Podcast Summary: The Game w/Alex Hormozi

Episode: Building a $1,000,000 Business for a Stranger in 69 Minutes

Host: Alex Hormozi
Guest: Philip, Founder of Garby Disposal Services
Date: October 28, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Alex Hormozi sits down with Philip, a former Amazon engineer who started Garby Disposal Services, a residential trash collection company now struggling with negative profits. With Philip's family on the line and time running out, Alex aims to overhaul the business in a single, intensive coaching session—"solve for cash flow, profitability, and focus"—with the audacious goal of creating a path to a million-dollar business model within 69 minutes.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Situation: "Negative $151,000 and Growing Pressures"

• Background: Philip left Amazon to start a trash collection service. After two years, he serves 2,500 homes but is losing $151,000 per year with negative 23% net margins.
• Problem Statement ([00:13]):

  “Our revenue is 642,000. Our net profit is negative $151,000.” — Philip

• Personal Stakes: Philip’s wife is due with another baby soon; urgent need for profitability.

2. Dissecting the Business Model

Customer Segments

• Scatter (“regular residential”): Individual homes not centrally managed. More price flexibility and higher margins.
• HOAs: Bulk contracts with homeowner associations (70% of the market). Lower margins, commoditized, longer sales cycles, but large revenue potential.

Service Overview

• Scatter: Weekly trash/recycling; easy to onboard, quarterly billing, current intro offers include “three months free.”
• HOAs: Typically twice-weekly, contracts 3-5 years, bid-based and highly price-competitive.

Operations Gaps

• Underutilized trucks, inefficient routes, unexpected repairs, low route efficiency.
• Need for more profitable marketing and sales strategies, improved lead conversion, and asset utilization.

3. Numbers Breakdown

Financials ([11:07], [12:18])

• Revenue: $642,000
• Gross margin: 8% (skewed low by $100K+ repairs)
• Net margin: -23%
• Customer churn: 0.4% monthly (very low!)
• CAC/LTV:
  • Scatter: CAC $51, LTV $1,020–$1,300, GM 26%–40%.
  • HOA: CAC $1,200, LTV $2,300, GM ~23%.

Sales Channels ([07:37])

• Door-to-door: 50% of sign-ups (Philip and 1 new sales rep).
• Paid Meta ads: $600/month, mostly scatter customers.
• Cold outreach (emails, handwritten, direct mail): Effective with HOAs but limited scale.
• Referrals: Low volume.

“If you knock on 12 doors, you get a sale… you can just like, ‘Hey, I gotta get lunch—give me two seconds, knock on 12 doors and buy lunch.’” — Alex, [06:07]

4. Identifying the Point of Focus

The Big Decisions ([14:44], [19:34])

• Avatar Focus: Must choose between doubling down on Scatter (short-term margins, easy conversion) or HOAs (future-proofing, scale, but price wars).
• Acquisition Channel: Door-to-door shows most leverage (high close rates, easily scalable with a team).

“I like having one avatar, one channel, one product, up to a million dollars or more. You’re kind of… right there. And so you have two avatars and like five channels.” — Alex, [19:21]

5. Restructuring the Offer (“Solve for Upfront Cash Flow”)

Goal: Collect more upfront, cover immediate costs, fund growth ([18:03])

Analysis of Costs

• Labor, bins (cost: $116 each), sales commission ($50/sale), and route fulfillment.

Constructing the New Offer ([29:05]–[39:05])

• Problem: Current offer (3 months free) is too generous; upfront doesn’t cover acquisition/fulfillment costs.
• Key Need: “If we can get the first transaction to be $199, you’re covered.... What levers do we have?"
• Proposed Structure:
  • Annual Prepay Offer: $30/month for 12 months paid upfront ($360), bin included for free ($99 value).
  • Quarterly Offer: $89/quarter ($30/month), $99 for bin up front (total $189 day one).
  • Simple Script: Present both; let the customer pick.

Notable Quotes:

“What stops me from running an ad, getting 10 guys in a room, training them for a day, and having them do 5–7 deals a day on contract?... If only that one thing were true, what stops me?” — Alex, [21:05]

“If someone paid $360 up front, would you give them the bin for free?” — Alex, [46:28]

• Price Anchoring: Use a “bin fee” as an anchor; most people will pay it, but some will switch to annual to avoid it, boosting average cash collected.
• Upsell Leverage: QR code as an upcharge option for bin branding.
• Retention: Offer 3 months free, but only if customers accept the best cash flow terms.

6. Team Building: Scaling Door-to-Door Sales

Systematizing Sales Recruitment ([59:43]–[62:42])

• Recruitment: Use Indeed/Craigslist. Position job as high-earning for go-getters (commission only, 4–8 hrs/day, $100K–$200K/yr potential).
• Onboarding: Group interviews to screen for “no crazies,” focus on work ethic and hunger.
• Training: Shadow/roleplay model (document the script; trainees watch, then do, then get feedback and improve).
• Incentives: Commission could be bumped to get higher-quality sellers; specialized sales scripts for fast, repeatable closes.

"You need someone to ask four questions and build a photo for... Just lower the bar—you’re not looking for somebody to cure cancer here." — Alex, [63:58]

7. Simplification & The Action Plan

Key Moves ([66:07]–[68:55])

1. Pick the “Scatter” avatar – highest margin, fastest growth right now.
2. AB Offer: Quarterly: $189 upfront (includes $99 bin, $89 quarter 1); Annually: $360, bin free.
3. Hire and Train 5+ commission-only door-to-door salespeople.
4. Ditch Complexity: Eliminate most marketing channels; focus 100% on door-to-door until capacity is maxed.
5. Document & Duplicate: Build a quick, no-frills script and role-play based training program for sales reps.

Notable Quotes & Moments w/ Timestamps

• “This is Philip. He gave up a high paying job in tech to start a garbage collection business. Last year he lost $150,000…” — Alex ([00:00])
• “If we just did this one thing well, we can solve the cash flow issue and hit your extra thousand in the next, like, 90 days…” — Alex ([69:00])
• “Does this feel like the noise in the world—quiet?” — Alex ([68:55])

Important Segment Timestamps

• Problem summary & family pressures: [01:10], [01:59]
• Customer and market split: [02:23]–[04:30]
• Sales process and close rates: [05:37]–[06:13]
• Acquisition channel breakdown: [07:37]–[09:04]
• Financials, churn, margins: [11:07]–[13:09]
• Strategic “one avatar, one channel” pivot: [19:21]–[19:50]
• Offer-building workshop: [29:05]–[46:28]
• Sales team onboarding: [59:43]–[63:58]
• Summary and action steps: [66:07]–[68:55]

Final Takeaways

This episode demonstrates Alex Hormozi’s signature approach: radical simplification, cash-flow-driven decision making, and focus on leverage.

• Clarity over Complexity: “Pick one customer, one channel, one sales process. Duplicate till you max out.”
• Optimized for Cash Flow: Structure offers to collect all upfront costs before fulfillment begins.
• Recruit & Train Aggressively: Door-to-door is simple to scale with the right systems and incentives.
• Don’t Be Distracted: Eliminate extraneous marketing efforts until you have maxed out your core channel.

“You’re home free. Sexy right now. That’s way better than right now. That is facts. No printer.” — Alex ([45:59])

For Listeners

If you want a masterclass in building a local service business from loss to profit in a single strategy session—this is essential listening. Hormozi lays out the blueprint for anyone needing to turn around or scale a SMB, with actionable specifics you can implement immediately.

End of Summary