Focus Is Subtraction, Not Addition (ft. Leila Hormozi) | Ep 951

Join The In-Person Scaling Workshop In Las Vegas: https://www.acquisition.com/o-vegas You're about to hear the exact blueprint that took Alex Hormozi from hustling in the gym industry to dominating the social media game and building an empire. In this Q&A, Alex breaks down the top social media strategies that have fueled his success, revealing why YouTube is the conversion king and how Instagram still leads in traffic generation. He uncovers the realities of balancing intense business growth with personal relationships, offering insights that most entrepreneurs won't talk about. Alex also shares some tips to boost productivity and focus, especially for business leaders battling ADHD. In this episode 00:00 Top ROI platforms: YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok 02:13 How Alex and Leila met 03:28 Balancing between business and a relationship 06:15 How to make cold calls and push through to seven figures 07:10 ADHD productivity hack: Focus through subtraction, not addition More Value: Download your free personalized $100M scaling roadmap in under 30 seconds: https://www.acquisition.com/roadmap Discover The Easiest Business I Can Help You Start (Free Trial): https://www.skool.com/hormozi Get the $100M Book Bundle: https://shop.acquisition.com/pages/100m-book-bundle Take the $100M Lead Generation Course: https://www.acquisition.com/training/leads?hsLang=en Learn How to Make Offers People Cannot Refuse: https://www.acquisition.com/training/offers?hsLang=en Follow Alex Hormozi’s Socials: ⁠⁠LinkedIn ⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Acquisition ⁠

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Alex Hormozi?

  What is your highest ROI or best social media channels right now? Between the ones that you're working on?

• 0:06Speaker 01

  YouTube.

• 0:07Alex Hormozi?

  YouTube? Alright, that's number one.

• 0:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I would say probably YouTube and Instagram.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  What about you?

• 0:15Alex Hormozi?

  I would also agree that YouTube and Instagram are my number one and number two.

• 0:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:18Alex Hormozi?

  And yeah, that goes for everybody. I actually did a huge video that broke down all of our lead flow and where it came from.

• 0:23Speaker 01

  Did you really?

• 0:25Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  Did it get good views?

• 0:28Alex Hormozi?

  Crushed.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  So much to link it there.

• 0:30Alex Hormozi?

  Oh my god. And so, and so, I think the way to think about it, and I ranked them kind of S tiered or whatever, but it was like, how much discoverability is there? How easy is it to generate kind of purchase intent? So like cost to action? And so, I'll tell you something that we found from school is that Instagram generates significantly more traffic than YouTube does. But YouTube traffic converts at like three or four times the percentage. And so YouTube is still, for most, because a lot of people who are on school, who have communities, have some content of some sort. And again, to be clear, some people have like a thousand followers. You don't need a lot, you just need something. And so, the people who have it, they track where, because we can see attribution. YouTube is making them more money, even though Instagram sends more traffic. But the first one in two for most people are going to be those buckets.

• 1:15Alex Hormozi?

  We have seen that people do well at monetizing TikTok if they send the traffic to Instagram. Don't tell me, don't ask me why, but that's literally the CTA that they'll have inside their bio. So just a tactical hack for you. If you have trouble monetizing your TikTok, make the CTA like DM me on IG, and then that enters like the Instagram world. And for whatever reason, people are way more likely to do commerce and transact on Instagram, especially for more expensive stuff. Now, that being said, you've got podcasts, you've got emails, things like that. Those are what I would consider middle of funnel. People don't really get discovered. Like, no one's like, "I just found this new email newsletter." That doesn't really happen. It's follow-up. And podcasts, honestly, nowadays, very tough to get discovered via podcasts. More realistically, you have, you repurpose your, you know, your YouTube content as podcast material,

• 2:00Alex Hormozi?

  and people discover your podcast through your YouTube content. So if I had two platforms I would bet on, it would be YouTube and Instagram in terms of monetization. And I've just seen that across creators.

• 2:12Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 2:13Alex Hormozi?

  How did you guys meet? Real Greg, there you go.

• 2:16Speaker 01

  That's my question?

• 2:17Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah.

• 2:17Speaker 01

  We met on Bumble, Greg. I don't know if you've heard about it, but it's a dating app. And Alex had, I think his profile was like.

• 2:26Alex Hormozi?

  I looked sick.

• 2:26Speaker 01

  Own, own, it's four gyms, working out, whiskey.

• 2:33Alex Hormozi?

  Cheap bourbon, expensive steaks.

• 2:34Speaker 01

  Expensive steak, sorry, sorry, sorry, something cheesy. And then you had a picture of you.

• 2:39Alex Hormozi?

  She says, as she, as it converted her.

• 2:41Speaker 01

  And then, then you had a picture of yourself from college in the water from spring break.

• 2:48Alex Hormozi?

  My, my, she says that I was 25. College was not like that long ago.

• 2:52Speaker 01

  I know, but when I met you, I was like,

• 2:55Speaker 01

  you don't look the same.

• 2:56Alex Hormozi?

  I was bigger.

• 2:58Speaker 01

  And then we met for Froyo for our first date. And I think Alex wrote me off immediately because I have a back tat.

• 3:04Alex Hormozi?

  I did.

• 3:04Speaker 01

  And he saw it, which by the way, I got when I was like 18 and drunk and high. So sorry, but.

• 3:09Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah, it was tough.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  Then you immediately were like rude to me, not rude, but you just were very.

• 3:15Alex Hormozi?

  I was trying to get the date over with.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  Neutral. And then we sat down and started talking, then you warmed up. And then I realized that you needed to eat. And that was part of it. And then once you had the food, I think you were much friendlier.

• 3:25Alex Hormozi?

  Nothing like sprinkles to cheer the day up. All right, I'm gonna ask you a follow up that's business related.

• 3:31Speaker 01

  Me?

• 3:31Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah.

• 3:32Speaker 01

  Okay, what do you want to ask me?

• 3:33Alex Hormozi?

  Okay, give tips on how to get into a relationship when you're working to get to your best life. Like start a business and risk stuff. I don't know what that means, crazy grace.

• 3:41Speaker 01

  I think it's funny when people say, I want to have my best life as if a relationship is not part of your best life. I find that ironic because like we, for example, have like built our lives together. I think it depends on what kind of relationship you want, but in general, people are like, well, it's just really hard and I don't have time. I'm like, well, what do you think it's like when you're in a relationship like the.

• 4:01Alex Hormozi?

  Even less time.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  It's even less time, so.

• 4:04Alex Hormozi?

  It's tough.

• 4:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's interesting.

• 4:05Alex Hormozi?

  It's tough out there.

• 4:06Speaker 01

  It's tough out there. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

• 4:09Alex Hormozi?

  I think something that you said to me last night, actually, was you were, you were talking about.

• 4:13Speaker 01

  Not convenient.

• 4:14Alex Hormozi?

  What?

• 4:14Speaker 01

  It's not convenient.

• 4:15Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah, it's not convenient. And I think that's the thing is just like right now, we have this big societal like narrative that everyone should maximize all options. And so it's all about freedom and independence and like.

• 4:26Speaker 01

  Like maximum efficiency.

• 4:28Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah, don't let anything tie you down, all that kind of stuff. But the thing is like. I think it's about having options so that you can make a selection. The goal is not to always maximize options because at some point you need to decide. And so the easiest way that I can think about this is like, let's say you're like, I want to maximize the options of where I live, right? And so as a result, you'll not have a home anywhere. Because you're like, well, I want to be able to do the mountains and I want to be able to do the valleys and I want to be able to do the desert and I also want to be able to do the snow. And the thing is, is like, there is no location that does all those things, right? Unless you're in the Dubai Mall. But, but the, the idea follows, which is that like, in order to reap some of the rewards, you do need to pick. And when you pick, we define commitment as the elimination of alternatives,

• 5:11Alex Hormozi?

  which means that if you're like, you said differently, you cannot have a lifelong partner and then also have ultimate optionality. If optionality is the thing that is more important to you, then you will not have a lifelong partner. And that's the choice. And to be clear, I don't think either of us is saying there's anything wrong with that. Just know the, just know the trade you're making.

• 5:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's not convenient. I mean, it's like pursuing anything in life. It's like, it's not going to be convenient and is it worth the trade?

• 5:35Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah, Aiden Watson, I'm going to go definitively yes for pineapple on pizza. Preferably pineapple's in jalapeno. And I speak, I speak very, very aggressively about that.

• 5:44Speaker 01

  I like ranch with pizza.

• 5:46Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah, because you're ranch, ranch and mac and cheese on the inside. Okay.

• 5:50Speaker 01

  I like pineapple too, but I like ranch and pineapple rather than jalapeno and pineapple. Jalapeno is spicy, spicy in, spicy out.

• 5:57Alex Hormozi?

  Okay.

• 5:59Speaker 01

  Everyone knows that's true.

• 6:02Alex Hormozi?

  Jesus, what do we, am I asking? I asked you, so you asked me one.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  He's like, I'm going to ignore that. We don't talk like this on my channel. I don't care.

• 6:12Alex Hormozi?

  Pick one.

• 6:13Speaker 01

  Me? Okay. Two-year super fan at 19, I've consumed all your content. Thousands of gold calls, pushing seven figures. How do I get in a personal relationship with both of you? Didn't expect that one.

• 6:24Alex Hormozi?

  That's a good twist.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  Sorry about that. I would have ignored that one had I read the whole thing.

• 6:30Alex Hormozi?

  Uh, gets a 50 million.

• 6:33Speaker 01

  That's not even true.

• 6:34Alex Hormozi?

  I know, it's not even true.

• 6:37Alex Hormozi?

  I don't know. I don't know, to be honest with you, man. Actually, there is a way, which is like if we have a role, and you're like, I want to spend five years learning and lead something, you can apply for a role at ACQ. That's actually the way to do it.

• 6:51Speaker 01

  That's fair, we were with our team most of the time.

• 6:53Alex Hormozi?

  Yeah, oh my god, by a lot. I mean, we have like, like 18 exits on, on the team. Like, we have a lot of people who started businesses, founded businesses, sold them, and then joined our team. So, yeah.

• 7:05Speaker 01

  All right, I'm gonna ask you one last question.

• 7:07Alex Hormozi?

  Oh, one last one, that's gonna be good.

• 7:08Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm, mm, okay. I recently got diagnosed with ADHD, and I suppose it explains a lot of the inaction I've always had. Should I just try to take meds for it? Or is that cheating? Or should I just try to use willpower for more discipline?

• 7:20Alex Hormozi?

  Where should you give me this one?

• 7:22Speaker 01

  Well, what if people told you?

• 7:24Alex Hormozi?

  Oh, my god.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  How many times have you been diagnosed with something?

• 7:28Alex Hormozi?

  Well, diagnosed, or people selling you an Alexi as fuck.

• 7:35Alex Hormozi?

  So I'll tell you, I'll tell you a speech that I gave to someone that I cared about deeply, who let ADD, ADHD, and other letters, I think, ruin their lives. And so, when I had the conversation with this individual, I said, "What you see as a handicap, I see as a superpower." It's all how we frame it. Somebody who has ADHD or ADD typically has a harder time abandoning tasks and can focus on one thing for extended periods of time. The issue is that like, when that happens, it's like, everything else disappears. And so, the idea that like, you have something or don't have something, medicate, don't medicate, I'm not a doctor, listen to your own, whatever legal disclaimer we'll put below here.

• 8:21Alex Hormozi?

  But, at the end of the day, like, shit needs to get done, and most of the time, you have other... Things in your environment that are more interesting to you than the thing, the task at hand. And so I will explain how I work and different people work in different ways. What has worked well for me as somebody who's very easily distracted is that I remove all stimulus from the entire, from the environment. And so let me give you an extreme example. If I were locked into a room that had no corners, all white, everywhere around, and there was nothing but a single black dot on the wall, what becomes the most interesting thing that gathers all my attention? The black dot. And so there's probably a black dot in the room that you are right now watching this. But you haven't noticed the black dot because there are other things that are competing for your attention.

• 9:06Alex Hormozi?

  And so in order to focus, focus is through subtraction, not addition. There is no productivity hack that works. The only one is by removing everything else that removes productivity. And so somebody who is fully focused does literally nothing but the work. And the best way to make sure that you do nothing but the work is to make sure there's nothing else to do but the work. And so fundamentally, I think for you, you would get a larger lift in your throughput or your work capacity by removing everything else that you do that is not what you intend to do. And that is my productivity hack for you. So whether you want to medicate yourself or not, that's your call. I don't think it's going to change much.

• 9:49Alex Hormozi?

  I'll say it differently. There's a lot of people I know who take Adderall who still can't get shit done. So I don't think it's going to be like, you'll probably benefit more from just exercising and, and limiting the stimuli in your work environment so that you have minimal disruptions. And I think what you need to do is you need to confront the work. The reality is that most times it takes significantly less time to accomplish a task than you think it does once you begin, but you delay longer from beginning the task than the entire task takes in totality. And so this is the classic, it takes 20 hours to become proficient at almost any skill. It's just that people delay the first 20 hours by decade. You just keep waiting for some perfect environment that's ever gonna happen.

• 10:31Speaker 01

  That was a great answer.

• 10:33Alex Hormozi?

  Thank you. I appreciate that, my love.

• 10:37Speaker 01

  Shall we wrap?

• 10:38Alex Hormozi?

  We shall wrap.