Podcast Summary: The Game with Alex Hormozi

Episode: Throwback: Avoiding Bad Partners and Finding Your Own Path | Ep 950
Date: September 5, 2025
Host: Alex Hormozi

Episode Overview

In this throwback episode, Alex Hormozi dives into two central themes:

1. Avoiding Bad Business Partners – Lessons learned from a painful partnership that involved betrayal and significant financial and emotional loss.
2. Finding Your Path in Life and Business – The crucial decision-making dichotomy of ‘pushing through’ versus ‘pivoting’ when confronted with obstacles, including reflections on Alex’s own transition from employee to entrepreneur.

Hormozi offers hard-won advice to listeners on recognizing red flags in business relationships and making bold choices when stuck in career stagnation. His tone is raw, direct, and filled with actionable insights.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Bad Partners vs. Bad Partnerships

• Good People, Bad Structure:
  • “All the partners I had before, ethical, fine people, nothing wrong with it. We had a bad structure.” (00:34)
  • Misalignment can exist even if everyone involved has good intentions.
• Red Flag: Structural Misalignment:
  • “If you are dealing with somebody that you like, you can't agree on a structure. It means don't do it… That will be a problem later, I promise you.” (01:00)
• Bad Partners Defined:
  • “Bad partners I will define as people who have nefarious intentions who actually want to hurt you… Bad partners want to take your pie and do so in a way that's deceitful.” (02:00)

2. The Costly Story: Betrayal by a Business Partner

• How It Began:
  • After selling his gyms, Alex had “a big pile of money” (03:35) and was flying out to gyms, making $100K in three weeks with minimal costs.
• Seduction of Ego and Greed:
  • A gym owner suggests Alex should keep opening and owning gyms, not just filling them.
  • Hormozi admits, “That means that my ego will go up and I can tell people I have 12 gyms. And so I said, sure, deal.” (07:40)
• Ignoring Warnings & Compounding Red Flags:
  • Personally guaranteeing the lease.
  • Fronting all the capital.
  • Running all the operations while partner does none of the heavy lifting.
  • “So I'll take the risk, do all the money and do all the work… And then you'll have half. …Oh, steal, what a great partner.” (09:10)
• The Betrayal:
  • After successfully launching, Alex discovers the joint bank account is drained—his partner took all the money.
  • “He's like, oh yeah, I was just taking my half. And I was like, of what? …I just got robbed.” (12:20–13:45)
• The Aftermath:
  • Alex’s partner wires the money to his girlfriend overseas, files bankruptcy, and Alex is left with nothing.
  • Hormozi learned the partner had a prior fraud indictment.
  • “If someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” (15:40)

3. Key Lessons & Emotional Fallout

• Red Flags Aren’t “Fixable”:
  • “Red flags are red flags for a reason. Stop. Avoid bad partners.” (16:30)
• Losses Go Beyond Money:
  • “I will tell you what's more important is that I lost all my money and what felt like years of work.” (17:15)
• Emotional Toll:
  • “I finally had something to show for it… to losing everything that I had spent years building in six months. A wild ride. I recommend watching someone else ride and not needing to ride for yourself.” (18:10)

4. Push or Pivot: Deciding When to Persevere or Change Course

• Entrepreneurial Dilemma:
  • “There are some times where shit gets hard and you need to push through it. And there are other times where your fundamental assumptions were wrong and you need to pivot… And it's hard. You just got to use judgment.” (19:45)
• You Can’t Rewind:
  • “You can never replay the game, all right? You just do the best you can.” (20:30)

5. Career Stagnation: Lessons from Hormozi’s Own Journey

• From Consulting to Entrepreneurship:
  • Worked in defense contracting after graduating college, quickly hit a learning plateau.
  • Faced the choice to “push” (seek new challenges) or “pivot” (switch paths), but did neither and thus coasted.
  • “The real mistake was that I didn't push and I didn't pivot. I did nothing, I coasted, I just checked in.” (23:50)
• Consequences of Not Deciding:
  • “If you're in that zone, it is one of the biggest mistakes of your career. Do something. Just don't do this. Push. Pivot.” (26:00)
• The Cost is Both Financial and Emotional:
  • Lost income and started questioning his own work ethic—a “costly mistake.”
• Advice to Listeners Stuck in Mediocrity:
  • “If you are somewhere where you know deep down you are not living up to your potential… leave. I promise you, whatever the alternative is, is better.” (27:40)
  • “Another word for alone is on your own, which sounds way better.” (28:35)
  • “I only got in this game because I kind of was forced to. And some of you are in that position right now. So I feel you. And there's nothing wrong with you.” (30:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Business Partnership Red Flags:

  • “If someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
    (Alex Hormozi, 15:40)

• On the Dangers of Complacency:

  • “The real mistake was that I didn't push and I didn't pivot. I did nothing, I coasted, I just checked in.”
    (Alex Hormozi, 23:50)

• On Making Hard Career Choices:

  • “If you're in that zone, it is one of the biggest mistakes of your career. Do something. Just don't do this. Push. Pivot.”
    (Alex Hormozi, 26:00)

• On Emotional Loss:

  • “I lost all my money and what felt like years of work.”
    (Alex Hormozi, 17:15)

• On “Aloneness” and Independence:

  • “Another word for alone is on your own, which sounds way better.”
    (Alex Hormozi, 28:35)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Bad partners vs. bad partnerships, alignment, and structure – 00:00 – 02:20
• Hormozi’s story: selling gyms and making good money as a solo operator – 03:35 – 07:30
• Ego, greed, and getting lured into a bad deal – 07:31 – 10:00
• How red flags and risk-taking went ignored – 10:01 – 12:00
• Bank account emptied, betrayal, and realization – 12:01 – 13:45
• Confronting partner, complete fallout, emotional aftermath – 13:46 – 18:10
• Push or Pivot dilemma in entrepreneurship – 19:45 – 20:30
• Consulting job, coasting, and biggest career mistake – 21:00 – 26:00
• Advice to those in stagnation: “Push or Pivot” – 27:00 – 30:00

Summary Takeaways

• Choose partners carefully. Ignore red flags at your own risk—they rarely resolve, and your eagerness or personal baggage can blind judgment.
• Be decisive in your career. Stagnation is often the greatest cost, both financially and in self-image. If you feel unchallenged, either ask for more or move on.
• Trust your instincts, not your ego. Don’t let short-term ego trips or greed cloud your best judgment.
• No “right time.” The game can’t be replayed—decide and act rather than coast.

Hormozi closes with encouragement: anyone can win if they put in the effort, regardless of academic or employment history.