If You're at Zero, Here's What You Need — Transcript

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1. 0:00For the people that are at zero.
2. 0:01>> Yeah.
3. 0:02>> What is it that they're typically coming
4. 0:04to you to help them with? So, if you
5. 0:06were one of them,
6. 0:07>> Yeah.
7. 0:08>> what is it that they want from Alex
8. 0:09Hormozi?
9. 0:10>> I think it's um there's what they think
10. 0:13they want and what they actually need.
11. 0:15Um which are two different things.
12. 0:17And so, I think what they think they
13. 0:19want is uh some tactic that's going to
14. 0:23immediately help them start a business.
15. 0:26Um what they typically actually need is
16. 0:30um
17. 0:31the courage to be willing to be wrong
18. 0:35and to be willing to have shame
19. 0:39by failing at things in front of people
20. 0:41whose opinions they care about. And I
21. 0:43think that's like if I re- rewind the
22. 0:46clock for me,
23. 0:47it was probably one of the hardest
24. 0:48things that I had to get over. And so, I
25. 0:50think that's why maybe my message
26. 0:51resonates with a lot of people is
27. 0:52because it was so hard for me um to get
28. 0:54over. And what's interesting is
29. 0:56basically anybody who's listening,
30. 0:58the harder it is for you to break free
31. 1:00of whatever kind of mental prison you've
32. 1:02made for yourself, whether that's real
33. 1:04or just in in your head,
34. 1:06the more compelling your story will be
35. 1:08when you break through it. Um because it
36. 1:11will resonate with even more people. Uh
37. 1:13the for the people that it was easy,
38. 1:15that their story doesn't have a doesn't
39. 1:17have a lot of like I was immediately an
40. 1:18entrepreneur. Like I wasn't like that. I
41. 1:19had a job when I was in high school. I
42. 1:21had a job immediately out of college.
43. 1:23Some people are like, I was selling
44. 1:24lemonade out of the back of my, you
45. 1:25know, thing when I was 13. I didn't do
46. 1:27any of that. Like I school failed me. I
47. 1:29actually was pretty good at school. Uh
48. 1:31I didn't have any of those issues. You
49. 1:32know what I mean? And so, I had a a
50. 1:34pretty clear career path. And so, I had
51. 1:35what many would consider like I had a
52. 1:37real opportunity cost. So, I had a
53. 1:40white-collar job and I had uh a GMAT
54. 1:42score above Harvard's mid score. And so,
55. 1:45I had a a really clear path of what my
56. 1:46life would could look like in the next
57. 1:4820, 30 years. And it was fairly
58. 1:50well-defined. Like I'll go to Harvard or
59. 1:53Stanford or one of the top business
60. 1:54schools. And then I I either go back
61. 1:55into management consulting, I'll go into
62. 1:57investment banking, and then eventually
63. 1:58end up in private equity.
64. 1:59Um and that would be the path, right?
65. 2:01And then all the flowers would be set at
66. 2:03my feet, and you know, everyone would
67. 2:05say, "We approve of you. You're an
68. 2:07excellent person." But when I saw the
69. 2:08people who were 20 years ahead of me, I
70. 2:11really didn't want their life. And then
71. 2:13it started making me look at my life,
72. 2:14and I was like, I don't even know if I
73. 2:15really want my life.
74. 2:16Um and so the the big decisions that
75. 2:19I've made in my life, unfortunately, um
76. 2:21have almost always come at the at the
77. 2:24the
78. 2:25doorstep of apparent death.
79. 2:27Um and I think maybe in some ways that
80. 2:29makes me a coward uh for having needed
81. 2:32death to make decisions. And so
82. 2:35operationalizing that has been something
83. 2:38that has helped me move faster
84. 2:40to make decisions that I know I need to
85. 2:41make but don't.
86. 2:42And so like the first big kind of like
87. 2:45what it felt like a death decision was
88. 2:48um I was a consultant, 22-ish years old.
89. 2:51I had a paid-for, you know, condo that I
90. 2:53bought uh overlooking the city, and I
91. 2:56remember thinking like, "I really hope I
92. 2:58don't wake up tomorrow."
93. 2:59And that and it I don't mean that to be
94. 3:02melodramatic. It just I just for a
95. 3:04period of time I just always just like
96. 3:06hoped every night. I was like, "I just
97. 3:07really hope I don't wake up tomorrow."
98. 3:08Like I just don't want to do this.
99. 3:10And
100. 3:11what was difficult about that was that
101. 3:12at that time was when my father was most
102. 3:14proud of me.
103. 3:16Uh because I was doing everything that
104. 3:17was according to plan, you know, he
105. 3:19could talk about like his son who
106. 3:21graduated in 3 years from Vanderbilt,
107. 3:22had the had the good job, like
108. 3:24everything was we're following the plan.
109. 3:26Um
110. 3:27and
111. 3:28it was upon realizing that
112. 3:32my ultimate expression of living out his
113. 3:34dream was me feeling like I didn't want
114. 3:36to be alive.
115. 3:38And so in
116. 3:40and it took me time to get to that point
117. 3:42to even articulate that, cuz obviously
118. 3:43you never want to kind of like admit
119. 3:45failure of like, "I have really messed
120. 3:47something up here."
121. 3:48Um
122. 3:49but I I living my life to win someone
123. 3:51else's game.
124. 3:52And when I realized that, I realized
125. 3:55that one of our dreams had to die.
126. 3:58Either his or mine.
127. 3:59And when I realized that his dream must
128. 4:03die in order for mine to live was a a
129. 4:06statement that I kind of crystallized
130. 4:08when I was at that point in my life.
131. 4:10Like I had to keep repeating that. Like
132. 4:11his dream has to die in order for mine
133. 4:12to live.
134. 4:13And so to put this in perspective of
135. 4:16like how afraid of my father's judgment
136. 4:18I was, I left the state and drove across
137. 4:20the country halfway through before
138. 4:21calling him to tell him that I was gone.
139. 4:24And so I I bring this up because I don't
140. 4:26try I'm not trying to be dramatic here,
141. 4:27but I'm saying that if you feel a lot of
142. 4:29pressure, I get it. Like I tried to
143. 4:31leave the job that I was at to pursue
144. 4:33just literally anything that wasn't
145. 4:35that. Just I wanted to start a business
146. 4:36at some point. I didn't know how I was
147. 4:38going to do it. I just knew that what I
148. 4:40was doing was not the path I wanted to
149. 4:41be on. And everybody around me wanted me
150. 4:43to be on that path. And so I went to go
151. 4:46be like, "Hey, I'm thinking about doing
152. 4:47something else." And uh you know, it
153. 4:49would always be that Ah, you know, don't
154. 4:50later. Later. Like everything's good.
155. 4:52Later, you know. And um I remember when
156. 4:54I called my dad and
157. 4:55I told him that. He said, "Understand.
158. 4:58Why don't you come home like come home.
159. 5:00We'll I didn't tell him that I was I was
160. 5:02gone yet. Like I said, 'Hey, I would you
161. 5:04know, I want to go pursue this fitness
162. 5:05thing.'" Um he said, "Cool. Come over
163. 5:07for lunch. We'll talk about it." You
164. 5:09know, and and he and I was like, "I'm
165. 5:11I'm already gone." And then obviously
166. 5:13his tone changed a lot.
167. 5:14Um and and you know, our relationship
168. 5:17struggled for you know, years after
169. 5:18that. And I I also bring that up because
170. 5:21sometimes there's this illusion that
171. 5:23like, you know, you get on the on the
172. 5:25Oscar stage or whatever it is and you're
173. 5:26like, "Hey, I just want to thank you
174. 5:27know, my mom, my dad, my friends for
175. 5:29always supporting me." And
176. 5:32I can't say that.
177. 5:33And I wish I could. And you might not be
178. 5:35able to say that either.
179. 5:37And I also don't think that's a reason
180. 5:38not to do it.
181. 5:40And so um
182. 5:41we did struggle for years after that to
183. 5:43kind of like cuz I was basically living
184. 5:45as what was once his prodigal son uh
185. 5:48goes and takes a minimum wage job as a
186. 5:50personal trainer to gym
187. 5:51uh like you know cleaning floors and
188. 5:53stuff to learn just to learn the gym
189. 5:55business.
190. 5:56Um but that was ultimately like how I
191. 5:58broke free literally you know physically
192. 6:00uh leaving the area and you know
193. 6:02mentally. But I think that I had to
194. 6:05accept that
195. 6:06there was a there was a timeline where
196. 6:08my father would never talk to me again
197. 6:09and I had to be okay with that um to
198. 6:12pursue what I wanted. And I think that
199. 6:13when you ask the original question what
200. 6:14are the people from zero to one really
201. 6:16looking for?
202. 6:17I read tons of business books at that
203. 6:19time.
204. 6:20But I couldn't use any of them cuz I was
205. 6:22so afraid.
206. 6:23And what's crazy is that like I think
207. 6:25about it now and retrospect and it's
208. 6:26like
209. 6:27it's crazy how large the perceived
210. 6:30monsters can appear.
211. 6:32And Layla has this quote that I love but
212. 6:34it's um
213. 6:35fear is a mile wide and inch deep.
214. 6:38And so you look at it and it looks like
215. 6:39this ocean and then you take the first
216. 6:41step and you realize you don't drown cuz
217. 6:42it's like oh there's ground underneath
218. 6:43of this, right? There's other people who
219. 6:45are more on my path and the friends you
220. 6:47lose you gain new friends, right? And so
221. 6:50um
222. 6:51that fear
223. 6:53was the hardest decision that I've had
224. 6:55to overcome in my entrepreneurial
225. 6:57career. And I think of all the of all
226. 6:58the the split paths in my life that was
227. 7:01the one that if I had many timelines or
228. 7:03many universes that existed that is
229. 7:05probably the one that is the most likely
230. 7:07that I would not have parted from.
231. 7:09So I think in like 90% of universes that
232. 7:11Alex Hormozi exists I'm just a
233. 7:12consultant somewhere.
234. 7:14And so um
235. 7:15I would encourage you if you do feel
236. 7:17that
237. 7:18you're not going to die.
238. 7:20Like you won't die.
239. 7:21And you might just live.
240. 7:24>> It's so interesting because
241. 7:26I think everything you've said is just
242. 7:27absolutely spot on but you're right in
243. 7:29where you say that if you'd asked an
244. 7:31audience member listening now why they
245. 7:33haven't started yet
246. 7:35they wouldn't say fear. They would say I
247. 7:37haven't got the X, I haven't got the Y.
248. 7:39But actually it is such an emotional
249. 7:40thing and we don't talk about that
250. 7:42enough, because uncertainty is humans
251. 7:44seem to be allergic to uncertainty and
252. 7:46they'd rather the certain misery of
253. 7:48their current situation typically than
254. 7:50uncertainty.
255. 7:51And I think um
256. 7:53and I and I used what I consider a very
257. 7:55non-palatable word of coward
258. 7:57purposefully because
259. 8:00no one wants to say they're afraid,
260. 8:01because if you say you're afraid, then
261. 8:02it means you're a coward.
262. 8:04And I think that it only means you're a
263. 8:05coward if you don't if you allow that
264. 8:07fear
265. 8:09to
266. 8:10change your behavior
267. 8:12in an aversive way. As in it not towards
268. 8:15what you want. And so,
269. 8:17you know, the inverse of that, many
270. 8:18people have heard it, courage is not
271. 8:19acting without fear, but despite fear.
272. 8:22And I think that um
273. 8:24when you act
274. 8:27when you allow fear
275. 8:28to change your behavior the wrong way,
276. 8:31that is when you can give yourself that
277. 8:32title of coward. And I think that that
278. 8:34is a title that I have feared my whole
279. 8:36life. And that label is almost I'm more
280. 8:39afraid of that label
281. 8:40than the label of failure.
282. 8:42I'd rather be a failure than a coward.
283. 8:44>> Real quick, I'm going to show you the
284. 8:45exact 10-stage roadmap from zero to 100
285. 8:48million plus that less than 1% of
286. 8:51companies finish. I've now done multiple
287. 8:52times. And so, I can say with a lot of
288. 8:54confidence that these are the stages as
289. 8:56head count increases that you need to
290. 8:58get through. And I broke each of these
291. 9:00down by eight different functions of the
292. 9:01business, what the constraint feels
293. 9:03like, like what are the symptoms of it
294. 9:05when you're going through it, and then
295. 9:06what steps we actually took to graduate.
296. 9:08And we've done this across software,
297. 9:10physical products,
298. 9:11uh service businesses, brick and mortar,
299. 9:13all of this, and it works. And it's my
300. 9:15gift to you. It's absolutely free. And
301. 9:17so, the link's in the description, but
302. 9:18you just go acquisition.com {slash}
303. 9:19roadmap. Just enter your info, and it'll
304. 9:21spit it right back to you, all free.