The Untold Rise of Leila Hormozi

From being arrested 6 times to building a billion dollar company:

• 23 yrs old: Quit her job and started her first business Gym Launch.

• 24 yrs old: Gym Launch made $27M in year 2.

• 26 yrs old: Started Prestige Labs, a supplement company.

• 27 yrs old: Started a software company ALAN.

• 28 yrs old: Reached a $100M net worth.

• 29 yrs old: Sold all her businesses and house, moved to Vegas.

• 29 yrs old: Made her first real piece of content ever.

• 30 yrs old: Started Acquisition.com. 

She’s taken home an average of $1.2M/mo as a CEO since the age of 24.

Having surpassed a $100M net worth by 28, she’s now rewriting history and scaling acquisition.com into a billion-dollar portfolio, whilst growing a Goliath of a content machine where she passionately shares the mistakes and lessons from her very experience. 

Whilst the accolades are astounding there was a life before the success many people don’t know of.

Today we shine a light on Leila's backstory and exactly what made her the formidable leader she is today.

And trust me, it certainly wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

This is the untold rise of Leila Hormozi.

Here’s a summary of what’s about to come:

1. A Lonely Childhood

2. Chaos to Conviction: The Big Decision

3. Constraint Drives Innovation: Moving to Cali

4. Working for Gyms and Learning Sales

5. Breaking Chains and Severing Ties

6. Finding Her Partner in Crime: Alex Hormozi

7. Foundation Formed in The Trenches

8. The Mission of a Lifetime: Acquisition.com

9. Why The Best Motivation is Responsibility

A Lonely Childhood

"If I look at what I had as a child and what I didn't have, I'm really grateful for it because it's made me who I am today."

The divorce of Leila’s parents left her in the care of a mother who succumbed to the grips of addiction.

A turbulent chapter marked by the absence of a key figure in her life.

The constant turmoil, the nights without her mother's presence, and the fear that gripped her heart led to a childhood steeped in adversity. Denied the stability it deserved.

Within this instability, Leila found herself shouldering the weight of huge family responsibilities.

"I became the parent in the household at a very young age. It felt like living in a constant state of fear."

After enduring five to six years of this struggle, Leila went to live with her father.

However, the transition was far from seamless.

Discomfort stemmed not only from the unfamiliarity of a new household but also from the void left by years and years without parental guidance.

"I felt like this huge portion of my childhood, I didn't have any guides, I didn't have any parents"

Anger brewed deep within.

Rebellion became the coping mechanism.

It was a period marked by defiance, drinking, and a departure from the integrity and responsibility that once defined her.

As she stepped into the freedom of post-high school life, the intensity of Leila's emotions collided with the unbridled atmosphere of college.

The descent into a world of parties, excessive drinking, and the lure of unrestrained freedom led her down a dark path.

The battle against the shadows of her upbringing manifested in destructive ways.

Six arrests in 18 months, all alcohol-related, painted a picture of a young woman grappling with demons.

"It put me in a really dark spot...ruining my body and myself."

She completely lost respect for herself.

A stark departure from the hero she had once been to her mother.

But that was all about to change.

Chaos to Conviction: The Big Decision

Leila's journey to the brink of self-destruction is vividly etched into her memory.

"I think I passed out on someone's deck. I woke up in my dad's house, disoriented, grappling with the weight of my own actions. I didn't remember what happened. It was a surreal, disconcerting moment."

The subsequent meeting with her father, a paragon of virtue and strength in her life, was the final straw.

He sat her down, almost in tears, and uttered words that seared into her consciousness.

'I'm not going to try and change you, but I think you could kill yourself if you continue with this behaviour.

The gravity of his concern hit her like a sledge hammer.

As Leila sat in that place of vulnerability, a floodgate of memories burst open - memories of a younger version of herself, a girl with dreams as boundless as the sky.

"Who is that little girl?" she asked, as if peeling back the layers of time.

Now overweight and unhealthy.

She was unrecognizable.

It was a moment of truth, a look in the mirror.

The conversation that she needed to confront.

"I was angry at myself, but it was a useful anger, a force that I harnessed to change the trajectory of my life."

"I felt like a piece of shit,"

"I felt like a dirtbag."

At the tender age of 19, armed with a mission and an unyielding belief in the potential for change, she embarked on a sensational 18-month comeback.

The ember of rage transformed into a blazing inferno, propelling her to shed 85 pounds, excel academically, and dive headfirst into self-development.

"It was channeling those emotions in the opposite direction," her words dripping with conviction.

The stage was set. Now it was time for Leila to perform.

Breaking Chains and Severing Ties

The transformation Leila orchestrated gripped every facet of her existence.

The initial step was a conscious decision to sever ties with one of the most ubiquitous aspects of modern life - Netflix.

"So the first thing that I did was I stopped watching Netflix. I remember I got rid of my subscription"

Breaking free from the clutches of mindless entertainment.

Confronting reality head on.

She then delved into the treasure trove of online platforms.

"I started watching Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn. I started listening to Rich Dad, Poor Dad."

This wasn't a mere change in media preference; it was a declaration of intent - a decision to trade leisure for education.

It was about recognizing the need for a radical change in trajectory.

"No more entertainment, only education for now, this season."

Her acknowledgment of the fact nothing would change if she sat around feeling sorry for herself became her driving force.

The force behind rewiring her thought patterns, cultivating new habits, and forging a resilient mindset ready to navigate the challenges ahead.

But the pursuit of success necessitated another sacrifice - a deliberate severing of ties that tethered Leila to destructive habits.

So the second move in her comeback was a brutal audit of her social circles.

"Looking at all the people I was hanging out with, I did an audit. I had written down what I was going to do with all of my friends."

A pact with herself, a promise to undergo a season of solitude and self-discovery.

"I was such a people pleaser," Leila admits, peeling back another layer of vulnerability.

The internal conflict between the desire to excel in every facet of life and the want to make others happy, being the life of the party, forced her into a crucial realization.

She needed to surround herself with individuals who valued substance over superficial status.

This is where she made a huge decision that changed her life forever…

Moving to Cali: Constraint Drives Innovation

Leila had a realization during a night out with friends.

"I went with them sober, and I was like, I'm so over this."

Despite sporadic attempts to maintain connections, her internal compass pointed unequivocally toward uncharted horizons.

"I remember telling my friends, 'I'm moving to California after I graduate.”

Of course, this was met with skepticism and onlooking eyes.

This decision, however, was more than a relocation; it was an unlocking of potential, a conscious step into the unknown that would shape her in ways unimaginable.

As we say at David to Goliath: Constraint drives innovation.

And this was Leila putting her back up against the wall like never before.

At 21, a young woman with no concrete plan, financial safety net, or support system, testing the limits of her resilience and resourcefulness.

The initial stages of her move manifested through weekly panic attacks.

"I didn't know how I was gonna make money."

This forced her into a situation where she had to make it work for herself, an initiation into the harsh realities of self-reliance and the forge of personal growth.

"No amount of affirmations and mindset work was gonna do the work."

In an era where introspection and mental exercises often overshadow execution—the power of taking relentless action, even when it's uncomfortable and uncertain, is the only thing that will work.

Without corresponding action, words and thoughts lose their potency.

"Feelings and beliefs can follow the action."

Churchill once said: It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.

For Leila she did exactly that. Whatever the cost.

From the darkness emerged a phoenix from the ashes.

Working For Gyms and Learning Sales

Leila’s narrative is not a linear ascent but a relentless climb, fraught with fear, rejection, and an underdog like determination.

Her foray into the workplace began with a commitment to make it in the competitive world of fitness.

Braving her fears, she applied to every gym within walking distance of her new apartment.

While not all doors swung open, one welcomed her, albeit with a catch - a three-month training program offering a meager $9 an hour, insufficient to cover her living expenses.

She was eventually led to Four Hour Fitness, a gym that promised immediate returns.

Little did she know that this move would thrust her into the world of sales.

The caveat? She had to generate her own clientele.

The prospect of becoming a salesperson, a role she had never identified with, loomed before her like an insurmountable mountain.

Especially in an industry dominated by Alpha males.

It was a path she hadn't envisaged, but with her back against the wall, she had no choice but to embrace it.

The first encounter, approaching a woman on the elliptical, ended in outright rejection - a rude awakening to the harsh reality of sales.

"No amount of thinking is going to get me out of this situation," she realized.

The only way forward was to learn the skills, adapt, and become a different person.

Leila transformed her stress, anxiety, and frenetic energy into a reservoir of learning.

"I poured it into learning sales, how to retain customers, how to become a teammate,"

Again, at David to Goliath we’re huge believers that constraint is the biggest driver of huge innovation.  

For Leila, this very concept marked the birth of a relentless pursuit of knowledge, a commitment to self-improvement.

Learning was no longer a choice but a lifeline.

As Leila delved into the intricacies of sales, she faced a new set of challenges when she transitioned to a different gym.

The landscape wasn't familiar, and the methods she had honed didn't translate.

Door-to-door campaigns, offering free passes and protein cookies to businesses, became the unconventional marketing strategies she adopted.

It was a realization that sales and marketing are about more than just the acquisition of customers; they are about crafting a brand and reputation.

It’s not a textbook case of instant success.

But it’s within the failures that tenacious entrepreneurs are birthed.

Although this is where Leila’s story takes an extraordinary turn.

As you know, life often surprises us most when we least expect it.

What she thought was just another date in the pipeline of disappointing men turned out to be meeting the one person…

Finding Her Partner in Crime: Alex Hormozi

In the intricate dance of love, Leila discovered a profound analogy between dating and sales.

This shift in perspective became a cornerstone in her journey towards authentic connections and, ultimately, finding her life partner.

A testament to the art of growth in both professional and personal spheres.

"Think about how many consults you have to have with somebody in order to get a client."

It was a revelation that pushed her to view dating as not just an emotional journey but also a strategic process.

"I poured it into learning sales."

Inspired by her sales routine, Leila dedicated her lunch break to swiping through potential matches on Bumble, setting a goal of securing a date a week.

The mindset was clear – dating is a numbers game, a funnel to work through and refine.

Her unique perspective on dating is punctuated with her candid observations about societal biases and cognitive biases.

"This is called cognitive bias. You are over-generalizing. Your brain is saying, I had one bad boyfriend. Now all men are bad. That's not true at all."

She dismantles the social stigma attached to post-breakup recovery.

She asserts that best way to move on from a failed date is to engage in another.

Her dating journey also illuminates the expectations she was faced with, with many men desiring a traditional housewife, a role that didn't align with her principles and aspirations.

Her refusal to conform and her determination to seek a partner who shared her vision showcase the strength of her character.

The story takes a turn when Leila encounters Alex, another match on Bumble.

Their first phone call, essentially a pre-date, sets the tone for a connection built on shared goals and a no-nonsense approach.

They first met at Froyo Yoghurt for a date. Not the romantic bed of roses and flowers you see in the movies but there was an unexpected twist.

Alex's initial reaction, seemingly indifferent, stems from his aversion to tattoos, a detail Leila had overlooked with her back piece on show.

However, as they delved into discussions about business and mutual interests, the atmosphere shifted, leading to a conversation that spanned four and a half hours.

"I just wanted to keep talking to him. I just finally felt like I found somebody who sees reality the same way as me."

Leila's love story is a masterclass in navigating the uncharted territories of the heart, embracing the unknown, and finding love in the most unexpected places.

But remember, she was the one who made this happen.

She set the expectation it could take hundreds of dates to find that one person and she never gave up.

Considering this is THE most important decision you’ll ever make, I think we all (including myself) have a lot to learn from her mindset.

Foundation Formed in The Trenches

Their initial meet-ups were a symphony of connection, shared aspirations, and a synergy that laid the foundation for what would become the formidable partnership we all know today.

A mere two weeks after their Froyo encounter, Alex, the fearless entrepreneur, proposed an audacious idea — Leila should work for him.

The fusion of professional collaboration and romantic entanglement presented a dilemma, a crossroads that demanded careful consideration.

Leila, a master of calculated risks (especially when aligned with a shared vision), recognized the potential in this.

"There's really no better time than now because I'm young"

With her characteristic decisiveness, Leila dismantled her existing commitments and embraced this new chapter with vigour.

The early days of their collaboration were far from glamorous.

Living out of motels, navigating financial uncertainties, and facing the daunting challenge of building a business from the ground up, Leila and Alex endured the dark storms of entrepreneurship together.

"It wasn't romantic at all for the first two years," Leila confesses, dispelling the notion that the start of relationships are always coated in glamour.

But their relationship, initially tested by the rigours of entrepreneurship, evolved into a partnership that defied conventional expectations.

"It was learning how to use stress to our advantage to become better versions of ourselves"

"I will not compromise, nor will Alex, who I am and who he is."

Leila and Alex founded Gym Launch, a venture that emerged from the fusion of passion and practicality.

This project was rooted in the desire to empower gym owners, to teach them how to fish for clients.

The company made $27 million in year 2. 

The subsidiary mentorship program, Gym Legacy, became the heartbeat of their mission, guiding fitness entrepreneurs on the journey to not just acquiring leads but mastering the art of retention, service excellence, and team dynamics.

Leila's husband, the visionary opportunist, saw potential where others saw challenges.

The success of Gym Launch was not a result of broad strokes but a laser-focused strategy that zeroed in on a specific clientele.

This insight, coupled with a commitment to only onboard clients with a high probability of success, elevated their reputation.

When times were tough, Leila’s true character shined through.

Alex, teetering on the edge of losing everything multiple times, found his life marked by tumultuous waves of uncertainty, devoid of any financial stability.

His business partner had just stolen a significant amount of money from him leaving him back at square one - with nothing. 

Apologizing for entwining Leila in the chaotic whirlwind of his existence, he implored her to leave him. 

In that moment, she gently pulled his chin towards her.

"I would weather the storms and sleep beneath a bridge with you if fate demanded it." 

Need I say more?

These words re-ignited a flame within Alex so deep he would do absolutely anything to confront the challenges head-on.

Finally, after all the people who doubted him, including his father who looked down upon him for forging his own path instead of becoming a doctor, he’d found his match. He’d found his partner in crime.

As Churchill said: Judge your relationships by how they show up in bad weather.

And when Alex Hormozi, potentially one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our generation, was on his knees Leila was the one person who believed in him when noone else would.

They stood united, ready to conquer the world.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, to get things back on track she flew to Hawaii and signed up more people for that gym location than anyone before. 

Breaking all the records.

And the story doesn’t end there.

Acquisition.com: The Mission of a Lifetime

Leila’s journey is a tale of audacious moves.

Challenges were dissected, and opportunities were seized with strategic brilliance.

The process that engineered this transformation wasn't just successful. It was ground-breaking.

They took the company from 0 to $50 million in just two years. 

Leila and Alex then distilled Gym Launch’s essence into a revolutionary licensing model, unleashing a scaling phenomenon that rippled across 4000+ locations in a mere four years.

A seismic shift orchestrated by a maverick entrepreneur.

Leila didn't settle for one triumph; she embarked on a journey of founding and scaling three more companies, each a foray into different industries—software, service, e-commerce, and brick & mortar. 

The cumulative sales from these ventures soared to a staggering $120M+.

Post these triumphs, Leila didn't rest on her laurels.

Instead, she ascended to board positions in each of her companies, gaining an elevated perspective that paved the way for her and Alex co-founding Acquisition.com.

This is more than holding company. It’s a mission:

To make real business education available to everyone.

Together, Alex and Leila plunge headfirst into the trenches, crafting strategies, and helping low to mid-market businesses increase enterprise value using their own unique philosophy of investing. 

The collective revenue generated by these ventures eclipses the $200,000,000 mark annually.

At the helm of Acquisition.com, Leila forges the path for a new era of female leadership.

Rewriting the rulebook to declare unequivocally that leadership transcends the confines of gender.

Through Leila’s wisdom, the future of leadership is not just bright – it's brilliantly empowering.

Diversity is the key.

It doesn’t matter where you’re born. It doesn’t matter what you look like or what colour your skin colour is.

What matters is your mission and the actions you’re willing to undertake to force it into existence.

Why The Best Motivation is Responsibility

Now a prominent figure on YouTube, Instgram and TikTok, Leila guides the next generation of aspiring individuals to make the right changes in their lives.

To her, comfort is the silent saboteur of progress. What feels good seldom aligns with what propels us forward.

But learning to deal with being uncomfortable is an acquired skill, demanding an inversion from within. It’s a skill that Leila began cultivating following the break of her family. 

She distils wisdom about behavioural shifts, that beneath this lies something deeper – thought shifts and belief shifts, the internal alchemy that sparks real change.

A poignant unlocking of behavioural shifts is acceptance, an acknowledgement that despite internal thoughts, you can and must still act. 

Uncomfortable feelings won’t dictate the narrative.

Facing the fear head-on, demystifying the panic, and charging through it.

She often touches on the anxiety of public speaking. Recounting her speeches, she unravels the tendrils of a fear that holds many back. The fear of falling short. 

She asserts that the power lies not in eradicating these emotions but in redefining the relationship with them.

"What I've learned is to, one, not judge myself for that. And two, I can be nervous, I can be scared, I can be anxious, and I can still act like I'm not."

"I visualize myself having a panic attack on stage before I go on stage."

Within self-awareness, revelation blooms. 

Within the pain, progress emerges.

"So you know how to make a habit now we just gotta make a habit in the other direction."

She also speaks a lot about motivation, and the role responsibility plays.

Picture the single mom, courageously raising four kids. Does she lack motivation?

Absolutely not. Her fuel is responsibility, a mantle many shy away from.

"I am responsible for all of the people that work at my company. I am responsible for all of the companies in our portfolio. I am responsible for an audience that supports me."

Leila is tasked with steering the ship of a huge portfolio company, while nurturing a community of supporters. To her, in this responsibility lies the motivation.

"When they're talking about motivation, what it really is they lack responsibility."

"You don't feel like doing something when you don't have a big enough reason. Create enough reasons, which is usually people, and you have more motivation to do things."

Motivation is connected to what she calls ‘reasons’.

For Leila, those reasons are the people – the heartbeat of her organization. 

She’s a responsibility centred leader, driven by the progress of every team member, every entity in her portfolio, and every supporter.

This all stems from the responsibility she had to step up to as a child when her mother was slipping off the rails.

"So it's not that I feel motivation every day, but I have a responsibility to the people whose lives I have influence over."

She’s transparent in that motivation isn’t a perpetual flame, there are days when it flickers, but the underlying responsibility stands unwavering.

She puts great focus on helping people build the ‘get shit done’ muscle, where speed is everything.

Overthinking paralyzes, action liberates.

It's a relentless pursuit, not of perfection, but of progress.

"The way that you get more power is you take action on a thought faster than others, faster than you’re used to, faster than you did five days ago."

The more you absorb Leila’s content, the more you realise that the power you wield is proportional to the immediacy of your actions.

Where each day becomes an opportunity to outpace yourself.

It’s about limiting the time from thought to action. Destroying procrastination.

"I think that if you wanna get shit done, you're gonna be uncomfortable. Learn to act despite how you feel."

David to Goliath Action Items

1) Change Your Environment: If you’re in a bad place with poor habits, you have created deep associations with your surroundings. The fast track way to rewire your identity and become the new version of yourself is to move somewhere completely new.

Don’t be afraid because as Leila showed us with her daring move to Cali and having no money to pay the bills, constraint will be your biggest driver of innovation. And hell, that pain pales in comparison to the disappointment of your current existence.

2) Work Your Get Sh*t Done Muscle: In a world which is all too soft and everyone is looking for that secret hack to avoid discomfort, Leila shows us that to get ahead you must embrace it. Overthinking is paralyzing whilst action is liberating. Just like working a specific muscle in the gym, your ‘get sh*t done muscle’ is no different.

The more you train it, the stronger you’ll become and a year from now you’ll be looking in the mirror. Starring back will be an unrecognizable version of yourself that has confined down the time between thoughts and actions into a matter of seconds.

3) Spend Time On Life’s Most Important Decision: On average you’ll spend 3 hours per day with your life partner over 30 years. That’s a whopping 33,000 hours. As they say, you are the output of the 5 people you spend the most time with and this one person tops the lot. So just like Leila, don’t expect finding that perfect person to be easy. Set the expectation it might take a decade and going on a 1,000 dates because the outcome is so so worth it.

Most importantly as Leila and Alex did, never negotiate your internal standards. There will be someone who loves you and accepts all the weird and whacky imperfections that make you perfect. Keep looking, keep searching and in the meantime become the best version of yourself. Because to find a worthy mate you must first BE a worthy mate.

Lastly a personal thank you.

Leila and Alex Hormozi have changed my mindset in so many ways and the biggest thing was giving me permission to just be myself in a world where pleasing others is the norm.

Listening to their YouTube videos and podcasts in my darkest days gave me not only hope but also confirmed it is my responsibility to get myself out of this mess.

They’ve hugely contributed to everything we’re doing at David to Goliath and I know they’re inspiring millions of others across the world by bringing business education to the masses.

I heard one of Alex’s big targets is to get Leila into the top richest women in the world list. I for one would love to see that.

When writing this piece there wasn’t much out there about Leila’s backstory so we searched social media posts, podcasts she’d appeared on, and anything else we could get our hands on. Piecing together her incredible journey together the best we could.

Hopefully, we’ve managed to shine more light on an incredible leader and made a small contribution to bringing the untold rise of Leila Hormozi to the forefront.

Maybe she’ll read this, maybe she won’t.

But one thing’s for sure: For all of you who did take the time, this is another great reminder that greatness doesn’t take shortcuts and the most epic stories aren’t born in comfort.

As Winston Churchill said: “It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.”

So keep dreaming like a Giant my friend.

But fight and believe in your dreams like a God damn Underdog!

Yours truly,

-Nigel Thomas