The Honest Realities of Entrepreneurship Pt.1 (on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast) Ep 664

In this insightful conversation at Arcadia with Alex Hormozi, the discussion delves into the nuances of building a successful business, the importance of product quality, and the art of making deals. Alex emphasizes the need for entrepreneurs to focus on solving problems effectively to avoid the perpetual cycle of struggling to meet financial obligations. He highlights the power of leveraging one's network, starting with friends and scaling up promotion only when the product is refined. Alex also stresses the significance of having lived experience with the problem one's business aims to solve, as Y Combinator suggests. Additionally, he advises on the tactic of offering more than what's reasonable and then scaling back to find the sweet spot that customers value. Aubrey Marcus contributes by underscoring the importance of being a genuine customer of one's product and embodying the brand's values to ensure authenticity and credibility. Both speakers advocate for a realistic approach to business growth, leveraging personal experience, and the necessity of customer feedback in refining one's offering.

• In the initial stages of business, investment often outweighs immediate returns.
• Many entrepreneurs focus too much on immediate financial needs instead of solving problems permanently.
• Alex Hormozi emphasizes the importance of overcoming short-term challenges to focus on long-term gains.

"In those early years, you put a lot in, but then there was significantly more on the tail."

This quote highlights the idea that early investments in a business may lead to greater benefits later on, as opposed to immediate but short-lived gains.

"The rush is ultimately what kills most people, because they're so concerned about, like, I need to make money tomorrow..."

Alex Hormozi points out that the urgency to make quick money can be detrimental to long-term success, suggesting that patience and strategic planning are key.

• Money is a universal concern, even within communities that may outwardly reject materialism.
• People often claim not to care about money but act differently when financial opportunities arise.
• Trusting oneself to use money for good can be a justification for the pursuit of wealth.

"So everybody gives a shit about it. A lot of people pretend they don't give a shit about it, but they're lying."

This quote from Speaker B acknowledges the common, if sometimes hidden, importance of money in people's lives, regardless of their public stance.

• Honesty in business dealings is crucial.
• Claiming to value something over money in a business context is a red flag for potential dishonesty.
• Making deals as if with a stranger helps maintain objectivity and fairness.

"If someone says, I value x over money in any business deal, for me, that's always this person I need to watch out for because they're being dishonest."

Alex Hormozi suggests that those who claim to prioritize other values over money in business may not be entirely truthful, which can be a warning sign.

• Equity should reflect the value contributed, not the personal value of the individuals involved.
• Misaligned contributions and equity can lead to business imbalances and conflicts.
• Friends entering business together should be wary of equal equity splits without equal contributions.

"People equate their equity value with their human value."

Alex Hormozi explains that a common mistake in business is confusing personal worth with the value of one's contribution to a business, which can lead to misaligned expectations and equity distribution.

• There may be a disadvantage for the spiritual community in business due to differing values and priorities.
• Integrating financial success with spiritual beliefs can be challenging but is possible.

"There's probably a disadvantage for the spiritual community within the world of business..."

Alex Hormozi acknowledges that the spiritual community might face unique challenges in the business world, where different values and approaches are often required.

• Product quality is essential for long-term business success.
• Marketing and sales are important, but without a good product, growth is not sustainable.
• Accumulating positive word-of-mouth and referrals is key for lasting business growth.

"On the longest time horizon, the only thing that matters is product."

Alex Hormozi emphasizes that while sales and marketing are important, ultimately, the quality of the product determines the sustainability of a business.

• Starting a business inevitably involves incurring some form of debt.
• Choosing the type of debt to incur is crucial, with the goal of taking on debt that is easiest to repay.
• Understanding the value of contributions in terms of equity is important for business structure and growth.

"Whenever you start a business, you always incur debt. And so the question is, what type of debt are you going to incur?"

Alex Hormozi discusses the inevitability of debt in business and the strategic decision-making required to manage it effectively.

• Marketing and sales can drive initial growth, but without a strong product, the business won't stack value over time.
• Businesses should refine their product to the point of organic growth through referrals before heavily investing in marketing and sales.

"If you always want to, like, everyone's going to always work, but you won't always accumulate. And you can only accumulate by building something that people always have good things to say about."

Alex Hormozi explains that accumulation of wealth and business growth is contingent on having a product that customers will endorse and refer over time.

• Setting clear financial goals and understanding the math behind achieving them is critical.
• Reverse engineering from the desired income can help break down the steps needed to reach business targets.
• The "world's simplest formula" for business growth is increasing the number of units sold or the lifetime value of each customer.

"Reverse engineering what you actually want the math to look like is probably the first place to start."

Alex Hormozi advises on the importance of understanding the financial metrics and calculations necessary to set and achieve business goals.

• The initial stages of a business require prioritizing activities that either acquire more customers or increase their value.
• Wasted time on non-revenue-generating tasks is a common pitfall for new entrepreneurs.
• The concept of time as an asset is emphasized, with a focus on spending it wisely.

"If it's not contributing to either getting you more customers or making them worth more, then stop doing it. Like you're wasting time."

This quote highlights the importance of focusing on activities that directly contribute to business growth, specifically in acquiring customers or increasing their value.

"If you work every hour of the day and you're not making more money, you're working on the wrong stuff. And that's, like, at the most basic level."

This quote reinforces the previous point, suggesting that if efforts are not leading to increased revenue, then the entrepreneur's focus is misplaced.

• Alex Hormozi discusses the simplicity of lead generation, even for businesses under a million dollars.
• He outlines eight ways to let people know about your business, divided equally between actions you can do yourself and those that require others' help.
• The approach to lead generation should be direct but not aggressive, using personal networks to spread the word.

"Getting the more customer side is really about just letting people know about your stuff."

This quote underscores the essence of lead generation as a process of raising awareness about your business or product.

"You can just tell people that you already know about the thing you have."

This quote suggests leveraging existing personal networks as a starting point for lead generation, which is both cost-effective and straightforward.

• Alex Hormozi emphasizes the potential of existing contacts as a resource for business promotion.
• He provides practical advice on how to compile lists of contacts from various sources like phones, emails, and social media.
• The concept of "violence in terms of action" is introduced to describe the aggressive approach needed for outreach.

"Every single person here has a means to contact probably at least 1000 people. That's like super conservative."

This quote points out the untapped potential within one's existing network, which can be a conservative estimate of the contacts available for outreach.

"I will reach out to 100 people per day, and that takes about 5 hours."

This quote details a rigorous outreach strategy, implying the dedication and time investment required for effective promotion and networking.

• Speaker B introduces the concept of 'aini,' which is about reciprocity and balance in giving and receiving.
• The principle of reciprocity aligns with both business and spiritual practices, advocating for fair value exchange.
• Emphasizing the importance of providing genuine value to customers, which in turn fosters a positive business environment.

"There is a natural impulse for someone to give back, and it's just actually a law of the universe."

This quote introduces the principle of reciprocity, suggesting that giving naturally encourages receiving, which is a universal law that can be applied to business transactions.

"Every single transaction, every customer service transaction, we have a positive account balance."

This quote exemplifies the application of reciprocity in business, where ensuring customers receive fair or greater value leads to a positive relationship and business success.

• The discussion shifts to recognizing genuine demand for a product or service through the reactions of close friends and personal networks.
• Speaker B shares personal experiences with successful products and services, highlighting the enthusiasm of others as an indicator of potential success.
• The importance of authentic demand is emphasized, as struggling to convince even friends can be a red flag.

"When you know you have something good, it'll be reflected to you by your inner circle."

This quote suggests that feedback from close contacts can serve as an early indicator of a product or service's potential success.

"Hard to get your friends to do it, it's probably going to translate to being hard to get the world to do it."

This quote warns that difficulty in convincing one's immediate network is likely to translate to broader market challenges.

• The concept of giving without expectation is discussed as a strategy for building brand and audience goodwill.
• Alex Hormozi explains that providing value without a set plan for monetization can lead to organic opportunities.
• The idea of giving without expectation is linked to avoiding disappointment and fostering positive outcomes.

"If you give without expectation, then anything you get back is just bonus."

This quote captures the essence of giving without the intent of immediate return, suggesting that any positive outcome is an added benefit.

"The reason I built my brand in this way was just on thesis that if I gave more stuff that was better than everyone else... eventually an opportunity would come up that would make sense."

This quote explains Alex Hormozi's approach to brand building, which is based on providing superior value with the belief that it will lead to beneficial opportunities naturally.

• Alex Hormozi discusses the importance of reframing the perception of online engagement and social media metrics.
• He encourages comparing online views to real-world scenarios, like speaking to a room of people, to understand the impact.
• The strategy of reframing is presented as a way to maintain motivation during the early stages of content creation.

"If I would get in front of a room of 17 people or 22 people and they wanted to hear something that I had, I was like, that would feel fine."

This quote suggests a mindset shift where small online viewership numbers are seen as equivalent to addressing a live audience, which can be motivating.

"For a keynote, that's a worthy trade."

This quote relates the effort of podcasting to giving a keynote speech, framing the work as valuable even if the audience size is modest.

• Alex Hormozi asks his audience to help spread the word about his podcast to reach more entrepreneurs and create a positive impact.
• He emphasizes the importance of sharing, rating, and reviewing the podcast as the only form of support he requests.
• The request is based on the desire to help others without running ads or selling products through the podcast.

"The single thing that I ask you to do is you can just leave a review. It'll take you 10 seconds or one type of the thumb."

This quote is a direct request for audience support, highlighting the ease and significance of leaving a podcast review.

"It may change the world for someone else."

This quote underscores the potential impact that audience support through reviews and sharing can have on other entrepreneurs.

• Speaker B shares personal experiences with podcast growth and the psychological challenges of comparison.
• The discussion includes the impact of comparing oneself to others and the negative feedback loops that can result.
• The importance of perspective is stressed, using real-world analogies to appreciate one's achievements.

"Comparison is such a challenging thing to deal with because you start comparing yourself to the people that you follow and the people that you like, you can get in some really negative psychological feedback loops."

This quote acknowledges the difficulty of avoiding negative self-comparison, which can lead to discouragement and a lack of appreciation for one's progress.

"How many people were sitting there?"

This quote is part of a conversation that puts podcast listenership numbers into perspective by comparing them to the audience at a live event, such as a basketball game, helping to overcome discouragement.

• Alex Hormozi reflects on the initial disappointment with his podcast reach.
• He compares his numbers to those of Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss, leading to a moment of self-doubt.
• The realization of the actual audience size compared to a stadium changes his perspective.
• He discusses the negative impact of comparison and the positive aspect of competition.
• The discussion emphasizes the importance of aspiration without the demoralization of comparison.

"Why am I being disappointed? It was because I was looking at Rogan's numbers. I was looking at Tim Ferriss's numbers, and these are my homies."

The quote explains the reason for Alex Hormozi's initial disappointment with his podcast reach—comparing his statistics to those of his successful friends.

• Alex Hormozi and Speaker C discuss the utility and pitfalls of comparison.
• They distinguish between using comparison as a measuring tool versus a judgment tool.
• Hormozi shares his view on learning from others who are more successful in business.
• He talks about the realization that led him to understand the importance of brand in business.
• The conversation highlights the idea that comparison should lead to constructive analysis rather than self-deprecation.

"It's where it's like, he's doing better than me and therefore I suck. It's the second part I think, that people get in trouble with."

This quote captures the harmful aspect of comparison where self-judgment leads to negative self-perception, which is the part that can be problematic.

• Alex Hormozi's realization about the importance of brand came from observing the success of Kylie Jenner and others.
• He acknowledges his previous focus on transactional aspects of business and the need to understand branding.
• Hormozi's experience with Kylie Jenner's success story serves as a catalyst for his shift towards brand building.
• The discussion underscores the idea that understanding what others do better can be a powerful tool for one's own improvement.

"And so that's what actually launched me into doing this. It was only because of that."

The quote illustrates how the success of others, like Kylie Jenner, prompted Hormozi to reconsider his approach to business and focus on brand building.

• The conversation touches on how people often discredit others' success by attributing it to external factors.
• Alex Hormozi shares his own experience with people assuming his success came from his father's wealth.
• He emphasizes the role of self-belief and the psychological advantage of having a successful role model.
• The dialogue addresses the tendency of people to avoid self-reflection by discrediting the success of others.

"But my dad was a very successful commodities trader. He's written about in books and things like that. People don't know the fucking story, but they want to say that I was successful because, oh, it must have been daddy's money."

This quote highlights the misconceptions people have about Hormozi's success and his clarification that his success was self-made, not inherited.

• Alex Hormozi discusses the 'must be nice' attitude people have towards others' success.
• He suggests acknowledging the advantages one has while focusing on the actions necessary to build a successful business.
• Hormozi emphasizes the importance of objective truths and actions in business, rather than luck.
• The conversation explores the idea of leveraging one's circumstances and opportunities for business growth.

"And so to build a business of this size, these are the activities that create that. And so you can be an absolute douchebag. You can be a white guy, a black guy, a girl in Pakistan, whatever. And if you do those things, you get the outcome."

The quote conveys Hormozi's belief that success in business is a result of specific activities and actions, regardless of one's background or circumstances.

• Alex Hormozi talks about the concept of leverage in business—the ratio of input to output.
• He explains different forms of leverage, such as technology, borrowing money, and building a brand.
• Hormozi discusses the long-term benefits of investing in a brand and creating high leverage activities.
• The dialogue highlights the focus on creating value for customers as a key to business success.

"So if you can build things that, like, I mean, you spent a long time on alphabrain, and the work that you did on the onset of alphabrain continues to pay dividends to this day. That's a high leverage activity."

This quote exemplifies the concept of leverage through the continuous benefits derived from the initial work done on a product like alphabrain.

• Alex Hormozi outlines the 'core four' methods for business promotion: reaching out to friends and strangers, posting content publicly, and running paid ads.
• He stresses the importance of spending time on activities that directly contribute to business growth.
• Hormozi explains how to scale these methods by getting customers, employees, and affiliates to do them on your behalf.
• The conversation provides a strategic framework for business promotion and growth.

"Those are the only four things that one person can do to let other people know about their stuff, period."

This quote succinctly summarizes the fundamental promotional activities that are essential for letting others know about one's business offerings.

• A baseline of promotion is essential to ensure people become aware of your product or service.
• Scaling promotion should only occur once you are confident in the quality of your offering.
• Initially, accepting that your product or service may not be perfect is part of the process.
• Providing samples or free services can lower the stakes and protect your reputation while gathering feedback.

"So there is a baseline of promotion that you have to have, because, again, let's base this on absolutes. If no one knows about your stuff." "You have to promote first. You have to let people know that."

The quotes emphasize the necessity of promoting your product or service as a fundamental step, because without awareness, there can be no sales or success.

• Offering your product or service for free can lead to three beneficial outcomes: gaining a paying customer, receiving a testimonial or review, and getting referrals.
• Free offerings are a way to test the market and gather feedback.
• If there is no interest in the free offering, it is a clear indicator that the product or service may not succeed in the market.
• Iteration based on feedback is crucial for improvement and eventual success.

"And so if you're like, okay, well. My shit sucks, fine, give it to them for free and then ask them for feedback."

This quote underlines the strategy of using free offerings as a means to improve a product or service by directly soliciting feedback from those who try it.

• Success often requires multiple attempts and learning from each failure.
• Each business venture serves as a lesson for the next, contributing to the entrepreneur's growth.
• The ultimate asset in business is the entrepreneur's personal development and experience.
• Market feedback is a tool that shapes the entrepreneur's journey and should not be seen solely in terms of immediate financial gain.

"But they're not really failed attempts. They're like, oh, yeah, that's when I learned that this thing was really important."

The quote reflects the positive perspective on failed business attempts, viewing them as learning experiences that contribute to future success.

• Developing products or services that the founder would personally use ensures authenticity and market fit.
• Reflecting on past experiences can help identify potential audiences and their needs.
• Founders must embody the values and competencies they promote through their products or services.
• Legitimacy and proof of concept are critical for convincing customers and creating a successful brand.

"The only thing that ever worked was, do I want to be a customer of this now? Like, what do I want now?"

This quote highlights the importance of creating products or services that the founder is genuinely interested in and would use themselves, ensuring a more authentic and marketable offering.

• Initially offering more than what you would reasonably charge can help secure early customers.
• Once you have a customer base, you can refine your offerings by removing elements that are not valued, thus increasing profitability.
• Solving the core problem of your customers is more effective than providing a commoditized solution.
• Tactical iteration based on customer feedback is crucial for service-based business models.

"And then the third point that you made was about legitimacy. So I see this on the content side, too, and I'm sure many of you guys see this, which is the girl who's an emotional wreck giving emotional advice."

The quote discusses the importance of legitimacy and proof in the context of the message being delivered, suggesting that a successful message is heavily dependent on the credibility of the messenger.

• When creating content to advertise your offerings, focusing on 'how I' rather than 'how to' can protect your reputation.
• Sharing personal experiences and what has worked for you personally is less risky and more authentic than prescribing solutions.
• Documenting your journey and being transparent about your process can engage your audience without overstating your expertise.

"And so if you're on the come up, I would stick to how I rather than how to. And it will protect your reputation when you're making this content because no one can shake a finger at you."

This quote advises content creators to focus on sharing personal experiences rather than positioning themselves as experts, which can safeguard their reputation and provide more authentic engagement with their audience.