in our life. I've done tons of terrible things, horrible things to people I've loved, to friends, to ex-partners. I've done horrible things, right? And there's tons of people who say it. And so you have this track record of all the things, of all your sins, you know what I mean, that you keep in the back of your mind. And those things limit what you believe you deserve, right? And so on a subconscious level, we say this is enough for me to satisfy my needs.

We talk the talk of wanting more, of wanting growth, but like what we believe, the things that we truly believe, the ones that we never question, the real beliefs are the ones that we don't talk about or don't think about because they're so ingrained, right? And so, like, Layla says this from a success standpoint, like from a money standpoint, you don't deserve it. We are all, like, we all fall short. We're, we've all done horrible shit to people. Like, we all don't deserve it. But if you want it anyways, you just have to earn it. And the cool thing is that there's actions that you can take despite the fact that you don't deserve it that will still result in you getting it, right? And I think if you think about it like that, then it all of a sudden becomes under your control, right?

And so when it gets easy, when you have that campaign that starts running and starts doing well, double down, right? Double down. Don't finally think I'm covered for this month, right? I see it time and again. I don't know what happened. I was crushing it for a few months, and then you got lazy. And I don't want to say lazy, you got complacent. You stepped off the pedal and then got distracted because of the stories that you tell yourself.

But I'm telling you, like, think about what the hunter, like, think about the best investor in the world. Think about Warren Buffett. You think if he sees outsized returns on something, that that's the point where he says, all right, guys, cool, we got to return. Great job. he's like put everything in it bet the farm right go all in and so when jason flatly and pulled this aside and he said it like so menacingly he was like everything you have is going to be taken from you by someone unless you 10x tomorrow like when it feels easy is when you need to go hard and i just it like he said it so like it like felt like he was piercing our souls when he said that

because both Layla and I were like, like our chest tightened up and like we went to the room to like decompress and like we like sat there in silence just being like, shit, he's right. And so then that's when the next month we did 475, the next month we did 750, the next month we did $1.3, the next month we did $1.5,

and we just kept going. And if you have this where you're like, cool, I got to my EFT freedom number. I have now covered all my expenses and I have hit my goal. right you satisfied you but the market conditions and things are dynamic and they will change which means that you are always at risk unless you are evolving right we are making massive strategic changes on the gym lawn side that are going to be rolled out the next six months that we're talking about i have my q1 meeting in 30 minutes right that we're going to be

talking about with all of our directors and they're going to be rolling out the next six months for the team because i'm preparing for the things that are going to come that i can see right big changes in the marketplace So the way to not get caught flat-footed is to always assume that someone's taking you out. And then when that happens, you'll never be surprised. And it'll also allow you to have disproportionate returns for your time and effort. Because when it does get good, you get greedy. And that's what you should do.

Right, like Warren Buffett says, when everyone gets greedy, I get nervous. And when everyone gets nervous, I get greedy. Right now, we're in a time of prosperity. We've had 12 straight years of growth from an economic standpoint. I believe big things are coming that aren't going to be good. And I think that a lot of gyms are going to be caught flat-footed. If you're struggling now, just wait. So that being said, you need to dial in.

You need to go all in. You need to get tight where you're sloppy. You need to see where you're getting outsized returns and go all in on those outsized returns because they're going to pay for things. Where you don't have leadership, where you don't have solid team members, you need to correct them now. There's no reason for you to wait. Like what limiting belief do you tell yourself

why my team isn't good enough? Right? Like, why is that okay? And stop believing it. So I hope my story of Jason Flatling and changing my life. Thank you, Jason. We appreciate you.

And obviously, hopefully, the community of gyms that we've been able to impact as a result. There's a huge community of people in your life, in your communities, that are not being impacted because you decide to get complacent as soon as things get a little bit less stressful.

and that's when you need to go on. So I hope you have an amazing Thursday, an amazing rest of your week. My gym lords, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. And for everyone else, have an amazing day. And thank you for you for tuning in. Bye.