$100 Million CEO Tell All

Summary

• Success often has a high cost, and for me, it's been privacy. Success means sacrificing privacy as a luxury.
• Embedding company culture into everything, especially the hiring process, is crucial for scaling. It's easier to hire for values than to create them.
• In the hiring process, I ensure candidates possess core shared values to maintain a strong culture, making it clear that our intensity might not suit everyone.
• Culture is about unteachables like honesty and kindness. We can train skills but can't create intrinsic values like competitive greatness or sincerity.
• Core values must align with the company's long-term vision. For Acquisition.com, these values evolved from Gym Launch's experiences, highlighting the need for continuous growth and sincerity.
• Competitive greatness is essential. Everyone must strive to improve to maintain company growth.
• Clarity in communication avoids friction and helps maintain momentum, crucial for company success. Sincere candor is about clear, kind communication.
• Distilling core values to three makes them memorable and actionable. Simplifying values avoids overwhelming the team.
• Critical thinking and breaking down big goals into steps help bridge the gap between current capabilities and future aspirations.
• Practice critical thinking by planning out big visions, breaking them into manageable steps, and continually checking projections.
• Regularly clear your calendar to focus on strategic planning, ensuring clear, achievable metrics.
• Building a company requires balancing personal growth with strategic thinking, and being open to learning from every experience.
• Fear is just extra energy. Use it to fuel your projects rather than letting it paralyze you.
• Facing fears and challenges head-on helps develop toughness and resilience essential for leadership.
• Understand the emotional cost of making tough decisions, but focus on what is right for the company and majority.
• Transparency and confidentiality are critical in leadership. Maintain confidentiality even if it means being misunderstood.
• Reframing negative situations into opportunities ensures you see life as 100% opportunity.
• Forgiving yourself quickly for tough decisions is vital for maintaining leadership effectiveness.
• New leaders should build relationships first, observe, and then suggest thoughtful, well-researched changes.
• Always look for quick wins that can add value without major changes initially.
• Continually question and understand why current systems are in place before proposing changes.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest implementing a strong company culture by focusing on shared values in your hiring process. Look for honesty, kindness, and competitiveness in candidates; these are values you can't teach, unlike skills. Use interviews to make the importance of these values clear. If someone values a 9-to-5 job over growth and intensity, they might not be the right fit. This approach will help you attract the right people and repel the wrong ones.

A good way of embedding these values is by distilling them into three core ideas. Keep it simple to ensure everyone remembers and lives them. For instance, use values like "Integrity,” "Sincere Candor,” and "Competitive Greatness.” These will support clear and efficient communication, reducing friction and maintaining momentum in your team.

Practice breaking down big goals into smaller steps. Spend time planning your long-term vision, like what kind of people you need and what milestones you should hit each year. Regularly clear your calendar for strategic planning sessions to track progress and adjust as necessary.

Use fear as extra energy to fuel your projects instead of letting it paralyze you. When facing tough decisions, remember to forgive yourself quickly to remain an effective leader. Understand that sometimes tough decisions are necessary for the greater good of your company.

Lastly, reframe negative situations into opportunities. See challenges as a chance to grow tougher and more resilient. If you ever feel misunderstood during hard decisions, maintain confidentiality and focus on what’s best for the majority. By reframing life as 100% opportunity, you’re better positioned to lead and grow your business or personal ventures.

Quotes by Leila Hormozi

"Privacy is a luxury now"

– Leila Hormozi

"What's the price of success"

– Leila Hormozi

"If you guys like it then we’re going to make it to a series"

– Leila Hormozi

"It probably makes more sense to hire people for values"

– Leila Hormozi

"I need people who want to put discretionary effort in"

– Leila Hormozi

Full Transcript

my life has changed a lot in the last year even in just terms of like I don't have a lot of like my privacy has gone from like you know four years ago my whole life was private and I didn't have people around much at all to like I have very little privacy and so it's like what's the price of success if like you privacy is a luxury now and so that is something that I was scared of and I wasn't sure if I wanted to even go on social media simply because of that alone what's up guys so in this video we are going to have a Shai my new creative director interview me we have questions on business we've got questions on personal and then we go into like philosophy so we're going to go all over the place with this interview today and here's the thing if you guys like it then we're going to make it to a series of basically my teammates interviewing me on different topics if you guys hate it we're never doing it again let me know so Lea I started like a few weeks ago as your creative director and one thing that I definitely noticed is the company culture is so embedded within everything that I've seen here not only like being within the company but also the entire interview process a how deliberate was that to like have the focus on that versus everything else and B like how did you even come to those core values that you have super deliberate because I would say that the first few books that I read and like influences on me were about culture and how important was a scaling company and so one of the first places that I felt like I understood that that would protect us in a way is in the hiring process because if you think about it how do you create culture culture shared values right or I would say like an unspoken set of behaviors or behavioral Norms that people adhere to and so how do you create those right well it's a lot easier to hire for them than it is to create them from scratch because if you think about a value or like honesty or kindness um that is a lot harder to teach than how to clean the floors how to film a video how to do customer success and so my idea was like okay well then it probably makes more sense to hire people for values and then determine what we can and can't train for um and so the first thing that I did was put in place a culture interview where basically one interview is dedicated just to ensuring that this person has the base level set of Behavioral Norms that we all share in the company um and that paid dividends as we scale because having a culture that was so strong those what it really is is it's like it's the I don't want to say emotional skills but it's the skills that are harder to teach like it is harder to teach somebody to be honest than it is to teach somebody to film a video in my opinion it's harder to teach somebody to be kind to have a sense of humor to be competitively great than it is to teach somebody how to run a company meeting and so it makes sense to me that you would hire for those things and that's why it's so embedded in the interview process is one I want to make it very clear to the person that's being hired how important it is to us and I want it to be crystal clear so that if on their end they're like I don't [ __ ] with this then they can be like you know what I opt out this is not what I'm all about and I've had that before because if somebody is like coming from a super corporate company and then they come to the interview process like what is all this hokey doie [ __ ] around culture right or if they're just like I just want a nin to-5 job and that's it and like this is all nice but this sounds like intense right I want that intensity to scare people away so in a way it attracts the right people and it repels the wrong people which is ideally what the interview process should do in my opinion they should be ruling themselves out just as much as we're ruling them out but if we don't give enough of that and if we're not potent enough in how we represent ourselves that doesn't happen so um I've only tried to continue to expand how prevalent that is in the interview process I think that we're good at it I wouldn't say that we're like where I want to be because I've studied some of the companies that have just insane ones I think now we have build we can do some even cooler stuff um but I do feel like we do a really good job compared to most there um in terms of picking the core values that was something that when we start acquisition. comom really it starts with where do we want to take this company right and then in order to take this company there what kind of people do we have to have to get there what kind of person do I have to be what kind of person does Alex have to be what kind of people have to work with us and so I looked at gym launch our first company for example and thought to myself what type of people helped that company succeed right and it was a different type of company so we had different values now do I not resonate with those values anymore no you will actually see similarities like gym launch we had a value called grow or die here we have competitive greatness you see how it's almost the same Essence but it it's a different style right it's just like you might see how I dress versus how Caleb dresses versus how Yas Meine dresses it's like we it's the same Essence but different style I didn't leave everything over there but I did realize like where did we miss why is it that that company maybe the culture couldn't take us to a billion or 10 billion whereas this company the culture could there was two things that came to mind immediately which was one people I want to associate with on and off the field so people that I don't just want to work with but I'm proud to say from a personal standpoint I'm associated with because I think if we're going to be in the public eye then anybody who works with us is automatically in the public eye as well and so I have to feel like I can associate with them on and off the field in my last company for example I had this guy who'd be getting so drunk on weekends that you know he like ruined a hotel and everyone knew because like he like tore a door down and like this whole thing right but like he was just kind of behind the scenes and so it was like it didn't really affect the company here I don't think that we have wiggle room for things like that another example of something that came to mind was just there's no room for anybody who's not Contin ously trying to grow because I really thought about it and I was like if even 20% of the company is not trying to improve when you have a company that's going and growing like this then it's like that 20% is holding everybody else back and it's making everyone else feel resentful to a degree and so that's why competitive greatness was so important to me compounded with the fact that this company was truly built off of desire and no fear so gy launch you know we started building it and you know it was more of like how do we not be poor and then it was like okay I'm learning about culture and values and Mission and I built all those things out and I do think I did a great job given the amount of experience I had but I knew that the Core Essence of why the company existed would always be its downfall versus this one was purely built of like I want to create this thing that can impact hundreds of you know Millions hundreds of millions of people hopefully one day um thousands and thousands of businesses and communities and the vision was so expansive there was no fear it wasn't like oh I need money oh I need to prove myself oh I need it was just like what do I want to do with the next two decades of my life what could I commit to and I thought to myself well I can't have somebody on the team who just clocks in and clocks out like I need people who want to put discretionary effort in right and so that was the second piece uh that added to that which that was why competitive greatness was so important and then when I thought about the last one it was okay well how do we create speed because I think Clarity creates speed right M and then speed creates momentum momentum creates success and you want momentum and I think momentum in a company once you have it it's like you just need to keep doubling down on it because I don't think people understand how hard it is to create that and so any anything that creates friction in that momentum is a threat to the company and I think the biggest threat to speed is lack of clarity through unclear communication which is typically people not being sincerely canderous does that mean mean or punishing no um it means clear with communication and Direction you know in my last company we had don't sugarcoat it but then that kind of turned into people being like rude sometimes like they were like harsh in their delivery where I feel that sincere cander has a more soft tonality to it and so I think that everyone in this company has done a really great job of understanding the difference between you know insulting somebody versus criticizing somebody and pointing out what you want someone to do instead versus what you stop doing and I think a lot of that ties to sincere cander and so you know really it was sitting down in a room for a whole day thinking through these three putting them up against other quote values and thinking like what are the three most important things that if this person had these things and nothing else we could build upon those skills um and that's that's how I came up with them like how long did it take you to actually distill because you said you said in a room for a day did it take you a day or was it literally like day no [ __ ] yeah it was just me Alex and at the time our CFO who retired oh wow how much carryover was there from from gym launch in terms of Val like has anything been added or removed or was gym launch the same it was the three no they have um six values and so I actually think that a lot of the values that that company has we actually still have as like phrases that people may know us buy do the boring work that was a value of gym launch um speed is King that was a value at gym launch but I again I thought to myself what things am I able to train and what are the most important things and also uh what chunks under these other things and so I feel like these ones are much better I think that they're more clear I think they resonate and I also think that they speak to the type of person I'm trying to hire and gym launch the type people I'm trying to hire were more attracted to values said in a way like that here the people I'm trying to hire are more attracted to values said in this way with this type of language I mean if you say like unimpeachable character sincere cander competitive greatness what's the feel that you have you usually think like it feels more elegant luxurious maybe expensive maybe professional or upscale versus grow or die don't sugarcoat it do the boring work feels like more Blue Collar just get the [ __ ] done less eloquent do you know what I mean yeah so it's almost like the essence of them are different and that's because I've changed you know I'm not the same Alex is not the same Alex still wears white beeder and shorts so actually I don't know but as a person I think that my skill and ability to communicate and how I represent myself have changed and so like the way that we represented those values and the way that we packaged them needed to change as well so many questions yes I was so longwinded no no I love it um why necessarily three because for me it feels like it's a lot of like checks and balances is that something that you thought about is just through the iteration of removing you kind of distilled it like why not four why not five I can always remember three so when I'm in an interview process I can me ask myself if this person has these three things when I'm talking to people I can always say three when I'm making a decision it's easy to go through three and I'll say this I think it's easy to have 10 it's hard to distill it down to three that was actually the hardest part we had like seven or eight but it's like how do we chunk these down into terms that these three Encompass all the rest right like sincerely I don't need to say honesty because that fits into sincere cander I don't need to say hard work that's a competitive greatness I don't need to say kind or humility because that goes into unimpeachable character I often tell people I'm like you need to chunk up your values because one what happens is a lot of people just have a ton which then means you have none it's like if everything's a rule you have like no rules because nobody gives a [ __ ] right and I also think that you need to make it simple for people you know I'll give you an example like uh I was writing house rules for my you know administrative team that goes into my home there's a lot of new people and so it's like all right what are the rules and it's like we have this they're like well we what about this and and I was just like no no five at most I only want five things that you have to think about so what five Encompass like if as long as you hear to these five I'm not going to be upset and you're going to be fine and I think that a lot of people and a lot of companies are run with like more is better but I actually think less is better because less is easier to remember and less feels lighter to the people that you're communicating it to I think it's easy to have like 15 me think about how many companies like these are our values and then these are our principles I'm like do you even know the difference you know I mean like actually like I'm like What's the difference and then they're like malfunctioning I I kind of want to lean into that direction um where you said you you changed as a person so all your values changed which changed the type of company you wanted to run one thing I've been like highly impressed with just observing you is like that ability to see where you need to go and bridging that Gap is there like you can can you elaborate on that because I think a lot of people struggle with they hit their ceiling of where they're at they see where they need to go but they don't see the ladder on how to build it to get to that next level I think it just takes practice what kind of practice well actually I think it's the ability to think critically because the reason that I think I'm able to fill the Gap is because something that I probably wasn't able to do seven or eight years ago was break something so big down into steps and then really test out each step and think to myself what's the likelihood of success of that because a long time ago me and Alex would have been like oh ignorance yeah we're definitely going to be able to do that where now I think that I have an accurate depiction of how hard something is does that mean I'm going to not do it no but it means that I know it might take five years rather than a month yeah yeah um or I'm going to need this many people rather than one uh so I actually think that that part comes from experience which is just probably just being in the field being in business for a decent amount of time it's like you see one most things are harder and take longer than you think but everything is possible and so it's really just like what would it take and I think I always think that to myself which is like okay well what would it take if we had to do this and taking something that's three years out and sitting on my computer with spreadsheets and saying if we want that in three years what has to happen in two years one year and then in the next three months which is math I mean really it's like okay well if I want to by then have this many portfolio companies I want Alex to have launched this many books and I want to have this many workshops running how many people do I need for each one of these things based on what I have current day today right and then let's add buffer of like 10 or 15% so then I predict how many teammates I'm going to need in three years and then I backtrack to what I would need in this year to accomplish you know getting a third of the way to that goal and then based on that I can say okay well if we have this many people we can hit these metrics in terms of revenue and profit yeah and it's not like easy but but you can do it and I think it's just one of those things that a lot of people don't take the time to do they have this huge dream so what the everyone does you know what I mean but it's it's how do you put a plan together to achieve it and I think at the end of the day I didn't do that work many years ago with other companies and I think part of it was one I did not have a big enough Vision to even reverse back from I knew a year out I didn't have like a 10- year out Vision but the second piece is even a year out it was so tough for me to be like how many people I'm gonna need for this or that or that right and I think that I have just learned to one trust myself more and two do my research you know if I don't know it's not that hard to try and figure it out people like I don't know how many people I'm going to need on an engineering team do you know go I'm like ask chaty you [ __ ] I mean like there's so many resources now that you can use to figure out what size companies need what size teams what size of a team can produce certain outcomes I mean there's just you just research I mean it's like Google I know it sounds ridiculous it's like the amount I use Google or chat gbt or like the tools out there I use them just as much as anybody else if I don't know I'll read a book I'll ask somebody I'll call somebody and so at the end of the day I think that most people just don't take those couple days I clear my calendar every quarter to sit down and check all my projections and I just don't think a lot of people do that but and I think that's why they don't grow because if you have clear metrics you know you need to hit it's actually not as hard to hit them it's really not because you're like wow that breaks down to x amount per day or x amount per month and you're like that's hard yeah but if it's like you need to hit you have a100 million business in two years and you have no metrics to hit each month it makes it very difficult so it's like that amount of work you put up front pays off dividends later on because you have to do much less work along the way because you're not guessing to to play on that note I I just want to know for myself like you said prior you had like a year out and kind of the goal was don't be [ __ ] broke yeah now just just so I know like what is what is the 10 year because I know the monetary thing it's like you want to hit that billion Mark it's going to happen but like aside from that what is like Leila of the future what what is she where are we trying to go I want to create a campus for acquisition. comom and I want to have different buildings or different levels of businesses purposes Etc and I want want the portfolio of companies that we have to at that point that will be worth tens of billions by them I know I know that sounds ridiculous but like it's it's not based on where we're at right now I believe that if we acquire businesses that are complimentary as well to the workshops we're running they can also feed each other in a way you know if I for example if I buy the company that does my life insurance right or or my whole life whatever which I use as a business owner I can then promote it to everyone at our workshops and say like you can also use the same company I use and I've trusted for the last five years right and that feels like really good to me people always ask me for help what do you use for this what do you use for that what do you I'd rather own the businesses so I can control their quality I can control their customer service and I can control my reputation when I refer somebody um and I can help them grow so that's the first thing the second piece is that I think probably by 10 years out that we will expand past business into personal development which is something that Alex and I both want to do not because we want to do it but because I think that it's why we've been able to be successful in business and it's not personal development I would say in the way that many would think it is but it's teaching people the language of behavior that we use to build the culture and build the companies like we do now um and I think that that's just something something so useful that it's changed my life it's changed his life it's why I think I'm able to build the culture this way and so I hope that if acquisition. comom hits its goals in the next five years people will all say how did you do it and then I will say this is how for now I think there's no reason to listen but that was one of the main reasons I started listening to you before I even was interested in being part of this culture it was the the fact that there was such an emphasis on personal development because the more you flesh yourself out as a person the less you have to worry about the Nitty Gritty small stuff on how to you know let it out so I kind of want to segue into that if you don't mind what were some of your I know Tony Robbins is like one of the ones like you you go to but like is there any other philosophies or like schools of thought that you kind of because I know Alex is very much into stoicism I want to know about you yeah oh I've studied stoicism as well um but I have probably he studied more philosophers and I've studied more psychologists um I've read like some of the oldest psychology books that exist just because for me I feel like right now people write books to make money um for the most part or get famous but people back then didn't write books for those reasons and so like a true textbook on how to manage stress or anxiety written by the sources themselves who everybody else nowadays just bases everything on like there's nothing that has been more helpful to me than reading those things it's like Albert Ellis is one that I reference a lot because I think he has many books that have been also updated for nowadays um and his stuff is just it's really topnotch and so I've just studied a lot of psychology because I think gosh I can't remember who it was it was someone I was listening to when I was first starting the business and they said like you know the best understand psychology better than everybody else and so I thought to myself that makes a lot of sense because I know it's helped me with sales it's helped me with you know making friends and things like that I was like then I would imagine the more you deal with people that makes sense to me you know the person who has the most exposure to most people in the company if they don't understand that if they don't know how to manage their own how are they going to manage other people's and so that always resonated really deeply with me and I think that for both myself and Alex it's this bridging of I would say probably like philosophy uh with psychology that has allowed us to communicate in a way that can help people change their behavior in a way that helps them achieve their goals and that's been helpful for both of us and for the company like one Mantra that I've been hearing and seeing is [ __ ] your mood follow the plan which like how do you manage that disassoc iation or that like removing yourself from your emotions and not necessarily acting because that's one thing that's like I think it's so unique to you and you've perfected in such a way so I want to see if there's tidbits or hints you can give out on how to actually achieve that because that's hard yeah I you know what's interesting is like I don't see it as removing the emotion I see it as allowing it and not fighting it and for me every like amount of growth I've had to go through when it comes to like confronting something that I'm really fearful of which is quite often in some way right and and most things you know fear is just made up in our heads it's not like there's some external crazy thing it's always been at first the response is you want to fight it right it's like you want to do something about it you want to change the situation you want to avoid it you want to run and I think I catch myself sooner and sooner and sooner as I've grown more and more but like it's just catching yourself and saying like no no no no you just lean into it like you just allow it it can live in you and you can still do what you need to do and I almost get excited when I remember that because it's like I have all this stress over like I need to change all these things to like control this situation I'm scared of and then I'm like wait no you could just keep the fear inside of you and let it sit there and you can also do that thing in doing that the next time you do it you'll probably feel less scared and so for me it's always like reminding myself I have to accept it and almost befriend it and not judge myself for having the thoughts or having the feelings and when they come up and when I feel like that Spike of cortisol not stressing over my stress but instead telling myself this is completely normal this is expected this is a good thing because it means that you're doing something challenging you know just because you feel this way doesn't mean you can do it and then I usually remind myself okay well you have extra energy right now that's how I look at it's like I'm I'm scared or nervous whatever I have extra energy what can you do with that you could put it into a project you could work more you could do this thing you could move this other thing forward and so I try to use it rather than let it use me and that has been probably the most useful lesson I've had to learn in my life Lifetime and I feel like I have to learn it times over and over it's fear it's not it's all one right wherever it decides to manifest that day or that week or that month it's always something different but it's all fundamentally the same thing which is made up in our heads and so that's been the fundamental thing that's helped me and I think I've tried to help other people step into that same mindset because it's just freed me from a lot of things that would have kept me pretty unhappy when you when you see fear cuz for me personally of course I get fearful one of the main two things that I've experienced is fear failure huge but also in a weird way fear of success have you ever experienced something like that I heard someone once say that we don't have fear of success we have fear of sacrifice to get the success what's the price of success and that's often what we're scared of is like what will I become will I lose this about myself will my family look at me this way will I have friends like I do now and I've recognized that I have had rightfully so the fear of the price of success before and I still do and actively many times I mean right now my life has changed a lot in the last year even in just terms of like I don't have a lot of like my privacy has gone from like you know four years ago my whole life is private and I didn't have people around much at all to like I have very little privacy and so it's like what's the price of success it's like you privacy is a luxury now and so that is something that I was scared of and I wasn't sure if I wanted to even go on social media simply because of that alone I was like I really like that in a way right um 100% but then I was like well do you really want to help people most people that really help people people know who they are and you can't really help people and get your message out unless you're public and so do you really want to help people or are you being selfish I was like yeah I guess I'm being selfish so I stopped I actually want to hit on that the that like coming into the public eye one thing I did notice cuz PRI I didn't know you I was on the outside and coming in it's so refreshing that you're actually the same person that would be awkward and the I think the super cool thing is that this is not even your main thing the main thing is running the company growing and getting to that point where you say you want the campus that's to help everybody and like that whole Grand Vision the separation between that is there separation between the media actually working on that arm of us seeing your life you could just be behind closed doors and you come out do some educational stuff whatever but then go back in like what's the why why the focus on that like why do both yeah like why you both I tell my team this which is we will demonstrate Excellence before we teach it and so when I think about making content I think about the amount of people that exist that tell people what to do without doing it themselves and I've never wanted to be one of those people and so I'll be honest having somebody follow me as much as I love them with a camera all day um or even just like in my space is not something I like or like prefer having like if you could have the preference and why is that because you basically have this subconscious thing running of like I'm being watched yeah right but if I want to help people I think I have a higher likelihood of helping people if they actually see how I operate in my company the people in my company they watch the culture they can see it they don't just hear me teaching these lessons at them that's what I wish that I would have had when I was watching business content because one I think I would have been able to decipher from the people that I should or shouldn't listen to um because I know that if I had watched half these people with their teams I would have just never watched their [ __ ] in the first place because they were not how they came off and I would say the second piece of that is sustainability which which is I'm not a full-time content creator so to if I want to have a large Channel I don't think that I could get out the volume by just doing direct to camera pre-scripted film all of that alone I think it has to be more I call it like in the wild content like where it's being captured as I'm doing things um so I think it has multiple benefits it's like you show you don't tell people can see what it's really like they can see that I'm not perfect that my team's not perfect they can see mess ups they can see what it really is like to do these things rather than just watch a video right and it's like a kid it's like you can tell them not to touch the stove until they make until they watch you cook something and not touch the stove they're probably going to touch it um I would say the second piece is um you know sustainability which is like I think that making content in my opinion if you make it in a way that's unsustainable then you're going to burn out at some point because you're going to want to stop because it requ Ires more of your energy than you're going to have at many other times and so I looked at it as like building a team and investing in like more captured content and in the wild and Vlog style uh allows me to keep doing what I really love doing and still make content um and then I would say the last piece is something that someone said to me when I first started making content and none of my content was like captured at all it was all just like directum and she said everyone who's closer to you likes you more than the people on the internet and I was like what does that mean she was like I know it sounds bad she's like who you are in like that setting she's like people like less than who that who you are in like literally any other setting yeah and she was like I think that you should do captured content because people who know you better like you more and that's she's like most people aren't like that you know and I was just like I was like you know I don't lie I'm honest I'm transparent I don't have anything I want to hide so like why not you know like I I think a lot of people are the opposite of that but I feel like those three reasons are why why we make the content the way we do um it is I would say that making content is still one of the more uncomfortable things for me just like being in front of a camera it's not like organic still but he's like we're like three and a year half years in and I still feel that way but it's probably just like reps you know what I mean like yeah yeah and it means you care I care yeah and I think how many meetings have I run and one-on ones have I done versus how many recording sessions like it's still like monumentous more amount of one-on ones in meetings than recording sessions so it's like it's just volume by the way I know you don't want to boost yourself but I think you absolutely thrive in the capture in the wild because it's so hard for people to Fathom that you're like actually like this yeah and like capturing you in the wild is like no straight up this is how it is and the bability that you put out there I think even yesterday like during the L2 we capturing test testimonials one of the one of the girls she was there and she just started talking and she was like one of the things I experienced that it is okay to be scared it is okay to feel shitty is like you made her feel okay and she mentioned you so many times and it was so like real because whoever I showed your content to it was it was the same reaction and I think you just allowing people to be human so Monumental to like kind of the success that I've seen it's funny because we never know like it's hard to know what what causes like I can look at any business be like this is the success yeah but when you look at yourself you only see the flaws magnified rather than like the things that are contributing to the success so yeah and I think that's actually probably been the most uncomfortable thing for me with content is like even to be like my content team my creative director like I'm so important I've got my style like it's like because I my whole life have just put myself last and not wanted to talk about myself so it's like talking about myself was probably the first thing that was so uncomfortable when I started making content was just like wow I think I know so much I'm G to make some you know like that was all what was playing in my head and so I still catch myself time to time feeling that way you know but I think the way you put it out there is not like you you don't do it both ful it's very matter of fact yeah and it takes people a little while because the entire internet is like what is your alterior motive why the [ __ ] are you doing all this and like there is none you know which is kind of surreal I think most people are just scared you know back to the fear thing go yeah because like I know plenty of people who make content and I don't think that they're malicious I don't think that they have bad intent but when I look at the difference between them and Me Like These are people I would even say I'd be close to I just I'm like they're still scared to be themselves you know and so the version of themselves that's on the internet is still not as Dynamic and interesting and authentic as the person that you meet in person and so I think that's always been my goal is to bridge that Gap you know to do what bridge that Gap because I've just observed like what I don't like about content it's just that when you can tell when there's like something's off when you watch their content and it's like what's off is they're probably just spending all this energy trying to be the version of themselves they think the internet wants to see you know it's like well people hate you either way they might as well hate you for who you are and you don't have to expend all that energy trying to fake it 100% like that's a lot of work yeah it's aw I tried it in the beginning really yeah in the beginning because I was so nervous I was like I seen you director camera and I think it was very much like Alex's been doing this and it [ __ ] works let me do it yeah yeah exactly yeah yes and I'm like I'm busy so like whatever I'll just copy what you're doing and I think at the time when I first started I was so nervous that people I was like everyone's just going to be like oh because Alex has been making Contra long so people perception is reality there they they see the businesses that we have and they see these are his businesses right these are this is what he's done he runs the business he and it's like so then I was nervous I was like I can't I don't want to share the same stories I don't want to talk about the same topics I don't want to and honestly I'm so grateful for him because he's like go out there and [ __ ] own it he was like tell them that I wasn't even [ __ ] in that situation tell them that you did all of this he's like I don't give a [ __ ] he's like you know what you've done and you need to take more credit and so he's always been really great about that because you know he makes a joke he's like you know Leila runs the company I take the credit um but he he always tries to give the credit you know and I think that's helped me a ton because he has a lot of he has a lot of confidence and I've always struggled with confidence really um but it's really helpful to be married to somebody who's constantly encouraging you like take more credit talk about the things you've done you know edify yourself and that's something I don't do as well as he does um and so I I've definitely gotten to learn from him which is great do you know why why I don't yeah upbringing oh okay I mean neither of my parents are like that you know both very uh I wouldn't say like confident I mean if you look at his dad versus my dad like you would even see in that discrepancy his dad's very confident my dad's like humble like the sweetest kindest like just wants others to feel great so I think you do pick up a lot from your parents um for one because that was like my model was how my father was I also think my father's like a great person and then I would say it was more reinforced when we started the company and I realized that me putting others on a pedestal built a great culture and so for me I've always looked at it like great leaders put others like they take the blame and then they give the credit away to people on their team I don't take credit for what anyone else does I give the credit to Alex I give the credit to my team I give the credit to luck it's like I never want to take the credit and I do believe that that's because it's just been ingrained in me from when I was younger and and I I do think that that is an element of like I want to be a great leader and I think that great leaders do that can I ask you like for for because you said you want to be a leader and from what I've seen like the the story of your first job where you're at Subway and like you did tons of [ __ ] to like get in there although you couldn't actually work like where did that drive come from to you actually wanting to be that because it feels like that was very young and very early and if your dad was like such a humble being like where'd you pick up that that drive to actually want to do because it takes a lot of energy what you're doing it's not like hey let me just casually do this like this is deliberate and like for years well I think there's a few things which is one I've always wanted to help people you know since I was young it was just like no matter what I do in life I want to help people whether it was like I want to be a veterinarian and help pets I want to be a doctor and help people I want to be you know I thought about like comedy I was like I want to make people laugh like I just always want to make people feel good I know I was really young that's something that's very potent in my family like my dad's side of the family like my cousins when I'm with them I feel like we share so much of each other because they're the same way it's like they just want they're so kind it's like I can't even just so kind and um want to empower others and encouraging of others and for me that's just a standard of like if I lived my life right if you look at like what do I want to have happen at the end of my life when I look back I want to be known for that I want people to be like she encouraged me I got to borrow belief from her and because of that I achieved my dreams because she believed in me that's just been something I've wanted for very long long time I don't know why yeah and then now I'm in a place where I recognize that because of my experience and accomplishments I can be that person by saying two sentences to somebody that feels like a heavy responsibility in some regards um meaning like I want to use it you know I want to if if people look to me and think like if she just you know gave me one compliment says you're doing a great job like keep doing this like if that can change somebody's life trajectory because suddenly they're like if she believes in me then I believe in myself like why would you not want to use that to help others you know what I mean and so it's like I wake up every day and think like okay I have that ability with a lot of people on this team I have that ability with a lot of people that we interact with on a daily basis you know I think a lot of it ties back to what I mean probably what you think the purpose of life is but for me the purpose of my life is to make other people's lives better and I don't find a lot of joy in just trying to make mine better because you know I remember for example I was doing Fitness competitions and I thought that me doing a competition would Inspire other people and do all all stuff and then I remember getting to the day and I got like second place and I just remember thinking I thought was just like this is so selfish like you spend all this time in the gym on yourself and you eat all this food and weighing your food all stuff and like you could be spending your time helping other people do something and I remember I just didn't like it I was like this just isn't for me like I just don't think this is the best use of me and and I think for other people maybe that is the right vehicle it felt very self-centered and I've just found that nothing motivates me more okay so maybe it is selfish to overcome my own fears to overcome all my own doubts and all my uncertainties unless it's others so like when I know that I'm doing something for the greater good of of other people I will overcome the greatest fears you know for people I love for Community for helping people it is very feasible to overcome the fears you have when you have a dream and a goal that's so much bigger than that you know what I mean and I think a lot of that for me has just been related to people I don't really know if I answered the question but no you didn't there's something there I I I mean I truly resonate with uh with like the family aspect because it's I I don't know if it's a cultural thing or like a cuz my dad's the saint it's like he's so self-sacrificial in a way of to where he wanted to help people that were we were confused we're like they're not like we're your children you know why aren't you caring for us more than them and his saying was those are my children too you know if I don't do it who will I saw one of your posts where you um I don't know if it was your dad's birthday or what but like you kind of wrote out the things that you learned from him yeah it literally made me tear up like when I was saying because it was it connected so hard yeah with I don't I don't know if it's like such a foundational thing can this be taught like because we don't choose our parents you know the first whatever 18 years or however long you're supposed to be with them you're at their mercy of their environment and whatever influence comes if you're lucky enough to be in that position to have someone be growth and like be self-sacrificial in that you're lucky but if not you need to spend a good 10 years undoing all the psychological damage you got from your family yeah I don't know either I studied a lot about nature versus nurture just trying to understand but nobody really knows we just know that both affect us and like how actionable is the stuff you know right like what am yeah I just focus on the the nurture piece because I can't do anything about the whatever biology you know yeah yeah yeah do you spend a lot of time like reframing stuff I think I reframe things all the time yeah for myself or for the others because I mean I think life is 50/50 right at least that's how I think it's like 50% good 50% bad and wait what do you mean by that I think it's just for example if you solve a problem in your business what happens you create a new problem so with every good thing in life comes a new set of problems and so you're just trading out or up the 50% good for another different 50% bad oh I see at least that's how I see life I think I'm constantly trying to frame things that could be seen as bad for opportunities to overcome or confront things that I haven't yet you know and I think I try to do that every day I put a lot of pressure on myself so if I don't reframe things I can get caught up in it and I can believe the the way that my brain first presents situation to me right which usually the way it first presents it to me is like this big scary thing that you should try and avoid and I have to reframe it into something that I can use okay great this is a tool right fear is a tool and it's pointing me in the direction of a skill I need to acquire which often is just like to be more courageous every time a situation comes up and I feel very nervous immediately I'm like okay step back give yourself time all right we're not going to run we're not going to try and eliminate the situation if you go through the situation what's the worst that could happen and I walk myself through that and I'm like okay would you die no all right so you'll just get better better and and that's usually what happens I'm like you'll just get better and so I've just found that to be very useful for me and then I'm like all right well I can be kind of excited about this because I'm going to be way cool I'm going to be way tougher on the other side you know and I think something that I've always wanted to associate with myself with It's just tough like I want to be tough I think the things I want to achieve in life like you can't be you can't not be you know because I think it's a lot that reframe has helped me the most which is just always looking at fear or the unknown or something bad as an opportunity you know even Co when Co hit our business everyone was like we're [ __ ] and they're like you guys are so super [ __ ] because all your business are in person right and that's true gyms are in person our supplements were sourced in person our software was for in-person appointments and so everything that was all growing and it was like the best month we were ever having and then Co hit and it was just like and it like start it slowed down completely yeah not not completely because I said all right like I say I want to be in business I want to be one of the best leaders that exists this is where you get tested you don't get tested when times are easy you get tested when shit's hard so I was like all right well if how do I use this as an opportunity to like if I were the best in class if I were the best leader ever how would I handle the situation and I think to all the books I've read like Phil Knight and and like Ben Horwitz and Phill Graham and like all these people who are are amazing leaders and CEOs and I was like how would they handle it what did they do in the darkest hours and I'm like all right I want to emulate that you know and so that was like the best thing that could have ever happened to me as a leader I learned how to turn around a company I learned how to Pivot a product on a dime I learned how to Rally a culture when things were [ __ ] super useful um I learned how to deal with layoffs like I learned so much and I think that what was cool is like I kept a pretty good attitude the whole time I was exhausted you know and it was really hard working like very long hours but I look back and I feel proud of how I showed up and I feel like I got better from those situations not worse and I think that's the fundamental difference is like people who can reframe bad situations or the 50% of life that's negative that means that 100% of life is opportunity rather than just 50 because a lot of people they see the good part as like that's my 50 50% opportunity whereas like I think people who really win they see the 50% negative and the 50% positive they're like I have 100% opportunity here there's opportunity in the good and there's opportunity in the bad it's just a matter of how you use it yeah how' you how' you manage that layoff both emotionally and tactically it's been a tough week because I've had some situations arise where I had to make some hard decisions um Jesus Christ um I've had to learn to forgive myself for a lot of those things because you know one of the hardest things to do is make decisions that you know are right that make someone's life worse but they make 100 people's lives better and so you know doing a layoff I felt terrible and I but I knew it was the right decision and so I did it anyways and I think that to be honest it took me a while to bounce back from you know because I judged myself a lot for it like could you have prevented it could you have done things better um and I I'm emotional now because I have situations I'm dealing with this week where you know people are asking me there's people situations and I ask myself could I have done anything better and I can see where I could have and I still have to make hard decisions and it sucks and I think that's why a lot of people don't do this because they say it got too stressful you know it led me to be too distracted at home I wasn't there for my kids I was all these things and it's it's because of it's because they don't forgive themselves I can feel sad and I can feel upset but I will forgive myself because I know at the end of the day that I'm doing what's right for this company and I'm doing what's right for these people and I also know that making hard decisions is my job and when I see a lot of people who end up quitting or end up they always I got to hire a you know an operator or a CEO you know and I'm like why like it's because it's painful you know you people ask me all the time my friends they're like you're psycho like you don't need to be the CEO like why and I'm like well one CEO like founder Le companies have like a million times more success um two I love it I don't love every part I don't love when I had to do a layoff I don't love when to fire people who are good people who just maybe weren't the right fit for the company but I think I've just had to learn to forgive myself for those things because I I would say this the hardest decisions to make are the ones where you sacrifice a few people or the many and because those few tell you you're a piece of [ __ ] you're a terrible leader you're not who people say you are they speak all those things against you and I was talking to somebody yesterday and I think this is why I'm emotional and I was thinking about all the times that's happening me you know where I've had to you know for example I had to let a group of three people go in my last company because I found out they were siphoning customers and then their friends in the company who obviously I'm not going to tell what happened right they find out and then they're like you're a piece of [ __ ] you're like nothing that you say you are all these and I was just you know and and it feels terrible because it comes from people that you're like wow I like felt like you were like part of this family you know you just have to grow thick skin because it's it only continues to happen more and more as companies get bigger that's why I love talking about feeling misunderstood because I feel like it hasn't happened as much here yet because we haven't been big enough but like it will happen and it will come might be people on this team and they're going to be like the [ __ ] she's evil she's actually like this instead because I won't be able to say the whole situation and something will happen and perception is reality and then people who have been rooting for you for three or four years and been like your biggest fans turn on you because of perception and I will never break confidentiality I will never humiliate somebody else I will never talk [ __ ] about somebody or something they did and so I will have to bear that and I'll have to deal with the fact that they think something negative about me you know I'm in multiple situations right now where I could easily get you know this person to completely understand my point of view if I disclos something about this other person that they did that was pretty [ __ ] up right but instead I maintain confidentiality because this person told me something this person told me something and I'm like all right think what you want of me specifically on that note do you say that there's something that you can't share or is it like not at all I'm not going to say anything I i' I think at times I've said like I'll say like out of respect for this person I just want you to understand like I can't say anything M so I feel like that context does help of course it helps but it also violates in my opinion like one of my duties is to maintain confidentiality which is like if somebody tells me something in confidence I keep it to myself and I don't think that people could come to me and talk to me if they felt like I was going to go tell everybody you know even if it was to my advantage and so you know I think in those situations I've just learned is I just can't carry that burden for longer than a day or two like I I I got emotional because like this is something from like today and yesterday um um and that question reminded me of it but like I'll be fine on Monday and seriously that's cool as F like it's not fair to my team what am I going to show up crying on a meeting you know what I mean like goodness gracious I have to be I have to forgive myself for everybody else who doesn't misinterpret the situation otherwise I'm not my best for them and so I think what has helped me a lot is just realizing that beating myself up how you show up for your team sets the tone for everything in the entire company and so showing up well and being your best self it's very important and I've realized that when I beat myself up I'm not that I'm not a strong Dependable leader for my team if I'm beating myself up literally creating turning myself into a victim of my own mind and I think a lot of people just sit there and dwell and rehash the situ it's like yes I [ __ ] up I got to move on though I'm G to [ __ ] up again got to get on to the next one you know no it's totally true and you have such a good way of separating your observing mind from sort of the monkey brain like the stream of thought that comes and goes of that makes you feel bad and makes you feel guilty all that that separation of like being The Observer of that mind yeah how long did it like take you to actually create that separation because I think that's a huge part on what creates the success that you have and makes you a great leader is because you say hey I I don't feel any different than anybody else but I have developed the skill to be able to separate by itself so if for whoever is listening even people in this team I think this is something that if everybody learn the skill it would Elevate I think the first thing that you do is you delay rather than stopping a response to that like chaotic brain you delay it all right I'm not going to respond now I'll respond to that thought in three hours you put like a timer or like you're just mental like hey I'm not gonna either whatever works um because even for me I can be very scared of something at 9:00 a.m. and at 12:00 p.m once I've gone through my meetings and eaten lunch it might not seem scary at all time and here's the thing feelings pass whether we do anything about them or not and I've learned that and so just try it you know just delay your response to the feeling that's the first step and then what you'll realize is that whether you like it or not it'll go in and out of your brain and then less and less and less and then you'll feel less attached to the thought or the feeling when it comes back and you'll be able to look at it with a more objective state of mind and so that's the first thing that I give to people as advice is like just delay you don't need to not respond but delay it you say you want to cancel this speaking thing or do why don't you tell me three hours that's the first thing I would say for people is just like just delay just put some buffer time and then tell me how you feel in three hours that's highly actionable cuz that's super easy to do it's like not doing something is is the doing what do you have for me like real talk you have anything for me that I can like advice some to up especially in the position I'm in because I think it is a unique position that I've been hired for yeah to where I'm hired into an already existing team but also there is leadership above me yeah because I think it is a unique position that I've been hired for yeah to where I'm hired into an already existing team mhm but also there is leadership above me yeah so any advice that you can give me because I I remember in our first like interview I talked about like kind of the process I want to do is first assimilate like become part of the family and then optimize and innovate like aside from that like do you have anything to help in that regard that's my question well I think it's really hard for people in the beginning so for example like when somebody comes in with nothing's built yet they can just do whatever they want right away so it's a lot of like immediate gratification when you come in and there's already stuff built if you come in and try to change it immediately you don't know who built it but it basically you changing it is like calling their baby ugly and so the hardest thing but the best thing to do is to be patient and to form the relationships first and to watch everything and I think that the person who did It Best in our company was actually Rocky because he came in and I knew it was actually a hot [ __ ] mess in his Department long story this department not hot [ __ ] mess he did not want just 30 days just watched everything and took notes like a [ __ ] and then presented to me upon I think it was like day 50 his observations and his suggestions of what to do based on it and it was very thoughtful it was taking into consideration all the context of like who has built what who did what and why things were the way they were and I thought it was just really well done and you know somebody like that comes in it's like the first thing you want to do is immediately add value I think that there's always I always look for quick wins where it's like I if I were you I'd be like okay where are quick wins where I can just add value without you know completely redoing anything and then you put together like but be taking notes the whole time and then put it all together in one proposal like this is what I would like to do and and then that obviously would need to be change managed um just in terms of like rolling it out to a team and such but like I know that's not the answer you probably want to hear but I think it's the right one I think it's kind of what I've been doing in a certain sense and I think I'm in a lucky position too where the team that I have is super flexible and like highly receptive of new ideas yeah like there were not none of them were like no this is my [ __ ] you know you can't [ __ ] and I love that that's sort of the direction I want to go yeah and I think I I'll say this also it's just um like whenever I'm I have things that I think I want to do differently in a department I go to a teammate and I'll ask them a million questions before I tell them what I think we should do differently because I want to understand why they do it the way they do right now so I would say like that's the last thing I would say is like as long as you keep doing that like and just wait a few more weeks the waiting yeah I know that's the hard part yeah it is but you're doing great the N I want to do thank you yeah yeah no no no really um I I just see like so much opportunity exactly I see the 50% the 100% thing start writing it down yeah no I am I'm working on it like I said like I'm I'm doing the rocky book already no I'm doing the rocky thing it's like it's I'm building it it's the right way to go cool sweet well I think this was super nice I love the conversation yeah this is cool you dig it new style so good like you're doing so good you're funny thank you I mean Lea makes it easy I just like say three words and she's like okay here's 5 hours of cont I don't know I'm like I hope I answered the question