It’s Now or Never | Spotify Video Exclusive

Summary

Podcast Summary: “It’s Now or Never”

Podcast: Build with Leila Hormozi
Host: Leila Hormozi
Date: April 12, 2024

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Episode Overview

This episode of Build with Leila Hormozi dives deep into how Leila and her team are evolving their personal and company brands as Acquisition.com moves from a dual “Alex and Leila” identity toward a distinct trio: Alex’s brand, Leila’s brand, and the corporate brand. Leila shares candid insights into what it really means to build an “unshakeable” business and dispels the myth of entrepreneurship ever becoming “easy.” She details her behind-the-scenes content process, discusses balancing personal and business responsibilities, and explores how separating content teams sparks greater creativity and growth. Throughout, she emphasizes transparency, growth through discomfort, and the relentless work ethic behind enduring success.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Separating Brand and Content Teams

• Leila discusses the strategic decision to separate content creation for Alex, Leila, and Acquisition.com:
  • The public often views “Alex and Leila” as a single unit, but for their businesses to evolve, they recognized the need for separation and specialization.
  • Quote:
    “People see Alex and Layla on acquisition.com as one entity. We are separating our content teams. So it’s going to be Alex, Layla, and then it’s going to be acquisition.com. Now or never. It’s never going to be easier. It’s only going to get harder.”
    (00:10)
  • Leila admits feeling protective of Alex’s brand and discusses the mixed feelings about shifting her focus to her own. Alex, however, fully supports her growth.

2. The Reality of Content Days

• Leila’s content days are highly structured but emotionally demanding:
  • She starts the day with a sense of dread due to the overwhelming volume of messages and tasks but ultimately pushes through and finds the outcome better than expected.
  • The importance of integrating content production into her daily workflow, making it part of normal business life rather than a disruption.
  • Quote:
    “I always look forward to content days, but then the morning when I wake up for it, I always feel the opposite… but it always ends up being better than I think it’s going to be. And I always feel like no matter what’s happening, I still show up and I can still get it done.”
    (00:59)

3. Maximizing Creativity Through Separation

• By giving each team focus, they unleash creativity and innovation:
  • Content teams solely focused on one brand (Alex, Leila, or Acquisition.com) are able to generate more ideas, avoid mental switching costs, and scale up production quality faster.
  • Quote:
    “As soon as you can split those teams, it’s going to help them so much because their ability to edit your content versus Alex’s will increase much faster if they’re just doing one person’s. That made a lot of sense… Same as product lines—I’m not going to have somebody on two different products.”
    (06:34)

4. Keeping Content Honest and Useful

• Leila emphasizes the importance of showing the messy, difficult side of entrepreneurship:
  • She refuses to create a false narrative that business gets easier with success.
  • Quote:
    “I don’t think, ethically I can make business content without talking about how hard it still is for me. That’s not good for people—to think that they’re going to get to some point where business is easy. It’s just not true.”
    (00:33)

5. Balancing Brand Building & Business Operations

• Leila reflects on the tension between her personal brand, supporting Alex, and pushing Acquisition.com forward:
  • The shift to focusing on her own brand feels uncomfortable but necessary for business growth and personal fulfillment.
  • Quote:
    “As I’ve just always focused on Alex’s brand, it feels like, in a weird way, me focusing on mine. I don’t like feeling like I put less focus on his … but he is… the first person to tell me I need to pay attention to my brand.”
    (04:03)

6. Goal Setting and Growth Mindset

• Leila offers actionable advice for those in the early stages:
  • Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis—most decisions aren’t irreversible.
  • Focus on learning, removing bad habits, and becoming reflective through action.
  • Quote:
    “You would have learned more and gained more skills in the last two months if you had already made the decision. Just like, learn how to manage your team. You have to teach them how to manage you. Get out of your head and get into your behaviors.”
    (05:25)
  • “I’d rather talk about why building new habits fails. Learning how to break bad habits or habits that are not conducive any longer to your goals.”
    (02:26)

7. Personal Reflection Through Content Creation

• Creating regular content serves as both a reflective practice and a tool for leadership:
  • Sharing vulnerable moments helps her audience relate and take useful action.
  • Crafting content makes her more aware of how she communicates, both to her audience and her team.
  • Quote:
    “I think that content does help somewhat with reflection, but it can be uncomfortable at times… sometimes that’s helpful in conveying how I felt and showing people I do care… I can see people’s response to the different ways I speak, and I can see what kind of words get the reaction I want—which is people to take action from the content, get value.”
    (07:10)

8. Dealing with Fatigue and Relentlessness

• Leila acknowledges the physical and mental exhaustion of content-heavy days:
  • She compares the fatigue from content days to that from a long day of meetings—content creation is more draining but also more satisfying.
  • Personal strategies for managing overflow during content days include compartmentalizing urgent communications and accepting that imperfection is part of the process.
  • Quote:
    “I feel quite physically exhausted after I do them, but it feels satisfying. Like, I like that feeling. I like feeling like a job well done. Like, I did my best. I did what I said I was gonna do.”
    (12:54)

9. Building a Genuine Community

• Leila’s broader motivation for sharing content is building the kind of transparent, trustworthy business community she wishes she’d had:
  • She wants to demystify success and inspire others by sharing the real journey, not just the highlight reel.
  • Quote:
    “I would love to reach that point and feel like I’ve brought people along for the journey. That feels like a worthwhile challenge to have.”
    (04:32)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s now or never. It’s never going to be easier. It’s only going to get harder. I don’t expect it to go perfectly.”
  —Leila Hormozi (00:12)
• “I don’t think, ethically I can make business content without talking about how hard it still is for me.”
  —Leila Hormozi (00:33)
• “You would have learned more… if you had already made the decision. Get out of your head and get into your behaviors.”
  —Leila Hormozi (05:25)
• “I know he, like, mind me into, you know, doing what’s best for me.”
  —Leila Hormozi on Alex Hormozi’s support (04:06)
• “I like feeling like a job well done. Like, I did my best. I did what I said I was gonna do.”
  —Leila Hormozi (12:54)
• “As soon as you can split those teams, it’s going to help them so much, because their ability to edit your content versus Alex’s will increase much faster if they’re just doing one person’s.”
  —Leila Hormozi (06:34)
• “I would love to reach that point and feel like I’ve brought people along for the journey. That feels like a worthwhile challenge to have.”
  —Leila Hormozi (04:32)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:10-01:20: Leila unveils their new content strategy of separating teams; shares her honest feelings about content days.
• 02:00-03:30: Internal content team meeting—discussion of content topics, the value of breaking bad habits, and leveraging a new studio.
• 04:00-05:10: Reflections on balancing support for Alex’s brand and building her own; why a sense of genuine community matters.
• 05:20-06:35: Leadership advice—taking action, managing teams, making irreversible vs. reversible decisions.
• 07:00-08:10: How content creation forces self-reflection and paves the way for stronger leadership and improved communication.
• 09:10-10:30: Differences between media and acquisition business arms; acknowledging unpredictability in entrepreneurial growth.
• 12:36-12:54: The exhaustion and satisfaction of high-volume content days; finding meaning in the grind.

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Final Thoughts

Leila Hormozi’s candor in this episode offers a refreshing, gritty look at what growing a multi-million dollar business—and personal brand—actually requires. She doesn’t hide her struggles or the messy realities of filming days and leadership dilemmas. Instead, she uses them to fuel honest, practical content designed to help ambitious founders succeed without falling prey to illusion or burnout. If you’re seeking actionable wisdom and a peek behind the curtain of unfiltered entrepreneurship, this episode is essential listening.

Transcript

[Layla Hormozi]

The whole leadership team, when I was like, this is what we're going to do. They were all like, People see alexandlaya on acquisition.com as one entity. We are separating our content teams. So it's going to be Alex, Layla, and then it's going to be acquisition.com now or never. It's never going to be easier. It's only going to get harder. I don't expect it to go perfectly late. Today is a content day. I've been in here. Okay. How's your day's going? Good. Which means that I wake up, I get my hair and makeup done, and I trash myself in content with a live stream, an interview, a podcast, and then ended with a new thing I'm doing, which is called a walk and talk. How do we get content in a way that doesn't take away from normal life? I don't think, ethically I can make business content without talking about how hard it still is for me. That's not good for people to think that they're going to get to some point where business is easy. It's just not true. And I would feel really badly if people watched my content and thought that was what was going to happen. Hi. How's it going?

[Podcast Host]

My understanding is you guys just bought a big production studio. Is that right?

[Layla Hormozi]

So we bought a large building.

[Podcast Host]

A building?

[Layla Hormozi]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, I don't know, 10 minutes from here. For makeup, I was thinking, like, pink browns type vibe. I've been. I think if I'm doing a lot of stuff, it gets oily quick because I'm gonna be doing media all day. I always look forward to content days, but then the morning when I wake up for it, I always feel the opposite, because usually what happens, I wake up and there's all this for work. I start seeing file up on my asana board. I start seeing my slack messages go off, and I'm like, I'm gonna do this. I can definitely get in my head where I'm, like, frustrated if I don't have the right energy, if I'm tired, if I'm distracted because I got a slack message about something which happens, like, more often than not, it always ends up being better than I think it's going to be. And I always feel like no matter what's happening, I still show up and I can still get it done. And then I have to go do hair and makeup, which love the girls that do my hair and makeup, but I feel antsy when I'm getting it done because it feels like, oh my God, I want to use my hands, I want to use my eyes. I want to be doing something else. Which is why I like to take meetings when I'm getting my hair and makeup done.

[Content Team Member]

All right, Michael and Jimmy, we are here. So we're. This is an overview of the videos that we have for next week. I wanted to get some video ideas banked. We basically came up with two different titles that I wanted to get your opinion on.

[Layla Hormozi]

Let me guess, let me guess. New Year, New Me.

[Content Team Member]

It is how to Reinvent Yourself this Year.

[Layla Hormozi]

Uh huh.

[Content Team Member]

Or how to be the Best version of yourself in 2024.

[Layla Hormozi]

Where are areas that we can do content to make easy? It's like, well, if I had a studio and Alex had studio is all set up, then when I have an hour gap between meetings, we can just throw in a recording session. And that helps us facilitate content in a way that works for us and doesn't deter from the things that we're doing on a daily basis that move the business forward. So I think something that might be a better angle because most people talk about building new habits. I'd rather talk about why that fails. Learning how to break bad habits or habits that are not conducive any longer to your goals.

[Content Team Member]

Tell me more about that. So you're saying that it's more important to get rid of the bad habits that hinder yourself or add new things to your life.

[Layla Hormozi]

Right, because you can eat vegetables all day, but if you don't break the habit of overeating cake and ice cream, then you're not going to lose weight. I've created a business where I have the flexibility that like, there's an environment where it makes my life better. I think that there's a certain level of media and content where if it goes beyond the scope of acquisition.com having control of it, say if we were to go like mainstream media, I would lose control and lose some autonomy. And I just don't know if I'd be willing to do that. I like the direction we're going now. I've already gone from like, all right, doing like one day a month to like one day a week. That's a huge jump for me. So we'll see. Let me have some time to think about it separately because I want to come at it from a different angle and I actually want to to ask Trevor to help me tomorrow when I meet with him.

[Content Team Member]

Perfect. I will do that.

[Layla Hormozi]

All right, thanks guys.

[Content Team Member]

No problem.

[Layla Hormozi]

Talk to them. All right, bye. Took one bite, but they put Them in the other room. I took that as a sign that I'm gaining weight and they don't want me to eat them.

[Content Team Member]

Where do you. Which room?

[Layla Hormozi]

Where are they? They're in the kitchen. Alex and I have different ideas for our content, and as we get separate teams, it's gonna look different. But the idea was we wanna make it as easy as possible to make content. I don't want it to detract from what I'm already doing. I want it to be integrated. As I've just always focused on Alex's brand, it feels like, in a weird way, me focusing on mine. I don't like feeling like I put less focus on his or I give less support to it in any way, but he is. Listen, Alex is the first person to tell me I need to pay attention to my brand. No, I know he, like, mind me into, you know, doing what's best for me. I think that in starting acquisition.com, part of it was wanting to feel like a sense of community, even just for myself. I wish I had had that from somebody who I felt like I could trust. Trust. And who didn't have ulterior motives and who genuinely wanted the best and who didn't withhold secrets. I see a lot of people that reach really high levels of success, you know, billions of dollars, but I feel like I can't relate to them. I would love to reach that point and feel like I've brought people along for the journey. That feels like a worthwhile challenge to have. I know. I just have three more things, and I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to be the same energy. You know what I'm saying? Would you want to end the Q and A a little early, then? No, no, that's fine. No, we're fine.

[Content Team Member]

Rosen. Whenever you're ready, Sam. Hey, Layla.

[Layla Hormozi]

Hey, Sam. How's it going? Hi. How's it going? What's up? Evan?

[Content Team Member]

Hey, how are you?

[Layla Hormozi]

So tell me, what was your question? If you're setting unrealistic expectations and saying I should be working 20 hours a day, then I would say, like, okay, well, I'm not the right person to help you with this. I don't think that you're going to function well. If it was irreversible, it would be justifiable to say it took two months to make this decision, but it's not irreversible at all. You would have learned more and gained more skills in the last two months if you had already made the decision. Just like, learn how to manage your team. You have to teach them how to manage you. Get out of your head and get into your behaviors. I have the habit of not wanting to offend people, and I think my voice, my demeanor, all these things contribute to, like, sometimes I watch my content. Little tough there. There's a difference between being rude or coming off with an arrogant tone when you're being direct and being direct in a way that gives people more clarity when they watch your content. I would like to get better at that. Not just for content, but for my company. The skill of perspective taking is crucial to running a company. Every time I'm speaking, I try to address all concerns on a global scale and then on a individual scale, address the individual concerns that I would believe would exist. I don't think that you can excite people about a company change until you've addressed their concern. I think the team actually has done really great with the change. Now, you know, there was really no talk when I announced it of, like, here's how we're going to split the teams. I didn't talk about the how. I just talked about the what and the why. It was about a year ago I met with some of the top people just in social media in general, and I asked them their team setups per channels, and they were like, as soon as you can split those teams, like, it's going to help them so much because their ability to edit your content versus Alex's will increase much faster if they're just doing one person's. That made a lot of sense to me because it's the same as, like, product lines. I'm not going to have somebody on two different products because I know I'm going to get more out of somebody if I have them focused on one.

[Content Team Member]

You actually feel like making content helps you be more reflective and thoughtful.

[Layla Hormozi]

I think that content does help somewhat with reflection, but it can be uncomfortable at times. I don't tend to dwell in my emotions, but when I make content, sometimes that's helpful in conveying how I felt about something and showing people that I do care about something. Because I watch my videos and I see people's response to the different ways I speak, and I can see what kind of words get the reaction I want, which is people to take action from the content, get value from the content, and I think that translates over to my team as well. Okay. And then this I go back to, right? And that's where I meet Caleb. Okay. I realized that, like, a lot of my playbook actually, and Even just like, how I make content came from Alex and not from me. But we have completely different days in lives. Obviously, we have our life together, but, like, the way that he lives his life, the way I live mine, the way that he likes to structure things, the way I like to structure things, they're different. And so it wouldn't make sense that we make content the same way. The separation has to occur at some point between him and the business. And I was just like, dude, I'm so sick of, like, living out of fear. We can't act like an old company. There's no nothing. You don't gain anything doing that. I don't expect it to go perfectly.

[Podcast Host]

All right, everyone, welcome to the show. We have Layla Hormozi, the CEO of acquisition.com here. Layla, welcome to the show.

[Layla Hormozi]

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

[Podcast Host]

I think it's our job as we, yeah, enter a new year, kind of asking our team and asking ourselves, like, how can we just push that little bit more on your side, like, what's the areas that you're kind of looking at your team to kind of like, hey, is it more content? Is it growing the audience bigger? Is it more deal flow?

[Layla Hormozi]

People see Alex and Layla on acquisition.com as one entity. I realized that I was growing and so is Alex frustrated with that perception. Alex has so many other things that he's going to be pursuing that it doesn't make sense to also have him so tied closely with acquisition.com that starts with, we are separating our content teams. So there's going to be Alex, Layla, and then it's going to be acquisition.com and right now we're making a lot of progress with Alex and Layla because we've been sharing and then we're going to be bringing in people for the acquisition.com as soon as, like, these two are separate. I think the idea generation piece of it of, like, what kind of content we should be making will probably be the biggest increase because as you have one team working on one and one team working on another, the ideas will start to generate faster and more because they have more thinking space because they're not having to think and switch between two. And so if we can focus them more, I think that they'll have more of that time to, like, level up their thinking and think like, oh, wait, should we even be doing this platform for them like this? And, like, really rethink the way that we do content? Probably in ways that we just haven't had the space to think about. And that's what I look forward to is just like, more creativity. That's the piece of the smooth transition that I think I feel really good about just adding more of me and then more of the team.

[Content Team Member]

Okay.

[Layla Hormozi]

Hello.

[Content Team Member]

This is definitely the most that you film, right on a day.

[Layla Hormozi]

I mean, like, I feel like the YouTube. So, like, in the beginning when we did shorts, when we worked with a vendor, he would be at our house from 10am to 7pm I mean, I think it went really good. I don't think we got a lot of, like, shorts.

[Content Team Member]

Oh, really?

[Layla Hormozi]

No, we agreed.

[Podcast Host]

And which side of the business do you think is going to be bigger in the next decade? The media side of the business or the acquisition side?

[Layla Hormozi]

I think that's a really tough one. I know as I've gotten better, I can see. I can see a year and three years out now. I think further than five years is tough for me. And it's specifically in areas that I am inexperienced. So content is not something that I've done before and I haven't done it for more than a couple years. And so I think it'd be silly to say I can predict which wing of the business would be bigger because I just have less that I can compare it to. I've studied way more business, not content. So I forgot we were doing this and wore these. Nice. It's almost like I feel like it's like a gift from the world that like every film day, something just happens to happen. Like the last two film days, some big legal thing drops before we film this film day. I don't get my period until it's 17 days late. And it happens on film day morning. And I'm like in bed for an hour and a half, like, just trying to be able to move. I think that's the difference between. I think content creation versus, like, capturing the content is. There's a lot less staging or perfection, I guess. I don't know. So Caleb had an idea to do what he called a walk and talk. He's always looking like, what are things that you're already doing that we could film content while you do? And I walk a lot. So he was like, we should just record while you're walking and make content. I would look at it and say, what do I gain from. From not doing what I know I need to do? You're gaining something or you are avoiding a negative. You're avoiding stress, discomfort, the possibility of uncertainty. If you measure feelings, most of them pass within 20 to 30 minutes. So I just gotta get over the hump. I don't also think tired is bad. I think tired means I probably did a good job. It's so hard to conceptualize goals. I had way more people I looked up to, and I just would ask myself, would they do this or not? Would this action get me further or closer to that person's life? I think that's a really useful frame for somebody who's just starting out. And you're probably not that great at setting goals. I don't care who it is. It could be your next door neighbor, as long as they're one step ahead. Often, if you're not where you want to be in life, better than remaining where you are and keeping your own. Whatever framework you've been using, no matter what's happening, I still show up and I can still get it done. But it does always feel like at the same time always happens right before I walk into a podcast or walk into film day or walk into a YouTube video. And I'm like, damn, if I didn't have this. If I wasn't doing both of these things, I feel like I would be so much better at content. How do you manage knowing all these

[Content Team Member]

things are happening amidst a content day?

[Layla Hormozi]

But there's not a thing you can do in the morning. Make sure that I'm doing stuff so that I'm preparing everybody. They all know that I'm going to be doing something. They know where to put stuff, if stuff's needed from me so I can get back to it later. You know, the assistants know they can call me if something's really urgent. But I mean, I'm not perfect. I check between all the stuff I can't not like. I just like it. It's compulsive for sure. I just think it's part of the job. I am exhausted. No, no, we're good. We're good. We do walk back. I mean, I can keep talking. I'm just like, physically exhausted. You know, it's funny because, like, the end of a day of even, like, you know, 10, 12 meetings, like, that feels different than the end of a content day. There's like a million engines running in the back of your head during a content day. I feel quite physically exhausted after I do them, but it feels satisfying. Like, I. I like that feeling. I like feeling like a job well done. Like, I did my best. I did what I said I was gonna do. Usually after that, like, I think that night I just went home and made some chicken nuggets and literally ate them by myself on the couch.