Leila Hormozi Steps into her Billion Dollar Empire with Acquisition.com
In this exclusive Leila Hormozi interview, we go behind the empire and into the mind of one of today’s most dynamic entrepreneurs. Known for her strategic genius, raw honesty, and billion-dollar insights, Leila shares what it really takes to build lasting wealth, lead with purpose, and redefine what power looks like for women in business.
Leila Hormozi is a force in modern entrepreneurship—a strategic powerhouse, a transformative leader, and a woman unapologetically redefining what’s possible. Born into a lineage of trailblazing women—her grandmother was one of the first female college professors in Iran—Leila was raised by a father who instilled in her the conviction to never rely on anyone but herself. That early empowerment ignited her drive to pursue greatness, not within the limits of what was expected, but within the realm of what was possible.
By the age of 24, Leila was leading hundreds of employees and forging her path as a woman in business without a roadmap or a role model. Today, as co-founder of Acquisition.com, she’s built a portfolio generating over $200M+ in annual revenue, all while maintaining a deep devotion to integrity, culture, and long-term impact.
Leila is not just a businesswoman—she’s a movement. She is fiercely committed to showing women that they don’t have to choose between ambition and softness, leadership and love. With her husband and business partner, Alex Hormozi, she exemplifies what it means to build a partnership rooted in mutual respect, growth, and shared vision. Her content, deeply rooted in psychology, leadership, and strategic execution, resonates because it comes from lived experience. She doesn’t just talk about mindset—she lives it. Whether she’s addressing the importance of flexibility in routines or the grit required to lead a billion-dollar enterprise, Leila leads by example.
Her mission now? To become the role model she never had. To prove that women can do it all—not by sacrificing parts of themselves, but by embracing their multidimensionality. With Acquisition.com, Leila is building more than companies—she’s building leaders, and her journey is only just beginning.
Who inspired you to step into business so young?
Growing up, my dad was always about empowering me and my sister. He would say, “I want you to be able to take care of yourself.” His mother, my grandmother, was actually the first female college professor in Iran—until then, only men were allowed to teach. That stuck with him and deeply influenced the way he raised us.
My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and while that’s powerful in its own right, I often heard her talk about a void she felt, like she’d put her dreams on the back burner. That scared me. I knew I never wanted to do that. I wanted to push outside of the box of what I believed was possible for myself.
So I dove into personal development. I listened to Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Les Brown on repeat. They were all entrepreneurs. They taught me that yes, it’s hard, but the freedom on the other side is worth it. That’s when I knew—I’d rather risk failure than live a life of untapped potential.
You’ve mentioned not having a female role model in business growing up. Has that shaped how you show up today?
Absolutely. I didn’t have a woman I could look at and say, “She’s doing it the way I want to do it.” So I made it my mission to become that woman. I wanted to be someone who could be feminine, enjoy life, care about fashion and friends—but also lead, run a company, and speak powerfully in a room full of men. That’s what I aim to embody every day.
Who were you before you started to build external success?
Something I’ve learned is that success doesn’t change you so much as it amplifies who you already were. Before all of it, I was very insecure and anxious. I had a lot of things I wanted to prove to myself. I still do. None of that has been solved. What I’ve gained through the process of setting goals and then achieving them is respect for myself, and that respect has led to self-trust. If you can trust yourself, then you can set bigger and bigger goals, because you’re no longer worried about letting yourself down. I still feel insecure. I still have fears. But I also trust myself a lot more now. I have more respect for myself, and more confidence in my abilities. That comes from building a repertoire of irrefutable evidence—through actions.
I was listening to a podcast where someone broke down the top 15 founders of all time. Something he said stuck with me: “This isn’t for everybody, because it’s really difficult—and excellence is being willing to suck.” That hit me. It might sound strange, but I find joy in suffering. The only place I’ve truly built character has been through suffering. I’ve learned so much about myself through pain. I’ve seen what happens when you push through the hard stuff. Now, I know how to engage with suffering in a way I didn’t before.
What do you think came first—the trust or the confidence?
Trust in myself. If you don’t know you have your own back, it’s hard to be confident in anything. If I don’t trust myself to follow through, how can I show up with confidence to you, my team, or anyone else? I can’t. Confidence comes from trusting that I’ll do what needs to be done.
Would you call yourself a motivational speaker or an entrepreneur first?
Entrepreneur, 100%. I never set out to be motivational, but I think when you share the truth and people feel it, they get inspired. Business is about people. I love psychology and behavioral science because at its core, leadership is about understanding what drives people. Whether it’s helping someone lose weight after 40 years or move up in a company after a decade, it’s the same skill—how do you help someone become their best self?
What is a truth about yourself that you’ve never said in an interview before?
I don’t know if it would surprise people, but I’m very much a people person. I love people. I love leading them. I love building teams and creating cultures that are uplifting and positive. A lot of that comes from the fact that my inner world isn’t those things. When a photographer walks in and says, “Say sassy, cute, hot,” I’m not saying those things to myself. I’m saying, “Bitch, lose five pounds. You can do better.” I’m incredibly hard on myself. Everyone who knows me sees that.
It’s difficult for me to celebrate myself. It’s easy for me to celebrate others. I love creating an environment for other people to thrive in, and I think that’s because I give to others what I don’t give to myself. That’s been a lifelong journey for me. My internal world is strict. I’m maniacal about details. I like to control variables. I don’t let myself quit when things get hard. Those traits help in business—but they don’t make you happy. They don’t help in your relationship. They don’t make you a good friend.
Everything that makes you a champion in business can ruin the rest of your life if you don’t manage it. For me, the last decade has been about trying to be this intense, driven person here—without letting it spill into everything else. I don’t need to control my relationship, my friendships, or my health in the same way. I can be obsessive in one lane. When the lines start to blur, I know I have to separate them. I want to give all the fucks over here, and none over there.
Let’s talk about your relationship and business partnership with Alex. What’s the formula that makes it work?
Neither of us would be in this relationship if we weren’t assets to each other. That’s the baseline. For me, I needed someone who would feed my ambition, not suppress it. For Alex, he wanted someone he respected. And we found that in each other.
Everything we do is built on the idea of creating win-wins. If I grow, it benefits him. If he grows, it benefits me. We’re constantly thinking: how do our personal wins become shared wins?
What’s been your proudest accomplishment to date?
It’s not the money. Honestly, when I got the biggest wire of my life, it didn’t change how I felt. But when the Acquisition.com sign went up on our building, I cried. I’d dreamed of that as a little girl—a business with a team, a building, and a sign. That meant something.
Do you have a strict morning or night routine?
Girl, I’m grinding more than ever. Having a team doesn’t mean I work less. I work more—and harder. The motivation changes though. I’m not doing it for money. I’m financially free. I do it because of who I become through the process.
I used to have strict routines. Now, I value flexibility more. Life is unpredictable. If I have a 4:30 a.m. emergency call, I can’t wait until after a cold plunge and yoga. You have to be able to function even when everything is chaotic. The most flexible systems win.
Any grounding practices that help you recalibrate?
Walking. Being in nature. Spending real time with my husband. Seeing my team. Those moments reconnect me to myself.
What are your non-negotiables for a better life?
Do stuff you like, with people you like. That’s it.
Coffee or tea? Sweet or salty?
Coffee—decaf mostly—and chamomile tea at night. And sweet all day. I could eat a can of frosting with a cookie. Not proud, but it’s true.
What’s the key shift between six to nine-figure success?
Six figures: Start a business. Reach out to your community. Sell something.
Seven figures: Do what you did at six figures, but every day and with the same quality.
Eight figures: You need to manage people. You must learn to influence and lead.
Nine figures: You have to lead a movement. Inspire beyond your organization. Become a symbol of what you stand for.
What are you working on to reach ten figures now?
Capacity. Time. Energy. Privacy becomes scarce. I have to manage chaos and carve out deep strategic thinking time. The biggest shift at that level is understanding leverage: where can I put my time and get 100x the return? That’s what I’m optimizing.
Do you intuitively turn it on and off?
I can usually tell when things are starting to bleed together, because I start feeling overwhelmed. That’s the signal. I’m lucky to have people around me who check me when it happens. My admin team will look at me like, “Why are you doing this?” Even my husband will say, “Hey, I can feel your energy going somewhere it doesn’t need to.” Holding on helps me in business, but it hurts me elsewhere. I’m still learning how to let go in the right places.
What was the single most defining moment in your life that changed everything?
The single most defining moment in my life was when I left my mother’s house at 14. She was an alcoholic and a drug addict. For six or seven years, I tried to cover it up. I didn’t want anyone to know. My parents had divorced, and I was afraid that if I left, someone would come take me away from her—or worse, she’d kill herself. I truly believed that.
Eventually, I came to understand the concept of enabling. I realized that, even as her child, my presence was enabling her behavior. I cleaned up after her. I took care of the pets. I paid the bills. I handled things no child should be responsible for. When I finally left, it was the first time I ever put myself first. I had spent six years sacrificing everything for her, and I was miserable. I was a child.
It hit me: staying wasn’t helping her. It was hurting both of us. That moment changed everything. It taught me that allowing people to depend on me too much doesn’t just hurt me—it hurts them. I learned I could survive hard things. I learned that sometimes what you think will be the worst thing in the world, isn’t. I learned that no relationship—not even a parent—is more important than the one I have with myself.
When did that transition happen for you internally?
I started going to Children of Alcoholics Anonymous. I had no idea how to handle what I was going through, but there was a center in my neighborhood, and I decided to check it out. I’ll never forget that first session. They explained enabling, and it was like someone turned on the lights.
Suddenly, I saw it. I realized I had more power than I thought. I told her boyfriend at the time, “You’re enabling her too. You drive her. You make it easy for her to keep going like this. We have to stop. She has to hit rock bottom.” He looked at me and said, “I’m not going to do that.”
Leaving her was physically painful. I loved her so much. But then she disappeared. Went on a bender for a few days. I was up all night wondering if she was dead. Sitting alone in the guest room of her house, I had this thought: I have to make all of this worth something. My life has to be worth this pain. The only way to do that is to leave this situation.
I had this vision. I asked myself, “What kind of woman do you want to be for all the other women dealing with this?” The answer was clear. She wouldn’t stay. She would leave. She would take care of herself. Ironically, when your parent is an alcoholic, they blame you. I heard it every day: “You’re why I drink. You’re why I’m miserable. You’re why I want to kill myself.” At the same time, I knew I was the reason she was still alive. That experience shaped me. It taught me how to lead. I had to lead myself long before I ever led a team or a company.
What would you tell that 14-year-old version of yourself today?
It’s going to feel awful. Sometimes you’ll think you’re going to die from how bad it feels. But you won’t. You’re going to be okay. It’s okay to feel terrible. It’s okay to be scared. You will make it through this.
I was so at odds with the emotions I felt after leaving. For a long time, I shut down completely. I didn’t know what a real feeling felt like. I was numb for years—probably until I was 25. I wasn’t feeling deep sadness, but I wasn’t feeling real joy either. I just stayed in the middle.
At one point, I realized, “Everything I want to achieve in life… I can’t do it like this. I can’t live like a robot.” You don’t build meaningful relationships, do great work, or enjoy life when you’re emotionally shut down. I’m still careful about who I show my emotions to, but I’m not afraid of them anymore.
For more on Leila’s latest ventures, visit her official site: acquisition.com
Photography by Lindy Lin
