From: alexhormozi

The economic landscape has fundamentally shifted, moving from a focus on energy resources to the increasingly valuable commodity of human attention [00:00:14]. This shift signifies a new era where influence and media mastery are paramount for wealth creation [00:01:03].

Attention: The New Oil

In the last century, the wealthiest individuals and largest companies were built on oil and energy [00:00:17]. Today, four out of the top five biggest companies are built not on the old oil, but on the “new oil” — attention [00:00:26]. The constant pumping and drilling in the modern economy is for the attention of the masses [00:00:38]. This involves capturing as many hours of people’s open eyes and ears as possible [00:00:47].

Just as oil was once a scarce resource, attention is now the most valuable scarce resource [00:01:29]. Those who create platforms enabling others to “drill” for attention are effectively buying up the digital real estate of collective attention [00:01:07]. Unlike oil tycoons who had to haggle for land, today’s attention magnates simply “take” it [00:01:25].

Notable examples of individuals who have leveraged attention into immense wealth include:

  • Conor McGregor, whose Proper No. Twelve whiskey became a $600 million deal [00:00:00].
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, whose Teremana Tequila is now valued at approximately $4 billion [00:00:04].
  • Kylie Jenner, who became a billionaire at 20, making the front of Forbes [00:00:08].
  • Mr. Beast, predicted to become a centibillionaire [00:01:00].
  • Huda Beauty, who sold a percentage of her company for $600 million, now valued at over a billion [00:02:42].

Leverage Through Media

The concept of leverage is key to understanding how these individuals achieved such financial success [00:03:25]. Leverage is defined as the difference between effort put in and output received [00:03:26]. The individuals who earn the most money are those with the greatest leverage, maximizing returns on their time [00:03:29].

Naval Ravikant’s “Almanac” outlines four types of leverage [00:03:21]:

  1. Labor: Having other people do work for you, freeing up your time and increasing output [00:03:41].
  2. Capital: Investing money provided by others to generate returns [00:03:47].
  3. Code: Creating software that millions can use, requiring a one-time investment for potentially infinite returns [00:03:52].
  4. Media: Producing content (like a video) that can be seen by millions or hundreds of millions of people with a single effort, providing immense leverage [00:04:03].

Media is a powerful compounding vehicle [00:04:26]. Unlike traditional businesses where output is often linear, media allows for a single investment of time to multiply itself repeatedly, reaching a vast audience [00:04:03].

The Shift in Personal Beliefs

Initially, the speaker preferred to build businesses like Gym Launcher and Prestige Labs, focusing on running ads and remaining “rich and unknown” [00:01:48]. This belief was challenged by the success of individuals like Kylie Jenner, who at 20, had a net worth far exceeding the speaker’s income despite being seven years younger [00:02:03]. This sparked a “huge belief shift” and a realization that his existing business models lacked the compounding leverage seen in media-driven ventures [00:02:25].

The speaker’s ego initially led to protective excuses, attributing Kylie’s success to her family [00:02:31]. However, witnessing similar successes from Huda Beauty, Conor McGregor, and The Rock repeatedly, forced a re-evaluation of his core beliefs about wealth building [00:02:55].

Overcoming the fear of exposure and “weirdos” that come with fame was another hurdle [00:05:16]. A conversation with Dean Graziosi provided a pivotal moment: “If a couple weird letters every day or every week is the price I have to pay for the impact I want to have, I pay that price any day of the week and twice on Sunday” [00:05:41]. This helped the speaker realize that the desire to make business education available to everyone required matching actions to that goal, embracing the necessary exposure [00:06:00].

Ultimately, the key realization was that content is not the output; it is the input [00:06:31]. The output is the audience, and the audience is what compounds and sticks [00:06:34]. The audience is the scarce resource that continuously pumps attention [00:06:42].

Translating Attention into Money

Successfully translating attention into money involves several key factors:

  1. Long-Term Audience Building: Influencers spend significant time building and amassing attention before attempting to monetize [00:07:33]. The Rock, for example, built his brand for 20 years before signing deals or launching products [00:07:43]. The longer one waits and gives value to their audience, the bigger the potential monetization can be [00:08:00].
  2. On-Brand Monetization: The products or services chosen for monetization must align with the influencer’s brand and resonate with their audience [00:08:07]. The Rock’s deal with Under Armour makes sense because fitness is central to his brand [00:08:14].
  3. Status Association: Celebrities are iconic figures that brands seek to associate with [00:08:27]. Consumers then buy the brand to associate themselves with the status embodied by the celebrity [00:08:35]. Examples include Kim Kardashian with Dolce & Gabbana and LeBron James with Nike [00:08:32].
  4. Multi-Dimensional Engagement (Cross-Pollination): Mega-stars like Joe Rogan engage deeply across multiple interests (UFC, comedy, fitness, biohacking, UFOs) [00:09:18]. This allows them to attract diverse audiences and cross-pollinate them, leading to even faster audience compounding [00:09:33].

The Future of Wealth Creation

The game of wealth creation has fundamentally changed [00:09:58]. If past generations were built on oil, the new generation of billionaires will be built on attention [00:10:01]. Media will only become more expensive and fragmented over time [00:10:06], making the cost of acquiring and holding an audience more valuable [00:10:15].

The individuals who will become the new “centibillionaires” will be those who can perform three critical actions:

  1. Capture attention [00:10:25].
  2. Hold attention [00:10:26].
  3. Multiply attention [00:10:26].