Leila Hormozi & Building a Personal Brand Around a $200M Empire

On this episode of Her First, we’re getting into the powerhouse that is Leila Hormozi. If you don’t know her, she’s the co-founder of Acquisition.com and, alongside her husband Alex Hormozi, has built multiple businesses into absolute beasts. We’re breaking down her no-BS approach to personal branding—think trust over clout, engagement over vanity metrics, and why consistency is the real flex. Plus, we’re diving into her mindset strategies: handling criticism like a boss, embracing discomfort, and playing the long game when it comes to scaling a business. If you’re ready to level up, hit play.

Time Stamps:

01:05 Laila's Business Journey

02:11 Personal Branding Insights

04:12 Lessons from Laila's Success

20:11 The Power of Consistency

34:50 Mindset Shifts for Success

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Transcript

Episode 080: Leila Hormozi
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Michelle Pualani: [00:00:00] Knowing that your brand is leverage in the world, the content that you're creating, the way that you're showing up as a coach, as a creator, as a business owner is what's going to propel you towards that next level of success or closer to the goals that you're working on.

Knowing that people really invest in authority and leadership. And trust in the value that you're bringing to the table, not just a brand. You can have the best branding. You can have the best product. You can have the most amazing programs, products, and services, but if people don't trust you or they don't believe that you're able to deliver on those things, then they're not going to buy from you.


Welcome back to the Her First Podcast, where we talk all about how achieving women is examples to help enforce our own personal brands, how we can learn from their challenges, setbacks, and their successes. I'm Michelle Houston, founder of To Be Honest Beverage Company and business and personal branding guide. 

Joanna Newton: I'm Joanna Newton. I'm [00:01:00] co founder of Millennial Marketer, an agency that helps creators build their own online digital businesses.

Michelle Pualani: Today we're talking about Laila Hermozi. You may have heard of Morso, the famous Alex Hermozi. Big personal brand in the industry now has put so much time, energy, resources into content. You see them if you're in the business, personal development space. Laila is his wife. business partner and has been behind the scenes for a little bit longer and especially in the early stages, but has more recently been more prominent in her own personal brand, sharing her own thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and strategy when it comes to business practices, how she manages employees and how she represents herself in the public sphere.

So a little bit of background about Leila Hermosi before we dive into her practices, principles, and strategies that you can take Learn from and apply to your own personal brand and digital business in order to be successful. So she's the CEO and co founder of acquisition. com. Originally her and Alex started with a company called [00:02:00] gym launch.

They grew that to 50 million in revenue and ended up exiting to move on to start building a Other businesses, Allen, a software program, they launched a supplement brand, and then they went on to build what's now called acquisition. com, which ultimately takes other businesses and scales them past the 10 million mark. In order to apply to acquisition.com and become one of their portfolio companies and have them help you scale with team and strategy, you have to be at a certain level of revenue first. So their portfolio of companies does over 200 million dollars in revenue annually And they've been able to take a lot of different brands, a lot of different businesses and actually scale them when it comes to manufacturing operations, employee management, talent acquisition, and overall marketing strategy.

So Leila, along with Alex. our team, but today we're specifically honing in on Leila, her personal brand, her strategy, how she shows up in the online space and what she essentially attests to as her reason for success and building the brands [00:03:00] that they've been able to build. Leila is a personality. This is kind of a love hate. I know that some people online don't exactly like her approach to business, to strategy, to content, or the way that she presents herself as a personal brand.

And then obviously some people love what she's about and everything else. I think it's just a really good. clear example of you don't have to be liked by everyone. And that's part of her principle and the reason that they are so incredibly successful. They're not trying to be liked. They're not trying to win any special awards where everyone loves and appreciates them.

They're out there to share a message, to be intentional and to be successful in business. So they're more focused on the needle movers in business. They're more focused on the big leveraged things that actually make a difference instead of appeasing, which I think is a really good lesson for us all to learn, especially if we're prone to people pleasing.

So she's been a master at kind of scaling businesses, building systems, and really leading with strategic intent, as well as, uh, She talks a lot about kind of her employee management and how she deals with certain employee [00:04:00] challenges. And I think leading a team and having that inspirational effect, as well as being able to handle when things don't always go to plan is really important as you scale and grow, she's really known for her authentic kind of no nonsense approach to business and leadership.

Again, she's a little bit brash, a little bit more upfront. I personally tend to like that type of energy because. I lean toward that direction. I don't really want the flowery coddled version of what it is that you're trying to coach and teach me. I kind of want you to be direct and to the point. So I lean into liking Leila and her content.

She's a huge advocate for personal branding that really builds authority and leadership As opposed to just being relatable or someone again that someone likes. So today, this is really meant for you as a coach, a creator, an entrepreneur, a business owner, to think through some of the lessons that we're going to share with you, Look to Laila as potentially an example of a personal brand that you can learn from, enjoy, not enjoy, doesn't really matter, but she's been able to demonstrate huge levels of success in the way that she approaches [00:05:00] business, scale, and content. we'll dive into those lessons today, and I hope you can take a lot from this conversation.

Joanna Newton: I'm really excited to learn about Leila. Leila today and her strategies, how she works and all of that. And I've really been enjoying all of the different profiles that we've been doing on this podcast. We've talked about so many different kinds of, of women in the space who are prominent, from, know, Sabrina Carpenter and other artists to AOC. really. talking through different high achieving women and the success have and how they got there, which I think really helps us see paths forward to success and to reaching our goals.

So I'm excited to dive in. The other thing that I think is really funny, Michelle, is when you brought up, Let's do Laila Hormozi. I went and I went on her Instagram and you said something to me, you were like, Oh yeah, we can talk about the good and the bad, the love hate, as you were talking about earlier. I'm scrolling through her Instagram and I'm like, what is there to hate? So I'm, really [00:06:00] interested as to what people do hate about because I felt like her feedback was really smart, really strategic, really direct and really clear. And the truth is, I tend to be a hater of big figures. I tend to not like a lot of the, I won't, I won't name names, but I tend to not like a lot of the big name people, um, in the marketing business space. I'm pretty critical of them. So I'm excited to dig in today.

Michelle Pualani: Looking through her content in preparation for this episode, I think you're totally right. I think anyone in business, entrepreneurship, leadership would look at her content and be like, she's smart. She's savvy. She's demonstrated huge levels of success. Like she is, you know, one in a pair to be able to get to the point of producing 200 million in revenue across the portfolio of acquisition.

com is huge. They scaled rapidly. They demonstrated success in their early brands, gym launch, Allen prestige labs, which is their supplement company. And we're able to Exit around 42 million for those initial brands. I think Jim launch and prestige [00:07:00] labs, but in any case, what they've been able to be successful with is clear.

And I think that's part of the reason why I love and have so much admiration for brands like Alex Hermosi and Leila Hermosi is they have, they walk the walk. You know what I mean? Is that the phrase? The walk, the walk. Or walk the talk.

Joanna Newton: It'd be, well, I think a lot of people say walk the walk and talk the talk. They do both. 

Michelle Pualani: So they are full fledged, like, demonstrating their ability to be successful in business. And so, and it's not just a fluke either. It's not just like a lucky company. They've done it time and time again, which means that, you know, that they understand strategy. You know, that they understand leadership.

You know, that they understand marketing, like through and through. They get how to represent a product. Well, they get how to work, put the time, the energy, the effort to invest in the right team to delegate. So we're going to talk a lot about those principles today, but I think from like a hater's perspective is one, something we all need to acknowledge and be okay with is that we're [00:08:00] all going to have haters independent of how we show up in the world.

You know, you look at someone, again, I use, I use this example all the time. We talk about Taylor Swift so much on this podcast. Could you imagine if we had her on the podcast at some point, that would just be

Joanna Newton: Someday.

Michelle Pualani: Amazing. Someday it'll happen. It'll happen. We're manifesting it right now. someone like Taylor Swift, so much influence, literally one of the most powerful voices of our generation, crazy successful with influence, financial, relationship now she's just like, Live in the life.

There are people who cannot stand her music. There are people who can't stand her content. There are people who can't stand her as a whole. There are always going to be people who are either jealous of your success, or just don't like the way that you dress, or whatever it is. And so I think when it comes to Leila, she is a big personality.

She's loud. She's brash. She is up front about things, and some people aren't okay with that style of communication. Jen? You know, they'd prefer, especially women, to maybe be more demure, maybe be more [00:09:00] just, you know, chill or quieter or not as strong willed. And so I think some of that comes from that. She also, like, at this point, like, you can tell when you look at her brand, like, she has, Um, and I think it's really important for people to know that, um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Her practices and principles are so incredibly helpful when it comes to business and strategy.

So let's go ahead and dive into some of her core concepts and what she teaches and what she practices and not just like puts out into the world and is like, this is what you should do. It's no, this is what I know to be true because I've seen it over and over again. Personal branding is absolutely non negotiable, especially as Alex and Leila have been putting themselves out more and growing acquisition.

com. Now they could have taken a low key profile and tried to build acquisition. com behind the [00:10:00] scenes, but they haven't, they've recognized the need to be able to put themselves out there, grow a huge audience and be able to filter people through. Not everybody's going to be right for their portfolio companies.

But the way that Alex and Leila put out content for free to draw people in is the initial touch points and stages of leading them through the customer journey eventually be at the level of success that their portfolio company would actually be interested in bringing them on board. Knowing that your brand is leverage in the world, the content that you're creating, the way that you're showing up as a coach, as a creator, as a business owner is what's going to propel you towards that next level of success or closer to the goals that you're working on.

Knowing that people really invest in authority and leadership. And trust in the value that you're bringing to the table, not just a brand. You can have the best branding. You can have the best product. You can have the most amazing programs, products, and services, but if people don't trust you or they don't [00:11:00] believe that you're able to deliver on those things, then they're not going to buy from you.

And that's huge. So you're really ultimately looking for the investment of a community, of an audience, of people to give you their email, to give you their money, to trust you with their time. And in order to do that, your personal brand is so powerful and so important in this way. So Leila really was behind the scenes from the beginning as more an operator in the gym launch and the businesses that we hear more as like Alex Hermosi.

But really they were in partnership in building all of them. And she has again, transitioned to creating more of this personal brand, to having a say, to putting content on, on the world, on Instagram and YouTube and all the so that she can really build her voice and presence In the industry and it's powerful and what it's able to do for people.

She shared a video recently that was a man saying, thank you for the content that she's creating. He shared it with his nine year old daughter who is dealing with insecurities and challenges, and I think we forget. Even if we're talking about business, even when we're talking about strategy, the content that we [00:12:00] share as a part of our challenges, struggles, or successes that we've been able to accomplish through those things makes a difference in people's lives.

And it may be small and it may not even be known to you, but your ability to share your struggles, challenges as a personal brand will. Connect with someone and it will help enable their confidence and their ability to show up to put in the reps and to do the work in order to grow past whatever it is that they may be struggling with at that time.

Joanna Newton: One of the things that I would do differently in life, if I started over, you know, people ask you that question, if you were to start over again, what would you do? And it would 100 percent be Creating content, working on growing a personal brand from a much earlier age. And I think part of the reason it probably took me a while to get going was, you know, when I was younger, everyone having their own personal brand outside of large influencers who are on network TV or network news or published with.

Big books. You didn't have that access to grow a [00:13:00] personal brand with social media, which really, really didn't take off until I was towards the end of my high school career, Not not career, but you know what I mean? Till the end of high school, media really became a thing fairly late in life.

And if I could have started over, I would have started social media and building a personal brand while I was in college and in cultivating that. And, being a business owner and being who I am, a lot of people come to me and ask for like general career advice They'll talk about wanting to get extra degrees or things and, and I think that having a strong social media presence that, shows what you do can be just as valuable as a master's degree. and I think sometimes we forget that, having that presence because people who are looking to hire you for services, people who are looking to hire you for a job, you know, They're going to check you out.

And if you have an impressive social presence, even if it's not a huge follower account, right? But if you're demonstrating your expertise in the world on [00:14:00] social media, you're going to get that interview. You're going to build that trust. It's going to be easier to get that client. You know, really taking the time to invest in that, I think is like way more valuable than people realize, especially because it can be hard if you're a super, if you're super into marketing analytics, it can be really hard to directly track sales from social media.

It's not the easiest thing to do from a tracking perspective, but it plays a huge role in how people make their buying decisions.

Michelle Pualani: It's one of the biggest pieces of advice that I also give. I was asked to come back and do a talk in front of a class and certification that I did. And one of the questions was, you know, what can we do now to help prepare us for success later on? And I was like, start your brand now. Especially when you're in the thick of education and excitement about what it is that you're doing.

I so often when I was in yoga and doing my certifications and training and my initial phases of teaching, I always thought like, well, I don't know enough to be able to create the brand. I don't know enough [00:15:00] to be able to put content online, but really those were the times when I should have been sharing what I was excited about, but I was learning as I went, as opposed to feeling like I need to wait six years in order to be at the point where now I'm ready to share because.

So highly suggest everyone putting the time into the personal brand from your early stages, when you're in your learning phases. So one of the other practices that she really believes in and puts forth is building trust in the brand and not focusing on the vanity metric. So Joanna just mentioned paying attention to the analytics, which is so important, but really thinking about the depth over the shallow numbers of what that means.

from a real engagement perspective versus just big numbers. So practicing, practicing this from like a strategy perspective, if you're thinking of your content, you may get a lot more views on a post that is Funny and relatable in a slightly adjacent niche to yours instead [00:16:00] of like your main core content and topic pillars You might get more views But when you actually look at the trickle down effect of whether those people are becoming buyers or customers They are likely not because they're just there for the humor.

Therefore the slightly different niche related content As opposed to your core stuff and being interested in you. So again, paying attention to that engagement, creating the authority and not just the online personality. So you're not just there to appease people. You're not just there to, be funny.

You can be funny in your content, but you're also there to make a true connection and focusing on that will save you a lot of time and energy wasted on like, okay, I got a million views on this video. video, but it didn't translate to any followers or I got a million views on this thing, but I had absolutely zero sales.

focusing in on the content that's really going to connect with the ideal client, the perspective buyer that you're looking to associate yourself with. And then the other thing she practices, it's not just short form content. We talk a lot on the podcast about this. It's important to diversify your content [00:17:00] across channels.

And not just channels, but styles. So having long form content as a way to really build that connection, that trust, that authority, that leadership with your audience is really important. So if you're just on Instagram thinking about starting a podcast, thinking about launching on YouTube and creating slightly longer form content in which you can develop a little bit more depth in the relationship that you're hoping to build with your audience.

Joanna Newton: And forgetting about the vanity metrics is so important because I think it can be really overwhelming as a business owner to think I have to have a million followers to see success, to have a big business. And you really, really don't. I've worked with people with under a thousand YouTube subscribers who can have 20, 30 K launches. And I've worked with people with a hundred thousand YouTube subscribers who can't have a really hard time making that sale. And it's because of quality, the connection. Are they your target audience? You can [00:18:00] have a really successful business without being influencer level, because you're an influencer to the people that you need to be an influencer to.

So I think sometimes people give up or stop because They're not in that like 20, 000 plus follower success. They're like, Oh, I didn't get there. I guess this isn't working, but people run sustainable, successful business with a thousand followers, with 2000 followers, sometimes even with like 300 followers.

Right? So be so obsessed with that metric. Be obsessed with how are you connecting with people? I think is so important to focus on that connection. and then you can, grow a business with any size audience. I do this too, like I'll, I'll post a video or post something and be like, Oh, it only got 200 views. it gets upsets me and I'm like, Oh, only 200 people saw this video. But then I think if I was presenting in a room and there were 200 people in that room that saw my presentation, be ecstatic. I'd be like, Oh, that's amazing. I just connected with [00:19:00] 200 people. So I think sometimes reframing how we think.

Think about our personal brands, not being worried about the millions, but just saying like how many people can I connect with and inspire and help can really help reframe what we're doing and keep us going when we're not at that, thousands of followers success.

Michelle Pualani: Yeah, and you could post a story and it could reach a thousand people, but nobody actually inquires about the offer. And then you could post the, a story that engages with 50 people, but five people reach out about your offers. Like think about the numbers when it comes to conversion and how powerful that is because you may have a hundred people now that you're speaking to, but.

Eventually, you're going to be able to scale and grow that audience. If you're starting with content that really speaks to the type of person that you're drawing in, that makes all the difference. And so part of that is the power of consistency and repetition. And this is one of Leila's principles and practices that I truly struggle with.

Joanna and I were just talking about this before we started recording, is how [00:20:00] challenging it is for me to do the same thing over and over again. And being in that state of practice. Boring quote unquote in your business in order to reach the levels of success. in order to connect with that person, in order to build your personal brand, you have to be consistent and you have to repeat yourself.

You've got to share that message over and over and over again. Leila has been able to do this and really build authority in a specific niche by talking about five to six core content topics. That stay the same. And I know we always want to veer off. And I know that we see someone else talking about this thing and we're like, Oh, I kind of know about that.

Or I learned this little thing, or I also have this additional certification, but it starts to muddy the message. It starts to get really unclear in terms of who you're speaking to and what you're speaking about. being really intentional about that consistency and repetition is huge and powerful and it's going to enhance your presence in a way you didn't know was possible.

So With that is you're not just talking to [00:21:00] anyone. You hear this all the time in the marketing space. If you're talking to everyone, you're talking to no one. And it's so, so true. And it's something that's taken me years to realize and actually implement in practice is you don't want to attract everyone.

You want to be polarizing. You want to speak to the person who is going to. Work with you, who's going to connect with you, who's going to be that right type of person for your products, your programs, and what it is that you're doing and being selective about that, even from the beginning, when you have zero clients, I think is really powerful.

Yes, you can take people on and you can trial if you're not exactly sure who you're looking for. You'll learn from like, Oh, that didn't work out very well, or no, that wasn't the person for me, or yes, I liked this, or, you know, there is a little bit of that trial and error through experimentation, but you can also be really clear from the beginning so that you don't encounter some of those challenges with customers who drag you down or keep you from your happiness or Overstep boundaries, or that just aren't the right fit for what it is that you're doing.

be clear, be intentional, [00:22:00] repeat, and be consistent in what it is that you're saying, what it is that you're messaging to the world in your personal brand. 

Joanna Newton: It's so important to be targeted, and I know we talk about this a lot. If you're hearing this for the first time, go back and watch some of our other episodes. We talk about this all the time, about the importance of being specific in what you'll do. I know that it's hard. been there. when I had a corporate career and I started my corporate career, I was the, I will do anything to get the job done type of person.

You need me to do that. I'll figure that out. You need me to do that. I'll figure that out. I'll figure it out. I'll do it. while being that way actually taught me a lot of skills that has helped me do what I need to do today, it did not help me make more money. when you're the, uh, Jane of all trades doing all of the things people value what you do less, even though I will argue being someone who can just figure it out is a highly important skill, but you don't get viewed in that higher echelon of pay. As I narrowed what I did in my branding [00:23:00] from a corporate perspective, I got more promotions, made more money, was seen as a leader in a way I wasn't when I was saying, I'll figure it out, I'll figure it out, And then as a business owner, for me, At Millennial Marketer, being really specific about what I do was scary for me at first.

When you're trying to start a business and you need revenue to quit your job and be a full time business owner, you want to say yes to everything. You want to be like, yeah, I do ads and yeah, I'll design your thing. Yeah, I'll do that. I'll do this. I'll do that. But again, it does the same thing. It almost devalues what you can charge for yourself. When you get specific and you say, this is what I do. This is my process. This is how it is. you almost get easier yeses. You get a lot of no's or you say no because it's not right for you. But I think you get easier yeses the more specific you are about what you do because someone goes, great, that's awesome.

That's exactly what I need. Or they say, that's not actually what I need. I'm going to go find something different They're not judging you. They're judging if you're [00:24:00] a fit. I think that's an easier battle to win, um, when you're in a sales process.

Michelle Pualani: Agreed. The more you can distinguish yourself, the more you'll be seen as an expert. And that is that building that authority and building that trust. if you were for a divorce lawyer and you went online and you saw three listings and one of them was we're your legal best friend.

We do everything from injury to divorce to homeowner to et cetera. And then the other was like, we focus on, I obviously don't know enough about law to use. This is a great example.

Joanna Newton: picked, you picked a great example, contract law,

Michelle Pualani: do business contract law and this and that and the other thing. And then you see one that is like divorce attorney. We specialize in divorces. Who are you going to pick? The person who specializes in divorce, because that is what you're looking for. So it's so critical and important to be so specific about it.

And I know that it's hard. I know that you struggle with it. I struggle with it. Joanna struggled with it. We get it. It's challenging, But you've got to narrow yourself down. You've got to use your [00:25:00] presence to be specific in your life. You can be multi dimensional and multifaceted and have all these different things going on.

Like we're not trying to diminish your light, but it is important from a personal brand perspective to be able to represent yourself clearly. the last thing that we'll share that is really like a really core practice and principle of Leila's is don't take other people's shit.

Stop paying attention to what other people say about you. Focus on your stuff. And that really is about overcoming the fear of putting yourself out there in the world. Because so often we think about what will this person say about me? What will they think about me? What about that comment? What will my customer Believe if I do this or that or the other thing, or am I going to offend people? And again, in this world of cancel culture, I know it can feel really difficult to take a stand on things or to not want to say the right thing. There's so much backlash that can happen on the internet, especially when things are taken out of context.

But other people's opinions won't pay your bills and that's. It's really what Leila preaches is to let go of a lot of those things and move forward. [00:26:00] Move away from the people who are inhibiting you, limiting you, holding your back or judging you for what it is that you're trying to work toward and really shift your mindset around the type of people that you want to surround yourself with and how you respond to criticism or feedback or what other people are saying about you.

and it's not about just ignoring what they're saying, faking it and just. It's putting yourself out there with, perceived confidence. It's about consistently doing the things that are going to build that within you. Confidence isn't just something that we show up with.

It's something that takes repetition. It's something that takes practice. And you're only going to be able to do that by taking action. Dealing with the comments, dealing with the criticism, seeing what's out there, acknowledging that the opinions are present, but being able to move past them, acknowledging how you feel around them and being able to move with neutrality is a part of that confidence building and being able to deal with that.

And then really grounding yourself and why you're doing what you're doing, being able to show up, provide value and generally let your [00:27:00] work speak for itself instead of trying to fight back against those comments, or instead of trying to. deal with those opinions publicly. Leila's presence is all about like, this is the work that I'm doing and you can either like it or not like it.

Pay attention to it. Don't pay attention to it. But like I'm winning. And a lot of times those people who Aren't winning are going to talk negatively about those people who are, and they're going to judge and they're going to use that language that is less than positive. just allowing yourself to acknowledge, identify that other people's opinions are present but not let them keep you back or hinder your progress and your movement forward.

Joanna Newton: and this is a really hard to work through and get over. And if you're in that space of putting yourself out there, you're going to battle with this. maybe you're not going to battle with it, but if you battle with it, that's okay. And if some days you handle it really well, and some days you don't handle it very well, that's okay.

There's so much our society that teaches us to be people pleasers, that teaches us to manage other [00:28:00] people's emotions with our actions. I mean, depending on how you grew up and you know, what your life was like as a young person, that can be really challenging. For me, I always felt like, other people's emotional responses were my fault. So if that's something that you've dealt with, that can be hard that you're responsible for someone else's reactions and, and getting over that. If you really want to show up, be successful, be a business owner, put your content out in the world. This is something you have to work through.

Michelle Pualani: You want the a hundred thousand followers. You want the big multimillion dollar brand, but in order to do that, we have to be visible. We have to be okay with being seen and we have to deal with what comes up along that process.

When we look to Leila as a great example of scaling businesses, here's some of the things that ultimately made her successful. So when she was scaling gym launch with Alex to 50 million in under two years, they really focused on solving a real problem. Problem, which [00:29:00] was not just selling a product, but a transformation.

What is the outcome? What is the benefit? What is the thing that they're actually getting? Not the course, not the program, not the actual physical products that you're selling and then being able to, within that system and that model create repeatable systems that continue. To work, being able to manage, not just working in your business, but on your business as well.

You're not just delivering the products and programs. You're not just a practitioner, but how are you actually growing and scaling? What's the big picture vision of what you're able to accomplish. And then as you're scaling, how are you able to delegate successfully, bring on the team members and hire the right type of talent.

Who's going to help you get to that place. You're not going to get there by just being a one person show. Even those people, Joanna and I have chatted about this a bit because we see behind the scenes of a lot of people's businesses is even the people who are talking about solopreneurship aren't often solopreneurs.

They have people that they delegate to. They have people that work for them, contractors, other small team members, or even sometimes spouses and supportive [00:30:00] folks in their lives who have been able to help them get to where they are. So being able to really think about strategically. What are my strengths?

How am I showing up soon? We'll have a strengths finder episode in which you can start to learn a little bit more about your strengths, but then what are your weaknesses and how can you hire out for that and be okay with bringing on people who might not be the right fit, letting go of them and finding the right type of person.

Sometimes that takes a little bit of effort and a little bit of work and that's okay. knowing that at some point you're going to hit some sort of plateau and that it's going to take a little bit of a different direction. Once you've exhausted the consistency, the repetition, the systems that work, you're going to get to a point where they're not working anymore.

So then what is that new pivot? What is that different level of growth that you're going to seek out? And how can you do that? Are you going to find the support of a coach? Are you going to hire on a different agency? Is it a different product or program in your Ascension model that you're going to add on?

Not doing it too soon, but recognizing that there's a point in time in which you're going to need to do things a little bit differently and that's [00:31:00] okay. So are you going to increase your prices? Are you going to add on a different product offer? Are you going to think a little bit more about the value that you're building and not focus so heavily on the aesthetics and the content of what you're creating, but what's the depth of the money making levers in your business that's going to get you to that next level?

and over that plateau.

Joanna Newton: And I love that she really emphasizes. The need for team, the growth of team, the development of team here, because that's such a key part of really building a business outside of just being a freelancer who is trading time for money. Exactly. Creating systems, creating things of value that Go beyond that hour for hour sort of, is important developing a team, hiring, training, developing a team is a skill set in it of itself. And I think sometimes people forget it. They're like, Oh, well, I'm a business owner. I run my business. I can run a team. Well, being able to [00:32:00] communicate your vision, step by step action plans, how to do things, how to do it efficiently is a skill. And as a business owner, you can learn that skill and develop it for yourself, or you can hire someone to be that person for you.

We've talked about the EOS model of business, where there's like a visionary and an integrator. If you're a visionary type leader and have that vision for your future, you may need to hire an integrator type person who's going to be able to create the systems Lead the team, make the action plans and all of that. But if you want to scale beyond what can you can do by yourself, leading a team, training a team, developing a team is super important.

Michelle Pualani: I talk a lot of with other founders about the skill set that they need to develop in order to be successful. And oftentimes we start as practitioners, especially as online business owners, content creators, coaches, we get into the field that we're doing and we want to start our own businesses because we want to be able to do what we do.

do [00:33:00] successfully, you know, not under the guise of working for someone else, not under someone else's model. We want to have our freedom, our flexibility, but ultimately we don't always have the skill set of sales, marketing, business organization, administration, talent acquisition that it actually takes to be an entrepreneur and run a business to the level of scale.

Now if you want to stay small and you're just looking at. funding the business to the point of covering expenses, taking enough money for yourself. That's totally fine. You don't need to scale to the multi millions like that isn't for everyone and that's totally fine. But if you are looking for that level of growth, then at some point you have to rely on people in order to reach it.

And that's okay. And it's just a different skill set that you're totally and completely able to build with time, with practice, with repetition, having lots of interviews. Hiring people, working with them, being able to instruct them, letting go of them, bringing on new people. It's like, it, it takes time and it takes that effort in order to get to that place.

So one of the other things that Leila talks a bit about is the mindset shifts that it takes in order to [00:34:00] scale, in order to lead,

few of the things that she really talks consistently about and that have been able to build her level of success is embracing discomfort. Being able to have hard conversations, creating a level of unshakable confidence, and really mastering the long game of business and success as opposed to focusing on short term gains.

With all of that, it kind of encompasses the ability to overcome what are the insecurities, doubts, inner monologue, and voice that we all have. And she talks about this and a lot of other successful brands and businesses talk about this is that you really don't ever get over that level of imposter syndrome.

You don't really ever get over the insecurities, the doubts you're going up to speak on stages. You're still going to be nervous. There's still going to be anxiety. You have people relying on you who getting a paycheck from you. That's still going to feel like a lot of pressure. It's not to say as you grow in scale that those things go away, but over time you have more ability to handle them with grace.

So the confidence that you're building is not [00:35:00] because you thought about it forever and then it just went away. It's because you've done it a thousand times. The. Level of neutrality that you can approach, you know, a certain type of situation as opposed to having it make you feel completely stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated is because you've had to deal with a thousand of those mistakes challenges before.

knowing that there is a lot of discomfort that comes from the entrepreneurial business ownership process, you are going to have to have hard conversations with consultants who don't deliver who agencies who take money, but don't give you an ROI who employees who make expensive mistakes. With your business partner or with team or with customers who want refunds, there are going to be a lot of difficulties.

And the better you can be at sitting in the discomfort of what it is that you're going through, the more successful you'll be able to overcome those challenges over time. Again, not because it goes away, but because you become better at dealing with them.

Joanna Newton: And as you grow, you're going to have harder and harder decisions you have to make. And [00:36:00] to make those decisions are going to affect your profits and your finances at higher and higher levels, right? That's why scaling is hard. That's why it's called scaling, right? Like if you run a business and you're managing 100, 000 in a year, one level of difficulty and decision making and all of that. And then if you have half a million, it's another. And that's why mindset is so important for me. Like, I think I really discounted the importance of mindset for a lot of my career and really in the past year have really dug into that. And I've seen a huge difference in the way I'm able to make decisions in the level at which I close sales. I see real results from working on mindset and the energy that I'm putting out into the world. It's really amazing to experience and see how that change can affect your business because your mindset needs to be able to [00:37:00] handle the level of success that you can attain. So you have to get your mind there.

And for someone like me, I'm so. Practical. I'm so to do list oriented. I'm so like get up and do the things every day. Those things are really natural for me, working on my mind is less natural. I've seen the change. So if you've been a person who is hesitant to explore those things and think like, Oh, that's not going to make a difference.

I can tell you. I was hesitant. I made changes and I've seen the results. So it's totally worth looking into creators who talk about this. Leila, I'm sure a lot of other people you can follow to learn more about, ways that your mindset affects your business and your growth,

Michelle Pualani: I think every single high level, high achieving person typically talks about These things and I truly believe they're at the heart of getting to that next level. And can [00:38:00] you do a ton of personal development work and not make any money? Absolutely. Can you make a lot of money and not do any personal development work?

Probably. We know some people out there who might be at that level, But we also don't always know what goes on behind the scenes, and oftentimes those people have coaches, they have therapists, they have mentors, they're perhaps doing retreats, or like, they've gone through the challenges, the struggles to get them to where they are.

So, there is some level of the energetic, you input that we invest in ourselves in our mindset and the way that we see the world that's going to then impact our capabilities. Also, as a side note to that, you don't always know where they started, so it could be that they started at a bit of a higher tier than you are now to change their frame of reference for the beginning.

So, for example, Joanna and I come from a very, like, I don't know, low class. Is that the right word? Like 

Joanna Newton: working class, 

Michelle Pualani: working class, my dad, yeah. My dad had a business that made 24, 000 a year because he was a craftsman. My mom was a special education teacher who, you know, was making 30, thought [00:39:00] 36, 000 a year.

Maybe when I was, So we come from backgrounds that did not have a lot of money, and that already creates a certain belief system, a worldview, a way of life that has dictated the way that we've engaged with the world. Now, When you have someone who grew up around business strategy, grew up around multi million dollar businesses, their family had multi six figures, they're already set in position in a way to reach a level of success that you might not have had access to.

So it's really important to consider the background. Does it mean that you are completely limited and never going to get there? Absolutely not. You have the ability within yourself to change the trajectory of your outcome, your future, your level of success, but know that that is the case. And maybe those people don't have to do as much personal development work because they've already been exposed to and just believe that is their goal.

They don't expect anything different from their circumstances because they grew up with that [00:40:00] conditioned into them. Whereas we might need to fight for that a little bit. We might need to fight for getting over our limiting beliefs and our money stories and the way in which we grew up in order to Change the way we approach business, our ability to sell and the visibility that we're able to have in front of people in order to grow our businesses and grow our brands.

So thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope you enjoyed that conversation. hitting a couple of the highlight points is knowing that building a personal brand with trust and authority is so important as you focus on the deep engagement, as opposed to some of those vanity metrics. Being able to focus on a handful of core topics, really speaking to your niche, your ideal audience, and not swaying from that.

Being able to repeat, have consistency in your messaging, how you're showing up in your business and your brand, and also being able to think long term in strategy. just about short term gains, but how are you going to lead? How are you going to manage? How are you going to delegate?

How are you going to build the brand that you're creating over time and [00:41:00] not just here and now, hopefully that'll help with some of the overwhelm, hopefully that'll build some of the confidence as you put in the reps and get you to that next level. So thank you so much for tuning in hit subscribe, and we'll see you in that next episode.