A SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY That Can 10X Your Money! (with Evan Carmichael) May '22 Ep 407

In a dynamic conversation, Alex Hormozi and Evan Carmichael discuss the impact of content creation and entrepreneurship. Hormozi, a successful entrepreneur, shares his journey from social media silence to becoming a content creator after being inspired by Carmichael's insights on the need for high-level business content on YouTube. They delve into the importance of authenticity, with Hormozi emphasizing the value of imperfect action and learning through doing. He advocates for providing free, valuable content as a long-term strategy to build goodwill and attract potential business partners, contrasting this with the short-term mindset of direct marketing. Hormozi also touches upon the significance of leverage in scaling businesses, the transition from self-employment to leadership, and the power of branding over direct response in the long run. Finally, he encourages entrepreneurs to share their success and seek collaboration with his team at acquisition.com when they're ready to scale their businesses further.

• Evan Carmichael is a successful YouTube content creator with millions of subscribers.
• Mosey Nation interviews Evan to discuss content creation, leverage, and business growth strategies.
• The interview provides tactical advice for entrepreneurs building their brands and businesses.
• Discussion includes the importance of authenticity and value in content creation.

"Evan Carmichael, who's an amazing YouTube content creator you guys can check out. He has a YouTube channel that's got, I think, a few million subscribers on it."

This quote introduces Evan Carmichael as a prominent figure in the YouTube content creation space with a substantial following, setting the stage for his insights on content strategy.

• Authenticity in content creation can be more impactful than high production value.
• Alex Hormozi attributes success to speaking his truth in a simple setting, like his closet, rather than using high-end equipment.
• The focus should be on the message and truthfulness rather than the perfection of the technical aspects.

"But it's not about the high end camera and editing and b roll. It's like, here's a guy sits in his closet and just speaks his truth into the camera."

This quote emphasizes that genuine content, even if produced with minimal equipment, can resonate with audiences and lead to success.

• Alex Hormozi was inspired to create content after realizing there was a demand for high-level business advice from experienced entrepreneurs, not just YouTube influencers.
• The realization that valuable content has a significant audience led Alex to start his own content creation journey.

"It was actually an interview that you had done with Brad Lee where you said there's this huge vacuum on YouTube with regards to, I think you said, like, higher level business stuff from people who were business people, but not YouTube influencers who made their money doing YouTube stuff, but made their money elsewhere and could apply those principles."

This quote reveals the inspiration behind Alex Hormozi's decision to begin creating content, highlighting a gap in the market for genuine business advice from successful entrepreneurs.

• Alex Hormozi advocates for taking imperfect action and learning through the process rather than waiting for perfection.
• He suggests that prioritizing elements like thumbnails, headlines, and the first 20 seconds of a video is more important than perfect lighting or setup.
• The concept of "giving ourselves permission to suck" is key to progress and overcoming the fear of starting something new.

"We're big fans of imperfect action and I think that we're also, at least I'm a big student of you learn through doing, not through preparing to do."

This quote captures the philosophy of learning by engaging directly in activities rather than excessive planning, which can hinder starting new ventures.

• Alex Hormozi believes that building goodwill with an audience can be more valuable than immediate revenue generation.
• By not immediately selling to his audience, Alex creates a sense of trust and encourages organic sharing of his content.
• The strategy of providing free value aligns with a long-term vision and mission to help entrepreneurs without expecting immediate financial return.

"I think that goodwill compounds faster than revenue."

This quote highlights the long-term strategy of building goodwill and trust with an audience, which can lead to more sustainable success than short-term revenue-focused approaches.

• Alex Hormozi's business philosophy has evolved to focus on helping entrepreneurs and providing free value rather than selling products or services.
• He prefers to invest in and support growing businesses rather than create a business around content creation.
• Hormozi's approach is compared to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger's strategy of creating proprietary deal flow.

"I don't think many of the things that we do will amount to anything in the long term. And so the things that I enjoy that I deem meaningful are helping other entrepreneurs get started."

This quote expresses Alex Hormozi's belief in the meaningfulness of supporting fellow entrepreneurs and his long-term perspective on the impact of business activities.

• Alex Hormozi shares his personal journey from following a traditional career path to choosing entrepreneurship at the age of 22.
• The decision marked a significant departure from cultural and familial expectations, reflecting a commitment to pursuing his own vision.

"So you go from in your late teens and early twenties, kind of living your dad's life, going to school, being a management consultant, the whole kind of Iranian work ethic, become a doctor, all that stuff, and then at 22, you decide, no, peace out, I'm not doing this."

This quote outlines the pivotal moment when Alex Hormozi decided to leave a traditional career path to forge his own entrepreneurial journey, demonstrating the courage to break away from expected norms.

• Mosey Nation's father valued material success and communicated this through actions rather than words.
• Mosey Nation felt the need to earn more money than his father to gain his approval.
• There was a significant period of minimal communication between Mosey Nation and his father.
• The power shift in their relationship occurred when Mosey Nation's financial success became undeniable.
• Mosey Nation applies the principle of being "beyond reproach" to various aspects of his life due to his own insecurities.

"And so for me to gain the affirmation or the approval of my father, I had to make money." "It's like I had to make more money than it ever made in its entire life for that to really solidify." "And so when I started making money, I think the first year that we made, like, $10 million, he was like, well, we'll see how long it lasts."

Mosey Nation explains that his father's approval was contingent on financial success, and even when he achieved it, his father's reaction was skeptical, suggesting a continuous challenge to prove himself.

• Adding zeros to revenue is about scaling by orders of magnitude, not by increasing work tenfold.
• The initial shift is from employment to self-employment, where time and billing rates are limiting factors.
• Building a core team across different functions is the subsequent step.
• Transitioning from managing to leading involves hiring experienced individuals.
• Early on, learning skills is crucial because hiring skilled individuals is not yet financially feasible.
• Later, the ability to recruit skilled individuals becomes the bottleneck.
• Businesses can either buy talent or build it internally.
• Each revenue milestone (10k, 1 million, 10 million) represents a new level of leverage in the business.
• Mosey Nation recalls Nabal Ravikant's framework of leverage, which includes collaboration, capital, content, and code.

"And the only way you can really just add an order of magnitude is not by doing ten times more work, but by adding leverage." "From there, your next level is going to be building the core team, which is usually five or so people, which will be representative of departmental functions within a company." "It's like you want to find somebody who's already run the Olympic gold and then have them run it with you, rather than like, oh, I'm a running coach. I've never run gold, but I'll try and do it with you."

Mosey Nation discusses the necessity of leverage in business growth, the importance of building a core team, and the strategy of hiring people with a proven track record for leadership roles.

• Leverage is crucial for scaling businesses.
• The most successful and long-lasting businesses typically have four aspects of leverage: people, capital, code (software), and media.
• Alex Hormozi's business currently utilizes three of these leverage types: media, collaboration, and capital.
• Incorporating a software component could be necessary for significant growth, such as scaling from $10 million a month to $100 million a month.
• Acquisition.com is a platform for business owners looking to scale their businesses significantly.

"And so as you're looking to scale the company, it's like, how many boxes of these leverage can I check?"

This quote stresses the importance of assessing how many types of leverage a business can utilize to scale effectively.

"I think for us going from 10 million a month to maybe 100 million a month, I'll probably have to figure out some sort of code thing."

Alex Hormozi indicates that for his business to scale from $10 million to $100 million a month, incorporating software leverage might be necessary.

• The comparison between sports team recruitment strategies and business talent acquisition.
• Drafting talent is likened to hiring individuals with raw potential and developing their skills.
• Free agency represents hiring established talent with experience.
• A balance between building and buying talent is ideal, with a suggested 80/20 split between developing talent and hiring experienced professionals.
• Successful teams and companies attract better talent by providing better opportunities.

"You're picking somebody out of college and they're young and hungry, but they're already good, and you're making even better versus free agency, you're getting already the best."

Evan Carmichael highlights the difference between drafting budding talent and acquiring established professionals.

"The 80 20 split, is that you want 20% of the people that are on your team to already have been there, done that, and then the 80% to be kind of building their arsenal and skill set."

Alex Hormozi suggests maintaining a balance in a team with a majority being developed internally while a smaller portion consists of experienced hires.

• It's essential to focus on the core strategy of the business and not get distracted by potential short-term gains.
• Alex Hormozi emphasizes the importance of creating valuable products based on real-time experience.
• The strategy includes providing value that can lead to customers becoming partners when they surpass certain revenue thresholds.
• Brand equity should not be sacrificed for insignificant revenue streams that do not align with the business's long-term vision.

"You don't want to sacrifice an empire to pick up a pot of gold."

Alex Hormozi warns against the risk of losing sight of a larger goal by getting distracted by smaller, short-term opportunities.

"It's the short cash grab that just doesn't make sense, at least for me, for the big picture of where we're trying to go."

This quote further emphasizes the importance of staying true to the long-term business strategy rather than being tempted by quick, but ultimately insignificant, financial opportunities.

• Authenticity is defined as alignment between one's beliefs, words, and actions.
• Being authentically oneself can lead to both admiration and hatred from others, but it's important to separate external opinions from self-worth.
• Alex Hormozi and his wife, Layla, decided to embrace fame while ensuring they remain genuine, fearing the disconnection between their public persona and personal identity.

"We like to define authenticity in terms of what you truly believe deep down is aligned with what you actually say, and what you say is aligned with what you actually do."

Alex Hormozi describes his and Layla's definition of authenticity, emphasizing the consistency between beliefs, speech, and actions.

"It's courage to be hated because people will hate you for who you are, more so because of what it makes them feel about themselves."

This quote acknowledges that authenticity may lead to being disliked by some, but it's a reflection of their own feelings rather than a true measure of one's worth.

• Evan Carmichael discusses the struggle with fame and ego, and the realization of personal story's impact.
• The recognition of authenticity and the potential for being better in person.
• The importance of visibility in spreading one's message.

"I fought with my agent for years on this, and he eventually worked it in that, hey, the more people know you, the more people will hear the message and will then take action that your story actually has a ton of power."

This quote highlights the internal conflict Evan Carmichael faced regarding fame and the eventual understanding that fame can be a tool to amplify one's message and influence.

• Alex Hormozi emphasizes the importance of frameworks for efficient and effective decision-making.
• Frameworks act as shortcuts and codify the variables for decisions.
• The goal is to avoid remaking decisions and to focus on more complex, strategic choices.

"Frameworks are just shortcuts for decision making. And so what we're doing is just codifying the variables that we use to make a decision deliberately, so that the next time we're confronted with the decision, we don't need to remake and re walk through that process so that we can save the time and energy."

This quote explains the utility of frameworks in decision-making, illustrating how they simplify the process and conserve mental resources for more significant decisions.

• Alex Hormozi offers a perspective on ethical behavior as a matter of time horizon.
• He suggests that long-term selfishness is more beneficial than short-term selfishness.
• The concept of giving value without expectation can lead to receiving in the long run.

"I am better at being selfish than the person who is short sighted. So they are also being selfish. I am being selfish. I'm just being selfish long. They are being selfish short."

Here, Alex Hormozi challenges the dichotomy of good versus evil, proposing that ethical behavior can be seen as enlightened self-interest over a longer time frame.

• Alex Hormozi differentiates between the long-term value of branding and the immediate returns of direct response marketing.
• Branding requires patience and yields a higher return on investment over time.
• The power of a brand is built over years and can command premium pricing.

"Branding has a significantly higher return on advertising spend and effort if measured over a longer time horizon. Direct response has a much higher roas return on spend on a short time horizon."

This quote contrasts the two marketing strategies, highlighting the long-term benefits of building a brand compared to the immediate but potentially less sustainable returns of direct response.

• Alex Hormozi expresses his desire for others to succeed as a way of giving back.
• Personal success and taking action are the best ways for others to repay him.
• Acquisition.com is a platform for investment opportunities, but success at any level is celebrated.

"Be successful. Just don't be in your parents basement not doing something. That's what you can do. Because for me, like you said, I know I'm going to die, and people will forget about me in 500 years."

Alex Hormozi emphasizes the importance of personal achievement and taking action as the best way to reciprocate the help he provides, underlining his philosophy of self-reliance and action.

• Alex Hormozi references Leon Leonwood Bean's philosophy on contentment and the purpose of business.
• The goal of business is often to work with people you care about, find meaning, and help others.
• Success is not only measured by profits but by fulfillment in helping others.

"I already eat three meals a day. He's like, what would I do with a fourth, right?"

This quote from Leon Leonwood Bean, cited by Alex Hormozi, encapsulates a philosophy of contentment and the idea that business success isn't solely about maximizing profits but also about finding meaning and satisfaction in one's work.