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100m Money Models

Oct 30, 2025, 13 min read

This is a summary of the audiobook “$100M Money Models” by Alex Hormozi.

Introduction & Dedication

  • Dedications: The book opens with humorous and heartfelt dedications.
    • Leila Hormozi (Wife): A 6-year-old dedication is followed by a new, deeply personal one. Alex thanks her for finding him at his worst, fighting alongside him, and being his calm center in a storm. He calls her his “ride or die.”
    • Trevor (Friend): A tribute to a “once in a generation friendship,” comparing their relationship to “iron sharpens iron.” Trevor is praised as a force of good and knowledge.
  • Guiding Principles: Two key quotes set the stage:
    • “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” - Warren Buffett
    • “More important than the will to win is the will to prepare.” - Charlie Munger

Start Here: Hormozi’s Origin Story

This section details Alex Hormozi’s journey from failure to immense success, establishing the context and credibility for the book’s methods.

  1. The Struggle: The story begins with Alex sleeping on the floor of his first gym, terrified and alone. He had gone against his father’s wishes, skipped business school, spent all his savings, and was told by everyone that he was making a mistake. The constant noise from the parking garage above made sleep nearly impossible, forcing him to work through the night.

  2. The Mentor & The First Money Model: The owner of a neighboring storage unit business, one of Alex’s few gym members, noticed his struggle. He took Alex to breakfast and revealed his own “money model” for the storage business.

    • The Attraction Offer: “First Month Free.”
    • The Upsells (Solving the Next Problem): He explained that a free storage unit is useless without solving the problems that immediately arise. He sold customers:
      1. A special, high-security lock ($47): Necessary to secure the unit.
      2. Boxes, tape, labels, and markers: Essential for organizing stored items.
      3. Moving supplies (dollies, hand trucks): For a fee, for those moving themselves.
      4. Moving services: An affiliate kickback from a local moving company.
      5. Insurance: Offering a base level of free insurance, but upselling to a $100,000 policy for a small monthly fee, especially if they buy his special lock.
    • The Final Upsell: Customers almost always underestimate the space they need, so he always offers to upgrade them to “one size up” for a few extra dollars.
    • The Lesson: The mentor reveals he has 27 locations. He teaches Alex that once you truly understand how to make money in one business, you can see the patterns to make money in any business.

  3. The Level-Up & The Marketer: Two and a half years later, Alex has six successful gyms. He pays a famous marketer $25,000 for an hour of his time. He explains his own gym model to the marketer:

    • He opens new gyms with no debt by pre-selling memberships in an empty building.
    • He uses a “Free 6-Week Challenge” as his attraction offer.
    • The Math: He pays ~600 program, and he makes another 20 spent on 4 leads, he makes 1 in and gets $34 out within 48 hours.**
    • The Back-End: Two-thirds of the challenge participants convert to full-time memberships, using their 20,000/month in recurring revenue for a $3,000 initial lease deposit.

  4. The Pivot: The marketer is stunned by Alex’s model and gives him crucial advice: “You have a level 10 skill set and a level 2 opportunity. You shouldn’t be running gyms. You should be showing other gym owners how to do what you just showed me.”

    • Alex takes the advice, sells his gyms, and starts Gym Launch.

  5. The Success: Gym Launch becomes a massive success. Over 5 years, Alex takes 46.2 million in cash, crossing a **200 million in annual revenue.

The Purpose of the Book: The book aims to teach the “how” behind this success: creating a “money model” that makes so much money from customers upfront (within 30 days) that the cost of acquiring more customers is never a problem again.

Section 1: What’s a Money Model?

  • Definition: A money model is a deliberate sequence of offers designed to solve a customer’s problems at the exact moment they arise.
  • The Car Rental Example: Hormozi uses a personal story of renting a car to illustrate. He intended to pay 100/day because the agent skillfully presented a sequence of offers solving problems he didn’t even know he had:
    1. Vehicle Upgrade: Solved his “big guy in a small car” problem.
    2. Late Return Option: Solved his potential “late fees/rushing for a flight” problem.
    3. Premium Insurance: Solved his “worry about dinging the car” problem.
    4. Prepaid Gas: Solved his “having to stop for gas before a flight” problem.
  • Good vs. Bad Money Models:
    • Bad Model: Costs more to acquire a customer than you make in initial profit, requiring a long time (months or years) to become profitable. This starves the business of cash.
    • Good Model: Makes enough profit from a customer within 30 days to cover the cost of acquiring them (and ideally, the next one). This allows for rapid, self-funded growth, as it can be financed with a credit card paid off monthly.
  • The Four Offer Types: A money model is built by combining four types of offers:
    1. Attraction Offers: Get customers in the door.
    2. Upsell Offers: Increase the immediate transaction value.
    3. Downsell Offers: Capture sales from those who say “no” to the initial offer.
    4. Continuity Offers: Create recurring revenue.

Section 2: Attraction Offers

These offers turn strangers into customers by offering something free or at a steep discount, making the deal irresistible.

  1. Win Your Money Back:

    • Concept: Customers pay for a product/service and can earn a full refund (as cash or store credit) if they achieve a specific result or complete specific actions within a timeframe.
    • How it Works: The criteria must be simple, trackable, and designed to get the customer results (e.g., attend all sessions, log progress, post on social media).
    • Key Tactic: When a customer “wins,” their refund is offered as a credit towards a longer-term, more expensive program (the rollover upsell). The goal is not to give refunds, but to convert successful short-term clients into long-term ones. Even “losers” can be offered the credit to encourage them to continue.

  2. Giveaways (or Scholarships):

    • Concept: Advertise a chance to win a high-value grand prize (e.g., a “full-ride scholarship” to your program) in exchange for contact information.
    • How it Works: One person wins the grand prize. Everyone else who entered is contacted and told they’ve won a “partial scholarship” or a significant discount on the very thing they wanted to win.
    • Key Tactic: This generates a large list of highly qualified leads who have already expressed interest in your premium product. The “surprise” discount feels like a win and converts at a high rate.

  3. Decoy Offer:

    • Concept: Advertise a very low-cost or free basic version of your service. When the lead comes in, present them with two options: the basic (decoy) option and a vastly superior premium option.
    • How it Works: The premium option is loaded with features, support, and guarantees, making the basic option seem clearly inferior for achieving the desired result. The contrast makes the premium option an easy choice.
    • Key Tactic: Frame the choice with a question like, “Are you here for free stuff or are you here for lasting results?” Most will say results, giving you permission to focus on selling the premium offer.

  4. Buy X, Get Y Free:

    • Concept: Instead of offering a percentage discount, reframe the price to include free items.
    • How it Works: A “Buy 1, Get 2 Free” offer on boots is more compelling than “3 Pairs of Boots for $600.” The perceived value of “free” is higher. The price of the first item is inflated to cover the cost of all three.
    • Key Tactic: This works best when “Y” (the free items) is a larger number than “X” (the paid items). “Buy 1, Get 2 Free” is stronger than “Buy 2, Get 1 Free.” It drives a higher average order value.

  5. Pay Less Now or Pay More Later:

    • Concept: Offer a program with two payment options. Option 1: Pay 297) in a few days if you’re satisfied. Option 2: Pay a discounted price (e.g., $97) right now and get extra bonuses (like recordings).
    • How it Works: This removes all risk for the customer with the “pay later” option, attracting many sign-ups. The discount and bonuses for the “pay now” option incentivize immediate cash collection from a portion of those sign-ups.

Section 3: Upsell Offers

An upsell is whatever you offer next to increase the immediate profit from a customer.

  1. The Classic Upsell:

    • Concept: Solve the very next problem that your first product creates, based on the structure “You can’t have X without Y.”
    • Example: The storage unit owner selling a lock. A gym selling supplements because “you can’t out-train a bad diet.” A car rental company selling insurance.
    • Key Tactic: BamFam (Book A Meeting From A Meeting). Never let a customer interaction end without scheduling the next one, creating more opportunities to solve their next problem and make another offer.

  2. Menu Upsells:

    • Concept: A sophisticated, multi-step process for presenting a menu of options that makes the customer feel they are getting a personalized recommendation.
    • How it Works:
      1. Unselling: Start by telling them what they don’t need, crossing items off a list. This builds trust.
      2. Prescribing: Confidently tell them what they do need and exactly how to use it, as if they’ve already bought it.
      3. A/B Upsell: Instead of asking “Do you want this?” (a yes/no question), ask “Do you prefer A or B?” (e.g., “Chocolate or Vanilla?”). Both answers result in a sale.
      4. Card on File: Make payment frictionless by asking, “Do you want to use the card we have on file?”

  3. Anchor Upsell:

    • Concept: Present a very high-priced premium option first to “anchor” the customer’s perception of value.
    • How it Works: Hormozi tells a story of trying on a 2,200 suit, which suddenly seemed like a fantastic deal. He bought it, spending 5x his original budget.
    • Key Tactic: The first offer must be presented seriously. After the customer balks, the second, more reasonable offer feels like a rescue and a great value, leading to a higher closing rate on that main offer.

  4. Rollover Upsell:

    • Concept: Credit a customer’s previous purchase towards a new, more expensive offer.
    • How it Works: This is the key to the “Win Your Money Back” model. Instead of giving a 600 as a credit towards a 12-month membership (e.g., $50 off per month for a year).
    • Key Tactic: The customer feels like they got their money back, but the business secures a long-term, paying client. This can also be used to “win back” old customers by offering to credit their past purchases.

Section 4: Downsell Offers

A downsell is what you offer after someone says “no,” designed to still make a sale and capture revenue. Rule #1: Never offer the same thing for a lower price. Instead, change the offer.

  1. Payment Plan Downsell:

    • Concept: Offer the same product for the same total price, but break the payments up over time.
    • How it Works: Many “I can’t afford it” objections are really “I can’t afford it right now.” By splitting the payment (e.g., half now, half on their next payday), you overcome the cash flow objection without devaluing your product.

  2. Trial with Penalty:

    • Concept: Offer a free trial, but with conditions. If the customer doesn’t complete the required actions (e.g., attend all check-in calls), they are charged a penalty fee.
    • How it Works: This ensures that free trial users are engaged and are more likely to see results, making them prime candidates to convert to paying customers. The penalty deincentivizes non-serious users.

  3. Feature Downsell:

    • Concept: Lower the price by removing or reducing features, quality, or quantity.
    • How it Works: If a customer says no to your “all-inclusive” package, you can offer a version without the 1-on-1 calls, or with email-only support, or without the money-back guarantee, for a lower price.
    • Key Tactic: By removing a high-value feature (like a guarantee), the customer often realizes its importance and may even change their mind and buy the original, higher-priced offer.

Section 5: Continuity Offers

These offers create recurring revenue by providing ongoing value for ongoing payments.

  1. Continuity Bonus Offer:

    • Concept: Incentivize signing up for a recurring subscription by offering a high-value, one-time bonus upfront.
    • Example: “Get our 100/month membership today.” The value of the bonus outweighs the initial cost, making the decision easy.

  2. Continuity Discount Offer:

    • Concept: Offer a period of free service in exchange for a longer-term commitment.
    • Example: A cell phone company offers a “free” phone if you sign a 2-year contract. A trash company offers “1 Year Free Service” for a 5-year contract.
    • Key Tactic: Bill every 4 weeks instead of monthly. There are 13 four-week periods in a year but only 12 months, resulting in an 8.3% increase in annual revenue for no extra work.

  3. Waved Fee Offer:

    • Concept: Present two options for joining. Option 1: A flexible month-to-month plan with a large, one-time setup fee. Option 2: A 12-month commitment where the large setup fee is completely waived.
    • How it Works: The high setup fee makes the long-term commitment the much more attractive option. If they break the commitment, they are required to pay the original fee they avoided. This heavily incentivizes customer retention.

Section 6: Make Your Money Model

This section ties everything together into a cohesive strategy.

  • The 3 Stages of Building a Money Model:
    1. Stage 1: Get Cash (Attraction Offers): Start by mastering one attraction offer to get customers in the door profitably.
    2. Stage 2: Get More Cash (Upsells & Downsells): Once acquisition is reliable, layer in upsells to increase immediate profit and downsells to increase the overall conversion rate.
    3. Stage 3: Get the Most Cash (Continuity Offers): Finally, add continuity offers to maximize the lifetime value of each customer and build predictable, recurring revenue.
  • Key Principles:
    • Perfect One Offer at a Time: Don’t try to build the entire complex model at once. Master each stage before moving to the next.
    • Simple Scales, Fancy Fails: It’s better to have a few products with many ways to offer them than to have hundreds of complex products.
    • Use Affiliates: If you don’t have an upsell or a related product, sell someone else’s for a commission to fill gaps in your money model without adding operational complexity.

Final Thoughts

Hormozi concludes with a motivational message, emphasizing that confidence comes not from affirmations but from a “stack of undeniable proof” that you are who you say you are. He encourages entrepreneurs to “outwork your self-doubt” and remember that “you cannot lose if you do not quit.” The book ends with a list of free resources, courses, and links to his other work.

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