Getting Rich Isn’t Fun… | Spotify Video Exclusive

Summary

The Game with Alex Hormozi Episode: Getting Rich Isn’t Fun… | Spotify Video Exclusive Release Date: June 20, 2024

Episode Overview

In this episode of The Game, Alex Hormozi dives deep into the realities behind entrepreneurship, business growth, and personal development. Dismantling the myths perpetuated by social media, Alex discusses why building wealth is far from glamorous, emphasizing the daily grind, the pain of growth, and the importance of purposeful relationships. With guest appearances from Graham Stephan and others, the episode explores actionable business wisdom, personal anecdotes, and the mental frameworks necessary to move from $100M to $1B in net worth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Myth vs. Reality of Entrepreneurial Success (00:00–02:00)

• Overnight Success is a Myth: Alex discusses how the highlights posted online—like jets and luxury cars—are the rare outputs, not the reality. The actual day-to-day involves endless calls, meetings, and communications, which “don’t look good on Instagram.”
• Growth is Jagged: Revenue and progress don’t move in a smooth upward trend; they’re full of ups and downs that feel intense “on the knife’s edge.”

“The closer you zoom into it, the more jagged it looks and the more jagged it feels.” — Alex (Eric) (00:30)

2. Networking, Communities, and Value Beyond Money (02:00–04:00)

• Value Shifts with Success: Once you become successful, money becomes less useful as a trading tool. Influence, introductions, and access become the new currency.
• Paid vs. Free Communities: Paid communities provide a qualifying barrier, giving access to higher-caliber connections, akin to joining an expensive golf club.

“At a certain point you actually stop being able to pay for expertise… influence, connections, introductions, deals—that’s where the real value lies.” — Alex (Eric) (02:05)

3. Personal Habits and Relationship Design (04:00–06:30)

• Diet and Routine: Success often comes from simplifying choices—like eating the same five to seven meals—making change less daunting.
• Friendships as Design vs. Convenience: As people age, friendships wane, not from a lack of social desire but from rising standards and lack of proximity. Most friendships are accidental, not intentional.

“Most people's friendships are out of convenience… not out of design.” — Alex (Eric) (05:00)

• Traits of a Best Friend: True friends “root for you and make you better in multiple arenas… competent in ways that you are not, with aligned interests and values.”

4. Mistakes, Self-Deprecation, and Fuel for Growth (06:30–09:00)

• Embracing Embarrassment: Alex recounts using humor (his “gunslinger mustache”) before a big business meeting as a reminder to not take himself too seriously.
• Growth Through Pain: Personal change is driven more by dissatisfaction than by passion.

“Everyone’s got fuel. It’s just not necessarily the sexy kind. Most people’s purpose is to pay rent and not be broke.” — Alex (Eric) (07:30)

• Growth as Awareness of Deficiency: Advancement brings acute awareness of one’s weaknesses as new challenges appear.

“Growth is painful because you become aware of your deficiencies. Reality shows you point blank all of the areas you're weak in.” — Alex (Eric) (08:05)

5. The Nature of Hard Work and Recurring Effort (09:00–11:00)

• Value of Difficulty: The harder a goal is, the fewer people attempt it—making it worthwhile. If something is difficult, that's an indicator it's worth pursuing as it creates a natural barrier to entry.
• “Recurring Revenue vs. Recurring Work” Paradox: Everyone wants passive income, but few are willing to commit to the long, unseen grind that generates it.

“Everyone wants recurring revenue, but no one wants recurring work… One doesn’t come without the other.” — Alex (Eric) (09:50)

• Effort is Often Unnoticed: Great achievements often go unrecognized until a visible “win” happens—get used to it.

6. On Building and Scaling Businesses: Roles & Strengths (08:30–10:00)

• Layla’s Role: Layla runs the day-to-day at Acquisition.com, keeping operations tight and teams aligned, while Alex focuses on long-term projects.

“She just understands building infrastructure behind things… That’s why we’re able to build companies with such enterprise value so quickly.” — Alex (Eric) (08:50)

7. High-Value Perspective & Accessibility (12:00–14:00)

• Value of Knowledge: In a humorous aside, Alex estimates his hourly consulting rate at $50,000, underscoring the condensed value listeners receive from in-depth podcasts.

“Whoever’s watching this is theoretically getting $100,000 of value just by listening to this.” — Graham Stephan (12:17)

• Mission of Accessibility: Alex’s larger goal is to democratize business knowledge, making it “easy to understand” and entertaining for a broader audience—not just entrepreneurs.

“I made it the mission to make real business education accessible for everyone… I’m better at making it easy to understand; I’m still working on making it more entertaining.” — Alex (Eric) (12:39)

8. The Incompatibility of Comfort and Growth (13:00–14:00)

• Growth Requires Pain: Growth and comfort are mutually exclusive; if you’re comfortable, you’re likely not growing.

“You can’t have both growth and comfort. One is the price of the other.” — Alex (Eric) (13:35)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Success isn't fun, it's hard. Effort always goes unnoticed. Get used to it.” — Alex (Eric) (00:00)
• “Most people’s friendships are out of convenience… not out of design.” — Alex (Eric) (05:00)
• “What makes you exceptional is what you can do that other people can’t do, which means stomaching the harder thing is the thing that makes you the exception.” — Alex (Eric) (10:50)
• “If it’s hard, good, it means no one else will do it. More for you.” — Alex (Eric) (10:00)
• “You can’t have both growth and comfort. One is the price of the other.” — Alex (Eric) (13:35)
• “Everyone wants recurring revenue, but no one wants recurring work.” — Alex (Eric) (09:50)
• “I want my brand to stand for something more than making $50 million… I made it the mission to make real business education accessible for everyone.” — Alex (Eric) (12:39)
• “If you’re an ugly guy, you might want to consider growing a beard because it leaves half of your face to imagination.” — Alex (Eric) (06:45) (humorous personal anecdote)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–02:00 — Myth vs. reality of entrepreneurship
• 02:00–04:00 — Networking, value, and paid communities
• 04:00–06:30 — Building habits, friendship design
• 06:30–09:00 — Personal growth, motivation from dissatisfaction
• 09:00–11:00 — Recurring work vs. revenue, barriers to entry
• 11:26–12:00 — Layla’s operational genius
• 12:00–14:00 — High-value advice, educational mission, growth vs. comfort

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Summary

This episode delivers a reality check for aspiring entrepreneurs, reframing business growth as a tough, unglamorous process driven by persistence, strategic relationships, and self-awareness. While outward appearances on social media glamorize the journey, Alex Hormozi emphasizes that real progress is incremental, uncomfortable, and often thankless in the moment. He shares actionable strategies on building better habits, designing meaningful relationships, and understanding the true costs (and value) of becoming exceptional.

The episode concludes with a powerful reminder: genuine business growth and personal development demand discomfort and perseverance, not just dreams of easy money and recognition. For those willing to “stomach the harder thing,” the journey is lonely but ultimately meaningful—filled with lessons that rarely go viral, but make all the difference.

Transcript

[Eric]

Success isn't fun, it's hard. Effort always goes unnoticed. Get used to it. You're good. You never bother us. Let us, let us get it. So there's this myth that probably happens with this influencer status of like, we own businesses and businesses grow in like the last three months of revenue. Yeah. So if you look at this year,

[Graham]

so what's been trending down is bookings.

[Eric]

So we're having strong. Jesus.

[Graham]

Yeah.

[Eric]

TLDR obviously. Yeah. It was just down 60% of what it was. Yep. But the thing about growth is that the closer you zoom into it, the more jagged it looks and the more jagged it feels. You can feel the knife's edge of the up and the down and the up and the down. Every single day in this vlog, you're going to see me hop on a lot of calls. And that's because that's what a lot of running our businesses is to Layla and I. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. I mean, you just. You sprint from air conditioning to air conditioning. Hey, what's happening? Just karoshin it over here. You know how it is. Hello. You have two doors in your room. It looks different. It's clean now. Oh, wow. What's up, man? How's it going? Good. Congratulations on being you. Oh man, congrats on being you. I don't know how a poor kid from Baltimore ends up in Vegas. Alright, guys, I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen. Because of the proliferation of social media, entrepreneurship appears to be the things that look nice. So it's the private jets, it's the cars, it's the watches, it's the money. But the thing is that all of those are outputs from business that people use for personal gain that then look attractive. But the actual doingness every day of entrepreneurship is predominantly communication. It's talking to other leaders, other employees, teammates, vendors, customers. And when you look at it on a real day to day of what that looks like, it's a lot of meetings, it's a lot of calls, a lot of zooms. And those don't look good on Instagram.

[Graham]

I heard you talk about paying for knowledge or their expertise.

[Eric]

Yeah. At a certain point you actually stop being able to pay for expertise. Because when you start talking to people who have a shitload of money too, like there's basically more valuable things than money to trade. Like that's where influence, connections, introductions, you know, deals, things like that become a more valuable thing to discuss. There's free communities, there's paid communities, there are benefits to both, you know, paid communities. Sometimes the price tag is the gate to give you some level of qualifier of, you know, legitimacy. Like, I mean, even like you join a golf club where it's $100,000 year to keep playing, you're going to meet a caliber of people that don't care about spending hundred thousand dollars a year. Like, it's a very different type of person if you just change the five meals that you eat. Because, like, everyone thinks that they give up variety when they go on a diet. They're like, I can't just stick to this. But people eat the same five to seven meals. Yeah. So I put £20 back on. And so there's a key point. There is I put it back on. It wasn't like the first time I've been this way before after the book launch. And that was because actually going into the book launch, it was the longest period, I think, that I didn't work out. I didn't work out for like six weeks. Most people eat the same five to seven meals, and so they think that, like, changing their diet is going to have to be this massive thing, but you really just need to find five to seven meals that you like because you currently already like five, seven meals, and that's what you already eat. And so you have to swap those for other stuff. And if you just do that, you're 80, 90% of the way there. The older you get, the fewer friends you tend to have. And that's not because you're less social, but it's because you have higher standards. Even then, man, Even though, like, my homiest of homies, you can still, like, you just slowly stretch out communication, then eventually it just, it just fizzles. Like, it's hard. You have to maintain relationships, so you just don't put the effort in to maintain it. And then they usually just end. Like, if you're not in close proximity. That's the thing. It's like most people's friendships are out of convenience. They're not out of design. And so they're just friends with people who are, like, lived across the hall from them. But what is the chance that, like, the person who lives across the hall from is actually going to be a perfect fit for the type of person you want to be with for a long time? Probably not. And so I think people let friends happen by accident rather than on purpose. What would you consider, like a unicorn of a best friend? Like, what traits would that they truly root for you and they make you better in multiple arenas, which is basically like, they are competent in ways that you are not. They have aligned interest with you, and ideally their values align with yours. That's a moment. It's just very hard to do all three. We were going over a pricing issue for a software about to roll out in one of our larger portfolio companies. And I think one of the emphasis they did made the product not have a tenable pricing structure. So we were able to catch it before they rolled it out, which would have literally cost millions of dollars. So we avoided that. So, great. We got chops. Chop always smells good, though. You notice that? Chops always smells good. Yeah, go for it. Yeah, I'm gonna get. I'm gonna trim little chop. I met Layla and I had short hair. And she said, I think you look good with long hair. And I said, okay. And then I didn't cut it. And so that was when my hair went from shorter to longer. And it's pretty much just stayed there. If you're an ugly guy, you might want to consider growing a beard because it leaves half of your face to imagination. So I had this when we had gym launch. This is right when we transitioned. We right, started making money. And so remember, we. I had just been like, looking at bankruptcy lawyers like a couple months earlier. And so we have a meet up with 28 gym owners that come to Albuquerque, New Mexico. And I'm like, super nervous because I'm afraid that they're just going to, like, think I suck or whatever, right? So the night before, you know, I was like, trying to look nice, and so I had scruff. And then. And so I. For all the guys who know this, like, you start shaving down and just like getting yourself in, like, different hair, you're like, all right, I'm gonna do the Wolverine, and then I'm gonna do mutton chops. Like, you work your way down. And so the last thing that I left was this. This big gunslinger mustache. So like a big handlebar mustache. And so I, like, looked out of the bathroom at Layla and I was like, hey. And she was like, you look ridiculous. And so I looked back in the mirror and I was like, I think it's perfect. And so that actually makes me sound cooler than I. Than I was. What really happened is I. When I looked in the mirror, I was like, well, at least I won't take myself too seriously. And so I figured that was. That would like, kind of get. Because I was so nervous going into it that I wanted to have some sort of comic relief for myself as like a visual Reminder. So I look in the mirror, I think everybody's got fuel. It's just not necessarily the one that is sexy. So a lot of the guys out there are like, find your passion. Find your purpose. But I think for most people, their purpose is like, pay rent and not be broke. And so, like, if that's what you got, then that's what you use. Growth is painful because you become aware of your deficiencies. Reality shows you point blank all of the areas you're weak in. And so when you've adjusted to something, you've kind of filled the gaps, you filled the holes between where you are and what is required for that current season. But when you go into a new season or you go to a new level and you battle a new boss, all of a sudden this guy has a whole host of different skills that you've never seen before, and you just get your ass beat over and over and over again. And those ass beatings hurt. I mean, every. Everybody has lots of things they hate. Like right now, if I would ask you, what are 10 things that you hate about your life? It's probably can come up with them pretty fast. But if I ask you 10 things you're grateful for, it takes a lot longer. And so it's like, rather than trying to get people to be different than who they are, it's like, find the 10 things you hate the most about your life and use that. The reason. Use those as the reasons to start working. Because, I mean, like, whatever you're gonna do is gonna suck. It's just whether it sucks less than what your current existence is. And for me, I had a lot of stuff that sucks. And so I just wanted to change. It's a nice backpack, bro. Where's the vibes? So the big thing that the Internet doesn't understand is that, like, Layla operates acquisition.com. she's the operator, she does everything. She's CEO. She actually is involved for the most part in the day to day of the business. I mean, obviously, I'll say hi to people, you know, around the office and whatnot. Any shenanigans going on? What was I gonna ask you? Oh, I was gonna let you know I brought the other half the chair in. Oh, awesome. Yeah, I brought it here, so it's right there. Where's Tobes? Solo. Across the pond. That is how we have found Layla and I work best together is I work on, like, big, meaty projects for extended periods of time that are huge rocks that move things forward. And then Layla just, like, basically through force of will just keeps everyone on board, everyone aligned, and continues to hire and train and scale. Scale the business. And that's what she's exceptional at. I mean, that's why we're able to build companies with such enterprise value so quickly, is that she just understands building infrastructure behind things. Yeah, I don't want to lose any mask going down those stairs. Yeah, my dad told me. He said he doesn't do cardio because he wants to save his heartbeats. I was like, sounds legit. He's a doctor. He's kidding. He was joking. That was a joke. Hanging. I'm gonna do this thumbnail, and then I'll be outy.

[Graham]

Where are we headed?

[Eric]

We're going to iced coffee hour with Graham Stephan and Jack Selby. We're gonna talk about iced coffee for hours now. I don't actually. I don't know what they want. I don't know what they want to talk about because I've been on a couple times, so I was like, I hope I have something new to say, so we'll find out. Because the thing is, is that everyone is waiting for this, like, one home run that's gonna, like, change everything. And that basically never happens. Because it's all a game of incremental improvement. It's about small 1% improvements that add up over time. And while you're making the improvements, it never feels big. It only feels big in retrospect. And it looks like an overnight success from the outside, because whoever sees the overnight success is never the person who experienced the overnight success. Because no one who actually is an overnight success would describe it as overnight. Because they always say, you guys don't see the 10 years that it took me to get here. I mean, everyone wants for recurring revenue, but no one wants recurring work. And so it's this idea that everyone wants to just, like, get, get, get forever, but no one wants to do, do, do forever. And one doesn't come without the other. And oftentimes it's more like recurring work with zero recurring revenue for a very long period of time before you get your first far less amount of revenue relative to the amount of recurring work you do. I mean, think about it. Until you win, effortless always goes unnoticed. Get used to it with whatever business you're getting into. The more difficult is to get into, the fewer entrants there will be. So the less competition you will have to compete against with the more barriers you have. I'm always amazed at the amount of people who are like, man, this is hard. And they somehow Say that like it's a bad thing. If it's hard, good, it means no one else will do it more for you. Like, the hard. The. The level of difficulty that you have to go through in order to get whatever you want is literally the barrier that everyone else has to go in order to achieve it too. And so the bigger the goal that you have, the bigger the obstacles that you have to get over, which is why so few people will get it, which is what makes it worthwhile to begin with. If it were obviously easy, then everyone would do it, and then it wouldn't be a goal, because everyone would have it. And right now, it's not a big goal for people to breathe because everyone can breathe. It's not a big goal for you to put your shoes on in the morning, because everyone can do that. And so therefore, it loses its value. What makes you exceptional is what you can do that other people can't do, which means stomaching the harder thing is the thing that makes you the exception. Graham. There we go.

[Graham]

Oh, that's the mailbox.

[Eric]

It's like, where's the doorbell?

[Graham]

Move next week.

[Eric]

What's up, man? I'm sweating a little bit while you do one of these. How's it going, man? Alok.

[Graham]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Nice to meet you. Pleasure. Pleasure.

[Graham]

Yeah, you guys would make an amazing podcast together. I have to say, this would be a crazy conversation.

[Eric]

Conversation. Oh, sweet. Super cool. Yeah.

[Graham]

But he's leaving right now for San Francisco.

[Eric]

Oh, fun. Okay, cool.

[Graham]

They were of the mind that you thought the therapy wasn't very effective. I'm a psychiatrist.

[Eric]

Yeah, cool.

[Graham]

And I was explaining to them that if you believe that therapy wasn't very effective.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Graham]

You may be surprised, because I'm inclined to agree.

[Eric]

Okay, well, there you go, then. Maybe we agree.

[Graham]

Yeah, I thought there would be a fun debate.

[Eric]

Oh, yeah, sure. Oh, it's four. It was a gift from you.

[Graham]

No, no. Eric, what is one hour of your time worth?

[Eric]

I don't know. I probably wouldn't do anything for less than 50 grand.

[Graham]

50 grand? Let's just say if someone wants advice. 50 grand an hour. If this podcast is two hours long.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Graham]

Whoever's watching this is theoretically getting $100,000 of value just by listening to this. So I just want to preface it by saying stick around for the episode. You're getting a lot of value from this. Wow, that's fantastic.

[Eric]

Back to our subject, to the point that you may was like, why not make 50 million? I think that I want my brand to stand for something more than that. And so I made it the mission to make real business education accessible for everyone. And that is what I have been. I have not wavered from that since I started doing this. And I have two aspects to that. One is like, the distribution of how do I get this to everybody and how to make it accessible. That has multiple levels to it, which is, one is like, is it easy to understand? But also like, is it fun and entertaining? And I'm getting better at that. I think I'm, I'm better at the easy to understand part. I'm still working on how do I make this more entertaining so that like a stay at home mom will actually click and maybe get interested in something like this and maybe recommend her son or her daughter to like, watch something like that. I'm not there yet, like, but that's like, in order for me to get that level of accessibility, like, I need to get better. But on the flip side, the context that the content is consumed within is basically my background. So like, at the very beginning you're like, hey, just for everybody who doesn't know, here's this guy, right? If I had said, hey, I make $100,000 a year, listen to me. I don't. I mean, I think fewer people would listen to me. I mean, maybe some would, but like, far fewer would listen to me as a, quote, authority on making money in general. You can't have both growth and comfort. One is the price of the other. And so, like, if you're really comfortable, it's probably an indication that you're plateaued that you're in the same space, which then means that you have to voluntarily go into pain in order to come out the other side better, stronger, faster.