From: alexhormozi
The speaker shares 17 transformative conversations from their twenties that significantly impacted their entrepreneurial journey and business growth. These lessons cover various aspects, from initial decisions and sales to market expansion, team building, and strategic investment. [00:00:00]
Making the Leap: The Power of Decision
Early in his entrepreneurial journey, the speaker was indecisive about quitting his job to start a gym or pursue other ventures. [00:00:03] An early mentor advised him to “just jump” because more information wasn’t needed, only a decision. [00:00:14] The word “decision” comes from the Latin decadari, meaning “to cut off or kill off.” [00:00:24] By not deciding, he realized he was actively “killing off” the future aligned with his dreams. [00:00:35]
Sales and Product Strategy
At the start of his entrepreneurial journey, the speaker lacked sales knowledge. [00:00:41] A mentor revealed the secret to sales: “making an offer so good people feel stupid saying no.” [00:00:49] This insight, which became the subtitle of his book 100 Million Dollar Offers, highlighted that it’s easier to find things people genuinely want than to manipulate sales scripts. [00:00:53] He compares this to Chick-fil-A, which sells amazing chicken sandwiches without needing to “sell” them. [00:01:04] This approach changed how he created new products and services, by starting with how to get the most people to say yes and then working backward. [00:01:10]
The Pace of Growth
A mentor who was a $10 billion CEO emphasized the principle: “You gotta go slow to go fast.” [00:01:16] This means that sustained, consistent effort unlocks compounding growth that far outpaces erratic, short-term activities. [00:01:23] What feels slow in the short term often looks fast in the long term, while seemingly fast micro-activities usually result in slow macro-growth because compounding never starts. [00:01:34] Every change incurs a “fixed cost” that must be paid, with no guarantee of success. [00:01:48]
The Importance of Volume and Persistence
When initially trying to attract business with flyers, the speaker put out 300 and felt it didn’t work. [00:02:01] His mentor laughed, explaining that they test with 5,000 flyers and then do 5,000 a day. [00:02:10] This lesson highlighted that the speaker might have been doing the right thing but at an insufficient volume. [00:02:19] He resolved that when receiving advice, the volume or duration of activity would not be the reason for failure. [00:02:22] Many young entrepreneurs fail by doing too little for too short a time, potentially missing out on successful outcomes. [00:02:29]
Shifting Beliefs and Perspective
Attending a mastermind event, the speaker observed a seemingly disorganized entrepreneur making 400,000 a month. [00:02:38] This moment broke a limiting belief for the speaker: if this person could achieve that success despite perceived disorganization, he and his wife, Layla, could too. [00:02:47] Instead of dismissing the person, he shifted his perspective to use others’ successes as fuel rather than feeling inadequate. [00:03:07] This change allowed them to grow their business to $1 million a month within six months. [00:03:17]
Opportunity vs. Skillset
The speaker initially aimed to build a national gym chain. [00:03:23] A mastermind organizer told him, “I think you have a level 10 skill set and a level two opportunity.” [00:03:31] This feedback, while heartbreaking, simultaneously encouraged him by raising the bar for what he was capable of achieving. [00:03:38] The “level two opportunity” referred to one with low leverage and poor compounding for capital. [00:03:54] Being successful in a difficult opportunity indicates strong skill sets that can lead to much bigger wins in a more favorable environment. [00:04:01]
Capitalizing on “Fat Pitches”
At an exclusive event with high-earning individuals, a mentor who had made $27 million in a single day shared crucial advice: “Fat pitches in life don’t come very often. [00:04:29] When it gets easy is when you need to go hard.” [00:04:31] Many entrepreneurs tend to ease off when things are going well. [00:04:47] However, true growth comes from maximizing these rare opportunities, even if it means short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. [00:04:59]
Doubling Down on What Works
At the same event, another individual challenged the speaker, who was already doubling his revenue monthly, about starting a new supplement business. [00:05:03] The advice was to instead triple his marketing spend on the current successful venture. [00:05:10] By following this advice, the business grew from 2 million in six months. [00:05:18]
Focus on Volume Over Innovation
When something is going well, the real win is often just doing 10 times more of that thing, rather than seeking new wins. [00:05:31] Once product-market fit is achieved, innovation should focus on increasing volume. [00:05:39] This is a key business growth strategy.
Investing in Learning and Experimentation
An e-commerce brand owner, doing $30 million a year, advised allocating a percentage (e.g., 10-20%) of marketing spend to new ideas. [00:05:48] This “learning budget” should be spent with the expectation of losing it, but gaining lessons and experience. [00:06:00] The mentor explained that while 4 out of 5 crazy ideas fail, the 1 out of 5 that succeed can become “Leading Edge Innovation” that propels the business to the next level. [00:06:05] This extended the speaker’s time horizon for return on investment, allowing him to be creative and accept failure as part of the growth process. [00:06:39]
Joint Decision-Making in Business Partnerships
A pastor gave the speaker and his wife, Layla, a simple piece of advice: “If you don’t agree, don’t move forward.” [00:06:59] This principle, applied both personally and professionally, has saved them many mistakes. [00:07:02] It encourages slowing down and questioning if information or a perspective is being missed, especially given that true urgency is rare. [00:07:06]
Expanding Total Addressable Market (TAM)
At a mastermind for half-billion-dollar businesses, the speaker, doing $30-40 million annually, observed that the larger companies targeted a much wider audience. [00:07:31] While starting small in a niche (“riches are in the niches”) is effective, at a certain point, it becomes necessary to “open up the aperture” and go broader, like Facebook expanding beyond college students. [00:07:51]
The Power of Talent and People
Stuck at 30-40 million plateau, a key element of business growth. [00:09:15]
Embracing the Costs of Impact
A famous friend’s perspective profoundly impacted the speaker: if the price of making the desired impact includes public inconvenience and threats, he would “pay it every day of the week.” [00:09:34] Fame and recognition have both pros and cons, but the speaker believes the pros outweigh the cons. [00:09:49] The pros include attracting amazing talent and teammates who share the same mission and values, leading to greater alignment and economic value through inbound opportunities. [00:10:06]
Volume of Content and Work Ethic
An influencer friend challenged the speaker on how to “shortcut” success. [00:10:31] The advice was simply to start making content on every platform and increase volume significantly. [00:10:34] Comparing their social media posts, the influencer had posted five to seven times more content than the speaker. [00:10:54] In the next six months, the speaker put out ten times more content and grew ten times faster. [00:11:06]
The Boring Work Principle
The more work you do, the more you get. This ubiquitous principle applies to all aspects of business growth, including relationships, cold calling, and content creation. [00:11:13]
Strategic Investment Rules
The speaker, having accumulated significant wealth, faced “deal flow” from various investment opportunities (real estate, crypto). [00:11:32] However, he lacked clear rules or parameters, leading to decision fatigue. [00:11:36] A conversation changed his approach: an investor advised allocating capital based on expertise. If 85% of his knowledge was in real estate and 15% in stocks, that should be his capital allocation. [00:11:46] For the speaker, this meant investing “only in businesses” because he understood the pitfalls and could move faster. [00:12:09] This principle, part of his investment and company growth strategies, simplified his life and significantly improved his investment performance. [00:12:21]
Product as Leverage for Growth
Naval Ravikant’s idea of product leverage states that you sell because you know how to market, and you market because you know how to build a product. [00:12:36] An exceptional product has a quadratic relationship with its audience (one person buys, two tell two, two tell four), while good marketing or sales is linear. [00:12:47] It’s less work in the long run to build an excellent product that people can’t help but tell others about than to build a poor one and spend all your time marketing it. [00:13:11] The product is the strongest form of leverage in business. [00:13:18]
The Quantifiable Power of Brand
The speaker initially dismissed brand as “amorphous BS.” [00:13:25] However, learning from Warren Buffett, he understood that brand is quantifiable: it’s “the amount that you can charge above the commoditized version of your product.” [00:13:30] For example, if a t-shirt sells for 100 with your brand, the $80 difference is the power of the brand, which directly impacts the bottom line. [00:13:38] This pricing power is why Buffett invests in brands; it creates a compounding vehicle of audience and awareness. [00:13:46]