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How to Build Ruthless Focus and Discipline | 1 Hour — Transcript

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0:00So you go over a lot of your successes
0:03>> and failures.
0:05>> What was that?
0:05>> And failures. Go ahead.
0:07>> Yeah. And and so my question is more
0:09about your kind of protecting your
0:12mental health and your ability with
0:14these extreme emotions because I've gone
0:16through both exits and acquisitions the
0:17last two years.
0:18>> Yeah.
0:19>> And I've just never been more miserable.
0:21Main reason I'm here.
0:22>> Okay.
0:22>> Is just either getting resources or
0:25connections. I was just wondering how
0:26you've handled when you've had those
0:28major losses, when you've lost
0:30everything or when you've kind of had
0:33that failures face you in the face and
0:35also if you ever review an acquisition
0:38as a loss of community.
0:39>> Sure.
0:39>> And how you protect yourself. So, I will
0:42not spend a long time on this um because
0:45it gets into a very heady chunked up
0:48version of reality, which is just like I
0:51believe that when I die within 6 months,
0:54no one will give a [ __ ] And so, the
0:56fact that no one will care 6 months
0:59after I am dead for the most significant
1:01life event that I have, which is that I
1:03am no longer alive, it makes a lot of
1:05the other stuff not matter that much.
1:07And so I also know that when I was poor
1:10and I had nothing, I was about as happy
1:11as I am now. And so if I was just as
1:14happy then as I am now, then I could go
1:17all the way back there and basically be
1:18in the same thing. And I think in some
1:20ways when I really play it out, I get
1:22just as excited about the idea of having
1:24the comeback story. Now I'm going to try
1:26to not do that, but if I did it, I would
1:28get into the state that I think that I'd
1:30be like, "This is going to be my thing."
1:32And so like a lot of times the fears we
1:35have are catastrophized. And so I like I
1:39want to have this like of the many list
1:40of books I have this big document of
1:42like Alex's list of books that he will
1:44someday write. Um but one of them is
1:46play it out. And so a thing that I say a
1:50lot on quarterlys and strategic is like
1:52let's play it out like what happens
1:53next? What happens next? What happens
1:55next? And so like what actually happens
1:56next is not that bad. It's just the idea
1:58of it that seems very bad. I mean, Leila
2:01has this quote that's the fear is a mile
2:03wide and an inch deep. It's like you
2:04take a step out to it and you're like,
2:05"Oh, this isn't that big of a deal."
2:07Like, the worst case is I move back with
2:09my Well, actually, you know, I kind of
2:10like my parents and you know, homecooked
2:12meal is not so bad. You know, I'm only
2:14going to see them for 10 more years
2:15before they're just old as [ __ ] anyways.
2:17So, you know, it could be a blessing in
2:19disguise. And like there's a lot of
2:21research that's been done on like people
2:22who become paralyzed. And within like 3
2:26to 6 months, they return to the exact
2:28same baseline of subjective well-being
2:30as they were when they had all their
2:31limbs. And so, as much as that's a
2:33terrible thing that could occur, losing
2:36money is probably a lot less bad than
2:38losing limbs. And if it happened to them
2:40and they're just about as happy now as
2:42they were 6 months earlier,
2:44I just genuinely like Leila and I are
2:46sit on opposite poles. Like I struggle
2:49to care. She cares so much. And that's
2:51how we yin and yang in business is that
2:53she'll get stressed and I'll be like,
2:54"We can die and no one will care."
2:58And like when you zoom out, you're like,
3:00"Oh, there's the world." And like I'm a
3:02monkey on a little thing. Again, this is
3:03a worldview thing. Some people don't
3:04agree with this. And I had I've had
3:06people get really upset about it. So
3:08that's how I deal with it. And so for
3:10me, I just don't have really big stakes
3:11because I just don't think anyone cares.
3:14>> That's all.
3:15>> All right. So you had 10 and
3:16something,000. You want to get to a
3:17million issues hiring?
3:19>> 150.
3:20>> 150. Excuse me.
3:23>> You want to get to a million?
3:25>> Yep.
3:25>> And your biggest issue is hiring.
3:27>> Yep.
3:27>> What do you sell?
3:28>> I sell content. So
3:30>> content.
3:31>> Yeah. So we we do videos like marketing
3:33materials for real estate agents looking
3:35to market their personal brands and
3:36properties.
3:37>> So personal branding for them.
3:38>> Correct.
3:39>> Okay. Got it. What stops you from doing
3:41a lot more of that? So, [snorts]
3:44I'm a young entrepreneur and I basically
3:46based my own brand off of being a young
3:49entrepreneur.
3:49>> And now you're just going to be a middle
3:51young white guy. [laughter]
3:54>> So, my business partner is
3:56>> I actually know what you're dealing with
3:57because like when I came up I I started
3:59making a lot of money at like 26 27 and
4:01they're like, "Alex is so young and now
4:02I'm just like 36 and no one really gives
4:04a fuck." [laughter]
4:06>> Yeah. Sorry. Keep going. The only
4:08problem is like clients find out my real
4:11age and I use my I technically use my
4:14age as a leverage to what I sell. So
4:17social media I grew up with social
4:18media. So you know I I know social media
4:22better than 60-year-old agents do.
4:24>> Okay.
4:24>> So my constraint What's up?
4:27>> What's the issue? Just the pitch is
4:28wrong.
4:28>> No people don't trust necessarily older
4:32people in my business. We based our
4:34brand off of being young.
4:36>> Okay. So,
4:37>> you're still young.
4:38>> Yes. But when I hire someone like a new
4:41shooter Yeah.
4:41>> or a director of operations who's 25 and
4:44above, they don't necessarily folks.
4:47>> Yeah. They don't necessar [laughter]
4:51>> I want to say too.
4:52>> Just boomers. Yeah. Yeah.
4:53>> Yeah. Boom. Boomers.
4:56>> What are you What are you saying though?
4:57Like
4:58>> it's it's more of a trust issue with
5:00clientele. This is like totally in your
5:02head, man.
5:02>> Really?
5:03>> Yeah. 100%.
5:04>> You care. No one else cares. You even
5:07think they're old.
5:08>> Hey, I don't think they're I don't think
5:10they're old.
5:10>> No, but like you do a little bit because
5:12you're bringing it up,
5:14>> right?
5:15>> So, like, like no one cares.
5:18>> Did you guys care that Jacob Hopkins is
5:1922 at the same time? I got people who
5:21are in their late 30s and 40s.
5:23>> People just care about how good you are.
5:25>> So, like people will care about your age
5:27for the two seconds before you open your
5:29mouth. And then as soon as you open your
5:31mouth,
5:32>> all of it's like that's like the the the
5:35absolute thinnest surface level judgment
5:37that someone will make in general.
5:38Younger people know less than older
5:40people in general.
5:40>> Yeah.
5:41>> But there are also Mark Zuckerberg who's
5:42a billionaire at 21.
5:45>> So there's obviously people who know
5:46more at a younger age.
5:48>> So you just have to demonstrate
5:49expertise.
5:54>> I had so many like you're just gonna be
5:55busting, bro. Uh jokes. Ila, I'm gonna
5:58ask you this question. I'm 37. Is it too
6:01late?
6:02>> You're literally about to turn 37.
6:03>> I know. That's why it's so relevant. Is
6:05it too late?
6:06>> That's quite depressing that you're 37.
6:08[laughter]
6:10>> Let's just ignore that fact. Um, no,
6:13it's not too late. Like, that's
6:14ridiculous. Um, I think some of the, you
6:16know, most successful people on earth
6:18started when they're 45, 50. Who was it?
6:20The founder of McDonald's. Was it him
6:22that was
6:23>> Ray Croc?
6:24>> Ray Croc. Wasn't he like almost 50 or 40
6:26something when he started?
6:28>> Um, I just think to myself, you have so
6:31much life left. Why? I don't know why
6:34people ask that question actually. Is it
6:35too late? Too late for what?
6:37>> Like too late to live your life, too
6:39late to succeed, too late to have what
6:40you want.
6:41>> Yeah, exactly. It's like why does this
6:43prohibit you? Like you're not at the
6:44point yet where your health is like
6:45rapidly declining either. So like I
6:47don't really understand
6:49>> what that means.
6:50>> Let me give you an interesting frame on
6:51this. When you are 20, 30, 50, 100, you
6:56literally only have one thing which is
6:58the present.
7:00So there is fundamentally, as much as I
7:02made an argument at the very beginning
7:02of this that like you should go hard
7:04when you're young because you have a lot
7:05of advantages, it doesn't negate the
7:08fact that you should go pursue your
7:09goals with whatever condition you have,
7:11it doesn't mean yes, there are
7:12advantages when you're younger. There's
7:14also advantages when you're older. Like
7:15you might have more experience, might
7:16have more wisdom, you might have more
7:18resources. But let's just assume for the
7:20purpose of this discussion that you have
7:21no resources and no experience because
7:22you wasted the first 17 years of your
7:24life. Great. Think about this. Are there
7:2720-year-olds who start at 20 and then at
7:2924 are crushing it? Yes. So there's no
7:31reason that at 37 you can start at 41
7:32you're crushing it. Like like by saying
7:36it is too late is accepting that you
7:38will accomplish nothing between now and
7:39when you die.
7:42That's what it turns into. And so
7:44>> tough,
7:45>> right? So, as long as you believe that
7:46you're going to stay alive, and you're
7:48going to do something with the time you
7:49have, you're go the time is going to get
7:51spent either way, you might as well
7:53spend it building something that you
7:54want to build rather than basically
7:56running the clock out until you die.
7:58>> I also think it's you, you said this,
8:00but I think highlighting it is there are
8:02advantages to being young. There's also
8:04a lot of advantages to being older. So I
8:06I mean I can think about when we our
8:07first 10 years of work you know being in
8:10our early 20s when we started like
8:13complete like you have so much energy
8:15you have [laughter]
8:16>> I started the whole
8:17>> you have no pain what you started the
8:19whole life like that so [laughter] much
8:21energy
8:22>> yeah [snorts]
8:23>> um you don't have any physical pain you
8:25don't have any ailments um you don't
8:27have a lot of responsibility so like
8:29there's a lot of things there but then
8:30as you get older you have way better
8:32critical thinking you have I would say
8:34way better judgement emotional control,
8:36>> way better emotional control, more
8:38patience, you're typically wiser. So,
8:41there's a lot of advantages. And I think
8:42that as you get older, you see ways to
8:45do things that um you can get things
8:48done with more leverage. Like you don't
8:49have to use yourself to get everything
8:51done. You see a lot I would say smarter
8:53ways that you can get things done in
8:54business. So, if I were starting, you
8:57know, and actually we have done this. I
8:58mean, on our third business, started it
9:00completely different than we did in the
9:01very beginning. first business it's like
9:03did everything myself first didn't hire
9:05anybody smart for a long time like duct
9:08taped everything together with brute
9:10force um and then on our third business
9:12it's like all right hiring the entire
9:13executive team first so and I think
9:16that's just judgment that's learning
9:18that's understanding oh I don't have the
9:20energy to do it all anymore
9:21>> it's reputation it's leverage with
9:23capital like there's a lot of things
9:24that go into it um but yeah I mean
9:26that's why it's a stepping stone you
9:27know what I mean like we wouldn't been
9:28able to get the talent that we have on
9:29this team if we didn't have the track
9:30record that got us And so if you want to
9:32beat someone, just try 10 times harder
9:35than them. And you only really need to
9:37try two or three times harder, but you
9:39probably don't realize how much harder
9:41they're trying than you are. So try 10
9:43times harder just to make sure you win.
9:45People reject this idea that someone can
9:48work 10 times or 100 times harder. But I
9:51define work as output. And so for you to
9:55say that someone can't produce 10 times
9:57more than you is just factually false.
9:59There's tons of people who produce 10
10:00times more. There's tons of people who
10:02produce a 100 times more than you. I'll
10:03give you the easiest example in the
10:05world. A lot of departments run on
10:06weekly cadences. They say, "Do this
10:08thing by end of week." Often times, you
10:11can ask that person, "How many hours
10:13will this really take you?" And then
10:14that person will say something like, "I
10:16don't know, 3 or 4 hours." You say,
10:17"Okay, well, why don't you just get it
10:19done by noon?" And then at noon, you
10:21say, "Okay, what's the next thing going
10:22to take?" And they'd say, "Uh, probably
10:24another 3 or 4 hours." You say, "Cool,
10:26get it done by the end of the day." Now,
10:27from those two cycles, that would have
10:29normally taken 2 weeks or 14 days, but
10:32instead it got done in one. And so, just
10:34right there, you got something done. You
10:37got 14 times more done than the
10:39competitor who's doing things on a
10:41weekly basis. And so, this is how you
10:43drag the future to the present is that
10:45you're not focusing on how hard you're
10:46working. You're focusing how much you're
10:47getting done. You'd be amazed at how
10:50much better you get after you've done it
10:52a hundred times. If you want to win, do
10:55it again. I want to be clear. You don't
10:57just post a hundred videos in a row and
10:59see what happens. You post one, see what
11:01worked, and then try and do more of that
11:03thing. And so, the idea isn't just raw
11:06effort. It's raw effort with an
11:08improvement loop. And so, I remember one
11:11of my favorite words that I have to
11:13teach sales guys because it's a very
11:14repetitive task to teach someone how to
11:16sell is great, do it again, great again,
11:22great job again. And so it's that
11:24repetition that breeds the nuance of
11:26skill. And you want it to be so drilled
11:28into you that you no longer have to
11:31consciously think about how to do the
11:33thing because you can then do it as a
11:35natural skill so that you can move on to
11:37putting your attention to the next
11:38skill. So it's not just about learning
11:40how to do it once. It's about learning
11:41how to do it so many times that you
11:43don't have to think about doing it at
11:44all. Especially if you're starting out,
11:46your goal should not be passive income.
11:48Mainly because you don't have enough
11:49money for the passive income to mean
11:51anything. Instead, you should learn how
11:53to make money while you're awake before
11:55trying to learn how to make it while you
11:56sleep. You crawl, then you walk, then
11:59you run. Once you have more money than
12:01you can possibly reinvest in education
12:03and acquiring more skills, then you can
12:05take the leftover and put that into your
12:08passive income pool. And so, very, very
12:10tactically, this is what I'll walk you
12:11through. You should have an education
12:13investment budget. And so, just like you
12:15spend X dollars per month. So, let's say
12:16you we pull all of your expenses down
12:18and you're making an extra thousand a
12:20month. Okay? Now, if you're not eating
12:22out, you're not buying new clothes,
12:23you're not going out with the boys,
12:25you're not spending money in stupid
12:26ways, that if that's what you're doing,
12:28then you're going to have $1,000 left.
12:30If you have that, then you can take that
12:32money and every month you can put it
12:34towards a bank account that you can
12:36either choose to immediately spend or
12:38save up for something that is more
12:39expensive. And I can tell you that a lot
12:42of what I learned when I when I bought
12:44programs and seminars and conferences
12:46and things like that wasn't even from
12:48the content itself, but it was
12:50connections that I was able to make at
12:51those types of events that I was then
12:54able to leverage the one skill I had,
12:56which I was good at sales and then start
12:58giving that away to every person I met
13:00so that I could collect those IUs and
13:02then learn skills for free. And so it's
13:05like I really just needed a ticket to
13:06get in the room and then I could trade
13:08with everybody else with the skills I
13:10had to then get to learn theirs. And so
13:12as wild as this sounds, at the end of
13:142025, you could be dead broke but rich
13:18in skills. And so let's say at the end
13:20of next year, you actually have no more
13:22money, but you now have the ability to
13:24make more money. And so just like my
13:26father had to start over from nothing
13:28after losing everything, he didn't lose
13:30everything. He still had the most
13:31valuable thing he had, which is that he
13:33was a surgeon. And so he knew a skill
13:35and he could make it work here like he'd
13:37make it work there. And that is
13:39something that no divorce can take from
13:40you, no government can confiscate. And
13:42it's something that's with you till the
13:43day you die. And so that's how you get
13:44better. You keep going. You keep
13:47improving the feedback loops. You invest
13:49appropriately and you keep going all
13:51this work needs doing. And there's just
13:54no way around it. And it's just it's
13:56just looking at the face of the work and
13:58it's like smiling back at me like no one
14:01else is going to do it. Um, and like I
14:05love that one. Like when we're recording
14:07content in the early days, we were doing
14:09like a hundred shorts every time we did
14:10it and it was direct to camera and it
14:13was the only time I could fit it in with
14:14all the portfolio stuff that we're
14:15doing. And so I was it was always like I
14:18will do what's required. And that's been
14:20a really helpful refrain for me when I'm
14:22confronted with especially when you know
14:24what needs to get done. And the second
14:26one is but I'll know.
14:31And so like even if it does go well and
14:34even if everyone else says it's great,
14:37but I'll know and it'll then rob me of
14:41all of the joy of all of those moments
14:43in that experience because I'll know
14:45that I could have done better. And the
14:46thing is is like to to quote myself from
14:48earlier like I've never regretted
14:51working harder ever. Not once. And some
14:55people are like on your deathbed you're
14:56going to like no cuz I lived every
14:58moment of my day doing what I wanted to
15:00do. And I remember I had a boss when I
15:02um my first boss after college. She said
15:05this thing. I had had a a particularly
15:08good weekend and she said, "I'm pretty
15:11sure happiness is stringing as many of
15:15those days in a row as you possibly
15:16can." And although I hated the job, that
15:20piece of advice has actually been
15:22probably what I has been my blueprint
15:24for how to live, which is like my
15:27birthday looks the same as my Tuesdays,
15:29which looks the same as my Sundays. You
15:31know what the original name pool for
15:34this podcast was? It's the only time in
15:37history I've done branding my entire
15:39adult life. And with club nights, all
15:41you're doing is coming up with brands.
15:43Paradiso, oh, it's it's tropical.
15:45There'll be a flamingo. Skint. Oh, it's
15:48a cheap night. It's for people to get
15:49fingered in the corner. Like is we all I
15:53did was branding, right? I was the
15:54branding guy. I'm pretty good at
15:55copyrightiting. All I did was branding.
15:57The one time I've had divine inspiration
15:593 in the morning wake up with the name
16:01was Modern Wisdom. The one time out of
16:03every business, every night, every brand
16:05I've ever come up with, that was the one
16:06time. But on the list of the others,
16:08Mind Mind and Matter was one of them.
16:12The other one was a quote from Tim
16:13Ferrris. It's called Crushing a Tuesday.
16:16And he said that what you should aim for
16:18in life is for your average Tuesday.
16:21Not the spectacular one-time private jet
16:24with the friends to go for the whatever
16:27whatever. Not the UFC power slap launch
16:30party [laughter] with staring at the
16:33back of Dan Bilzerian's dirty mullet.
16:35Like not that. You want your average
16:38Tuesday to look the way that you want
16:40most of your life to do. And when I
16:43think about the days that I look back on
16:44at the end of my day and think like
16:45today was a good day, invariably it's
16:48the same few things. It's I worked very
16:51hard on something that I felt was worth
16:53doing. I worked out and I spent time
16:57with people that I enjoy being around.
16:59If I do those three things, I had a good
17:02day. And so that's been my, you know,
17:05Alex's simple blueprint for doing
17:07things. And I think the point that you
17:08were making earlier, I think it's worth
17:09hitting on again, which is just that
17:10like most people's definition of work is
17:13a negative one, which is why they abhore
17:14it, which is also why they misunderstand
17:16so many people who quote, I'll say quote
17:18here, are successful or ahead of them or
17:19whatever. Is that both people, one
17:22person says the word work and the other
17:23person hears the word pain. And so
17:27I think you can solve a lot of male
17:29problems by getting in shape and making
17:31money. You'll still have problems.
17:34they'll just be smaller and you'll have
17:36more resources to handle them. So, let's
17:38talk about the making money part first.
17:40Fundamentally, in order to make money,
17:42you have to provide value to some
17:44someone either an employer or customers.
17:46But either way, you have utility which
17:48you exchange for money. And so, by
17:51making that a goal, then it means that
17:53you're going to increase your own
17:55usefulness. And so somebody who is more
17:57useful all of a sudden develops other
18:00ancillary skills around that utility
18:02that they can use in other parts of
18:03their lives. If you're good at sales,
18:04guess what you can do when you're
18:06talking to girls? You can use the same
18:08conversational skill set. If you're
18:10trying to negotiate uh a purchase for a
18:13car or a house or whatever, like those
18:15skills generalize, they transfer across
18:18domains. And so a lot of people think
18:20it's like, well, when would I ever be a
18:22salesperson or when would I ever be a
18:24outbound? What? Like it doesn't matter.
18:25It's not about that thing. The thing is
18:27is like real life skills actually do
18:29generalize. Like this isn't elementary
18:31school or or middle school when you're
18:33learning calculus or algebra or whatever
18:35and thinking like when am I going to use
18:36this in real life? One, it is real life
18:38right now. Two,
18:41these skills do get used across domains.
18:44Of all of my friends who are sent to
18:45millionaires and billionaires to a
18:47person, they started in what I would
18:51consider a high volume sales
18:53environment. So that's either
18:55door-knocking, cold calling, or some
18:59sort of in-person business where they
19:01had many, many, many conversations with
19:03strangers on a daily basis. And I think
19:06there, and I'm talking not like a a a
19:08month or six months. I'm talking like
19:10three, five years where no one knew
19:13their name. They were just some faceless
19:15representative that stood there at the
19:17door, saw people, sold memberships, sold
19:21insurance, sold solar, sold whatever.
19:24And the thing is is like skill
19:26development happens through volume and
19:28feedback loops. So, it's the number of
19:30repetitions you have times the amount of
19:32improvement between repetitions. Brute
19:34forcing the amount of volume definitely
19:36will help if you can give yourself
19:37feedback. I've seen people say, "Hey,
19:39I've actually made a hundred pieces of
19:41content." Now, this is like 1% of people
19:43because most people do nothing. But of
19:45the 1% of people who say, "Okay, I post
19:47it every day for a year." The thing is
19:49is they didn't do the most important
19:50part, which is you don't just like make
19:52a video and post it and just every day
19:53like, "Hey, make a video, post it. Make
19:55a video, post it." You have to look at
19:57what you did and what you could do
19:58better. Fundamentally, that is the the
20:00cornerstone of feedback. And so, you
20:02look at the top 10 videos you made over
20:04the last month and you say, "Okay, how
20:06do I do more of that? And how do I do
20:07less of the bottom 10%." and you just
20:09pick one thing that you did well there
20:10and you try and do it in every video
20:12going forward. And that develops a
20:14checklist of things to do so that you
20:16develop a skill. And so speaking from my
20:18own experience, the first sales
20:20conversation I ever had, first off, I
20:22had zero sales training. No one was
20:23like, "Hey, this is the script. This is
20:25how you go over." They're like, "Hey,
20:27here's a new lady. Go sign her up." And
20:30so I was like, "Okay." And I didn't even
20:32know this was a sale. I didn't know the
20:34I didn't know the term sales. I just He
20:37said, "Go sign her up." And I said,
20:38"Okay." And so I walked over and I and
20:41she was like, "Hey, you know, I want to
20:42know more about the gym." And I said,
20:44"Well, what do you want to know?"
20:46And she was like, "Well, I mean, like,
20:49how much is it?" And I was like, "Oh,
20:50it's uh whatever, 150 bucks a month."
20:53And she was like, "Okay." And I was
20:54like, "You want to sign up?" And she
20:56said, "I left my credit card at home."
20:59And I was like, "Okay." And she was
21:01like, "I'll be back with the credit
21:02card." And I was like, "Cool." And so I
21:04walked out and uh it was like 2 minutes,
21:07right? And I walked out and the owner
21:09Sam was there with a few of other other
21:11gym owners. He had brought a few gym
21:12owners in. So it's like three or four
21:13gym owners there. And uh he was like,
21:16"Damn." He was like, "That was fast."
21:17And I was like, "Yeah." And he's like,
21:18"You closed her?" And I was like,
21:20"Yeah." And and he was like, "With a
21:23credit card?" And I was like, "Oh, no.
21:25She's she's going to go get it and
21:26she'll be back." And they just looked at
21:28each other and then looked back at me
21:30and then just started laughing at me
21:32uncontrollably. like couldn't breathe at
21:35how dumb what I had just said was. And
21:37the thing is is I had no experience. And
21:39I and I tell that story because so many
21:42people assume that like I walked out of
21:43the womb closing deals, you know what I
21:45mean? Like, "Hey, nurse, what are you
21:47doing later?" You know what I mean?
21:48Like, [laughter]
21:51but it wasn't like that, right? Like I
21:52didn't know I I didn't I didn't even
21:54know the term. And so, you know, over
21:57time, I just started developing like,
21:59"Okay, well, what do you do?" And I
22:00watched other people sell. I was like,
22:01"Okay, they start with asking them why
22:02someone's there. They ask them about
22:04their goals. Ask them things that
22:05they've done in the past that didn't
22:06work." I like, "Okay, that that that
22:08seems to work. Okay." And then when they
22:10ask them to buy, then if they don't want
22:12to say yes, they ask them more questions
22:13rather than just saying, "Okay." And so
22:15I started to develop at least an
22:16understanding of the framework of how
22:18sales occurred. But I still wasn't good,
22:20right? And so then I went through like
22:22that rocky cut scene period where this
22:24is where I'm very grateful for this is
22:25that uh Facebook ads is when I started
22:27running them in 2013 were super cheap.
22:29And so it actually gave me so many
22:33repetitions because not only was I
22:35taking 15 to 20 consults a day in
22:37person, I was also working leads. And so
22:40I'm talking to strangers over the phone
22:41to set the appointments. And so all I
22:42got was just names on a list and I would
22:44call them, set the appointment like
22:46who's this again? You know, all of that.
22:49Um and then and by the way, if you are
22:51local, um you just say the name pause
22:54with a question mark at the beginning.
22:55You're like John. And then they'll be
22:57like, "Yeah." You're like, "This is
22:59Alex." I'd pause and they'd be like,
23:01they're like, "Who the [ __ ] is Alex?"
23:03I'd be like, "From Facebook. You signed
23:05up for blah blah blah blah blah our
23:07thing." "Yeah, I'm just calling to make
23:09sure that you're not a crazy person from
23:11the internet." And neither am I. I was
23:12like, "We're actually on the corner of X
23:14and Y." I was like, "Right next to the
23:167-Eleven." They're like, "Yeah." I'm
23:17like, "Okay, cool. Well, I just wanted
23:18to see what time you want to come come
23:20by." I was like, "We have the sweetest
23:21facility in the world." Not really, but
23:22it's uh at least pretty decent for this
23:24area, but we have five out of five
23:26coolness. And they would just laugh and
23:28they'd be like, "I can make it at six."
23:29And I'm like, "Six works." I was like,
23:31"Do you want a picture of me or just of
23:32the address?" And they're like, "Just
23:34the address." I'm like, "All right,
23:35sounds good. I'll text it to you and
23:36I'll see you later today." Right? So
23:38that kind like notice the like half
23:40giggles between each word. Like it's
23:42it's showing that you're a positive tone
23:44person, high energy, and someone's like,
23:46"Man, this guy seems cool." Or, "This
23:48gal seems cool." Right? And so they're
23:50more likely to show up. They're more
23:51likely. Now, if I maintain that tone, if
23:54they give me an objection, I can pivot
23:56really easily. If I'm like neutral or
23:58like, "Hi, I saw that you signed up on
24:00the internet for our thing. Uh, would
24:01you like to come in?" They're like, "Uh,
24:03well, tell me more about it." Like,
24:05well, it's just you have no you have no
24:06room for messing up. And so, I always
24:09tried to have more rapport and bring a
24:12lot of energy. And the thing is is like,
24:14if you've seen any of my content, I'm
24:15not naturally like a high energy person.
24:18um I will continue to work which is
24:19different than being like up here. And
24:22so I developed a lot of things to try
24:24and keep myself energized. And so I had
24:27a small trampoline that I would bounce
24:29on uh before and between every sales
24:32appointment. It sounds ridiculous, but
24:34if you I'm telling [clears throat] it's
24:36it's like a hundred bucks if you buy one
24:37of those little trampolines and you
24:39bounce either between sales calls or
24:41between people. Like I'd have people
24:43coming in as I was still bouncing and
24:45I'd be like I know this is ridiculous. I
24:47was like, "But try and be in a bad mood
24:48on a trampoline. You can't do it. You
24:50can't do it. You can't do it." And I
24:52challenge you too. You can be in a bad
24:53mood if you try jumping around like you
24:54feel like such a child. It's ridiculous.
24:56But what would happen is like I would
24:58rel I would also get a little bit
24:59exercise. My blood would keep moving.
25:01But it's also just like mentally um
25:03literally bouncing
25:05gave me a lot of energy for these
25:07appointments. And so I say this because
25:09I developed all of these things over
25:10time. And so if you're starting out,
25:14you're not going to be good. That's why
25:16you're new. You have no experience. But
25:18there's a difference between there's a
25:20story that um shoot I can't remember
25:22where it is, but there was a foreign kid
25:24who had never seen a banana before. And
25:28so the adult gave the kid a banana. And
25:31so the banana so the kid took the banana
25:34and then bit right into it with the skin
25:35and everything. And another child was
25:38like, "You're such an idiot." And then
25:40the adult yelled at that child and said,
25:43"No, he just doesn't know any better."
25:45And there's a very big difference
25:46between being dumb and being
25:48inexperienced. Right now, you just don't
25:50have reps. And so, you're going to make
25:52a lot of mistakes like biting into the
25:54banana like at for just walking letting
25:56someone walk away assuming it's a closed
25:58and they say that they're just going to
25:59come back and call you with their credit
26:00card. Right? By the way, that never
26:02happens. Um, very rarely, but instead,
26:06uh, you want to just peel that banana.
26:08You want to bite into the banana, bite
26:09into the orange, all of those mistakes
26:12as quickly as possible and not judge
26:14yourself for making the mistake and see
26:16the mistake as part of the process of
26:18being like that didn't work. That didn't
26:21work. And if I develop enough of these
26:22doesn't works, then you just kind of
26:24walk the the minefield and you get to
26:27where you're trying to go and people are
26:28like, "Wow, you're so good at this." And
26:29you're like, "Oh, no. I actually just
26:30know all the things not to say in a
26:32sale." And then they end up buying. I
26:34just avoid all that and then they buy.
26:36And to be clear, I think I have a
26:38similar piece of advice, but for very
26:40different reasons of telling young men
26:42in general or men to work harder. And
26:45it's not because I think it's some sort
26:47of, you know, beating your chest, I'm an
26:50alpha, whatever thing. It's just that
26:52for me, the point of my life is to
26:54become the best version of me. And in
26:56order to do that, I need to learn
26:57because there's a huge discrepancy
26:58between where I am and where I want to
27:00go. And the discrepancy is going to get
27:02filled with skills. Which means that I
27:05need to do repetitions to acquire
27:08failures that I can learn from to get
27:10better from. And if I can do more of
27:14that in a shorter period of time, I will
27:16learn more skills and by definition I
27:18will shrink the distance between myself
27:20and my ideal self. And so that is pretty
27:24much the only thought process I have
27:26around this. And I also believe that you
27:29need to be patient with outputs and
27:33impatient with inputs. So let me unpack
27:35that. Patience in general is figuring
27:38out what to do in the meantime. So when
27:40someone says, "Hey, be patient," what
27:41they just mean is figure out something
27:42else to do in the meantime. And so if
27:44I'm telling you to be patient with
27:46outputs, it means that you basically
27:47just have to figure out something else
27:49to do in the meantime while you wait for
27:51outputs to occur because you can't
27:53output. You can't money doesn't appear.
27:55You have to do something and then money
27:57happens, right? But the doing something
27:58part is the thing that you can control.
28:00The money happening is the part that you
28:02don't control that comes afterwards.
28:04It's an outcome, right? And so when I
28:06say patient with outputs, that's the
28:09first part. The second part is impatient
28:11with inputs. And so if being patient is
28:13figuring out what to do in the meantime,
28:15impatience is doing the thing in the
28:18meantime, right? And so it's the
28:20opposite of that. It's the thing you do
28:21in the meantime. And so if you want to
28:24be impatient with the input, the input
28:25is the thing. That's the action you do.
28:28And so by delineating that, if you hear
28:31yourself thinking, man, why hasn't this
28:33happened yet? You're talking about
28:34outputs. And that means, great, if I
28:36think that thought, I need to do more of
28:38this input, right? And so use your
28:40input, your action, your doingness, the
28:44thing you use your hands for as your
28:48coping mechanism for your impatience
28:51with outputs. I want to say that one
28:53more time. Whenever you have that
28:55feeling that things should be happening
28:57faster, use action. Consistency
29:03is the rarest of traits.
29:05And I think the reason it is so rare is
29:08because you cannot observe it without at
29:10least having some level of consistency.
29:14Think about that for a second. How can
29:16you observe consistency?
29:18You It's very hard to do, right? You
29:21can't see somebody coming like you have
29:22to be at the gym every day to see
29:25someone at the gym every day. Which is
29:27why like when people come to
29:29acquisition.com all of a sudden they get
29:31this gigantic boost in their skill set,
29:33their productivity, their output because
29:35they're around everyone. Like when you
29:37show up at acquisition.com at 5:30 in
29:40the morning, the parking lot's full.
29:42Like we're here to win, not play. We
29:45want to win. And so I think I would ask
29:48yourself the question, if there if I
29:50knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if
29:51I could do a hundred times more than I'm
29:52currently doing, I would hit the goals
29:53that I have. Then I would then ask the
29:56question, great, what resources are
29:58required? And then following up to that,
30:02is it worth it? And if the answer is
30:04yes, what's stopping you? I uh I love
30:08this stuff. I'm just so passionate about
30:10more. Like you can't and you can't even
30:14do like more for one day is not enough.
30:18like we had to be consistent with the
30:21amount of ads we're making for a very
30:22long time to get the volume.
30:26So you can make five posts on all the
30:29platforms in one day, but you got to
30:31wake up tomorrow and you're at zero
30:32again, right? One of the things that I
30:34think is so magical and so amazing about
30:35like sales teams is you have a week and
30:38everyone's trying to to up the tally and
30:40win the week, but what happens on Sunday
30:43morning?
30:45Back at zero, baby. back at zero. You
30:48have to be consistent. You want to win
30:50the quarter, you got to bring it every
30:51day, right?
30:54And I don't I don't pretend to know what
30:57what it is that separates people, you
30:59know, from the people who can and for
31:00the people who can't. But I would say
31:01that one of the biggest ones is like
31:04it's a decision.
31:06It's a decision. You decide that you
31:07want to go pro. You decide you want to
31:09make this. You want to you want to be
31:10legit. And the thing is is that you have
31:13to do it for you because no one will see
31:15the amount of work. No. Like if you want
31:17credit for the work, you've already
31:18lost. You can get credit for the
31:20outcome, but you will never get credit
31:22for the work. Like you have to accept
31:24that. Real, you have to accept that you
31:26will never get credit for the work. If
31:27anything, you will get you will get
31:29criticized for the work. The people
31:32around you say you work too much.
31:33They'll try and pull you away from the
31:34work, but the work needs doing.
31:38>> You can try way harder than you think
31:39you can, and most people aren't trying
31:41at all.
31:43I'll give a tactical thing that has
31:45helped for trying. And like this is
31:47actually one of those more rocky cut
31:48scene type things, but when you
31:53work and you actually are working,
31:55you're writing the emails that you need
31:56to write, you're you're you're preparing
31:57for the podcast, you're doing that that
31:59work that you know is not short work,
32:01it's this is going to take me two hours,
32:03it's going to take me four hours. When
32:05you get to the end of that and you're
32:06like, man, I'm kicked. You know, I'm
32:09this, you know, I I earned my shower
32:11today.
32:13I think the difference is that at that
32:15point you go you grab a bottle of water
32:18and then you look at your to-do list at
32:20the next large thing and say great let's
32:23start on this and I think people who
32:25don't witness that happen they don't see
32:27four hours and this is what working side
32:29by side someone can do I remember when I
32:31we just have we have a new uh director
32:33of marketing uh in his first week uh we
32:36needed to we needed to write some
32:38massive amount of stuff and uh he was
32:41like okay so we have to do this And I
32:43was like, "Great. Pull up a document.
32:44Let's go." And he was like, "Oh, like
32:46now." And I was like, "You got something
32:47else to do?" And he was like, "Oh, I
32:49mean I I no. Okay. Yeah, let's let's do
32:51it now." And then we shared screen for 8
32:53hours. Uh and then we finished it. And
32:56it was like, "Oh, wow." I was like,
32:57"Great. What's the next thing?" And he
32:58was like,
33:00"Oh yeah, uh we we have this other thing
33:02I guess we can do too." And it was and I
33:05could see his like perception on on the
33:08level of work shifting in real time. And
33:11so if you have the opportunity to work
33:13with anyone that is exceptional at
33:15anything,
33:18especially in that sub30 crowd, for the
33:21love of God, move across the country,
33:25live in a tiny apartment, live far below
33:28your means, work for free if you have to
33:30because the skill that you will get from
33:32learning the unlearnable or the
33:34difficult to learn lessons cuz I it is
33:37pathier to say unlearning, but like it's
33:38harder to learn these lessons if you can
33:40get in proximity, you will learn so much
33:42so much faster. Like if you want to time
33:45warp yourself, you can try and observe
33:47the little bits and nuggets and crumbs
33:49from videos, podcasts, things like this.
33:51Cuz all we're doing is trying to
33:52describe scenarios. But when you live
33:55them, it completely changes you forever.
33:58Like if you want to win, Angela
33:59Duckworth talked about this. The number
34:00one most consistent way to become a
34:02champion, losers
34:05stay losers by never being willing to
34:08lose.
34:09Everyone loses before they win. And so
34:12there's this great moment in the Matrix,
34:14which is the the famous jump where Neo
34:16is trying to jump across the buildings
34:18and everyone's gathered around because
34:19they think he's the one. He obviously
34:21takes the jump and he falls. And they're
34:24like, "Ah, what does it mean? What does
34:26it mean?" And Cipher, who ended up
34:27eventually being the Judas of this,
34:29says, "Everybody falls the first time."
34:32And so even the one or the person who
34:34was going to become the one was somebody
34:36who had to fail first. And I love that
34:38because everyone falls the first time.
34:40Your first business is very unlikely to
34:43be your last business. The first product
34:45you have will be a product that you'll
34:46be embarrassed of years from now. But
34:48what's important is having the product,
34:51getting the product, building the
34:52product, launching the product, shooting
34:53the shot. And so if you're never willing
34:55to lose, you're never going to win. So,
34:58in 2025, if you start a podcast or you
35:01start making content or you start doing
35:02cold outbound or you you you you take a
35:05new job, whatever it is, just remember
35:07that your second try after you fail,
35:09which you inevitably will, takes twice
35:11the emotional effort, but half the
35:13actual effort. So, you'll fail and
35:15you'll emotionally feel bad. But guess
35:17what you did? You actually gripped your
35:19hands on the unknown. And you go from
35:22unknown optimism to known pessimism. So
35:26it's like okay now I know what it takes
35:28I now have realistic expectations what
35:31is required in order to be successful
35:33and although it may be bigger than I
35:36originally thought I now can quantify
35:39what is required to win and so here's
35:41the thing the best entrepreneurs in the
35:43world have the biggest failure resumes
35:46and so I don't even want you to win I
35:48want you to build your failure resume
35:50and so if you're like a must be easy for
35:52you to say I lost money on my first two
35:54real estate deals I ever did. Almost
35:56lost all the money I put in. I've lost
35:58money on crypto when I put it in years
36:00ago. I lost money on uh bad hires. I've
36:03lost millions in bad hires. Actual hard
36:05costs, not soft costs. I've had six
36:07failed businesses. I've had nine failed
36:09partnerships. And so I bring these
36:11things up because like you're not going
36:12to hit it out of the park on the first
36:14shot. But the crazy thing about how
36:16success works is that you only need to
36:18win once. That's the crazy part is you
36:20only have to win once. I'll read you
36:22this quote from Jeff Bezos, which is
36:24what I started my first book, $100
36:26million Offers with. We all know that if
36:28you swing for the fences, you're going
36:29to strike out a lot, but you're also
36:31going to hit some home runs. The
36:33difference between baseball and
36:34business, however, is that baseball has
36:36a truncated outcome distribution. When
36:39you swing, no matter how well you
36:40connect with the ball, the most runs you
36:42can hit is four. In business, every once
36:45in a while, when you step up to the
36:47plate, you can score 1,000 runs. This
36:50longtail distribution of returns is why
36:52it's important to be bold. Big winners
36:54pay for so many experiments. And when he
36:57says big winners pay, they pay in
36:59failures. They pay in the scars that
37:02they have to incur and endure along to
37:06hitting it out of the park and hitting
37:07it out so big that they never have to
37:09swing again. And so I want to make this
37:11as real as I possibly can. I just found
37:13an old note from myself to myself that's
37:1712 years old. And so I talked about my
37:20$10,000 per month income goal. And
37:23reading it got me actually pretty choked
37:24up. This is all to say that no matter
37:26where you're at in your journey, you've
37:28just got to believe with all your
37:29[ __ ] heart that you're going to make
37:31it because no one else is going to
37:32believe for you. Because you can never
37:34expect someone to invest in you more
37:36than you invest in yourself. And the
37:38crazy thing is some people say they kill
37:40for a shot or they die for a chance when
37:42in reality they won't even wake up 60
37:44minutes earlier for it. So, we've
37:46eliminated the distractions, all of the
37:48things associated with not doing this
37:50stuff, and now hopefully I've removed
37:52some of you can sit in on a group of
37:54entrepreneurs, listen to the discussion
37:55for 60 seconds, and know how much money
37:58they make within a rough a rough
37:59estimate
38:00>> or what level of the business that
38:01they're working, if they're employees,
38:02like where they where they sit on the
38:03org chart. Um, because of what level of
38:05conversation they're having. And so, at
38:08the highest level, you're talking about
38:09allocation of resources. That's all it
38:10is. It's just capital and human
38:12allocation. Um and you know one level
38:15maybe below that would be uh human like
38:19human capital which is how are we going
38:20to attract talent? How are we going to
38:21train talent? How are we going to get
38:22compounding returns on talent? Uh
38:24because you know I I like the saying but
38:26um you're just one great hire away from
38:28all of the money that you want.
38:30>> Uh but the thing is is that I think the
38:32catch of that that ism is that you have
38:34to become the type of person that that
38:36person wants to work for.
38:38>> Totally.
38:39That's the hard part. That's like sure.
38:41Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. uh what's
38:43his name? Tim Cook,
38:45>> right, of Apple. He could he could
38:47probably grow your business, but he
38:49wouldn't work for you.
38:50>> Y [laughter]
38:51>> and so like that has been always at the
38:53forefront of Leil and I's mind is and
38:54that's part of what we do with the brand
38:56stuff, which is we want the brand to
38:59stand for things that because we're
39:00we're just as aggressively advertising
39:04at a tactical level, we're more
39:06aggressively advertising from a
39:07transactions perspective for the talent
39:09we put in portfolio companies. So we
39:11place talent I mean a few times a week.
39:14I mean we have three four leadership
39:16positions a week that we fill in our
39:18portfolio companies compared to how many
39:19deals we do at the portfolio level.
39:21>> Um and so and that's the that's the
39:23highest return on capital that we have
39:26is buy someone and I say buy just in the
39:29capital term. Um buy talent for 200,000
39:32a year make 20 million a year.
39:34>> Yep. No brainer.
39:35>> Great trade. Right. And one of the big
39:37one of the big misnomers I think one of
39:39the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make
39:40myself included when I was earlier on is
39:42that I didn't understand the difference
39:43between A and B talent. You can pay a
39:46talent 30% above market and get 10x the
39:49output. And like there's no sense in
39:52ever paying below market in my opinion
39:54because you just don't get you can get
39:56so much more for the for the extra
39:58premium that you pay that it's one of
40:00the best it's like the best best bet in
40:02Vegas. You know what I mean? best trade
40:03you can make is that premium to bring
40:05the the right person in that's 10 times
40:07more effective.
40:08>> You know, have you heard of the the
40:09Keith Ra boy? Um he has this expression
40:12about barrels versus bullets.
40:14>> Mhm.
40:14>> So the concept here, this guy was um
40:18>> I think he was like a COO of of Square
40:20or Block, whatever you want to call it.
40:22He's high up at PayPal. But anyway, so
40:24what he said was like, look, in an
40:25organization, you need barrows. These
40:27are going to be the ones that you give
40:29them a problem or like something,
40:30they'll just solve it, right? And then
40:31the bullets, like they will do what you
40:33tell them to do, but you should always
40:35hire a barrel whenever you meet a
40:36barrel. And that's kind of what you're
40:37saying here. And to me, like I I I love
40:40playing poker, right? Like I'm a gambler
40:41at heart, but in in like in business,
40:45it's like unfair. It's like you make
40:46this higher, it's like upside is
40:49unlimited.
40:50>> Well, I mean, it's got to the point now
40:51where we will like we interview, we
40:53basically have open interviews. So if we
40:55see someone who's incredibly talented,
40:57we will hire them without really having
41:00a clear position for them yet. And like
41:03I'm saying that's a bit that's if we
41:05have an incredibly talented person. Like
41:06we had someone recently um who is an
41:09exceptional sales director, had huge
41:10experience, was an ex CEO, like all this
41:12great stuff, great value fit. Um and one
41:15of our portfolio companies were about to
41:17uh you know make the recommendation that
41:18you should take this person. Um and they
41:21were like we don't we don't think we
41:22want to do it. Um, and so we hopped on
41:25the phone and we're like, "You're
41:26wrong." Um, like we have a lot more
41:29context on this. You should do it. And
41:31it ended up somebody from like their
41:32outside had said, "You shouldn't do it."
41:34And they had no that person had no
41:36context. And they were like, "We
41:37actually wanted to hire them, but we
41:38didn't trust ourselves." Which, by the
41:39way, is huge part for entrepreneurs is
41:41like you make one bad hire and then you
41:42think, "I can't hire people." Like,
41:44you're going to make mistakes. It's part
41:45of the game. You get better and better
41:47at pattern recognition. And so this
41:48person had talent. It was clear. And so
41:50we were like, just so you know, we're
41:52hiring him no matter what. And so we're
41:54either going to put him in your company
41:55or putting him in somebody else and they
41:56were like, "Okay, yeah, yeah, no, no. We
41:57want him." And so it's like, I think
41:58that's the level of talent is like you
42:00should feel when you're talking to the
42:02person. And here's the other limus test
42:04that I love. I got this from Laya. If
42:06you are not learning on the interview
42:08[snorts] from the candidate about the
42:10thing that they're supposed to take
42:12over, you shouldn't hire them because it
42:14means that you know more than them which
42:15means that you're required for them to
42:17be successful,
42:18>> which means that they need you and you
42:19no long you don't get leverage.
42:20>> Yeah, that dude that's way better. So I
42:22used to use this Larry Page proxy. Um so
42:26he would just get bored on all these
42:28interviews, right? You know, one of the
42:29founders of Google and and he would be
42:31like, "Yeah, so like tell me about
42:32something you're passionate about."
42:33Okay, great. You're going to teach me
42:34for seven minutes. So he can learn
42:35something. Leila's is even better.
42:38>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
42:38>> Because if you think about from a from a
42:40chunked up example,
42:42>> an organization grows if the if the
42:44cumulative knowledge base of the company
42:46grows.
42:47>> And so if you bring somebody in who you
42:50have the complete you have their entire
42:52complete knowledge set about whatever
42:53the subject matter is,
42:55>> then the organization doesn't grow.
42:57>> Just as simple as that. Y
42:59>> and if you're the smartest person in
43:02your business, then it means that the
43:04business will be capped by your brain.
43:06>> If you have four other people who have
43:09huge uh trench knowledge, then I see it
43:12as this like in my head I see it as this
43:13Christmas tree where like if you have
43:15four like this, the peak goes way above
43:17because you have this wider wider top.
43:19So the peak is way way higher. Whereas
43:21if you're the single brain at the top,
43:22the peak is the top of your head.
43:24>> Yeah.
43:25>> That's like how I visualize.
43:26>> Very small Christmas tree.
43:27>> Yeah. Very small Christmas tree.
43:28Exactly,
43:29>> dude.
43:29>> No presents.
43:30>> That's That's good. Um, so actually we
43:33have a couple minutes left here, but the
43:34Leila conversation is going to be really
43:36focused on talent acquisition cuz that
43:38that is the game. So, um,
43:40>> she's a G at it. She's a savage.
43:42>> I mean, speaking of savages. So, so A,
43:45yes, both of you are savages. um in a
43:47good way obviously, but B, when you find
43:49this talent, right, like I tell people,
43:51I tell my staff, it's like, dude, you
43:53know, and if you have that feeling, that
43:55little gut feeling,
43:57>> you pull the trigger. You don't you
43:58don't wait that long.
43:59>> Yeah, cuz the next person they interview
44:00with will hire them.
44:01>> Yeah, totally. So, you'll do it on the
44:03spot sometimes.
44:04>> We don't do I mean, we don't we still
44:05follow a process, but we we do 24-hour
44:07turnarounds to move things forward.
44:08>> There you go. Yeah. But usually your
44:10your turnarounds like
44:11>> we try and do we try and do everything
44:12one day apart if we like we always try
44:14to do that. Like we have really good
44:16metrics around HR like our cost to fill
44:18is way below industry average. Our time
44:20to fill roles um is like 22 days versus
44:23industry average is much higher.
44:24>> Um our two-sided fit at 90 days uh which
44:27is one of our key metrics is that the
44:28the person above the person and the
44:30person both say that it was a perfect
44:31match
44:32>> 90 days later.
44:33>> Two-sided fit. I like that you guys came
44:35up with that one too. uh what director
44:36of HR did and that was because she came
44:38from ox private equity firm and so she
44:41was director of people there. Yeah. And
44:43so on the interview she was teaching us
44:45she gave all these metrics that I didn't
44:47like time to fill and I was like I
44:49should why have I never tracked this
44:50like that's so smart and she was like
44:52what's the cost to fill and here I am
44:53thinking I was like oh yeah I'm this big
44:55metrics guy I know the cost to our
44:56customer CPM CP all these things and she
44:58was like oh you don't know what your
45:00cost to fill was and I was like
45:01>> wow like such an idiot myself and so
45:04that's why like that's why you need
45:06really smart people around you because
45:08like I learn from from her all the time
45:10>> you should feel like and you talk about
45:12working. So there's above the business,
45:14in the business, you know, on the
45:16business, right? What's what what's the
45:18difference with above?
45:19>> In the business is like I'm taking sales
45:20calls. Um I think on the business is
45:22like I'm in leadership positions. I'm
45:24managing, I'm leading, I'm casting the
45:26vision. I'm inspiring the the team. And
45:28then above the businesses, the business
45:30is you you look at many businesses and
45:33they are all almost like product lines
45:36or clients as I was saying earlier. um
45:39that you you you don't sit anywhere on
45:41the ORC chart for these businesses and
45:43that's probably the easiest litmus test
45:44is like do you have a direct report from
45:46the company and I have zero
45:49>> from any other companies
45:50>> yeah um it's funny so Neil sometimes
45:54will call me in the middle of the day
45:55and uh he'll be like what are you doing
45:57I'm like I'm working on stuff he's like
45:59I'm bored [laughter] like right but that
46:02that's it's not like that but he he he
46:03works really hard um but
46:06>> I I think the other other Good
46:08comparison here is the the difference
46:10between like a parallel entrepreneur and
46:12a serial entrepreneur because a serial
46:13entrepreneur actually waits to the next
46:14level. A parallel starts multiple
46:16things. But then to your point, how are
46:18you supposed to compete?
46:19>> Yeah. I mean the focus the the one
46:21person who's do going all in on one
46:22thing is always in my opinion going to
46:24>> make the most money. And if you look at
46:26the wealthiest 50 people in the world,
46:28they all went all in on one thing.
46:30>> Y
46:30>> and you know and there's a couple
46:32private equity investors who are at at
46:34that top now. But I would make the
46:36argument that they're they were they got
46:38into the business of private equity and
46:40that was their one thing. Even though
46:42they bought and sold companies, it
46:44functioned the same way as having a
46:45marketing agency except the unit size
46:47was bigger with more zeros.
46:49>> Yep. Do you think when you had the nine
46:51different company was it nine?
46:52>> Yeah.
46:52>> Okay. When you had the nine
46:54>> a it felt frantic, right? But did you
46:57feel like you were really close to
46:58losing it all
46:59>> every day?
47:00>> Yeah.
47:00>> It was horrible. It was like the it was
47:02so stressful because I mean I had I had
47:04nine companies worth of employees. I
47:05didn't I just didn't understand how to
47:07operate. I didn't understand how
47:08leadership worked. I didn't understand
47:10management. I didn't have one ones. I
47:12didn't have a communication cadence. And
47:13I was the rain maker for all the
47:14businesses. Like it was so ridiculous
47:16when I think about it now. Like it's so
47:18obviously stupid, but
47:19>> you just don't know when you're
47:20ignorant.
47:21>> Before we move on from here, what do you
47:23say to all the people now that want to
47:26start a hold? They're just like, "I'm
47:27going to go buy businesses cuz that's
47:28what cool people do and I'm going to go
47:30hire an operator." You have any words
47:32for those people?
47:32>> Well, right now buying businesses is
47:34like in vogue. I don't really know why
47:36it got invogue, but my best guess is
47:38that we have so many people retiring
47:39right now that there's just a huge
47:41supply spike. And then a lot of people
47:44who never made their money buying
47:46businesses, selling courses on how to
47:48buy businesses. Um because the thing is
47:50is and this is kind of for the audience
47:52is like if you make your money buying
47:53businesses and you're really good at it,
47:55you don't need to sell a course. Like
47:57the best people at buying businesses buy
47:59businesses and hold them and invest.
48:01Like I think Naval said like the best
48:03investors don't sell courses on
48:04investing. You know what I mean? Because
48:05like if you're really good at it, you
48:06don't need to. Um and I just I like
48:10>> I kind of stick by that. Um, and so it
48:13is kind of shitty and there's a lot of
48:14marketing dollars that are going behind
48:15that and a lot of content being made cuz
48:17it's like sexy and the idea
48:19>> of buying a business for no money down
48:22that makes 500,000 a year, which is
48:24absolutely possible. You totally can do
48:25that. But the thing that they miss is
48:27that I can buy a business for $0 down
48:29that makes $500 or a million dollar a
48:31year
48:31>> and know how to run it. If you've never
48:34run a business and even if you do
48:36somehow magically pull off that deal,
48:38you're still screwed because you have no
48:40idea how to run a business. And so it's
48:41like you still lack the skills even
48:43though you can close the sale. Like I
48:44could sell I could sell that I could
48:46build a skyscraper. And if I somehow
48:48managed to BS my way through the
48:50negotiations and close the contract, I
48:52still have to build a skyscraper. And if
48:53you've never built a building before or
48:55even a house, very tough. and the
48:57likelihood that you then lose your ass
49:00on because like you're not you'll get
49:01the business that does a million dollars
49:03in profit per year for zero dollars down
49:05but not for zero dollars
49:06>> and that's the piece that I think a lot
49:07of people it's like it's not free like
49:10you have a liability or you have a debt
49:11if you use some sort of seller financing
49:13creative financing whatever be in a bad
49:15mood for no reason then you might as
49:17well be in a good mood for no reason too
49:19one of the things that's been helpful
49:20for me is just actually recognizing the
49:22math of hard days think about you having
49:24a hundred days right let's just say that
49:26you you know last 100 days of your life.
49:28Well, the top 10% of those days, you're
49:30going to have 10 days that are smiley
49:32face days. And then you might have, you
49:34know, kind of the middle 80 that's going
49:36to be kind of neutral days, right? And
49:38then you're going to have your bottom
49:3910% days. Now, this is just normal
49:42because of a standard distribution of
49:44how days work. When I think back on, you
49:46know, my days, sometimes I'm like, you
49:47know what, maybe today is just a bottom
49:4910% day. And if I didn't have this
49:51bottom 10% day, then I wouldn't be able
49:53to recognize the difference between
49:54these days and the top 10% days. And so
49:56in order for me to want to have top 10%
49:58days, I by definition must also have
50:00bottom 10% days. I think the most
50:02important skill that you can have is
50:05being able to reframe reality. And I say
50:08this because I had a very good friend of
50:10mine this year say something to me and
50:12it was it was really powerful and it's
50:14been top of mind since he said it. He
50:16said, "You're Alex Hermoszi. You can get
50:18away with whatever you want as long as
50:19you frame it right." And I really
50:22thought a lot about that and I've I've
50:24brought that perspective to a lot of the
50:27conversations, a lot of the difficult
50:28things I've had to go through this year.
50:29It reminds me of a quote from Victor
50:30Frankl who wrote the book A Man's Search
50:32for Meaning which he wrote while he was
50:33in the concentration camps during the
50:34Holocaust and he survived or he wrote
50:36about that time period. And one of the
50:38things that he said is he who has a why
50:40to live for can bear almost any how. If
50:43you think about that, the why is the
50:45reframe for dealing with the how. How
50:48can I frame this this difficult thing,
50:51this thing that I'm about to go through
50:52or that I just went through? How can I
50:53reframe that? In what world would this
50:54be an amazing thing? In what world were
50:56when I tell this story 40, 50 years from
50:58now, would I be like, "This is a pivot
51:00point for me. I had to have this origin
51:01story in order to get to where I wanted
51:03to go or to become the type of person I
51:04wanted to be." These have been some of
51:06the mental reframes that I've used on
51:07some of the harder days that I've had.
51:09So, this year I had a gigantic bill come
51:11out of nowhere. It was a a multi-8
51:13figure bill that was required to get
51:16paid in 72 hours in cash. I, you know,
51:20thankfully had that available to me, but
51:23I had obviously different plans for that
51:25money than dealing with this gigantic
51:28bill that I had to all of a sudden pay
51:29within 72 hours. basically the moment
51:31between when I got the news to me paying
51:33it to then kind of reflecting back
51:35because it almost felt so fast or was
51:36like I've got you know I've got all
51:39these plans and then boom this happens
51:40and then 72 hours later it's like wow
51:42okay what am I going to do what am I
51:44going to do kind of moving forward from
51:45this and there's this great quote by
51:48Marcus Aurelius which is what are you so
51:50afraid of losing when nothing in this
51:51world belongs to you I really thought a
51:54lot about that which it's like I can't
51:56take it with me in the end and so being
51:59sad about losing something that was
52:01never really mine anyways. Like I'm
52:02going to have to push all my chips to
52:03the middle of the board when when the
52:05game's over. I'm going to have to cash
52:06my chips and somebody else, you know,
52:07other people are going to distribute my
52:08chips when I die. And so it's like I'm
52:10really just a steward of these chips.
52:11I'm just renting these chips for a
52:13minute to be upset and to ruin the one
52:15thing that I'm only that is that is
52:16finite, which is the present moment for
52:18something that actually doesn't affect
52:19how I live. So this is the second piece.
52:20This is actually kind of a utilitarian
52:22perspective. It really helped me by
52:23losing that money. I asked myself, what
52:25does this change about what I do? What
52:28does this change about my life? It
52:30doesn't change the food I eat. It
52:31doesn't change where I live. It doesn't
52:33change where I work. It doesn't change
52:34what I do. It actually changes nothing.
52:36All that changed was just like in my
52:38mind, I had an expectation of the future
52:40that changed. That was it. And I said,
52:44"Okay, because of this thing that
52:46existed in my mind, I am choosing to
52:48punish myself for not having seen this
52:50or not paying attention or whatever
52:53number of reasons I could blame myself
52:54for." But at the end of the day, I was
52:55like, "Okay, so you just get to pick how
52:56long you want to beat yourself up for."
52:57I was like, "Huh, well, what am I so
52:59afraid of losing if nothing in this
53:01world belongs to me? Nothing. This
53:03wasn't mine to begin with." And so that
53:05really kind of helped me quell that kind
53:07of negative thought pattern pretty
53:08quickly. So there's, to put a little
53:10comedic spin on this, Mark Twain, which
53:11has some of the best quotes like ever,
53:13by the way. He said, "I've lived through
53:14uh many terrible tragedies, um, only
53:16some of them actually happened."
53:18[laughter] And so it's like, you know,
53:19most of us suffer almost exclusively in
53:21our minds. I found it helpful when I'm
53:24in a bad season like I am right now. To
53:26be fair, I don't try to like put big
53:27labels on things, but I guess I'm just
53:29giving myself a little bit of grace, but
53:31to just focus on having a good day. And
53:34so, it's like, okay, even though this is
53:35a bad season, I'm going to have a good
53:37day in a bad season. It's kind of like a
53:39bite-size victory. And if I start
53:41stringing enough of those good days in a
53:42row, I'm going to turn a bad season back
53:44into a good season. And it makes it feel
53:46a little less bad because I feel like
53:48I'm making progress. I heard this bit by
53:50Bill Aman, who was like getting sued. He
53:51was going through divorce. He just lost
53:53$4 billion in Parishing Square for his
53:55capital. So he was like, honestly, all
53:57of this happened at the same time. And
53:59he realized all these projects for these
54:00big massive things, which is a lot of
54:02kind of the stuff I'm dealing with right
54:03now. They're not like, okay, I had a bad
54:04day. They're like things that just la
54:05they last and they prolong, right? And
54:08he said, you just got a little bit done
54:10every day. That's it. He's like, you
54:11just got to make a little bit of
54:12progress every day. And kind of like
54:14compounding and investing, it's like you
54:15don't really you don't see it in in a
54:16day or two or a week or two. It's like,
54:18but you look at back at 30 days, you're
54:19like, all right, I moved the ball a
54:20little bit. you look back at 90, you're
54:22like, "All right, I made some progress."
54:24And it's just like if you have big
54:26goals, you're also going to have equally
54:28large obstacles. And so, you can't
54:31assume that, oh, my big goals are going
54:32to take many, many years, and that the
54:33obstacles that I have to maneuver around
54:35are going to happen overnight. Sometimes
54:37obstacles you have to maneuver around
54:38might take a year or multiple years to
54:40get around. And so, you have to be able
54:42to manage your headsp space and
54:43basically keep your internal combustion
54:44engine going during those harder times.
54:46And so, it's kind of like a monkey
54:48swinging from good good moment to good
54:49moment. Because even going from bad
54:52season to good day, you can even have
54:54bad day and good moment. So I was trying
54:56to thought, okay, today was a shitty
54:58day. Fine. What good moments did I have?
55:01And by focusing on the moments, when I
55:03look back on my life, you forget most of
55:05your life. Like if we're being real,
55:06like you can't recall most of your life.
55:08Most people can't even recall what they
55:09ate like three days ago. But you can
55:12have the moments. And so the moments
55:14when I think about at the end of my life
55:15looking backwards, those are the only
55:16things I'm really going to remember. I
55:18just want to make sure that I take those
55:19down. Feels like a bad season now. I can
55:21try and forget most of the bad stuff and
55:24just try and remember the good moments.
55:26In retrospect, I can have rose
55:28rosecolored glasses when it comes to
55:29this this season. Well, how do you have
55:31a good day? And I think this is
55:32different for everyone, but I'll tell
55:33you what my little formula is for for
55:35having a good day. Good day formula. For
55:39me, there's only three things. Number
55:41one is eat with people I like. Simple
55:45enough. Number two, lift with people I
55:50like.
55:51And the third is write something.
55:55If I do those three things, I had a
55:57pretty good day. Like I look back and
55:59I'm like, I earned my shower today. I
56:01feel good about this. Maybe for you,
56:03your three things are going to be
56:04entirely different. Now, I'll give you a
56:05little wrinkle on something that's been
56:06really valuable for me, like absurdly
56:09valuable. The thing that I noticed that
56:11made these two things significantly
56:12better, really all three of these things
56:14is not being in a rush. If I have to
56:17lift and it's like I only have 60
56:18minutes to lift, I don't like that. Some
56:20people are fine with it. Some people are
56:21like, well, this is how my life has to
56:22be. That's fine. I have come to a point
56:25in my life where I was like, I have a
56:28lot of money and I have the ability to
56:31not work anymore and there are not a
56:34huge amount of things that bring me big
56:35joy. If these are the few things that
56:37bring me joy, which is eating without a
56:40clock with people I like, lifting
56:42without a clock uh with people I like,
56:45and writing something for as long as I
56:47feel like, then I should organize my day
56:49so that I don't have as like many many
56:51heart stops. So that if I want to lift
56:53in the morning, I don't have something
56:55at 9. And if I do have something at 9,
56:57it's something that's movable, right?
56:58Like if I have to, you know, make this
57:00video, it could be at 9:00, but the team
57:02knows if I show up at 9:30 or 9:45
57:04because I've lifted longer, that's fine.
57:06It's all good. It has taken my good day
57:08formula and made it like my super good
57:10day formula. And so sometimes it's like
57:12what are the tiny nuances that actually
57:14make something different between good
57:15and great. I thought about like the days
57:17that I had these three things happen and
57:19then I had better days that has those
57:20three things happen. I was like, what
57:21was the difference? And the difference
57:22was that I didn't have to be somewhere
57:24else.
57:26And in trying not to have a rush, it
57:29means I have to give something else up.
57:31Then the question is, is the thing that
57:32I'm giving up worth having a better day.
57:34For me, I was like, yes, I'm willing to
57:37give up some money or some upside in
57:39order to have consistently better days.
57:41And that's a trade I'm willing to make
57:42at this point in my career.
57:44>> So last year, my company made a million.
57:47I've already made a million this year,
57:49so I think I'm on track for four, but I
57:51hope to hit 10.
57:53>> Um, so here's the deal, okay? is that I
57:56get really bored,
57:57>> right?
57:57>> And so I'm also a really amazing
58:00visionary. And so I've built a lot of
58:02different things. And what I'm needing
58:04right now is I need clarity.
58:07>> Okay? And I need you to I would love for
58:09you to help me focus.
58:12>> Okay? So I'm going to share with you I'm
58:14going to share with you what I've done.
58:15I'm going to share with you what I have.
58:17And then what I would love for you to
58:18show me is how do I get clarity?
58:20>> Okay. What do you sell?
58:21>> Yeah. So I have a publishing house.
58:23Okay. But really what I've sold is that
58:26I take people on these 5day adventures,
58:28like luxury adventures, and I can help
58:29people channel their books in 5 days.
58:32>> And that's what's filled my pocket, but
58:34it's also just not scalable.
58:37>> And why is it not scalable?
58:39>> Well, because one week a month, I'm on
58:42these adventures and I love it, but it's
58:45like there's like a ceiling. And so then
58:47I like rented this island in the middle
58:49of the British Virgin Islands. I took 15
58:51people there. We all write their books
58:52for 5 days. And so that was like
58:53scalable which that landed me a TV show.
58:56So now I have like this TV show but then
58:58I have like like my publishing house and
59:00then like I have this business school
59:02for women. Yeah. And then like I'm also
59:05like a single mom of five kids.
59:08>> Also I like write books on the corner.
59:11Also I did a live event in January and
59:13closed 1.25 million in five minutes to a
59:17crowd of 30. So, it's like I have all
59:19these things. I just like
59:22>> I just need some
59:24>> Yeah, you got to pick. You got to pick
59:26one of your five kids. [laughter]
59:29>> The 10year-old all day.
59:31>> There you go. So, you just got to you
59:33got to think about which one's the
59:3410-year-old of your businesses.
59:35[sighs and gasps]
59:39>> It's just like the the the roofing thing
59:41that I said. Like the thing is is the
59:43more talented you are, the more
59:45opportunities you know you could crush,
59:48which just means more things you have to
59:49say no to. And it's just like it's the
59:51reality of it. I mean, the thing is is
59:54there's a price to that, which is um if
59:56you continue to doing what you're
59:58currently doing,
1:00:00you pay a price on either side on if you
1:00:02continue, you pay the price of how big
1:00:04the impact you want to have and how big
1:00:06of a business you ultimately build.
1:00:07That's the price. What you get for that
1:00:09trade is you get to have the novelty and
1:00:11the excitement of new things happening
1:00:14all the time. On the other side, you
1:00:16build something really big um that has
1:00:19teams and systems and it just, you know,
1:00:21grows really large, probably maybe maybe
1:00:23not bigger than your vision, but large,
1:00:24much larger than what you have right
1:00:26now. Uh and what you give up for that um
1:00:28is all of the novelty that's associated
1:00:31with doing new things.
1:00:34>> Yeah.
1:00:35So, which one? [laughter]
1:00:37>> Well, It sounds like you know which one
1:00:39you should do and you want to do
1:00:41something different.
1:00:42>> I feel like when I when I've been
1:00:44looking at like, okay, well, what has
1:00:46brought people to me,
1:00:47>> it's always the books. And I keep trying
1:00:49to get out of it because there's so many
1:00:51people and there's so many things and
1:00:53all these systems in publishing. And I'm
1:00:56like, but if I just ran the business
1:00:57school, like I don't have to have all
1:00:59these like editors and formatterers and
1:01:01book covers and Right. But then I look
1:01:03at like, well, what do people always
1:01:04come to me for? It's always books.
1:01:08>> [sighs]
1:01:11>> Yeah.
1:01:11>> So, you run the business school, right?
1:01:13>> Yeah.
1:01:14>> So, imagine I come to you.
1:01:16>> Mhm.
1:01:16>> And I'm saying, "Hey, I've got this
1:01:17business that everybody wants to buy
1:01:18from me. It has good margins. I sell it
1:01:20like crazy. Um, but I have like four
1:01:22other businesses that I want to start.
1:01:24They don't grow as quickly as this other
1:01:26one.
1:01:26>> What should I do?" [laughter]
1:01:29>> Weird. Sounds so easy when you say it.
1:01:32Yeah. Obviously. Right. Right. Right.
1:01:34[snorts]
1:01:35>> Yeah.
1:01:36Yeah. Okay.
1:01:40>> No, I mean like that's the I mean the
1:01:42thing that what you're encountering is
1:01:43is a problem I think everybody in this
1:01:45room has dealt with, right? It sucks.
1:01:49It's like and I I I was crude earlier
1:01:50and I apologize to women in the room. Um
1:01:52but like it's like you have to realize
1:01:55that like you can't pursue every
1:01:56opportunity. Not only can you not pursue
1:01:58every opportunity, you basically have to
1:01:59say no to every opportunity to be able
1:02:01to make one opportunity worth pursuing.
1:02:03>> And if
1:02:04>> that sounded good, didn't it? Yeah, that
1:02:05was that was really good.
1:02:07>> If if my TV show is on Amazon Prime and
1:02:11I'm helping people write books
1:02:14>> and then I'm like, but I'm pushing my
1:02:15business school. Like, that doesn't even
1:02:17make sense.
1:02:18>> Yeah. I wouldn't push the business
1:02:19school. Just have the media asset of
1:02:21Prime that pushes you writing books and
1:02:23then help people write more books and
1:02:25then have a second season of Amazon
1:02:27Prime helping you, you know, people
1:02:28writing books and then sell more people
1:02:30writing books.
1:02:31>> Yeah.
1:02:32>> All right. Like I'm
1:02:33>> That's my financial adviser on the front
1:02:35shaking her head. We got this, Julia.
1:02:37[laughter]
1:02:37>> Yeah. Yeah. Julia's like, "I've seen the
1:02:39financials on the book one. Like, do
1:02:40more of that." Right. No, but like um I
1:02:44I I want to hit on this one because I
1:02:45think I I'm not really talking to you.
1:02:47I'm talking through to everybody else.
1:02:49Um like
1:02:51the I I stayed I stayed I had these
1:02:54these massive multi-year plateaus where
1:02:57I just stayed stuck because I wanted to
1:02:59pursue every single thing.
1:03:01>> Yeah. And so you have to trade novelty
1:03:03for loyalty. And so it's like you become
1:03:06loyal to the business. I also think that
1:03:07occurs with relationships. Like you make
1:03:09the trade
1:03:09>> the new person every one, you know,
1:03:11every week, every month, every whatever
1:03:12for somebody that you know that you've
1:03:14built something meaningful that's
1:03:16deeper, right? And I think that you it's
1:03:18kind of like I think business in a lot
1:03:19of ways is like a fine wine where like
1:03:21you understand it at a different level
1:03:23um as the years go by and you go through
1:03:25different seasons. And I think that you
1:03:26miss out on that opportunity if you're
1:03:28going after, you know, one night stands
1:03:30and flings
1:03:33from a business perspective.
1:03:34>> Do you know my life? [laughter] I'm just
1:03:36kidding.
1:03:38Just kidding.
1:03:38>> I know the wife earlier that actually
1:03:40came out way wrong. Um [laughter]
1:03:43but uh thank you. Uh no, but like I I
1:03:46I'm I'm keeping you up here because I
1:03:47just know that
1:03:48>> No, this is helpful. Thank you.
1:03:49>> Yeah, you have to. Um but it's okay.
1:03:51Like
1:03:55life will not give you what you want if
1:03:57you want everything.
1:03:58>> Ah [sighs]
1:04:00damn.
1:04:01>> Like we we have to make trades or we get
1:04:03nothing.
1:04:06And it's tough. And I think there was a
1:04:07big I had a big realization I want to
1:04:09say a few years back where um once I
1:04:12realized how much work it takes to make
1:04:13something truly great and something big,
1:04:16I had this moment of like deep sadness
1:04:18where I realized that I could only do a
1:04:19few things throughout the rest of my
1:04:20life. I was like, "Oh, I only have like
1:04:22two maybe three entrepreneurial seasons
1:04:25left in me."
1:04:26>> Yeah.
1:04:26>> Which is kind of like crazy to think of.
1:04:28It's like I only get two or three more
1:04:29big swings. That's it. And the real real
1:04:32is that if the swing just keeps going,
1:04:34which is what I plan on doing
1:04:35acquisition.com, it's like this is it.
1:04:37I'm going to do this until I get too old
1:04:39to do it and that's it.
1:04:40>> Yeah.
1:04:41>> That's all it is. Now, what I want to do
1:04:42is give you something tactical. All
1:04:44right? Because it's this is we were all
1:04:45the way up here.
1:04:46>> So, um I'm going to make a a video on
1:04:48this because I think it's really
1:04:49helpful. which is that you have to take
1:04:52your creative energy and I have a lot of
1:04:54that too um and you have to channel it
1:04:56into something that is accreative to the
1:04:57business something that adds value
1:04:59rather than something that detracts
1:05:00value and so what are the components of
1:05:02the business that need novelty on a
1:05:04regular basis
1:05:07[sighs]
1:05:09>> um I think
1:05:10>> I can give you a hint
1:05:12>> what
1:05:12>> marketing
1:05:13>> marketing I was just going to say sales
1:05:14and marketing magnets yeah like
1:05:15>> so if you want to build and you want to
1:05:17create I have the same itch
1:05:19>> I put all of my ADD
1:05:21>> into content. I've become a
1:05:23significantly better entrepreneur by
1:05:25making content because it distracts me
1:05:27from [ __ ] up my business.
1:05:29>> This is legit. I just wrote a book about
1:05:32this. [laughter]
1:05:34I just wrote a book about when leaders
1:05:36get bored, they just [ __ ] it all up and
1:05:38burn down the city. Yeah.
1:05:39>> And I just keep doing it over and over.
1:05:40>> So instead, just like just paint the
1:05:42city,
1:05:43>> okay?
1:05:43>> Just paint it. Don't destroy it. Just
1:05:45paint a different color.
1:05:46>> Got it. And so that like and that goes
1:05:48for everyone like my my ADD like I put
1:05:51it into ads. I put it into like the
1:05:52reason I write books is mostly for me.
1:05:54Like Ila's like can you just write
1:05:55another book because she's like you're
1:05:57just getting into all of these things
1:05:58that you should just not get into.
1:06:00Right.
1:06:01>> And so the thing is is that when I am in
1:06:02writing mode the business does
1:06:03exceptionally well because I do so
1:06:04little.
1:06:05>> Yeah. [sighs]
1:06:06>> Right.
1:06:06>> Feel this.
1:06:07>> Yeah. I don't normally um talk about
1:06:10this but I think this this feels
1:06:11incredibly relevant. Yeah.
1:06:14So
1:06:16this is going to feel real for you.
1:06:18>> Yeah.
1:06:18>> Uh and everyone else.
1:06:20>> So let's imagine the business like
1:06:22everyone's revenue here represents this
1:06:24like this this line your revenue not the
1:06:26aggregate but like this is that's your
1:06:27business that's normal business that's
1:06:29happening. What I realized this is me so
1:06:32this is anecdotal is that whenever I
1:06:33decide to make a change in the business
1:06:36I see about a 20% decrement or decrease
1:06:38in performance um from whatever that
1:06:40change is. So, I change a sales process,
1:06:42I change a leader process, I change an
1:06:43onboarding process, I change something
1:06:44that I have to train people up on
1:06:46something new. Now, even if that change
1:06:48is something that I think is superior,
1:06:50I'm still going to have an immediate
1:06:51decrease in performance.
1:06:53>> Now, what what if if I if I assume this
1:06:56to be true, which in my experience, it's
1:06:57been about 20%. So, if you're like,
1:06:59what's the data research behind it? It's
1:07:01Alex doing this. All right. Now, if I
1:07:05think that this improvement is going to
1:07:07make, let's say, a 5% improvement in the
1:07:09business, like I think this will, you
1:07:10know, improve our our closing rate by 5%
1:07:12or something like that, then I'm going
1:07:14to take a guaranteed 20% loss for a
1:07:17potential 5% increase.
1:07:20Bad trade. Now, how many months is it
1:07:23going to take me in order to make up for
1:07:24the 20, you know, 20%. It's going to
1:07:26take four or five months, right? And
1:07:27it's gonna Now, here's the really fun
1:07:29thing is that on an alternate timeline,
1:07:31you have this thing. But when you leave
1:07:34people alone,
1:07:36they tend to just get better at their
1:07:38jobs. So, you'll get the 5% improvement.
1:07:41And so, what's happened is that I've
1:07:42actually created this rule,
1:07:48which is that if I don't see a an
1:07:50adjusted a riskadjusted 20% improvement.
1:07:52So, let me explain what I mean by that,
1:07:54which is I need to see a 40% improvement
1:07:56that I think has a 50/50 shot at
1:07:58happening
1:08:01for me to make any change at all.
1:08:03>> Damn.
1:08:03>> And so, I have a list right now.
1:08:05>> Mhm.
1:08:06>> Um it's Alex's big list of ideas.
1:08:08>> Yeah.
1:08:08>> Which I encourage you to have.
1:08:09>> Okay.
1:08:10>> And I have it. It's on my phone. Um
1:08:12where every time I think of something
1:08:13else that we could do to improve this
1:08:15business,
1:08:16>> instead of messaging the team and
1:08:17saying, "Hey guys, emergency meeting.
1:08:19We're going to do this. This is such a
1:08:20great idea. [laughter]
1:08:25I just write it down.
1:08:27>> Yeah.
1:08:27>> And I just keep living my life.
1:08:29>> Okay. [laughter]
1:08:30>> And every once in a while, I'll have one
1:08:32where I'm like, this is actually a 40
1:08:3550%, you know, potential move. Then I'll
1:08:39go to the team and say, here's my
1:08:41reasoning behind this. And then they'll
1:08:43say, cool, you have four other 50%
1:08:45return moves that you've told us about
1:08:47in the last 30 days. Is this better than
1:08:50those ones? And then I'll look at it, be
1:08:52like, "No, it's not better than those
1:08:53ones." And so then I'll keep it on my
1:08:55list. And in the event that the entire
1:08:57team is bandwidth and they're all
1:08:59breathing a little too easy, then I can
1:09:01go destroy their worlds, right?
1:09:03[laughter]
1:09:04But what's ended up happening is that my
1:09:06businesses have improved so dramatically
1:09:08by me just saying, "Let's just let's
1:09:10just let people do their jobs." And so
1:09:13I'm going to be crude yet again just to
1:09:15emphasize this point, which is that I
1:09:17have grown to accept that some [ __ ]
1:09:19stays [ __ ] Yeah.
1:09:21>> And so there are tons of things about
1:09:24the experience that you guys went
1:09:25through today. Hopefully it's been
1:09:26really positive between yesterday and
1:09:27today. I hope it has been. The team was
1:09:29great. But there's probably a hundred
1:09:30things that I want to improve about it.
1:09:32But every time I want to go improve one
1:09:34of those things, four others drop. And
1:09:37it's not worth the cost of change.
1:09:40And so most of us just don't factor in
1:09:43the guaranteed 20% decrease for the
1:09:45potential which we are usually overly
1:09:48optimistic on. I think this will be 40%.
1:09:50But then after it is all said and done,
1:09:51it's five. Was that worth it? No. And so
1:09:55hopefully this is not, you know, this is
1:09:57not I'm not just talking to you. I can
1:09:58see a lot of heads nodding. Um, this has
1:10:01been one of the most useful razors that
1:10:04I've used as an entrepreneur and it has
1:10:06made all of my business significantly
1:10:07better. And so tactical takeaway for you
1:10:09is number one, channel your ADD into the
1:10:12stuff that benefits the business by
1:10:14being creative. Number two, make a list
1:10:17of all your crazy ideas when they come
1:10:18up and don't tell anyone about them.
1:10:20>> And if it's seasons for 2 or 4 weeks and
1:10:23you still think about it, it's like
1:10:24maybe when you go to the store, you're
1:10:25like, "Maybe I'll buy this dress." I
1:10:26don't know. I'm just pretending to be a
1:10:27girl for a second. And then you decide
1:10:29not to. And it's like if you still think
1:10:30about the dress a month later, then go
1:10:32back and buy it. But in the moment, if
1:10:33you buy it, then it's usually a terrible
1:10:35decision.
1:10:36>> And so it's the same thing with this.
1:10:37Put the list down, sleep on it. If
1:10:39you're still thinking about that idea a
1:10:40month later, it probably has some legs.
1:10:42>> Yeah.
1:10:43>> Right. And then number three, if I am
1:10:45going to pull something off of my big
1:10:46list of crazy ideas, it better be worth
1:10:49it because I'm going to absolutely
1:10:50detonate a bomb in my business and it
1:10:52better be worth what's going to happen
1:10:53when the dust settles.
1:10:55>> Wow,
1:10:57this was hard for me to hear.
1:10:59And like
1:11:00>> if you like this video and you're a
1:11:01business owner who wants to break
1:11:02through your current revenue ceiling, I
1:11:03distilled every lesson from scaling 10
1:11:05businesses past 10 million and three
1:11:07businesses past 100 million into a
1:11:09completely free scaling road map that
1:11:10I've used to go from 0 to 1, 0 to 10,
1:11:12and 0 to 100 plus. And so you can click
1:11:15here and you can check it out. Again,
1:11:16absolutely free. And since you're a
1:11:17business owner, appreciate you and uh
1:11:19enjoy.

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