SFR 172: Russell Brunson Tells The Shortcut To Learn Marketing...

Boom! What's going on everyone. This is Steve Larsen and this is Sales Funnel Radio. And today you're going to hear my interview with the one and only, Mr. Russell Brunson.

 

Now, I've been wanting to get him on the podcast for quite some time, but I wanted to do it when I could actually promote something that he was interested in as well.

 

Russell is the guy that originally started teaching me offer creation, and I wanted to make sure that there was as an offer for him, but also for you guys.

 

What you're going to hear in this episode is behind the scenes of why he's come up with his latest book.

 

A lot of you probably don't even know that he has a new book?

 

It's not Traffic Secrets, it's not Expert Secrets, it's not Dot Com Secrets, it's another book.

 

It's literally 550 pages, and he had 30 gurus come in and contribute to this book.

 

You guys are going to hear why he set it up, where he got the inspiration from  for it. Why he rehashed the idea, and why he's gonna actually produce it for everyone now. This is really awesome.

 

This is obviously my favorite interview I've ever done for obvious reasons. He is my friend. He is my mentor. I look up to him like crazy, and love hanging out with him. Anyway, I am very honored, very thrilled.

 

Russell and I are just going to shoot the breeze for little while, and then we’re gonna dive deep into some reasons why people are NOT successful as funnel builders. We see these reasons all the time, and luckily we talk about them a lot in this episode.

 

You guys are going to learn from the CEO of ClickFunnels himself about what makes a funnel builder successful, and what makes them destined to not be.

 

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this. Let's cut to the intro and we'll get straight on to the interview.

 

Guys, thanks so much and if you enjoy this, please go thank Russell.

 

THE RUSSELL BRUNSON INTERVIEW:

 

Stephen Larsen:     What's up, guys? Hey, I am excited. You guys obviously see the video right here, and you see who I have on. I'm very, very excited about it, though.

 

I am, uh ... Frankly, I've had a hard time coming up with words to describe how I feel about this interview. I've been wanting to do this for a very, very long time, and, um, obviously ... It's Russell Brunson. He's the man. He's the CEO of Click Funnels obviously.

 

He has gone from icon of mine, to boss, to mentor, to friend, and I'd say brother now, and, uh, love him like crazy.

 

(Turns to Russell) Just really thank you for taking the time to be on here. So, obviously, just welcome to the show. Thanks for being on Sales Funnel Radio.

 

Russell Brunson:    Yeah, man. This is an honor. I was hoping you were gonna ask me eventually. I'm like, “Gosh, this is only funnel show I've never been on!" Anyway, I'm just kidding. I'm super excited and proud of you man.

 

It's funny 'cause I think the event that we first met at was where I was like, "Everybody's needs to be publishing! Everyone needs to do a podcast.”

 

And you were like, "NO!" And then you went and did what most people don't do. You did the thing that you knew you needed to do but didn't want to do. You just did it, and now it's been like …Yeah, that's such a good lesson there for everyone.

 

But that was the first day we met, it was probably the day or the day after that.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    And now look ...Fast forward two or three years later... it's amazing what you've accomplished, and where you've come. It's awesome.

 

Stephen Larsen:     I appreciate that thank you.  A week later I was sitting next to you, working there, and I was like, "I don't want to publish. I'm not going to publish." And you're, like ... taking your phone, "What's up everyone? It's Russell Brunson." And, you know, then you're on your podcast, "What's up? I'm Russell Brunson." On your blog, "What's up? It's Russell Brunson."

 

And I was like, "There's something to this." And I tried ... I don't think I am ... Hopefully I am, but I am trying to be your best student. I really appreciate it.

 

Hey, I just ... I wanted to ask a few questions. It really means a lot that you're here ... You're changing the world. You're changing people's lives. You changed my life; my family, my immediate family. And now my extended family are all soaking up your stuff.

 

We have our own little groups. They're like, "This guy's amazing. Who is he?" I was like, "I know. I told you I wasn't crazy." You know? Like, "Listen to him! He's awesome!"

 

Anyway, ClickFunnels has grown. When I first got there it was at like fifteen thousand members, and I left when it was about sixty-five-ish.

 

It's been interesting to watch how the audience has grown. Both in terms of being funnel builders and marketing skills.

 

What do you say for the audience as a whole, the ClickFunnels' audience? Because, guys, if you're listening to me and you don't know about Russell and ClickFunnels ... I think you're a liar.

 

Every episode I talk about Russell and ClickFunnels ...

 

What would you say is like the recurring holes that people keep missing? What would make them successful if they just did that one thing?

 

Russell Brunson:    Yeah, ... it's funny, 'cause ... And I almost feel like this has been part of my mission, 'cause I remember when I got started ... It's almost 15 years now ...  

 

I started learning this stuff. And I'm reading these books from these dudes who are all dead now, and I'm like, "What? What?" Like, “Freaking, right?”

 

I'm learning all this stuff, and I'm like, "This is the most amazing thing ever." And I’d go to all these conferences and these events. I show up and everyone's got a suit and tie, and they're all business-y and they're like boring as can be.

 

People are on stage talking about direct mail ... These things that are super exciting, and they talk about it. But they're so boring. Everyone's so boring. But I was excited by it.

 

So I'm listening to these boring people thinking, "Why is nobody freaking out here? This is so exciting." Like I can see the vision of it. And it was weird.

                   

So, I had to go to all these events, and study from all these people that ... They were just like more traditional business people that didn't realize what they had.

 

I was learning it, and spitting it back out trying to like share it with everybody. And it's funny, if you read my books, and obviously you They're not like, "Here's the philosophy of Russell.” ...

 

It's like, “Okay, I learned a bunch of a lot of people. Let me show you. I learned this from this guy, and this guy,” and like I'm telling everybody all this stuff.

                   

I feel like my job is just to make marketing exciting, because it is. Like it’s the most exciting topic on planet Earth. But when I came into this game it wasn't. The energy wasn't there. The excitement wasn't there.

 

And I think the biggest gap that people are missing is that they don't understand that the key to success is not in, "What's my product? I'm selling an iPhone. Or I'm selling Rhino Rush."  They think, “This is the key to business," and it's not. The product has nothing to do anything.

 

The only thing that matters is having a deep obsession with the marketing of the thing.

 

The people that are successful are the ones who become obsessed with the marketing - that's it. It's not  becoming that's the best product, da da da and all those kind of things. It’s those who actually fall in love with what we're talking about. Like what me and you geek out on all the time.

 

Like that's ... That's the biggest thing.

                   

I told you the story earlier today, but I was talking to Garrett White and he was telling me ... He's like, "Yeah, I had my mom sign up for ClickFunnels account.”

 

Because Garrett obviously, you know, he's 2 Comma Club and 2 Comma Club X. His wife hit 2 Comma Club - they're doing it. So, people in his family are, like, "What are you doing?"

 

So, he said his mom ... She created a ClickFunnels account, and she used it for a couple days. And she messaged like, "ClickFunnels is hard." He's like, "Mom, you're wrong. It's not hard. You're just stupid."

 

Stephen Larsen:     (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    I was like,"You told your mom, that?" He was like, "Yeah, she's dumb. She doesn't know it, but she's dumb.” She's looking at from like, “How do I use this software platform?” And not understanding that it's the marketing.

 

ClickFunnels is just the thing that you put pages ... Like, it's not that complicated, but it’s the obsession with the marketing that makes the engine run, right?  It's coming back the core fundamentals.

 

You are and I are working on a secret project and nobody knows about yet...

 

Stephen Larsen:     (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    But a hint of it is,  ... It's this challenge where the goal is to take the fundamentals of direct response marketing and make it exciting and fun - and then pound it in people's heads over, and over, and over, and over again.

 

Because mastering the fundamentals will do more for you than learning how to use ClickFunnels.

 

Master the fundamentals; understand hooks, story, offer, epiphany bridge - all these things that we keep talking about - and try to make exciting for everybody. You master those, everything else becomes super easy. It's not difficult on the backside.

 

It's those core fundamentals of direct response marketing that people don't understand. If we can make that exciting, and light it up for people, then everything else becomes really, really easy. Right?

 

And when you get fundamentals, then okay, go slap some pages together and sell stuff. But that's what people are missing... The geeking out on the marketing part of it. 'Cause when you understand that...

 

I can plug any business into this now, it's not difficult.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah. You know, it's so funny, because I was like ... Someone's like, "Well, how do I make the page look? How 'bout this?" "It's not about the page!" ClickFunnels facilitates the page, but you're missing the whole point!

 

Anyway, you touched on something that I want, I've always wanted to ask you.

 

Russell Brunson:    Mm-hmm

 

Stephen Larsen:     Because this was like, uh ... I don't know how else to describe it, man. When I was first learning this stuff, right? And I'm laying there with my M16, and I'm reading "Dot Com Secrets."

 

I'm laying there, and I'm like, "This is amazing!" And I would l hide whenever someone would come around. 'Cause ... it was a training environment.

I was, "This is ridiculous." And I wouldn't shut up about it, and I was like, "Oh my gosh, like, I've been looking and I finally feel like I'm finding the answers for why stuff has or has not worked.”

 

You just did a podcast episode about this; it was lonely. It was crazy lonely. And when I finally got to your Funnel Hacking live 2016, and I met you, and I met all these people.

 

It was the first time I totally felt like comfortable, you know, at home. How'd you deal with that before there was a Funnel Hacking live event for you to go to?

 

Russell Brunson:    (laughing) It's hard ... um ... I made a lot of bad decisions because of that feeling. I hired a lot of people who were friends who asked me a question about what I was doing. Like, "You care? ... um ... Do you want a job?"

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah, “You care?”

 

Russell Brunson:    Sure, and I hired everybody I knew. But that was a really bad decision. I've learned since then.

 

No, but I, I, totally get that I understand. It is super lonely - especially the beginning, right?

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    If you have success it's easier to get in the groups and connect with people. But initially, it's like, nobody cares, and nobody believes in you. The people you love the most don't believe. That's the hardest thing I think. It's just...

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    Man! Like, they believe in you, but they don't believe so much in the thing you’re doing, right?

 

Stephen Larsen:     Right.

 

Russell Brunson:    And you're trying convince them, "No, this is the thing." And they're like, "Are you sure? Because I'd love you to get a job, or I'd love for you to go to school." Or, you know, whatever the thing is. But it's, it's definitely it was lonely and painful.

 

I would go to these marketing events, back in the day, and try to connect to people, and I found friends there.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    But yeah, it was different because for most people it was their business, right? Like, "We're direct response marketers."

 

It's kind of like ...

 

There's another event that happened shortly after ours, I won't say the name of it, but there's two different letters that talk about what it is, right?

 

It's a great event, but the people that they attract the event are like the people in the company who do the traffic, they do the conversion and these things. That's their day job, and they go there in suits and ties and they're working on these things.

 

The people like us, who were like, "I am so tired and so annoyed that to go to bed, because I'm so excited about this thing, and it wasn't the fact, like, everything's fuzzy and I can't see the screen, I would just keep going. But I can't." Right?

 

The people who are obsessed like us - it took me a long time ... In fact, it was hard to find those kind of people.

 

I found pockets of them every once in a while, and I started become friends with them. That was my first kind of peer group. But it wasn't a lot of it.

 

As we launched ClickFunnels four years ago, we we're kind of creating this atmosphere ...  and I was like, “I want one of those to be a young hip exciting, fun thing where it's, like, we can, we can do that, right?” And the cool thing about ClickFunnels is the fact that we can ...

 

Like, before it was hard, 'cause like I'd geek out on something and I'd get the programmers, and then they'd be like, "Okay, I'll see you in a couple days." And you're like, "Arrgh !What do I do now?"

 

Stephen Larsen:     (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    Well, now we can go in there and affect change, and it feels so good to be the one that like, “Oh, I’m going to put a logo there. Oh, I just moved it. Oh, it's back.” You know?

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    You can actually do that now.  But to start with, it was lonely for me, and so like I said ... I think part of the reason why the company was built the way it was, was because I was trying to build a platform for me and people I knew who were like me.

 

People who were, like, "I need to connect. I need to plug into other people, because, um" ... I don't know, there's something about 'em.”

And you can sit down and have a similar language pattern to other people, and...

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    Talk, and they get it instantly. It's just like, “Yeah!”

 

I remember the first time I met a couple people that were doing what I was doing, and I ... I remember telling my wife that I'm like, like...

 

Stephen Larsen:     “I found people.” (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    “I said stuff, and they were excited about it, too. Like, this is the coolest thing in the world,” you know?

 

Stephen Larsen:     “I'm not alone.”

 

What I love so much is that you have the Facebook group for ClickFunnels open. So, it's this safe haven for people who don't really know what it is yet, but like frankly need a home. And I love that.

 

So ... I asked, “What are the holes that these funnel builders often don't see?”

 

One of the biggest holes, obviously, you said “learning marketing.” How can somebody shortcut the learning of marketing? Cause it’s not like it’s a small topic. I certainly didn't learn it my “marketing degree.” (laughing) You know! It's not easy info to find.

 

Russell Brunson:    Yeah. Well, I think about how I learned marketing. Like, there's more stuff nowadays, right?

 

We're publishing and other people are publishing. When I got started, there wasn't podcasts, there wasn't Facebook lives. ... Sorry, I just lost my train of thought. Somebody texted me right when we were talking.

 

Stephen Larsen:     (laughing) It's good.

 

Russell Brunson:    My phone is turned over. So ... Sorry, my train of thought, I totally just lost it.

 

Stephen Larsen:     That's okay. Like, short-coding marketing. Like, how do I condense that?

 

Russell Brunson:    I apologize.

 

There weren't a lot of things you could learn it from initially. So the way I learned it is I picked four or five people I knew were doing good stuff. I was watching 'em. So, I would go and I would start just watching what they were doing. Like, intimately watching, right?

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    I think that's what most people miss ... They go and they see the email, and they go, "Oh!" They go and they buy the thing. They buy the course. They're going to the course. Then all the sudden it's just like, “You missed it.”

 

Like, did you even notice:

 

• Did you watch all the emails that came out prior to that?
• Did you watch the other people?
• Did you watch how they contacted JV partners?
• Did you watch how the Facebook ads started showing up?
• Did you notice, "Wow. Why is there an ad?
• Why is he talking about this thing where there's no, there's no call to action? Why would he do that?”
• Four or five of these different videos that came out and had nothing to do with anything.
• Then you see this thing, and there's some momentum, and stuff happens.
• Then people buy it.
• Then after they buy it, did you notice the second email sequence were they sold the secondary thing."Oh my gosh, like, nobody even saw it."
• They did the launch, but the money came from the secondary internal launch that happened to the existing buyers.

 

For me, it's like... I bought everything, but I rarely consumed the products. I was just buying to see the stuff. And I think you're similar-

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah. (laughing) I buy too much crap, man. I don't even go through half of it.

 

Russell Brunson:    It was probably like a month after you left as an employee, and you were in your home I was watching ... (Before your Instagram, though)...

 

Maybe it was Facebook live or something, you were like, "Oh my gosh, you guys! I just went through, like, every webinar that Russell's ever done. Check this out. Check this out."

 

You have on the floor.... It was like all the registration pages, then all the emails printed out. You were like, "Every time ... Email number one he talks about this. Then, email number two always goes to this. And email number three ..." And you're just, like,” find the patterns,” and like seeing all the things. And you're like “I downloaded the webinar. I listened to it, like, thirty times. I've got all your webinars. I’ve listened back-to-back-to-back  just to listen to your pitch over and over again."

 

And it makes me laugh, 'cause I guarantee you probably ... (I mean you probably did, but ... ) You didn't have to go through the course. I mean the value was going through the process of the course

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah!

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah, that's the funnel itself!

 

Russell Brunson:    I got a certified letter from somebody today, who, uh ... It must have been somebody old, because they were asking for a refund for, like, a thirty dollar product. And so they sent me a certified letter, because that was easier than contacting customer support. But, as I'm reading this thing, I was laughing, because they missed it.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson They came to my thing to buy a book to teach to them marketing, and then they're asking for a refund for this free book. And they missed the whole point of the exercise.

 

It blows my mind when people come and they want to learn funnels from me, and I'm like, "Oh, go get my book." And, then they're like, "What part of Amazon?" 'Cause they don't wanna get stuck in a funnel. I’m like, “IDIOT!”

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah, like, “You idiot! What are you doing?”

 

Russell Brunson:    You'll learn more from buying. Buy slowly. Take screenshots like I do, like you do.

 

That’s the fastest way to learn marketing - to observe it, to watch it, and to respect it. Don't be annoyed, like, "Oh, they sent out three emails this week." Like, “Why they'd send out three emails this week?”

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah, what'd say?

 

Russell Brunson:    

 

• What is the purpose?
• What was the strategy?
• What were they doing?
• Did it work?
• Did it not work?
• Did I open it?
• Did I not open it?
• What was feeling I felt I read this email?
• What was the feeling?
• Am I paying attention to that?

 

Because that's how I figured a lot of this stuff ... I was just paying attention to what people were doing, and, like, what affected me and what didn't.

 

There's a couple marketers who I think write really good emails. Every time I'm, like, doing an email, I'll go back old email account from like the 1990s, right, or whatever it was.

 

Stephen Larsen: Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    Whatever, the old email address I have. But I was subscribed to everybody back then. And, I'll go in there ...  

 

A lot of them aren't even still around, but I searched for their names, and, like, I'll see all the emails from that person.

 

I just read the subject lines, and I look at which ones were clicked, back in the day. I didn't click on all of them, but I clicked on some of them. You can see which ones have been opened and not opened in Gmail.

 

And I was like, “Okay, why did I click on that one? Why'd I click on that one? There's something that caused me to click on it, and the other ones didn't for some reasons. What was the reason?”

 

Go back to your old email, and just scan through, scroll through like 8000 pages in Gmail look at which ones you clicked, and then ask yourself, "Why did I click on that?"  Those are the things that help you to learn marketing.

 

Stephen Larsen:   I did that to yours the other day. I went in and searched ... I do that many, many times. "Russell Brunson." It shows me all your emails. I just start reading through them. I was, like, “That was awesome. Oh, my gosh. This is crazy cool. Like, that's super cool.”

 

Russell Brunson:    (laughing)

 

Stephen Larsen:     So, I wanted to ask... You got you got your book, “30 Days,” right? And, I'm super excited about it.

Having marketers come in and teach what it is they actually did, and, and watching you selling the thing. Like, it’s such an awesome education.

 

Everyone, I want you to know right now, I'm not bagging against education or whatever, but it is better than my marketing degree - and I got a 3.8 baby, all right?

 

I did really, really well, and I don't use any of it. Right? None of it. Everything’s from Russell,EVERYTHING.

 

I got in fights over what Russell was saying with some of my marketing professors. Right? Because I knew what he was saying was real and true.

 

I know the story, but just for people listening, where'd you get the idea for the 30 day book?

 

Russell Brunson:    Oh yeah ... I think have it right here in front of me. I may or may not? Let me check.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Oh is it…?

 

Russell Brunson:    It's somewhere ... Anyway, uh ...

 

Melanie (Russell’s Assistant):     Hey, is it …?

 

Russell Brunson:    Well, I'll tell the story even if I can't find it.

 

Back in the day, when I first got started this game, and I was looking for how to get started online? I was in college. I was at Boise State, and this kid came out with something, and I can say his name, because ... So-

 

Stephen Larsen:     (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    Do you want the full story, or the part story? The full story's really good.

 

Stephen Larsen:   What’s gonna sell the book?

 

Russell Brunson:    I'll tell you the whole thing.

 

So, what happened. So, this guy named Joe Kumar. He's an 18-year-old kid, and he had this idea. It was called, back in the day, "30 Days to Internet Marketing Success." So, this is not a unique idea to me.

 

In fact, I hope that some of you guys clone this idea in whatever market you’re in because it's brilliant. Like, don't do my markets, because I will crush you.

 

Stephen Larsen:     (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    But, like, any other market, like, "30 Days to Dental Success." You should do that if you’re a dentist guru, right? "30 Days to Weight Loss Success," or like or, "30, like, whatever.” It's the model, right? But he did this thing, and he emailed a whole bunch of these “big name gurus” the times. He's like:

 

"Hey, if you were to lose everything, lose your email list, your customers, your ... your name, your following, and all you had left was internet access and your marketing know how, and you had bill collectors on the phone trying to call you, you have 30 days to get back on top what would you do?"

 

And he got, like, I think he had sixty people who each wrote a chapter. Like, "Day one: I'd do this. Day two, day three, day four." Like a whole 30 day plan.

 

When I saw that. sitting in my Boise State computer lab, I was like, "Oh, my gosh. Like,, this, this is the key." And I'd been ... I'd been trying a year, year-and-a-half to figure stuff out.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Right.

 

Russell Brunson:    And, uh.

 

Stephen Larsen:     What were you building at that time? What business were you on?

 

Russell Brunson:    I don't think I even knew. I was ... Yeah, I didn't have anything yet. I was ... I was trying to stuff, but I didn't have anything back then. Maybe a couple affiliate things?

 

Stephen Larsen:     You're saying that it took you a year-and-a-half, and you still hadn't figured it out yet? What?!!?

 

Russell Brunson:    We didn’t have ClickFunnels back then ;-)

 

Stephen Larsen:     (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    Yeah, so, I remember reading the sales letter 10x, and I was like, "I have to buy it." It was a $97 ebook. I'm like, "Urrgh."

 

Stephen Larsen:     Right.

 

Russell Brunson:    "Hundred bucks for an ebook!" But I was like, "I have to have this." And so, I bought it.

 

My wife and I were celebrating one year anniversary, and my parents, because I didn't have money at the time, invited us to go to Hawaii with them. And so I was like, “Cool.” So, I was going to Hawaii.

 

So, I printed them out. It would have been like 60 of these things. It would have been, like, six, seven hundred pages.

 

So, instead I printed out eight to a page. And I had them spiral bound, (and that's what I was looking for. You know, I had it here somewhere, but anyway.)

 

Stephen Larsen:     Oh, yeah. I've seen that. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

 

Russell Brunson:    Eight pages to a page, but it's two of these spiral-bound manuals.

 

And so I got on the plan, and from Boise all the way to Hawaii, I'm reading each of these little mini pages. And, I'm like, "What?"

 

When I read the first one, and it's this person's 30 day plan of how they'd get back on top. And was like, "Oh my gosh, that's brilliant." Then onto the next person's, then the next person's ...

 

And everybody's was different, right, but the core concepts of all of them were the same.

 

They all had their own little angle, and their twist, but what it all came down to was:

 

"I would create something amazing. I'd then send the sales letter to sell that amazing thing, and I would drive traffic to the sales letter."

 

I was like, "Oh, my gosh." I haven't had any success yet, because I don't:

 

1. Have a product.
2. Have a sales letter.
3. Driving Traffic.

I'm like, “That's all this businesses is, like, three things.” And I was, like, I need to:

 

 

• Sell the product.

• Drive traffic.

 

 

I saw the pattern after seeing it over, and over, and over, and over, and over ...

 

And everybody had a different traffic strategy, and everybody had a different strategy on how to create the product, how they would sell it ... Some were teleseminars. Some were, you know, pre webinars.

 

Everyone had their own different mechanisms to do it. But, when I saw the pattern 60 times in a row I was, like, "I know what to do now." And then I went back, and after that's when I created my ... my first product which is Zip Brander. It's a software product.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Oh, that's when Zip Brander came up? Really?

 

Russell Brunson:    Yes! The Brander

 

Stephen Larsen:     I was gonna ask you what happened after this. Okay, okay.

 

Russell Brunson:    Yeah, so I had the product created, and then I wrote a sales letter, and then I drove traffic, and that was it. That book was the thing that gave me the initial, like, the turn of, like, "I get it."

 

So, that was twelve years ago.

 

Fast-forward, like, three months later: Joe Kumar decided to sell, um ... Basically, for $500 you got the rights to his book, and you can sell it as many times as you want. I was like, "What?"

 

I literally had no $500. I went out and I earned the money, bought the rights from him.

 

He was only to sell to ten people, and I was like, "This is my future. It's gonna be me." So, I bought the rights from him.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    For 500 bucks. Me, and he said, “Ten people.” But he ended up selling to probably over 1000 people, and it was a big deal. Everyone's like...

 

Stephen Larsen:     THAT MARKETER.

 

Russell Brunson:    Yeah, it was a big deal, and he got in trouble, and ... Anyway, he ended up fleeing his country, and the feds came trying to arrest him, and and he disappeared.

 

The last email he sent to his list, crazy enough, was, “You all read everybody else's plans, if you want my 30 day plan, scan your passport, and your something and fax it to me, and ..."

 

And we're like, "What?” Because he was fleeing the government. Anyways, crazy story, crazy, and he disappeared off the face of the earth.

 

Now fast-forward, 13, 14 years later:

 

My whole goal, right now, (and I did a podcast about this) ... The only thing I, like, my whole focus everyday is, "How do I simplify this process, so that more people can be successful? How do I simplify the process? How do I simplify the process?"

 

All your best ideas will come from you trying to figure out simplify the process for your customers, right?

 

So, I'm thinking through, and then I was, like, "What was the thing that got me to have success?" And all the sudden I was, like, "Dude, it was the 30 day plans." I was, like, "We should do the same thing." And 30days.com, I went and bought the domain name.

 

Then I was like, "Let's go out to people we know in our community who've done this, and have them each contributor chapter." And we did that.

 

Now have a 550 page physical book that has everyone's 30 plans. It's insanely cool. It's exciting! And you are one of the plans in there - which I'm excited for everyone to see!

 

Stephen Larsen:     Oh, man. It's so good! If I say so, myself.

 

Russell Brunson:    That's the backstory on how 30 Days came about.

 

Stephen Larsen:     I appreciate that. I remember when you had the idea for it.

 

It came as all great ideas do come to you. We're all sitting there, we're working. Then you go, "Dude!" ...

 

Russell Brunson:    Woo!

 

Stephen Larsen:     ….And everyone stands up and runs to the whiteboard (laughing) barefoot. And I was like, "That's crazy."

 

I want you to know I was watching what you were doing, and I took a page from that lesson. And that's literally I how I created Affiliate Outrage.

 

I went and I crowd created it after watching you do that. And it works everybody, so you know. It's like crazy easy to crowd create great products that are super valuable.

 

Um ... Well, hey, thanks so much for your time, man. I know that you're super busy.  I want to keep geeking out, but I think Melanie's gonna yell at me. Sorry, Melanie, Bruno. I think I'm going over.

 

Russell:              She said, "You got one more question, if you want it."

 

Stephen Larsen:     Oh, cool. (laughing) Hey, so after ...

 

I wanted to ask…

 

So you go through, and your reading all these plans, right? And I'm hoping this is what my audience does, and that's why I wanted to ask you about this.  I hope everyone goes and gets it...

 

If someone's reading through all these plans ... There's obviously a lot of stuff, you know?

 

This is not a small book, but ... I mean, they're literally being handed the keys to the kingdom to go crush this. What would you suggest somebody does as they're reading this?

 

• Should they follow one person's plan?
• Should they literally do it in 30 days?

 

You know what I mean? How should they proceed after that?

 

Russell Brunson: Yeah, everyone learns differently.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Sure.

 

Russell Brunson:    What gets a lot of entrepreneurs stuck, and um ... I could share names that you, personally, (but I won't on a podcast)... of people that come through our world that have struggled is, like ...

 

They try to follow things to a "T."  Everything is like, “Uhhh? Uhhh?” And then someone says something, and they're like, " Uhhh? But how do I implement that to my thing?" They get so stuck on trying to figure things out, or try doing everything that they never get anything done.

 

I think the best thing for them to do is to get the book and try to read through it. No ... I mean, it might be hard to read through it all. I mean, it's literally a 550 page book. It's like ... It's insanely cool.

 

So pick the people that resonate with you. Some are talking about eCommerce. Some are internet and networking. Just find the ones that resonate with you. Read five, ten, fifteen of them. Read 'em through, and just get the flow. Because like it was for me, it was  basically seeing the pattern of, like, "Oh, I understand it."

 

So, after you get that, then just come back and say, "Okay, now I gotta figure out for my business ... And I can't do what everybody did-"

 

Stephen Larsen:     Right.

 

Russell Brunson:    So find out from all people, which one resonates best with me.

 

What I'm really good at doing is; I learned a lot of stuff from a lot of places, but a lot of things when they come to me, I'm not like, "Okay, how do I implement everything?" Because if you do that, like, you get overwhelmed, nothing will happen.

Just be like, “Oh, that's awesome, but I'm not ready for that yet. So, let me store it right here.”

 

If you know you don't have a product yet, you should just be consuming everything on how to create a product, and then do that.

 

Like “Cool! Storing it, storing it, storing it, storing it ... This is what I need now. Okay, now I'm ready for the next phase. Okay, I'm gonna grab these things.”

 

So when you get to the part where you're ready for traffic, go back and remember people's 30 days plan, like, “Okay Garrett talked about this, and Stephen talked about this ... Now I'm ready to start doing traffic,” and you start taking all those things off the shelf.

 

School teaches you to memorize everything and regurgitate it.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Urrrrgh.

 

Russell Brunson:    I don't think that’s the right method. Right? The method for entrepreneurs is to take all this information and understand, like, “Where does it fit in the picture? And cool. Well, I'm at this phase right now. So, I'm going to just place these here, and leave them there, and then we'll come back to them. But I gotta focus everything on the next the next piece of this puzzle, right? The next step. I think that's the biggest thing.

 

We have people in the 2 Comma Club Coaching, right now, who were trying to figure out Facebook ads, and they haven't figured out a product yet.

 

Stephen Larsen:     I know! Right? It doesn't make sense!

 

Russell Brunson:    You don't have an offer! You don't need to master ads yet. Master your offer first!

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    And I guess what people miss is just they're trying to learn it all at once.

 

Just don't try to learn it all at once. That's not going to serve you at all.

 

Stephen Larsen:     I still do not drive ads. I don't want to learn that. (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    Exactly.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Okay, that makes total sense.  So, you gonna do a deep dive with it. Go in and just figure out what you want, and table the rest of it. Totally makes sense.

 

Russell Brunson:    And then…. Can I ruin this for everybody?

 

Stephen Larsen:     Ruin it!

 

Russell Brunson:    Our surprise?

 

Stephen Larsen:     Do it!

 

Russell Brunson:    So, this is the surprise:

 

Stephen and I have been in the laboratory, working behind the scenes. So, what we're gonna be doing is, um ...

 

Well, you guys will see the funnel. Stephen hasn't seen the whole funnel. He's seen a little glimpse of it, but ... What he has coming ...

 

You'll actually be able to get everybody's 30 day plans initially for free. So, it's free. FREE. Like, just, you're going to go and you're going to get 'em, and I'm gonna be pumped for you, because you're going to have them ... I want to make the barrier entry, like, “You just show up and we'll give you the stuff.”

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    But then, the physical book, the 550 page physical book.  We're also gonna ship that you for free in exchange for you joining a challenge.

 

We're going to be doing a 30 Day Challenge, where Stephen and I will be tag teaming “the crap kicking out of you,” to make sure you actually implement the 30 days.

 

So, I would say is go through this thing. Geek out. Listen to everybody's thing and then sign up. It's a hundred bucks. Which is like the cheapest thing on planet earth.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    Literally a hundred bucks is not going to me. Whoever referred you to the thing gets a hundred bucks.

 

So, I make zero dollars and zero cents from you being part of this challenge.

 

The only thing it does is it gets me the ability to yell at you and Stephen yell you, to make sure you're successful and teach you the fundamentals and pound them through your mind.

 

So, that way you can actually implement your own 30 day plan.

 

So, I would say go to this ... Go to the virtual summit. Geek out. Listen to everything. Consume it all. Do your big immersion, and then our live thing will be starting 30 days later, and then just get prepared.

 

Show that up to that 30 day thing, with, like, all these ideas in your head, and we're gonna be going step one, step two, step three, and counting the fundamentals.

And after 30 days of that process you will have everything in place for your funnel. So, it's gonna be amazing.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Oh, my gosh! And don't get sensitive people when I tell you that you're wrong. (laughing) Just be teachable. Be coachable.

 

Russell Brunson:    I always joke that I'm kind of the coach that has a carrot in front of you, like, "Come over here, guys. It's awesome. Come over here." And you're the coach, from behind, with the stick, like, whacking them, like, "Come on!"

 

Stephen Larsen:     "Go! What do you want in life?" (laughing)

 

Russell Brunson:    So, you got someone pushing you and someone pulling. It's amazing! I think the combo of us tag teaming people is going to be exciting.

 

I'm just pumped, because it's gonna give people the accountability I think they need sometimes to move through things, and just get something out there and done.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Yeah.

 

Russell Brunson:    You can learn the whole process once. And after you learn it once it's easy to do it over, and over, and over again.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Totally! Same process. Which is the fun magic of it.

 

Hey, there's a, there's a quote I've got on my wall, reminds me of you like crazy,  it's by Ray Kurzweil ...

 

Just so everyone knows, I have an actual wall where I put quotes. I used to do it growing up.  It’s my actual wall ... and not like a Facebook wall … On that wall, I have written:

 

"The purposeful destruction of information is the essence of intelligent work."

 

And man, your superpower is just that. It is ridiculous!

 

It's taking in all this stuff, and just spewing it out in this way where it's like, "Oh." Like, guru coming off the mountain with the two tablets, "Here they are." You know, like, "Wow! That's it! That's it! That's what I need."

 

I really appreciate what you're doing, man. Changing the world! I'd do anything for you. Love ya, and uh, thanks so much for taking the time.

 

Russell Brunson:    No worries, man. Super proud of you. I love what you're doing. You have a huge impact on people's lives. And the impact's gonna keep growing ... Anyway, I appreciate you. You're amazing. And your audience is lucky to have you all the time. So hope they all know that.

 

Stephen Larsen:     Thanks man. Appreciate it.

 

Boom! Keep Crushing It!

 

How would you go from ZERO To Hero In 30 Days with nothing more than a ClickFunnels account and the knowledge you currently have?

 

Find out how I would do it at 30days.com/stephen

 

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