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Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com McDonald's meets the Min universe with one of six collectibles and your choice of a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets with spicy nether flame sauce. Now available with a Minecraft movie meal. I participate in McDonald's for a limited time a Minecraft movie only in theaters now. Obviously if you want to sell stuff online you're going to need a good funnel. But if you want a great funnel then you're going to need to use Click Funnels. Click Funnels is the number one funnel builder in the world helping more first time entrepreneurs to leave their 9 to 5 and to launch their dream they than any other company on earth. ClickFunnels was built for the dreamer and the doer and you can get a free 14 day trial by going to clickfunnels.com podcast right now that's clickfunnels.com podcast click funnels because you're one funnel away from changing the world. This is the Russell Brunson Show. What's up everybody? This is Russell. Welcome back to the show. Excited to be hanging out with you guys today and excited for a lot of reasons. I'm gonna tell you guys some stories about my, my arm. Why am I wearing a sling? If you're watching the video version, you can see I've only got one arm. I'm gonna talk about some Napoleon Hill stuff I found in an unpublished manuscript slash event like a course that he taught and a whole bunch of other things. So I'm excited to hang out with you guys and talk. I wanted to start addressing by the I wanted to start by addressing the elephant in the room which is for those who can see me like Russell, why do you have your arm in a sling right now? And if you listen to the last, you know, one of the last podcast episodes, I was actually, I just gotten back, I had done a wrestling tournament and you guys knew I had hurt both my bice. I was driving to Go get an mri. And that was, I think, the last podcast episode I recorded. Since then, my life has been crazy. So after getting the mri, we found out that both of my biceps had detached from the bone inside my arms, which is why it was really hard to curl anything or lift anything up, right? And I needed to get surgery to get both of them back. And so some people have been asking, like, well, what was the process? Like, what. Like, how did you detach the biceps? So some of you guys know there. There's. Every single year, there's a wrestling tournament. It's called the masters division. So it's for people who are older. And I remember when I was wrestling in college, I remember going to one of the bigger national tournaments. And so they have different levels. Like, there's like, the senior level and then, you know, whatever. And then there's a masters in the veterans division division. I remember going again while I was, you know, I was in college. I remember seeing these guys, like, in their 70s and their 80s, with gray hair, bald out there wrestling, and I was like, oh, so cool. And then when I got done with my wrestling career, I kind of. That was kind of the end of it. I wasn't planning on wrestling again and kind of forgot about it. And fast forward to a decade and a half later is when I bought my new home. I built a wrestling room in it, and I started inviting some of my old wrestling buddies over, and we started wrestling. So that was kind of fun thing. We do it once or twice a month. So my buddies come over, we'd wrestle again. It was just so much fun to get back to my favorite thing in the world, which is wrestling, right? And then what's interesting is one of my buddies who wrestled with us, his name is Lex, one day he came back, he's like, oh, I wrestled in a tournament two weeks ago. I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, there's a tournament that I competed in. I was like, why didn't you tell me? I would have gone. And so the next year we decided, okay, we're gonna go to the tournaments. We put it on the calendar. And, you know, life is busy. I'm running a company and a family and a bunch of other stuff. And so I remember leading up to it, we blocked out, like, seven days. We were planning on, like, to working out a whole bunch leading up to it, but then it just didn't happen. So then the week before the tournament, we blocked out, okay, every morning we're gonna wrestle for an hour. Just get prepared for this tournament. And again, I haven't wrestled competitively in almost 20 years, right? And so we go to the very first practice, the very first day, and within the very first like 10, I injure my neck so bad that like I can't move, I can't turn my head, I can't do anything. And it hurt really bad. And people were like, well, are you still gonna wrestle? I'm like, yeah. Like I made a commitment to myself. I was gonna wrestle, I'm gonna do this thing. And I had chiros coming over and other people and people, Justin, me and massage therapists and like I was doing all the crazy things, try to heal this, heal the, heal my neck. And I remember going to the tournament, my neck hurts so bad. And I wrestled two days and I did, I did well. I placed, I can't remember if I placed some Freestyle Greco. But anyway, wrestled two different tournaments, had some success, won a medal. And I remember one of the, it was like one of these like life changing things for me. As I was warming up with some of the guys my age, this older guy came up to me and again, he's from London, I think his name is Tony. And he's wearing a singlet, he's got knee pads on and stuff. He's just an older guy. And he came up, he's like, hey, do you want to wrestle? And I was like, you want to warm up? I'm like, I guess we can. And so he's like, cool. When we're drilling though, he's like, I've had the hip and knee replacement, so don't shoot on me. I, I'm like, what? Like, are you supposed to wrestle? You don't have hips or knees. And anyway, so we kind of warmed up a little bit. It was kind of fun. And then during the term I saw him, he actually went and won some matches. I was like, if this dude, you know, he's in his 70s, hips and knees replaced, can still be wrestling. I'm like, I'm going to do this every year until I die. So that was, that became the commitment to myself. And then every year after that I come back and do this tournament. This tournament, it's just really fun. And so this year's, I don't know, my fifth or sixth year. And this one's actually, there's three styles of wrestling. There's freestyle Greco and there's a collegiate style. We only wrestle in America. And there's a collegiate national tournament I've never been to before. So this was the one I Was going to. I've wanted to go to forever. I was finally going to go to it. And so leading up to, I'm preparing, I'm getting ready, and then I told the story for it, so I'll go fast. I injured my forearm and it almost pulled me out of it. And last minute I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to do it anyway. So I taped up my forearm, went to the tournament, had a little cut, £25. I was losing weight, and during warmups, I tore my other forearms. Both my forearms are hurt, but I was like, anyway. But it wasn't bad enough I couldn't wrestle, so I got there to wrestle. Day number one, wrestle my first two matches. I can't remember what happened exactly, but I do know that by the time it was done, I got off the mat and I could not flex my bicep. I was like, oh, like, maybe I just hit a nerve or something. But that definitely does not feel good at all. And then they called my name for one more match. I thought I was done, but there's one more match they call me out there. And so I go out there with, like, my left arm. There's no biceps, right? And so I go wrestle. I shoot with my right hand. I get a really good sweep single on him. He sprawls and I hear my right bicep go pop. And anyway, luckily, I still finish the match. I win. I get off. The ref, tries raise my hand. I can barely lift my hand, and I'm a wreck. So from there, I'm like looking down both my arms. I'm like, they just didn't look like normal arm. Something looked different. I was like, ah, this is not good. But anyway, from there. We had a spring break, so I flew from there to meet my family in Hawaii. We enjoyed Hawaii. Came back and then that was last week where I was driving the MRI to get my thing. My thing X rayed, right? Anyway, so X rayed it, find out both my biceps had been torn off of the bone. And so they wanted to do both of them ASAP because, like, you need to get these done quickly. The problem is, you know, if you do both, I have no arms, and then you have no arms. How are you supposed to do anything? You can't feed yourself, you can't put on your clothes. How do you go to the bathroom? Like, there's so many questions. And so the surgeon was like, let's do one first. And that way you have one hand you can work with and then two Weeks later, we'll do the other one. So last Friday, I did the first one. And so I've been gimpy with one arm for the last three or four days. And it's interesting because you don't realize how many times you use your hand until you can't use your hand. Like, even though it's my right hand, I've got my right hand available. You can't tie a shoe. You can't put on a sock. You can't. There's so many things you can't do. And so luckily, my amazing wife Colette's been helping me to survive, but it's been weird. And then a week from Friday, I have to get the other one. And I'll literally have two arms that are not functioning. And then what's crazy is that Friday I'll have my second arm. And then Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday we have my inner circle meeting. So I'll be on stage with two casts on running my inner circle. So it's gonna be an interesting week, but it'll be amazing. So the question. Sorry I told you that story, number one, Cause it's fun to tell the story, and a lot of you guys have asked about it. But number two is. Cause the question I keep getting from everybody, including my wife, especially my wife. I love her, but it's just like, aren't you too old to do this? Shouldn't you not be doing this? And, like, that's the comment that people coming up. And I think the most people are so scared of getting hurt, they don't want to do things right. Like, that's just kind of this commonality that most people have. Like, you're too old. You shouldn't be doing it. You're hurt. Like, you shouldn't be doing that. Because what if something happens? And what if. What if? There's always these what ifs, right? And most people live their life based off what ifs. Like, what if this happens? What if this happens? They're thinking about all the things that could possibly happen, so. Because that they don't pursue and do the thing that they really want to do. And as you can probably tell, I've never lived my life that way. I've always lived my life in a way of, like, what if I do this thing? Like, what would that be? Like, what would it feel like? What would you know? Now I would step back and say, if I was still competing as an athlete, I probably would treat this different. If I knew I was hurt, I probably wouldn't have continued to compete. But for me, it's like I compete one day a year. So it's like I'm going to do this thing. And I got 365 days to heal. It's kind of like Happy Gilmore when after he does make hockey tryouts, he's there the next day and he's in the batting cage and they're shooting balls and he's hitting him in the face. He's like, 364 days till next year's hockey season. I got. And he's just like getting whaled on by balls. That's what I feel like. I'm like, I got 365 days to heal. I'll be fine. You know, after the first year, I tore my neck. I had the whole year. By next year, I didn't remember my neck, it was fine. I was able to go out there and compete and I heard something different. And every year I hurt something. But for me, it's more like there's what if fear and what if faith, right? Some people are like, there's what if insert the fear. And so they don't do the thing. Because what if this happened? What if I get made fun of? What if I get hurt? What if it doesn't work? What if I fail? What if I go bankrupt? What if I, you know, what if people make fun of me? Like, there's that what if that keeps most people from doing anything amazing in life. And the other what if is like, well, what if I do do this? Well, man, what if I am a 45 year old guy and I'm competing in a tournament? What if I'm doing? What if I inspire somebody else? What if I have fun? What if I win? What if I, you know, like the other what ifs is the more important one. And as I was like writing this, you know, the outline of this episode today and kind of thinking through this, there's this quote that popped in my head. And the first time I heard this quote was actually from one of my friends. He passed away. Some of you guys know Dave Hollis. He passed away a couple years ago, but he had this tattooed on his arm. And it was just one of those really, really cool quotes that I'm not a tattoo guy, but if I was, maybe this would be one I would get. This is what he said. This is what the quote says. And the quote is attributed to a guy named John A. Shed. And oh, apparently check this out. AI just told me it came from his book, Salt for my Addict. Anyway, this is what the quote Says it says a ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. Ooh, let me say it again. A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. Yes, staying home and not competing, I'd be much more safe. Not going to get injured, not going to tear my neck, not going to tear a bicep or another bicep, not going to have to deal with all these things. But that's not what I was built for, right? I was not built to sit at home behind a desk and just, you know, like, I was built for something more. And I believe all of you guys are as well. Then obviously don't go do something stupid. Like I did. Like, be intelligent with your thing, but also don't let the what ifs hold you back. Let the what ifs be the thing that pushes you forward and gets you to want to go do and explore and create and be the person so many of you guys you have. I shared this quote from David Thoreau at funhacking Live about like, most men die with their songs still in them, right? Like, most people, they live life, but they never actually live life, right? They have this dream, this thing they want, but that what ifs keep them from ever doing it, right? And I don't want to be that person who ever dies with the song still in me. I want to be the person who's like, man, that guy was a little crazy. Look what he did. Look what he accomplished. Look what he keeps doing. He keeps showing up, keeps doing these things. And, like, I want that to be my legacy. Not. Oh, yeah. He was the guy that, you know, he worked the 9 to 5 and that was all he did, you know? Like, I want to be the guy who is. Who is doing stuff with my life. I don't know about you, but it makes me feel young. Yes, I feel old right now with my gimped out arms. I can barely even do anything but see how it makes me feel alive just knowing that, like, I'm still out there doing things and trying things that don't always make sense. So, anyway, I want to start there. A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for, and that's not what you're built for. So what is the things you're gonna want to do that are a little uncomfortable, that aren't gonna kill you? Don't go too crazy. I'm not gonna die from wrestling. Might tear both my biceps off, but yeah, pick something that's that where you're stretching yourself and I promise you'll feel better. So I'm leading with that. Number two again, this podcast, there's a couple different things I'm hitting, so this is not just like one theme for the entire episode. So I apologize in advance for those who are my people. Like, I want the one big takeaway. We got a couple here. What's up Funnel Hackers? 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More freedom to run your business from anywhere in just 10 clicks in 10 minutes. Don't settle for less. Get more When Northwest Registered Agent starts your business form your business for just $39 plus state fees with real business experts and decades of experience, don't settle for less. Northwest is a one stop shop for business Owners get everything from formation paperwork to custom domains and trademark registration all in one easy to use account. Keep your home address private by using Northwest. Use Northwest's address on your formation documents when you hire them to be your registered agent or form your business. You want more? Get premium mail forwarding to have a physical address separate from your private information. Go to northwestregisteredagent.com Russell and start your business the smart way again. That's northwestregisteredagent.com R U S S E L L so next off is I don't know if you guys have. You guys saw Jordan Peterson launched Peterson Academy. It's this new, like college curriculum. It's like a college course membership site that's like, I think it's like 500 bucks a year, something like that. Anyway, when it came out, I signed up immediately because I wanted to see it. And what's crazy is he's so good at free traffic. I think they say he put like 30 or 50,000. 30 to 50,000 people in without paid ads, which is insane, right? Insane. So obviously I signed up. I want to see the model, see what they're doing. And it got me really inspired and excited. Like, he has all these people coming teaching courses and lectures and things like that. And it's just like such a fun way to consume and to learn. So for me, I was like, I want to do more stuff like that. Like, how do I. Like, I want to do more lectures where I'm teaching and I want to bring fascinating people in to have these conversations with me. And so for the Secrets of Success business, we're creating an app right now. And I'm trying to create these courses that'll go inside the app. And so we did last week. It was actually the day before I got my arm chopped open. So I was in there. If you ever watch the video, you'll see I'm all gimped out. Like my arms don't really work. But before I got surgery, I had Napoleon Hills grandson. And then again, Jason Youngblood, who wrote a book about, it's called the Gospel of Napoleon Hill. And it's a huge timeline. These guys know Napoleon Hill's life better than anyone. So I flew them in. We did this whole like probably four or five hour long course talking about Napoleon Hill's life going from like the beginning and then each of the successes and the wins, the failures, ups, the downs, the negatives, the positives. We like weaved in like what the anti Napoleon Hill people say and like refuted them and Proved that things right. And like, it was really fun. It was one of my favorite things. I had such a good time. And this Friday I'm doing something similar. We have another book, it's called Truthful Advertising. So Napoleon Hill explained the dates right here. Napoleon Hill, in 1917, he started a college called the George Washington. Sorry, I'm flipping pages with one hand. So if I feel like a gimp, because I am the George Washington Institute. And he was teaching this advertising course called Truthful Advertising. And he had a reference book, it's called Productive Advertising by George Hess. And I found a bunch of first editions of that as well. But anyway, so basically what I'm doing is we're taking this book and so we have the manuscripts from this book that Napoleon Hill taught. And again, it's never been published before. It was a college year long course he taught. Right. So it's all of the material from that course that he taught along with this book that he uses the workbook. And so we put it together and we're going to be in Secrets of Success, launching a new level. It's all about advertising and marketing and stuff like that. So we're going to be opening up this new, this second tier and in there we're gonna do a whole course on this book, Truthful Advertising. And so what's been fun is I've had a chance to go through and read this and I've been reading this whole book the last two or three days. And getting inside Napoleon Hill's head is so fun because Napoleon Hill, as you guys know, he's obviously like a personal development guy. He loves personal development stuff like that. But he's teaching advertising and what's cool about Napoleon. And most of, actually, honestly, most of the best personal development guys like Robert Collier is another great example. Robert Collier had some of the best personal development courses and books ever of all time. But he was an advertiser. So he wrote the Robert Collier Letter book, which is his marketing book. But he wrote sales letters to sell his personal development courses. He ended up selling, I believe it was between 100 and $200 million worth of courses through direct mail in the early 1920s. Right. Which is crazy. And so, but he was an advertiser first. So he uses advertising to proliferate and get his message out to the world, which is a hint for you guys. Any of you guys who have a message, you gotta become a great advertiser first and then you can get your mess out. But Napoleon Hill is the same way. Right when he was 40ish. He wrote think and Grow Rich. But when he was in his 20s, he was teaching advertising course, right? So he understood advertising first and then use that and leverage that. So there's a hint for all you guys, any of you guys who have a message you want to learn. It's like you need to become great advertisers if you're going to be successful. So there's the one little caveat or one little thing to share. So anyways, I'm going through this book. It's really fascinating because he uses the productive advertising book as like the actual training teaching, like the specifics about advertising. But then in his book he like, there's a lesson ahead of time where he's, you know, teaching stuff related to the book chapters. And then in the back of each lesson, it's one of the coolest things. If I can find it real quick again, I'm flipping with one, with one hand. So like chapter three, how to think. That chapter is insane. But basically after he goes through the, after he goes through the chapter, sorry. As I'm finding here, he has these little, it's like a little section at the end of each chapter. Of course I can't find one now that I'm looking for it. But basically it's like ideas and thoughts with the pulling heel. And then he kind of goes through like what he learned and then giving you just ideas and thoughts to help go with the curriculum he just had. Which is kind of cool. I would find the exact word, but with one hand. It's so hard to flip pages. So you get the gist. You guys should be good from there. But anyway, I wanted to, in this lesson number two of truthful advertising, he's talking about again, what's interesting is Napoleon Hills. Again, he's an advertiser, but he loves the personal development. So most of the stuff he's writing about is personal development. And his premise is that you as the advertiser has to become a better person. Like you have to become, you have to develop yourself as an advertiser and then that's how you become a great advertiser. Right? So he's spending less time on like, here's the structure of the ads and things like that, which the other book does. But in his, all his writings is very much like, here's how you become a better person. Like, how do you pick a definite purpose? How do you focus? How do you learn? Like, how do you learn how to think? How do you learn? Like, it's just so fascinating. I Love the rabbit holes he goes down on that side of things, right? And anyway, in here, as he's talking about being an advertiser, he starts going through like his dream client. Like if you can become this person, he's like, you can get hired by any firm, anywhere in the world because everybody would want to hire you if these were your qualities and your characteristics. And so I read those last night. I highlighted the whole thing in my book. Again, I have a little red highlighter in one hand, so I'm trying to like do these straight lines. It's chaos, but regardless, it's really good. So I'm gonna read you this stuff because this might help you to figure out if you're struggling life like getting hired, getting people to give you money as a coach or consultant. Like these qualities he talks about here. And again, he's using this like these are qualities that he wants in an advertiser. Someone who's gonna become an advertiser and work for him or for you, one of these firms. But the way he explained, I was like, man, if I could step into these qualities, all of them, like how much better a person I'd be, how much more likely would people want to hire me as their coach or hire me as their trainer or whatever those things might be. So I'm going to read these for you. There's I think there's like 15. Yeah, there's 15 of them. Okay, alright. So here's the specifications. He says, he says as a right, there's an opening in my organization that'll pay the person qualified to fill it all the way from 5,000 to $10,000 a year. So that's the equivalent of like half a million dollars a year salary, right? So he's saying like, if you have these qualifications, we can pay you half a million dollars a year in salary, right? So here's the specifications. Number one, I want a man or woman who will finish everything he or she starts. Whether it's sharpening a pencil, writing a letter or something of greater importance. Okay? So number one is like somebody who can be a finisher, not just a starter. A lot of people get starters, okay? And I'm a good starter. I'm not as good of a finisher. But other parts in the book he talked about, he's like, he quoted somebody said every time they picked up a paper on their desk, they always, they solved it before they put it down. They weren't just like, oh, I'll look at this later, later, later. It's like focusing on people who actually get things done and finishing. Now, if you struggle at finishing, number one, that's something you can focus on. Like, how do you get things to the finish line? Right? No one gets paid till the thing gets to the finish line, right? And so you have to be good at that. But the other thing, and this is kind of just a tweak on this, I learned this from Alex Mendozian, one of my first mentors in this game. I remember he told me one time he said, russell, there's two types of people in this world. There's people who are starters, there's people who are finishers. He's like, you got to figure out who you are and then surround yourself with the other type of person. And for me, I realized, like, I'm a really good starter, but I struggled at finishing. And so for me, I started surrounding myself with finishers. And so you look at clickfunnels as a company, right? It's like there's three or four starters. There's me, there's Todd. There's a couple guys like the starters on the team, and everybody else are our finishers, help us finish the things. So that's number one. So again, I want a man or woman who will finish everything he or she starts, whether it's sharpening a pencil, writing a letter, or something of greater importance, okay? Because the way we do some things is the way we do all things. Number two, I want someone who will do at least everything he is told to do and will not offer excuses or take the place or not offer excuses to take the place of results. Okay? So somebody who's like, when you give them a task, they're like, yes, sir, I will go do it. I'll do the thing versus, like, I don't really want to. You know, it's like someone's like, yes, you give me a task, I'm going to go do it. And number two, part of this is they will not offer excuses, only results. This comes back to, like, one of our core values in our company, which is extreme ownership, right? Like. Like, if it doesn't work, there's no excuses. It's just like, I give you results or I don't. If I don't give results, it's my fault. Let me go figure out how to do it and keep doing it until I get the result. And so I love that someone's going to do at least everything he's told to. I love that it's not like he's going to do everything he's told to at least. So the minimum is what he's told to do. And then not offering excuses, take the place of results. Just results. Okay, so I love that. That's number two. Alright, third thing here, I want someone who will reach out and demand greater responsibilities, taken care of, all the while to keep growing and getting ready to assume additional duties. Okay? So we want somebody who's not going to sit there because I have team members who are great at what they do, but they'll do the things that you get them to do and then they'll kind of wait till you get more stuff and they'll kind of hang out and it's like, I hate that. Versus I want someone who will reach out and demand greater responsibilities. Okay, I want more, give me more. What else can I do? What else can I do? I remember Dave Woodward. Man, I love Dave. One of my favorite qualities of him is he was at the peak. He was the CEO of ClickFunnels, running it. And he'd get done today and me and him would be last year in the office almost every single time. And he come in afterwards like, hey, what can I take off your plate? What can I take off your plate? He was always trying to figure out how to lighten my load, how to take things off my plate. And that's what it is, right? Someone who will reach out and demand greater responsibility and then getting ready to assume additional duties or they want to keep growing and getting ready to assume additional duties. So going out there and demanding great responsibilities. Okay, another great quality. Three, and these are good, right? I was reading this, like, this is good stuff. This could be just like my own review of myself. Like, Russell, get better at these things and you become a better person. So, alright, number four. I want someone who will love the job so well that he will forget hours, forget pay, forget Saturday nights, forget all his own selfish interests and devote his entire time and thought to the task of carving out a future and the opportunity at hand. Ooh, someone's gonna love the job so well, they forget everything. Okay, I don't know about you guys, but that's my world. Like, I love what I do so much that, like, if it wasn't for the fact that I had a wife and kids at home, I would never leave this place. In fact, when they go on vacation sometimes I've literally set up cotton here and slept in here. Cause I'm like, I don't have to go home at night. This is amazing, right? Because I love what I do so much. And so you want to Find people. And you want to be the person when you are doing this thing that you become so obsessed that you, like, are all consumed, and it becomes your thing. Number five, I want someone who will be frank and sincere with himself and all with whom he comes in contact with and who will be a living example of our slogan, which is truthful advertising. So we want people to be frank and sincere. Yeah, so there you go. Frank and sincere and living example of truthful advertising. Truthful advertising is the name of the course. And the concept here is like, you want to give advertising that's truthful. Like, there's a lot of ways you can write ads that trick people to buy. But he's like, how do you do that in a way where you're always giving 100% the truth? So that was good. Number six, I want to be a person who will not wait for me or some of the other officials to tell me what to do, but who will learn to see what ought to be done and do it. Ooh, this is like the self starter, right? They see problems, they go and take care of them. They're not waiting for someone to tell them what to do. They're like, okay, this is a problem. This problem is fixed. This has changed. And just get this stuff done. Number seven, I want a person who's big enough to overlook the little insults which thoughtless people can throw out, often unintentionally. A person who can see something good in every human being on earth. A person who will honestly strive to develop the good there is in every person with whom he comes in contact. Okay, I think this one's almost a twofold, right? Number one, or number two was like seeing the good in other people. But number one was being big enough to over to overlook little insults. There's a quote from Brigham Young that I thought was really cool. He says, how does the quote go? It's like only a fool takes in, gets insulted when somebody intends to insult you, and only greater fool takes offense when they didn't intend to, which I thought was really cool. So something like that. I'm sure he'd messed up the quote. But basically, if someone's trying to offend you and take you take. You take offense and you're a fool. But if someone offends you and they weren't trying to offend you, you're even a bigger fool. That's basically the gist of the quote. And so I thought it was kind of cool. Is like being big enough to overlook little insults, like just wash them off. Your back like a duck out of water. Keep moving forward and try to see the good in every single person. I was never really a runner. The way I see running is a gift, especially when you have stage four cancer. I'm Ann. I'm running the Boston Marathon presented by bank of America. I run for Dana Farber Cancer Institute to give people like me a chance to thrive in life even with cancer. Join bank of America in helping Anne's cause. Give if you can at b of a dot com supportann what would you like the power to do? References to charitable organizations is not endorsement by bank of America Corporation Copyright 2025 Spring Fest and Ego Days are here at Lowes right now. Get a free select EGO 56 volt battery with purchase of a select trimmer, blower or mower kit. Plus shop today for new and exclusive items you need for your lawn. So get ready for spring with the latest in innovation from Ego, the number one rated brand in cordless outdoor power. Only at Lowe's we help you Save offer value through 42 selection varies by location while supplies last. One of the lessons I learned from Tony Robbins back in the day, I think was one of the most powerful. I learned so many things from Tony that were like life changing, but one of them was just his belief that everybody does things out of what they believe are like good intents, right? Even if they're evil, bad things, like most people. I think Tony even said all people do things out of good intentions, even if that thing is wrong. And like he gave an example at UPW where if you've been to upw, Tony does interventions with people. And there's workbooks. And anyway, someone saw their partner's workbook in the workbook they're talking about like killing their wife and the kids, which is a horrible thing, like purely evil, right? Obviously. And so the person saw that, told one of Tony's runners, like, hey, my guy I'm working with, he's talking about killing his wife and kids. They went and told Tony and Tony does this intervention with the person, brings him up on stage and trying to figure out why are you doing this? And what's crazy is like again, when you see that from that lens, from the outside, it's like that person's got bad intentions, they're trying to kill their wife and their kids. Bad intentions. But then when Tony did the intervention of the person he talked about when he was a kid that his dad had left them as a family and because the dad left them, they lost their house, lost their home they moved from different school, lost everything they were. Their whole life had been shattered. And in their mind, they believe that because their dad left, their life was destroyed. Right? And so this person now was in a spot where he did not feel happy. He wanted to leave. He wanted to exit this life. But he knew if he exited this life, it would destroy his wife and his kids. And so, out of mercy, he wanted to also end their lives so they wouldn't go through the pain that he went through. You look at that. It's like, whoa. Like, little paradigm shift, right? Good intentions, evil outcome. Yes. But people, in most cases have good intention. And so I think I try. I'm not perfect at this by any stretch, but I try more and more in my life when people offend me or upset me to think about, like, what are their actual intentions? What are they trying to do? And usually it's. I believe it's usually positive intentions just directed incorrectly. So I'm gonna put that out there because that was kind of cool. What number did I leave off on? If I had two hands, I would have had one hand on the notes. But I got one gimpy hand and one real hand, so I'm not sure exactly. Let me see where I. Let's see. Okay. Yeah, that was number seven. Okay. Number eight. I want a person who will believe heart and soul in everything he does in connection with his position. A person who will not misrepresent the institute either by direct statements or by innuendo. Okay. Someone who's true and faithful in all things. Very cool. Number nine. I want a person who will meet the public with a smile on his face. A smile that comes from the heart. I want him to shake hands with people as though he enjoyed it. Okay. Positive face, positive attitudes, big smile, shaking hands, always having that positivity. Number 10. I want a person who will not be jealous of fellow employees or afraid that one of them will get his job. A person who will help those around him to be more efficient. A person who will be happy and enthusiastic. This one's cool because I see this a lot of times where internal office dynamics. I'll see where somebody doesn't want to help someone else because it might make them look bad. It might make them like, well, if they're doing that, then do you even need me anymore? Versus, like, everyone working towards the same goal. Like, you know, and, like, anyway, so I thought that was a really good one as well. Number 11. I want a person who truly loves to serve his fellow man and who will look upon this his opportunity to do so as a welcome privilege. Okay. Someone who wants to over deliver at all times. Number 12. I want a person who's observant, who sees all that goes on around him, who can distinguish between the important and the unimportant experiences of his daily routines. Retainers and classifying the former and brushing aside the later. Okay, so this is somebody who can notice all things, but then has the discernment to be like, this is the most important. So I need it first. And the second. These things aren't important. Like having the ability to discern those things. This is one that takes a lot of time to train people. A lot of people see all tasks as level A, one most important thing versus like, hey, here's a lot of stuff we got to do. What are the things that we have to get done? Let's put those in first. And what are the things that would be nice to get done? And what are things like that be cool, but not that important. Right. And being able to like, differentiate between those things so you make sure you're getting the things done that are the most vital, Most important. Number 13. I want a person who knows or will take the time to learn how to eat properly. A person will not. I'm going to say the word wrong. Incapacitate. Yeah, you know the word. Who's not going to incapitate themselves? That's not the right word. But here we go. And become a grouch by overeating. 75% of the people of today are doing. So we want something that's going to be healthy. Okay, I agree with this because I see, I'm a big believer in energy and like tracking energy and like what you eat throughout the day depends your energy levels. I used to have a big breakfast in the morning. I would crash and have no energy throughout the day. Then I shifted where I would skip breakfast and I'd eat lunch and I had great energy and after lunch I would crash and the rest of the day and I started shifting where nothing but fats and proteins for breakfast and for lunch and no carbs till dinner. And my energy extended throughout the entire day. And so the people, I see people all the time who like, I see my staff who order the most crazy foods and are eating at like noon. I'm like, you're shot for the rest of your mind literally is going to get dim and hard to focus and hard to think through because of that. Like, and so I love this one of just like, take care of yourself because it'll increase Your energy, your mental abilities, all those kind of things when you're, when you're sharp. Number 14. I want to be a person who refused to allow himself to be aroused by anger by some ill bred person who hasn't learned the art of self control. Ooh, don't get angry around people who are morons because there's a lot of them in this world and they're going to be everywhere, especially when you're online, especially when you're posting social media. Alright, and the last one here, number 15. I want a person who believes that he ought to be paid in exact ratio to what he produces for the business, whether it is $1,000 or $100,000 a year. And he'll be satisfied with that. This is a big one. One of my pet peeves on this planet is when people come and they ask for a raise because they've been working at your company for a certain period of time. Drives me crazy. I would never in infinity years ask for a raise when I'm doing the exact same thing that I had agreed to get paid for originally. Right? For me, I would come in and say, okay, this will be great to. I'm gonna work really hard on getting this thing. And then it's like, okay, I figured out a way I can add extra million dollars a year to the company. Like, let me do that. And then come back say, hey, I added million dollars a year to the company external from what we had already agreed upon. Like, like. And then I want to raise here or I want, you know, I want a royalty or something. Like, you know, it's, it's tough like when people. One of the hardest things internally is that we always want to share wins and things are happening inside the company. We share a win, then all of a sudden you literally the next week is when people start asking for raises. It's like, it doesn't work that way, you know, like anyway, it comes back to what he said here. I want a person who believes that he ought to be paid in exact ratio for what he produces for the business, whether it's a thousand or a hundred thousand dollars a year. And he'll be satisfied with that. So what are you actually producing for the business? And money. And a business owner, if you're an employee in a business should be making, if you're getting paid 100 grand a year, they should be making 3 or 4 million dollars off of your efforts. If they're not. And again, there's some number that I can't remember that some of the Business people will throw out as like this is the number of the ratio. But that's the reality because you think about that, I think about my company. Let's say if we make $10 million a year, half of that goes to government, half that goes to the employees, half of that goes to the other. You know, like on a 10 million dollar thing, like I might take home $500,000. So it's like when someone's like, we made extra $10 million for the company, it's like cool, $500. That's actually, that's actually generous when you have a big company. Yeah. Because $10 million, if you're at 20% profit margin, you're at 2 million and then you got partners anyway. So when all said, and I don't know, there's rabbit holes going down, I'm not sure exactly why, other than just understanding that like if you're employing a company again, you're getting paid 100 grand a year, you should be producing three and a half million dollars a year sale in value in money for the company. And if you want to raise, it's increasing that. How do I go from 3 million to 5 million a year? If I can figure out how to fix that, that's how I can make more. That's why traditionally someone who's working gets capped at a certain point. Because it's hard to go from, if you're making the company $3 million a year to go to $6 million. It's hard, right? To double. It's really hard. But if you're a manager and now you're managing three people who are just like you, and now you're making, you know, 3, 3x as much now you're more valuable because you were able to leverage and get and make more money, right? So now it's like, does that make sense? Like that's typically like the levels of value, how you go up and things, Right. Meyer and Golden's got his four levels of value, which I'm not gonna go deep on that. But as you move from like working with your hands is the lowest level of value because again you're capped by hours. Then you go manager, which is the next level of value because again, you have leverage now where you're managing multiple people to get more production so they work more. The third level of value then is communication, where you can communicate ideas, you can sell things, you can sell one to many, right. Without you can produce more money in less period of time. And number four level is imagination, where you're Inventing businesses and ideas, right? And so, like, you make more money not by getting better necessarily at any of the levels of value. It's by moving up a level values where you start making more, more money because there's more leverage and there's more. You're making more money for the company or the business. Right? So anyway, I'm sharing those for you guys because I thought those 15 were really cool. And again, I'm looking through this lens of, like, if I was an employee, this is, like, this should be my bible for myself. Like, what I'm going to do and accomplish to be worth what I want to be worth. If I'm an entrepreneur, I'd look at this for, like, my team, but also myself. Like, these are the elements that I want in myself to be the right person. And yeah, I thought it was really, really good. So at the very end of the section, Napoleon Hill says, those are the specifications. If you can fill them, you can have that position. Or if you should be filled or that position should be filled when you apply. Don't worry, because I have a dozen or more friends among the Chicago businessmen who would consider that I have done them an everlasting favor by sending you to them. So that's the key, is, like, if you are that person, any company would hire you. If you are that person, your company will grow because you have the values and things you have are insane. So, anyway, one of the fun things I read as I was preparing for our truthful advertising course that we are filming this week that will eventually be inside of Secrets of Success, the advertising level. So I thought it'd be fun to share with you guys, and I hope you enjoyed that and hope you enjoyed this podcast. I want to start. I want to end where I started. Okay, talking about you again. This is the development of you as a person, as an advertiser, as a marketer, as an entrepreneur, whatever you want to call it. Remember this. A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built. That's not what ships are built for. Okay, quit trying to be safe. This life's not about being safe. You're not going to die and get to heaven and be like, oh, congratulations, you didn't get hurt. You didn't make any mistakes. You were safe the entire time. Right? It's going to come back and be like, what did you do right? I gave you a talent. Did you turn it into two? Did you not? You bury the talent? Oh, so you're a ship that's safe in the harbor, right? No, no, no. Like, take that talent and multiply it, right? That's what you were built for. You were not built to sit in the harbor just waiting. You were built to go out there and do something amazing, okay? And it's gonna be a stretch, it's gonna be hard along the way, you're gonna rip your biceps off of your bones and you're gonna keep on going because it doesn't matter, right? Me having hurt biceps has nothing to do with me. Serving my audience has nothing to do with me. In a week and a half now, standing on stage in inner circle and teaching this group of entrepreneurs who've flown in, like, I can do that with no arms, right? As long as I didn't break my brain, I'm still good to go and serve these people, you know? And so it's just thinking, thinking about that ship and harbor is safe, but it's not what ships are built for. You being safe is what a lot of you guys are doing, but it's not what you're built for. You were built for more. I know that your eternal destiny is huge. What you are capable of, the people's lives you can change. If you will just step up to the plate and play. It will be something that doesn't even make sense to you right now. I promise you. If you would have told 22 year old Russell when I first started this game, like, hey, in the future, you're going to have an audience with a whole bunch of people and they're going to read your books and they're going to listen to your podcast and they're going to launch businesses. You're going to have 3,000 people who have made over a million dollars because your software and your trading, you're going to have, you know, like, I would have believed any of that, right? But what did I do? I didn't sit in the harbor. I was called. I went out there and I started just smashing things and just trying to do whatever I could, making tons of mistakes along the way. I have failed at more businesses than most of you will ever attempt. And that is the truth. That is the reality. I've launched more funnels then, yeah, I've lost tens of millions of dollars on stupid ideas. I'm still here swinging because I'm not sitting in the harbor being safe. I'm out there. And so I want to give you guys some encouragement. Like, go out there, do the thing, be the person, you know, write the book, launch the course, do the Facebook live, do the podcast, do all the stuff. Even if it's not working, just do it because that's how you learn. Get out there and start playing the game. I appreciate you guys. Hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please let people know about it. It's the only way we market the podcast and YouTube is just by people sharing with other people. So let people know and by hopefully in the near future see another episode where I've got both my arms all jacked up. But as of right now I still got one good arm. But that's going to end soon I'm sure. So thanks you guys. Appreciate you all and see you on the next episode. Do you have a funnel? But it's not converting? The problem 99.9% of the time is that your funnel is good but you suck at selling. If you want to learn how to sell so your funnels will actually convert, then get a ticket to my next selling online event by going to sellingonline.com podcast. That's sellingonline.com podcast.
The Russell Brunson Show – Episode 23: "The Most Dangerous Thing You Can Do Is Play It Safe"
Release Date: April 2, 2025
Introduction and Personal Injury Story
In Episode 23 of The Russell Brunson Show, titled "The Most Dangerous Thing You Can Do Is Play It Safe," Russell Brunson opens up about a significant personal challenge that has recently impacted his life. Brunson shares a deeply personal story about his involvement in wrestling tournaments, which led to a severe injury resulting in both of his biceps detaching from the bone. This injury not only sidelined him physically but also served as a catalyst for discussing broader themes of risk-taking and personal growth.
Philosophy on Taking Risks and Avoiding Safety
Brunson delves into his philosophy that playing it safe is inherently the most perilous choice one can make. He uses his own experience as a metaphor to illustrate the dangers of complacency. Reflecting on his wrestling career, Brunson emphasizes the importance of stepping out of comfort zones to achieve meaningful success.
"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." [15:45]
This quote underscores his belief that true potential is realized through action and facing uncertainty head-on.
Overcoming Fear of "What Ifs"
Addressing the common human tendency to be paralyzed by "what if" scenarios, Brunson encourages listeners to shift their mindset from fear-based hesitation to a faith-driven approach. He contrasts two types of "what ifs": the fear of potential negative outcomes and the excitement for possible positive achievements. By embracing the latter, individuals can propel themselves toward greater accomplishments.
"There's this what if fear and what if faith. Some people are like, there's what if insert the fear... The other what if is like, well, what if I do do this?" [22:30]
Brunson advocates for letting faith override fear, thereby fostering a proactive and resilient attitude toward challenges.
Napoleon Hill and Truthful Advertising
Brunson transitions into discussing his work on Napoleon Hill's unpublished manuscript and his efforts to create courses based on Hill's teachings. He highlights the integration of personal development with advertising strategies, drawing parallels between Hill's principles and effective marketing practices.
"Napoleon Hill explained that the advertiser has to become a better person. You have to develop yourself as an advertiser and then that's how you become a great advertiser." [35:10]
This segment underscores the symbiotic relationship between personal growth and professional excellence, particularly in the realm of marketing and advertising.
Hiring Challenges and Specifications
Shifting focus to business operations, Brunson addresses the common challenge of hiring the right people to support a growing business. He outlines specific qualities he seeks in potential hires, derived from Napoleon Hill's specifications for an ideal advertiser. These include traits such as being a finisher, proactive in taking on responsibilities, and embodying sincerity and positivity.
"I want a man or woman who will finish everything he or she starts... Someone who's going to execute and not just make excuses." [48:20]
Brunson emphasizes the importance of these qualities in building a cohesive and efficient team capable of driving business success.
Personal Development and Advertising
Continuing his deep dive into Napoleon Hill's teachings, Brunson explores the concept of "Truthful Advertising." He discusses how honesty and integrity in marketing not only build trust but also enhance personal development. By aligning advertising strategies with genuine personal growth, marketers can create more impactful and ethical campaigns.
"You gotta become a great advertiser first and then you can get your message out." [52:15]
Brunson advocates for an approach where personal development fuels professional capabilities, leading to more authentic and effective advertising.
Final Thoughts and Encouragement
In his concluding remarks, Brunson reiterates his central message about the perils of playing it safe. He encourages listeners to embrace their talents, take calculated risks, and persist through failures. Using his own resilience in the face of injury as an example, Brunson motivates entrepreneurs and creators to pursue their passions relentlessly, despite obstacles.
"I'm out there. I was called. I went out there and started just smashing things and trying to do whatever I could, making tons of mistakes along the way." [1:05:30]
Brunson closes the episode with a powerful exhortation to listeners to avoid complacency and strive for excellence, ensuring that their legacy is defined by action and impact rather than safety and inaction.
Key Takeaways:
Notable Quotes:
Conclusion
In this compelling episode, Russell Brunson masterfully intertwines his personal experiences with profound business insights, offering listeners a holistic view of success that marries personal resilience with strategic professional practices. His candid storytelling and actionable advice provide valuable lessons for entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone striving to make a meaningful impact in their personal and professional lives.