The Russell Brunson Show — "The Secret Behind The Three Phases Of The Attractive Character..."

Host: Russell Brunson
Date: June 11, 2018

Episode Overview

In this episode, Russell Brunson dives into the concept of the "Attractive Character"—a foundational marketing principle he’s championed for years. Russell breaks down the three evolving phases of the Attractive Character and explains how this strategy not only scales brands rapidly but also ensures a business can outgrow a single personality, making it ultimately more scalable and potentially sellable. He illustrates these ideas with actionable stories from his own journey building ClickFunnels and celebrates a significant milestone: for the first time, Russell’s not the one presenting the ClickFunnels webinar—this honor goes to one of his most successful students, Kaylin Polin.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. What Is the Attractive Character? (01:09–03:00)

• The “Attractive Character” is the unique, relatable personality attached to your brand. It’s who communicates, builds rapport, and sells to your audience.
• “Attractive character is the personality of your brand that will be communicating with your audience, that builds rapport, that sells, that does all those kind of things, right?”
  —Russell Brunson (01:17)

2. Challenge: The "Sellability" Dilemma (02:00–04:57)

• Critics argue personality-based brands are hard to sell because they’re so tied to their founder's identity.
• “If you are the personality, it’s really hard to sell the brand. So, how do you...?”
  —Russell Brunson (02:57)
• Russell acknowledges this problem but also insists that leveraging a personal brand is what allows for explosive growth.

3. The Three Phases (or Levels) of the Attractive Character (04:58–14:14)

Phase 1: Founder as Attractive Character (04:58–08:00)

• The founder is the focal point, sharing personal stories and building recognition.
• “I think the first evolution of a business is that you, or whoever that person is in your business, is the Attractive Character first. That’s awesome.”
  —Russell Brunson (07:18)

Phase 2: Customers/Students as Attractive Characters (08:00–10:15)

• To grow, the brand shifts to spotlighting success stories—customers or students who used the product to achieve remarkable results become the new heroes.
• “If you’ve watched over the last two or three years, you’ve probably noticed me consciously doing this as I shared less and less of, like, Russell Brunson stories, and I share more and more of the stories of our members...”
  —Russell Brunson (07:57)

Phase 3: Clients of Your Clients as Attractive Characters (10:15–13:32)

• The most scalable phase: focus on the impact your customers have on their customers, creating a multi-layer narrative of success and transformation.
• “The third level is talking about the success stories of their clients. That’s three levels deep, right?”
  —Russell Brunson (11:02)
• Example: Instead of saying a customer made a million dollars, focus on how that customer’s work improved the lives of their own clients (e.g., Kaylin Polin helping 1.3 million women).

4. The Practical Application with ClickFunnels (14:14–19:00)

• Russell shares excitement that Kaylin Polin is now doing the main ClickFunnels webinar "in her voice," selling ClickFunnels through her own story—not Russell’s.
• “Today... is the first time we’ve done this where Kaylin Polin is doing the Funnel Hacks webinar... she’s telling her stories, her experience, everything, and then she’s selling my product at the end.”
  —Russell Brunson (14:30)
• This approach is more scalable and paves the way for a business that isn’t dependent on Russell’s continued presence.

5. The New Win-Win Model (19:00–22:00)

• Kaylin and her husband Brandon benefit by receiving royalties on the sales generated through their presentations, and ClickFunnels gains new voices for its core message.
• “They get royalty on all the sales that happen through this webinar funnel and through all future sales that come through it. So it’s a huge win for them. It’s a huge win for us.” —Russell Brunson (19:40)

6. Encouragement for Listeners: How to Apply This (22:00–27:05)

• Start as the Attractive Character, then aim to make your customers the heroes, eventually highlighting their impact.

• Don’t let fear of building a personality-driven brand stop you; systems and creativity can make it scalable and sellable.

• “If you read some stupid business book or someone’s like, ‘If you embrace as the brand, you could never sell your company’—just realize that person is not creative or unique and they have no vision on how to actually change the world. So don’t listen to them.”
  —Russell Brunson (23:00)

• Actionable steps:

  • Double down on building your own Attractive Character if you haven’t yet.
  • Help your customers succeed, then platform them as new Attractive Characters.
  • Train them to present and sell your product through their lens.
  • Eventually tell the stories of your customers’ customers for the largest impact.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “The flak I get often from people... is like, oh, well, if you focus your business on attractive character, you can’t ever sell your brand... It’s kind of annoying. But alas, those critics are all right.”
  —Russell Brunson (01:45)

• “Long term, it can’t just be me. It has to shift. I didn’t know how that was going to work... but I know that we’re going to do that. We’re going to hopefully build a community where other people become funnel experts and other people are teaching and doing this stuff.”
  —Russell Brunson (03:37)

• “My success stories become the Attractive Characters. They’re the practical application of what I’m teaching and talking and telling about.”
  —Russell Brunson (08:18)

• “The third level... is talking about the success stories of their clients. That’s three levels deep, right?”
  —Russell Brunson (11:02)

• “Now it’s like Russell and my presentation, my story becomes one of many different ways to sell... and that now makes my business very sellable because if Russell disappears, doesn’t matter.”
  —Russell Brunson (17:40)

• “This is the practical application of like three and a half, four years of like trying to brainstorm and think through how this is even possible.”
  —Russell Brunson (18:50)

• “Kaylin… she’s changed 1.3 million women’s lives. Like, who does that? Like, it’s, it’s insanely cool.”
  —Russell Brunson (25:38)

Important Timestamps & Segments

• Introduction / The Big Marketing Question: 00:00–01:10
• Defining the Attractive Character: 01:10–03:00
• Pros/Cons of a Personality Brand: 03:00–04:57
• Phase 1—Founder as Attractive Character: 04:58–08:00
• Phase 2—Customers as Attractive Characters: 08:00–10:15
• Phase 3—Impact Through Clients of Your Clients: 10:15–13:32
• Case Study: ClickFunnels’ Evolution: 14:14–19:00
• The Win-Win Webinar Model: 19:00–22:00
• Advice for Listeners / Action Steps: 22:00–27:05

Conclusion

Russell Brunson provides a roadmap for entrepreneurs and creators to build businesses that are both fast-growing and, eventually, independent from their own personalities. By embracing, then evolving beyond, the Attractive Character strategy, and by empowering customers to become the brand’s storytellers, a company can scale with reach and longevity. This episode offers a blend of philosophy, practical structuring, and current-day celebration as Russell witnesses these theories play out in real time with the ClickFunnels community.