WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.040 A lot of people were like the goat, and they wouldn't be the greatest of all time, and 2 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:05.400 I think that if you're the greatest of all time, then you failed, because especially 3 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:08.520 if you want to be a teacher of some kind, which is a relatively loaded word, but if you 4 00:00:08.520 --> 00:00:12.360 want to pass on lessons to other people, if you were the greatest of all time, then you 5 00:00:12.360 --> 00:00:13.360 failed. 6 00:00:13.360 --> 00:00:18.640 So the only way to be the greatest of all time is to not pay. 7 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:21.280 Welcome to the game where we talk about how to get more customers, how to make more 8 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:24.560 customers, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons we have learned 9 00:00:24.560 --> 00:00:25.560 along the way. 10 00:00:25.560 --> 00:00:29.000 I hope you enjoy and subscribe. 11 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:30.880 Now you're creating content. 12 00:00:30.880 --> 00:00:35.760 How do you want people to consume your content so that they can actually just go and do things 13 00:00:35.760 --> 00:00:41.680 with it versus just feeling like they're consuming 15 Alex from Aussie videos, and they 14 00:00:41.680 --> 00:00:45.240 feel like they can check it off their list, but they really haven't progressed at all. 15 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:47.920 Use and do, like watch, do, watch, do. 16 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:51.440 I think our videos are more tactical than many of the videos that are out there, and that's 17 00:00:51.440 --> 00:00:52.440 by design. 18 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:56.480 And so my vision for the content was I want to make stuff that people would otherwise 19 00:00:56.480 --> 00:00:59.920 charge lots of money for, and then just give it away for free. 20 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:03.480 And at least from the response in the comments, the community like that seems to be how 21 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:05.600 it's received more or less, and so that was the goal. 22 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:10.960 But the absolute, by and large, what I want everybody in Mosination to do is consume, 23 00:01:10.960 --> 00:01:14.840 execute, and keep executing until you realize you hit another point where you need to consume 24 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:16.440 more and consume the next thing. 25 00:01:16.440 --> 00:01:20.800 And then you can search for specifics, so it's like, if turns high, go to my channel 26 00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:23.920 and search churn stuff, and then try and watch the videos that are around churn, if you're 27 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:26.400 like, I need sales stuff, because I'm just getting on the phone with people and I can't 28 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:32.000 close, watch the sales stuff, and keep, like, there's a, there's a concept of like drilling, 29 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.880 like you can watch, like, there's like, immersing yourself in something. 30 00:01:35.880 --> 00:01:39.240 So it's like, for, like, sales guys, I want them to consume an hour day of sales context, 31 00:01:39.240 --> 00:01:43.080 because I want their subconscious, I want their discretionary time to be thinking about 32 00:01:43.080 --> 00:01:47.240 sales, but still the majority of their day is selling, just that a system will grow until 33 00:01:47.240 --> 00:01:49.800 it is constrained, and then it will grow no longer until that constraint is fixed. 34 00:01:49.800 --> 00:01:55.560 And so we just, like, and when we look at the portfolio companies, usually like our expertise 35 00:01:55.560 --> 00:02:00.080 comes down to, can we identify accurately with the true constraint of the businesses, and 36 00:02:00.080 --> 00:02:01.080 can we fix it? 37 00:02:01.080 --> 00:02:03.480 And if we can do those two things, then those are, those are properties that we want to 38 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:06.640 take on immediately, because we know what the first constraint is, and then we can anticipate 39 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:08.880 what the next one's going to be, and then we know we can fix that too. 40 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:12.160 And so a lot of times entrepreneurs get stuck, or even employees get stuck, because they 41 00:02:12.160 --> 00:02:17.960 don't realize the constraint of their system output is a skilled efficiency, a trait deficiency, 42 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:18.960 or belief deficiency. 43 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:24.320 They don't believe something's possible that is, or rather said differently, they believe 44 00:02:24.320 --> 00:02:27.760 something to be true that isn't, and that's what's holding them back. 45 00:02:27.760 --> 00:02:29.680 I want to take a little step back. 46 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:34.760 So my friend, you were on his podcast three years ago, and it was so funny to me when I 47 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:38.920 listened to the intro, because in the intro, it was like Alex Hermosi does not believe 48 00:02:38.920 --> 00:02:39.920 in social media. 49 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:41.960 He does not have any social media. 50 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:43.640 So what changed? 51 00:02:44.440 --> 00:02:45.960 Kylie Jenner. 52 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:46.960 Kylie Jenner. 53 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:48.200 Change my life. 54 00:02:48.200 --> 00:02:52.080 I saw on the cover Forbes, and I was like, she's younger than I am, and she's a billionaire, 55 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:56.080 and I feel like I know more about business, and I need to learn from that. 56 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:01.120 And so I will study everyone, the good, the bad, the ugly, people that everyone hates, 57 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:04.080 I will study, people that I love, I'll study, anyone who's making more money than me 58 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:05.080 I'll study. 59 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:11.320 And so when I saw that, it was such a paradigm shift from me, I was like, how is this possible? 60 00:03:11.720 --> 00:03:17.040 And I mean, at the time, for context, I was taking home, I think, do you know what, 61 00:03:17.040 --> 00:03:21.720 I was taking them between 13 and 17 million a year, personally, at that time. 62 00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:24.480 And I thought I was doing pretty well. 63 00:03:24.480 --> 00:03:27.680 And then I saw that, and I just felt horrible about myself, I like ruined like a week of 64 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:28.680 my life. 65 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:31.960 Well, what came from that was then all of a sudden, like, to be honest with you, I didn't 66 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:32.960 change anything after that. 67 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.640 I was like, it's a fluke, her mom's Christian, or she organized her whole life. 68 00:03:35.640 --> 00:03:36.640 Okay. 69 00:03:36.640 --> 00:03:40.440 But then after that, the beauty came out, and then boom, she was at 600, and then after 70 00:03:40.440 --> 00:03:43.200 that, Conor McGregor, boom, he was at 600 with proper 12. 71 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:46.200 And then the rock came out, term on, I was at 2 to 4 billion, depending on who you're 72 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:47.200 looking at. 73 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:50.920 And it just happened again, and again, and again, and I was like, I'm missing something. 74 00:03:50.920 --> 00:03:53.840 Like my, I believe something that was true, that wasn't. 75 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.760 I believe that the only thing that you would need to grow a business was paid ads and 76 00:03:57.760 --> 00:03:58.760 app them. 77 00:03:58.760 --> 00:04:00.600 If you do those things, it doesn't matter about anything else, it doesn't matter 78 00:04:00.600 --> 00:04:03.320 your burden, it doesn't matter about your content, you can go and sell shit, and you 79 00:04:03.320 --> 00:04:04.320 can. 80 00:04:04.320 --> 00:04:05.320 That's the thing. 81 00:04:05.320 --> 00:04:07.880 It's like, there are beliefs that will get you to a certain degree, and you absolutely 82 00:04:07.880 --> 00:04:08.880 can make money. 83 00:04:08.880 --> 00:04:12.640 I mean, I was obviously a deck of millionaire at that point, arguably almost a centimillion 84 00:04:12.640 --> 00:04:15.360 if you put the equities in, right? 85 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:21.160 But for me to be a billionaire, I didn't understand brand, and it was my big deficiency. 86 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:25.840 And when I saw each of those, I was like, oh, I have to get into this, but I still didn't 87 00:04:25.840 --> 00:04:26.840 do it. 88 00:04:26.840 --> 00:04:33.440 The last, you know, soldier on this little thing was, I went to a thing with Dean Gracie, 89 00:04:33.440 --> 00:04:37.480 who's Tony Robbins, like right hand man, they're together, it doesn't matter. 90 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:41.040 And we went to his house and he had had like three people that week who were like weird 91 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:46.360 stalker, you know, weird stuff, and it was like, dude, how are you willing to put up 92 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:47.360 with this? 93 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.040 Like, I just, I never want to be that famous. 94 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:51.800 I want no one to know me, I want to be rich as hell, and that's it, and I was very 95 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:52.800 committed to that. 96 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:56.320 He said, if that's the price I have to pay to make the impact I want to have, I'll do 97 00:04:56.320 --> 00:04:57.320 it every day of the week. 98 00:04:57.320 --> 00:05:01.000 And he just looked at me and I just like, I just remember just feeling it in my chest. 99 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:02.000 I have to do this. 100 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:07.440 And so that was when I decided and I started making YouTube videos shortly thereafter, 101 00:05:07.440 --> 00:05:11.560 and that, that was kind of the beginning of me starting to post stuff with the intention 102 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:12.960 of actually building room. 103 00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:15.840 And what was the, what did you have to assemble or get ready and do that? 104 00:05:15.840 --> 00:05:18.000 Did you hire a social media team or? 105 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.680 Yeah, I didn't, well, I had, I had infrastructure with Jim launch, so I just had the video guy 106 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:22.840 post it at the time. 107 00:05:22.840 --> 00:05:26.440 So I, I just did that because I was, I was, it was low lift for me, but I've definitely 108 00:05:26.440 --> 00:05:29.480 learned a lot about the content game in general, and what's funny is that the principles 109 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:34.040 that I learned from outbound and paid ads 100% mapped a content, and I still had to 110 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:35.880 learn it as though I didn't know. 111 00:05:35.880 --> 00:05:39.920 And so like volume is still king, like the more you spend on ads, the more money you 112 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:43.480 make, the more cold calls, the more cold emails, the more cold reach outs you do, the more 113 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:47.520 sales you make, the more content you put out, the more impressions you get, like everything 114 00:05:47.520 --> 00:05:48.520 grows that way. 115 00:05:48.520 --> 00:05:52.760 And so because like quantity is the only forcing metric for quality, like the only way you 116 00:05:52.760 --> 00:05:54.880 get better at something is by doing it more. 117 00:05:54.880 --> 00:05:57.680 And so I had to do a shitload of it. 118 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.360 And that's, that's basically what we built over the last 18 months as I started just posting 119 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:05.840 three times a week, just videos from a computer, which have been relatively, you know, 120 00:06:05.840 --> 00:06:09.560 serious for being terrible quality, you know, and then slowly, you know, I added an editor 121 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:13.680 and then I was like, okay, well, maybe I should do a guy approach me and was like, I could 122 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:14.680 do shorts for you. 123 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:16.520 And I said, okay, I don't want to do shorts. 124 00:06:16.520 --> 00:06:18.880 And he said, I will take, you have to do nothing. 125 00:06:18.880 --> 00:06:22.600 I will just take all of the stuff that's already out there and I will do all the work and I 126 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:23.600 will post it for you. 127 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:24.600 So you literally do nothing. 128 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:26.320 I was like, okay. 129 00:06:26.320 --> 00:06:27.720 Sold. 130 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:30.120 And he did it and he did a good job. 131 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:33.120 And so we started growing and I was like, oh, the short stuff is interesting. 132 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:34.120 Okay. 133 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:35.120 So I started working. 134 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.560 So once I saw that, that actually became kind of the blueprint for how we approached new 135 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:41.240 platforms, et cetera. 136 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:45.520 So we go, we find the person, the best person we can, we pay whatever it is that they asked 137 00:06:45.520 --> 00:06:46.680 for. 138 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:48.160 And we do that with the X station. 139 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:49.160 We say it upfront. 140 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:52.040 We say, I'm going to steal everything you have. 141 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:53.040 That's what I'm going to try and do. 142 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:54.040 So I just want to be upfront. 143 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:56.600 And I think it's going to take us probably between three and six months to do that. 144 00:06:56.600 --> 00:07:00.120 So you factor in what your LTV is, friends make sense for you. 145 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:02.040 And if they're cool with it, then we're good. 146 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:06.200 And our entire goal is not to just have them do it, but for us to study every aspect of 147 00:07:06.200 --> 00:07:08.760 what they're doing and why they're doing it so that we can bring it in-house. 148 00:07:08.760 --> 00:07:12.880 And so we've pretty much, I went, as soon as things started, that one vendor worked out. 149 00:07:12.880 --> 00:07:16.560 I basically did that with every platform very quickly. 150 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:20.480 And then one by one, we started peeling them back in-house. 151 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:26.000 And so right now we're probably two thirds in-house, one third vendor and probably by six months 152 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:27.280 will be 100% in-house. 153 00:07:27.280 --> 00:07:32.840 And I think now I saw them think media that you've hit one million followers in six months. 154 00:07:32.840 --> 00:07:33.840 Yeah, yeah. 155 00:07:33.840 --> 00:07:36.520 Yeah, and we've done even more, yeah. 156 00:07:36.520 --> 00:07:38.200 It's cool because media is compounding. 157 00:07:38.200 --> 00:07:41.480 And so I always looked for compounding vehicles in general. 158 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:45.880 And so it was, again, like Dodo Bird Alex, it took me a while to figure out that media 159 00:07:45.880 --> 00:07:49.320 in and of itself grows in a compounding way. 160 00:07:49.320 --> 00:07:50.320 And I was like, oh, wow. 161 00:07:50.320 --> 00:07:53.680 So this is not something that I always saw content where you post something and then it 162 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:54.680 disappears the waste. 163 00:07:54.960 --> 00:07:57.400 Like when I was coming into it, I was like, why would I post something and then no one's 164 00:07:57.400 --> 00:07:58.800 ever going to see it again? 165 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:01.400 What I didn't realize was the asset was the audience, not the content. 166 00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:02.400 Yeah. 167 00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:03.920 And that was my missing link. 168 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:07.760 And so once I understood that, that's when I went all in on building the brand and 169 00:08:07.760 --> 00:08:08.760 doing the media stuff. 170 00:08:08.760 --> 00:08:11.040 So you don't want the fame from the social media? 171 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:12.040 What do you want? 172 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:13.400 I'm okay with the fame. 173 00:08:13.400 --> 00:08:18.080 Now, there are cons to it, but I would say there are more pros than cons, at least at 174 00:08:18.080 --> 00:08:19.520 the level that I'm out right now. 175 00:08:19.520 --> 00:08:22.800 So I'm okay with it. 176 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.240 I am still here to make money and I always want to be clear because I don't want to be 177 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.000 put into a corner in the future where people are like, he's trying to make, I'm always 178 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:30.000 here to make money. 179 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.000 That's what I'm trying to do. 180 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.840 But I also, because from the brand and the vision stuff that I've, you know, learned 181 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:38.400 as an entrepreneur, like telling employees like, hey, our whole goal is to make money, 182 00:08:38.400 --> 00:08:40.080 not very motivating, right? 183 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:44.440 And so the big reason that we do all the stuff we do, so we donated a few million dollars 184 00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:47.760 to get charities for education, because I'm a big education guy. 185 00:08:47.760 --> 00:08:51.200 And so the big vision is like to document and share the best practice of building world 186 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:52.200 class companies. 187 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:58.440 So for me to have the credibility to be able to say that that is my mission, I got to be 188 00:08:58.440 --> 00:08:59.800 able to back that up. 189 00:08:59.800 --> 00:09:03.960 And so the portfolio that becomes worth a billion and then 10 billion and then whatever 190 00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:08.840 it will become after that is just to answer the question, why should I listen to you? 191 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:12.320 Because it's at least my view that the number one question that everyone asks when they 192 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:14.800 see anything, even if it's good, is why should I listen to this person? 193 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:18.560 Because you have the, you know, the teacher who's saying dollar cost average in the S&P 194 00:09:18.560 --> 00:09:21.360 and then you've got Warren Buffett, they're going to listen to Warren Buffett. 195 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:24.360 And if the content's worse, just because they don't have to make the extra decision 196 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:25.600 of should I trust this? 197 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:28.400 And so it's actually less emotional effort to, because you don't actually don't have to 198 00:09:28.400 --> 00:09:29.400 put a decision filter. 199 00:09:29.400 --> 00:09:32.200 You can just take it as truth, which is, it's easier for people. 200 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:34.200 And so I want to make it easy for people to learn. 201 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:36.400 And so I have to have the credibility to do that now. 202 00:09:36.400 --> 00:09:40.160 Some people might say you had a 50 million dollars when you're 32, you'd already taken, 203 00:09:40.160 --> 00:09:43.640 you know, almost 50 million dividends before that point, like you have the credibility, 204 00:09:43.640 --> 00:09:48.680 but like I don't have the credibility from me, because I want like the fact that we don't 205 00:09:48.680 --> 00:09:53.840 have a vlog from Jeff Bezos from 1997 until now, crushes my soul. 206 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:57.800 The fact that Elon only does the occasional weird interview, which is awesome, but like 207 00:09:57.800 --> 00:10:06.240 nothing else, I long term and willing to sacrifice growth for our companies to make the 208 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:10.240 content that we're making, because I think it means more than I do. 209 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:14.320 So a few years ago, when you were saying that no social media, you were at 17 million 210 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:18.560 or so for personal income, can you talk about how that's grown over the years? 211 00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:22.360 So it hasn't grown because COVID was not good for gyms, unfortunately. 212 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.360 You would have thought that gyms would have been totally benefited from COVID and not 213 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:27.480 being allowed to do business. 214 00:10:27.480 --> 00:10:32.560 But I think in 2018, we did 26 million top lines, 17 million take home. 215 00:10:32.560 --> 00:10:35.240 And I also didn't understand the concept of like reinvesting a business or M&A at that 216 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:36.240 point. 217 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:37.240 So I was just like, cool. 218 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:39.480 So 17 million a profit, I'll leave a million in the business. 219 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:42.960 And then I will just scoop 16 million in my bank, yeah, that's what I did. 220 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:48.480 And then the next year we reinvested more money into supplements and software. 221 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:52.200 And so we still grew though, we would 37 million top line and then we did I think 13 million 222 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:53.560 is what I took out at year. 223 00:10:53.560 --> 00:10:56.920 And then 2020 was COVID, which was three months in. 224 00:10:56.920 --> 00:10:58.800 And we actually had planned to sell. 225 00:10:58.800 --> 00:11:01.560 We went to market the month before COVID started. 226 00:11:01.560 --> 00:11:09.120 And so that sucked because it was based on 17 and 13 as the growth rate going into it. 227 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:14.280 But anyways, over the next year, I think we ended up taking home, personally like nine 228 00:11:14.280 --> 00:11:15.840 or 10 somewhere in there. 229 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.600 And then the next year, we probably would have paced the same thing because the way COVID 230 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:21.880 hit gyms at least for us was like, it was a smiley face. 231 00:11:21.880 --> 00:11:26.200 And with January being the middle of the smiley, so it's like it kind of like half fucked 232 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:28.480 two years. 233 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:32.000 But because we were on an upper trajectory coming out of like January and they loosened 234 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.200 some of the COVID stuff, we just pretty much started going straight up to the right. 235 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:42.600 And so we closed that deal in December of 21 and that was 46 plus whatever we took on 236 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:43.600 the air. 237 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:45.840 And then yeah, and that's the now it's 2022. 238 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:51.240 And so we went super aggressive in acquisitions because that year in 2021, the reason I actually 239 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:56.440 decided to go through the sale, I actually almost backed out of the sale twice was because 240 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.080 I had done three deals that year, that year and all three were going really well. 241 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:03.720 And so I realized I was like, I really liked this a lot. 242 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:08.160 And for me, like my big thing is, it's almost like if you wake up in the morning and you're 243 00:12:08.160 --> 00:12:10.240 not thinking about your wife and you're thinking about somebody else, like you need to fix 244 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:11.240 that. 245 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:13.600 You got to fix that problem. 246 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.680 And so like I was thinking about my wife being gym lunch anymore. 247 00:12:16.680 --> 00:12:19.640 I was thinking about these companies, I was thinking about growing them and like I was 248 00:12:19.640 --> 00:12:21.280 starting to get excited about all that stuff. 249 00:12:21.280 --> 00:12:24.480 And if it just wasn't as exciting for me and I just saw a bigger vision for what I wanted 250 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:25.480 to do. 251 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:30.640 And so we did those three acquisitions and then over the last nine months, we've done 252 00:12:30.640 --> 00:12:31.800 another eight. 253 00:12:31.800 --> 00:12:33.800 So we have 11 now. 254 00:12:33.800 --> 00:12:34.960 And so we do minority stakes. 255 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:38.640 And so the portfolio right now does it just under 200 million top line. 256 00:12:38.640 --> 00:12:44.680 We generally are between 20 and 30% owners of those companies and they are usually bootstrapped, 257 00:12:44.680 --> 00:12:52.440 profitable, growing, cash flow positive because we run most of their usually, yeah, they're 258 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:53.440 profitable businesses. 259 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:57.640 That's a round between 35 and 40% margins on those businesses. 260 00:12:57.640 --> 00:12:59.560 And so that's what we do now. 261 00:13:01.560 --> 00:13:02.480 Hey guys, real quick. 262 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:06.800 If you're new to the podcast, I have a book on Amazon called 100 million dollar offers 263 00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:09.880 that over 8,000 five star reviews, it has almost a perfect score. 264 00:13:09.880 --> 00:13:11.880 You can get it for 99 cents on Kindle. 265 00:13:11.880 --> 00:13:15.680 The reason I bring it up is that I put over a thousand hours into writing that book and 266 00:13:15.680 --> 00:13:17.120 it's my biggest gift to our community. 267 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:21.720 So it's my very shameless way of trying to get you to like me more and ultimately make 268 00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:25.360 more dollars to that later on in your business career, I can push the bar towards you. 269 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:26.360 So that's my gift. 270 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:27.360 Go check it out. 271 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.840 Amazon and back to the show. 272 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:35.520 Is the hope that the social media will help you attract more companies that may want to 273 00:13:35.520 --> 00:13:36.520 take on more investment? 274 00:13:36.520 --> 00:13:37.520 Yeah, 100%. 275 00:13:37.520 --> 00:13:40.120 I just figure, Warren Buffett had a great model. 276 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:42.160 Let's do the same thing except ad media. 277 00:13:42.160 --> 00:13:44.680 Like I'm a big believer in like simple things. 278 00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:49.760 So we have a strategy deck that's like, what do the need to believe for this to be true? 279 00:13:49.760 --> 00:13:52.840 So one is that Alex can gain a social media following. 280 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:53.840 I didn't know that. 281 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:57.040 So like it sounds silly, but like I had a big list of like, well, if it doesn't work, 282 00:13:57.040 --> 00:13:59.880 then that's going to, you know, that's going to affect my thesis, right? 283 00:13:59.880 --> 00:14:01.600 So that was number one. 284 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:05.280 Number two was that me making content will turn into deal flow for us. 285 00:14:05.280 --> 00:14:06.280 And so I didn't know if that was going to be true. 286 00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:08.520 I didn't know if I was just going to make content and people would just like, cool things 287 00:14:08.520 --> 00:14:09.520 so much. 288 00:14:09.520 --> 00:14:10.520 It's awesome. 289 00:14:10.520 --> 00:14:12.240 But it did translate into deal flow. 290 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:15.640 And then from there, the next need to believe was that I would be more popular in the future 291 00:14:15.640 --> 00:14:16.880 than I am today. 292 00:14:16.880 --> 00:14:20.080 And so if that's true, then we will get an increasing amount of deal flow in both quality and 293 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.840 quantity in the future than we do now. 294 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:27.400 The fourth need to believe was that we would be able to add material or outsize returns 295 00:14:27.400 --> 00:14:31.760 or value through our own experience by taking on companies that fit our, we call it the 296 00:14:31.760 --> 00:14:33.200 van, but it's like our value acceleration method. 297 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.440 So it's like, if it's in the sweet spot of the van, then we should be able to deliver 298 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:37.440 on that. 299 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:40.120 And so right now, like the average portfolio company triples profit in the first 12 months. 300 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:43.120 We average 4.7 X profit in the first 24 months. 301 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.400 So we've developed, you know, we feel pretty good about it, but that was a need to believe. 302 00:14:46.400 --> 00:14:50.480 I get it, you know, you, you know, come in obviously hoping and believing that you're 303 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.360 going to do that, but especially because in a minority position, I don't have complete 304 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:54.360 control. 305 00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:57.400 And so that was a little bit of something that I had to learn how to do and influence 306 00:14:57.400 --> 00:15:01.200 the right way to get the founder on board for changes, et cetera, which to be fair 307 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:02.760 for the most part because of how people are coming in. 308 00:15:02.760 --> 00:15:08.400 It's not that hard, but it's still a difference of, do this versus I was thinking this might 309 00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:10.320 be something you'd consider what do you think, right? 310 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:12.120 And so it's just a little bit different dynamic. 311 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:14.480 And so those were the need to believe to get to where we are now that I have more need 312 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:15.480 to believe in the future. 313 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:17.480 But I'll share those later. 314 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:20.600 What do you think is the biggest threat to your success? 315 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:26.320 Me saying something and getting canceled for some reason, like that's, I mean, that's 316 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:27.320 what I think. 317 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:30.200 Threats wise, yes, so I think I would adapt, yes. 318 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:35.320 But like in terms of like, because I will either win or I will die. 319 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:39.920 And so if that's my base operating system, like, I will adapt and I'll figure something 320 00:15:39.920 --> 00:15:40.920 out. 321 00:15:40.920 --> 00:15:43.400 It's just, like, I can already, I was already thinking, I was like, what would I do? 322 00:15:43.400 --> 00:15:44.920 It's like, okay, what have a different figure head? 323 00:15:44.920 --> 00:15:46.240 I'd have multiple personalities. 324 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.560 We'd pump them the same way that we did with me. 325 00:15:48.560 --> 00:15:51.760 Like, like, we'd work it out, but that would be, that would be a dent. 326 00:15:51.760 --> 00:15:56.320 It is scary, especially people with cancer culture now, they just love to pile on about 327 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:57.320 everything. 328 00:15:57.320 --> 00:15:58.320 Yeah. 329 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:03.520 So I think in a single word, it's brand, like irreparable brand damage is, you know, obviously 330 00:16:03.520 --> 00:16:07.520 I try not to do anything that, you know, that I think would do that, but that's, you 331 00:16:07.520 --> 00:16:10.640 know, that that would be the single, the single bigger, bigger thing. 332 00:16:10.640 --> 00:16:12.360 But again, it's not even irreparable. 333 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:14.280 I would just have to work around it. 334 00:16:14.280 --> 00:16:18.000 I read somewhere that your goal is to become the most jacked billionaire. 335 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.600 So why is that your goal and how do we get there? 336 00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:26.000 I thought it was funny mostly, but I figured it was just become a billionaire and at that 337 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.240 point, I will probably be the most jack guy in the room. 338 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:31.320 And so that's, that was, it was kind of like default, like, I'll probably just, I can 339 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.920 just be me and then be a billionaire and by default, we'll be the most jacked billionaire. 340 00:16:34.920 --> 00:16:36.480 Do you think Jeff basis is jacked? 341 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:37.920 Yeah, he's not more jacked than I am. 342 00:16:37.920 --> 00:16:38.920 Okay. 343 00:16:38.920 --> 00:16:40.920 He's way wealthier than I am. 344 00:16:40.920 --> 00:16:45.760 He's more, he's more financially jacked than I am, but he's, uh, no, not physically, 345 00:16:45.760 --> 00:16:46.760 not yet. 346 00:16:46.760 --> 00:16:48.880 Why is the billionaire thing your goal? 347 00:16:48.880 --> 00:16:50.840 I think it's, it's, it's really just a milestone. 348 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:54.320 It's way less about like the actual billion dollars, but I do think the point earlier about 349 00:16:54.320 --> 00:17:01.200 like having the credibility, um, to, like, they're, they're still has, I, I, I could be unaware, 350 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:06.640 but I haven't seen any like mega billionaires really try and build education for everyone 351 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:10.960 of how to get all the way up, not just like your first 10k, first 100k, first million, 352 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:14.680 first 10 million, first 100 million, like, I want to go all the way. 353 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:16.720 And I mean, it's really the document they'll create. 354 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:20.360 It's like, I want to go all the way and show every single step of the process, how 355 00:17:20.360 --> 00:17:21.360 I did it, so other people would do it. 356 00:17:21.360 --> 00:17:26.320 And I think the reality is, my hope is that we'll pave the way for people to be much bigger 357 00:17:26.320 --> 00:17:27.320 than I am. 358 00:17:27.320 --> 00:17:28.320 You know what I mean? 359 00:17:28.320 --> 00:17:31.960 Like, we've talked about this a lot, but like, you know, Gary, Gary didn't have Gary, 360 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:32.960 right? 361 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.680 Gary just paved the way for people like to get, to go do what we're doing. 362 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:39.320 And we learn from their mistakes and their best practices and we don't have to wait 10 363 00:17:39.320 --> 00:17:40.320 years to learn it. 364 00:17:40.320 --> 00:17:43.520 He did because he had to figure it out and then we just start today, you know what I mean? 365 00:17:43.520 --> 00:17:47.240 And the fact that there's like 23 year old multi-millionaires and deck of millionaires 366 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:51.080 right now off social media, it's just tested the fact that the entrepreneurs who came before 367 00:17:51.080 --> 00:17:52.880 them laid the path. 368 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.360 And so I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for those people. 369 00:17:55.360 --> 00:17:59.480 I also don't have the illusion that, you know, a lot of people were like the goat and 370 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:00.720 they wouldn't be the greatest of all time. 371 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.800 And I think that if you're the greatest of all time, then you failed because especially 372 00:18:03.800 --> 00:18:06.480 if you want to be a teacher of some kind, which is a relatively loaded word. 373 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:10.960 But if you want to pass on lessons to other people, if you were the greatest of all time, 374 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:11.960 then you failed. 375 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:14.720 So the only way to be the greatest of all time is to not pay. 376 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:19.800 And to have set the stage for people who are younger, who I don't know, to beat me. 377 00:18:19.800 --> 00:18:21.120 And I got to be okay with that. 378 00:18:21.120 --> 00:18:22.280 And I am. 379 00:18:22.280 --> 00:18:24.280 But that was a mindset shift that I had to do. 380 00:18:24.280 --> 00:18:26.120 So it's like, this is just like, I'm going to do this thing. 381 00:18:26.120 --> 00:18:29.200 I think it's really cool because this is just like that happened to be really into like 382 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.880 I draw pictures about business, I write books about business, I make videos about business 383 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:32.880 I do business all day. 384 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:33.880 Like it's what I like. 385 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:34.880 And so that's what I do. 386 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:38.200 And I'm very fortunate in that the thing that I happen to like also happens to be very 387 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:39.200 financial rewarding. 388 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:41.560 I don't know what I would do if I just left painting and I didn't like business. 389 00:18:41.560 --> 00:18:42.560 I could probably be harder for me. 390 00:18:42.560 --> 00:18:43.560 But maybe it wouldn't be. 391 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.200 But this is just something that I love. 392 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:47.920 And so I just want to document it. 393 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.720 And I also partially document it for me because if I feel like I don't understand something 394 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:51.880 it bothers the hell out of me. 395 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:55.040 And so that's where all the frame of things happen is so that I don't have to remember it. 396 00:18:55.040 --> 00:18:56.720 So I have to make a framework for this. 397 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:01.840 It's like we haven't sent emails, which is ridiculous because we have a bunch of people 398 00:19:01.840 --> 00:19:04.720 who give us the email every day and I say, some day I'll email you. 399 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:08.080 But right now I was like, I'm going to have to write an email regularly. 400 00:19:08.080 --> 00:19:09.280 I have to have a framework for this. 401 00:19:09.280 --> 00:19:11.240 Like I have to do this all the time. 402 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:13.920 And so, but that as soon as I have it, I'll just pass it to everybody else and then they 403 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:18.840 won't have to confront the thing and learn and fail for however many months and they'll 404 00:19:18.840 --> 00:19:21.920 just be able to take the template and use it and then immediately be that much further 405 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:23.520 ahead than I was at their age. 406 00:19:23.520 --> 00:19:24.520 Yeah. 407 00:19:24.520 --> 00:19:25.520 And that's cool. 408 00:19:25.520 --> 00:19:28.960 What would you say to the 20 year old who's looking up to you and saying, I want to become 409 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:32.680 a millionaire one day, what are the three things that they have to do to get there? 410 00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:35.680 You have to start. 411 00:19:35.760 --> 00:19:41.800 You have to do the same amount of effort that the person who you think you want to emulate 412 00:19:41.800 --> 00:19:42.960 has done. 413 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:46.280 So if you do the volume of work that that person did, and if you're like, well, that person 414 00:19:46.280 --> 00:19:51.040 has been doing it for 10 years, then do it for 10 years. 415 00:19:51.040 --> 00:19:56.160 And you don't switch gears and you stay on the path that you're on because otherwise 416 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:59.560 you have to restart over and over again because a lot of the trench knowledge comes from 417 00:19:59.560 --> 00:20:01.200 depth of knowledge, right? 418 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:06.640 It becomes from putting, having deep roots, you know, I mean, in a subject or a sector. 419 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:10.520 And I know that that counteracts the whole idea of like sampling lots of things and I get 420 00:20:10.520 --> 00:20:13.080 that that's a struggle for people. 421 00:20:13.080 --> 00:20:18.120 It also is not false that somebody who started at 20 and worked for 10 years in the same 422 00:20:18.120 --> 00:20:21.360 industry versus somebody who started at 20 and jumped to 30 different things. 423 00:20:21.360 --> 00:20:24.400 The guy who did one thing for 10 years will be further along. 424 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:26.080 The question is, what's the longevity? 425 00:20:26.080 --> 00:20:32.160 So if they did the one thing for the decade, was it because they enjoyed the thing, which 426 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:35.600 then if they hated it, then they do switch, but now they switch way later and so they 427 00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:36.600 do pay that cost. 428 00:20:36.600 --> 00:20:40.560 So the thing that makes this even harder is that you usually don't like stuff that you suck 429 00:20:40.560 --> 00:20:41.560 at. 430 00:20:41.560 --> 00:20:43.000 You usually suck at everything when you start. 431 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:49.120 And so I do believe that like if something interests you, like you don't need to, like, 432 00:20:49.120 --> 00:20:51.960 I'm not even a big believer in like being good at it. 433 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:55.640 If you just don't have to put effort into wanting to consume the thing, whether it's like 434 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:59.120 I really like video stuff or like I really like, I really like sales stuff or really 435 00:20:59.120 --> 00:21:03.880 marketing stuff or whatever it is that you find yourself reading for me, I always liked 436 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:04.880 persuasion. 437 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.360 So like when I would like being college, I like watch that talks on persuasion. 438 00:21:07.360 --> 00:21:08.880 It's just an interesting way. 439 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:12.960 And so it's not surprising me that I ended up finding myself in kind of acquisition and 440 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:16.680 whatnot customer acquisition, you know, on a tactical level in the beginning. 441 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:21.360 And so if you find interest, then it's like you'd have to strap in and accept the fact 442 00:21:21.360 --> 00:21:24.520 that you're going to suck for a very long time, come in, that's okay. 443 00:21:24.520 --> 00:21:25.520 And it should be to be expected. 444 00:21:25.520 --> 00:21:30.080 And so I think if somebody's 20 years old, they need to expect that it's going to take 445 00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:31.080 a decade. 446 00:21:31.080 --> 00:21:36.280 Number one, number two, they have to start on a path and not convince themselves to stop. 447 00:21:36.280 --> 00:21:40.000 And then number three, see items one and two. 448 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.560 The podcast is called Erica taught me, but really today is all about Alex Hermosi taught 449 00:21:44.560 --> 00:21:45.560 me. 450 00:21:45.560 --> 00:21:49.240 So what do you want people to be able to walk away from this saying, Alex Hermosi taught 451 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:50.240 me this? 452 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:54.440 Alex taught me that the feelings that I have are independent of the character traits 453 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.680 that I want to espouse. 454 00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.040 And so if I want to be more courageous, it doesn't mean that I don't feel fear, it means 455 00:22:00.040 --> 00:22:01.040 that I act despite it. 456 00:22:01.040 --> 00:22:03.880 If I want to be more patient, it doesn't mean that I don't want to stop doing the thing 457 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:04.880 that I'm doing. 458 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:06.640 It means that I feel that feeling. 459 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:07.640 I accept it. 460 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:10.640 And then I continue on the path that I said I was going to do. 461 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.120 And so I think a lot of it, we said it very briefly in the beginning, but it's enduring 462 00:22:14.120 --> 00:22:16.440 short-term discomfort for a long-term achievement. 463 00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:20.200 So if there's one thing that everyone who is listening to this does, it's that you 464 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:30.880 start on the path and you do not allow yourself to stop.