Biggest mistake that stopped me from getting past $30M

How I got here…

21: Graduated Vanderbilt in 3 years Magna Cum Laude, and took a fancy consulting job.
23 yrs old: Left my fancy consulting job to start a business (a gym).
24 yrs old: Opened 5 gym locations.
26 yrs old: Closed down 6th gym. Lost everything.
26 yrs old: Got back to launching gyms (launched 33). Then, lost everything for a 2nd time.
26 yrs old: In desperation, started licensing model as a hail mary. It worked.
27 yrs old: "Gym Launch" does $3M profit the next 6 months. Then $17M profit next 12 months.
28 yrs old: Started Prestige Labs. $20M the first year.
29 yrs old: Launched ALAN, a software company for agencies to work leads for customers. Scaled to $1.7mmo within 6 months.
31 yrs old: Sold 75% of UseAlan to a strategic buyer in an all stock deal.
31 yrs old: Sold 66% of Gym Launch & Prestige Labs at $46.2M valuation in all-cash deal to American Pacific Group. (you can google it)
32 yrs old: Started making free content showing how we grow companies to make real business education accessible to everyone (and) to attract business owners to invest or scale their businesses.

Today: Our portfolio now does $200M/yr between 10 companies. The largest doing $100M/yr the smallest doing $5M per year. Our ownership varies between 20% and 100% ownership of the companies. Many of them we invested in early and helped grow (which is how we make our money - not youtube videos).

To all the gladiators in the arena, we’re all in the middle of writing our own stories. The worse the monsters, the more epic the story.

You either get an epic outcome or an epic story. Both mean you win.

Keep crushing. May your desires be greater than your obstacles.

Never quit,

Alex

*FULL DISCLOSURE*
I make content to make money - just - on a longer time horizon than most. I want to build trust with business owners so we can find the best ones and help them scale. And if they’re awesome, write them a check and go all the way as partners.

[xqusbcz]

Everything you come out with is a gem. We would like a deeper dive on WOM and perhaps tactics around getting referrals. Getting those referrals at different times during the life cycle of a customer: at point of sale, delivery of service product, when something goes wrong, etc. A system would be even better than tactics.

[IntelectualGod]

As you try to scale, CPMs will increase, you will have to advertise to colder audiences, so conversions will decrease, and infrastructure overhead will also increase.

To fight this, positive word of mouth is extremely powerful. You need Referrals.

[SociallyAwkwardGinger]

I'll get there one day. Looking forward to shaking your hand and working with you. Thank you for these videos.

[jpaulmeyer]

This is why Alex has such positive word of mouth, he has nothing to sell you and sets expectations low as a guy in a flannel broadcasting from a nook, then suddenly, he delivers loads of condensed value. If you're reading this would love to hear what you think about the $0-100k revenue phase for people who work full-time in an office.

[craigtraylor]

the pain behind today's lesson...He speaks with authority as one who has rolled around on the hot coals and lived to tell the story...but not without the scars and the broken bones for the experience...

...Love you brother...keep on rock'n it..

[alexanderthefirst]

This is so relatable I see many in the distribution business scale and become crippled by debt cold markets and low margins

[nakossarkar]

The way Alex communicates is incredibly comprehendible

[martinmenesestv]

This is the best lesson I've ever watched about scaling an online business

[ArianeSartor]

Thank you for making this video. It has helped me understand why I chose the wrong mentor and what happened to my business since I followed the "quick cash" method. Thank you so so much for the help!

[creativitydad]

Such a solid video! Like all of them, this one though landed with divine timing.

Thank you Alex.

Haha. “In a nut sell”.

[DanielPekic]

Finding unique content is difficult these days, but I’ve found someone to fan boy over again. The last time that happened was Tim Ferris. Thanks Alex.

[markjohnston]

This has been one of the best videos I have watched on your channel and it is so relevant for our company at the moment. I would love to see a video from you on how you collect all the data points from your customers and also what key data you look for so you can make more informed decisions on what to offer your customers.

Thanks a lot for the content you post. It’s such a great help!

[briandeeker]

Hi Alex, I wanted to take the time to say thank you. You don't have to do these videos, but they are incredible. I am reading your book (for a dollar, are you kidding me?) and there is more value in that book than in any other business book I have read. Thank you my friend, I appreciate you.

[MarketingHarry]

No excuses anymore.💯 Thanks for dropping this value, Alex 👌

[MattTradesLife]

Saved for definite future reference. Would love future content around Prestige Labs and what you did to grow/scale/exit. (coming from a CPG founder)

[robertstrada]

"Du du du du du" - Alex Hormozi

[dompdgaf]

I heard you talking about NPS, CHS, TTV, activation, etc on More Plates More Dates, and now here. Any videos coming diving into those metrics and their applications?

[ManLemire]

That video was ABSOLUTELY amazing! This year is my first year crossing the million dollar mark in revenues and I totally see what you're talking about coming in the next few years! You just saved me from so much future pain thank you so much! (Sorry for my bad English, it's not my first language)

[profusionlifetv]

So good. Absolutely agree 1, 000%. I’m currently working for a business that is consistently lowering the quality of their product and is having trouble realizing why sales are slowing down.

[leoncastillosm]

Masterful breakdown of the challenges of scaling an online business. Alex never disappoints