The Biggest Mistake I’ve Made in Business Ep 177

In the Gym Secrets podcast, the host and guest discuss the paradox of success leading to failure in entrepreneurship. The host, Alex Hormozi, emphasizes the importance of repeating successful actions rather than constantly seeking change. He introduces the concept of the "Bergelman's trap," where entrepreneurs fail to understand why they succeeded and mistakenly tweak their strategies, leading to failure. Hormozi advises against self-sabotage by resisting the urge to innovate unnecessarily and instead focusing on quality assurance and maintaining what works. He stresses that profit and happiness come from consistency and mastering the mundane aspects of business, rather than the excitement of new ventures.

• The paradox of success leading to failure is a common issue among entrepreneurs.
• Success can lead to self-sabotage if entrepreneurs fail to sustain their successful actions.
• Entrepreneurs often have the urge to change successful strategies, which can lead to failure.
• The ability to focus and resist change is crucial for maintaining success.

"The number one reason that people fail is because they are successful. Then they change something."

This quote highlights the ironic cause of failure for many successful individuals: the compulsion to change a winning formula. It emphasizes the need for consistency in maintaining success.

• Self-sabotage is a significant barrier to sustaining success.
• The difficulty lies in the inability to repeat what has already proven successful.
• Entrepreneurs must resist their nature to innovate in favor of repetition.
• Sustaining success requires focusing on proven strategies and avoiding unnecessary changes.

"It's not being able to repeat successful actions."

This quote points out the core issue of self-sabotage, where entrepreneurs fail to stick with successful actions and instead seek new methods, undermining their previous success.

• The traits that help entrepreneurs achieve success are not the same ones that help maintain it.
• Success requires a shift in focus and the development of new skill sets.
• Entrepreneurs must learn to emphasize different aspects of their character to sustain success.
• The process of maintaining success can be tedious and requires discipline.

"The problem is, the personality traits that you and I have that got us there are not the things that keep us there."

This quote explains that the entrepreneurial qualities that drive initial success, such as creativity and risk-taking, may not be beneficial for sustaining that success, which often requires consistency and discipline.

• Focus is defined as the ability to say no and resist the urge to change.
• Entrepreneurs must develop the skill of focusing at each level of success.
• The discipline to maintain the status quo is often against an entrepreneur's nature.
• Learning to focus and say no is a critical skill set for sustained success.

"And I'm defining focus as the ability to say no. Right? And the ability to not change things, because it's in our nature to always want to tweak, always want to tinker."

This quote defines focus as the ability to resist changes and stick to what works. It highlights the natural tendency of entrepreneurs to innovate, which can be counterproductive when it comes to sustaining success.

• Making changes after achieving success can lead to negative outcomes.
• Entrepreneurs often change multiple aspects of their business, leading to confusion about what caused failure.
• The key to continued success is to identify what works and consistently apply it, avoiding simultaneous changes that can muddle results.

"But the number one reason that people fail is because they are successful. Then they change something, and then it no longer works, right?"

This quote reiterates the theme that success can lead to failure when changes are made. It serves as a warning to entrepreneurs to be cautious about altering their successful strategies.

• As individuals progress, the value of opportunities they must decline increases.
• The allure of new opportunities grows in tandem with one's skill set.
• There is a challenge in maintaining focus and repeating successful actions.

"So it's like, in the beginning, you have to say no to, let's say, a $50,000 opportunity. And then once you level up, then it's like you're saying no to a $250,000 opportunity, and then you're saying no to a million dollar opportunity, and then you're saying no to a $10 million opportunity."

This quote illustrates the escalating scale of opportunities one encounters as they advance in their career or business, highlighting the increasing difficulty in saying no to more attractive offers.

"And so don't think that you're like, well, I learned how to say no at this level, right? I don't even have to try and say no to that stuff anymore because I don't even think about it."

The speaker emphasizes that the ability to say no at a lower level does not guarantee the same at higher levels, as the temptation grows with one's skill set.

• The Bergelman's Trap is the preference to understand failure rather than succeed without knowing why.
• Dr. Bergerman, a Stanford PhD and MBA, coined the term.
• Business owners and entrepreneurs often overestimate their understanding of their successes.

"And so the reason that business owners, entrepreneurs, et cetera, are not successful when they don't repeat successful actions is something called the Bergelman's trap."

This quote introduces the concept of the Bergelman's Trap, explaining why some entrepreneurs fail to replicate success due to a lack of understanding of the underlying reasons for their achievements.

"And the reality is that I think the vast majority of us, myself included, we think we're smarter than we are, and we don't actually know why we succeeded."

The speaker admits that many people, including themselves, often mistakenly believe they fully comprehend the reasons behind their success, which can be a pitfall.

• Many entrepreneurs mistakenly believe they know what will lead to success.
• The reality is that predictive ability is often poor, as demonstrated by numerous failed attempts.

"You tried 20 other things that you thought were going to work and none of them worked. So I would say that your predictive ability is probably pretty poor."

This quote points out the common error in assuming one knows which actions will lead to success, as evidenced by multiple failed attempts that challenge the perception of one's predictive ability.

• The speaker has authored a book titled "100 million dollar offers" with significant positive reviews on Amazon.
• The book is offered at a low price on Kindle as a contribution to the community and an attempt to garner favor.

"Hey guys, real quick, if you're new to the podcast, I have a book on Amazon. It's called 100 million dollar offers. At over 8005 star reviews, it has almost a perfect score. You can get it for ninety nine cents on Kindle."

This quote serves as a promotion for the speaker's book, highlighting its success and offering it at a discounted rate as a gesture to the podcast's audience.

• Rational design often fails in business, as success can be accidental and not fully understood.
• Entrepreneurs must resist the urge to constantly tweak a working business model.
• Initial growth is exciting but doesn't always equate to profit due to reinvestment.
• Sustained profit comes from repeating successful actions without unnecessary changes.
• Entrepreneurs may self-sabotage due to boredom with a stable, profitable model.
• Fixing the operating model and providing value leads to profit.
• Innovation should be a controlled process separate from the core business model.

"And the reality is that rational design really doesn't work. Trevor could talk about this forever, but a lot of times it's people stumble into things, they try, they try, they try and then finally something works."

This quote explains that success in business often comes from persistence and chance rather than a carefully crafted design. It suggests that understanding the reasons behind success can be elusive.

"And so you have to fight that aspect of your nature that likes to tweak and likes to tinker because it is that what got you there is not going to continue to allow you to see the success."

The quote emphasizes the importance of resisting the urge to alter a business model that is already successful, as continual changes can hinder ongoing success.

"But the problem is that where you actually make your profit is where you actually continue to repeat the same actions over and over again and don't mess with it."

This quote highlights that profit often comes from consistency in business practices rather than constant innovation or change.

"They get bored of making the money they do, and they actually just introduce chaos into their own business because they want to do this again."

The speaker points out a common pitfall for entrepreneurs: disrupting a successful business out of a desire for the excitement of growth, which can lead to self-sabotage.

"This is where you have to learn to make a profit. Some of the most bored times I've had at gym launch, like me personally, has been like, we don't do anything new, and we just make a ton of profit, right?"

Speaker A is conveying that learning to accept and maintain profitable periods without significant change is crucial, even if it feels unexciting compared to the growth phase.

"All of this profit between our cost, et cetera, because we're not spending all this money reinvesting and trying to tweak things right now. Obviously, we innovate a shitload, but that's a defined process in and of itself because that's a successful action that we continue to repeat."

The speaker differentiates between unnecessary tweaking of the business model and structured innovation, suggesting that the latter should be a deliberate and repeatable process that contributes to success without undermining stability.

• Innovation should be approached in small, controlled settings.
• The recommended time allocation for innovation is 10% of one's total time.
• Most people mistakenly devote too much time to new projects, often at the expense of their existing business.

"You have to innovate in small, controlled settings. So if you're looking at your attention span for how you innovate, it's got to be like 90. Ten. Right, like 10% of your time."

This quote emphasizes the importance of dedicating a small, focused portion of time to innovation while maintaining the majority of attention on the core business.

• QA involves ensuring that standard processes are consistently executed.
• It includes checking if employees are following scripts, reaching out to clients, and managing ongoing services like nutrition and upsells.
• QA is considered uninteresting by many but is crucial for profitability.

"And the rest of your time is doing what I would consider QA, which is quality assurance, which is making sure that the things that are supposed to happen are successfully happening continually."

This quote highlights the role of QA in business, ensuring that regular, successful operations are maintained, which is key to consistent performance and profitability.

• Sustaining success in business requires perseverance in repetitive and often tedious tasks.
• Many businesses fail after initial success because they change the processes that led to their success.
• Consistency in effective processes is more profitable than constant optimization, which can lead to failure.

"All the profit is being able to consistently do the same action over and over again. And it's boring as hell. And that's why most people cannot sustain success, is because they fail, fail, fail, achieve and then fail, fail, fail."

This quote explains that the monotony of repetitive success-driven tasks is where profit lies, and that the inability to stick with these tasks leads to failure.

• The advice given is to continue performing the "boring work" that has proven to lead to success.
• Businesses should focus on reaching out to new prospects, nurturing leads, selling with the right process, and delivering great service for client satisfaction.
• The speaker advises against making new changes in favor of sticking with what has been proven to work.

"So just be okay with making money and consistently doing that over and over and over again because that's the point."

This quote advises acceptance of the routine work that generates profit, suggesting that the pursuit of constant change and optimization can be detrimental to business success.