Active Business to Passive Income Ep 330

Alex, the host of the business strategy game discussion, delves into the transformation of active businesses into passive income streams, emphasizing the entrepreneurial pursuit of freedom. He shares his personal experience with his company, Gym Launch, highlighting the shift from a $17 million profit with high personal involvement to an $8 million profit with minimal time investment, thereby increasing his dollars per hour. Alex stresses the importance of timing in the delegation process and advises against premature removal from the CEO role. He outlines a mental model for entrepreneurs to strategically delegate tasks, thereby freeing up time for higher-value activities or ownership roles, ultimately leading to a more valuable, sellable enterprise. Alex's key takeaway is the distinction between earning from activities versus owning assets, which can lead to sustainable growth and personal freedom.

• Entrepreneurs often seek to increase returns by making passive income streams more active.
• The transition from entrepreneur to investor can be challenging due to the temptation to actively manage passive investments.
• The ultimate goal for many entrepreneurs is to achieve freedom through passive income.

"You want to take your passive things and make them more active in order to increase your returns." This quote highlights the entrepreneurial instinct to optimize income streams by actively managing them to improve profit margins.

• Achieving freedom is a common goal among entrepreneurs, equating to not having to work while still earning money.
• Alex emphasizes that any business can be made passive or active depending on the approach and time investment.

"So the goal that most entrepreneurs have is to have freedom, right? So we want to not work or not have to work and have money coming towards us." This quote underscores the entrepreneurial desire for freedom and financial independence through passive income.

• Entrepreneurs must balance their time investment with the income generated from their businesses.
• Alex shares his personal experience with Gym Launch, detailing the trade-off between profit and personal time involvement.

"When we did 17 million, I was the business... Now, the business basically generates half the profit, but it involves me for about 90 minutes a week." The quote provides a real-world example of how reducing active involvement in a business can lead to lower profits but significantly higher dollars earned per hour of work.

• Entrepreneurs often consider outsourcing to reduce their workload, but timing is crucial.
• Alex suggests that outsourcing should be considered once an entrepreneur has achieved a certain level of wealth and can shift focus to other life priorities.

"And so what I want to walk through in this video is kind of the process and how to do it and when to do it." This quote indicates Alex's intent to discuss the strategic approach to transitioning from an active role in business to a passive one.

• Entrepreneurs may redefine success metrics beyond financial gains as they achieve wealth.
• Alex values time with his wife, personal health, and social interactions as new measures of success.

"But I think for me, my answer would be like, I've achieved the wealth that I want. I don't need to gas it anymore. And now it's really using a different metric for success." This quote reflects Alex's personal shift in defining success, emphasizing the importance of time and quality of life over continuous wealth accumulation.

• Alex discusses the common entrepreneurial mistake of trying to leave the CEO role too early.
• He emphasizes the importance of turning active income into passive income.
• Alex provides a mental model for entrepreneurs to follow when transitioning from CEO to owner.
• He shares his personal experience with his fitness companies, Gym Launch, and the transformation from a personality brand to an enterprise.
• The transition involves building a business that operates independently, with a management team, providing consistent value to customers.

"But what I want to do is give you a mental model for how to do it when it's right. Because ultimately, if you can turn your active income into passive income... Gym launch as an enterprise is far more valuable now than they were when it made $17 million in profit."

The quote highlights the core idea of transitioning from an active role in the business to a more passive one, where the business's value is not tied to the individual but to its operational structure and ability to generate revenue independently.

• Alex describes the entrepreneurial journey as a process of doing everything initially and then delegating low-value tasks.
• He stresses the importance of using the time gained from delegation to perform higher-value tasks.
• Entrepreneurship is defined as the continuous act of arbitraging time, improving one's skillset, and contributing to more valuable aspects of the business.
• The mistake some entrepreneurs make is outsourcing tasks without filling their time with more valuable activities.

"And then fundamentally, that's literally what entrepreneurship is, just arbitraging time over and over and over again and then leveling up your own skill set so that with the time that you get back, you can do more valuable things."

The quote succinctly defines entrepreneurship as the process of leveraging time effectively to continuously upgrade one's skills and contribute to higher-value aspects of the business, which is crucial for growth.

• Alex introduces a mental framework to help entrepreneurs evaluate their growth.
• He suggests that looking back at what one was doing a year ago compared to the present can indicate growth.
• The idea is to always be doing something different and more valuable as the business scales.
• The framework is intended for business owners aiming to significantly grow their businesses.

"Imagine, let's say you look back at what you were doing a year ago, and it probably should look different than what you're doing today, right? Hopefully, if you're growing in your business, what you're doing then versus what you're doing now is different."

This quote encourages entrepreneurs to reflect on their progress and ensure that they are continually evolving in their roles and tasks, which is a sign of business growth and personal development.

• Alex discusses the importance of delegating tasks to grow a business effectively.
• He emphasizes taking two steps forward, not just one, in terms of delegation.
• The concept revolves around not only delegating current tasks but also future responsibilities.
• Delegating effectively can transform an active income business into one that generates passive income.
• This process can lead to the creation of assets that are sellable and more valuable.

If you can actually jump two steps forward, then your business could be 100% growing at the same pace it is now with somebody doing both of these things that you were doing and then you just owning it, all right?

This quote highlights the potential for exponential growth by delegating both current and future tasks, allowing the business owner to focus on ownership rather than day-to-day operations.

• Alex identifies a common issue where businesses heavily reliant on the owner's personality are difficult to sell.
• Entrepreneurs often fail to realize the true value of their business when they are too involved in its operations.
• He explains the financial implications of not having a leadership team in place.

One of the number one issues that people have is like, you can't sell personality brands, you can't sell their own businesses because they're so integrally involved in them.

This quote explains the difficulty in selling businesses that are closely tied to the owner's personal brand and involvement, which is a challenge for many entrepreneurs.

• Alex breaks down the concept of business profitability in terms of owner's involvement.
• He provides a hypothetical scenario to illustrate the difference in business valuation when the owner's labor is accounted for.
• The distinction between what the business generates and what the owner contributes is crucial for accurate business valuation.

So your total as a person are netting $3 million, but the business is generating 1.5 and you are generating 1.5.

The quote clarifies how the owner's labor contributes to the overall net profit and how recognizing this can impact the perception and valuation of a business.

• Alex advocates for stepping back to gain a better perspective on the business.
• By doing so, owners can identify weaknesses and opportunities more effectively.
• This strategic position allows owners to guide their business from a higher vantage point.
• The role transitions from an active participant to a chairman overseeing the business's direction.

And then what's crazy about this is that you can actually see the weaknesses of your own business far better when you're outside of it, looking in and see, you can see the marketplace better, you can see what your customers are saying better.

This quote emphasizes the improved clarity and perspective gained when an owner steps back from the daily grind, allowing for more strategic insights into the business and its market.

• Establishing a clear vision is crucial for the direction of a company.
• Once a vision is set, the focus should shift to consistent execution rather than frequent changes.
• Consistency in pursuing the vision is key to transitioning from running a business to owning it.

"And the thing is, the vision doesn't change that frequently. And so you need to be smart about why you're choosing to go in the direction you are. But once you've made the decision. There's not a lot of change that has to happen."

This quote emphasizes the importance of having a stable vision for the company and the need for judicious decision-making when setting the direction. It also highlights that after a decision is made, the emphasis should be on execution rather than constant change.

• Transitioning from running a business to owning it should not be done prematurely.
• A common mistake is making this transition too early, which can lead to challenges.

"One, don't do it too soon. And this is probably the number one mistake that I see people make, is that they do it too soon."

Alex warns against the premature transition from hands-on business management to a more passive ownership role, suggesting that timing is critical to avoid potential pitfalls.

• Understanding the difference between active income (what you get paid for) and passive income (returns on ownership) is vital.
• The goal is to replace oneself in the active income role while retaining the assets that generate passive income.

"If you can think about what you get paid on versus what you get returns on, then you can separate what you do versus what you own within the value that you have in your own net worth."

Alex explains the importance of distinguishing between active work (earning) and asset ownership (receiving returns), and how this distinction can impact personal net worth.

• The strategy involves hiring someone to do the active work while focusing on the assets that generate returns.
• This may lead to a temporary decrease in income but can increase net worth by raising the business's enterprise value.
• The business becomes more valuable when it can operate independently of the owner.

"So we want to put someone in place to do the things that we're getting paid for and then continue to keep the things that we're getting returns on."

This quote outlines the wealth-building strategy of delegating the active income-generating work to others while maintaining ownership of assets that provide returns, thereby freeing up the owner's time and increasing the business's value.

• The ultimate goal is to find ways to increase revenue without the owner's active involvement.
• By removing oneself from the active income equation, the owner can focus on enhancing passive income streams.
• Asking better questions about revenue growth without personal involvement leads to better answers and strategies.

"How can I increase the revenue that I'm making here without me being involved? Because it's all about the constraints that we can put on ourselves."

Alex discusses the importance of finding ways to increase revenue without direct involvement, which aligns with the goal of owning a business that operates independently and efficiently.

• The discussed strategies aim to provide business owners with more freedom, which is often the reason for entering entrepreneurship.
• Alex encourages feedback on the content and invites viewers to subscribe and watch more videos.

"And so anyways, hope this is valuable for you. Hit subscribe if it was, check out the next video that comes up because I'm sure it's sweet and if you hated this then I would ask that you can also tell me that you hated it and I will send you love either way."

In concluding, Alex expresses hope that the viewers found the information valuable, invites them to subscribe, and encourages them to watch more content or provide feedback, even if it's negative, demonstrating a commitment to engaging with the audience.