Model beats methods (how to upgrade your business model in minutes)

Daniel Bennett ★ -

Why your funnel hacks keep failing (and the one lever that fixes them).

Your ads, emails, and A/B-tests aren’t broken—your business model is. Fix that upstream lever and every downstream metric obeys.

(Skip to the end for the Business Model Scorecard app plus some awesome Ask AI CEO Coach prompts that print).

1. Why “Model beats Methods” matters

Alex Hormozi’s mantra is simple: a business wins or loses first because of its engine—its model—not because of clever hacks. Your model decides who you serve, what you promise, how cash arrives, and why the numbers compound. When that engine is healthy, even average marketing works. If it’s weak, the fanciest funnels only spin your wheels.

2. What “Model > Methods” really means

  • Business model = value engine. It defines who you serve, what you sell, how cash moves, and why the unit economics compound en.wikipedia.org.
  • Methods = tactics. Ads, funnels, pricing tricks, copy tweaks. They’re the dials you spin after the engine is bolted together designsociety.org.
  • Alex Hormozi’s core advice in his 2024 video “How I’d Build a Business in 2025”: choose the highest-leverage model first, then layer methods. He hammers the rule of thumb—Model beats Methods 10:1—because the wrong engine multiplies zero. medium.com.

3. Three resilient models to explore for 2025—plus proof they work

a. Subscription / membership
A subscription keeps customers paying without a fresh sales call every month.

  • Netflix’s switch from mailing DVDs to an all-you-can-stream plan vaulted it from 7 million accounts in 2007 to 27 million by 2012, quadrupling revenue in the process oxfordexecutive.co.uk.
  • Adobe copied the play: Creative Cloud turned a $16 billion company into a $200 billion giant by locking in predictable ARR robbiebax.medium.com.
  • Even razors prove the point—Dollar Shave Club’s $1-a-month box was so sticky Unilever paid $1 billion for only 3.2 million subscribers vanityfair.com.

b. Licensing your IP once, collecting forever
Licensing is infinite gross-margin income: build an asset, let others pay to use it, and skip the cost of delivery.

  • Marvel went from bankruptcy to billions by renting Spider-Man, the Hulk, and friends to toy makers and studios—one Hulk-Hands toy line alone hit $100 million in sales wipo.int.
  • ARM Holdings scales the same idea in tech: chipmakers pay $1-10 million up front and ~2 % per chip in royalties, a model that generated more than half of ARM’s $824 million Q3 FY-2024 revenue strategyzer.comnextplatform.com.

c. Productized “agency-in-a-box” services
Standardize a done-for-you outcome behind fixed pricing and SOPs, then hire teammates to run the checklist.

  • Design Pickle took unlimited graphic-design tasks, wrapped them in a flat monthly fee, and sprinted to $400 k MRR in under three years sidehustlenation.com. Because delivery is templatized, margins stay above 70 % and the founder steps out of day-to-day work.

4. How to pick—or pivot—your engine in minutes

The quick scorecard

  1. List every way you make money: one-off sales, retainers, usage fees, subscriptions.
  2. For each, rate Lifetime Value, CAC payback speed, Fulfilment cost, Scalability from 1-5.
  3. Add the scores; the highest composite reveals today’s best engine.

Real-world walk-through
Creator Ali Abdaal sold stand-alone video courses for years. When he ran the numbers, retention (0), scalability (2), fulfilment cost (4), and CAC payback (3) totaled 9/20—not great. He pivoted to Part-Time YouTuber Academy, a live cohort that rolls into a paid alumni community. The new scores—retention (4), scalability (4), cost (5), payback (4)—hit 17/20. Result: the cohort alone drove ~$2.5 million ARR in 2021 and now accounts for half of his $4.7 million business teachfloor.com.

Try it yourself
Open a blank sheet (or use the app - link below), run the four-factor score, and circle the winner. If nothing breaks 15, your model needs a redesign before another ad dollar leaves your wallet.

5. DO THE WORK

  • Write your model in one plain sentence.
  • Pause two flashy tactics that don’t move that engine.
  • Choose one health metric—LTV/CAC, gross margin, or retention—and watch it daily.
  • Block 30 minutes tomorrow to sketch or refine the stronger model. Protect that slot like a workout.

Build the best engine first + let every tactic serve it = win bigger.

6. Game plan with AI prompts (+ optional side quests)

(Copy each prompt straight into ChatGPT, Claude, or your favorite assistant and let your AI growth coach show off.)

Block a 30-minute design session
Ask AI Prompt:

“Create a calendar invite description for a 30-minute ‘Business Model Design Sprint’ tomorrow at 9 a.m. Include an agenda with (a) scorecard review, (b) brainstorm of model tweaks, (c) next-step commitments. Make it motivating and short.”

Pick one “engine health” metric & set a scoreboard
Ask AI Prompt:

“Given my model sentence, recommend the single KPI that best predicts long-term success (options: LTV / CAC, gross margin %, monthly retention %, or payback period). Explain why you chose it, then outline a simple daily tracking sheet I can update in under 2 minutes.”

Identify two tactics to shelve for a week
Ask AI Prompt:

“Audit my current growth tactics against the model above. List every tactic that isn’t directly improving LTV, gross margin, or retention. Flag the two biggest time sinks and suggest how to pause or delegate them for the next 7 days.”

Clarify your model in one plain sentence
Ask AI Prompt:

“You are a ruthless clarity coach. Help me condense this description into one sentence that states who pays, for what outcome, and why now. Here’s my draft:
— [paste whatever you sell + how you sell it]
Keep only the essentials; delete fluff.”

Side Quests (optional, but power-ups await)

🛠 Side Quest #1 – Customer-truth mini-interviews
Ask AI Prompt:

“Write five DM templates—each under 50 words—that invite past customers onto a 10-minute call. Goal: confirm which part of my offer felt most valuable and what recurring version they’d pay for today.”

📊 Side Quest #2 – Competitor score card
Ask AI Prompt:

“List my top five competitors or substitutes. For each, estimate their model type (subscription, licensing, productized service, etc.), pricing anchor, and one strategic weakness I could exploit.”

💰 Side Quest #3 – $100 pricing experiment
Ask AI Prompt:

“Design a micro-test that spends no more than $100 to validate demand for a subscription version of my offer. Outline landing page copy, checkout flow (use Gumroad or Thrivecart), and success criteria (e.g., 10 pre-orders).”

⚙️ Side Quest #4 – SOP snapshot
Ask AI Prompt:

“Create a one-page template for documenting a repeatable task inside my delivery process. Fields: Objective, Trigger, Inputs, Steps, Time Budget, Quality Check. Provide an example filled out for [your most common task].”

🎯 Side Quest #5 – KPI dashboard mockup
Ask AI Prompt:

“Sketch (in text) a simple dashboard layout I could build in Google Sheets: columns for Date, New Customers, Churned Customers, Revenue, CAC, LTV/CAC ratio. Include a formula legend. Then create it in a downloadable file.”

Run the main mission first; pick one side quest if you’ve got extra XP to spend this week.

Check out the Business Model Scorecard app here and download your pdf scorecard (built with loveable.dev & running for as long as it runs).

Upgrade Your Business Model Now

Remember, the scoreboard rewards reps and tiny steps add up. – Daniel