The Game with Alex Hormozi
The Game with Alex Hormozi

How to Think Like the Top 1% | Ep 996

September 3, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

How to Think Like the Top 1% | Ep 996

"You're making mistakes in entrepreneurship because of patterns you have yet to recognize. And those happen because the solutions to your sticking point are counterintuitive."

Alex Hormozi opens with a distinction that matters: the counterintuitive solutions that trap entrepreneurs are not the same as psychological versus logical solutions. A motion-activated sprinkler to stop a neighbor's dog from soiling your lawn is a clever psychological workaround, but it is still intuitive once you think about it. The kind of counterintuitive thinking that separates stuck entrepreneurs from growing ones goes deeper—it requires doing the opposite of what feels right, even when every instinct screams otherwise.

Hormozi identifies the pattern plainly: in most everyday situations, the intuitive solution works fine. You have a problem, you try the obvious fix, the problem goes away, you move on. But the larger problems in business—the ones that keep companies stuck at $1 million, $10 million, $30 million, or $100 million—demand answers that feel wrong. Here are the strongest of the ten he has collected.

Pay More to Lower Your Labor Costs

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **Entrepreneurial Mistakes and Counterintuitive Solutions** - Introduces the core thesis: entrepreneurs get stuck because the solutions to their problems are counterintuitive, not just psychological vs. logical.
  • 2 (01:52) **#1: Labor Costs Too Much? Pay Your People More** - Argues that high labor costs are often caused by paying below-market wages, which attracts lower-quality talent.
  • 3 (03:06) **#2: To Make More Money, Sell Fewer Products** - Challenges the intuition that adding more products increases revenue, arguing the opposite leads to higher profits.
  • 4 (03:53) **#3: To Grow, Get Narrower, Not Broader** - Warns against expanding your target audience too early; niching down increases perceived value and pricing power.
  • 5 (06:39) **#4: Hear "No" More to Make More Profit** - Advises raising prices until your close rate drops, because higher margins from fewer customers beat higher volume at lower prices.
  • 6 (08:39) **#5: Do More of What Works, Not Something New** - Counterintuitively, the best growth move is to double down on existing channels, not launch new ones.

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Guests on this episode

Show Notes

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Entrepreneurs often make mistakes by defaulting to intuitive solutions when a big business problem might require counterintuitive solutions. In this episode, Alex breaks down the top counterintuitive moves that scale a business, from pricing and hiring to niching down and doing more of what's already working.


In this episode

00:00 Intuitive vs counterintuitive business solutions 

01:51 #1: Pay employees more to reduce labor costs

03:19 #2: Sell fewer products to make more money

04:05 #3: Niche down to scale your business

07:01 #4: Raise prices, hear more nos to increase profits

09:01 #5: Do more of what’s working, not something new


More Value:

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Get the $100M Book Bundle: https://shop.acquisition.com/pages/100m-book-bundle  

Watch My Latest Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexHormozi/featured 

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Discover The Easiest Business I Can Help You Start (Free Trial): https://www.skool.com/hormozi   

Additional Free Books and Video Courses: https://www.acquisition.com/training  


DISCLOSURE: Information shared here is for educational purposes only. Individuals and business owners should evaluate their own business strategies and identify any potential risks. The information shared here is not a guarantee of success. Your results may vary. Copyright © 2026.

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