
Russell Brunson is the co-founder of ClickFunnels and a driving force behind the online marketing revolution. From hustling potato gun DVDs in college to building a $100 million software company, he’s proof that big ideas and relentless execution...
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Hey, guys, Tommy here. A couple of weeks ago, I was in the studio with Russell Brunson, a digital marketing genius and the founder of Click Funnels, who also hosts the top business podcast, the Russell Brunson Show. I posted an abbreviated cut of the interview last week on my other podcast, the Mellow Millionaire with Tommy Mello. And guys, if you haven't checked that show out yet, make sure to give it a like and follow. We've got a lot of great episodes over there that you don't want to miss with guests that aren't featured on the Home Service Expert podcast. But today is a special treat for all of my day one Home Service Expert listeners. We're sharing an extended cut of my interview with Russell Brunson just for you guys. That means over 35 extra minutes of insider tips from one of the most brilliant minds in digital marketing. Only on the Home Service Expert. All right, let's get back to it. Welcome to the Home Service Expert, where each week Tommy chats with world class.
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Entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing, sales, hiring and leadership to find out what's really behind their success in business.
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Now, your host, the home service millionaire, Tommy Mello. Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes. But I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text notes N O t e s to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right, guys, welcome back. Today is a great day. It's been a fantastic day. I got Russell Brunson in the house. This dude is fantastic. Like, if you don't know who Russell Brunson is, you don't understand the marketing side of your business. Marketing is more important than sales. It's more important than anything. You've got to get the phones ringing. You got to get the clicks. Russell Brunson is the co founder and CEO of Click Funnels. A New York bestselling author.com Secrets and a Bunch more books. Unlock the secret, the traffic Secrets. He's the host of the Russell Brunson show. He's a business Coach, co founder, $360 million software company that revolutionized how entrepreneurs sell online. His secrets book trilogy has sold millions of copies and become the playbook for digital marketers. Russell has built a global empire by mastering the art of the sales funnel. So how did you become so fascinated with funnels? And I know a lot of people that work on funnel hacking and just figuring out how to make the phone ring. One of my buddies, Josh Snow, genius guy, just, I love hanging out with guys like you because I learned so much.
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We're nerds. Yeah. For me, it was so. It's funny, last time I was on a conversation with young entrepreneurs, like, I was always a young guy in every room, right? I was like 20, 21 years old. I got started, but that was 25 years ago. So 25 years ago, before Facebook, Instagram, before MySpace, like, we were trying to figure out how to make money online while I was in college. And it was weird. Cause, like, there was not all these people teaching this. It was a different world, right? And so we just tried a lot of things. And some things worked and some things didn't. And one of my first businesses I had was teaching people how to make potato guns. That was my first thing. And that was, like, where I started experimenting. So, like, I had a DVD teaching people make potato guns. And so I set up a landing page. We drove traffic to it, started making sales, and then. And then that's where it all began. And then from there it's like, well, how do we make this thing make more money? What does that look like? And then one of my friends was one of the first people ever do an upsell. And he's like. He calls me one day. He's like, dude. He's like, I had an upsell. And back then, it wasn't like one click. Upsells. You had like, put your credit card. The next page you put your credit card. But he's like, had multiple offers, and he's like, one out of three people are buying the next thing. I'm like, what? I'm like, how? Like, I'm like, how should I do that? He's like, well, you're selling the dvd. Like, what's the next thing somebody needs after they buy the potato gun dvd? I'm like, well, they gotta go to Home Depot and buy the pipes and the glue. And all that kind of stuff. He's like, sell em a kit. And I was like, all right. So I threw up a page. Like, they buy the DVD next page. Like, for 200 bucks, buy a kit, and I'll just ship you all the stuff and you can make it. And sure enough, one out of three people bought that. And I was like, holy crap. And then we started testing little things and little things. And so the next decade of my life, it was like, that's all it was. Like, we would test the little thing and it would double how much money made. We test this thing. 30% increase, test this thing. And so for 10 years, it was just. It was like a nerd in a science lab. I could just. We would test things and we made more money. And I remember I was never a good student. I never loved school. But as soon as I was like, I would learn something, I would try it, and then my income would go up. I was like, try. You know, it was like every day. In fact, we had a mantra. It's like, how do you give yourself a raise every day? So every day we come in, all right, how do we give yourself a raise today? If we can increase conversions by this, if we can get more people to buy the next thing, we would continually increase how much money we made. And so for 10 years, like, that's what I was doing in a whole bunch of my own businesses, other people's businesses. And then. And then about that time is when I wrote my first book, Dot Com Secrets, which is like, here's. Here's what we learned last 10 years. Like, this is the playbook. And about the same time as when we built clickfunnels, which made it easy, but that's kind of how I got started and why I love this game. And I'm still obsessed with. I still every single day. Because in my company, like, I'm the chief funnel builder. That's what I do. I still build funnels all day. My whole team, we have a whole company with 400 employees that do stuff. But my job is I'm in charge of the funnels. And that's still all I geek out on every day. I'm obsessed with it.
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I get all your ads. I use clickfunnels for several businesses. It's amazing. It makes it so easy. That's the idea, is the ease. Like, dude, my first sales letter, I don't know what was Frank, Hernan, Perry, Belcher and Ryan Dice. And I told those guys, man, I want to be like you. I want to Be on stages. And they're like, well, how's your business doing? I'm like, we're doing like 30 million a year. They're like, in garage doors. And this was 10 years ago. It was in Vegas. And they're like, dude, do not want stages. We gotta come up with the next gimmick all the time. And he's like, we're doing ties now. I think they were doing like. Like, they were selling ties or suits and they were doing. And they're like, you remember that?
B
I don't know. I remember the suits and the cufflinks.
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The cufflinks, yeah. And I'm like, They're like, dude, it's. It's a. It's. It's. They're like, do you know the founders of Home Depot? I'm like, no. He's like, exactly. He's like, most of the people right under the radar. And I did. I wanted the fame, though. I wanted people to know me, but I wanted to know me. Like. Like Damon John.
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Yeah.
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Like, we've hung out a bunch of times. He's like, people know me and like me because I build their businesses. They don't ask me to sing a song or tell my favorite movie I produced. What is it like for you? Because you're the guy. Like, you're the click funnel guy. Like, you. How do you feel? Is it a good feeling of, like, a little bit of fame? Is it weird? What is the feeling you get?
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It's definitely weird. Especially I'm very introverted by nature, and so it's. It's always uncomfortable. You know what I mean? And. And the weirdest thing is, like, I didn't. For me, I never started out for the fame like I was starting out because I was trying to figure out how to make money. Because it's. You know, I was a. I was a student athlete. I was wrestling. I just gotten married. My wife was making nine, 15 hours. I was just trying to figure out how to make money so I didn't have to quit wrestling. And that was my. My only good motivation. I remember having this. I thought, like, I can make a thousand dollars a month. Like, that would change. Like, that would be it. Like, that was my. That was my. In my head at the time, like, the peak goal, you know? And then it was weird because it's like, the nature of what we started doing. Like, I was doing the funnels behind the scenes. It was fun. But then, like, people started asking me, and then I would share stuff, and then that's when guys like, that are like, hey, come speak at our event. Tell people what you're doing. I'm like, ah, it was so uncomfortable for me. But then what was. Like, what was so rewarding is, like, I would go to an event and I would awkwardly speak, and then you see. You'd go. You know, you see someone who get excited, understood it. And I remember because the first time, like, you learn something new, that. That feeling just like, oh, my gosh, this is like, everything's new and exciting and, like. And after a while, it's harder to learn new things. And then I started sharing things with people, and I see them get that in their eye. Like, oh, my gosh. Like, they'd have the aha. You know? And like, I was like, that feels better than when I had it the first time. And then I got addicted to that feeling. And then. Yeah. And so I started doing stage and speaking. And then when we launched ClickFunnels is when my whole world shifted. Like, it blew up. I mean, that. You know, that company went from zero to $100 million in three years. And it was just like, you know, we were everywhere we're speaking. It was just. It was chaos. And I enjoy it. But it's especially, like, for my. You know, my wife's here in town, but she's at home.
A
She's.
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She's very more introverted than me. And, like, for. For her and for our family, it's like, it's still kind of weird. It's like one of those, like, necessary parts of the business, I think. But yeah. Yeah, I think for me, I'm over that part of it now. It's more so, like, I just love. I love watching the people we. We train, like, go and do cool stuff. Like, that's more rewarding for me at this point, you know?
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No, 100%. And I love it, too, when the light bulb turns on. I did yesterday. I just did a virtual event. There was 150 people. Then I did another one. There was 500 people. And the questions were, I could. You couldn't keep up with. And I'm like, I get very excited. Just. I'm like, this one little thing when somebody walks up to you and says, dude, I was on the verge of divorce. I stopped going to church. I was drinking my life away. And then I. I listened to one podcast, or did this one thing changed my life? And did our relationships never have been better? And that, to me, is like, why I keep doing it. Because it's hard to be on the road, and it's Hard. It's a stress. I don't have kids yet. I'm engaged. I've never been married, and my. My relationship's been with the businesses, but there's a lot I want to dig in. I got so many questions. When is enough enough? You know, for you. You're changing lives. That's obviously important. I asked you earlier that you, You. You've not necessarily building to sell this business. What is the goal? I asked Gary Vaynerchuk the same question. He goes, dude, I'm having fun. He's like, I just want to see how far I could go. The goal post always moves. So what about you?
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Yeah, we had an offer four years ago. We could have sold. And that was like. That was the time. That's the question. When's enough enough? Like, what's. Like, what's the reason? Why are we doing this? And it was tough. I remember Tony Robbins actually told me. He's like, so if you were to. If you were to sell it, what would you do next? And I was like, I would try to build what we have. Like, you know, I mean, like, I love what we're doing. I love our community. I love our. Like, the thing we built is. Is like the thing I've been obsessed with for 20 years. Like, we built. And so it's like, that was like, for me, it came down to, like, I don't have something I like more than this. I would rather do. So if I sell it, then it's gone. Then what I do, rest off and chase. I've seen so many who, like, who have sold the business. They cash out, and then they're miserable.
A
After that because they're like, Gina Wickman.
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You know what I mean?
A
Yeah.
B
Yeah. So for me, that. That was. We turned. We turned down an offer that, I mean, was insane in hindsight, like, both my partner, I both. We both would walked away with $120 million in our pockets on top of, you know, still having equity and all of their kind of stuff. And so that's the question. One's enough. Enough. And I think. I don't know. For me, it's. It's like, this isn't. I didn't get in business to be able to, like, to cash out. Like, I. I came to serve, and this is the best vehicle I can serve people in. You know what I mean? And unless I could figure out or build a different or better vehicle, like, until I have that or know what that even is, like, there would be no point. But, yeah, I mean, I'm Sure. You're saying to me, like, we're not kind of guys are going to retire someday.
A
No, no. I'm 42.
B
A lot of people, like, we're selling out, and we're gonna retire. It's like, and then what? And it's like, then I'm gonna build the next thing and then the next thing. So it's like, I love the thing we built. Like, why would I. Until I figure out something to be cooler? But until then, like, I love this. This game is so much fun.
A
I want to challenge you. This is what I love about Dan Martell is he's very good. Because I was like, I had an exit. I sold 40 or 51% of the company. And Dan asked me. He's like, how much do you drive? And I'm like, I did the math. 12 hours a week. He goes, you're gonna hire a driver? And I'm like, dude, I'm a humble guy, dude. I don't want to show up to.
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Work with a driver.
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And he's like, no, you're also gonna hire a chef. He goes, because I know you're eating Uber Eats. We've talked about that. And I hit. He's like, it's selfish not to do that. And so what I ask people is like, is your mom and dad still alive? How old are your kids? Do you have brothers and sisters? How important is the people that work for you? Because you're making all these draws out of the business, living the cash flow. You're living good. And so I gave away $100 million on the first deal to 25 people. This next deal is going to be 200 people. And I'm still in control. I am the business. You're the business. So I strategically look at it, and I go, who, if they were invested in me, could open doors because I'm a networker? You're a networker. I mean, you talked about Tony Robb. These guys that you hang out with, they open a lot of doors. So the question is, for me, is a relationship of an investor. It could be a minority play. Would that exponentially grow the business? And I could. My mom's living her best life. Me and my dad are going on a golf trip next week, and it's not like we couldn't do that. I had $10 million in the bank, and then it ended up being a couple hundred million. And I was like, man, now I could, like, my nieces or my niece and nephews have a trust, and obviously, I don't want them to grow up with, like, they're gonna, they're gonna start door knocking. Like, I know you're a Mormon guy. Like, that's the best upbringing ever is like, I'm like, you're gonna, I'll give you $5,000 just to start your first door knock. And, and so I think it's a vehicle and trust me, I'm busy enough. I, I, I don't golf enough. But I would just say that if it's just strategic partnership that could double the business in a year, wouldn't that be the best thing for everybody? I don't know. I'm just, I'm asking you potentially, and I'm not trying to get you to sell, you know. Yeah, no, I, I think you're amazing. I want to talk about, you know, I wrestled.
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Oh, yeah? Yeah.
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I was a wrestler and I grew up wrestling. I started when I was five. My dad's best friend growing up was all state, seven years in a, like, like the dude, not seven years in a row, but he went to college and played in high school. Badass. His name was Harold King. Like, he was world renowned back then. And, you know, I learned that I was very selfish. I didn't like to play team sports because I was a go getter. And I was like, blame everybody else. Like, and I'd get angry if I lost. I throw off my headgear and I learned to beat. Just my dad taught me to win. That's all I cared about is winning. We didn't get a participation trophy. If I didn't win in soccer or baseball, I mean, we'd have a serious stern meeting that I didn't be a team player. But wrestling really set me up.
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Yeah.
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And I really like to hire wrestlers.
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Yeah.
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Because they take the ownership. They're, they're just like. And then I like to hire team players so they kind of grow into this team player. What did wrestling teach you? Like, because you're obviously super competitive if you wrestle.
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Yeah, Wrestling, I mean, taught me everything I got. You know, I love, I love combat sports. One on one sports because that, because like, you're walking out every single day with no one else around you. Everyone's looking at you and you either win or you lose right in front of everyone. You know, and it's interesting because, like, I coach a lot of entrepreneurs and one of the biggest fears most entrepreneurs have is like, they're scared to, especially first time entrepreneurs. They're scared to try something because they fail, then they're a failure. And so I watch these people who Will who will? Like, year after year after year, like, they read the books, they come to events, they listen to podcasts, they have an idea, but they are so scared of, like, of trying that if they fail, they're gonna be a failure. And so for me, what wrestling, what sports taught me is that, like, if I fail, I'm not a failure. Like, one of. One of my favorite stories about this, my junior year in high school, start of the year, I'm like, my goal is to be state champ. I want to do this, everything right? And worked hard all summer long, told everybody, like, my very first match of the season, I pulled the dude who took second place in state the year before. I was like, okay, this is going to be proof that I'm good enough, right? It's the first match of the season. I wrestle this guy and he beats me. And I was just devastated because in my mind, I'm going to be state champ. And I just lost. First match of the entire season. You know, my entire team, like, knows I've been killing myself. And afterwards, like, I thought you were gonna be state champ. What are you doing now? I'm like, ah. You know, and I go to school and everyone's like, you lost. I thought you were gonna be a state champ. And just embarrassing, humiliating. And like, again, I was a failure. And I'm so lucky. Cause my dad, my dad was awesome. He filmed the match. And then I remember going home that night, and I went to bed just like, feeling depressed and sorry for myself and everything. And my dad watched it over, like, all night long. My dad slept, you know, the entire night. Wake up next morning, about to go to school. He's like, russell, come here. He pulls me over on the carpet. I'm like, annoyed like dad. And he's like, okay, this is what you did wrong. Your hips are wrong. He's working me on these little things, right? And so we did it in the morning. And I was like, just annoyed. And I go to school, kind of depressed. And then I go to practice. Practice gets done. I see my dad, like, running down the stairs afterwards in his workout clothes. I'm like, oh, dad. He comes over, all right, let's drill this up. And then we spend an hour drilling, like, the positions I lost in. And then that was that first day. And the next day, practice. Now my dad comes down the stairs. I'm like, ah, crap. And we did that every single day for the entire four month season. My dad would show up. We drill it, we drill it, we drill it. And I never was in another tournament with that guy until the state tournament. We show up and going in the tournament, I was seated first and he was seated second. So opposite sides of the bracket and, you know, we're wrestling, wrestling. And we get down to both of us make the finals. And again, I remember right before, like an hour before the finals, my dad gets his head geared on, come down. All right, let's go drill again. I'm like, dad, so we go drill again. We go out there in this match, and I wrestle this guy who, you know, four months earlier beat me. And we had the same match, and this time I beat him, win the state title. It's like, you know, one of the greatest moments of my life. And I remember driving home in the car that night and I had the thought of just like, oh, my gosh, like, when I lost four months ago, I thought it was a failure. And I was like, no, I'm not a failure. Like, we just, we learned, like, what, like, how to, like, we learned what I did wrong. The bad positions. And we came back and we drilled it, we fixed it, we fine tuned things. Then we come back now and then four months later able to beat him. Right. I think that's what I try to instill my entrepreneurs just like, okay, when you're creating a business or funnel, whatever, like, throw it out there. And they. It's funny, even this morning, I had a guy who, who came in our coaching program. He just created his first webinar. He did it last night. And I tried to warn him ahead of time, like, hey, the first one's gonna fail. Like, don't stress out. It's all gonna be cool. Like, don't worry about it. And today he messaged me like, oh, like, had 30 people on and you know, I went too long and nobody bought. And you know, and I was. And you can tell he's got that like, like, I failed thing.
A
Yeah.
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And so my first message back was like, dude, this is amazing. I'm like, that's like, now we know. We know. Like, he went too long stories. Like, we know exactly what to fix now. But the problem with most entrepreneurs is they, they don't do the first version because they're so scared of failing. And I think that athletics and sports taught me just like, like, you lose all the time in sports, right? And it's okay because, like, you go through that process, you learn a bunch. And then it's the tweaks and the changes, the iterations that make it. Things win. Like our business now, like, we roll out A new offer. And I'm, you know, we roll out a lot of offers and roll them out really, really fast. And it's like testing the market, like, see what happens. And then sometimes, like, ah, it's not gonna, it's probably not gonna go anywhere. Other times it's like, okay, something's there. It didn't work the way we're supposed to, but now we know. And then we'll sit there and we'll tweak and we'll change and we'll tweak and we'll change. And our goal, anytime we have new offers, like, how do we get the spot where we can spend a million dollars a month in ads profitably on this offer? Like, that's, that's like a winner for us, right? And so for us, it's like, okay, we did it. And it's like, there's numbers. No tweaking, changing, tweaking, changing, until we get to the spot where that's, that's the numbers coming in, you know, and so I don't know. That's what athletics taught me. And I think for those who haven't been athletes, it's like learning that, like, if you fail, you're not a failure. Like, if you, if you fail, like, failure is like the, the most data you can possibly get. And then, and then that's where the game begins. Like, now I lost the first match. Cool. Now I know how to, like, now I have all the info I need to be able to beat him in four months now.
A
Yeah, failure is a good thing. Fail forward. I mean, look, I get on stages all the time and I'm like, I'm the largest failure in this room, guaranteed. But by the time you are trying to, like, you know, ready, fire, aim. You ever heard that? Is by the time you're trying to load the gun, I've already missed a target 18 times. And now I'm hitting the bullseye every time. Yeah, because I jump right in and I jump in and I'm like. And everybody goes, dude, that's not going to work. I'm like, you're right, it's not going to work. But we're going to get it to work because it's hard. I'm like, have you ever been to Mexico or a third world country?
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Yeah.
A
These kids will come up to you with a blanket or whatever and they'll say, senor, you know, please, my family, and they're five years old, and you say, no, no, no, no interested, you know, whatever. They don't go home to Their mom and dad and cry. They are so good with rejection. We talked about this in my meeting earlier. Is like, go for no. Who cares if they say no? No, just I got guys that get excited from a no. No is like, okay, well, why no? So you're used to doing it more online. I'm used to doing it more. Conversation, Having a conversation, smiling and saying, listen, I'm here to earn your business one way or another. I want to make your garage door safe, whatever that looks like.
B
I learned to door though, for my missions, my church. I spent two years knocking door to door selling religion. So I had a. I had a glimpse of that for a little while too. So.
A
No, that makes you stronger. Rejection makes you stronger.
B
Yeah.
A
Do you think there's something in my DNA? I've got adhd. I don't care about failing. I don't care about embarrassing myself. I'd stop caring about what other people think to a certain extent. I care a lot about my fiance, my family. But do you think some people are born entrepreneurs?
B
For sure. I think there's maybe their upbringing or.
A
What do you think?
B
I would think maybe upbringing. But also like, I've got five kids who all came up with the exact same upbringing, and I've got one who's entrepreneurial and four that are not at all. So I, I think, I think there's definitely something there. There's a book I read a while ago called Driven. I don't know if you've read that book, but talks about there's like a gene.
A
There is a gene that people actually have.
B
They're more driven. Yeah. And I think somebody can learn to be entrepreneurial, but I definitely think that like there's. Some people are born with it, with, with that as a. As a tendency. And some people, some people aren't. Which I think is also really important. I mean, you've got a big company. A lot of people. Like, I couldn't. If I had a whole bunch of me's in the, in the company, like.
A
It would be if you had five of you. So you'd have five competitors. Yeah, that's what I say. People are like, I Wish I had 10 of me. I'm like, shoot, then I have 10 freaking guys to compete with.
B
Yeah, for sure. So I think, I think definitely people are more entrepreneurial, but I think also it's like if someone's got the tendencies and they've gotten the genes and stuff like that, like. Yeah, it's just, it's like, how do you spark that and like fuel that. That flame, that fire, and people who want to have it that don't. Doesn't mean they can't be successful. Entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial business. I have friends who are not entrepreneurial, but they run big companies because they realize, like, I want to do this, but I'm not. The dude is going to be risking and throwing my neck out of line and doing, you know, all the kind of things that entrepreneurs have to do. So they. They line themselves and they partner and they become, like, the number two and things like that in a company.
A
Yeah, they're. They're there. So Gina Wickman, I'm bringing him up for the second time, but rocket fuel. He talks about great integrators.
B
Yeah.
A
And we need that as an entrepreneur. We need our. We've got visions all the time is like, put them in an order and try to hit deadlines and delegate well, but we need integrators. Walt Disney would never be with. Without his brother. He would have never been able to. He didn't know what was in the account or how to get caterpillars out there to build the. He just envisioned it. He saw what Disney World looked like in Disneyland.
B
Yeah.
A
And he needed Roy to help him figure it all out. I mean, do you have those people in your company?
B
100%, yeah. One of my first mentors told me. He's like, there's two type of people in this world. There's starters and there's finishers. They figure out who you are and surround yourself with the others. And so I'm. I think I'm one of the greatest starters of all time. And I've got, like, 400 finishers. It's funny because I just got a new assistant recently, and she came in from an outside world, and now she's dealing with me as an entrepreneur, and all the people she's connecting me with are entrepreneurs. And she was like. She's like, are all entrepreneurs like this? I'm like, oh, yeah, we're all nightmare. Like, we are so good. Like, so good at the vision and the, like, smashing through the walls to get things to happen. But we're all. It's hard to schedule. It's hard to figure things out. Like, our brains are all over, you know, and so if it's not for the other people, someone told me it was like, it's like we're like kites. But there's gotta be, like, the integrator on the ground holding the string to, like, to make sure that we can, like, fly the wise. We just, like, go off.
A
And you know, like, that's a really good analogy.
B
I was like, that's how I feel sometimes. It wasn't for all the people me that are holding the strings, I'd be a wreck. I'd be a nightmare.
A
It's so true, man. I can't agree more. Is it's like what I've learned to do is write things down, have systems that get really, really organized, People around me.
B
Yeah.
A
And just the opportunity to delegate. It's so. I'm so spoiled that now it's really hard for me to get in and do the work. Like, where you're still going and building the funnels is this like, now I think about my. Who I need to meet. Like, who do I need to hire? Who's the best of the best on the planet? And I don't settle anymore. I don't fill seats. Like, I could wear any hat in the company right now. I'm the cmo. I partner with five people on my team. And I dug in and I'm like, oh, my gosh, we're in 25% of the bottom line. And I'm like, we're gonna hit 32. From the things I found. I called every vendor And I said, one of four things is gonna happen. Number one, you gotta hold us accountable. With my VPs, we're gonna jump on a call weekly. And I said, Our KPIs must be dialed in or we're going to pull back in these markets and retrain. We train, retrain, retrain. Number two, you're going to have some concessions. We're hitting our KPIs. You're not. You're going to do something for us. Your fees are going to come down. Whatever that looks like. Number three is we're going to start decreasing our spend with you. Number four is we're going to leave this relationship. And you don't want that because I'll bring you hundreds and hundreds of clients. First and foremost, you're going to hold us accountable. It's mostly on us. And they were like, dude, like, what do we do? And I'm like, it's nothing you did wrong. I let this go too far. I'm back in charge of it. And I said, you are? We're not pointing these fingers. We're pointing these fingers back at ourselves. And it's unacceptable what's going on right now. I'm not happy with my marketing comm. And if we need to retrain, we need to top grade. We're willing to do what it takes and I'm not a pit bull that's trying to talk you down on price and renegotiate. I want my vendors to make a lot of money. I believe they need to make a lot of money. They need to stay healthy, you know, innovate. But this is what needs to happen. And I'm just giving you guys fair warning that I need you guys holding us accountable. And, dude, I've never seen people work harder this last month. They want these reports back. They want everything. They're, like, pointing things out for us. They're recreating the creatives. And this is. Remember, it's a garage door company. I'm not doing what you're doing. It's like, I wish I had more E Commerce. I mean, I look at Josh.
B
It's insane what you do with.
A
Yeah, it's fun because it's. But it's hard. We got 900 people now and this opportunity, and now we're doing a bunch of acquisitions. There's a lot, but I'm learning so much. If I didn't do this deal with the company, I would have never learned how to raise capital. I would have never learned how to use debt to grow with way better results. I would have never, like our air was 6%. Now it's a point 3%, because they were able to point things out that I didn't know. And the guy that told me to do this, he's like, if you learn what these. He goes, you're really good at home service. You probably are like a doctorate. But if you learn what they know, you're going to be invincible, because they know things that you'll never understand unless you do this deal. So that's why, for me, it was very compelling, because now I sit there in a room and I extract. I grab a notebook and I fill it up and I go, you got to be kidding me. You went to the Middle east and you raised how much money? And what's the return? What's the irr on that? And they're going through all these things, and it's hard with deal flows and they look at deals like this, and they need to find founders and they need to find really good company. And I'm just learning so much, and it was like, eye opening to me. So your digital marketing book trilogy has sold more than half a million copies worldwide.
B
Over to a million now.
A
It's over a million?
B
Yeah. Between three books sold over a million copies. So, yeah.
A
And by the way, those are listening. A book doesn't make you any money. At least it didn't my books, but they opened up so many doors. What's your thought on when you write a book? What's the main reasoning behind it? Is it like a tripwire or whatever?
B
Kind of. But for me, it's like I believe every, every great movement throughout time started with a book, right? You look at Christ, there was the Bible. You look at every, like, every, every movement, like leads with that. And so it's like the, it's like giving people the playbook to understand how to play in your world, right? So like when we launched clickfunnels, we launched originally. And in my mind it's like funnel software is the greatest thing in the world and nobody understood it. Like, we're selling the people like, I don't understand this. Like, and then I came out with my first book, Dotcom Secrets. People read it like, oh, that's what you're telling. They, they had like the initial doctrine or the whatever of the movement, right? They read it like, okay, I understand like why I need a cell phone. Like, I never understood it before. And so that's like, that's. My books are. So you're right, I don't make money on it. But when someone reads it and they understand it, then they're indoctrinated in my way of thinking. They understand the one what, you know, the, the end goal, what they're trying to do. And then they come into our world and they use our software and everything and they know how to use it. Like it gives them all the financial or the, the information they need to be successful with like the actual product. So in any of the businesses I launch nowadays, you usually lead initially with the front end book because it brings people, indoctrinates them, gets them to, to understand and believe what you need them to do. And then from there you can push them in and it's fun. It's funny, you've watched what Tony Robbins like the books he's rolled out over the last decade, right? Like he wrote, he wrote Money Master the Game. It was his first book he'd written in 20 years. But the goal was he had a big fund that he was trying to raise money for, right? Writes the book, teaching the strategies, launches the book. And I don't know the numbers. It's like, I think it's like six or $10 billion on the backside of the book, got invested in the funds. The book made no money. But it got people to understand his way of thinking, his, for his frameworks, his ideas, and then connect them with the actual side of the business that was supposed to happen. Right. So that's why I look at books. It's like the best way to indoctrinate the right people into your world. And then from there you can, you know, plug them into all the stuff that you're, you're selling.
A
Hey guys, Hope you're loving today's episode. We're just four weeks away from Freedom 2025 and I gotta tell you something, over a thousand contractors have already locked in their spots. So you've got two options. Option one, keep running against the clock, putting out fires and working harder and harder to grow your business. Or option two, take just three days to learn from the people who helped me build my $250 million garage door business and build a plan to, to make 2025 and 2026 your best years yet. Listen to what Mike Giddish told me. After our Freedom event, we went from linear growth to nearly $30 million overnight. At Freedom, you'll meet the owners behind 50 million to $500 million shops. People like Ellen Rohr who built zoom drain to 50 million. Paul Kelly who grew Parker and Sons to 250 million. And Ken Goodrich who took ghetto past 250 million. You'll learn how we scale without adding chaos. We without working 60 hour weeks and without missing every damn family dinner Ultra tickets are sold out, VIP tickets are almost gone and the hotel block closes soon. So if you want to get ahead of your competitors instead of getting squeezed out, go to freedom event.com right now and lock in your seat. That's freedom event dot com. All right, back to the episode. You know, I'm friends with Ben Hardy and Dan Sullivan and their books or do very, very well. And that opened the door for bet. I mean, I don't know how much you've talked about Ben, but he's, he's very reserved as well. Super high iq. I mean, it's hard for me because he talks and I'm like trying to grasp it.
B
Like, you're so smart.
A
Yeah. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And. But they that put 10x is better than 2x. And you know who, not how it.
B
Blew up Strategic Coach. Right. I mean, Coach has been around for how many 50 years? It's been forever, right? And then. And these frameworks weren't new either. Like Dan had been teaching forever. And then Ben takes and turns into a book, launches it. And I don't know that. Yeah, I don't know the numbers on the backside, but blew up Strategic Coach.
A
Yeah, they're like, I had Marcus Sheridan come out, and he goes, the title matters so much. And he explained to me he's friends with all these authors, and he's like, one of the best books titles of all time is Tim Ferriss four hour Workweek, Four Hour Work Week or Buy back your time. It's like these titles. And I said my next title, and he shot it down. I still think I got to do it, but it's called pay them what they're worth. But this idea of paying people, people don't are like, man, I got to pay more. But they don't understand Equity incentive program. So I love your title, obviously. I mean, you've done very, very well. What's the most powerful lesson that you could remember that your books. Like, what's the one thing that if you said this book, this is the one major thing that you're gonna learn?
B
Ooh. So my three books are so. Dot Com Secrets teaches sales funnels. Expert Secrets teaches how to create a presentation to sell whatever you're selling. And Traffic Secrets is all about getting traffic to your funnel. So they're. They're all different. I think the most important, though, is the Expert Secrets book I love, because it's not just like, how to sell a product. It's like, how do you create an actual movement of people? Right? Like, there's so many transactional businesses today. And when we launched ClickFunnels, I was like, I don't want this to be a transactional business. Like, I want to create a following and people and, like, people we can serve over and over and over again. You know, I mean. And so Expert Secrets was like, kind of like we had been. Clickfunnels was four or five years old. We had built this amazing thing, and it was. You know, people were coming. They were tattooing our logos to their arms. They were showing up to events. Like, you know, like, it was just. It created this really insane movement. People like, how did you do that? How'd you do that? And I was like, well, before I created click funnels, like, I was studying books like the True Believer, which. About how to create mass movements. I was, like, going to network marketing events to see how in the world are they getting these people, you know, they're. They're these people that are making $0, and they get 10,000 people in the arena, and they're crying about the product. Like, I'm. I'm studying, like, how do. Like, how are these businesses? How are.
A
Like a cult.
B
Yeah, I literally. That was the Joke. In fact, the first version of Expert Secrets I talk about, I, I called it like, you got to figure out how to build a culture. I played off that, the new version. I took that out because the publisher didn't like the, all the cult references. But that's what it was. It was like looking at like, how do people build cults, right? And like the whole premise of the book is like, and people think expert seekers, like, oh, how to create a course. I'm like, no, that's not. If you read. It's like, it's like every mass movement throughout time had three core things. Like, number one, they all had a charismatic leader. There was somebody in front of them. And what were those people doing and how did they position themselves and what were they, were they saying? Right? So that's the first element. The second element was like, they were that that attractive character was never talking about a present based thing. They're always talking about a future based cause. And then third thing they all had is, is when they made an offer to their, to their people, they were always offering what I call a new opportunity versus what most people do in businesses. They sell improvement. They sell like a, like, we have a better mousetrap. How do you make a better mousetrap? And the, the mass movements never were out how to do something better. Like, you look at, you look at Christ and Christianity. Christ didn't come and say, I'm going to show you guys a better way to do the law of Moses. He was like, law, Moses is dead. This is the new covenant. This is who I am, right? And so everyone moved. Steve Jobs didn't say, ah, we figured out a way to get more songs on a CD. Like we did 100. He's like, he's like, CDs are dead. Like, boom, it's the ipod. Like, it's a new opportunity. And so those are the three things that every mass movement had. And I think when people understand that, then it's like, okay, now you're shifting from a transactional product based business to like, we're creating. You call the cult. You're creating a movement. You're creating whatever it is, but that's how you get people to stick with you and buy from you. And like, and that's how I think you get the most impact on people when you figure out how to, how to craft and create that. And so that's genius.
A
And I love, I love the idea of just studying this stuff. Like you could tell whether you studied the tape. We always talk about studying the Tape, like reflection, which I was afraid to do a lot of my life. I'm like, don't look backwards. But when you learn to reflect a little bit and say, I could be a little bit better at this, get 1% better. Like the True Believer. I'm going to read that. I haven't read that book.
B
Oh, it's really good.
A
You were. You're heavily involved with. Is it Dan Kennedy?
B
Yeah. Yeah. He was my first mentor, and I bought his company three years ago. So, yeah, that's.
A
That's like no BS. He's got a lot of no BS.
B
Like 40 no BS books.
A
Yeah, I have all. I have all your books. I have all of his books. I mean, I'll show you my books. I got one here, one at the house. But it's like, readers are leaders.
B
Yeah.
A
And taking the time. Jim Quick. I was on a podcast with him recently. Blew my mind because I'm like, dude, I must be lazy. But what I've noticed is it's hard to be everything. There's 168 hours in a week. You spend 50 sleeping, 50 working, 10 working out. Still have 60 hours left for family. If you watch Netflix, whatever. But I'm like, man, when I find myself reading a ton, I find it so hard to do the five Fs, which is family, faith, fitness, future self. I added fun and then finance and then fitness. So there's six, actually. So I. I don't necessarily want to be well rounded. I think there's seasons of life. But how do you maintain? Because I know you're a strong believer. You're a family man. You're excited about business, you're taking care of your fitness. You're learning all the time. How do you find yourself handling those?
B
Yeah, it's a good question. And first off, I do agree with you. Like, it's hard to be well rounded. Most of the time is impossible. Right. Everything great in my life came during times of radical imbalance. Right. Like when I was an athlete, I wasn't a 4.0 student. And you know these things. Like when I decided I want to be a state champion, I want to be a national champion. Like, I, My, my shift was radically imbalanced. Like, I was like, I do just enough in school to graduate, but I've all my brain power, effort, everything's here. When I met my wife, it was the same thing. It's like I wasn't balanced. Like, okay, I'm gonna date her, but I'm also gonna go and do school. It was like, okay, radical imbalance here. Like, this is important. This means something. Like, I'm gonna put the time, energy, dedication. You know, when my kids came seeing this radical, we launched clickfunnels. It was radical imbalance for a season. And so there's. There's that part, I think, where it's like, to create something great. There's. There's. I don't know, maybe. Maybe some people disagree with me, but, like, for me, I'm like, there takes that time of radical imbalance for you to like, put in the. In the inertia needs to get off the ground, right? But then you can snap back to something more balanced. And so. So, like, in the balance times, it's like, okay, now, like, these things, I don't want. I don't want to lose my marriage. I don't want to lose that. Like, I want to. I want to have it all. Like, how do we do all these things? And so for me, it's just very much. It's like I had to learn how to become very present in the thing that I'm doing right now. Right. And I think it's where a lot of people is. Like, they'll be at work, but they're thinking about home or they're home thinking.
A
About where your feet are.
B
Things like that. Yeah. And so for me, it's very much like when I. When I go somewhere and I enter into a situation, I'm leaving everything behind. So, like, literally, when I get to my house, I drive in my garage at night, I come in the door. Like, I stop for a second for the door, and I'm just like, okay, like, Russell Brunson. I'm leaving him here and Russell's coming in the door. Like, it's two different people, right? I come in, and now I'm a husband. Yep, I'm husband. I'm a father. This is where I'm at. And if I do need to go back to Russell Brunson mode, like, I don't just jump on my computer, on my laptop, at my house, because then it gets all mushy and weird, right? Like, I'm leaving and I'm going back to the. Like, if I need to, because whatever I gotta. Like, I'm leaving and going back into that environment, that identity. So I have different environments from different people. And then I chunk up my time where I have these things, right. Like, I know that for me to hit faith and spirituality, like, there's no time during the day, so it's like, I've got to do it in the morning. So if I want to weave that in, it's like I got to get up an hour earlier and that. That's when that's going to fit in. Fitness, the same thing, Right? And so for me, it's like I got the same hours as everybody else does. Right. But it's like, these things are important. I chunk out the time, and then my gym's in my backyard, so I walk across, you know, the driveway, and I got a wrestling room and gym and everything. So it's like when I walk through that doors, it's like, all right, this is. This is athlete Russell. I'm going back in. And then I'm there 100%. I think most people just. This is the biggest problem is they don't. When they're doing something, they're not doing it. Like, we had one of my mentors, he wanted me and my team to do a time. A time study done for kind of annoying. Like, every five minutes, you're like talking about what you're doing. And for me, it was like, I got done. I was like, wow, I got a lot done today. And everyone else, my team's like, yeah, I'm only working like an hour a day. I'm like, what I couldn't fathom. And they're like, yeah, like, between all this stuff, like, I'm only actually getting an hour. And for me, it's like, I was the opposite. Like, I was like, you look at my day like, it is jam packed. There's. There's not. There's not time. I'm just like, yeah, there's no breaks.
A
I mean, the calendar's lit up.
B
Yeah. And so I think that's what a lot people understand is just like, it's. It's like compartmentalizing the environments. And then when you're in there, like, you got to be. And that's how. At least for me, how I get. How I get a lot of stuff done now.
A
100%. And my lead has talked about. He's built a workday into six hours, and he's got three work days to year one. And as much as I love the guy, I think he's so amazing. I'm like, you know what? I don't want to outwork anybody anymore. I've served my time. I want to out delegate. I want to out delegate, and I want to trust people, but I hold them to the highest standard of what I hold myself to. And I'm like, I'm not being tough on you. I'm way harder on myself. Just understand everybody that I have interviews way better than I do. When I'm interviewing you, it's to see if you could deal with a guy like me, because I might text you on a Sunday and I might need a meeting. And it's tough for people because I'm trying to be great at everything. But also I think there is seasons that we talked about. I got three repeat questions and we'll jump back into some more. These are what I ask everybody. So what's one game changing piece of advice you wish you Knew in your 20s?
B
This is actually something you mentioned earlier. It's based on one of Ben Hardy's books. But the who, not the how. For the first decade of my business, like, I thought I had to be the guy who did everything. So I learned all the skill sets, I learned all the things I needed to be successful and I would hire people, but it wasn't the same. And it wasn't until one of my now business partners, Todd Dickerson, he was an employee of mine working on stuff. And then when we had the idea for click funnels, he was like, I want to do this with you, but I don't want to do it as an employee. I want to do it as your partner. And I was like, but I'm the guy. Like, I do everything. I'd never had a partner. Like, no, this is like. And it was, it was funny. Cause like, he lives in Atlanta, I live in Boise. He was up in Boise for a week because we were planning the next thing we were going to create, you know, and we figured we had the idea for clickfunnels. We mapped it out. I'm driving back to the airport. That's when he tells me. He's just like, I don't want to do this as your employee. I want to do this as your partner. And it was all the, you know, I'm literally dropping off the airport to say bye to him, and it's just like, what do I say? What do I say? And in that moment, literally it was the second best decision of my life outside of marrying my wife was like saying yes to him. And I was like, oh my gosh. Like, I realized now I see now a decade later, like, what we were able to create because he, he had ownership because he was, you know, all that stuff. It's like, I wish I would have, I wish I would have understood that faster. Like you said, like, in your business, you have five corporate, whatever that is. Like looking at businesses now, like, that's step number one now for Me is like, who are the. Who's the dream team we're assembling to be able to do the thing and being okay giving away, you know, a lot of what we're doing as opposed to trying to keep it hoarded. All my.
A
Yeah. You know, Richard, Richard Branson does a great job because me and you had to hire bottom up. We. We had to take the trash out, clean the toilets. We were everything. I had to do inventory, I had to do payroll, which I can't stand. I used to have to do accounting and accounts receivable and I hated it. And all of a sudden I figured out, what if you hired top down? You got the best of the best. Yeah, and they'll build the company for you, but they got to have a stake in the outcome too.
B
If you can't afford them. And that's the thing. People like, why can't afford someone? I'm like, the key is like you. If you're someone who's a visionary, you cast the vision and the people will come. You know, like, like I have an idea working right now. Like, I'm in the process of casting a vision. I'm going to go show a bunch of people and like, I'll get the best people in the world to come. Part of. Because, like, they see the vision, right?
A
You think you got a track record.
B
Yeah, but like, I think the right people are looking. Like, I mean, I look at Todd. Like, Todd. Todd was making a ton of money on his side, his own online businesses. Like, just because he's a genius, right? Like, he came. Worked for free for me for over a year because, like, he saw a vision. He saw. You know, I think that's what. If you can cast the vision, you get the right people, even if you can't afford them at the time.
A
And there's the EIP Equity Incentive Program. Phantom stock that if you've got a plan to exit, it only works if they see the vision to where it's. What's in it for them. And this idea of always thinking, if I were this is eq. This is like saying, what are your dreams? What do you want? And sometimes it's not money. Sometimes it's financial. Free financial freedom is money. But sometimes it's. Some of the guys, I'm like, the walk into the training center, I'll show you next door is. They're like, I could just tell they're not. They don't feel good about themselves. You know, they're overweight or their teeth need to fix. And if that's their goal or just time with family. It's my job to kind of reverse engineer that for them.
B
Yeah.
A
I get them what they want. And not everybody's created the equal, but if you really look and say, look, I'm here to. You could have anything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want. And that's. It's so true. What millionaire habit sets you apart from the rest of us? Obviously, you've got a really good schedule. You go all in on what you're doing. I've learned a lot. But is there anything outside of the norm that you think is just a really good tactic?
B
I think for me, it's like, it's obsession in a. In a thing. Right. Like, I am not. It's funny. I always joke my wife, like, I'm really good at two things, and that's it. And I think I. I go really, really deep on, again, funnels. Like, there's no one on this planet's gone deeper than me on that. Like, I know that better than anybody in the world. And I'm not good at most everything else in my business and other things. Like, I'm really bad at the other things. But, like, I think for most people, it's like they're. They're trying to become super good at all the things. It's just like when I started hiring people and I started. And, you know, it wasn't me juggling all the things or hiring people, and I had this really cool spot where I go, where do I want to spend my time? I was like, well, this. And everyone's like, well, I thought you were the CEO of your company. I'm like, like, yeah, but, like, just because that's, like, the title. Like, Like, I want to. I want to be building funnels. And so we built a company around where it's like, I can still be, like, the thing. But, like, my. My day job is in the part that, like, I'm obsessed with. Like, I wake up every morning, I get to think about it and talk about it and figure things out, and we're creating new things, and, like, it gives me the energy, and I think it's the obsession. So you can focus on the thing that gives you the most energy. You know, what's your ability?
A
Yeah. And that's, you know, that's so powerful because I walk at people like, why do you work so much? I'm like, I never go to work.
B
Yeah.
A
Are you kidding me? I had the best I do all day.
B
Yeah.
A
I mean, look I'm doing a podcast now with you. It's phenomenal. Like, this isn't work. I'm curious because I want to talk a little bit about sales funnels, but I'm a home service, home improvement guy, so I don't know if you could relate to that. But obviously there's this idea of building a thought in people's mind to remember who you are and let them get to know you. The wizard of ads, Roy Williams talks about this a lot. He's like, it needs to be relational. So I talk a lot about my mom worked three jobs when I was a kid, let them know who I am. There's gotta be a figure at the top, but then there's gotta be offers and the offers. It's very hard to differentiate yourself when you've got two ValPak coupons out.
B
Yeah.
A
So if you had to think about it, more of a home improvement home service. Because, by the way, we're essential through Covid. By the way, nobody's telling their kid to be a programmer now because AI's taking it over. They're like, go into the trades now. This Harvard money that Trump's talking about, he's like, let's put 3 billion into trades. Take it from Harvard. It's a thing. So I'm just curious, I don't know if your mind's ever gone into this because it's not what you do day to day. But if you had to think about, you'd probably want to use more software based because you get way more analytics and attribution from like meta. So it's a little bit harder. But I've got 6,500 call tracking numbers. I've got tons of different ways to book through schedule links, which I've got perfect attribution. It's hard to do radio, tv, Billboard stuff. But what would you do if you were to create? How would you think about offers and like click funnels in a way that it applies to like a conventional business like this.
B
Yeah, that's really cool. Do you do Valpaks, all that kind of stuff?
A
I do Valpak, Clipper Gold, like all of it.
B
Well, I thought those were. I forgot about those. And last week my wife had one and she's going through and she's pulling out all these things. I was like, oh, interesting. Like, I know that's still a media source anyways, it's really fascinating. So for me it's always like, again, I come from the Dan Kennedy world, which is, I think, one of my unique things. Is that I started as an Internet marketer. I joined his world and he's teaching about fax machines and direct mail and.
A
Like, and affluent clients. How to market to the affluent.
B
Yeah, all these things. I was like. And at first I was like, this guy's crazy that this doesn't apply to me. And then later I was like, oh my gosh, like media is just media. That was the big aha I got from Dan was just like, I kept thinking that the Internet was a business and it's not as a media source, right? So you look at that, it's like, okay, all media. And then all media at the right price works, right? So it's like if you can make the numbers work in Valpak or classified at whatever. So we test and try. I love offline as well, you know, I mean, but then the goal for me is always like, okay, my initial marketing messages, you know. One of the frameworks I teach all the time is hook, story, offer. I'm throwing out a hook to grab their attention so I can just long enough I can like tell them a story. And the goal of the story is to increase the perceived value they offer, right? So on social media it's easy to make sense. Like everyone's scrolling, like I'm trying to do something to grab them to stop the scroll, like hook. And then have a spot to tell them a story long enough they can increase perceived value. Thing I'm going to sell. But the same thing would be true if I was doing VAL packs, if I was doing classified ads or radio or any. It's the same thing like hook. And then the hook, goal, the hook is to get them long enough I can tell them a story and then make them an offer, right? And so I would be trying to figure like, how do I take them from these, from legacy media to a spot where I can control the environment, right? I think about this all the time, like, especially in the Internet world, like people have their, their controlled environment where they, they control the thing. Like they're on their phone, they're on the computer. Like they have these, these controlled environments where they're in charge. And for me to have the ability to persuade and influence, I need to move them out of those environments to a thing where I control the environment, right? Because the environment's like half of half of the game. And so it's like I'm pulling somebody from their computer to a webinar, to a three day challenge to a live event to it. Like, so I'd be trying to get Somebody from that, whatever that is to a spot where I can talk to them long form, right? Because Valpak, you got headline, couple bullet points and cta, how do I pull them from there to a spot where I can go long form with them? Because the more time some spends and see with you, the more likely they are to buy, the more they'll be willing to buy, higher prices they'll pay. And then if I control environments way better. So for example, like we do in my world, I have a three day event we do once a month and it's eight hours a day and people are, I can't, I can't dedicate three days. And I'm like, you know, so we, we convince them they do, but then after they sign up, the first thing is like I like, we drill them. Like, do not watch us at your house, at your computer. Like most people sit in their computer. And then they got Facebook and Skype and Slack. And I was like, you need to get Airbnb. Like this is an event. You are leaving. Go get an Airbnb somewhere separate. So you're moving. So I'm trying to get them out of the environment. They're comfortable. So it's an environment that I could actually control. Right? So we move them. I love that now we have a different environment now. Sales percentage is conversions, everything shifts. Because now I can. The reason why we do live events, right, if I can get somebody to book a hotel in Orlando and bring 5,000 people in the room, my conversion will would be a hundred more than if they're 100x more versus them sitting at home on their own computer where they control the environment. And that's the reason why we're shifting environment so we can control the conversation, the narrative, the social proof, all those kind of things. And so for me, that's what I'd be thinking about is just like, how do I get people from these legacy media to a spot where I control the environment? So now I can tell your story. You have more long form. You have all the things you need to be able to persuade and influence.
A
And what have you learned about these things as far as the environment when you bring them in? I know Tony Robbins does an amazing job of like, literally, like you're buying that at the end you're changing your life. Like, I love the guy with the red shoes, how he's able to change the perspective, you know what I'm talking about. But like, you know, I know casinos pump oxygen in the air and they do certain things to make you Want to stay. They make it really. Like, you don't know if it's night or day. But is there anything you found to make real events? I love the Airbnb idea, but as far as bringing them in, is the seating a certain way? Is there certain things you. Is it roundtable? Is it regular? Like, what. What is the best advice you have about events?
B
Yeah, so we do. We do a big. We've done 10 years, or this is our last year actually doing our funnel hacking Live event. We get 5,000 people in a room, and there's a lot of it. I mean, from like the. The ambiance, the room, the colors, the, like, all that kind of thing. But I think one of the biggest things that we learned the first couple years we did events, we were very tactical, like, let's just teach tactic because we're marketing nerds. And so, like, it was very much that. And then I remember, I think the second. Second or third year, I had a couple friends who were not marketing people, but they were. They were using clickfunnels. But they're my personal development people and they're my friends. And so I like, oh, you should come and speak. And it was crazy because they would come and they would do the personal development things, which didn't. In my mind at first, I'm like, this is.
A
Yeah.
B
What does it have to do with. It's all fluffy and like, I hate this. And what's crazy that after that event, people started messaging me and they were like, they're like, I came for one thing and I got something else. I thought I was coming for marketing, and I got that, but I left, changed. I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, that's like, that's. That's the magic sauce, right? I remember Frank Kern told me this one time, he's like, at the time, he had a $400 month membership site, and he was testing to try to get people to stick longer. He's like, I tested like 500 things. He's like, you know, what's crazy is, like, only one thing actually moved the needle. I was like, you know, I'm like, what was the thing? And he's like, I made module number one a personal development module. And he's like. He's like, no one wants to buy personal development. But, like, I kind of forced. I kind of sneak attacked him on. And they went through his personal development and he's like. And then, like, I shifted their beliefs and then they stuck longer. I was like, oh, my gosh. That's the Secret. And so our third event we did, I was building my relationship with Tony Robbins at the time, and I asked him the same question. I was like, I'm doing these events, I'm teaching people the exact same thing, same framework, same everything. I was like, I can't figure out why like most like the percentage of having success, most of them aren't. And he kind of laughed. He's like, oh, it's cause you still think that success is, is from the tactics, right? I'm like, yeah, we've got the best tactics in the world. He's like, you know what I'm saying? It's like success is like 10 tactics, it's 90 psychology. He's like, what's happening in their head is what gets them from being successful. And so he came to the next event, he did like a Tony Robbins, like five hour, like, you know, fix their, fix their brains and like get people like fixing the psychology. And it unlocks people then to actually have success. And you look at like, you know, in our industry, we have the most success stories of anybody. We've got 3,000 plus people that have won our 2 comma club award. We got, you know, it's just like, the numbers are crazy. But it came on the backside of like, okay, we're teaching the tactics that I want that are coming for, but we're, we're spending time interweaved throughout on the psychology. And when we started weaving those two things together again, people don't know that's what they're coming for, but then that's what they leave. Like, I feel like I'm different. Like, this is not what I what I thought, you know what I mean?
A
My first event, I got a great buddy of mine, he's doing 150 million in plumbing in Ohio and he goes on stage and I love the guy, but he's super unpolished. He's not a speaker. This is his first time. He's nervous as hell. He threw up in the back and he's got this story about his son holding his son Chase up. They were living on his sister's couch and his son would sleep on the couch. He'd sleep. I kind of get emotional thinking about it, but he told this story and he's not a perfect speaker. And he held his son up and said, this is not the life we're going to live. And I mean, I get teary eyed thinking about it. Just because Chase just graduated, he's going to a master's degree. Dad covered the cause, but he doesn't like, that's the deal with the mom. They're still good friends, is I'm going to take care of us, but I can't pay you much right now. They got to. They never got married. It was just a high school. And everybody in that room was changed by that story of, like, we're going to work no matter what we're going to. He went bankrupt, twice failed. And I'm like, everybody, pull out your phone to look at your Google my business page. And like, you know, I don't like teaching tech. I'm like, this stuff will work. I promise you. This is going to change your life. Get a review on every job with a picture in it. And I'm going, it's still stuff I do. Like, I'm super tactical. And because I'm like, man, I listen to somebody, but do you believe in yourself? And, like, you look in the mirror and I'm like. And so I started doing those things, and it makes a lot of sense. Like, I just learned something super important because I. I always invite those people that'll talk about, like. Like being happy with yourself. And I tell the story about, like, I, like, my cousin called me up and she's got a doctorate in, like, physiology. And she goes, you know how happy we are, Tommy, with you, the whole family. Like, you've done so well and you're the biggest reader. Your podcast is amazing. We all follow, we call you for advice. But she goes, why don't you love yourself? And I'm like, what are you talking about, Rachel? And she goes, go in the mirror right now and take off your shirt. She goes, you're probably drinking too much. I could tell by your skin. She goes, are you happy with the way you look? She's like. And I'm like. She's like, really? Look. And I'm like, I'm busy. Like, I, dude, I was 28, body fat, and that's the worst I'd ever got. And dude, that instant stamme out of it. And I look at people and I'm like, you know, there's no excuse. I'm like, if you're not happy with yourself, if you're content. But we always make these excuses. And I just. I was done with it. I'm done with the excuses. And I just. I love telling stories. And that's where I wanted to ask you, is the best storyteller sellers when. I mean, I remember stories so well. If someone's on stage and they tell me a great story. So I started really talking about stories. Like, I just listened to this the other day when you should start out any speech, you should start out with once upon a time. And can you imagine you're 20 years old, think about when you were 20 years old and like, you tell this story and you have people, the best comedians in the world, they have. You think about the situation like you're at the airport, how many people ever fly southwest, and all of a sudden you're like, you're in that moment.
B
Yeah.
A
And if you could put your, if you could have people put themselves in your shoes and really apply it to their own life. So with storytelling, how do you even craft that story and message?
B
Yeah. So this is like my big three event. This is what literally we talk about. Because we talk about one to many selling and, or sub, we call it, let's call it subconscious selling. Because when you're selling to the masses, especially online, stuff like that, it's different than one on one, Right. One on one, give the opportunity to like, ask some questions, get feedback, resolve their concerns. But you're speaking like one to many, you don't have that ability. So what we do when we're crafting a presentation, if it's a webinar or challenge or a video set, whatever it is, right. The question I'm asking myself is like, what's the false belief they have inside their mind? And the false belief is a subconscious belief. Right. And subconscious speaks in stories. So it's like they have a story, right? So as soon as you tell them something, a story pops up in their head that's either positive or negative. That's like controlling whether they're going to listen what you're saying. If they're going to buy, they're not going to buy. Like that story just magically pops up as soon as you start saying something. Right. And so if I know that, it's like, hey, I'm trying to get this person to buy something. I'm trying to get them to change whatever. No matter what I say, as soon as I start saying it, their subconscious is going to pop up a story about what they already believe. And that subconscious, that subconscious story is, I'm gonna lose.
A
Yeah.
B
So when I'm building a story, it's not just a story to tell a story. It's like, okay, what's the story that I have? The, the reason why I believe this thing? And if I can tell the story in a more compelling way and I can convince them that my story trumps their story, the subconscious mind will literally take my story and replace their story with it. And that's what I'm trying to do. That's what, like, when I'm at an event in front of 5, 000 people trying to sell something, that's all I'm doing is like, okay, So I had to literally map out, here's the false beliefs they have. If I talk, if I'm trying to get them to. To do this or whatever. The thing is, what are the false beliefs? And I'm like, why? Like, why do I not have that false belief and say, oh, because this is what happened to me. I'm like, okay, that's the story I'm telling. So I'm telling this story, and if I do it correctly, it's going to literally take the false belief that they have that's holding them back in life. It deletes, it replaces with mine, and now they have a new story. So good example. This is like a cheesy example. But I always joke with, like, network marketers, right? Like, most people have, like, either positive or very negative experience network marketing, right. And so I think about this, like, if, if I came up to you or somebody and I, hey, want to join my new network marketing program, instantly there's. There's a story like, oh, like, I'm gonna, you know, they. Everyone's got a story.
A
You sell your friends and family.
B
Yeah. And there's your story. So we got it. So there's a story. Now the question is, like, why do you believe. There's one or two reasons why you believe that. One is, either you tried it, you had to sell your friends and family, it sucked, or your friends and family called you and it was really annoying. So, like, that's the story you have. So if I want to be. If I'm a network marketer, I want to convince you. If I, no matter how hard I try to get you, like, no, you know, that story's there and I'm never going to beat it. So I have to tell a better story. So, man, 15 years ago, I joined a network marketing company because someone got me into it. And I was like, I'm not going to do this. I don't want to talk to my friends or my family like that. I'm introverted. Like, I'm not going to call my friends. And my friend was like, no, the coolest thing, you can do this on the Internet. Like, all you do is you set up a landing page and you say some information about it, and then you drive traffic to it. And then people who are Interested will fill out the form, and then you just call the people who literally raise their hand, said, yes, send me more information. And I was like, so I don't talk to my friends? No, you only talk to people who asked you to call them. That's it. And so I was like, all right, let's try it out. So I set up the form, drive some message, some emails to it. We drive some traffic to it. People fill out the form. I don't even want to talk to people. So on the next page, I may have a video of me just, like, pitching it and have a link down below to sign up. I started doing that, and in three months, I became the number one money earner in the company. Never talked to a single human being. And I won a Ferrari. Here's a picture of me, my Ferrari. So I tell that story, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, wait, you mean I could get the money from network, not talk to friends? And all of a sudden that false belief you've had all of a sudden is, like, trumped. And I'll say, like, I could do it Russell's way. And then all of a sudden I could do that. Right now they have a new. They have a new belief, new story.
A
I love that.
B
And now I own it. And so for me, it's like, what are the false beliefs? What are the story I have? I can tell that replaces their false belief with the true belief. That's empowering. That's the game.
A
So this is genius. Walk me through. I'm a big whiteboarder. Like, big, big, big. So the first thing I write down the whiteboard is, do you write the end goal? So per. But my goal is to sell this and you reverse it. Like, if you were to just whiteboard with me.
B
Yeah, great question.
A
So how would you start this?
B
I would start with, okay, so what's. What's the result? We're trying to get somebody, right? So they buy my thing. This is the result. And then second thing is, like, what are all the other things that people are selling to try to get that result? Like, all the other potential options, right? So that's the first thing I'm always looking at. And then I'm trying to convince them that my. Like, my. The thing that I offer. Excuse me. The map that I have to this result is. So, for example, like, people in my world come to me because they want to make more money on the Internet, right? So it's like, there's a lot of ways to make money on the Internet. You can sell stuff on ebay. You could do, you know, like, whatever. And I'm trying to convince you the funnel is the best way, right? So like that's my, that's my version. It's like funnels are the greatest way. So my entire presentation is gotta be designed in a way to get them to believe. At the end of, like, of all the ways I could try to get that result, this is the best one, right? If they do that, then they're gonna give me money. That's it. So then I break it down into like, there's basically, there's three core groups of three. There's three core false beliefs that somebody will have when you're making a presentation. The first false belief is their false belief about is that vehicle. The right vehicle is gonna get in the result. Second, false belief is like, if I believe that's the right vehicle, like what's the internal faults? Like, I think that's. I think the funnels are great, but I don't know if I could actually. I'm not technically, like, whatever. The internal false beliefs. And then third, false beliefs. If someone believes, first off, I do believe that's the right vehicle. I believe I could do it. But then their brain's looking for some escape route. So let's use an external false belief. Like, but I don't know how to do that or I can't do it because of some external reason, right? So I always say there's like, there's like the vehicle false belief, the internal false belief, and then the external. So those are the three categories. And inside there I'm like, okay, what are all the false beliefs they have about funnels? Right? If I'm gonna bring funnels, okay, so start thinking through that. And then I'm listing out what are the stories I have that break these false beliefs. Okay, now number two, like, if I get them believe that, what's the internal? False police. They're not technical. They don't know how to do it. They're don't have time. Okay, what are the stories I have that'll. That'll fix that. Or list out those three or four stories and then external, who are they going to blame? What's the external? You know, what are the stories? And so that's my presentation.
A
Then it's all stories? Yeah, pretty much. That's genius. So, you know, Jeremy Miner always says, by the way, he closes a large percentage of the room, but I think he does very well of getting the right people in the room. I think Tony Robbins does The same thing. I think you do the same thing is the 80, 20 role. And a lot of people are afraid. One of the things my. My old coo, really great friend of mine, we're still very close. He did very well on the first exit. He's like, dude, you're giving away all of our freaking secrets, man. He's like, we've worked so hard. And I go, but nobody's. I'll tell you how to get a six pack. Why don't you have a six pack? Like, you know how to get a six pack? Calorie deficit. Watch your macros burn more calories. And you know, within six months you'll have a six pack. What are your thoughts about just giving it all away? But obviously you charge people to do it for them. Like, it's a done for you package. What's your, like, thought process around that?
B
Yeah, I give it all away. It's so what. What my belief is that people will spend more money for the same information packaged in different ways. So, like, I give all my stuff. All my stuff will give away for free on my podcast is awesome. If someone wants to buy in a book, I have a book format. It's 10 bucks for the book. Like, same information packaged different way. Then someone wants to come to a live event, same info. Like, I'm teaching what's in the book. I'm just. It's a thousand dollars version. Right. They want to join my coaching program. There's a $25,000 version. It's facilitated differently than a $50,000. We have 150 and a 250,000. But the thing I'm teaching is the same frameworks I'm teaching at every single level. It's just packaged in different way. So that you want to. If you want to watch it on a podcast, cool. If you want to read in a book, cool. You want to come and work with me in my office and we're. And we're going, doing, figuring out. But it's all the same. Like, yeah, all my stuff you can get for free or you can pay. And yeah, I'm a big believer in that. Just people want to consume it different ways and they're willing to invest and they want proximity. And proximity is, you know, that's what people pay more and more money for.
A
Well, I go see a trainer and I don't need to. I used to be a trainer.
B
Yeah.
A
And I just like it because I'll get a spotter and I'll get an extra set and I'll do stuff I don't want to do. Yeah. Like, I know how to train people. I know how to push myself. But it's still. There's not a workout I could think of that wasn't better with my trainer.
B
Yeah.
A
Because he's like, dude, turn it up. And he knows how hard. But the best trainers in the world know exactly how hard to push you to where you're not going to stop. Because if some people just think, I'm going to break this dude, if Russell walks in, he's not going to be able to walk for two weeks. That's not how you should be a great coach. It's like, try to break people. So there's this happy thing is feet. Everybody needs a different prescription. All right, so this is the biggest thing on my mind is the future AI's here. It's not going anywhere. It's actually going to start compounding. I think within two years, it'll start writing its own code better than anybody, and it'll help shape the future. I mean, there's that video out there of if AI was going to take over the world. How would it do it? It's like, we'd put it in your pocket. We'd write all your songs, we'd give you all the information and you'd ask for more. We'd even put chips in you. Not the mark of the doubt beast and all that, but if you could regulate your blood. And it wasn't like, but what do you think? I mean, it's such an omni thing now. Like, people are like, well, you got to be on Pinterest. Are you on Houzz? Are you on Insta TikTok? Tell me you're on LinkedIn. Are you still do? And it's like that Reddit's the new big thing. And it's like, okay, like, now there's AI and now there's ChatGPT, rock and Gemini, and we can keep going. But what. What do you think the next five years look like?
B
It's. It's. It's exciting and scary. I think I'm nervous for, like. I mean, you said half an hour ago about programmers. It's like, in two years from now, I'll be say, I want ebay and it'll code ebay. I want click funnels. It'll build clickfunnels. So if me as a software guy, like, okay, that's. That's scary, right? I think a lot of jobs, it's like, people aren't gonna need lawyers or accountants or most those kind of Jobs because like I can, I could have.
A
Or realtors or any.
B
Yeah, yeah. Like all those things start. So, so it's, it's scary for people who like have, who aren't used to change and stuff. It's exciting for those who are just like, oh my gosh, this is the change, right? So for me it's like the, the place in my mindset's going like where's the opportunity? The opportunity is in creating and building things that have network effect, right? So for, for example, like if, if every single person on the planet, like ask Chad CBT to build them eBay, there's gonna be that 10,000 ebays, people are still gonna go and list their stuff on eBay. Why? EBay's got 100 million people.
A
Data logging, has a phone.
B
That's the, that's the, it's the network effect. Like it's that. So it's like knowing that it's like the thing that's gonna be the most valuable in the future is people like us, gathering people the network, like the gathering. It's communities, it's personality, it's connection, it's. And the people who figure that out are the ones who are gonna win. The people who don't are the ones who are gonna lose. Because information will become, is, is gonna become a commodity. Like right now I can, I can ask ChatGPT any topic I want and it builds me a custom course on the fly and then I can upload another GPT and it'll read it to.
A
Me and it's not great, but it's about to be.
B
Oh yeah, it's insane. It's like I can get a custom course. Why do people buy information? Well, they buy it because in five years now they're buying it because they connect with you as a human. They, they like know, trust you. And number two, you've got a cool community they want to be around, like the network, like that's it. So for everyone, it's like if you're building something right now, realizing the info is going to be less valuable, software is going to be less valuable. Brand, personality, community, network effect is going to be the most valuable. So it's like building stuff in that through that lenses is where things are going.
A
Yeah, no, it's interesting. I really like that perspective. It's excellent advice. The best I've heard yet. Give me one book that you didn't write or two or three that are game changers that are like, dude, this will change your life. Obviously the Bible's important. We all know, like the E. Myth revisited. He. He's been in here before.
B
Oh yeah.
A
But. But like, is there anything that, that's not like mainstream that you are like game changer.
B
Oh man, I love books. So I have about 18,000 books in the last three years. All first editions, manuscripts. Like I collect rare books.
A
Yeah, I know that. Yeah.
B
I'm a little bit of a nerd that way. So. Elsie Lincoln Benedict, most people know who she is. We're actually republishing her book right now. Hopefully out of the next month or so. But she wrote a book set. It was a little book. She. She was. She lived in the 1920s. She was speaking in arenas full of women. She spoke over 3 million women in like a couple year period of time. But she was filling arenas back in the 20s and she would teach personal development and she would teach these different courses and then she'd speak a big room, sell an event small. I mean, just like what all of us are doing nowadays. She was doing it in the 20s and she had an event she did called how to Get Anything youg Want. And then she made a book series based on that. And it was these little tiny books. And I found a rare first edition copy. It's been out of print for forever. And so we're bringing it back. And that's probably the most fascinating, coolest book I've found of all these books that I read.
A
I want to buy one of the first copies.
B
I'll send you a copy because if you read it, it'll. It's. It's insane that she wrote this 1920s. Like it's. Anyway, so that's in fact Napoleon Hill in his indication.
A
Napoleon Hill and Del Carnegie, same era. Yeah.
B
Napoleon Hills talks about this. He said, like, there's this woman, she's filling up stadiums. He's talking about her. He was like watching. He's like, how is she doing this?
A
Yeah.
B
And no one's ever heard of her today. So she like, that book's insane. And then my favorite Napoleon Hill book, because he's. He's my favorite author. Outwitting the Devil is Insane. I. I'm obsessed. That book. I actually got the manuscript from that book from the foundation. So I've had a chance to read that. Like the original pages from his typewriter.
A
I love it, man.
B
So much fun.
A
Last thing I always do is we talked about a million things. I've got so many notes, so many things to implement. Maybe there's something we didn't talk about. Maybe there's. Oh, well, first and foremost, I gotta let people know what's the easiest, best way to get ahold of you and what's coming up that people should get involved in.
B
Oh yeah. I mean you can follow me socially if. Search Russell Brunson. I'm all the places, but in my YouTube channels I actually each week I'm bringing in my old rare books. Like I spent 1.5 million for this book. Let me tell you the story. So like that's if you get into old books and stuff, it's my YouTube channel. But the best thing we do is I do an event about once a month called Selling Online where we teach people this, like the mass persuasion. How do you sell one to many? How do you move people? And so it's 100 bucks. It's a three day event on selling online dot com. It's the cheapest thing we do and it's probably the best thing we do. So if someone wants to plug in my world, that's the best place to go because you'll get indoctrinated on how to, how to sell. Not like, you know, like I as Jeremy Meyer yesterday, he's all one on one sales. Like this is, this is not one on one sales. This is one to many sales. How do you craft presentations in a way to persuade masses and get them to buy from you? And it's, it's really fun. I love it.
A
I love that too. I'll definitely go through it. The trick with me is get it on the schedule like today. So it's like, get the timeline. People are like, we'll get to that. And it goes somewhere to die under their pillow. So what do we talk about? Anything you want the audience to hear that we didn't talk about. Final thoughts.
B
I think for most people it's just. Most people in the world are dabbling. They're not obsessed. I think, I think a lot of times it's looked down upon like, oh, this guy's obsessed with what you know. And like, I think if people find the thing they're passionate about and then just like put on blinders and just become obsessed, become the greatest in the world at that thing, you know, that's where I like what you do. Like garage doors. Like in infinity years, if someone came like, this is what I'm gonna be building. Like it makes no sense. And look what you built. Like it's an obsession that's deeper. And I think if people will be willing to let themselves do that because I think culture is a stigma about like, you know, that Person's obsessed. Like, it's like a negative thing. It's like, no. Like, the greatest things happens. People that are obsessed, like, pick something you love and just become obsessed. Like, become the best in the world at, like, I tell my kids this time, I don't care what you do, but whatever you do, like, try to be the best at that thing and, like, read the book, study it. Like, get to the spot where, like, you understand it deeper than anyone else. And if you do, like, you know, it'll change everything. I mean, the thing that I became obsessed with was 20 years ago, no one knew what a sales funnel was. Like, it was the dorkiest thing. But for some reason, like, I just. Like, this is the thing. It got me so excited, and I just kept going down the rabbit hole.
A
Potato, potato, guns.
B
Yeah. 20 years later, it's like we built an industry based on this thing that nobody even knew before. We built, you know. You know, clickfunnels. We've done over a billion dollars in sales on our platform ourselves. Our clients have done, like, I think, 14, 15 billion in sales on the platform. It's just like, because I was obsessed with this nerdy thing that no one cared about. Like, be obsessed and be okay with it and become the best in the.
A
World of what you're doing, you know? Last thing I'll say is, a good buddy of mine. I've worked with him for a long time. He's just the greatest human being. I love the guy. Jody Underhill, he's like, I'll tell you.
B
I haven't seen him forever.
A
He's like, russell is a genius. He's like, when we worked under him, we didn't know what it was going to become. Like, he's just persistent. He's obsessed, and he had the greatest things to say. So he's a great human being, and I love them and their family.
B
Yeah.
A
So, Vanessa, the whole family is amazing. So I appreciate you being here, brother. It means a lot to me. I'm glad you made it out. And anything I could ever do for you, you let me know. And hopefully the audience took a ton from this. I'm gonna get this on the Home Service Expert podcast as well, and I hope you have a great day and a great week. Thank you. All right, that's a wrap. Hey, there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high forming team like over here at A1 garage door service. So if you want to learn the secrets that help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin. Com podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.
Host: Tommy Mello
Guest: Russell Brunson
Release Date: July 28, 2025
Episode Title: Marketing Like a Billionaire: Inside the Mind of Russell Brunson
In this compelling episode of The Home Service Expert Podcast, Tommy Mello sits down with Russell Brunson, the digital marketing maestro behind ClickFunnels and the bestselling author of the renowned "Secret" trilogy. With over 25 years in the online business arena, Russell shares his journey from humble beginnings to building a $360 million software empire that revolutionized how entrepreneurs sell online.
[02:57] Russell Brunson
Russell recounts his early ventures into the online business world, starting with a DVD teaching how to make potato guns. This initial foray into e-commerce taught him the fundamentals of landing pages and traffic generation.
“We would test the little thing and it would double how much money made.”
—Russell Brunson [05:31]
This period was marked by relentless experimentation with upsells, leading to the creation of bundled kits that significantly boosted sales conversion rates. This obsession with testing and optimizing laid the foundation for his later success with ClickFunnels.
Russell emphasizes that marketing is paramount, even more critical than sales in driving business success. He illustrates how effective marketing strategies ensure a steady flow of leads and conversions, making the sales process more efficient and scalable.
[13:39] Russell Brunson
Drawing parallels between his wrestling background and business, Russell shares a transformative story from his high school years. After an initial defeat, rigorous training with his father led him to reclaim his state championship. This experience ingrained in him the philosophy that failure is not a setback but valuable data for improvement.
“If I fail, I'm not a failure. Failure is the most data you can possibly get.”
—Russell Brunson [17:55]
This mindset translates into his business approach, where he encourages entrepreneurs to launch, fail, learn, and iterate continuously to achieve exponential growth.
[22:12] Russell Brunson
Russell discusses the significance of hiring the right people—those who complement his entrepreneurial spirit. He differentiates between starters and finishers, emphasizing the need for integrators who can manage operational aspects, allowing visionaries like himself to focus on what they do best.
“We have 400 finishers. I'm one of the greatest starters of all time.”
—Russell Brunson [23:28]
Tommy echoes this sentiment, sharing his experiences with delegation and the importance of surrounding oneself with competent team members who can execute the vision effectively.
[31:46] Russell Brunson
Russell delves into the art of storytelling as a powerful sales tool. He explains how narratives can replace customers' false beliefs with empowering stories that align with his business offerings.
“If I can tell a story that trumps their existing narrative, their subconscious accepts my message.”
—Russell Brunson [57:20]
He elaborates on the "hook, story, offer" framework, which aims to capture attention, engage emotionally, and present irresistible offers. This technique transforms transactional interactions into lasting relationships and movements.
Russell shares his strategy behind authoring books like DotCom Secrets, Expert Secrets, and Traffic Secrets. These books serve as indoctrination tools, laying out the foundational principles of his marketing philosophies and attracting a dedicated following.
“Every great movement throughout time started with a book.”
—Russell Brunson [27:02]
He compares the impact of his books to historical movements, highlighting their role in establishing a shared understanding and commitment among his audience.
In discussing future trends, Russell expresses both excitement and caution regarding the rise of Artificial Intelligence. He predicts that AI will automate many roles, transforming how businesses operate.
“The most valuable asset in the future is building communities and networks.”
—Russell Brunson [66:30]
He advocates for focusing on network effects, community building, and creating meaningful connections, as these human-centric elements will remain irreplaceable by technology.
As the conversation wraps up, Russell imparts a final piece of wisdom: become obsessed with your niche and strive to master it. His journey with ClickFunnels exemplifies how deep specialization and unwavering focus can lead to groundbreaking success.
“Pick something you love and just become obsessed, become the best in the world at that thing.”
—Russell Brunson [70:56]
He encourages entrepreneurs to embrace their passions fully, leveraging them to create impactful businesses that stand the test of time.
Russell Brunson [05:31]:
“We would test the little thing and it would double how much money made.”
Russell Brunson [17:55]:
“If I fail, I'm not a failure. Failure is the most data you can possibly get.”
Russell Brunson [23:28]:
“We have 400 finishers. I'm one of the greatest starters of all time.”
Russell Brunson [57:20]:
“If I can tell a story that trumps their existing narrative, their subconscious accepts my message.”
Russell Brunson [27:02]:
“Every great movement throughout time started with a book.”
Russell Brunson [66:30]:
“The most valuable asset in the future is building communities and networks.”
Russell Brunson [70:56]:
“Pick something you love and just become obsessed, become the best in the world at that thing.”
Tommy Mello and Russell Brunson conclude the episode by reinforcing the importance of pursuing passion with dedication, building robust marketing strategies, and fostering strong communities. This episode serves as an invaluable resource for home service entrepreneurs aspiring to elevate their businesses to new heights, drawing inspiration from one of the most influential minds in digital marketing.
Note: To delve deeper into Russell Brunson’s strategies and insights, tune into the full episode of The Home Service Expert Podcast.