$100M Offers Audiobook Part 1

0:00What's going on guys? I have a special, special surprise for you. This was not announced publicly, so you guys will be the first one to hear it. But I have actually made my$100 million offers audiobook, which has been available on Amazon for the last two years and has been top 100 throughout that whole time. It's now here, free, for you guys. And I did that because I just want more people to have it and more people to share it. So the next few chapters and episodes will be directly from the audiobook for your listening pleasure. And my only ask is that you share it. Share it with somebody who you think it would benefit from.

0:38And it would just mean the world to me and hopefully to them. Enjoy. Welcome to the special edition of$100 million Offers. In this episode, collab with the game. We will be going over opening credits, dedication, start here, how we got here, and Grand Slam offers. And I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed making it for you. And if it does provide you value, I hope you'll share it with a friend.

1:07Acquisition.com Publishing is proud to present Acquisition.com Volume 1. $100 million offers. How to make offers so good, people feel stupid saying no. Written and performed by Alex Ramosi. Guiding Principles There are no rules Dedication To Layla You are my ride or die, a term used to describe a person, usually a woman, that is willing to do anything for their partner, friend, or family, even in the face of danger. Couldn't do this without you and wouldn't want to. You make waking up every day worth it. Thank you for being unapologetically you. You're a down motherfucker. To Trevor You're the best friend a guy could ask for.

1:48Thank you for spending hours upon hours beating up the ideas that became this book with me. It would not have been half as good as it is without your relentless drive for simplification and clarity. Eternally grateful for our friendship. You make me feel less alone in this world. Cheers to becoming old and crotchety.

2:07Start here. Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right. Given a 10 % chance of 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time. But you're still going to be wrong 9 times out of 10. We all know that if you swing for the fences, you're going to strike out a lot. But you're also going to hit some home runs. The difference between baseball and business, however, is that baseball has a truncated outcome distribution. When you swing, no matter how well you connect with the ball, the most runs you can get is 4. In business, every once in a while, when you step up to the plate, you can score a thousand runs.

2:45This long-tail distribution of returns is why it's important to be bold. Big winners pay for so many experiments. Jeff Bezos As entrepreneurs, we make bets every day. We are gamblers, gambling our hard-earned money on labor, inventory, rent, marketing, etc. All with the hopes of a higher payout. Oftentimes, we lose, but sometimes we win and win big. However, there is a difference between gambling in business and gambling in a casino. In a casino, the odds are stacked against you. With skill, you can improve them, but never beat them. In contrast, in business, you can improve your skills to shift the odds in your favor.

3:25Simply stated, with enough skill, you can become the house. After beginning a series of books on acquisition, it became apparent that I could not talk about any other topic without first addressing the offer. the starting point of any conversation to initiate a transaction with a customer. What you are literally providing them in exchange for their money. That's where it all begins. This book is about how to make profitable offers. Specifically, how to reliably turn advertising dollars into enormous profits using a combination of pricing, value, guarantees, and naming strategies. I call the proper combination of these components a Grand Slam offer.

4:04I chose this term partially in homage to the above quote from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and because, like a Grand Slam in baseball, a Grand Slam offer is both very good and very rare. Additionally, to extend the baseball metaphor, it takes no more effort to make a Grand Slam offer than to strike out. The difference is dictated by the skill of the marketer and how well he connects his offer with his audience's desires. In business, you can have so-so offers, the singles and doubles that keep the game going, pay the bills, and keep the lights on. But, unlike baseball, where a Grand Slam scores a maximum of four runs, a Grand Slam offer in the business world can score you a thousand-fold payoff and a result in a world where you never need to work again.

4:46It would be like connecting with the ball so well during one single at-bat that you automatically win every World Series for the next hundred years. It takes years of practice to make something as complicated as hitting a Major League fastball into the bleachers look effortless. Your stance, vision, prediction, ball speed, bat speed, and hit placement all must be perfect. In marketing and customer acquisition, the process of getting new customers, there are just as many variables that must all align to truly knock it out of the park. But with enough practice and enough skill, you can turn the wild world of acquisition, which will throw curveballs at you every day, into a home run derby, knocking offer after offer out of the stadium.

5:24To everyone else, your success will look unbelievable. But to you, it will just feel like just another day at work. The greatest hitters of all time also have many strikeouts, just as there are many failed offers in the track record of great marketers. We learn skills through failure and practice. We do this knowing that nine times out of ten, we will be wrong. We still act boldly, hoping for that offer we connect with so well that it results in our big payoff. The good news is that in business, you only need to hit one Grand Slam offer to retire forever. I've done this four or five times in my life.

5:58As for my track record, I have a 36 to one lifetime return on my advertising dollars over my business career. Consider this my lifetime batting average, if you will. That means for every$1 I spend on advertising, I get$36 back, a 3600 % return. That is my average over eight years, and I continue to improve. This book is my attempt to share that skill with you, with a specific focus on building Grand Slam offers, so you can experience the same levels of success. It's also the first in a series of books meant to get entrepreneurs to financial freedom. In plain words, fuck you money. Subsequent books in the series will look more deeply at getting more customers, converting more prospects into clients, making those clients worth more, and other lessons I wish I had learned earlier in scaling my businesses.

6:43Pro tip, faster, deeper learning by reading and listening at the same time. Here's a life hack I discovered a long time ago. If you listen to the audiobook while reading the ebook or physical book, you will increase your reading speed and retain more information. The contents are being stored in more places in your brain. This is how I read most things worth reading. I've priced my products as cheap as the platforms will allow me, so this is an employ to make an extra 99 cents. Promise. If you want to give it a try, go ahead and grab the audio version and see for yourself. You might find it as valuable as I have as someone who struggles to stay focused.

7:14It took two days to talk this book out loud and record it. I figured I'd put this hack at the beginning of the book so you had a chance to do it if you found the first chapter valuable enough to earn your attention. Section 1. How We Got Here. The Ugly Truth. Chapter 1. How We Got Here. Magic will find those with pure hearts, even when all seems lost. Morgan Rhodes. December 24th, 2016. Christmas Eve. The room was pitch black. My shoes stuck to a floor covered in dried soda and crushed bits of candy. My nostrils were full with the smell of stale popcorn. We had just shown up too late to get good seats and ended up pressed near the front of the theater.

7:56Just a few rows in front of me, the movie's blazing projection occupied my entire field of view. In the reflected glow, I could see the outlines of Layla's family's faces. They may as well have been hypnotized. I envied them. They sat, entranced, soaking in their paid time off for Christmas. Must be nice. Anybody else would have missed it, but Layla, my girlfriend at the time, knew me too well. Anybody else would have thought I was watching the movie, but Layla could tell I was staring blankly at the screen, my eyes not tracking with the movie. My face was pale. My cheekbones and jawline appeared gone.

8:28Weeks of chronic stress had killed my appetite. What's wrong? She asked. I didn't answer. She rested her hand on mine to get my attention. I didn't react. Within moments, her fingers tightened around my wrist, and she looked at me, her eyes searching for mine. Your heart is racing, she whispered, concerned. Without asking, she took my pulse. It was a hundred beats per minute, nearly twice what it should be for a fit, 27-year-old male, at rest, in a cool, dark room. What's going on? she asked more forcibly, but still whispering. The truth is, I was terrified. A few hours earlier. I looked like a giant.

9:05I sat scrunched up in a children's miniature play chair. My knees almost touched my chest, even with my feet firmly planted on the old, beige carpeted floor. My laptop felt hot, sitting atop my steeply angled knees. Dolls and toys were scattered around me. They stared at me with wide eyes and toothy grins. Motionless. I had been their entertainment for the past few weeks. I was in Layla's parents' house. They had recently become grandparents and used this spare bedroom as a playroom when their children visited. I didn't have a place to live, so they were letting Layla and I stay there, quote, as long as we need it, end quote.

9:38They had let me use the children's playroom as my office for my business, which at this point felt almost as make-believe as the stories they had told their grandchildren in this room. I literally felt like I was playing dress-up, except the stakes were real, and this was my life. My ears were hot and red from the phone being pressed against them for what felt like hours. I kept switching hands because my arms would tire from holding the phone up for so long. I'm sorry, Mr. Homose, the voice on the other end of the line said. We have to hold on to these funds for the next six months. We've seen some irregular activity.

10:08So this is precautionary. Are you fucking kidding me? 120 grand? I said. A precaution? I'm sorry, sir. Our underwriting team. Yeah, yeah, I heard you. I said, cutting him off. I don't accept that. Sir, it's not up to me. It's just our problem. What am I going to tell my salesman? There's a baby on the way and another one. Are you going to tell him he's not going to buy his pregnant wife and newborn food? Are you going to pay his mortgage for him? I was seething. Sir, he began again with unfazed apathy. just trying to deliver the news. It's not yours to take. My aggression was quickly turning into desperation.

10:42Shit, just send me half so I can pay my employees. It's Christmas Eve for fuck's sake. Sir, we're going to be holding on to the entirety of your funds for the next six months per your agreement. The voice faded into the distance. Fuck. I hung up and checked my accounts. $23 ,036. I owed my salesman a$22 ,000 commission check for$120 ,000 in sales I never got. Without wanting to give myself the opportunity to think about, I wired it to him. Negative$22 ,000. Payment successful. Balance$1 ,036. Fuck. The sunlight blinded me as we emerged from the matinee. Family shuffled in and out through the revolving doors, making their happy memories.

11:26I was in a daze. Layla led me to the car, her hand wrapped firmly around mine. What's wrong? What happened? She asked. The money isn't coming. What do you mean? It's delayed? I exhaled in defeat. They're keeping it all. Can they do that? Apparently. I said stoically, trying to maintain my composure in front of her parents. What are you going to do about the commissions? I already paid him. Everything. I said without looking at her. Layla's concern turned to dread. We sat in silence the whole way home. I stared out the window. She held my hand in hers. It was more comforting than I anticipated.

12:01We'll get through this. 30 days earlier. I decided to go all in on this new business I called Gym Watch. Here was the idea. I would fly around the country to gyms and fill them up to full capacity using this new methodology that hinged on an offer I had perfected when I owned my chain of gyms. Leading up to this moment, I had sold five of my six gyms. The funds from selling them, my life's work, I had put into an account that I had with a new partner. This money was supposed to be the seed money for our new company. I was finally going to realize some level of success. My alarm went off. I groggily swung my arm over, blindly clawing at the bedside table.

12:37I switched off the alarm, while Layla, somehow, managed to sleep through the commotion. I laid there silently, pulling up the bank accounts, a daily ritual. The balance said$300. Wait, that couldn't be right. There was$46 ,000 in here yesterday. My adrenaline surged. Looking closer, I saw minus$45 ,700 payments successful. I was frantic. The money from selling all my gyms was gone. I checked where the money went. To my, quote, partner, end quote. He had taken all the money out. Fuck. The last four years of my life had vanished that fast. I officially had nothing, and even less to show for it. No gyms, no equipment, no employees, nothing.

13:19I felt dead inside. adding insult to injury in that same 30-day period my mother was in critical condition because of a near-fatal accident and was still under 24-hour supervision and i had told my car in a head-on collision at 60 miles an hour and earned a dui as my consolation prize this was the cherry on top my one saving grace during this time was selling a new challenge offer at a gym and collecting all the cash up front as my fee for turning their business around so i did the only thing i knew i sold my salesman had done 120 000 in a single month and i owed him$22 ,000 in commissions. The problem was, the$120 ,000 never came.

13:55We need to talk, I said, as Layla and I went to the other room. I worked up to the courage to speak, but stared at the floor, embarrassed. I've got nothing, I said to her. I'm a sinking ship, and you don't have to stay here with me. She grabbed my chin and pulled my face towards hers, so she could look into my eyes. I would sleep with you under a bridge if it came to that. I would have cried tears of joy, but I was so emotionally exhausted that my response appeared apathetic. I wouldn't stay with me. So are we still going to do these launches starting tomorrow, she asked. All my friends quit their jobs to do this.

14:26She was being matter-of-fact, but it still stung. I felt defeated. Listen, this could go horribly wrong. I trust you, we'll figure it out. I had two things left at this point. A Grand Slam offer and an old business credit card with a$100 ,000 limit from when I had my gyms. On the day after Christmas, two days after the gut-wrenching call with the payment processor, we were scheduled to launch six new gyms at the same time. Between airfare, hotels, rental cars, gas, and ad spend, all multiplied by six, I was going to be spending$3 ,300 per day of money I didn't have. My last dollar had gone to paying my salesman.

15:03I still remember my hand shaking as the advertisement went live. Off to on. Just like that. I was going into debt at a rate of$412 per working hour. Just like that,$3 ,300 per day began getting deducted from my account. Minus$3 ,300, I now officially have nothing. Minus$3 ,300, I now officially have less than nothing. Minus$3 ,300, I have$10 ,000 less than nothing. Minus$3 ,300, this one decision is going to ruin my future forever. But things started shaping up. Here's what happened that month, January 2017. as documented by my old processing records I dug up. In the physical book, there's a chart that I am referencing.

15:46You can see the month along the left column and the revenue collected on that month along the right. We made$100 ,117. It was just enough to cover the$3 ,300 a day that had been coming off the credit card. It was actually working. I could hardly believe it. I threw the Hail Mary and the universe had caught it. I went from looking up bankruptcy lawyers to figuring out what to do with$3 million in profits accrued within the first 12 months. It felt surreal, and in hindsight, it still kind of does. By the end of the year, we were doing$1.5 million per month. 12 months from then,$4.4 million per month.

16:2124 months after that, we crossed$120 million in sales and donated$2 million to help fund equal opportunity in low-income areas. We met and befriended Arnold Schwarzenegger, my lifelong hero, and we were asked to become board members of his charity, After School All-Stars. Twelve months after that, we now have a portfolio of seven eight-figure and multi-eight-figure companies across a variety of industries. Photography, publishing, fitness, business consulting, beauty, and business types. Brick-and-mortar chains, software, service, e-commerce, training, and education. Our portfolio companies now do about$1.6 million per week and growing.

16:58I say this because honestly, I can't believe it. All of this was because of a girl who believed in me, a credit card, and a Grand Slam offer. I know I teleported you from rag to riches, and the natural question is, how? That's what I'm going to use the rest of this book and the remaining books and free courses in acquisition.com to break down. The skill of making offers saved me from bankruptcy and likely saved my life. I've made so many mistakes in my life. I've made so many bad life decisions. I've hurt people knowingly and mistakenly. I've done bad things with good intentions. I say this because I am human.

17:28I don't pretend to have the answers. I have my own demons that I buy at all every day. But despite my many shortcomings, I've still managed to get really good at this one thing. And I'd like to share that with you. I can teach you how to build great offers. I don't know who you are. Yes, you, the one listening to this. But thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for allowing me to do work I find meaningful. Thank you for giving me the most valuable asset you have, your attention. I promised to do my very best to give you a positive return on it. Here's your first piece of good news. If you're listening to this, then you already are in the top 10%.

17:59Most people buy stuff and then promptly ignore it. I can also throw out a spoiler. The further you get in this book, the bigger the nuggets become. Just watch. This book delivers. The world needs more entrepreneurs. It needs more fighters. It needs more magic. And that's what I'm sharing with you. Magic.

18:18Hey guys, real quick. I don't know if you know this, but$100 million Offers has a physical copy and a Kindle copy online. So you can go to Amazon and grab those if that's helpful for me. I prefer to read with my eyes and listen at the same time. And especially the books that I refer to often, I like having on my desk next to me so I can pull them up and use them to make money doing whatever it is that I'm doing.

18:43Chapter two, Grand Slam offers. Make people an offer so good that you'd feel stupid saying no. Travis Jones. I was 23 years old and to quote Ruth from Ozark, I didn't know shit about fuck. But there I was in a Las Vegas penthouse hotel room along with 10 business owners learning about marketing and sales in my most fashionable beast mode t-shirt, a shirt I had gotten for free and one of the five shirts I owned at the time. Truthfully, I was anxious, self-conscious, and thought I was making a huge mistake. I paid$3 ,000 of money I didn't have to get a seat at the table. I knew I needed to learn.

19:17Everyone there had a business except me. I was planning on starting one, a gym. TJ, the organizer, had multiple successful businesses. While going over the agenda, I remember he made an offhand comment about making a million dollars that year. One million dollars. I was spelled out. I want to be like this guy. I'll do anything. The problem was, I didn't know what any of them were talking about. KPIs, CPLs, conversion rates. My head was spinning as I pretended like I knew what they were talking about. But I didn't, and I'm bad at pretending. Between sessions, TJ found me. He could tell I was way over my head.

19:52TJ was kind, curious, and caring. After a little bit of small talk, he asked me a simple question that changed my life forever. Do you want to know the secret to sales? I had never sold anything in my life. I never even read a book on it. I just recently learned what the term even meant. Seriously. I leaned forward, intent to download every syllable that he spoke right into my brain. I opened my notebook and stared at him with intent. I was ready for the secret. He looked at me soberly and said, make people an offer so good, they would feel stupid saying no. I nodded, wrote it down, underlined it, and circled it.

20:24And with that, my entire worldview of selling was transformed. Make people an offer so good, they would feel stupid saying no. My mind was racing. I didn't have to be skilled, or even any good. I just had to come up with things that anyone would say yes to. The greatest game of my life had now begun. What this book is about. At some point, every successful business owner was a wantrepreneur. A person full of ideas and frustrated at having potential to spare. Something clicks when they realize the horrible trade they and so many people make, trading their freedom for falsely perceived security.

20:58Their discomfort compounds. And once the discomfort of staying the same surpasses the discomfort of change, they take the leap. I'm going to be an entrepreneur so I can be free. They tell themselves. Free to do whatever I want, whenever I want, with whomever I want. Some learned about entrepreneurship through personal development. Others got into it through a franchise. Others bought courses. And some just said, fuck it. I'm doing it. And I'll make it work. and make it work they did. Most of us opened up shop with the intention of helping people in some way. Many times, this assistance is in some way related to something that's affected us personally.

21:32We set out to give back by providing to others by helping them solve a problem that once plagued us. Then again, sometimes this isn't our way in. In either case, we cling to the dream of making more and being freer than we are now. Many of us thought naively that owning a business would be our crowning accomplishment, a final destination, when in reality, it was just the beginning. Somehow, in the transition between passionate to helping others and owning my first business, we gradually realize that we don't even know the first thing about business, let alone turning a profit. We may know a lot about our passion, about why we started the business, but that doesn't mean we know anything about succeeding in business.

22:06Much to the disappointment of idealists on the sidelines, succeeding in business means getting prospective customers to trade us money for our services, our passion for their hard-earned coins. That's the agreement. The only way to facilitate that exchange, to transact, to literally carry out business as a business, is by making the prospect an offer. What's an offer anyways? The only way to conduct a business is through a value exchange, a trade of dollars for value. The offer is what initiates this trade. In a nutshell, the offer is the goods and services you agree to provide, how you accept payment, and the terms of the agreement.

22:42It is what begins the process of getting customers and making money. It is the first thing that any new customer will interact with in your business. Since the offer is what attracts new customers, it is the lifeblood of your business. No offer, no business, no life. Bad offer, negative profit, no business, miserable life. Decent offer, no profit, stagnating business, stagnating life. Good offer, some profit, okay business, okay life. Grand Slam offer, fantastic profit, insane business, freedom. This book helps entrepreneurs craft those Grand Slam offers. These are the offers that are so effective, profitable, and life-changing that it seems like they could only be the result of luck.